Enterprise Application Integration

Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion (E?I) is b?sic?lly ?n ?pplic?tion of IT in enterprises to m?ximize utility. To cover ? l?rge m?rket or to exp?nd business, most of the enterprises ?re offering online solutions or online s?les f?cility to their customers. In th?t w?y they puts their business to ? higher level of competition. Before enterprises bring the business oper?tion into the new environment, the org?niz?tion requires ? det?iled e-business pl?n to prep?re itself fully in order to cope with the new ch?llenge (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). To ?chieve e-business, enterprise needs the help of technology to support its e-business oper?tions. Enterprises will need to use some e-business ?pplic?tions to build such required inform?tion system fr?mework. The decision to use such complex enterprise softw?re is due to e-business ?rchitecture requirements which constitute implement?tion of Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion (E?I), Enterprise Resource Pl?nning (ERP), Customer Rel?tionship M?n?gement (CRM) ?nd Supply Ch?in M?n?gement (SCM) to its v?st network of inform?tion system.

In the tr?dition?l business environment, business oper?ting is ? m?nu?l, time-consuming ?nd l?bor-intensive process involving requests for quot?tion, purch?se order submissions, order ?pprov?l ?nd confirm?tion, shipping, invoicing ?nd p?yment. But with the help of Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion, business c?n g?ther inform?tion more quickly ?t ? rel?tively low cost. For ex?mple, 1800-flower Comp?ny provides ? bro?d r?nge of give products. The comp?ny's inform?tion system collects ?nd stores d?t? on birthd?y ?nd invit?tions, ?s well ?s ? record of gifts send to specific recipients (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005). It m?int?ins ? customer inform?tion file holding ?ll such d?t? which ?lerts them of forthcoming events. ?t the ?ppropri?te times the comp?ny sends customized mess?ge to the customers with suggestion for flowers ?nd presents. The comp?ny g?ins ? world-wide reput?tion. Therefore, good Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion f?st the business oper?tion ?nd use resource more effective. B?sket Comp?ny ?lso involves simil?r business ?ctives we discussed ?bove, by equipping the Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion, will gre?tly support business oper?tion. Now the competition of b?sket m?rket is very furious, it is not enough to improve only the product, we should impress the customers ?s ? person who c?res them more th?n their selves. To ?chieve the go?l, we h?ve to identify the trend of customer needs.

Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion records ?ll of the inform?tion on s?les, purch?ses, ?nd other fin?nci?l processes th?t the business p?rt?kes in. The ?ccounting inform?tion system keeps tr?ck of the costs ?ssoci?ted with production ?nd services. This d?t? ?llows the enterprises to tr?ck resources ?nd it shows the comp?ny how it is performing. The m?n?gement dep?rtment of the org?niz?tion relies he?vily on the Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion. This system ?llows m?n?gers to ?chieve more production in less time. When the m?n?gement inform?tion system is used properly, it c?n m?ke ?n org?niz?tion more productive. The m?n?gement inform?tion system collects, processes, stores ?nd dissemin?tes d?t? in the form of inform?tion needed to c?rry out the functions of m?n?gement (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005). ? Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion bre?ks down ?nd records d?t? so th?t m?n?gers c?n le?rn from the m?teri?l. This helps the m?n?gers m?kes s?le forec?sts ?nd helps them to m?ke better decisions. Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion ?lso ?llows the m?rketing dep?rtment to improve their effectiveness. The m?in go?l of m?rketing is to encour?ge customers to purch?se the org?niz?tion's products ?nd services by delivering v?lue.

The Internet h?s shown ? lot of people the power of distributed computing, ?nd the org?niz?tions h?ve put much investment into h?rnessing the power of network. ?lthough HTTP ?nd HTML m?ke it e?sier to ?ccess remote web p?ges for consumers, they do not simply the integr?tion of business systems (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005). Wh?t w?s required w?s ? w?y to sh?re d?t? ?nd softw?re services ?cross the Internet.

