Develop that App

Software engineering, the process by which software is built, is more closely
connected with business success and competitive differentiation than ever
before. As organizations strive to align software with business objectives, they
are also struggling to squeeze more value from their existing IT investments.
Business leaders rely on their IT staff to create the right infrastructure to
help them provide better customer services, protect assets and position
themselves to take advantage of "the next big thing." So software
engineers are in the enviable position of controlling their own destiny, and
that of their companies, right?

Not so fast. While it is true that software creators are god-like in their
ability to turn bits into business applications, they unfortunately are forced
to practice their craft within the confines of a development process that is
subject to significant external forces that severely threaten their success and
overall value to the organization. Today's software engineers are often doomed
for failure before they even start a project due to a software delivery process
clogged by ever-changing business requirements, conflicting priorities and poor
project management. It is a process crippled by a lack of visibility into and
across projects and a minimal understanding of the development process by
operational managers.

A recent report by The Standish Group provides a glimpse as to just how
inefficient today's software delivery process is. It found that nearly one-third
of all software projects are canceled prior to completion. Of those projects
that are completed, more than half (54%) exceed budget, 90% are delivered late,
and two-thirds are considered unsuccessful, even though they met the functional
business requirements.

No need to worry, it is only our global economy's infrastructure that we're
attempting to build. Success in software delivery has become an art form,
mastered only by the very skilled and experienced software managers and
developers. In most companies, development teams are working against all odds,
in a never-ending battle against schedule and budget constraints. Business
leaders turn to their software experts to solve the most pressing business
problems but often don't arm them with the guidance, resources or tools they
need for success.

To overcome these challenges, it is necessary to transform the very way many
software development organizations operate. The time has come for the software
development process to be transformed from its current chaotic art form into a
managed business process.

Most companies today are hindered by gaps between organizations, by gaps
between the roles in the development process, a serious lack of communication
between stakeholders, and an increasing platform complexity. Often, this lack of
alignment causes different teams to have uncoordinated, and often, conflicting
priorities and objectives.

Only by tying the art to the business it serves, software engineering
discipline will get the credit it deserves.

Making chalk and cheese hold hands

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is the unrestricted sharing of data
and business processes throughout the networked applications or data sources in
an organization.

Business applications, today, not often live in isolation. Users are
expecting on the spot access to all business functions irrespective of the
system the functionality may reside in. This requires disparate applications to
be connected into a larger, integrated solution. Such integration is normally
done through some form of "middleware."

The rise of e-business has forced companies to look outside their corporate
perimeters to integrate their B2B (business-to-business) and B2C
(business-to-consumer) applications with existing solutions, such as Supply
Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM).

The Hurwitz Group has defined six market segments that address the
integration problem at different levels: platform integration, data integration,
component integration, application integration, process integration, and B2B
integration.

• Platform Integration provides connectivity among heterogeneous hardware,
  operating systems, and application platforms.
• Data Integration products generally fall into two categories. The first
  includes database gateways-such as Sybase DirectConnect, Information
  Builders EDA SQL, and Oracle Open Gateways-that provide Structured Query
  Language (SQL) access to heterogeneous data sources. The second category of
  products provides tools for extracting, transforming, moving, and loading
  data (commonly called ETML tools).
• Component Integration enables new functionality to be easily combined with
  ERP packages, client/server, and legacy applications.
• Application Integration provides a framework for a collection of
  technologies that together provide near real-time integration.
• Process Integration provides the highest level of abstraction and
  adaptability for an EAI solution.
• B2B Integration takes EAI technology beyond the corporate walls and
  delivers the full promise of e-business by integrating customers, suppliers
  and partners.

From real-time to predictive Biz

Companies are taking steps to succeed in today's high-speed,
hyper-competitive global marketplace. They are doing everything they can to cut
costs, squeeze more value out of their existing technology investments, increase
the velocity of their operations, and improve their ability to adapt to market
forces and shifts in demand. To accomplish these goals, companies are focused on
increasing efficiency and agility. Almost every business today needs to morph
into a real-time predictive enterprise, but the demand is the highest for BFSI,
telecom, discrete manufacturing and e-governance.

In today's agile and competitive environment, EAI has made
real-time business a reality, enabling unrestricted sharing of data and
processes throughout an organization's network of data sources. Companies
investing in EAI streamline processes and remain interconnected. Database
linking, application linking, data warehousing and common virtual system are the
four categories in this integration process.

In addition, organizations have to meet shorter deadlines for
project completion, and challenged with shortage of skilled personnel. It's also
not just the integration of new and old applications that have surfaced as
problems but also the need to integrate partners, suppliers and clients. So
vendor management is also critical.

Given a situation like demand trending down during peak
season predictive business can help a company identify patterns such as a major
customer's orders trending down during a typically busy period. This could
result in investigating possible reasons, or to proactively stimulate some
customer buying behavior.

With contributions from editorial advisors -Satyen
Parikh, MD, Indian Sub-Continent, Borland Software India, N Natarajan,
CIO, Aztec Software, and Anup Varma, Country Manager, TIBCO Software
India