Role of a Systems Integrator

With a huge demand for commercial software in application portfolio, IT organizations must develop and refine their skills in understanding and evaluating providers of such systems. Most of the companies have been on the evaluation of software providers. But there is yet another significant party involved other than the software vendor to ensure project success; namely the System Integration or system implementation consulting firm. This article is written on the basics of special report- Role of a System Integrator, which describes the role typically played by system integration firms in enterprise system implementation. System Integration is a common term that describes the bringing together of the component subsystems into a single platform of integrated system. It helps simplifies complicated tasks by breaking them down to be managed to one single point. For example a store requires barcode scanning devices, wireless access points, docking station, local servers, and transaction processing system that handles interfaces to inventory control, payroll, accounting, products status, and offers, production scheduling and other systems. No single vendor or developer of each of these subsystems or system components has responsibility for the entire system and hence a third-party system integration firm is hired to oversee deployment of the entire system. The company’s IT organization could play the role of Systems Integrator who assimilates to centralize and manage the various software applications on one single platform.