Data Integration Strategy

For the majority of data management initiatives I’ve seen that have failed to meet expectations, most of have resulted from a lack of strategic planning.  I’m not talking about big picture strategic planning akin to a McKinsey or Bain effort.  The strategy effort I’m talking about involves surveying the business to determine if, where, and how to deploy a data solution, then setting the parameters that will guide the technical implementation (assuming the decision is made to go forward).  My sense is that this step is skipped for one of two reasons:

1. Management isn’t aware of this step in the process
2. The perception of a “strategy process”, particularly within IT, is of a costly, long drawn out affair that produces zero value while killing numerous trees

Both of these issues can be overcome via education.  The most powerful message is that a data centric strategy does not need to take months nor cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  For most small to midsized businesses, and even for business units of larger corporations, the strategic direction can be formulated with one working session between business and IT representatives, with follow ups via e-mail and conference call/web meeting.  The most important decision, go/no-go, should be obvious to all participants at the conclusion of the working session based on the opportunities identified and the readiness of both business and technical groups to take on an initiative of this magnitude.  Assuming the decision is to go forward, the project team should have the data required to formulate a business plan and roadmap, which can be refined and finalized without the need for another time consuming all-hands meeting.

For more details download my white paper (Data Integration Strategy).

This entry was posted on 13. May 2008 at 08:14 and is filed under Technical Focus, Business Focus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.