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Brutal Standardisation of Information Systems

Having more companies is always a challenge for management, especially to find synergies within group of companies. One intent of synergy can be to standardize and centralize information systems. 

Each company during the time builds and inherits huge information systems landscape. Is it possible to make standardization of Information systems? It is possible and makes sense for example for one central ERP, or CRM or billing. With standardization company will get better data flow, cost savings in future, 

Daughter companies work on different locations, on different markets with perhaps different legislation, with different product portfolio and finally grew with different information systems history. They are not same as Mother Company. Therefore their Information systems and their landscape is different.  

Ugly side of medal of standardization and centralization is that daughter companies stay very dependable about one central system and loose on its market value. Company cannot be sold for same amount money without independent Information systems as with fully autonomic information systems. Beside IS as independent solution corresponding processes and organization are missing too. IS can not work alone and need environment too work properly, environment that “takes care” about it. In case of selling company, information systems, processes and expert teams have to be build once again after they were shut down:). Perhaps centralization is cyclic process, shutting down and then building up from the beginning just to satisfy certain management appetites. 

Yes, it is brutal world and it is a brutal standardization. 
Can everything be standardized? Of course not and sometimes it is the smaller part of current IS, mainly on transaction production systems. With standardization business intelligence solutions need more effort on all current reports in order to assimilate all new changes from source systems. All daughter companies BIs will have to compensate all tectonic movements on production side caused by forced standardization and centralization. BI has to recreate missing data in daughter companies. Is it possible to standardize BI? Production systems can be centralized in certain way, but for BI it is highly doubtful.


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