Similar to the previous example, raw files can be used to exchange data between SSIS packages. You can develop one package to convert a clients file to a standardized structure in the raw file format. And then use a couple other packages to read that format in the next packages that process the data in a standard format. All of this can be done without hitting the database.
Another thing you can do is export data from a database to a raw file to use a reference file for multiple SSIS packages. If you need to cycle through a group of IDs or states multiple time, store the data in a raw file and use it as a data cache. Sure you can use a Lookup Cache instead – but that doesn’t fit all scenarios and not everyone is using SQL Server 2008.
Let’s move onto a couple demonstrations