Finding and Working with System Integrators©
Using a system integrator is becoming increasingly important for successful imaging projects. The original proprietary imaging systems were basically electronic file cabinets, which did not require much integration. If there was work to be done, the vendor generally had an internal system integration group. Then workflow hit the scene and systems became much more complex to build, implement, and maintain. Next, an explosion in imaging vendors, peripheral products, and business process reengineering added to the confusion. And now, imaging systems have become part of the basic office automation movement extending into business and application areas never originally conceived to be part of "imaging."
So, instead of a shakeout in the imaging industry, it seems that the number of imaging system vendors, image based software components, hardware components, and related imaging stuff is growing - not shrinking. Along with this growth of imaging products comes growth in the number of system integrators that specialize in imaging systems, have transitioned from network installers or, VARs to imaging integrators, or are major established integrators adding imaging to their skill sets.
As the products and product sets have become more complex, more and more end-users are turning to system integrators to help them in product selection, development and implementation, training, and maintenance.
Vendors are also turning to system integrators for several reasons:
Who’s on First
As imaging technology matures and continues to add functionality, the definition of a system integrator is also changing as they add/adopt new products and services. The lines of distinction between system integrators, VARs, vendors, and OEMs are beginning to blur. In today's marketplace, value-added resellers (VARs) have become more competitive by adding services that make them look more like a system integrator than a VAR. Vendors have established in-house consulting and integration units to compete with establish integrators.
To establish a common terminology then, the following broad definitions are offered.
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer. An OEM is the actual manufacturer of the equipment, like an optical disk drive, jukebox, data server, imaging software, etc. FileNet is an OEM of document management products. While this seems clear cut, many companies, such as IBM, Eastman Software, UNISYS, Oracle, and DEC are also offering consulting and system integration services. This may be of interest to companies that hire a manufacturer, such as IBM, to do the feasibility study and subsequent requirements analysis. While the vendor may recommend their own equipment and solution, it will be up to the buyer to determine whether the recommendations are valid and objective.
As a system integrator, many companies like IBM have vast product resources within their own company, but also due to the installed client base have an immense number of customers to sell to. These consulting/integration groups have moved out of the shadow of hardware sales and have become solid profit centers.
VAR - Value-added Reseller. VARs traditionally are vertically oriented and add their own "expertise" in the form of a software product, or other add-on, to an OEM's products. For example, a Hewlett-Packard VAR may specialize in financial systems and offer imaging software and installation services that are unique to the small accounting firms. Their product(s) are sold with the Hewlett-Packard system, thus, they add value to the equipment being sold. It is clear, however, that these products are well defined products and adding, changing, and customizing them generally falls outside the VARs support plans. In other words, the VAR has built their own "product" that becomes the basis of what you are buying.
System Integrator. A system integrator will review a customer's project requirements and then choose the hardware and software that most closely matches the requirements for that system. In addition to hardware and software, a system integrator will also provide the training, service, and maintenance as required for that particular project. If the project requires a new widget, the system integrator will "integrate" that widget into the selected hardware and software.
System integrators have increasingly broadened their skill sets over the past ten years in order to satisfy customer demands. Many customers whose project is to do "business process reengineering" want a single company responsible for all aspects of the job. Therefore, many integrators have had to add training or business process reengineering to their skill sets in order to compete with those integrators who already offer a complete start-to-finish package.
An example of this would be Andersen Consulting. Andersen Consulting started as a consulting division of the parent firm, Authur Andersen, and has grown to be a separate business unit from the tax/audit arm of the company. This has allowed Andersen Consulting to move from a consulting role to actively purchasing and installing equipment without posing a conflict of interest. Since becoming a separate business unit in 1989, Andersen Consulting has become one of the top 20 largest systems integrators and perhaps the largest integrator of document and image management projects.
Similarly, VARs, who once only provided their unique value-added product to a job, are now being asked to provide more and in some cases they must become the prime contractor/integrator in order to win the job. The VAR then becomes not only a provider of value-added services, but has to also act in the capacity of a system integrator. In some cases, an integrator will be the prime contractor and bring in a VAR who has the requisite industry knowledge or product knowledge to win the deal.
The broad brush difference between a system integrator and a VAR is that the VAR usually creates a "product" and sells that product first and services second. For example, a Keyfile VAR may create an accounts payable product using Keyfile software. This VAR sells only into accounts payable opportunities and doesn't sell into an insurance claims processing opportunity. A system integrator will sell into any opportunity using a combination of "products" such as workflow, document image management, optical character recognition, consulting and reengineering skills; system integration expertise, vertical market knowledge (the application); and capabilities to fulfill maintenance and training requirements.
