Interfacing versus Integration – The Burning Question

By: Ina Baeumer

This is a  question all our central clients need to answer and it is often not easy, so we thought for any customers out there struggling with the question we’d put together a few pro’s and con’s to ease your way.

What are some advantages of interfacing?

1. Properties and central can be upgraded separately from each other, entire estates are not down during the upgrade
2. Clients with properties in countries or locations with unstable or slow network connections can work better in an interfaced environment as the property server will be local and therefore no one has to rely on the network connection to the central instance
3. Properties will have only the data of the clients they are working with – so for a management company for instance you can keep individual hotel data separate at properties while retaining the consolidation at your central instance
4. A sophisticated match & merge routine will check for duplicate profiles coming in from the properties to central
5. Properties may enter names in local languages which then get converted into the central language automatically through character conversion – great for our global customer base
6. Properties can easily be disconnected from the central environment in the event a franchise property changes flags, etc.

So what are the disadvantages?

1. Increased hardware costs due to servers required on properties as well as on central
2. Increased centralized work due to the fact someone needs to monitor the central interface
3. Increased installation times due to replication of properties on the central server – you have to configure each hotel in both the local PMS and in your central system

So are the advantages of integration?

1. Reduced hardware costs
2. Reduced maintenance costs
3. Reduced installation times as the properties do not need to be replicated on the central server
4. Central users have direct access to the properties
5. Errors through misconfiguration will not cause failed messages and inventory imbalances
6. Our Sales Force Automation(centralized sales) users have access to all catering related information on property

The disadvantages of integration?

1. Properties as well as central need to enter profiles in one central language and may manually add alternate names (names in local language)
2. Properties have to be able to standardize across the board as they share configuration and profiles in one database

You can probably tell from the above that there is no black and white answer as it is absolutely dependent on each client’s environment.  But hopefully we’ve given you some food for thought and if you are making this decision don’t forget to chat with your MICROS team we are always happy to help.

Find out more about what MICROS can do for you! For more information contact us at info@micros.com Phone: 866.287.4736 (US and Canada)