Integration Trends and Forecasts

I interviewed Ken Vollmer of Giga Information Group about his keynote address to the BrainStorm Conference in New York on September 23. Ken is eBusiness Integration Conference Co-Chairman and Research Director for Integration Strategies at Giga Information Group. He has covered trends and issues related to all forms of business-to-business (B2B) integration, including business process integration (BPI) and electronic data interchange (EDI). 

Ken is giving an opening day keynote on the major trends in the integration space, what people are finding out, the benefits these projects bring to organizations, and the kinds of problems they run into. The main factor that is new is the current state of the economy. It isn't recovering to the degree that was expected, and this has resulted in increased pressure in most vendor categories including the integration vendors. Independent vendors are the most vulnerable, and clients need to understand the implications inherent in dealing with these vendors. Some of the implications are not what you would expect and Ken will expand on that in New York. In the EAI space, consolidation and sales of vendors to independent parties have occurred in the last few months and Ken expects more in the near future. 

Ken will also talk about Web Services. There has been a very recent change in the way Web Services is perceived. There seems to be a backlash developing against the whole concept, probably as a reaction to the way Web Services has been hyped during the last year or so. Ken pointed out that the backlash is just as far out of line as was the preceding hype, because Web Services are being implemented and they do work, even though there still isn't a concise definition of what the term encompasses. 

Ken told me that despite the static economy, there is a tremendous amount of interest from organizations that want to improve their functionality. Many of them are making plans now, and doing the due diligence necessary to make the critical decisions about their IT infrastructures and initiatives. This is one reason why attendance at BrainStorm conferences has steadily increased. While some companies are implementing these integration initiatives now, according to Ken, many more are in the preliminary phases. He said, "The BrainStorm conference is a natural for anybody who is looking to determine what their integration strategy should be and which vendors they should consider."

Ken's keynote will be a look at the future rather than the past or present, because the current climate is constrained by the economy. But, he adds, things are turning around, and when they do, companies will need to act quickly. If the planning and research has been done, and a strategy is in place, it will be much easier, faster, and cheaper to implement because they will have finished all the preliminary work and dealt with all the issues that come before picking a vendor. Ken said, "The up-front gathering of information and sitting in on strategy planning sessions are very valuable to help people in the early stages of their integration implementation projects." 

Ken will give recommendations on how to proceed with integration initiatives including vendor selection. There are a lot of integration vendors out there and they come in many different flavors. In order for an organization to know which one is best for their solution, they need to understand the differences among them. 

Ken will also chair the Business Process Management Track in New York. In defining BPM, Ken said that Business Process Management is the overall concept and process of setting up effective integration links both internally and externally. There are many components to BPM, and there is still confusion about what it is. However, in this track, the component discussed will be the integration-specific part of BPM. Ken said they will cover instances where organizations have implemented BPM initiatives in several different ways. There will also be a panel discussion so attendees can ask specific questions about BPM.