Enterprise business integration is a means to an end. While an agile infrastructure, enabled by integration, can have substantial impact on the overall success of the business, technology alone has no value. Two companies can use the same technology and have very different results. For example, when General Motors focused on significantly reducing the time to design and engineer cars, it was able to achieve dramatic results that have given it a significant edge over the competition during the downturn in the economy. The technologies to enable GM to do this were available to all of its competitors, but were not applied to the same business initiative.

Business strategies and initiatives are where value is created for an organization. However, without the underlying ability to execute these strategies and initiatives, they will not yield the same competitive advantage. In the late 1980's Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) was the consulting world's hottest silver bullet. Many of the great ideas that resulted from a BPR study did not yield the anticipated results because they required systems to be reorganized and integrated in ways never envisioned when they were created. Radically reengineering core business systems was too disruptive and expensive to achieve an ROI and many of the plans stayed on paper. At the time, the technology was not mature enough to enable companies to leverage their existing systems and integrate them to support new business processes. Without the right technology, the ability to execute on a business strategy is not feasible.

The most successful implementations are those that meet the business requirements and contribute to the overall success of the business. They measure their success with metrics reflecting Key Performance Indicators (KPI). These KPIs are business measurements of success, not IT metrics. Meeting business expectations requires correctly defining the drivers, intent, scope and metrics that measure success.

The most typical types of business initiatives driving integration requirements today include reducing business cycle times to increase efficiency and competitiveness, improving customer satisfaction, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory requirements. Some of these initiatives are strategic and some tactical. Different business requirements call for different types of integration technologies.

Improving Business Efficiency