The Insider's Guide to Business and IT Agility
The Insider's Guide to Business and IT Agility
By Terry Noreault , 08/23/2004
Print this article
Email this article
Talk Back!
Write to Editor
It is often tempting to think of "integration"solely in terms of the latest hype, whether it’s electronic procurement, Web services, or technology such as XML. Yielding to this temptation, however, eliminates broad categories of business processes and problems that require sharing of data among the underlying applications.
Even before the industry began focusing on application integration, business process integration, and extending business processes to external constituencies, many organizations had already begun to take steps in those directions. Often, the "integration"was very much at arm’s length – a company outsourcing its payroll to an independent payroll processor might send magnetic tapes containing new payroll data for each pay period. The company’s HR systems were "integrated" with the payroll processor’s check preparation systems by transferring files of data. However crude the mechanism appears to have been by today’s standards, this was still an early form of data integration.
As computer networks became ubiquitous and network connections between organizations became more cost-effective, more sophisticated forms of data integration became necessary. Automated sharing of data was rapidly recognized as the way to improve both productivity and cost efficiency for integrating applications and processes. The Internet further drove down the costs of automated file transfer by eliminating the need for leased lines or dedicated networks between organizations.
While much of the literature on application and B2B integration focuses on specific processes such as procurement, supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM) or Web commerce, there are many other classes of business activity that require some level of application integration. Many of these activities are particular to specific verticals, such as the transfer of ACH or ATM data to back-end processing systems in financial services, or the exchange of claims processing data between medical providers and insurers in the healthcare industry.
Now that organizations are realizing the benefits of integrating data, there are requirements that must be in place to make it a success. Whether internal or external, data integration requires a robust infrastructure for data delivery.
Requirements for Data Integration
Infrastructure for application integration is comprised of three main layers: data transport interface, data exchange services, and user/ application interface.
1
Insurance: Discovering the Missing Link of Business Architecture
SOA Infrastructure for Any Economic Climate
Mobilizing the Enterprise: Using RIA and SaaS to Do More with Less
Adapt with Agility - Web 2.0 in your Application Infrastructure
Please pardon our appearance while we work out the remaining kinks of our new site. If you happen to find a bug, please let us know at support@ebizq.net
ebizQ is very interested in what you have to say. To contribute an article, an opinion, or to become a blogger, please contact Peter Schooff.
Nov 19, 2008
This conference will teach business leaders what to expect, and what to avoid, to make their SOA journey a success. SOA is a long journey, not a single project, and distributed architectures are inherently complex. Success requires new ways of working, creating more efficient cross organization processes, adopting new tools, and building new skills.Register
Date: Dec 02, 2008
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (17:00 GMT)
Date:Jan 14, 2009
Time:12:00 PM ET- (17:00 GMT)
REGISTER TODAY!
Read about what P & C carriers have to say about the current state of their billing systems, how well current systems support their needs, and how...
Download Now
Almost a year after their first chat, XAware founder and CTO Bill Miller gives Dennis Byron an update on what's going on this year at XAware and how that "open source thing" is working out.
Listen Now
Listen to Peter Schooff's podcast with Jason English, VP of Corporate Marketing for iTKO, where they offer a quick preview of ebizQ's upcoming SOA in Action Virtual Conference on Nov. 19.
Listen NowDavid Bressler provides Progress Software's customers and field teams with the expertise and experience to deliver SOA. In this podcast, Bressler gives an excellent introduction to ebizQ's Nov. 19 SOA in Action Virtual Conference, where he'll be a featured speaker.
Listen NowHear Larry Alston's unique perspective on the open source development model and how IONA is adopting a "functionality rules" open-source-as-a-tactic theme now that Iona is part of Progress.
Listen Now
In this podcast, Rothman flies solo and rants about Web 2.0 attack vectors, providing a primer on the types of attacks you're likely to see from social networks. Rothman also gives himself the "free association" treatment, discussing topics like Facebook and the impact of Web 2.0 on PCI.rnrnListen to or download the 11:39 minute podcast below:
Listen NowIntegrating BPM and CEP gives you intelligent business processes that can react to rapidly changing business conditions with continuous visibility. Learn More
Insurers need to think about creating "true linkage," which means linking business strategy to process to IT investments and thereby setting the foundation for true change. Learn More
To be effective, business intelligence technology must work behind the scenes to deliver relevant information when, where, and how it's needed. Learn More
A lot of people are talking about Enterprise 2.0 as being the business application of Web 2.0 technology. However, there's still some debate on exactly what this technology entails, how it applies to today's business models, and which components bring true value. Some use the term Enterprise 2.0 exclusively to describe the use of social networking technologies in the enterprise, while others use it to describe a web economy platform, or the technological framework behind such a platform. Still others say that Enterprise 2.0 is all of these things. Learn More
Smart event processing can help your company run smarter and faster. This comprehensive guide helps you research the basics of complex event processing (CEP) and learn how to get started on the right foot with your CEP project using EDA, RFID, SOA, SCADA and other relevant technologies. Learn More
|
|
