Flexibility
Customer Innovation with Software AG software solutions
Business case
Picture this…. You are the chief information officer of a telecommunications firm. Your company is growing. Your IT runs well. The core of your business is your accounting system software. It processes more than 12 million invoices per year, 400 different rates and hardly ever makes a mistake. It is a home-grown system, and you are happy
with it.
But suddenly your mood changes. You read in the newspaper that your competitor has expanded its direct distribution activities through its Internet site. In addition, it has guaranteed all customers who spend more than 100 euros per month zero-wait privileges at the call center.
You had already thought of this. But your accounting system isn’t linked to your website. A small innovative Web firm takes care of it. To enable Internet ordering, you would have to connect the two software systems and probably redo your Web pages. But you just spent a lot of money updating your site.
Plus, to promise your top customers no wait, your call center software would have to recognize your customers and their monthly balances. You’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but the data on average sales per customer is stored in your CRM system and not in the accounting system.
Sometimes you think about replacing your IT systems with a package solution. But your experience in this field says, “Never change a running system.“ It takes too long, costs to much and poses too many risks. The heart of your business is the customized accounting system.
Technology
A few days later, while reading the newspaper, you read about a new way to connect software solutions. Bridges can be built between systems, which allow data to be exchanged and processes to be adapted quickly to changing business needs. Not a single existing system has to be shut down or replaced.
In your case, the solution would link your accounting system, your Internet site and your call center. Customers could go to your website, find the calling plan they want and order it online. Your products and invoices would all be generated automatically. If a customer with an inquiry calls, the call-center employee has immediate access to that customer’s data and can therefore help him or her efficiently and competently.
IT terms
SOA/BPM; SOA governance; integration of heterogeneous IT systems, replace IT silos with process-centric workflows.
Products
webMethods Suite
