Manufacturers & Distributors ARTICLE -
Systems Integration:
There Are No Quick Fixes
Target Audience: Manufacturing and Distribution Companies, M&D Industry, Manufacturing IT, Manufacturing Accounting Department, Management Personnel, Accounting & Consulting Firm Interest, Business Analyzers & Researchers
Manufacturers are under pressure to expand their technology to speed production, increase communication and enhance the bottom line. To be effective, such technology must be accurate, robust and reliable, but it also must be integrated.
You may have phased computer systems into your operations by department or business unit, addressing the most pressing needs as time and money allowed. Each system accomplishes its original purpose, but as time passes it becomes evident that you must link the systems together to be fully effective.
That’s when the problems begin, particularly in an age of mergers and acquisitions that requires two enterprise systems to communicate not only with each other but also with each company’s disparate internal systems.
Crash Course in System Intergration
The best solution may be to scrap your current systems and start over, but the cost of doing so often is prohibitive. Thus, your information technology (IT) team may be forced to create reliable networks among warehouse, transportation and business systems that never were designed to work together.
Unfortunately, such integrations are fragile at best. In fact, they can crash easily and are difficult to maintain and to scale to handle more information or additional subsystems.
Work-Arounds May Not Work When Intergrating
Too often, cost-conscious manufacturers try to leave some systems — the ones that are working well — untouched, developing custom codes or “work-arounds” to integrate them with other systems. But work-arounds work only as long as nothing changes, and they often require disconnects and redundancies that detract from the overall efficiencies that are the reason for integrating in the first place. For example, a work-around that lets accounts receivable staff view billing files isn’t a timesaver if it requires the staff to re-enter identical data into the A/R system.
A quick-fix solution is to buy another select system. But it then must be integrated into the whole, and the process starts over again — with even more systems to corral. Again, a better solution is to blend all applications into a single network, even if that requires altering problem-free systems.
Use Details to Relieve Pain
The integration can be less painful with some care and attention to details. A successful integration relies on an understanding of the desired software interrelationships, communications protocols and information transfer logistics. Only after you’ve established your basic goals can your attention turn to how best to reach them.
Look first at how information currently travels through your company: Are sales reps using individual contact databases and relying on e-mail to forward information to the shop?
Next, consider how information should move: If the warehouse needs to know how many of a certain product to expect in the next week, can the foreman find out through his or her computer?
Third, research how you got to where you are now: Who made the decisions? Why? Were all the appropriate people consulted? If you want different outcomes in the future, you can’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
And, when it’s time for wholesale integration, it’s probably also time to consult an experienced outside technology consultant. Even the finest internal IT department is unlikely to understand all the possible applications or to recognize all the potential problems associated with integration. Outside providers can offer an invaluable objective perspective, based on knowledge and experience.
Do it Right the First Time
Some manufacturers faced with what seems an impossible challenge simply throw up their hands and declare they don’t need integration. They’re wrong. The need to stay competitive in a global, rapidly changing marketplace gives you little choice but to rely on integrated computer systems.
Systems integration may not always be pleasant, but change is rarely pain-free. When it comes to integration, doing it right the first time can make adapting to change much less stressful in the future.
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