The Challenge of Integrating Packaged Applications
Not only can data improve the efficiency & profitability of data-driven processes such as targeted marketing campaigns, customer support, product development, and more, but entirely new business models are arising from organizations leveraging their data assets to strategic advantage.
As a result, organizations are seeing the need to manage and govern this critical business asset – data. Just as finance and accounting departments are put into place to manage the final assets of an organization, data governance teams are required to manage the firm’s data assets.
Data governance typically focuses on the people, processes and policies that drive a data-driven culture. These soft skills are critical but successful data governance programs must also take more technical considerations into account.
The importance of ERP and CRM data
CRM and ERP systems contain some of the most valuable data assets in the organization around customers, sales, campaigns, accounts payable, and more. Achieving a comprehensive view of systems such as these, however, is a daunting task due to their size and the high degree of complexity required to execute their business processes. These two conflicting aspects are what often create frustration and challenges in many organizations—while these systems contain some of the most valuable information, they are also the most difficult to decipher.
The ability to discover and share the metadata from your ERP and CRM packages is critical to your data governance program.
This whitepaper, by Donna Burbank, provides an overview of data governance and shows how to bring together both the business and technical aspects to deliver value
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