System integration issues continue to present unique challenges to organisations seeking to make strategic decisions regarding product selection. Delivering applications to satisfy business needs requires an understanding of technology and best practice when faced with the constraints of legacy systems.

Where critical business information resides across a variety of operating systems and databases, combining this data presents major formatting, transformation and consistency challenges. Traditionally, populating data across different systems has required ad hoc manual processing, and custom scripts are costly to develop, maintain and scale in an on-demand business environment.

A ‘rip and replace’ strategy is a bold and brave move, but it isn’t right for all organisations in the current economic climate. ‘Surround technology’ offers a cost effective consolidation solution which delivers real value in the short-term.

Fund managers and third-party administrators under regulatory pressures are turning to surround technology solutions to provide access to accurate, real-time data for everyone – not just technical professionals. Links to legacy system functions can be maintained – without discarding existing investment – and organisations can avoid the cost of expensive and complex transition projects.

Surround technologies, such as web front-ends or data warehouses join up disparate core systems, helping organisations to break down isolated silos and integrate data from multiple sources. Having these solutions in place removes the risk of making business decisions based upon divergent and/or inaccurate information.

Redeveloping systems or migrating to new platforms is ultimately the ideal long-term solution, but in the short-term, a cost-effective solution for sharing data, with fast IT adaptability and flexibility for future growth plans, is a must.

Would you benefit from the introduction of ‘surround technology’?

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