The computing framework of a business can include a lot of players which don't readily share data.  That can lead to a lot of hand re-entry of data into multiple applications, hand transcription from one document to another, or, at the very least, cutting and pasting between windows!  These sorts of dataflow can eat up man-hours of labor and introduce an increased chance of error as your data crossed from one domain to the other.

These sorts of speed bumps can often be flown over, or at least gotten around, by the creation of automated file translators (scripts, batch files, or possibly VB programs) or by, at a minimum, deeper research into the capabilities of the communicating applications.