€ 4.63

Business processes fail quite often because they can't adapt to changing circumstances. Often, the supporting information systems are the real culprits. Information systems can be extremely complicated and very difficult (and expensive) to change, unnecessarily, because it is quite possible to contain complexity and to incorporate change capacity in systems. Complexity comes with integration: the close coupling of business functions. Integration of interrelated or overlapping business functions can bring great synergy benefits, e.g. if they operate in related markets or perform similar transactions. Sometimes the benefits appear only when the integration is fast, though very often slow integration, e.g. once per day, suffices. Fast integration always results in sharply increased complexity and costs. Unfortunately, fast integration is the unintentional strategy of many ICT departments because they almost invariably install integrated system packages, and these are fast-integrated by definition. Complexity can be contained by breaking down business processes at their 'natural' split points into slow interfacing modules that each deal with a manageable number of functions.