Standardizing Non-Standard Interfaces

Designing a system, whether it’s a hardware system, software system, or organizational system often results in problems where multiple parts of the system interface with each other. In workflow, these are the boundaries between steps and actors; in applications it is that space between disparate databases. Most of the organizations I work with do not have one completely integrated system; nor do they share systems with their partners, suppliers and customers. As a result, there is quite of bit of value to be created bridging these non-standard interfaces.

These handoff points, where work is delivered to the next actor in an end-to-end business process, can often cause waste in the form of waiting, rework and other value-destroying factors. It becomes especially difficult to get a vendor to change their process for just for you; after all, you’re just one of their customers. However, over the years tools and platforms have emerged that are affordable and highly configurable; allowing or…