Real Innovation Begins and Ends with Integration

March 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Email

1How often have we engaged in a truly innovative process that leaves us in no doubt that we have entered a new era? Not very often I’d wager, especially on a daily basis. If we look at how business services are designed, there’s a massive disconnect between what happens at the consumer facing front-end and the servicing back-end.

  • A consumer sees an apartment they’d like to buy. They reach for their mobile device and decide to try the new mobile mortgage application process. They proceed through the steps only to be asked to print, sign and send in the form.
  • You need to submit your expense claim. You complete the form online, which requires to be authorized by your boss. Only, when they’ve done this you’re then notified by email to print off the form and post it in with paper receipts stuck to a sheet to be manually scanned in at the office.

Everywhere you look there are broken processes and promises. The disconnected enterprise is all very apparent and so is the lack of true innovation.

Connected trends, disconnected

Look at the graphic at the top of the article. I chose this on purpose because it typically represents how we view integration: a collection of jigsaw pieces that must fit together. Forrester talks of interoperability, integration brokers and interconnection, building and making use of component and business service APIs, and the ever present enterprise message bus, but we are far from delivering a truly connected enterprise. If you followed a consumer process from start to finish you would be amazed at just how many touch points occurred from a system perspective, how many times data is passed from one service to another, and the data transformation needed to make it fit for purpose for each application before moving on. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Integration Tagged With: , , , ,

How Innovation in Retail Will Change Our Lives

March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Email

It was during this last holiday season when I first noticed it. While watching TV, an advertisement came on touting Walmart would now price match with competitors. Then, I read in a press release that Best Buy would now price match online competitors as well, presumably to avoid “show rooming,” the phenomena of customers coming in to try out products, then purchasing those same products online. In the context of the retail space, these are some of the biggest gorillas telling the rest of the world they acknowledge things have changed and are ready to change with it. Pretty revolutionary stuff.

The Changing Times

Price matching is just one step for the renovation of the modern retailer. The other major step will have to be customer experience.

Online retailers can offer a price. What they can’t offer are the sights, sounds, smells (hopefully pleasant ones) and sensations of an in-store experience. That being said, this hasn’t stopped them from trying.

Zappos, a successful online store, has incentivized their sales reps to spend MORE time on the phone with customers. The theory is that this extra time spent on the phone will help the company — and the customer — know just a little bit more about each other. So far, it’s working for Zappos.  Sales are off the charts. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Retail Tagged With: , , , , ,

Integration #FAIL Part 6: Integration Procrastination

February 21, 2013 by 1 Comment
Email

sleepingWaiting for a foreseeable problem and then fixing it after the fact is pointless and damaging to a company. Calculating risk and preventing an issue before it becomes one is the basis for why integration is no longer just a nice idea, but a basic IT skill, as expressed in the Gartner Predicts 2013 report. Yes, you can be gifted and get it right first time, but what are the odds? Start now. Improve. Fail. Correct. Improve. Repeat. This is what will make a company integrate and focus on the change: innovative technologies. The question is, will you buckle up before it’s too late?

Buckle Up for Safety

When driving a car, there are things we do before we begin. We put on our seat belt, we check our mirrors, and make sure we’re comfortable. We do all of this to protect ourselves in case of an emergency. The preparedness needed before we turn on the ignition is the same a company needs to have to protect its data, systems and ultimately, the business. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Integration Tagged With: , , , ,

Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery and The Cure for Big Data

January 9, 2013 by 2 Comments
Email

Pharmaceutical drug discovery can become highly problematic when a company has over a decade worth of test data that needs to be analyzed. How can you expect to visualize 10 years of pharmaceutical test data all at once? Allergan does it everyday. All around the world, whenever people come together for holidays, festivities, and just gatherings of friends and family they unintentionally bring an uninvited guest. Sicknesses and illnesses do not take holidays and get passed on at higher rates when people come together. It’s the work of pharmaceutical companies like Allergan to work year-round to keep people as safe and healthy as possible.

Allergan is a global specialty pharmaceutical company employing more than 9,000 people worldwide at world-class discovery and development facilities, as well as state-of-the-art manufacturing plants. Even the best pharmaceutical companies need the occasional [Read more...]

Filed Under: Analytics and Optimization, Spotfire, Transform Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

ACEA Has Light Bulb Moment With TIBCO

December 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Email

 

The light bulb just went off in your head and you thought of an idea. Many people trying to think of an idea can relate to the “light bulb moment.” Ideas are born every day which become timeless throughout history. Everyone knows the story of Benjamin Franklin’s idea to tie a key to the tail of a kite on a stormy night with a lightning-filled sky. That idea allowed for more research on electricity. A light bulb went off for Franklin that allowed him to prove lightning was an electrical current existing in nature. He was not the first to research electricity, but his innovative thinking inspired great improvements and inventions. Like Franklin, ACEA has had some help with a great innovative charge in the energy industry.

ACEA developed from a basic electricity company into Italy’s largest municipal utility. The company is the leading supplier of water and among the largest distributors of electrical power. Equally significant, ACEA has also evolved from a state-controlled institution into a deregulated, free-market enterprise; one whose success hangs on its ability to render services at once efficient and robust. ACEA provides more than 2.7 million residential customers with power in the Rome area, and supplies water to more than seven million people. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automation, BPM, Integration, Transform Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Like the Wright Brothers, TIBCO Helps Scandinavian Airlines Innovate in Air Travel

December 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Email

 

Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with developing and building the first successful airplane. While they were not the first to build and fly an experimental aircraft, in 1903 they were the first to innovate the revolutionary concept of fixed-wing flight. Based on this fundamental shift in essential airplane architecture, we now have airplanes that travel the globe faster and better than anyone could have ever imagined. Every airline has them to thank for their business success, and Scandinavian Airlines understands the importance of safe and comfortable travel. Scandinavian Airlines is the fourth-largest airline in Europe and transports over 23 million passengers to 92 destinations in 33 countries each year.