The sh?ring of d?t? is presented by XML (Extensive M?rkup L?ngu?ge), which is ? sophistic?ted ?nd gener?l-purpose version of HTML. This ?llows ?ny kinds of d?t? to be presented in ?n e?sy ?nd port?ble w?y. By surrounding d?t? with t?gs th?t indic?te its me?ning, XML text is self-describing ?nd c?n be e?sily m?nipul?ted ?nd tr?nsformed (Ruh, Maginnis & Brown, 2001). Org?niz?tion implements Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion (E?I) within its e-Business to sh?re d?t? ?nd link ?pplic?tions to support the flow of inform?tion ?cross multiple business units ?nd IT systems. Services provide ? solution to B2B integr?tion issues. Before integr?ting w?s difficult, it required both ? comp?tible invoc?tion ?nd comp?tible d?t?. Web services use SO?P, XML, XSLT to provide ?n invoc?tion ?nd d?t? interch?nge fr?mework.

Enterprise ?pplic?tion Model in E-commerce

Enterprise's business model is c?tegorized ?s click ?nd mort?r model. B?sic?lly it is de?ling with business to business (B2B) ?nd business to consumer (B2C) m?rkets. It h?s both online ?nd offline presence to distribute the products. Enterprise's m?in website (like www.enterprise.com) h?s interf?ce content ?nd it is both inform?tive ?nd tr?ns?ction?l-en?bled.

Customers c?n obt?in ?ll kinds of inform?tion online reg?rding enterprise's product ?nd services. It is equipped with online computer knowledge d?t?b?ses ?nd online customer service centr?l to ?ssist customers in troubleshooting cert?in computer products or ?cquiring b?sic knowledge on computing (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009).

There ?re two w?ys where customers ?re ?ble to purch?se enterprise's product. Enterprises ?llows customers to purch?se product online ?nd then pick up ?t the ne?rest ?uthorized store or request for direct delivery to the customer's door step with extr? delivery fee ch?rges. ?nother w?y of purch?sing is to ?ppro?ch the de?ler's physic?l store to m?ke the purch?se directly for ? desired customized product vi? web orders by de?lers (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). ?ll of the ordered products which ?re m?de this w?y ?re then distributed to the ?uthorized de?ler ?nd the purch?sing process will be h?ndled by them on beh?lf of the customer while enterprise is only responsible for product inst?ll?tion. Enterprise ?lso est?blishes logistic ?nd distribution ?lli?nces which ?ssist enterprise in delivering the finished product to the customers.

B?sic?lly, the B2B m?rket is very simil?r with the B2C m?rket. The m?jor difference is th?t the t?rget m?rkets ?re m?de up of business corpor?tions ?nd services ?cquired includes network design solutions which is done through contr?cting. The p?yment method used for B2B is ?lso slightly different from th?t of B2C. ?fter ?dopting the E?I for e-commerce, the existing ?uthorized distributors ?re ret?ined to ?void ch?nnel conflict without the need of disintermedi?tion (Banaszak & Matuszek, 2007). Enterprise ?ims to ?chieve the No.1 worth in customers' mind. Im?ges ?nd br?nd position should be centered in offering the lowest price with the good qu?lity products. By ?dopting ?nd implementing ?ppropri?te ?pplic?tion such ?s Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion ?nd other ?pplic?tions like SCM ?nd ERP, these ?pplic?tions help to stre?mline enterprises ?ctivities ?nd reduce cost.

In competitive electronic ?nd glob?l m?rket, enterprises ?ims to provide superior customer services with its f?st, convenience, reli?ble ?nd comprehensive customer services. Str?tegic short customer service tr?ining courses ?re provided to their customer service st?ff to ensure th?t they tre?t customers with respect, courtesy ?nd friendliness. We h?ve online ?nd offline customer service centers to provide equ?l ?nd e?sy ?ccess to our services ?t ? time, pl?ce ?nd ch?nnel th?t suits the customer.

When customers h?ve ?ny enquiry reg?rding the product or services, they c?n ?ppro?ch us ?t 24 hour on-site service centr?l for online di?gnostics, remedi?l, troubleshooting ?nd preventive m?inten?nce (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005).

Web-Services and EAI In The Future

Web Services h?ve spre?d r?pidly ?nd glob?lly. ?ccording to "Web Service M?rket 2004-2008", fifty-two percent of web services deployments h?ve been done in United St?tes, thirty-nine percent in Europe, six percent in ?si? P?cific ?nd three percent for the rest of the world (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). ? technology m?rket firm R?dic?ti shows the growing popul?rity of web services. Rese?rcher in the firm expects th?t s?les would re?ch to 6.2 billion US doll?rs in 2008. R?dic?ti h?s defined the m?rket which includes softw?re tools, ?nd products rel?ted to m?n?gement, security. The m?in softw?re vendors, such ?s IBM, Microsoft Corp, Sun, h?ve developed products in supporting web services, which h?ve been ? key to driving ?doption.

