| 1.2 How To B2B Maintaining application-to-application (A2A) operational integration is a
daily challenge within most enterprises. Extending A2A integration into B2B integration is
being forced onto the IT agenda by the business case. Unfortunately, the unsatisfactory
A2A solutions provided in the past will not provide successful strategies for the more
difficult case of B2B integration. We need new strategies to provide the flexibility,
responsiveness and robustness lacking in most A2A implementations. Once accomplished, a
successful B2B integration strategy may be used to eliminate the operational headaches
from old A2A solutions. IT management has 3 strategic options on how to get to the web:
- Buy an off the shelf solution and interface it to your
existing applications
- Create a new application solution from scratch
- Re-use your legacy applications
There is no universal answer here. Each solution will be the
best choice in different circumstances, sometimes under the same roof. A careful analysis
is required to determine the pros and cons of each approach for each application. One must
make the best choice, although it is unlikely that a single one will maximize cost, risk,
quality, reliability, and time to market simultaneously. We have a basic rule of thumb
that we use:
- If the legacy application no longer fits the business, buy or
build new
- If the legacy application does an adequate job, re-use it
through modernization
Although this and subsequent articles will focus on re-use of
legacy applications, there are many times when a new solution would be preferable, and we
are the first to recommend new when it makes business and technical sense. |
