Yearly Archives: 2010
2011 Cloud Integration Predictions: Hybrid Platform Adoption, Private Cloud Confusion
Seven Ways To Reduce IT Costs With MDM
We often hear from our Informatica MDM customers about the main benefits they’ve realized from master data management (MDM)—smarter, faster decision-making and greater productivity though timely and reliable data. What’s less widely recognized is that MDM is proving to be a powerful cost-saving engine, as well.
For instance, a global investment bank saved millions of dollars by using Informatica MDM to virtually eliminate maintenance and support costs for a complex web of point-to-point integrations. If you’re using or considering MDM, it’s a smart idea to assess the costs of unintegrated data systems and examine cost-saving strategies and tactics available through a multidomain, model-driven MDM solution.
We’ve just published a new white paper, “Seven Ways to Reduce IT Costs with Master Data Management,” that drills down into using MDM to target the redundancy, waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary maintenance and licensing typical of a heterogeneous data infrastructure. A sampling of these seven critical areas includes:
- Interface costs: How you can minimize costly point-to-point integrations that support key business processes
- Redundant third-party data: How you reduce acquisition costs of duplicate data from third-party providers such as Dun & Bradstreet or Acxiom
- Data cleanup: How you can efficiently centralize data quality to eliminate expensive manual efforts (more…)
Chief Integration Officer
I tend to agree that there is a need for a Chief Integration Officer – although another title that could work is Chief Process Officer since the CIO acronym is already taken. Whatever label you put on it, the important thing is that it is not just an IT-focused role. Integration is not just about technology or information, it is also about goal alignment across functions, efficient end-to-end processes that extend into the supply chain and customer value chain, and yes – driving a culture change in the organization.
I first wrote about this topic in 2001 in an article titled From CIO to CPO. My latest book (see http://www.integrationfactory.com) suggests four stages of maturity for integration: (more…)
How Santa Uses CEP – Elf Productivity, Real-Time Naughty And Nice Rating
After much cajoling, I convinced the CEO of North Pole Global to give some insight into how his organization uses CEP to optimize operations and maximize productivity. For years, he’s been unwilling to say a word in fear of giving away a big competitive advantage to his competitors like Hanukkah Harry Inc. and Tooth Fairy Limited. This year, because I’ve been extra good, the big guy has allowed me to ask a few questions, so here goes.
Me: Has anyone actually asked for the Snuggie for Dogs?
Santa: Strangely enough, my wife has requested one but we don’t have a dog.
Me: OK, enough with the warm ups. You are a huge user of CEP. Can you tell me how you were introduced to it?
Santa: My CIO, Shorty McTechie brought it to my attention and to be honest I sat through the first five minutes day dreaming about snicker doodles. I had to interupt him and tell him to get to the point. He said to not think about it as some complex technology but that CEP stood for Complete Elf Productivity. That got my attention for sure. I love the little guys, but sometimes they are stuck in their old ways. I wanted new ideas, new processes and most of all adaptability.
Me: What do you mean by adaptability? (more…)
2011 Predictions From The World Of Data Integration
As we near the end of 2010, it is always interesting to see vendors and the community talk about their predictions for 2011. So here are my predictions for what will be happening in the world of Data Integration as we start the New Year. I’d be interested to know whether you agree or disagree with these!
The Data Deluge Increases Pace – Big Data Arrives
The data explosion is going stratospheric because of the exponential growth and use of social and mobile media. Society is now addicted to computers, technology and the capturing of information in all aspects of our daily lives: Remember when you paid cash for food in a grocery store? Now you use a credit card – and your data is stored. Remember when you dropped some coins in a basket when driving on a toll road? Now you use pre-paid electronic toll collection – and that data is stored. Remember when you used to call someone to say good morning? Now you Tweet or instant message them to have your conversation – and that data is also stored. In 2011, enterprises will get smarter in managing and using all these data assets (both within and beyond their enterprises). Whether organizations take advantage of traditional relational database technologies, analytical databases that leverage Hadoop or any other of the so-called “no-SQL” technologies, a unified and powerful approach to data integration will be the defining technology for embracing and driving competitive advantage in the face of this deluge. (more…)
Series: Architecting A Database Archiving Solution Final Part 5: Data Growth Assessments
As a final part of our series, Architecting A Database Archiving Solution, we will review a process I use to assess a client’s existing Total Cost of Ownership of their database application and how to justify a database archiving solution. The key metrics I begin with are listed below and explained:
The Value Of Pay-As-You-Go Pricing For Data Integration
I was pleased to see that Informatica has launched Informatica Cloud Express, complete with usage-based pricing. Cloud Express provides salesforce.com administrators and operations staff the option to schedule and automate bi-directional cloud-to-on-premise integration tasks without coding and without requiring a hardware footprint.
The value of this is pretty straightforward. Data integration has traditionally been something that’s very complex and costly. Most spend hundreds of thousands on solutions that become more costly after implementation than during development. The issues are around the path to good data integration, and the technology required to get you there.
Cloud-based integration, such as Cloud Express, provides the ability to access the integration services you need on-demand. Moreover, it also provides you with the ability to pay for only the services you need. This is a wonderful model considering that, while some enterprises do gigs a day in information flowing between on-premise and cloud-based systems, many operate with a much lighter data integration load. In the past, neither customer had the pay-as-you-go option. (more…)
Cloud Integration Predictions in Review
What Your CEO Should Know About MDM
A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of C-level executives at large multinational companies revealed an alarming gap between the value and usability of corporate data.
Some 71 percent of the executives believe their corporate data is a highly valuable asset—but just 39 percent of them feel their companies make very effective use of it, a PwC Management Barometer study reported.
In other words, most companies fail to effectively put their data to work to attract new customers, accelerate business processes, and improve performance. Is your company among the laggards? What would you say if your CEO asked you how the company could improve the usability of its corporate information?
Our new executive brief, “What Your CEO Should Know About Master Data Management” takes a look at just that question. Using illustrated examples, this brief outlines a practical, step-by-step use case of how MDM can turn a company’s contradictory and disorganized information into a single, authoritative data set that drives business performance. (more…)
Series: Architecting A Database Archiving Solution Part 4: Archive Repository Options
During this series of “Architecting a Database Archiving Solution”, we discussed the Anatomy of A Database Archiving Solution and End User Access Requirements. In this post we will review the archive repository options at a very high level. Each option has its pros and cons and needs to be evaluated in more detail to determine which will be the best fit for your situation.
(more…)
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