Build vs. Buy (Applications)

Transcription

1 Build vs. Buy (Applications) 2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Winning Strategies For IT and Finance October 2 4, 2016 Mandalay Bay Resort Las Vegas, NV Held in conjunction with ATA s Barry Sponsler Senior Solutions Architect Cleo Communications bsponsler@cleo.com Bozi Tatarevic Director, Applications Yarbrough Transfer Company bozi@goytc.com Les Bicknell Director, Applications USA Truck, Inc. les.bicknell@usa-truck.com

2 ATA Antitrust Statement All ATA meetings are held in strict compliance with applicable state and federal laws and ATA s antitrust policies that prohibit the exchange of information among competitors regarding matters pertaining to price, refusals to deal, markets division, tying relationships and other topics which might infringe upon antitrust regulations. No such exchange or discussion will be tolerated during this meeting. As an attendee it is your duty to avoid improper conversations.

3 CPE Credits Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits are available for all ITLC/NAFC sessions. One credit will be awarded for each 50-minute educational session attended. To earn credit for a session, participants must sign in/sign out on attendance sheet provided in each room. After the conference, call or itlc@trucking.org or nafc@trucking.org to obtain CPE certificate. Certificates are not automatically sent. You must contact ITLC/NAFC to obtain certificate.

4 Build vs. Buy Considerations: ROI Total cost of ownership Training Expertise of internal team Time Integration

5 Build {Custom Solutions} Pros: Productivity Keeping up with the trends Competitive advantage Can be more secure Totally customizable Custom Security Cons: 100% ownership Learning curve Support staffing/documentation Longer implementation Higher initial cost Integration with other systems

6 Buy {Off-the-shelf Solutions} Pros: Lower startup costs Time Constraint Lack of Technical Resources Robust Turn-Key Products Employee Exposure/Training Customer Support Cons: Scalability Adaptability Competitive Advantage Rigid Can be a target for hackers Integration with other systems

7 Hybrid Approach Buy Applications: For standard back office needs That have standard integrations Requiring regularly scheduled updates Extensive expertise in area (ex. tax laws, elogs) Build Applications : For specific low maintenance tasks Ability to start with minimalist version For processes that have been well defined That give you a competitive advantage

8 Integration considerations There are integration requirements associated with implementation of new applications, independent of the build or buy decision. New applications don t reside in a vacuum; most likely, data associated with new applications will need to be integrated with one or more enterprise applications. Areas of significant interest are: Communications Data transformation Visibility Security HA / DR

9 Communications How the data associated with applications will be transported is critical Will the data reside within the network or sent / received from external partners? batch / scheduled or event (near real time) session initiation Overall volume / file sizes / peak processing times SLA targets / guaranteed delivery / archiving Internal: o o External: o Any apps currently deployed that support the process requirements? If homegrown, consider consolidation / standardization on new app? Specific protocol requirements (AS2, SFTP, etc.)

10 Data Transformation Data transformation may be required depending on the data format(s) supported by the new application; what data formats (EDI / XML / Database / Flat File / Spreadsheet / IDOC / JSON) are required by the systems the new application must interface with? Source & target formats / structures Mapping specifications Adapter requirements Process definition / flow / initiation Error identification and notification Reprocessing

11 Visibility The technical team and business users may each require visibility into process information and related data. How will they access? Who needs to see what data? And when? Adherence to corporate data retention policies Platform for rendering e.g. browser / tablet / phone Correlation of related transactions Encompass both the transport & transformation layers

12 Security Security is critical and requirements may be driven primarily by deployment context (internal vs. external). However, internal deployments should not be overlooked as there may be some back door risks Include data transport / transformation / visibility layers Implement proxy based architecture if possible LDAP / Active Directory support Internal / External user access administration IT infrastructure impact / configuration requirements Auditing methodology

13 HA/DR New application deployments may have high availability and/or disaster recovery considerations Is the new application mission critical? Determination of acceptable downtime window Cluster support for both transport & transformation layers Backup/restore strategy Available environment tooling (VMWare) Cost/benefit analysis o Licensing o Hardware environment(s) requirements o Administration impact

14 Conclusion There is no single answer Identify needs and expectations early Minimize the risks Secure the resources Insure you are flexible o Support o Integration

15 Questions?