Informatica Perspectives

Some executives have told me that 40 to 70 percent of their IT budgets are devoted to integration. These are the same ones that still tackle integration on a project-by-project basis, causing unnecessary expense, waste, risk, and delay. They struggle with integration “hairballs”: complex point-to-point information exchanges that are expensive to maintain, difficult to change, and unpredictable in operation.

The solution is two new services that Informatica announced this week; Integration Factory Implementation and Automated Deployment Framework. These services compliment the Informatica platform and are another outcome of the work that went into creating the Lean Integration book which will be available in book stores soon (visit www.integrationfactory.com if you can’t wait).

These new services are designed to show integration teams how to use proven “lean” techniques to optimize the entire integration process. Specifically, how to establish an integration factory that leverages the powerful benefits of repeatability and continuous improvement across every integration project you undertake. Objectives of these service offerings include:

• Treating integration as a business strategy, and implementing management disciplines that systematically address its people, process, policy, and technology dimensions
• Providing maximum business flexibility and supporting rapid change without compromising stability, quality, control, or efficiency
• Using value-stream mapping and metrics to “optimize the whole, not just the parts”
• Automating processes so you can deliver faster—while avoiding the pitfalls of automation
• Building in both data and integration quality up front

Lean is not about loosing weight; it is about continuously adding value by focusing on what really matters. Some people use the term Lean Government by which they mean “less” Government.  Similarly, some people think Lean is about downsizing and cutting staff. Lean is neither of these. It is a proven management system that emphasizes creating value for customers, continuous improvement, and eliminating waste as a sustainable data and process integration practice. As a result, lean teams find that their scope of responsibility increases as they add increasing value to the enterprise.

Check out Lean Integration and get started on your Lean journey today.