The sad truth is that the idea of “integrated” software is, more often than not, just that: an idea. The idea is a good one – take different software programs (tools, really), and make them somehow talk to each other so they can share information.
Generally, the idea is accomplished through a device called a process bridge, which is another program (or programs) whose job it is to try to identify those pieces of information that have changed between two different databases, and to somehow put them back into sync.
Certainly a reasonable idea, if you’re trying to “integrate” two different products. The real horror occurs as you add products and capabilities. Each new product that needs to be “integrated” increases the complexity by an order of magnitude, until finally a builder can spend more time managing the information flow between his “integrated” software modules than building houses!
Think about it this way: how many places in your company does the customer’s name appear? It’s in the sales system, the construction system, the purchasing system, the warranty system, the accounting system, the scheduling system, not to mention the hundreds of spreadsheets you’ll still have to use to try to keep everything together. What are the odds that all of those different databases have exactly the same name? What happens when the name changes or is typed incorrectly? How much work do you have to do to straighten it out?
The Bottom Line
But that’s really just the start. Using a single software product across the enterprise reduces costs and improves efficiency at every turn. For example, “look and feel” are identical from one function to the next, significantly reducing training costs and improving cross-training capability. Maintenance costs are dramatically reduced, as is maintenance effort when there’s only one package to update. And troubleshooting problems between modules is eliminated; with one product, you always know exactly where the problem lies, and have one single help desk for support.
On the other hand, the more separate products with separate databases you try to factor into the mix, the more work you and your staff have to do to keep it all in sync. That’s work that you’re not doing to improve quality, or increase sales, or reduce cycle time. It’s wasted work. And in this industry, no builder survives by wasting time.