Game changer: how grandega brings fresh momentum to system and business integration
Carrying out a digital transformation without adequate system and business integration is like taking part in the Tour de France on a folding bike:
Laborious and anything but promising. In both cases, you compete in a modern contest with outdated and incompatible systems. And in both cases, with such a large structural disadvantage, it's not guaranteed that you'll even make it to the finish line.
The solution seems simple enough:
Tour de France riders rely on the latest racing bikes to reach peak performance. In the same way, against the backdrop of digital change, companies have to modernize their IT landscape to keep up in the ever-tougher competition in the market.
But what sounds simple in theory brings a wide range of challenges in practical implementation. Merely acquiring new technologies and solutions is far from enough. They also have to be implemented into existing business processes in a way that makes them work reliably and deliver real value to the company.
That requires not only technical know-how, but also deep strategic planning that ensures all components work together smoothly. Without, of course, losing sight of the business goals and the impact on employees.
External consultants can make a decisive contribution here through their expertise and objective perspective. That's the point where grandega comes into play.
With our innovative approach to the system and business integration of IT systems, we not only support companies in making the technical delivery of transformation initiatives more efficient. We also help you, as a strategic partner, to fundamentally optimize your own business processes and thus set yourself up for long-term success.
So instead of slowing yourselves down, organizations can make sure they land on the podium in the ever-tougher competition.
How exactly that works, we reveal in this article.
Why the system and business integration of a new IT infrastructure is a delicate matter
70% of all transformations are doomed to fail. This devastating forecast is often quoted online, even if the original source is no longer traceable.
Still, the high figure doesn't seem unrealistic. After all, profound changes in business structures and processes often come with numerous challenges and risks.
So too in the case of introducing a new IT system:
Complexity of the IT landscape
The starting situation of many digital transformations is a legacy IT infrastructure that resembles a puzzle of various applications and systems. Managing customer contacts, product development and analyzing financial data – as a rule, teams use different apps for their respective areas of work.
Often, however, these individual parts aren't compatible with each other, which makes processes unnecessarily harder and leads to inefficiencies in collaboration between departments. As a rule, introducing a single, universal piece of software isn't enough here. Instead, it takes a tailored solution to create a new, unified and, above all, seamlessly functioning IT landscape.
Data integration and consistency
An elementary aspect of an efficient IT structure is smooth and secure data management. Data has to be not only integrated, but also managed consistently and correctly. The use of different data sources and formats in legacy systems makes this process considerably harder.
Organizational and cultural barriers
Radical changes in the workplace not infrequently lead to doubts, fears or even resistance among employees. On top of that, in most organizations there are also considerable differences between departments in how the company culture and ways of working are interpreted.
Here it takes suitable change management that actively involves the workforce in the change process and minimizes possible problems and potential conflicts from the start.
Security and data protection requirements
Companies have to ensure at all times that sensitive data is protected and the legal requirements are met. However, if an organization uses outdated systems and/or a multitude of third-party applications without steering them with an overarching security concept, this can offer considerable attack surfaces.
When transforming a legacy system, care also has to be taken that the new IT infrastructure complies with national and possibly international security guidelines and data protection regulations.
Optimizing costs and resources
The system and business integration of a new IT landscape helps companies speed up processes and make recurring workflows more efficient. This makes it possible to reduce costs in the long run and free up resources for other areas of the business.
In the short term, however, such a switch usually comes with considerable investments in hardware and software as well as in other areas. But if processes are converted incorrectly or employees aren't sufficiently trained on the new IT systems, this leads to delays in day-to-day business. Which in turn results in losses.
Accordingly, for a positive balance, it's important to plan and accompany the implementation of new systems comprehensively.
A mammoth task: successful integration of IT systems and business processes
Let's briefly return to our initial example of the Tour de France.
Whether mountain stage or time trial – at first glance, a pack of lone fighters on two wheels pushes from the start to the finish.
The reality, however, is different: behind each one of these riders stands a team of supporters like coaches, logisticians or physiotherapists, who give everything so that their athletes take top places.
Would the riders be able to deliver similar peak performances without all this external support? Probably not.
What are we getting at?
That in competition it pays off to have the right partners at your side. Hurdles are easier to overcome with combined forces.
The same applies to companies facing the challenges of a comprehensive digital transformation.
Switching to or redesigning legacy systems is a complex undertaking that requires not only technical, but also strategic and cultural know-how.
The risks that going it alone brings in such a profound change process are great. Organizations often don't have the necessary expertise and experience internally to integrate a new IT infrastructure smoothly and cost-efficiently.
The consequence? Unsuitable strategies, methods or solutions are used. In the best case, they cause unnecessary expenses. In the worst case, the transformation initiative fails completely.
But if companies draw on external support, they tremendously increase their prospects of short- and long-term success. Experts from specialized consulting firms bring not only specialized expertise into the integration process, but also contribute, through their objective perspective, to identifying possible weak points and developing new solutions together with them.
External consultants as reinforcement in the transformation corner
The key contributions of external consultants in IT and business integration include:
1) Expert knowledge
Digital transformations require versatile and deep expertise that always has to be up to date. Constantly evolving technologies as well as new guidelines and trends, however, make it hard for companies to build the necessary know-how alongside day-to-day business.
