nVisionIT delivers successful projects based on `misunderstood` technology
Demonstrating the capability of South African technology organisations to rapidly take advantage of new technology and deliver value to clients, specialised Microsoft enterprise application developer nVisionIT has successfully delivered several projects using the recently released Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 integration platform.
Comments Graham van Zijl, managing director of nVisionIT: "Microsoft BizTalk is a product that is not well understood by the market, yet one that can deliver significant value in terms of process automation and integration. Those businesses that have grasped its potential are reaping significant rewards in terms of reduced costs of doing business and in some cases, are able to achieve a competitive advantage."
Essentially a collection of services, BizTalk enables companies to achieve integration at a level that was previously too difficult or too costly to undertake. Through its use of standard protocols such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and XML, the technology creates a standard interface between almost any systems, allowing hidden efficiencies to be exposed and the extension of business rules through long-running transactions, thereby creating business value.
Derek Kudsee, e-business solution specialist at Microsoft SA, says BizTalk forms an integral part of the company`s .NET strategy. "With BizTalk Server, companies can release hidden potential by implementing software and systems as services to empower employees and better connect with customers. The BizTalk Server environment is an integration broker that facilitates the true implementation of a services-oriented architecture (SOA)."
Broadcaster MultiChoice, fast food chain Wimpy and furniture giant JD Group are some of the businesses for which nVisionIT has created BizTalk Server 2004 solutions that improve operational efficiency.
"BizTalk is a highly effective platform for delivering value around process automation. This is a concept that is riddled with complexities; hence the reluctance for many businesses to entertain the concept of releasing value from such environments," says Van Zijl. BizTalk Server is particularly powerful when organisations are seeking to make manual business processes more efficient, says Kudsee. "This can be achieved through business process automation and business process management. Through the implementation of the BizTalk business rules engine, BizTalk Server allows organisations to change the behaviour of business processes without fundamentally changing the business process implementation. This makes BizTalk Server highly efficient in all vertical industries," he explains.
Through the use of business activity monitoring, companies using BizTalk Server can empower their information workers to make more informed decisions by giving them greater visibility of the internal workings of a process and how it behaves in the context of all the other processes for which there are dependencies.
"In any business, one process interacts and has an effect on many other processes. Understanding these interactions and optimising them releases value for the business," says Van Zijl.
As a simple example, he points to a supply chain operation - the supply of raw materials is a process that has an effect on processes specific to manufacturing, billing and warehousing.
While Van Zijl notes that many return-on-investment calculations are `esoteric` - he says with BizTalk Server the metrics used are direct cost savings such as reduced licensing fees and automated business processes that limit the need for human intervention.
"Because BizTalk deals with such intricate environments, it is a prerequisite that the solution provider can implement with an understanding of the client organisation from two perspectives - technology and business processes. Hence, such projects are not typically overnight implementations; they take time for consulting and scoping as a critical component of risk mitigation," he says.
Kudsee believes BizTalk Server can be used by almost any company. "We`re not targeting BizTalk Server at any specific industry or size of organisation. Through the various licensing options available, customers of the very smallest size can implement BizTalk Server, right through to the largest enterprise customers in SA. Through vertical industry accelerators, like our SWIFT accelerator for financial services, we can enable customers in vertical industries to more be productive in the shortest possible time," he says.
Van Zijl adds that any company that relies on a complex interaction between many applications and organisations should investigate the potential that BizTalk has to offer.
"Our experience has shown that clients who are initially reluctant to look at the technology soon become enthusiastic when they see what can be achieved and how BizTalk can improve operational efficiency."
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