Informatica-Hosted Experts Panel Points To Transformative Power Of Integration Competency Centers

Executives from Best Buy, VeriSign and Waste Management discussed benefits of a centralized approach to data integration at recent TDWI conference

REDWOOD CITY, Calif, June 7, 2004—Complexity drives the need, while people—as much as technology—drive success. So said an Informatica-hosted panel of IT experts meeting at The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) World Conference, Spring 2004 in May to discuss the rapidly emerging trend of enterprise-level Integration Competency Centers (ICC), or centers of excellence. An ICC is a centralized IT approach that proliferates specialized skills, processes and technology needed to complete data integration projects across an organization rapidly and cost efficiently. 

The ICC panel was moderated by Gary Beach, publisher and president of CIO magazine, and included experts from Best Buy, VeriSign and Waste Management.  The panelists—all customers of Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA)—addressed the business drivers behind the ICC trend, individual experiences with establishing an ICC, ROI results, and tips for success. An Informatica survey of TDWI Spring attendees confirmed this trend, with 58 percent indicating they either have an ICC or will implement one by 2006.

Concluding that the centralized approach to integration is a "transformative process" with enormous potential for cutting the costs and increasing the value of data integration projects, the experts agreed that the biggest challenge—and greatest payback driver—lies in transforming organizational culture and individual mindsets. 

"Launching an ICC is a big 'change initiative'. If you approach it that way, it can be very successful," said panelist John Schmidt, vice president of integration at Best Buy. "There is no end state, so you focus on sustainable process and procedure and really think about how to manage change. The biggest problems lie in trying to alter attitudes and getting people to let go of work they've always done themselves." 

During the roundtable, the panelists also said that while top management buy-in is essential, an ICC cannot be established successfully by mandate. As Patrick Nolan, MIS project manager at VeriSign expressed, "We can change processes, but we also have to change people or it doesn't work." Instead of "draconian policies" dictated from above, an ICC needs to be "built up organically" and its successes aggressively marketed for people to see the business value, embrace the concept, and help accelerate its acceptance across the enterprise. 

Whether from cost savings, repeatability, or new efficiencies, panelists agreed that once ICC-driven ROI is established, it builds rapidly. The panelists spoke of how integration platforms are now so easy to use, that an explosion of developer productivity is underway at each company. Schmidt described how Best Buy's ICC developed a generalized framework for building interfaces for business application adapters, and in doing so cut the per-unit cost from $25,000 to $5,000. "We've built 700 of those over the past 18 months. Do the math, there's many millions in that."

Panelists also provided advice for sustaining ICC success, including: address small pieces at a time ("don't try to boil the ocean") and keep delivery cycles tight. "We try to break all projects into a series of small deliverables that can be completed and deployed every two to four weeks," said Dave Rajala, managing director of enterprise reporting at Waste Management, adding that they can easily refine the work if necessary.

"Leading analysts have projected that half of all large enterprises will have an ICC by year-end 2005, a projection in line with the results of our own TDWI Spring survey," said David Lyle, vice president of product strategy at Informatica. "As early adopters of the ICC approach, the companies on Informatica's TDWI panel are providing a roadmap for others to follow-build organically, not despotically; focus on demonstrating business value; and work on transforming cultures and attitudes in order to accelerate success. Following these guidelines for centralized, enterprise-wide ICCs will help enable companies to optimally leverage their technology tools."    

About Informatica
Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) is a leading provider of data integration software. Using Informatica products, companies can access, integrate, visualize, and audit their enterprise information assets to help improve business performance, increase customer profitability, streamline supply chain operations and proactively manage regulatory compliance. More than 2,000 companies worldwide rely on Informatica for their end-to-end enterprise data integration needs. For more information, call 1.650.385.5000 (1.800.970.1179 in the U.S.), or visit www.informatica.com.

Note: Informatica is a trademark of Informatica Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other company and product names may be trade names or trademarks of their respective owners.