Semantic integration of semi-structured distributed data in the domain of IT benchmarking towards a domain specific ontology

In the domain of IT benchmarking a variety of data and information are collected. The collection of this heterogeneous data is usually done in the course of specific benchmarks (e.g. focusing on IT service management topics). This collected knowledge needs to be formalized previous to any data integration, in order to ensure interoperability of different and/or distributed data sources. Even though these data are the basis to identify potentials for IT cost reductions or IT service improvements, a semantic data integration is missing. Building on previous research in IT benchmarking we emphasise the importance of further research in data integration methods. Before we describe why the next step of research needs to focus on the semantic integration of data that typically resides in IT benchmarking, the evolution of IT benchmarking is outlined first. In particular, we motivate why an ontology is required for the domain of IT benchmarking.