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Ask the Experts about CRM Integration
With Matt Parks, Sylvain Duford, and Joe Arumainayagam
Ever watch your mechanic work on your car? Except for a cursory peek under the
hood, most of us trust the job to get done, and done well.
Similarly, we hear about and see the benefits of enterprise applications for
customer relationship management. But integrating them with legacy systems is
more than routine.
Imagine the transition from working on the highly mechanical engine of a 1974
Oldsmobile Cutlass, to the computerized systems of a 2004 Alero. Not your
father's Oldsmobile, and in many respects CRM application integration is
different from incorporating customer relationship management software rolled
out a decade ago.
Fortunately, Avanade consultants Matt Parks, principal solution developer, Joe
Arumainayagam, solution developer, and Sylvain Duford, solutions architect,
have been using Microsoft BizTalk Server to integrate CRM and enterprise
applications with customers' systems. We asked them what IT pros need to know.
Q: Tell us how customers are integrating CRM software with other applications.
| Matt: |
One of our customers, an energy products and services company,
asked Avanade to help connect silos of information formed by product-specific
tracking applications that didn’t incorporate consumer activity on the
company’s Web site – or integrate with its parent company's systems.
We helped the customer use Microsoft BizTalk Server to integrate Microsoft
Business Solutions CRM in the call center with the public Web site. Whether a
customer lead comes through the call center where representatives process
sales, or from the Web site, where customers can request quotes and schedule
service calls, records are created and managed consistently and move
immediately into a Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains system.
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| Joe: |
For another customer, a government immigration agency, we helped
create a system using BizTalk Server and Siebel Systems software to manage
interaction with citizens and residents, and consistently capture accurate
information across all possible touchpoints. Because the agency is a crucial
resource for other divisions of government, the system had to be accessible to
more than 4,000 staff in-country and around the world.
Avanade was part of the technology architecture team that helped deliver a
solution spanning all types of data integration and synchronization – from
real-time to batch processing. We worked with the beta 1 version of BizTalk
Server, and our experience informed documentation for the production release of
the technology.
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| Q: When should teams use CRM vendors' integration
tools, and when should they consider other technologies? |
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| Matt: |
For straightforward, point-to-point integration, CRM vendor's
tools work fine for many companies. But for projects that tie together multiple
applications, BizTalk Server offers some real advantages in handling complexity
– namely, it's optimized for multi-system transactions such as routing data
from one system into another application. |
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| Joe: |
It's also worth noting that each technology is purpose-built, and
a project may require the capabilities of one or both. For example, Siebel
Systems software is designed for customer management functionality, but BizTalk
Server features data integration and transformation capabilities.
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| Q: Why should companies use BizTalk Server? |
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| Sylvain: |
BizTalk Server is well-suited for integrating systems that require
message-based interaction or transactions. Comparatively speaking, BizTalk
Server is the most complete, least expensive solution, and easiest to use
because tools for business activity monitoring and partner management are part
of the software. Our customers choose it as a cost-effective means for
enterprise and trading partner integration – even small- to mid-size companies
are using BizTalk Server as an alternative to costly electronic data
interchange (EDI) infrastructure. And of course, they’re using it for XML Web
services inside and outside the enterprise.
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| Matt: |
Consider what's happening to data in the systems to be integrated.
If the action required is mass transfer of files from one system to another –
say, a nightly batch update of customer records – then database tools may be
ideal. If data changes are to be propagated through multiple systems – such as
a change of address across a household’s bank accounts – then BizTalk Server
works very well.
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| Q: BizTalk Server is still relatively new; what do
people need to understand about it? |
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| Sylvain: |
Generally speaking, we recommend customers determine whether they
need more than data transformation and whether there will be business and
workflow rules required in document transformation or transport. These are
reasons to consider BizTalk Server.
I also point out that BizTalk Server deployment puts the emphasis on
configuration rather than programming. A team broadly skilled in using SQL
Server, XML, Web services, .NET, MQ Series and enterprise applications will be
most effective – and smart companies recognize when they need to supplement
their capabilities with outside help.
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| Joe: |
Keep in mind that not all protocols are available in BizTalk
Server out-of-the-box, either. For our government agency implementation, we
built an asset to send and receive e-mail from Microsoft Exchange Server via
HTTP, as well as multi-table look-up functionality. BizTalk Server's
development frameworks make it easy to customize and build the functionality
required, but it doesn't come out-of-the-box.
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| Q: What's the most difficult part of designing the integration? |
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| Matt: |
The greatest challenge lies in data mapping and determining the
update requirements among the systems to be integrated. IT teams need to figure
out which system "owns" data, whether that's the CRM system or some other one,
how records will map to the other systems, and how activity will be tracked
between systems. |
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| Joe: |
I agree; it's also important to recognize that a small change to
one component in BizTalk Server configuration could impact other projects,
since BizTalk Server creates a very tightly integrated environment.
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| Q: What mistakes are easily avoided? |
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| Matt: |
A couple key choices can backfire. One is replacing all
point-to-point connections at the same time. By integrating a few systems at a
time, teams don’t risk business disruption on a massive scale.
Another mistake is testing without context. Product specifications reflect
performance under "ideal" conditions. So reported performance for data
processing may be fast, but it doesn't include the time required to load the
data to be processed. Set realistic targets for throughput, and consider
whether test hardware will support those targets. |
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| Joe: |
Perspective can affect the success of a project, as well. For
example, security architecture should be made part of the scope of work rather
than relegated to infrastructure. Taking a broader view of the project can
really cut down on complexity, too. By assessing functional requirements
instead of starting with software components, you can find tasks that processes
share or have in common – say, purchase orders – that can be designed as a
service instead of building redundant code.
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