Secrets to Successful Software Integration
By Esther Shein
As a hosted electronic data exchange company, SPS Commerce in Minneapolis, Minn., is in the business of connecting the software it creates to applications its customers use every day. When the company recently outgrew some of its own systems, it was in a unique position of living its own customers' experience.
Previously, SPS Commerce relied on transferring information manually into Lotus Notes. But managers were concerned about accuracy and timeliness, and also felt that Lotus Notes by itself wasn't an ideal platform for analyzing data. "Our decision was driven by velocity," explains Troy Benesh, SPS Marketing Services manager. "[That is] reducing the amount of set-up time, eliminating manual entry, setting strict data standards and efficiently handing off information to various groups." By integrating Lotus Notes and SPS' Oracle database with Saleforce's customer relationship management (CRM) application, SPS hoped to track users' activities, ensure follow-up tasks were performed in a timely manner and spotlight accountability from one end of the customer chain to the other. Now it was about to find out whether those hopes would hold water.
Like SPS, many companies face a fundamental dilemma: They are organized vertically with each function using customized software applications and databases, but the customer experience extends throughout all business functions. "That's where software integration can play the greatest role," says Mike Childress, vice president of Applications Portfolio Development at EDS in Plano, Texas. "It cuts across those domains because that's how the real world works."
Unfortunately, in the real world, integration between disparate systems doesn't always go smoothly. With so many elements involved, some key items may get overlooked. (article continues)
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