Building bridges between IT interfaces

Goal

To establish an integrated control system for the different IT applications offered by the SME Krios 

Partners

Krios Info, HES-SO Valais (IIG), The Ark Foundation

Krios Info Sàrl was created in 2004 in Sierre. A product of the Incubator at TechnoArk in Sierre, it is now based at Sion and has six employees. It specialises in information technology, particularly in providing IT solutions for companies and hosting their information systems.

In particular, Krios offers its clients a complete range of products related to cloud computing and IT as a service (ITaaS). In order to do this, Krios has different systems, each of which fulfils a quite specific function. However, at present, these different systems are managed and administered using ad hoc interfaces that are particular to each system. The various systems have little or no way of communicating with one another. This leads to high costs, a lack of process traceability, the risk of manual errors and a poor responsiveness to change.

To remedy these problems, Krios decided to use a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approach based on web services and high-level business process modelling, which ensures the long-term sustainability of the integration, whilst at the same time getting the best out of the systems already in place without needing to modify them.

Content of the project

The objective of this project is to establish an integrated business process management system that facilitates and rigorously controls the activities related to the administration of Krios’ various underlying systems. The new developments produced by the HES-SO Valais and by Krios itself should improve the company’s internal processes for administering the solutions offered to its clients and used in-house.
The development of administration interfaces intended for users (external clients, and also Krios’ own in-house staff) constitutes another major innovative aspect of this project.

Practical outcomes

This project is still ongoing. It will eventually enable a Valais-based company whose aim is to develop its business outside the canton to develop its offer. It also ensures the transfer of competences from the HES-SO to a Valaisan company. This project by The Ark has also enabled Krios to carry out an in-depth review of its customer offer.