External consultants, by contrast, deal exclusively with transformation initiatives and consequently have immense expertise in their respective areas. This lets them solve complex strategic and technical challenges far more efficiently and make the integration of new systems run smoothly.
2) Experience and methodology
External consultants not only have extensive experience in planning and carrying out digital transformation processes. They also often work with various companies and industries, which creates additional synergy effects.
This way, they can bring in proven methods and best practices to optimize the integration process.
3) Objectivity
One of the greatest natural enemies of optimizing internal workflows is the notorious organizational blindness. This can be avoided, however, by bringing in a neutral observer to analyze your own business structures and processes.
Experts from consulting firms take exactly such an unbiased perspective. As outsiders, they can recognize potential problems or blind spots that internal teams might overlook.
4) Resource reinforcement
Larger transformation initiatives like the system and business integration of new IT solutions are draining for employees. After all, alongside all the steps of such a change, day-to-day business has to be kept running too.
External consultants provide relief by acting as reinforcement of internal resources. This is of enormous value, especially in times of high workload or when special expertise is required.
5) Change management
The successful integration of systems often requires major upheavals in the organization. From the right communication, through actively involving teams in change processes, to the complete redesign of the company culture – the interpersonal aspect shouldn't be at the end of the to-do list in transformations, but should be a priority.
External consultants support companies in successfully managing change through suitable change management and breaking down potential resistance.
6) Training and knowledge transfer:
The work of external consultants goes far beyond the actual carrying out of system and business integrations. With the help of their industry networks, they can bring in further resources and partners that deliver additional value to the project.
Furthermore, there's the possibility that they train the internal teams and thus ensure that the necessary expertise is anchored in the company for the long term.
You see: working with an external partner on the system and business integration of a new IT system is a true game changer.
But which partner is the right one? We do, of course, have a (not entirely unbiased) recommendation for you:
Why grandega is the perfect sparring partner for your IT transformation
We at grandega love and live transformations.
Every day anew, we support companies with the big and small challenges of change initiatives. So too with the successful system and business integration of IT infrastructures.
And no, that doesn't only mean the purely technical delivery. We are your sparring partner throughout the entire process!
Our innovative and holistic approach includes, besides the technological aspects, strategic and cultural dimensions too. That means we create the necessary basis to truly understand not only your business processes, but also your needs and those of your customers.
Our approach
Us, for you and your transformation.
grandega offers a holistic methodology for looking at transformation initiatives as well as extensive industry and market know-how of the provider landscape in connection with transformations. Together we identify the building blocks that fit your individual needs.
Advantages of our approach
1. Use synergies:
We pursue a multidimensional approach and support you on your topics with diverse competencies across all phases of the transformation initiative.
2. Aligned target picture:
No one-size-fits-all – we analyze your individual situation and, together with you, pick out the building blocks where we support you toward transformation success.
3. Effective use of resources:
We bring the personnel resources needed and build a professional project organization with proven methods in your company.
4. People at the focus:
We not only provide experts for key roles within the project organization, but also run targeted coaching & workshops to enable your employees.
Because only this way can we support you in a targeted manner and, with suitable solution concepts, ensure that not only you, but also your customers benefit sustainably from the transformation.
How grandega supports you in the system and business integration of IT solutions
Our motto is: #shapingheroes.
But heroes don't fall from the sky. They are made. And that takes the right resources.
An essential reason for the high success rate of our method is our targeted collaboration with external consultants. Using a process we've tried and tested, we select the optimal partners and vendors for your transformation initiative.
grandega approach + methodology
grandega has a proven approach to acquiring the optimal partners for your transformation. Complex decisions can benefit from grandega's expertise.
External consultants bring not only specialized expertise into the integration process, but also an objective perspective that helps to identify possible weak points and develop innovative solutions.
That gives you – and ultimately your customers too – real competitive advantages. And those are far from all the benefits of working with us:
1. Individual solutions:
We understand that every company is unique and accordingly requires tailored approaches. That's why one-size-fits-all methods aren't an option for us. We develop individual integration strategies for each of our customers, designed for the company's particular starting situation and requirements.
2. Seamless collaboration between systems:
Synergies are our middle name. That applies not only to choosing the right transformation partners, but also to choosing suitable IT solutions. One of our greatest strengths is our know-how and the associated ability to connect different systems and technologies seamlessly. This way, in your system integration, you can count on smooth communication and collaboration between the different IT components.
3. Strategic advice:
Implementing new technologies is far from the end! We also support you strategically on your transformation project to ensure that the integration is successful in the long term too. This includes, among other things, aspects like analyzing existing business processes, identifying optimization potential and supporting change management.
4. Focus on the customer:
Prestige and exorbitant fees don't matter to us – we only have eyes for you! Developing the best possible solutions for your goals together with you, and being a fair and reliable partner to you in the implementation, is much more important to us.
Conclusion: why struggle alone when you can win together?
The successful integration of IT systems and business processes is a decisive factor for the economic success of companies in today's digital world.
All the more important is to take the challenges of such an undertaking seriously and consciously arm yourself for it.
Close collaboration with an experienced partner like grandega and external consultants is, against this backdrop, a decision that can give you a significant competitive advantage in the long run.
And that's how it definitely works out with the podium!
Would you like to learn more about how grandega can support your company in the integration of IT systems? Then feel free to contact us!
