Integrated IT Structure: ERP Systems
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Ideally a cycle ends with a pregnancy and the treatment is finished for the couple.
Until this level is reached, it is the task for both the medical and the administrative
department to fulfill all necessary steps during each stage. For this reason each
session follows a certain so-called “activity” which again consists of a medical
activity and an administrative, or financial oriented one. Hence the coherency of the
integrated system is the key aspect to keep track.
4.5
Generating Structure in an Unstructured Environment
ERP systems are an efficient way to structure data, information and business
processes internally – they are relational, orderly, consistent, as well as easy
storable in database tables - but usually a company does not act in a silo.
Paraphrased, the structured layout begins to totter, when information and data from
an external ecosystem is absorbed into the internal environment of the company.
The external environment is a playground for big, non-relational, messy and
unstructured data. According to estimations, unstructured data is growing ten to fifty
times faster than the structured pendant (Simon, 2013, pp. 35-38). The term “Big
Data” is commonly used as a synonym for unstructured, unquantifiable data.
A company’s main task nowadays is to make this data feasible for business
purposes by creating a link between the internal infrastructure (ERP system) and
the external one (Big Data). For this purpose new and complex data analysis
processes, new IT technologies (f.i. cloud services), as well as a change of thinking
are necessary to accomplish this task (Vaman, 2007, p. 204).
Erich Seher (2013), CIO of VOITH IT-Solutions, thinks that especially the aspect of
standardization within the internal IT-infrastructure is a key prerequisite to
successfully connect the integrated system with the cloud in order to make it feasible
for potential benefits gained from it. So called “island solutions”, meaning a
heterogeneous IT-infrastructure, often can become a pitfall when trying to outsource
specific processes into the cloud. As an example he describes the IT organization
within his company as following: VOITH IT-Solutions is a Regional Center for Austria
and Eastern Europe. VOITH’s headquarter is located in Germany, which is also a