System Integrators
System integrators fulfill a need when a company does not have the internal expertise and resources to design and develop a system, and yet the project needs are far greater than a single vendor can accomplish. Many vendors depend on integrators to provide the programming and industry expertise to build basic business applications and workflows, integrate components that may not be previously ported to the imaging software such as a high-speed scanner, and handle integration of third-party software programs such as faxing, storage management, or optical character recognition.
A system integrator is a company that is capable of making diverse components work together as a system. While an integrator does not usually add value to the components purchased, the whole system, when assembled, represents a purpose-built system that accomplishes specific work.
The value that a system integrator adds to a project is:
In addition, the integrator often becomes involved in such issues as business process reengineering, overall service and maintenance, disaster recovery planning, backfile conversion strategies, and the myriad details that are part of any major project. Today’s system integrator is no longer only responsible for making hardware/software components work together. They are often responsible for a project from conception to a finished turnkey system.
A system integrator may also have vertical industry experience that allows them to understand a project’s needs at a more complete level than a vendor or VAR who is not as experienced in vertical market or industry. For example, an integrator may specialize in the insurance industry and therefore will have a tremendous understanding of an imaging project’s potential problems, needs, "potholes", and overall direction. Also, with an experienced integrator, the customer is not faced with training the integrator on their industry and the basic workflow procedures and terminology. While not mandatory, it is good to talk with people who understand your business and speak the same language. Often, an integrator will have completed many projects of a like or similar nature and this experience will save the customer thousands of hours in time because the integrator has already encountered and solved similar problems.
System integrators often hire people from industries to gain the knowledge of that industry. It is not uncommon for an integrator to have experienced people from such industries as:
Most typically, an integrator has significant experience in one or two industries and can demonstrate that experience with a combination of working projects, having recognized industry leaders working for the company, and on-going research projects.
Why are System Integrators Needed?
The current trend is to break down imaging systems into component parts such that you can buy the server software from one company, client software from a second, storage management from a third, workflow from a fourth, and so on. Companies such as Diamond Head Software and Watermark provide the basic tools and software libraries that allow imaging systems to be built from the ground up without reliance on any imaging vendors’ systems.
Now, an end-user interested in developing an imaging system needs to understand imaging technology at a system level, business process reengineering, cost justifications, workflow to build the application, and component level programming/integration. Most end-user companies ( a customer) do not have the resources to put this all together and therefore, the role of the system integrator has become more important instead of less important.
In addition, imaging technology is continuing to add new features and functions such as voice, video, document management (text documents not image documents), decision support processes, full-text retrieval documents, optical character recognition, and a variety of other "document/information management" disciplines. As is often said in imaging conferences, "imaging" is becoming just another data type to be handled by the system.
What is rapidly changing is our conception of what an imaging system is and does. Perhaps the first reason for this change is the rapid development of work flow tools and methodologies and the business process reengineering (BPR) phenomena. Imaging technology and reengineering the workplace are two sides of the same coin. Few end-user companies are experts in imaging technology, are not prepared to do business process reengineering, and do not have the programming resources to develop complex work flows.
The second reason why we need systems integrators is the decomposition of imaging technology from "systems" to "components." The original imaging systems were complete (but proprietary) systems and the vendor supplied all the necessary system components. Today’s imaging systems are "open platforms" in which a variety of third-party components can be plugged-in, changed, added-in later, or developed from scratch. Knowing and understanding the functionality of these components is beyond the resources of many end-users and therefore an integrator’s knowledge is valuable.
Finding a System Integrator
Once it has been determined that the services of a system integrator are required, the next step is to find integrators that can participate in the project. The easiest method for locating imaging system integrators is to begin a dialog with the primary imaging vendors. Most vendors are more than willing to make a "sales call" to establish the basic needs of the project and determine whether it is a fit for that company.
Depending on how far along the project is, many vendors will offer to provide you with consulting support or they may recommend that a system integrator be brought in initially. Most vendors have at least one system integrator, if not several, that they normally work with. Imaging vendors are the primary source for locating system integrators.
System integrators can also be contacted directly and brought into the project. If the system integrator is contacted directly, they may be more open to choosing the appropriate technology then if brought in by an imaging vendor. Finding system integrators depends on geographical location of the project, the size of the project, and the business application.
Prior to searching for a system integrator or a list of integrators, the following should be considered:
Answers to these questions will help you understand whether the project will managed internally or by the vendor/system integrator. An internal assessment of your skills, resources, and time will be major deciding factors.
