Let's get real about building a better customer data model (page 3 of 3)

The number of product inquiry calls has dropped by 25 percent, and pay-on-delivery (POD) inbound calls have dropped by 14 percent.

And the financial close cycle has been reduced by two days. "The biggest benefits have yet to be realized," says Jim Johnson, Master Lock's director of IS. "This is a foundation that will continue to be leveraged for cost- effective business growth."

Expert View
What are the technology and business issues to consider if you're thinking about trying to integrate your various applications with the Oracle E-Business Suite and take advantage of the Oracle Customer Data Hub?

The Big Picture. "Think not so much in terms of what to integrate but how to exploit integration to handle business processes more efficiently," says Benjamin Grosof, assistant professor of information technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management. "Otherwise, you lose the best opportunities to boost productivity."

"CIOs should review their corporate architecture every year and ask themselves, 'What do I want it to look like three years from now?'" says Bruce Richardson, senior vice president of research at AMR Research, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Getting Buy-in From Users. Breaking projects into discrete chunks and beginning in areas in which there is clear user demand ensures a smoother transition, according to Richardson. "For example, companies may want to start with portals or data analytics, where their users can see the benefits more easily."

Technical Detail. "Companies should be aware that in a few years, the big tool for data management will be XML data management engines— so they should start building their expertise now," says Grosof.

In a dynamic company in which business information changes frequently, linking business services rather than investing in customized coding will be more effective, asserts Judith Hurwitz, president of Hurwitz Consulting, in an April 22, 2003, column in CIO magazine.

"Companies considering the Oracle Customer Hub should look at their existing middleware strategy and determine if there is a standard, whether that standard integrates with the Oracle Application Server 10g, and whether it is used purely for messaging and data integration or for process integration," adds Gartner's Wood.

Return on Investment. Of course, it's always valuable to consider ROI. "Exploiting this integration can be seen as a good dividend on the amount of time and money you spend implementing your ERP system," says Grosof. And leveraging your IT investment is always good—especially when you're on the rebound.