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Participants in this podcast are Krissi Danielsson (KD) and John Delaney (JD).

KD: Hi! I’m ebizQ producer Krissi Danielsson. Everyone needs integration and business process management, but getting started with some of the solutions out there can mean a massive undertaking with lots of different implementation expenses and consulting fees. But Australia's eVision has another approach – Integration and BPM through the Software as a Service model. EVision's MessageXchange.com solution delivers through the Internet, bringing some interesting benefits and features vs. non service-based solutions. Here today to talk to us about MessageXchange.com is eVision co-founder John Delaney. Thanks for joining us today John.

JD: Thank you for the opportunity of speaking with you and ebizQ listeners today. Yes, we are talking about a fundamentally new way of delivering integration and BPM using the internet. I hope people get some appreciation of how it works; what the key advantages are and how it might apply to them.

People may be surprised that Software-as-a-Service can be used for integration and BPM. But I think they will quickly become excited by what they can do and how easy it is to use. The internet model is all about putting people in control and letting them do really clever things. And, we’re seeing this happening with the new online services being built on MessageXchange.com.

There seems to be some confusion in the market over what Software-as-a-Service is compared to the ASP model so I would like to clear that up at the outset. The ASP model is really about hosting application software products. Whereas, when I refer to Software-as-a-Service I am talking about a net-native multi-tenant service which has been designed specifically for internet delivery.

KD: Now, John, our first question for you today is this. Could you talk a little bit about eVision's background and business?

JD: eVision was established in 1996 and has pioneered Software-as-a-Service for Integration and BPM. Our business focus is predominantly in B2B integration but our service can be used for both inter and intra-business integration. We are the developers and operators of MessageXchange.com and also license the technology to other service providers.

Our business is geared around providing a high-performance and high-availability service 24x7 with support, data back-up and DR all taken care of as part of the service.

As a company we have always had a strong R&D focus and continue to advance the functionality of MessageXchange.com with regular quarterly releases. This means our customers are getting the benefits and competitive advantage of having the most advanced functionality available. It is our objective to be the leading provider of online hosted integration and BPM services.

We make our knowledge and expertise in integration and BPM available to our customers through our training programs, online support and professional services.

KD: How does the software as a service model work for integration and business process management? What is the benefit to customers of this specific approach?

JD: Software-as-a-Service works for integration and BPM in the same way as it does in other areas such as salesforce.com in CRM. Customers have their integration and BPM requirements hosted for them so they don’t need infrastructure. But importantly, they retain ownership, control and access to their data through a web portal.

Customers pay-as-they-go and only-for-what-they-use. In integration and BPM, this corresponds to a monthly message volume fee and a monthly per seat user fee for people that use the web portal.

The removal of the up-front capital expenditure and on-going operational and maintenance costs significantly reduces the Total Cost of Ownership. This is the key advantage of the Software-as-a-Service model. It also means the ROI can be achieved in months rather than years.

Also, by matching costs to usage customers don’t need a large project with critical mass to obtain a ROI.

Another key benefit is the speed-to-market of software-as-a-service. We see reductions in time ranging from 10-30% of a conventional software application project. This is because there is no need to establish infrastructure or set-up an operational environment with security, back-up and DR. That is all included with Software-as-a-Service. Teams also tend to be smaller since there is just less to do and there is less reliance on specialised people.

Software-as-a-Service is flexible too since additions and changes can be made from anywhere and at anytime. The workforce can be remote so organisations can shop around for the best arrangement.

Software-as-a-Service is future proof since enhancements and new functionality is added on a regular basis. In our case, this is done quarterly. This means organisations don’t need to upgrade their software, or infrastructure, or even do the planning for future capacity or upgrades.

KD: What is the key differentiator of eVision vs the competition?

JD: eVision’s MessageXchange.com is a net-native, multi-tenant service. And what I mean by that is - its messaging engine and business process functionality have been designed to work hand-in-glove with the web portal. This enables designers, analysts and managers to configure, control, test, monitor and manage their integration and BPM requirements and usage. All that is required for access to the service is a web browser. The web portal includes an online drag-and-drop business process modeller and a Business Activity Monitor (BAM); there are online configuration and testing areas and so on.

The multi-tenant capability means each tenancy can operate on the service simultaneously with others but importantly all operations and data are securely segregated.

The net-native and multi-tenant differentiator underpins our ability to deliver the benefits I mentioned before.

KD: Do you have some interesting case studies of past customers and MessageXchange.com users?

JD: Yes, an interesting example is a financial services company that has created an outsourced mortgage processing service that runs on MessageXchange.com. Their developers use the web portal and have created the messages and processes that integrate mortgage brokers, banks, credit rating agencies, legal services and government departments. They also monitor and support their customers’ usage via web portal. This service enables them to take a mortgage application and automatically process it.

A supply chain case study is a telecommunications company with a 200 retail shop network, call centres and dealer network. They use MessageXchange to integrate their front of house systems with their back end systems and those of their outsourced warehouse and logistics partners to control and monitor the status of all retail orders and stock. They have over 60 different message types that support a number of processes and handle over 10 million messages per year for them.

KD: Do you have any thoughts to share about the future of the software as a service model and how eVision plans to grow in the field?

JD: I guess I’m not alone in saying the future of Software-as-a-Service is now. And I think the reason it will become the dominant way of delivering software is quite simple. It enables any sized project to achieve a ROI.

In the software product model, most integration and BPM applications remained the preserve of larger organizations. They have the critical mass to achieve a return on the up-front capital costs and on-going running costs associated with those projects. The Software-as-a-Service model means SME’s and smaller projects can also access the same if not better functionality and achieve a return since they only pay-for-what-they-use.

Therefore, I think we will see a proliferation of Software-as-a-Service applications starting strongest in the SME end of the market. However, in time, I think once the larger organisations become comfortable with the model and see the benefits they will also move across to this way of operating.

In a way, it will be something like how the client server applications overtook mainframes. And, the business drivers will be similar - our ever more competitive and changing world will require a rapid, flexible and lower cost model which is why Software-as-a-Service will become the popular choice.

With regard to our plans, we aim to grow by partnering with existing and new service providers so their customers can use our technology. We see ourselves working with both horizontal and vertical industry service providers.

We are looking to extend our geographical reach and are actively seeking new service provider partners. We recently added the Chinese language to our web portal to encourage take up in that part of the world.

We also plan to extend the functionality of our service in new interesting ways to make the decision to use our service even more compelling. People should check out the new business intelligence functionality that will be introduced into the service later this year. It will provide a new window into the business interface of an organisation. As well as providing a basis for improvements in business management, I can see one of the side benefits being that it will help people working in the industry to convince management of the merits of an integration and BPM project.

KD: Great! I'd like to say thank you to John for joining us today to discuss eVision's MessageXchange.com service. John, is there a website URL that listeners can visit to learn more?

JD: Thanks Krissi. It has been my privilege to speak with you and your listeners today so I hope it has been useful.

Yes, people can go to www.evision.com.au for more information. And they can also contact us here at eVision if they would like to trial MessageXchange.com.

KD: Thanks again. That's about all the time we have for today, so remember, if you're interested in more podcasts, blogs, white papers, news, and other e-business information, the address as always is www.ebizq.net. Thanks and have a great day.