The airline industry might appreciate the Wright brothers for their innovations in flying, but many other processes are critical to commercial airlines including customers and passenger service. As in most industries, unseen internal processes often get taken for granted, yet are just as important. Scandinavian Airlines is known as a technology innovator within the industry. They began migrating to a service-oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructure in 2002 and now have approximately 60 to 70 services in use internally and externally. Just as every airline and pilot can be grateful for the Wright brothers, Scandinavian Airlines also appreciates the unseen help and support TIBCO provides to the company. TIBCO’s platform-neutral approach to SOA is helping the airline manage services across heterogeneous platforms – a critical success factor in their environment. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automation, Integration, SOA, Transform, Transportation and Logistics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Innovation is Child’s Play for UK Toy Giant Hamleys

November 28, 2012 by 2 Comments
Email

When does innovation start? At what age does the inspiration to innovate begin? From the early ages of childhood, kids think of new games and ways to have fun each day. Imagination and creativity is nothing new and it is not reserved for any particular age. When children play with toys, they imagine an entire new world from the moments they have the toy in their hands. A toy store is like a warehouse for imagination where potential childhood dreams can be played out with the right toy. This creativity and innovation start very young, and is carried on into adulthood to create some of the most successful businesses today. Hamleys, an internationally recognized toy retailer, knows the importance of creativity and imagination to children.  The flagship store in London has become more than a retail shop, but a tourist attraction itself due to the imaginative wonders inside. The retailer receives over five million visitors a year, of all ages. Hamleys is not just this seven-story wonder world in London, as their stores span eight countries, creating a global network that promotes imagination and innovation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Industries, Retail Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What Can’t You Do Without? TIBCO: The Easy Button For Business

November 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Email

 

What things can’t you do without? Other than the necessities, what is important to your everyday life? Some people would say television, Internet, an iPod, or their cell phone. In today’s world, we all have certain things that we use daily to make our lives easier. Many of the things that we value so much today did not even exist 50 years ago, but that is the power of innovation. We have new tools to handle our problems more quickly and make life easier. In many ways, technology has become the easy button for life. Just as much as we often look for an easy button in our daily lives, companies sometimes need an easy button for business.

Founded in 1939, Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company is a market leader in providing benefit solutions to customers. They pride themselves in excellence in communications, enrollments, service, and services that can help employers and employees. Colonial Life is a leading national provider of voluntary benefits to over 70,000 companies faced the challenge of a large volume of paperwork, modifying payment methods, altering billing frequencies, and other workflow issues. At Colonial Life, there was no easy button to prioritize work in their manual environment. That is, there was no easy button until Colonial Life turned to TIBCO. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automation, Healthcare Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

TIBCO Innovates in Real Time for Global Carrier CargoSmart

November 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Email

 

“Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.” Bill Gates uttered these words and they could not be truer for TIBCO. The famously successful businessman is no stranger to innovation, and today there is great promise for new and exciting technological advancements. As a leading provider of infrastructure software, TIBCO knows it is important to innovate and help other companies innovate to become event-enabled enterprises. One such company is Hong Kong-based CargoSmart Limited, an ocean-carrier transportation portal that allows customers to master the challenging “end-to-end” shipping process that requires multi-carrier shipping to connect seller and buyer.

Gates’ words are not just inspiring, but an idea CargoSmart realizes is vital to the success in the transportation industry. Not only does innovation promise to bring “so much to so many” in this day and age, but CargoSmart has to ensure that their shipments are being received by “so many” of their customers in a timely and efficient manner. CargoSmart uses a TIBCO-based platform to create products and respond to events in real time. Also, CargoSmart built a collaborative platform for the company on tibbr – TIBCO’s social computing tool for the workplace. Because of TIBCO’s help, CargoSmart has the ability to cut transportation management costs, automate and streamline operations, and reduce the risk of late or mismanaged shipments. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Event Processing, Transportation and Logistics, Two-Second Advantage Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Upgrading to Google-Like Speeds – UK Governmental Department Gets Real Time

October 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Email

 

Google something. Chances are you can find the answers you want before you finish reading this sentence. In fact, have you ever noticed Google times itself to see how fast it can produce results? In only 0.11 seconds, Google produced over 5 million results from a search of TIBCO. In today’s world, everyone wants information fast. No one wants to wait hours, days or weeks to receive the information they are looking for. With the instantaneity of emails, the Internet, and TIBCO, the world is moving at a much quicker pace. The UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) knows this well, and refuses to let innovation zoom past.

DVLA is an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport that maintains registrations of drivers and vehicles. The UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency faces the challenge of handling large volumes of forms and transactions quickly, but there are exceptions. Exceptions relating to medical conditions are passed to the Drivers Medical Group (DMG). The DMG relied heavily on document imaging systems to deal with paperwork, but the system previously in place became outdated which limited the capability to share cases between departments. The DMG needed something new; the company needed help. Imagine running a Google search and having to wait for someone to deal with your inquiry by hand, and then deliver you the information in the mail. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automation, BPM, Government Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts