However, much of what I've done in corporate IT is basically like plumbing. You connect this here with that there, and make sure all the fittings are secure and compatible. In the case of data, you have to sometimes transform the form data takes. This will become less of an issue as interchange standards take hold in the most computing intensive industries. These will grow into defacto data standards, then you'll only have n transformations to build where you once had n^2.
I know of people who used this n^2 to n reduction to tie together corporate data at a major energy company, producing "miraculous" results. It's only a matter of time for the economics to overcome corporate cultural inertia. (Which is often actually heavier in IT than elsewhere!)
I am also seeing this at play at a major bank I'm doing work for. It's changed the internal culture of IT from:
This system is my territory, which I shall defend
viciously.
to:
I gain fame and respect by publishing my data as Web
Services and being useful to as many other groups in
the company as possible.
It's changed this major bank's IT from the Cathedral to the Bazaar!
