In modern enterprises, data is being transferred to and from the company constantly. Trading partners exchange payments, invoices, and shipping information. A customer enters his personal information on a website and the company gives him access to his account data. Any business that wants to be competitive has to be able to deliver fast, high-volume, accurate data exchanges.
The Limitations of Common Automation Methods
A small company with only the occasional data transfer may be able to manage these tasks manually, but data transfers without automation are time-consuming and prone to mistakes. A basic job scheduling tool can improve speed and accuracy, but you’ll still run into trouble with your more complex processes. Many job scheduling tools only have time-based scheduling options; for example, you can send files at 2:00 p.m. every day. But what if the transfer has prerequisites, like a report arriving in a specified folder, before the job can run successfully? With an event-driven scheduler, you can set up your job so that it waits for the file and then kicks off immediately when it arrives. You could also:
- Trigger a job based on the arrival of an invoice from a partner or information entered by a customer on a web form
- Launch the customer onboarding process based on an action taken by a customer
- Transfer data back to a customer, for example rewards in a loyalty program, in immediate response to changes in the customer’s account data
- Automate the file transfers involved in financial transactions in real-time
Another way that businesses try to manage advanced scheduling challenges is by writing custom scripts. While custom scripting can be useful for automating one repeated task, it puts your business at risk, and it’s not very scalable. Each process that needs to be automated will require additional scripting, which isn’t cheap.
Once you’ve installed an enterprise job scheduling solution, any new IT process can be automated using the same centralized scheduler.
Integrating Disparate Business Applications
Exchanging different types of data with multiple business partners and customers probably requires your company to use a variety of disparate applications. Without an enterprise job scheduler, that means using valuable resources to manage these applications separately.
When you look for the best enterprise job scheduler for your company, make sure you consider how well it can integrate with the applications that keep your business running. For example, Skybot Scheduler can interface with:
- Informatica PowerCenter and Cloud
- SAP
- Oracle E-Business Suite
- Bulit-in Job Schedulers like cron and Windows Task Scheduler
- And more…
Integration of applications and systems is essential for using data effectively, but most companies aren’t doing a great job of it. A recent Fortra survey of 500+ professionals from organizations of all sizes asked respondents how well their data sources were integrated with their enterprise applications. Fewer than half said they were fully integrated. An enterprise job scheduler allows all your moving pieces to work together.
Download the Fortra Data Management Survey to learn more about current trends and best practices in data management
Secure and Critical File Transfers
Exchanging data with customers and partners is especially sensitive when it involves financial transactions. Fundtech, a company that hosts financial transaction processing services, was a perfect example of a company in need of a better automated solution for moving a high volume of data. Before they implemented enterprise job scheduling, Fundtech struggled to move hundreds of thousands of files a day on tight deadlines. Sometimes the software would seize up and not even send a notification when a transfer failed. The company had to hire an administrator to babysit the system overnight.
If this kind of workaround sounds familiar to you, consider next generation job scheduling software for your enterprise—your customer relationships depend on it. Fundtech came to the same conclusion. “We’re adding new customers and bringing new servers online every day,” said Fundtech’s Marni Jessie. “We couldn’t afford a solution that would slow down if it tried to handle more than 10,000 files.”
Enterprise job scheduling not only keeps your own business running smoothly, it helps you build better business relationships. For a first-hand look at how Skybot can help you keep your business partners and customers satisfied, download a free 30-day trial today.
