Cross Application: To Silo Or Not To

With technology, IT in particular, playing a major role in modern day
enterprise productivity and performance, the focus is largely on how business
data is captured and managed. As the amount of transactional data collected
within enterprises continues to rise, the number of places and ways it is stored
has also grown proportionately. This has led to a syndrome commonly called
'application silos', where the deployment of multiple IT systems-such as
enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), data
warehouses, customer portals and content management systems-are giving
business users incomplete and inconsistent pictures of corporate information. 

Application silos can either be created by the separation of data among
systems, different application sets with their own data set, or by a combination
thereof. Two different business units of an enterprise can have the same
application installed, however, their data separation can create silos that lead
to loss of business or lack of efficiency.
For example, an insurance provider enterprise which has two business
units, one concentrating on automobile insurance and other concentrating on home
insurance, may each use a CRM application to record information about their
customers.  However, if the CRM data
remains separated between these two systems, the insurance provider may not be
efficient in reaching out the customers of one unit only.

Applications that serve different purposes in an enterprise can create
application silos that can restrict the growth and success of enterprises.  The need to integrate multiple applications, including
various combinations of those, is large.  For
example, incompatibility among products being using simultaneously are stored in
a product catalog/product lifecycle Management system, use of this information
to a CRM/sales order entry system is critical, when customers procure new
products over a course of time.  Lack
of this information can lead to high customer dissatisfaction and result in
enterprise success.

Historically, systems have been developed in silos and are driven by
individual, isolated business needs. This has led to rigid architectures,
multiple technologies and difficult custom integration challenges among others. 

Utilizing Silo Data

As the business environment is getting more competitive, it is
putting pressure on enterprises to increase the utility of the information
stored in these application silos. As a result the organizational emphasis has
now shifted from making employees 'efficient to effective' by creating
business value from enterprise data. Being 'effective' means, firstly,
retrieving the information locked in sets of disparate transaction silos.
Secondly, delivering the information to users at all levels in the organization
and empowering them to make better business decisions. In a nutshell, the idea
is to bring transactional data closer to the point of business action-where
the real value of this information resides. 

Ironically, the information stored in the silos is specific to certain
applications or transactions and as such there is hardly any connect between the
data in each silo. As a result, many enterprises find it increasingly difficult
to reconcile, organize and integrate their disconnected application silos
thereby failing to get transactional data closer to the user. 

Issues with Disconnected Data

In this context, experts are of the opinion that individually accessing a
bunch of silos with different tools is not as good as having an integrated
information platform in place. This presents a single place where you can get
the data you need, when you need it, how you need it. In simple terms the whole
is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.

Search for Solutions

Towards this endeavour, organizations these days are seeking to
standardise on information-oriented applications that can transform disparate
transactional data into information that is easily used by different types of
business users. These applications allow users to apply intelligent insights
derived from transactional information to daily business operations that help in
decision-making.

Opinions apart, the search is on for an information application platform that
is consistent with the evolving needs of organizations. In this discussion the
need is to transform transactional data into interactive and intuitive formats
of choice that are easily consumed by all types of users. 

The Possible Answer

As we discuss these things, technology has come up with something that is
seen as a possible solution to the problems faced by information users. Cross
applications as they are called, are already dubbed as the future of enterprise
application software. These applications cut across the silos of traditional ERP,
CRM, and SCM packages to respond to queries a single database cannot answer. In
other words, cross applications address a functionality need that isn't yet
fully automated.

Interestingly, cross applications are a well-established trend among major
vendors as an extension strategy for their mainstream applications. For
instance, SAP AG calls it xApps. Similarly, other vendors have their own
proprietary names to this information-oriented platform. 

Built on existing applications that reside within or across enterprise
boundaries, cross applications connect, automate, and improve specific business
processes to fuel business innovation. These composite applications leverage an
organization's existing IT infrastructure and help maximize the value of
strategic assets. However, the application's robustness and effectiveness is
dependant on the architecture it sits on. Ideally, the architecture should
provide an infrastructure that is independent of the underlying applications so
that the user can effectively create and execute entirely new cross-functional
processes from disparate, distributed data resources to support corporate
strategies.

Creating Value

With an increasing focus being placed on creating value for the business
user, these information-oriented platforms are doing more than simply bridge the
gap between information islands. They also provide greater clarity to return on
investment by making it more transparent to the business. One of the best ways
to achieve demonstrable RoI is to deliver unquestionable benefits to business
users. This means making the information they need easily accessible to them.

Maximizing Returns

The best way to achieve this is to empower business users with tools and
technologies that unlock the potential of corporate information to make better
revenue-generating decisions.

Today, information held in transactional application silos holds the key to
understanding operational efficiency as well as operational effectiveness at all
levels in the enterprise. From the CEO to the shop floor worker everybody should
have quick, easy and consistent access to this information to unlock the
intelligence of these silos. Hence, it is apt to say that the future of
enterprise applications does not reside in individual silos but in making those
silos disappear.

Though enterprises have tried to solve the issue by having more analysis and
reporting tools, there has been mixed success. In such a scenario, a better
option is to have integrated information access and delivery architecture such
as cross applications that provides decision makers with information at the
critical point of business action.

Notice that as business requirements change, the nature of IT architecture is
also undergoing a change. In this case, the shift has been from application
silos to enterprise solutions.

Shekar Chandrasekaran

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

The author is vice president, International Operations at Bristlecone