Several factors can inhibit the effectiveness of information technology as a
competitive tool. The move towards market globalisation is driving mergers and
acquisitions that we can all feel the effects of at an unprecedented rate. As a
result, information systems must become more flexible and open as the need to
integrate diverse information sources and structures grows. Systems must not
only enable the transparent flow of information within an enterprise, they must
be increasingly accessible to business partners within the supply chain and in a
manner which does not in any way compromise internal security arrangements.
Integrating such disparate systems is a very complex task, which up to now has
been hindered by a lack of a suitable software infrastructure.
The introduction of Component Object Models such as COM, DCOM, COM+ and CORBA
has changed all that. It is now possible to deliver software applications as
assemblies of independent components which interact through their pre-defined
interfaces. Leading Enterprise Application Integration (ERP) vendors, including SAP, are exploiting this technology
to repackage products as components.
ERP is among the biggest challenges facing IT organisations and departments
today. In fact, industry analysts predict that organisations will invest over
$40 billion in the coming years in tackling the issue. There are several reasons
why ERP is so important for these organisations.
Mergers & Acquisitions
In an effort to compete in the global market, many organisations have merged
with or acquired, their competitors. Mergers and acquisitions obviously have a
big impact, not only on IT organisations, but also on the infrastructure within
the restructured companies. Complex and often disparate systems must be
integrated before IT can be an effective and competitive tool.
Packaged Solutions
There is a current real skills shortage in the IT industry. This shortage is a
major factor behind the trend towards packaged solutions, bought off the shelf,
which in turn can cause organisations to sacrifice business flexibility for time
to market. As a result, there is often a need to link packaged solutions with
other applications such as ERP solutions, front-office CRM systems, legacy and
third party applications.
In addition, organisations are continuously confronted with the need to
customise packaged solutions to align with changing business processes. The
80/20 rule is often applicable...the package covers 80% of the functionality and
20% is requested and, perhaps, added.
Transformation from Task-oriented to Process-oriented..
Companies have traditionally organised themselves around discrete business
processes such as order entry, shipping, billing etc. IT organisations built or
purchased enterprise applications to automate these functions. Driven by the
need to respond rapidly to business change, companies today are realising that
they must move towards managing business processes such as order processing
rather than individual business functions. This move requires companies to
integrate the disparate applications that together implement their business
processes. A consequence of this process-centric approach is the need to
implement workflow modelling techniques as a starting point for the design of
the newer integrated applications.
The benefits of EAI
Enterprises that are successful in integrating enterprise applications will
derive a number of important business benefits:
- The ability to automate business-critical processes
- The ability to extend applications to more users
- The elimination of duplication
- Improved customer services
- Increased productivity
- Lowered costs
Technical Considerations
When enterprise systems need to be integrated, applications and application data
need to be merged. Tools to access different databases and technologies to
integrate application logic are necessary to make this possible. In addition,
successful application integration requires adherence to industry standards.
Support for the Internet will also be a major part of the new application
infrastructure. Every major company today includes electronic business in its
strategy to strengthen its relationship with customers and suppliers.
