Dealing with change

In previous Industry Insights I wrote about the changes that can take place and impact on a business. I looked at the holistic issue, at the cost of writing your own data integration routines, and the requirement for integrating third-party data. This time I look at the impact of internal change on data integration routines.

The biggest challenge with change is that so much around it must then change accordingly, and change tends to equal disruption.

Julian Field, GM of Ascential Software South Africa

It has been said, and quite correctly, that the only constant we can count on is change (that and the fact that our sporting teams will lose more regularly than they win!). The nature of this change can be dramatic, or it can be incremental. What is certain is that it will happen.

This change is driven by a number of business issues:

• .         The company launches a new line of business in response to market developments;
• .         It chooses to create a new division, or to terminate an existing one;
• .         It launches a new product line;
• .         It acquires, is acquired by or is merged with another company;
• .         It chooses to outsource core components of its business, in effect requiring its systems to integrate and interact with those of another company - and these systems will seldom be compatible; or
• .         It downsizes or rightsizes and the supporting systems must also change.

The biggest challenge with change is that so much around it must then change accordingly, and change tends to equal disruption. As a corollary, many companies - typically the larger ones, such as banks and other financial services institutions with their legacy systems and concomitant data issues - will decline to embark on new, business-enhancing projects because of the complexity of their systems. When this happens, something that should have provided a competitive advantage - IT systems - becomes a hindrance to the business.

As companies come to understand and appreciate, as a bone-deep issue, the importance of getting their data issues right in a proactive manner, so they are increasingly making data integration a vital discipline in the business.

The reason is relatively simple to grasp: it`s the paradox that discipline equals freedom, and the freewheeling approach translates to chaos.

Let me elaborate: when companies believe they can get by without the vital disciplines, and they can take shortcuts on business-critical issues, they always find the shortcut ends up in a compromise. This compromise is seldom, if ever, in the company`s favour.

This compromise results in direct and indirect loss: direct in identifiable revenue loss; indirect in opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is often the greater, as the company finds itself unable to pursue strategic initiatives which could enhance the business and enable it to drive bottom line revenues.

The solution is to lay a data platform that embeds the discipline that allows the business freedom of choice. That`s freedom to choose the right back-end system for the business; the right business intelligence solution; the right customer-facing systems; the right partner-facing systems; to create new divisions and embrace merger and acquisition activity without technology fear; and to embrace technology developments such as Web services where they make sense to the business, without the business concerning itself with techno detail and back-end plumbing issues.

This was the approach taken by Telkom when it laid a data integration platform to allow itself to choose whatever new systems it wanted to. Telkom understands implicitly that data is the lifeblood of any business, and Dick Brummer, Telkom IT solution and data architect, notes: "It`s all about future-proofing the business. It gives us the freedom and flexibility to choose what we want: any database, any solution.

"We have over 600 software application systems," adds Brummer, "and we need to ensure we are competitive. Where indicated, we will replace them if we have to. If they are not flexible enough, or not integrated, or don`t supply the functionality we need, we will implement new systems. After all, competitors are entering the market without our legacy burden, and they can erode our market share."

The solution: an enterprise-wide data integration exercise, and Telkom is already reaping the rewards.