Selecting a System Integrator
The primary factor for selecting a system integrator is the size and complexity of the image project to be undertaken and the internal resources of the company itself. Resources should include both the operations group and the information systems (IS) group. If neither group has experience in imaging technology, client/server architectures, business process reengineering, and work flow processes, then it may be more expedient to bring in a system integrator from the beginning who can manage the project from beginning to end.
Step One
Perhaps the first step is to determine which department is in charge of the project, the operations (users) group or the IS group? In good debating fashion, a defensible case could easily be made for either side, depending on which side is presenting. It is clear that the operations personnel understand their processes better than anyone else and they will be the users of the system after it is installed. On the other hand, the IS group controls the systems in a company and will be responsible for maintaining, servicing, and managing the imaging system. While one department should be in a lead position, both departments should be participating. It is not advisable for only one department to have sole responsibility for the imaging project.
Once a champion for the system has been selected, it has to be determined if:
Step Two
After the initial project analysis, the size of the project can be scoped and the ground work laid for the next phase. If your company does not have the internal resources to scope the project and write a request for proposal, then this work must be outsourced to a consulting group. This outsourcing group could be a pure consulting company that does not recommend or sell any products or a system integrator that has a consulting group.
Selecting a systems integrator is dependent on your internal resources and capabilities, the size of the project, the potential project budget, the project schedule, and project planning detail.
Step Three
As with any company providing a major system, the potential vendors and system integrators should be researched for financial and technical stability. Many of the smaller companies are still under venture capital money or have only recently entered the document image integration market. A period of due diligence should be performed in which the following guidelines are suggested:
- D&B Report
- Annual Report
- Certified Audit Report
For some companies that are fairly small, it may be wise to visit the headquarters’ offices. As part of this visit, it may also be possible to visit one of their installed accounts.
While the level of due diligence can be determined based on many factors, it should be an essential part of the selection process. The image industry is undergoing rapid change and growth, many new vendors and integrators are emerging, and new technologies are being introduced.
Summary
As can be seen from the complexity of the imaging systems market, it may be difficult to even assess the need to bring in a systems integrator. Indeed, for many companies with established IS departments and a history of "doing it ourselves," a systems integrator may not be needed.
The decision to use or not use an integrator is largely based on the project scope versus internal knowledge and resources. The Catch-22 to this decision is understanding and sizing the project effort itself. If there is not enough dedicated and knowledgeable resource to "scope" the project, then the services of an integrator, or consultant, will be beneficial. In this case, an experienced integrator can probably do in weeks what may take internal resources months to do. Also, since the integrator has, one assumes, done many of these types of assessments, they can be not only more efficient, but more detailed in their analysis.
It is comparable to doing a cost justification analysis. If the internal resources have not done this before, and therefore do not have the basic knowledge and tools, they will have to develop everything from scratch, including spreadsheets, vendor pricing, BPR estimates, etc. in addition to learning what imaging is all about at the same time (and even learning what is expected from a cost justification). An experienced integrator will have the tools, know current pricing, be able to scope the amount or reengineering, and produce the report in less than half of the time it would take for an internal group to produce the same report.
While the integrator brings to the table knowledge and experience, which should translate to a rapid deployment and a faster ROI, the trade-off is higher initial cost and loss of experience for the internal team. If the internal team does not become proficient in analyzing new business applications and developing those applications, the system integrator will have work for many years. If on the other hand the goal is to become self-sufficient, the role of the integrator should be to transfer the requisite knowledge to the internal team.
Are System Integrators Objective?
System integrators (who have consulting groups) claim independence from preconceived solutions and will provide an objective analysis. This is based on their notion that as a system integrator they always "integrate" the appropriate equipment for that project. It should be understood, however, that most integrators work with one or two vendors and the "solution" will inevitably be one of the vendors with whom they have a working relationship. Having these relationships allows the integrator to have a better working relationship with the vendors of choice, have a more complete understanding of the product itself, and provide a better overall implementation.
So how independent and objective are system integrators? Most of the larger integrators have multiple relationships but are still limited to the established relationship. If system integrator XYZ has agreements with FileNet, Plexus, and Watermark, they will not be bidding ViewStar. If you want ViewStar, you will more than likely have to find a ViewStar integrator.
So how independent and objective are system integrators? Well, not very, as the example above illustrates. What are your options during a procurement?
As with any involvement in outside companies, it is up to the buyer to do the homework, understand what is being purchased (the system integrators involvement), and be a responsible buyer. Being responsible means that you understand enough about the project to guide the integrator to the correct implementation.
While this may be a generalization, most projects do not fail because the technology failed, they fail because the sell and buyer do not have the same expectations.
(This resource paper applies to document imaging, document management, groupware, and workflow system integrators.)
©Copyright 1997 by Porter-Roth Associates.
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