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Informatica Research Reveals Keys To Data Migration Success

Comprehensive study pinpoints why 84 percent of all Global 2000 data migration projects fail to come in on budget or time

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., December 12, 2007—Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), a leading provider of data integration software, today announced findings from an independent research study it commissioned Bloor Research to undertake on the data migration market. The total budget for data migration projects undertaken by just Global 2000 companies in 2007 is set to break the $5 billion mark, rising to $8 billion by 2012, yet 64 percent of these projects are not delivered on time and 37 percent experience serious budget overruns that boost project costs by an average of 30 percent, according to the study. The research also reveals how this trend of data migration failures can be entirely reversible.

According to the study, data migration time and cost overruns can be substantially reduced or even eliminated through preventive actions and the application of appropriate disciplines-including data governance, on-going data quality programs, focused migration methodologies, and the up-front use of data profiling and analysis techniques.

"The Bloor study paints a portrait of a fast-growing market pivotal to numerous strategic business initiatives, from mergers and acquisitions to large-scale applications projects, single business views and compliance. Yet it is a market challenged by inadequate methodologies, poor project scoping, and insufficient understanding and usage of available tools," said Girish Pancha, general manager, enterprise data integration business unit, Informatica. "As data migration projects are invariably keystones in larger, over-arching application projects, it is imperative that proper disciplines, methodologies and tools be embraced so that the broader application projects do not also falter or fail."

Key findings
The research involved interviewing more than 700 Forbes Global 2000 companies with respect to data migration projects budgeted at $1 million or more. The following are among the study’s key project-related findings:

  • Despite the enormous criticality of data migration projects, only 16 percent of them studied could be viewed as unqualified successes-i.e.: exhibiting neither time nor cost overruns.
  • Where there were time overruns, they averaged in excess of 40 percent of the total budgeted time-a fact attributed, at least in part, to improper scoping of the project.
  • Where there were cost overruns, they averaged in excess of 30 percent of the total budgeted cost-again attributed, at least in part, to improper scoping. With the projects in the study budgeted originally at $1+ million, an average 30 percent cost overrun indicates large unplanned budgetary expenditure.
  • A mere 10 percent of companies interviewed used data profiling tools to better understand their data and data sources before scoping their projects-thus exposing themselves to "unexpected problems," coupled with the inability to establish realistic project timescales and budgets.
  • Hand-coding is still the most prevalent "tool" in data migration projects-which can prove to be error prone and inadequate.

Recommendations
Based on these and other findings, the study recommends the following preventive measures and actions:

  • Implement data governance across the enterprise so that the location, nature and condition of enterprise data is always properly understood. This includes extending data governance to any acquired organization prior to undertaking a data migration.
  • Implement data quality initiatives so that data is maintained at a high level of migration-readiness, in addition to the numerous other benefits of ensured data quality.
  • Profile and analyze all data sources in advance using a proper tool in order to fully understand the scope of data issues that will be encountered including how they may impact project timelines and costs.
  • Ensure full familiarity with, and training in the use of, any tools, prior to commencing the project.

First comprehensive sizing of the global market
In addition to project-related findings and recommendations, the study encompasses the first comprehensive sizing and forecast of the data migration market as it pertains to the Forbes Global 2000 and projects budgeted in excess of $1 million. Among the findings and projections:

  • Global 2000 companies spent at least $5 billion on software and services in 2007 on data migrations.
  • This will grow to more than $8 billion by 2012.
  • The US is currently the leading investor in data migration activities and will continue to be throughout the projection period, followed by Japan.
  • Application implementation accounts for 54 percent of data migration activities, followed by application instance consolidation (20 percent) and application upgrade (13 percent).

"Data migration clearly constitutes a huge and growing market, yet it is routinely ignored by analysts and rarely thought of as a market in its own right. This needs to change in order to break the vicious cycle of late and overrun data migrations," said Philip Howard, Research Director, Bloor Research. "The attention paid to data migration and the status of people involved needs to be elevated, and the industry must foster best practice models and agreed methodologies that can drive more timely and effective migrations and help establish data migration as its own discipline."

The complete data migration research study can be accessed at www.informatica.com/solutions/integration/migration/default.htm

About Bloor Research
Bloor Research (www.bloor-research.com) is a leading IT research firm based in the United Kingdom.

About Informatica
Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) is a leading provider of enterprise data integration software and services. With Informatica, organizations can gain greater business value by integrating all their information assets from across the enterprise. More than 2,900 companies worldwide rely on Informatica to reduce the cost and expedite the time to address data integration needs of any complexity and scale. For more information, call 650-385-5000 (1-800-653-9871 in the U.S.), or visit www.informatica.com.

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