Data keeps the fractal corporation in synch

The advent of personal and mobile computing technologies, combined with the unbridled connectivity the Internet delivers, has changed the way businesses are constructed as well as the way they function. No longer do we see the old centralised structure of companies in which a head office controls all aspects of the business; instead, there is an increase in independent functioning from multiple locations that filters back to a core of the organisation. This is called the fractal corporation.

"Modern businesses have more links, nodes and endpoints dispersed over a wider area than ever before," says Chris O`Connell, COO of Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID). "Yet, while these nodes are distributed, they are more tightly linked to each other via the myriad communications technologies available today."

These nodes can be:

* Different branches of a company;
* Mobile employees who are continually on the road with mostly digital access to the company; or
* Independent companies (partners and suppliers) or home workers who log in as required from PCs, laptops or mobile devices.

The links connecting these nodes can be any networking solutions, from asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) to general packet radio service (GRPS) via cellular networks, a corporate wide-area network (WAN) or even dial-up solutions.

The structure of fractal companies is therefore similar to that of a network with an almost infinite number of actual and potential connections. A person, office or company can link into the network as required and also break the connection as its circumstances change.

Additionally, as each node can operate independently and no longer relies on orders from on high, everyone can do what is necessary (within certain boundaries, naturally) to best serve customers and achieve the corporate vision. To accomplish this, each node needs access to the relevant information required to conduct its business. And this has obvious implications on the management, security and integrity of corporate data.

Trek to the summit

00Days

:

00Hrs

:

00Min

:

00Sec

"No matter how well connected a business is or how much it spends on technology, if the data being transferred between nodes is not accurate and reliable, the service the business delivers and the information it collects will be incorrect - with all the subsequent consequences," adds Chris 'O Connell. "More importantly, the information it stores about its customers will also be wrong, which can result in loss of clients and an inability to attract new ones."

In this dispersed environment, managing data is therefore critical to the success and future prosperity of every company. It`s not enough to merely ensure all nodes of the company are linked to a central data store: the business needs to ensure it maintains a single, accurate view of the customer and makes this information available to whoever needs it in the appropriate format.

"To truly own the customer, a complete data management process must be undertaken to ensure everything the company knows about the customer is accurate and accessible," Chris 'O Connell adds. "This process includes data profiling, quality and integration projects."

The process of profiling identifies the data and its attributes, and then assesses the quality and complexity of the information. Once the profiling is completed, everyone needing information will understand what data they have to work with and can more easily determine the relationships between information and applications when developing applications or processes, analysing information or beginning integration projects.

Along with the profiling exercise, quality initiatives will also be launched to ensure the integrity of the information used in the company is of a high standard and can be completely trusted. Finally, another part of the data management process involves the integration of data from multiple data sources, producing the single view of the customer the company needs.

"As business changes, functions from a wider base of operations and learns to deal with customers faced with more options and a broader choice of suppliers than ever before, its ability to effectively manage its data becomes a competitive advantage," says Chris 'O Connell. "Accurate, available information is the lifeblood of the fractal corporation, keeping all the nodes synchronised and operating as a whole, irrespective of where they are located or how they are connected to each other."