Data integrators face many problems, but none is tougher to deal with than disparate data sources.
Companies often support between five and eight different database technologies, and 50 different sources of data from the operational side, according to Kevin Strange, vice president and research director at Gartner.
One reason is the Balkanization that occurs when departments jealously guard their own fiefdoms. But this can result in very real costs to the company, as it did with an insurer that offered both vehicle and home insurance.
According to Strange, the company had taken out a series of space ads, asking customers who held homeowners policies to call and get a special rate on auto insurance.
Of course, if that data had been available in a centralized location, the insurer could have made a series of outbound calls rather than relying on mass marketing.
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