Informatica Data Services

This blog post is part one of an ongoing series highlighting the importance of Enterprise Information Management (EIM) and how a properly strategized and architected EIM initiative can remove the cost, complexity and risk associated with enterprise integration infrastructures. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and input on the subject.

In speaking to a number of customers over the last year or so, it has become increasingly clear to me that continuous change is an integral part of doing business in today’s complex world. Powerful forces such as globalization, improved customer service needs, mergers and acquisitions and business process outsourcing seem to be driving enterprises to become increasingly agile.

Based on what I have gathered from these discussions, making full use of good quality and consistent information available exactly when it is needed, seems to be at the heart of enabling agility in the enterpise.

Take for example some of the typical modern-day business concerns that were expressed to me:

• Our customers are consistently demanding higher levels of customer service

• We need to support the numerous mergers and acquisitions planned for the year

• We need to slash budgets immediately…can we do more with less?

• Our customer base is growing and we need to quickly scale to meet the increased demand

• Do we need additional resources when we have such a large resource pool?

• We really need to differentiate quickly and consistently

• The compliance laws are becoming more and more stringent

• Our business model is changing and we need to transform into a fully web-based business

Reading through this list, I am now even more convinced that without an effective EIM infrastructure in place, companies will not be able to meet their business goals as time is money and having access to business critical information at the right time, is crucial.

For example, a company may be required to deliver improved customer service in order to remain competitive and maintain customer loyalty, but without providing timely, accurate and consistent customer information, this goal may never be fulfilled.

To further complicate the situation, IT organizations are being required to handle more data at varying latencies, in diverse formats, from more partners, and more systems than ever before.

Thus, in my opinion, to effectively deal with such dynamic environments, there is the need to treat business critical information as a strategic enterprise asset – which means, not only planning, but also executing on a well-defined EIM strategy that will ensure the delivery of critical business information at the speed of business.

What do you think?

Next up “Getting EIM Right Part II: What Technologies Such as EAI and EII Have Failed”