DaveBirchall.com on Business Technology

Archive for the ‘Business Process Automation’ Category

Imagine you wanted to pull different information from several different systems to create a singular and convenient view. This could be a real time snapshot of your business, your customer, your goods your employee…. what ever. These systems may not naturally communicate with each other so a further application is needed. This application for lack of a better way of explaining it ‘directs traffic,’ whilst hosting and applying business logic predetermined by the developer. That application is Microsoft Biztalk.

Since its release in 2000 Biztalk has sparked a wave of IT integration in modern business and challenged the notion that System integration or Business Process automation need be prohibitively expensive. It is now in its sixth release and it going from strength to strength.

Quick Facts

• Over 7,000 customers worldwide
• 90% of the Fortune Global 100 use BizTalk Server
• Leader in the 2007 Gartner Application Infrastructure and Back-End Application Integration Magic Quadrants
• Leader in the 2007 Application Server Platforms: Conventional Web, Conventional SOA and Independent SOA Forrester Waves
• 12 of the 15 largest retailers in the world run BizTalk Server

Biztalk works across platforms and Frameworks via adapters that ‘plug in’ to Biztalk and interface with the applications. An experienced developer or system intergrator can also build the adapters.

The advantage of Biztalk in your business can be enormous. It includes greater data integrity, faster communication, real time reporting, Business Activity Monitoring, greater collaboration and more. The need for System integration has become common place in many sizable businesses.

To find out how Biztalk can benefit your business, why not take advantage of a free consultation (top of the page)

Further Information

http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/default.aspx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/3/c/e3c6b6d8-7fec-459e-9479-1cd320019244/Introducing%20Microsoft%20BizTalk%20Server%202006%20R2.pdf

Where were you?

The first ‘meet up’ was a bit of an experiment so it was great that a small but targeted group turned up to see what I have been banging on about The group ranged from ‘hardcore technologists’ to people with much more of a business related interest.

If you want to join us next time around, then join us at

http://ia.meetup.com/65/calendar/8164216/

Business Rules Engines

Its how we make sense of the world and crucial to the way we run our business. Without our systems, policies and procedures can we really say that we have a business?

So if we can understand our business rules, you can not only take control of your business but can take steps to automate it. This is approach is by no means new. The term business process automation has been around for some time. The problem has been that in todays ever changing business environment, the technology can’t always keep pace with the change.

Imagine if a technology existed where rules could be changed on the fly and set free to evolve as the business grows. Image the possibilities and the effect it could have on you business if you could automate major parts of it.

Business rule engines are one of the most exciting technologies of the modern age. I hope to meet people as excited this concept as I am.