In p?rticul?r, Web Services deployments h?ve been involved in two m?jor fields: E?I (Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion) B2B - Business p?rtner integr?tion ?nd secure exch?nge inform?tion with p?rticul?r p?rtner without using ? propriet?ry w?yFor ex?mple, the world top ?uction web site eB?y, h?s been ?ble to use web service to grow both ?cquisition ?nd third p?rty development efforts, tr?nsforming ? web site into ? web pl?tform (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005). Over ? billion web services requests served per month ?nd ?pproxim?tely 40% of eB?y's listings ?re gener?ted by web services requests.

Web services ?re self-cont?ined, modul?r ?pplic?tions th?t c?n be described, published, loc?ted, ?nd invoked over ? network, gener?lly, the World Wide Web (Miller, Vandome & McBrewster, 2009). ? web service is progr?mm?ble ?pplic?tion logic, ?ccessible using st?nd?rd Internet protocols."In this p?per, first ? brief overview of web service will be discussed. Then ?ll technologies ?nd security within web services ?re concerned. Next p?rt will be web services ?doption. Two ex?mples will be discussed which ?re eB?y ?nd P?yp?l. Fin?lly, future development ?nd conclusion will be presented.

Over the p?st ? few ye?rs, web services h?ve become more ?nd more popul?r with ?pplic?tion developers. This technology provides ? signific?nt w?y for business to communic?te with e?ch other. Web services ?re different from the tr?dition?l Server-Client model, such ?s ? web p?ge system web server, they do not provide the user with GUI (Gr?phic User Interf?ce). However, web services use ? progr?mm?tic interf?ce to sh?re business logic, d?t? ?nd processes ?cross ? network. Then ?pplic?tion developers c?n be ?ble to ?dd the web services to ? GUI e.g. web p?ge, which will provide some specific functions to users (Banaszak & Matuszek, 2007).

Web services me?ns th?t distributed ?pplic?tions will be ?ssembled from ? web of HTML p?ges. Most of distributed ?pplic?tions will be built out of web services; no m?tter they ?re developed to ? single m?chine, ? org?niz?tion intr?net or the Internet.

Distributed computing model is one of web services' m?in fe?tures. This ?llows ? communic?tion between two different ?pplic?tions. For inst?nce, one purch?sing system might need to communic?te with ?n inventory ?pplic?tion, in order to check stock ?v?il?bility. Bec?use of this function?lity, web services h?ve grown in popul?rity ?nd being used to improve business processes. It is ?lso c?lled ?s the next evolution of the web (Conrad, Hasselbring, Koschel & Tritsch, 2005). In current competitive world, customers w?nt form enterprises to tre?t them like they ?re very import?nt person so they ?void telling their inform?tion which they ?lre?dy provided. So business st?rts from ?nticip?ting their needs to their fin?l s?tisf?ction. During this process, enterprises needs customer's inform?tion m?ny times so Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion technology helps to m?int?in their inform?tion ?nd helps enterprises in m?ny w?ys to grow their business. M?ny times customer h?s to cont?ct different dep?rtments for their work ?nd they do not like to provide their required inform?tion th?t they h?ve ?lre?dy provided to previous dep?rtments. So by proper Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion, customer doesn't need to provide their inform?tion m?ny times. It s?ves customer's ?nd enterprise's time ?nd this is one of the best w?ys to overcome the dislikes of customer.

Due to Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion, enterprises enjoy ?dv?nt?ges of inform?tion which they ?lre?dy know. When customer comes b?ck, the s?les ?gent h?s ?ll inform?tion ?bout customer like which product he h?s bought, so s?les ?gent tre?ts him in the s?me w?y. Enterprise ?pplic?tion Integr?tion ?lso helps ? lot to b?nkers, for ex?mple, if ? customer requests b?nk to le?se ? c?r. S?les ?gent c?n retrieve its ?ll p?st d?t? ?bout previous p?yments. They c?n tr?ck th?t either p?rticul?r customer p?id on time or not so they c?n e?sily tre?t customer.