BPM-EAI

This write up is a continuation from the blog titled 911. When these different cases are dealt with, they are pseudo named as “fire-fighting” even in technology world because they are fires trying to engulf the IT infrastructure and if not stopped will burn up a lot of $$$. The operations cost of IT today range between 50% to 75% of the overall IT budget and to reduce this cost overhead and optimize IT resources, it is important that many such sporadic issues and cases are not masked with tactical solutions and allow the ‘fires’ to turn up again and again. The loses due to such issues are not directly accounted but surely affects.
In the world we live, any fires that occurs at a home or an industry is dealt by Fire fighting department and they don’t stop by just stopping the fire, they investigate till they find the root cause and advises steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

In IT though there are no dedicated firefighters; instead the systems integration development and maintenance team put in extra hours and even days or weeks of hours and finally get a workaround to contain the spread and extinguish it or if lucky (often rare) find the root cause. Technology is no different from non-technology and in fact most of the principles are a reflection (refer Analogy).
The purpose of this write-up here is to present an abstract concept for enterprises to create a dedicated team as “Fire Fighting Cell”. The team composition of this firefighting should be such that they are experts in handling such issues and focused in getting to the root cause no matter what the level of issue is. Unfortunately there is no training programs to develop such experts and enterprises would need to look into experience and skills of their employees to form such a team.
For e.g. look at case 1 and 4 again, most probably the support team would have found a way to still proceed with the go-live plan by restarting the services and components or by reducing the overall components by some number to save face for the management and think of addressing the issue later. All fine for now, but the issue still remains there and the risk also is not mitigated for the long term. On the contrary if the fire fighting team takes over in response to the 911 call, their job would be to analyze in depth even looking at the original non functional requirements, the configuration options, the capacity plan (utilization of system resources) etc and even review of the code to understand the deviation from standard practices. They are fighting against the time just as in real fire-fight when you have to contain the fire and extinguish it. Similarly for Case 2 and 3 the fire fighting cell has a job of finding what went wrong over a period of time - from requirements elicitation to execution and reporting the A-Z results of the gap analyses.
The concept of having a dedicated team is not about having a different set of members. It is about having a different entity and structure but can contain the existing developers and support engineers, an architect, quality test experts, an effective manager etc. This team when in action should be leaving aside their current responsibilities and be part of fire busters.

Posted by Narayanan Chathanur at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in 1900, any purchase by consumers had limited choices; he could visit the store and pick the product from a select few available. In this era, consumer is aware of the numerous choices he can pick from, check on reviews and then finalize the delivery date and time at his door step. Today, 2011, the digital consumer an essential part of any business, where being able to select and choose from a given set of products and offerings is trend that is sure to change the enterprises of tomorrow and how they engage with their consumers. This engagement with the consumer also allows the business to work with them in order to identify and match up to their needs, consult and personalize the products for them. Where face of a bank was a teller with long wait time for simple activity such as deposit or withdrawing the money, today bank's website provides personalized products and services with limited visits to the bank location!

There have been bigger role of modes of communication with the consumers, real-time helpline, feedback, analysis of data received by surveys etc. And only to enhance this is social networking that constantly works on understanding the consumer with the perspective of his likes, dislikes and creates a digital intelligence of the consumer. For example, a hospital that patient visits irrespective of whether it is the local hospital or not, the patient information is provided to doctors with the awareness of the allergies he has as complete of data is already available with detailed medical information. Websites like TripAdvisor can select the preferences and provide the details on which destination, and which package to pick from numerous available options.

Businesses see this as an opportunity to enhance the consumer experience they provide and today with help of technology they can build the enterprise of tomorrow. This change in consumer perspective will bring in a huge shift in the way organizations have been working in the past. Organizations are being asked to provide personalized products and services. At the same time, consumers are also collaborating with organizations to create a greater understanding.

In my opinion the businesses exploring the social networking and working towards co-creating their businesses with consumers will be lost in the run to future proof their businesses! The future of this kind of association and of personalization lies in seamless integration. Technology being the key enabler for a future such as this!

