B2B Data Integration and Transformation Blog

Two Quick Thoughts

The Issue

A popular air freshener company is moving lots of product these days by asking if we have become “Noseblind”.   Noseblindness is the phenomenon where humans become accustomed to the odors around us until we no longer recognize them, while our guests are overwhelmed by the cat’s litter box or the fish we cooked for dinner last night.     

Since none of us want to offend the sensibilities of those who visit our homes and offices, we purchase the latest plug in fragrance or aerosol freshener out of fear that others will detect the offensive odors to which we have become immune.   After all, who has the time to constantly search for things we no longer realize exist? 

That is a great question that we get a lot here at Remedi.  When it comes to software companies, they are great at developing software, but are often challenged to keep up with the demand to provide ongoing follow up, deployments, and go live support.  You’re probably thinking to yourself, that doesn’t make sense because if I buy the software from the software company shouldn’t they do it all?  Install, configure, setup all my trading partners, support, and training….

In my article archive, I found a blog post by Steve Keifer of OpenText | GXS from a few years back entitled The End Of Mapping (In B2B Integration).  Mr. Keifer states that maps are the most costly and most important part of a B2B Integration project.  He goes on to say that with all the artificial intelligence technology that already exists, we should be able to eliminate traditional maps and automatically map data based on intelligence and historical data.

As software resellers and implementation service providers, Remedi is typically involved with the migration or new implementation of a comprehensive integration suite from the beginning of a project.  As we go through months of software demos discussing features and functionality, an important part of the project sometimes gets overlooked.  Infrastructure.  There are many important decisions that need to be made regarding infrastructure that will directly impact costs, resources, and timing of a project.   

A Helpful Tip and a Good Question to Ponder.

You know your favorite white coffee cup or tea mug sitting on your desk or by the sink in the break room?   I bet yours is like most of ours.   Even though you wash it regularly, one day you look down and nearly die of embarrassment because it’s so stained on the inside.  It now sports a light brown color inside that looks nothing like its pristine white exterior.  And the stain won’t wash out no matter how hard you try.   

How did this happen and what will you do about it?  And quickly!  Before someone else notices.