Information technology can be a highly frustrating field. Much like doctors that spend years training for every possible eventuality, learning the complicated worlds of anatomy, physiology, disease, and antibiotics who are then forced to spend their days treating nothing more interesting than a series of runny noses the IT support professional often learns about software, hardware, networking, and programming. They are then forced to do little more than handle the same repetitious, banal problems.
This can become especially true in a BPM or SOA business, where minor breakdowns in the technological infrastructure are both common and important. The IT team becomes so consumed with putting out fires, they do not have time to address the fundamental causes or engage in revenue generating activities. This method decreases profits, wastes valuable resources, and creates a frustrating, expensive atmosphere where talented people are not weeding out the core of the problem but rather doing nothing more than cutting back the most problematic parts; only to have them sprout up again where they must be again trimmed back.
The solution: Business Integration Outsourcing.
Business Integration Outsourcing Increases Productivity
Integration solutions – like BPM and SOA – are expensive. The advantage to Business Integration Outsourcing for your BPM or SOA solution is that the support staff – namely the IT professionals – are no longer needed for every minor crisis within the process. Their time is not spent rushing from site to site fixing the same problem, barely keeping their heads above water and making no real headway in the grand scheme of the business as a whole. While the business continues to run, it is doing so only by keeping these highly trained and skilled individuals in a constant state of panic. Their time is spent on late-night calls that detract from their overall effectiveness.
When these calls no longer go to the core IT staff, those individuals are then able to spend their time on developing long-term projects, achieving broader goals, and finding improvements that streamline the efficacy of every person in the company through technological advancement. They no longer have to try to hold the system together with duct tape and willpower. The employees will be happier working in an area that challenges them and forces them to think creatively and integrate more fully into the business. Just as a doctor whose skills are finally tested after years of battling with the common cold, you will see an immense increase in the devotion of these employees and upswing in their output.
Business Integration Outsourcing Reduces Cost
By handing off the BPM and SOA problems to an independent professional, the IT staff can then be reduced to a qualified core instead of employing a vast army that runs from calamity to calamity just trying to stay on top of the current problem sweeping through the company. This more specialized core group can be helping to generate revenue as well as cut costs throughout the operation. They will be doing what an IT department is intended to do, which is help the company achieve its goals rather than merely keeping it afloat.
In addition to a reducing the number of employees that are needed to handle the day to day operations, Business Integration Outsourcing for a BPM or SOA business helps maintain a flat rate of payment for handling the integration processes. Whereas an IT department might need to be paid overtime for their services at odd hours or whenever there is a breakdown, there is also the added benefit of a single fee to be paid to the third party contractor. That fee does not fluctuate no matter how heavy their workload or how many fires they have to put out. The cost is constant and predictable, which is always preferable to the unlimited overtime paid to company employees or outside contractors to fix simple problems.
Business Integration Outsourcing Creates Consistency
In addition to the flat fee for the integration specialists to assist with the BPM and SOA processes, there is the added functionality that comes with knowing the business is protected by experts. Often, if the IT department is solely responsible for handling the multitude of small problems that arise within the company, products and services suffer as the core business structure works at an unpredictable level of productivity. Having experts to supervise the small problems allows the business to work at a consistent rate, never dipping below the expectations of its customers and thereby losing business.
Not having to rely on the often overworked IT team also means that problems can be addressed more quickly by specialists. This not only prevents overuse of the IT department of a BPM or SOA, but allows all employees to have their problems addressed more quickly and more efficiently than can be accomplished by an in-house IT team. Therefore employees within the business are able to return to their jobs more quickly without their output dipping, overtime being needed, and productivity coming to a standstill due to a minor technical error.
Business integration can be an enormous burden on every employee, and while the benefits certainly outweigh the risks, a BPM or SOA structure can collapse from the death of a thousand cuts as the Information Technology department tries in vain to stop the bleeding of time and resources that occurs from trying to run everything from within the company. Business Integration Outsourcing to a highly specialized, highly developed Business Integration group keeps work consistent, productivity high, and costs at a minimum. It also allows your employees to do what they do best rather than having to spend time repairing every malfunction. When they are challenged to do their best, rather than fighting against a constant stream of banal little hiccups, they will display ingenuity, productivity, and revenue far above expectations.