Posted by Raksha Kadam at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a lot of material available on Internet about the Maturity Continuum Model *[MCM] defined by *Dr. Stephen Covey. In this model, Dr. Covey talks of the maturity of person/system/institution et al has three stages/phases called “Dependence”, “Independence” and “Interdependence” and these phases are cyclic. An individual entity might begin with a “Dependence” phase, and then moves to “Independence” phase, then to “Interdependence” phase, there upon again begin with “dependence” stage in another context. This cycle of continuous maturity levels is discussed elaborately in his path breaking book called “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” [ISBN 0-7432-6951-9].

The first stage of transition, the Dependence stage, is where one is dependent on systems/others for their operations. If we look back, in earlier days, when two applications had a need to integrate, the only way was to do a ‘file’ based transaction. Application A had to open up an FTP-port for Application B to log into, create a separate security level for external parties to log into their system, place the file in the correct directory. Unless these tasks, which are highly dependent on Application A are completed, Application B cannot get the data. Or the other way of doing it was by opening port on B, giving credentials to A, wait for A to “PUT” the data for B to act upon. The amount of dependency on the availability of the systems is very high and typically a nightmare to the operations team of these two application. The thoughts of replay, repost of the data if something fails would be nothing short of panic pangs to the businesses and the application had to have too much of logic in them to ensure no duplication happens.

Then the stage of Independence in the world of EAI arose from the “File” based Dependence; where the “message” based integration became the de facto norm of the day. Application A would “PUT” the data in form of a “message” to a “Broker”, who would ensure that the “message” reaches the Application B. this ensured that both the applications act Independently of each other. This may not be the best way to “integrate”, but did reduce the dependency of the availability of the Applications to Integrate. Application A need not wait till Application B is available to “PUT” or “GET” data, as there is Broker as escrow agency between the both. However, it brought with it, its own baggage; the amount of data that can be exchanged between the two applications is limited to the capacity of the Broker, while an intermediate application added to the latency due to one more “hop” between the systems.

Then the next step of transition to “Interdependence” was ushered into the world of EAI; the world of “Orchestrated Services” with the use of Enterprise Service Bus. Here, all the applications willing to be integrated or to integrate would reach out to the Service Bus, which holds the crux “compose-able” technical/utility services to form “business services”. There would not be a single instance, where something can “live” without depending on any other service, with exception to utility services.

This stage of “Interdependence” (Service Centric Enterprise) paved way to the emergence of another paradigm in Enterprise IT, Business Lead IT. This model of Enterprise IT, where Business Processes play the important role in defining what the Applications should do and how they need to exchange information for enabling a particular Business Function. In earlier models, the Business and IT were like the two horses drawing the cart of Enterprise. With the advent of BPM-led Enterprise IT, it has more akin the Eskimo Dog Sledge, where the Lead-dog is the Business, while the remaining pack would be the IT. The onus of running the IT would be more like a business function, than perceived “cost center” as in earlier models. As with any great change, this model brings with it a great dependency. The BPM based approach, depends highly on the underlying technology infrastructure to be readily available in form of Business Services.

This dependency means, the Enterprise should complete one full cycle of IT Maturity as per Dr. Covey’s model. Though the journey might again begin at a “Dependence” stage, this time it will be in a different context. (Business and IT at tandem Vs. Business lead IT)

We at Infosys have come up with a methodology called BEAM (BPM Enterprise Adoption Methodology) which can accelerate your journey into the world of Business-led IT. For more information about BEAM, please ASK US or Enquire

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According to the official press release (refer link below):  "SAP NetWeaver Gateway opens the door for millions of developers to use development environments of their choice to create highly innovative apps connecting to SAP software. Without having to acquire any SAP knowledge, developers can deliver apps running as interactive desktop and web experiences, within social environments, and on mobile devices and tablets that connect to SAP software."

