Spending on integration technology rises, but strategies fall short

Better planning and more accountability are needed to help projects pay off

UK firms are spending more on integration technologies as they develop more integrated processes, but many are failing to assign specific teams to integration projects and this increases the risk of failure, according to the results of a survey published this week.

The survey of 100 IT executives at large organisations was carried out by research firm PMP and integration and database software specialist InterSystems, and found that over a third planned to increase their budget for integration software during 2006.

Mike Fuller of InterSystems said firms are increasingly turning towards integration technologies as businesses become more process-centric and expect IT to provide systems to support processes that run across multiple applications. As a result many IT directors are choosing to integrate existing applications and databases rather than implement whole new platforms, he added.

However, while firms are spending more on integration technologies the survey also found that many are failing to take a strategic approach to this increased investment.

Less than half of those firms surveyed had specific teams assigned to integration projects, while only 38 percent undertook "proof of concept" practices prior to integration projects.

Forty-five percent of firms undertook integration projects on a case-by-case basis and over half made purchasing decisions for each individual project rather than using a standard enterprise-wide set of tools that are part of an existing development environment.

Fuller said firms were finding it difficult to develop coherent integration strategies as the complexity of integration and service-oriented architecture (SOA) technologies meant there was still a debate about the best technologies to deploy.

Fuller added that many firms' integration efforts were also hampered by poor communication between many IT departments and the rest of the business. He said IT directors should work closer with business managers to develop an approach to integration that ensures integrated systems meet the needs of business processes.

"You need to develop a cross-discipline governance committee where business and IT people can look at the integration projects that are needed to better support business processes," Fuller argued.