Application and Systems Integration - Kane Koval Associates


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application and systems integration

In an effort to automate their workflows and business processes, many companies look to new software applications for salvation. For larger companies, enterprise-wide systems promise true end-to-end process automation by integrating all aspects of a business from sales and accounting to inventory management and shipping. In addition, these systems can be extremely flexible, usually giving companies the ability to uniquely customize the solution to their particular needs and business processes.

Unfortunately, implementing a new ERP, MRP, or CRM system is a very costly and often overwhelming project even for large, well-established companies with considerable financial resources; for lesser companies, a poorly managed implementation can — and invariably does — lead to significant trouble. Customization of these systems comes at a very high price as well.

For companies without the resources to even consider an enterprise-wide solution, the obvious alternative is to purchase separate, function-specific software programs for sales, order processing, accounting, etc. The good news here is that at the very least this approach provides each individual department within the company the benefits that their particular application has to offer (e.g., common task automation, centralized data, ease of retrieval, information sharing amongst department employees, etc.), and gains in departmental efficiency and productivity ultimately benefit the company as a whole.

The primary problem with function-specific software, however, is precisely what ERP systems were designed to address: information on departmental 'islands', effectively cut-off from the rest of the company. For companies in this situation, almost invariably the same customer information (to use one example) is being keyed into several different function-specific applications in different departments and by different people, resulting in duplicated effort and an increased likelihood of error.

We suspect that, if your business is like most other small- and medium-sized businesses, it's unlikely you can afford, or necessarily even need, an enterprise-wide software system. It's very likely, however, that you have two or three software applications that, if integrated, would streamline your business and reduce your costs significantly.

Before you buy yet another software product in an effort to achieve automation enlightenment, call today to find out how we can help you get the most out of the systems you already have in place.

Contact us to find out more. We have offices in Ann Arbor and Royal Oak, and we serve all of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan.