How to Integrate Different Company Systems Without Huge Costs?
In companies, it is often a big challenge how to interconnect data and the different systems where that data is located. I will briefly present how we tackled this challenge in easy.bi and what we have achieved.
Usually, companies need the so-called ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) for their smooth operation, which in translation means planning the company’s resources and is intended to control the company’s operations. Most often, it is an accounting system that enables business management with various software solutions (for example, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Infor …). At the same time, companies also need the so-called CRM system (Customer Relationship Management), which is intended for customer relationship management and with which the company manages content, relationships and contacts with customers, etc.
What to do with the multitude of island solutions?
These are two very powerful tools in their own right, but in practice it turns out that a few additional tools need to be used in order for a company to successfully manage and capture all their specific work processes. Therefore, the company soon has a whole range of so-called island solutions, which means that each segment has its own solution, but all these solutions are not integrated with each other and are not comprehensive. An additional challenge arises as the same data starts to appear in several different separate places, which is very inadequate in terms of quality. A typical example is online stores or eCommerce, as companies have all the data in their systems on the one hand, and on the other hand the data is also stored in the system through which the online store operates, with both so-called “island” systems they are not connected.
How did we tackle the challenge?
At easy.bi, we basically deal with products in a very integrated way. We always consider how we can come up with the most effective solution and it usually turns out that the first step is connectivity. To this end, we have developed our own system, called One Data Service (1ds), which connects all the previously mentioned systems together and ensures that they know how to “talk” to each other.
Similar solutions exist on the market, but the challenge is that they are an extremely expensive investment, because it is always necessary to make a very custom solution. From this point of view, for many companies, this is meaningless in terms of comparing the costs and benefits of integration, so they stick to dispersed solutions.
At easy.bi, on the other hand, we tackled the challenge with a different approach to networking. Namely, we have developed a technological solution that has all the connections ready, so that it is possible to connect different systems or the specific “languages” used by these systems can be connected much faster and achieve a different way of integration, which does not require extensive individual customizations for each user, but can intelligently connect and customize a company’s systems much faster and at much lower cost. and challenges.
Integration via One Data Service system in practice
The mode of operation will be clearer if I illustrate it with a concrete example. One of our clients uses the SAP ERP system and has a huge number of teams in the field every day. Previously, it had data stored in several systems that were not interconnected, which made it impossible for the customer to manage its sales and operational processes as efficiently as possible.
We approached the integration in such a way that we divided one service process into sub-processes and sub-process steps. The first step is, say, that a certain team goes to the field and does something there. When this work is done, the next team comes and arranges their part again. The challenge was that a lot of information was separate and unrelated, so we provided the customer with a tool that monitors all these processes and allows mobile retrieval of all input and output data, giving us a comprehensive overview.
In this way, the integrated system regulates the entire planning of the teams, the teams exchange real information from the field, at hand. They have all the necessary documentation as everything is digitized. In addition, the system even learns and anticipates what all needs to be taken with them, how much material is needed for a particular job, the exchange also receives immediate feedback and can monitor the progress of each project implementation in real time.
It therefore follows that the overall quality of the company’s performance has improved significantly.
Do you know the true value of properly archived information?
An additional advantage that I would like to mention based on this example is that the system also creates an archive of the entire process flow.. Namely, the value of archived information that can help in further decision-making is often neglected. This method provides an accurate insight into the project as a whole and provides information on how successful the steps were. Decision makers thus have tangible data at hand to create a holistic picture. From a data quality point of view, for example, they have real data, what is the quality of a team, how much time they spend on a particular job, in short, the system allows them to comprehensively measure efficiency and make informed future decisions.
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