Integration, the resource glutton

Integration technologies continue to cause customer confusion, says Michael Thompson, principal research analyst, Butler Group, Europe's leading research and advisory firm, in the report Integration Technologies.

Integration has, for many years, been high on the agenda of IT professionals. It is a resource glutton, which if left uncontrolled will eventually consume organisations to the point where they can no longer operate effectively.

However Integration Technologies a new report published by Butler Group, Europe's leading IT research and advisory organisation, finds the new architectural models that are gaining attention in the market place such as 'service oriented architecture' (SOA), 'enterprise service bus' (ESB), and the bringing of host systems into modern operating paradigms, are creating a good deal of confusion. It appears the very models being promoted to ensure less complexity are creating complexities of their own.

Organisation need to understand the advantages that integration technologies can bring to their business and understand which technologies on offer best match their specific needs.Enterprises lack an understanding of exactly what integration applications really are in use, and what function they perform.

One clear example of this is when the issue of host systems enter into the picture. In many organisations they have formed the backbone of the transactional systems, and the thought of attempting to integrate them into a larger framework always raises concerns regarding future operability.

Even when there is a good understanding of what applications are in use, it is not always known exactly what function they really perform, as the application itself may have moved on significantly from any documentation that may exist.

Typical benefits from a business impact perspective include:

• Elimination of data re-entry and errors
  
• Increased operational efficiency and decreased latency through the creation and automation of services that adequately support business processes. This can also lead to the creation of completely new business processes
  
• Improved supply chain performance through increased visibility
  
• Improved compliance with service level agreements
  
• Improved coordination across various revenue channels
  
• Improved up-sell and cross-sell opportunities through a single customer view
  
• Reduced inventory stock-outs and improved product mix

Examples of technical benefits that have been claimed by customers of integration providers include:

• Reduction in number of interfaces required (for example, a 40-50 per cent reduction)
  
• Reduction in interface development costs (these appear to be typically 25-50 per cent for many of the Reduction in interface maintenance costs (50-75 per cent savings)
  
• Reduction of 50 per cent in costs associated with changes to customised displays
  
• 30 per cent reduction in cost of changing underlying applications
  
• Reduction in application instances due to removing redundant instances across different business units (33-50 per cent savings)
  

Creating an integration strategy based on process as the primary driver will allow organisations to better understand the benefits of spending money on integration. For those more forward looking organisations, this cost element becomes subservient to the fact that the organisation will be future-proofed both in terms of technology advancements and organisation change.

The idea of a SOA, which forms the infrastructure upon which defined, self-contained, and non-reliant functional components can be stored, identified, created, deployed, and consumed, is gaining ground, and reaching the heights of hyperbole at the moment.

However, SOA is often perceived by organisations as simply part of implementing web services, a natural extension to the web service model. This is too narrow a view and the report advises organisations to consider a SOA, whether or not they intend to provide or consume web services.

What this means from a business perspective is that each application needs to be understood from the point of view of what services it provides to the organisation. Applications then need to be 'deconstructed' into their component services each of which performs a specific business function. Organisations can undertake a cautious and controlled migration to a SOA, without having to put all of their eggs simultaneously in one basket. This is of key importance when it comes to cost control and monitoring the performance and return on investment (ROI) of a solution.

Butler group recommends that enterprises should create or revise a strategic plan for integration, and the definition of a software architecture based on the principles of a SOA and an ESB. It stipulates the plan must address four elements — choice of underlying technology, service-enabling existing applications, new development work, and new investments in packaged applications.

The report acknowledges that there is no 'one-size-fits-all solution' when it comes to integration, and there is still a requirement to undertake some of the more mundane tasks in order to create an infrastructure that powers the whole organisation. However, of the newer models of integration, for example SOA, it is not a 'rip and replace' model' it is firmly entrenched in the re-use of existing assets.

Real-time enterprises need integration. This means more than simply the 'right information, right time, right place, right person'. It means that processes are increasingly more important than standalone applications.