Enabling Technologies Simplify Data Integration
Corporations have long recognized the value of combining comprehensive internal data with external intelligence. The complexities of integrating disparate sources, however, have traditionally limited practical implementation.

External information can be manually added to an internal database. This approach, however, is time consuming and offers only a short-term solution unless the information is continually refreshed. The value of the combined internal/external snapshot immediately begins to fade as data ages and new events occur outside the corporation.

Another alternative is to build custom interfaces between various databases and business applications. The challenge is that integrating data from applications written in different languages and operating systems requires a significant investment of time and money, as well as a very broad range of specialized programming skills. And once the initial integration is complete, significant work is required to maintain and extend the interface over different software releases.

Fortunately there is now a more efficient and cost-effective approach for linking internal data with external business information. In the past, the process of integrating disparate applications has been limited by steep technology barriers and software compatibility problems. However, XML, SOAP, and Web services have emerged as viable technologies to perform this type of integration.

Web services allow any computer to reach out to other computers for the information and applications it needs to perform a task. (Figures 1 and 2 show the difference between proprietery systems and Web services.) XML provides an industry standard for transferring information between computers and applications. SOAP is an industry-standard wrapper that allows computers to exchange XML messages effectively.

Web services, XML, and SOAP play a key role in data integration because they deliver significant advantages, including:

Making integration easier
The importance of XML, SOAP, and Web services extends far beyond the Web and the display of information within a browser. These standards make it easy to exchange information between disparate computers, databases, and applications - regardless of the application, programming language, or operating system.

As long as two applications agree on a consistent set of XML tags, they can easily exchange information. With the proliferation of standards based on XML this may initially seem like a major hurdle. Thousands of XML-defined standards have been proposed, most of which have little hope of achieving critical mass. However, those that are widely supported by end-user communities, industry associations, vendors, and standards bodies (such as XBRL for financial reporting) are clearly useful and worth considering for specific internal-external data integration tasks.

Since an application can be set up to request tagged data from outside a corporate firewall, internal business applications can pull in updated external information and immediately display it within the application. With XML and Web services, integrating multiple applications that formerly required significant time and professional service dollars can be accomplished much more simply. And the XML code is easily portable to updated versions of the same application.

Allowing for seamless integration
XML data is format independent, so external information can be merged with internal data and displayed in any format consistent with a defined set of corporate standards. This seamless integration makes it easy to present external data that is most relevant to an individual functional group or business operation, in context with internal data.

Users can rely on their everyday applications and receive a much richer display of relevant business information, including news stories, current financial data, industry trends, updated executive biographies, and detailed corporate family information.

Best of all, integration can occur behind the scenes, with automatic updating of account profiles, financial models, credit scoring applications, etc. Not only are extra steps streamlined from key business processes, but the traditional risk of errors caused by manual data entry is virtually eliminated.

In addition, automatic updating can occur with unstructured information - such as news stories and analyst reports - to track and keep you abreast of changing details about prospects, customers, and competitors.

Achieving consistent data presentation
Incorporating external data within existing applications ensures that data is displayed in a consistent and familiar format, thereby minimizing unproductive research, improving productivity, and allowing end users to rely on a single application with consistent field placement for critical pieces of data. For example, sales managers can routinely refer to a single field within their CRM system to review the latest revenue data.

The importance of consistent display extends beyond just applications to custom reports, presentations, and individual forms. Automatic data integration makes it easy to update regular reports, sales presentations, company profiles, risk analysis worksheets, financial comparisons, and any other material.

Building information-driven triggers
Integrated data offers far more than just formatting advantages. Once external information is incorporated within enterprise applications, it can be used to trigger alerts that drive specific business actions. An alert can be as simple as notification of a recent corporate announcement, or as complex as an elaborate financial simulation that immediately integrates new financial results. Alerts ensure that users receive the information they need to do their jobs effectively.

Given that XML is device independent, information and alerts can appear on any platform, including desktop PCs, wireless phones, and PDAs. With XML-tagged data, business users can receive the information they need in the format that best meets their needs at any given point in time. For example, salespeople can receive customer updates within a CRM application on their office PC, as an alert on their cellphone, or as an e-mail on their PDA.

The Business Information Taxonomy
While XML, SOAP, and Web services play an important role in easy and seamless integration of internal and external data, the task of creating a truly successful, integrated information repository requires a level of expertise and supporting tools not often found inside the corporation. This reality is driving many companies to seek comprehensive business information solutions that provide all of the tools and services to integrate internal and external data within CRM systems, portals, and intranets.

In choosing a business information solution, companies must carefully evaluate a number of factors, including the range and quality of information provided, the experience and expertise of the information vendor, and, perhaps most important, the vendor's business information taxonomy. While XML and Web services help deliver data, taxonomies provide the framework for classifying, organizing, and integrating a wide range of critical business information.

The challenge is that taxonomy solutions are generally limited to a single approach: highly structured data (ZIP codes, SIC code, etc.) or unstructured text documents (news articles, press announcements, analyst reports, etc.). The unstructured taxonomies run deep on business and topic terms but don't perform well for tagging companies - the key entity to a customer-focused application. The structured taxonomies are typically too narrow in focus and don't cover the universe of information required for customer-facing processes. When forced to choose one taxonomy approach versus the other, businesses come no closer to integrating isolated islands of data and arming sales and marketing professionals with comprehensive intelligence.

When outsourcing data integration projects, companies should rely on vendors who offer a classification system that efficiently organizes both structured and unstructured content.

Conclusion
Companies need to employ the best market intelligence if they are going to succeed in today's increasingly competitive environment. By using XML, SOAP, Web services, and a trusted provider of business information, a company can seamlessly integrate internal and external data to provide complete snapshots of their customers, prospects, and competitors. These can be continuously refreshed with current information, so they never become irrelevant.

Accurate snapshots allow companies to make more informed decisions. They help marketing identify new opportunities and precisely target high-value prospects. And they help sales respond faster, prepare for customer visits more efficiently, dramatically improve close ratios, and generate more revenue per employee.