Do you dare to step out of your comfort zone? The world is changing at a faster and faster pace, especially in the world of IT.

Driven by the explosion of internet connectivity, distribution of data sources, and the number of legacy and networked applications, impatient business demands for IT projects are growing both in numbers and in complexity.

Line of Business needs projects delivered yesterday and with data as fresh as in the original data source. “Rotten” data is no longer acceptable.

In a situation like this, the traditional methods of working often fall short, something that can be very difficult to realize when changes happen gradually. Things don’t get out of control from one day to the next, but over months and years, until it’s too late.

I tried to illustrate the situation in the 3D graph above. The area of control (blue) is gradually turning out of control (red).

• Data demand has moved from batch to real-time
• Complexity has increased with the distribution of applications and data source
• Business urgency requires unrealistic time-to-market goals
• Number of IT projects is growing, but the budget is not

In a changing environment like this, we constantly need to challenge our processes and tools.

So my question to you is: “Are you ready to change the way you do things? Do you dare to step out of your comfort zone?”

If not, you’ve got a problem. You might not see this problem on a daily basis; it’s one of those problems that slowly sneaks up on you until one day it’s too late to fix.

It’s happened many times before, just look at DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), the hugely successful mid-size computer company back in the 80s which basically died overnight; they did not step outside their comfort zone and subsequently disappeared.

Kapow Software’s revolutionary innovation, the Kapow Extraction Browser (which by the way is the only purpose-build integration browser on the market), has proven to help hundreds of IT projects overcome these challenges and make an easy jump from the blue to the red area.

By leveraging the fact that all applications today either have an API or GUI, where data and transactions can be accessed and controlled, means you no longer are dependent on the data and application owners. That’s a big deal. No more rewriting of legacy apps and no more begging the application owner to provide APIs. Just go do it.

That is a new way of thinking and new paradigm. Are you ready for it?

Not only does it work, it’s proven by more than 500 customers worldwide. It’s also delivering incredible business value and business agility among your competitors.

Step out of your box and try Kapow Software yourself!

By: Stefan Andreasen

“Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin.”
-  Bob Dylan  1963

Fast forward almost 50 years to 2010 and this Dylan verse offers a modern-day perspective on recent developments in the corporate enterprise, as business users set down new demands (expectations) for the access and use of data.

Economic downturns can be painful, but often have a positive effect on companies by forcing clarity of business execution.  Hardened product/service deliverables and timelines suddenly become indisputable for managers and employees.  Expensive IT projects and initiatives previously thought to be valuable to the Company are ‘rudely’ terminated in favor of genuine efficiency demands, with the goal of lowering transactional costs of the Company.  The Lines of Business (LsOB) and IT organizations are given very specific marching orders: ‘Do more with less and do it faster and better than before!’

Are you “Waiting on IT” in an impatient business climate?

‘Clouds’ have gathered in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the perfect storm for change is imminent.  An Economic Downturn, Cloud Computing, and Social/Mobile media are driving rapid and transformational change in the way the LsOB will consume and distribute information in the modern enterprise to their partners and customers.

The business users’ insatiable need for access to data in all of its forms and from as many sources has created enormous friction for IT.    As the traditional gate-keeper of corporate data, IT’s role is to provide the means to make data-delivery easier for the business with integrated data being an expectation of the business user.

So why has data integration in the enterprise fallen so far behind in recent years?  In Clay Christiansen’s book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” there is a passage on new product development in the construction industry and the use of older machines prior to a disruptive innovation.  The excavator specifically triggered an analogy for me, as it relates to the current state of data integration in the enterprise.

The excavator is a massive piece of machinery to acquire, operate and maintain.  It requires highly-skilled specialists to run with the primary function of moving massive amounts of earth, in bulk.

As you can see in the graphic, the excavator approach to data integration (purple area) worked well, keeping pace with the distribution of data up until the late 90’s.  From there, the explosion of data from web apps commenced (red triangle) and has continued to accelerate year after year.   The data requirements of the business user changed, and as a result, IT has been overrun with rapidly expanding data demands as new data sources are discovered on what seems like a daily occurrence.  Using traditional, excavator-like machinery for these modern data integration projects has proven to be just too expensive and cumbersome.

In fairness to IT, the use of an excavator to address these dynamic integration projects was (and still is) an unfair disadvantage for IT.   Someone needed to invent the modern data integration equivalent of the BOBCAT, an agile, industrial strength, versatile, data integration platform that is inexpensive to operate and maintain; that can be quickly deployed for on-demand integration needs and used for the continuous progression of enterprise-extensible application lifecycles.

Today, Kapow introduces the Kapow Extraction Browser TM, the first and only web browser purpose built to extract, transform, integrate and migrate data from apps in the enterprise, on the web, and in the cloud.  Data is extracted from any layer in the application stack:  database, app logic and/or presentation layer.

Kapow KatalystTM – Browser-based data integration – a pragmatic new approach to data integration – No APIs required – No dependencies

The emergence of the browser as the defacto standard for data viewing has defined the linkage for business users to their data.  Brisk, mobile adoption and social media amplification are driving new data demands to the forefront of importance for the LsOB as the corporate enterprise ecosystem expands.   IT must begin to anticipate and adapt to these powerful business trends.

Business Users are fast-tracking the extensibility of the corporate enterprise by surfacing new applications for delivery on newer and less encumbered devices.  They will need assistance in dealing with these very real, dynamic and complex data movements. The opportunity for IT to step up and bridge this modern integration chasm for the LsOB has arrived.  Browser Integrated Data is the new road traveled – but get out of the way…

“…If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin.”

By: John Yapaola