This is a strategic shift compared with middleware such as the SAP NetWeaver technology platform since instead of extending the SAP business applications to various user environment, the Gateway involves enabling them to access SAP data using standard technologies. It however does provide greater voice to all those who believe that the "on-device" flavor of business applications is here to stay.  

One of the biggest benefits of the technology is that it is designed to reach a wide audience of developers, as programming with it requires no ABAP or BAPI skills. Plus, its use of common (Web) standards makes data from the SAP back end available everywhere. (Refer "Two Min Apps" link below)  This would ensure rapid adoption and coupled with the fact that these light weight apps would be typically those that are useful for making decisions rather than actual complex operations, it is a fair bet that we will be seeing more of these apps in the future.

It must be noted that for complex business applications, SAP still recommends the use of enterprise services. For instance, SAP NetWeaver PI offers further functions for A2A and B2B integration - albeit at a higher cost of development and maintenance. SAP NetWeaver BPM, on the other hand, aids in modeling, executing, and monitoring business processes.

SAP NetWeaver Gateway already offers comprehensive mobile enterprise functionality - including multiple-device management, device and data security, connections to further data sources, and based on reports, the platform will also be able to access SAP Business Suite through SAP NetWeaver Gateway following a planned update later this year.

More Reading :

Two Minute App : http://en.sap.info/gateway-apps-mobile-rest-duet-enterprise/43463

Official Announcement : http://sapphirenow.news-sap.com/2011/05/18/sap-opens-gateway-unleashes-data-devices-new-class-of-apps/

Posted by Maloy Patnaik at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'First Mover Advantage' is no longer competent enough to become a Market leader. With the advent of technology the replication of winning formula has become easier for the competitors to follow. So being first alone doesn't bear fruits but being first smart is the key to success. Smart? What does that mean? Let's find it out.

Recently cloud is creating a buzz in the technology front. Lots of researches are being carried out on how to leverage upon the available opportunities and thereby creating value from it. Cloud based solutions enables enterprises to minimize the capex and to have a control on the opex. Does adapting to cloud based services and solutions alone make us unique and smart? Maybe it does to some extent but not completely. Let's analyze how players in retail industry can become completely smart using cloud.

Retail Industry is undergoing tremendous changes in the recent years. Enterprises are trying to focus and cope up with the changes happening around in the marketplace with customer-centric strategies and approaches. Companies have become more proactive to get on top and have started adopting cloud for financial benefits. But this doesn't help them sustain in the market forever as competitors will soon follow them. I feel that S-Cloud will transform the retail industry as a whole. Let's understand what S-Cloud is and how it enables to achieve competitive advantage.

Customers have become tech savvy and well informed. With the rapid increase in the internet penetration, customers prefer online purchases because of its convenience. Generally customers compare various products on price and quality before placing any order. S-Cloud or Social Cloud adds value to customer shopping experience incorporating other customers' perspectives. S-Cloud creates a social platform on the cloud. It creates a community wherein customers can recommend products, post their views, share their thoughts and rate a particular product apart from purchasing products but within the retail players' boundary.

Let's say a customer is planning to buy an LCD TV online. First he analyses the prices of various brands, their specifications and features. Then he makes a choice based on his analysis which meets his requirements. S-Cloud adds value to the customer buying decisions. How does it add? Customers will be delighted to check out products' after sales services and post-purchase dissonance of the other customers who have already bought and are currently using it from the same retail player. Such information is difficult to identify and are extremely valuable for the customers. S-Cloud makes it possible by creating a collaborative network which facilitates customers to make their purchasing decisions considering the experience of others.

S-Cloud creates a win-win situation for both customer and enterprise. Customers feel more satisfied on one way while Enterprise gets to know what customer preferences are and act accordingly thereby managing their supply chain effectively. With the switching cost of customers almost zero in the online space, it is necessary for retail players to minimize cost and attract more customers and create a critical mass to sustain in this competitive market. S-Cloud would definitely facilitate in achieving this ultimate objective and make the enterprises smart.

Posted by Saravanan Balaraj at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)