2005 will see the worlds of business integration and business intelligence move closer together as evolving integration platforms are built around services and end-users recognise the value of using advanced business intelligence tools for data mining and analysis.
That's the opinion of Devon Dalbock, Sales Director of Software AG South Africa, who says organisations are realising that by bringing these two entities together, they have the ability to continuously improve their processes rather than merely streamlining them.
"As a result, they improve their processes from a business perspective - not a technology perspective," he says.
Dalbock also predicts that we will see the advent of automated, intelligence-driven processes in 2005. "It's one thing to see from a report that you need to stock more light bulbs in Cape Town, but the ability to start making decisions automatically with the software means taking it to another level," he says.
"Software which can see the intelligence feeds and interoperate with systems to change processes makes this possible, which is very exciting."
Furthermore, he believes that service-oriented architectures (SOAs), enterprise service buses (ESBs), integration with business intelligence and confusion over integration approaches will be hot talking points for the integration industry next year.
SOA deployments are expected to move from concept to reality in the coming year, with a strong emphasis on reusable components. Dalbock warns against confusing SOA with Web services, saying that grass root deployments of Web services must be thoroughly accompanied by management strategies, not just treated as a cheaper form of integration.
"If you haven't got strong management discipline, you'll lose the control you had when you built an integration hub," Dalbock says. "What if the service creator kills it six months later not knowing half the business is using it?"
One of the most important themes in 2005 is expected to be security, as anti-virus and anti-spam technologies continue to merge and become more proactive n response to one of the biggest challenges facing the ICT industry. Worms, viruses, spyware and spam have become the plague of our time, resulting in massive productivity and financial losses.
"There will definitely be significant growth in anti-spyware and anti-spam software as organisations strive to protect their assets," Dalbock says. "Some technologies have the potential to cut spam by as much as 50%."
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Software AG provides a real-time single view of strategic business information by integrating applications and systems, in addition to modernising mainframe and open system IT environments. Its offerings are based on the product families Adabas, Natural, EntireX and Tamino. Over 2 500 employees in 59 countries support the mission-critical systems of 3 000 customers around the world. The company maintains four regional R&D facilities across three continents. Founded in 1969, Software AG today is Europe's largest and most established systems software provider.
It is headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE 000330002 / SOW). In 2003 Software AG posted 422 million euros in total revenue. The Internet address is www.softwareag.com.
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