If your organization is making a significant investment in enterprise application integration (EAI) technology, you are not alone. Estimates state that the EAI technology market is pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars annually with service revenues dwarfing technology revenue estimates by a factor of 10-to-1. Integration is in demand in the private and public sector.

by Bob Shearer and Bruce Taylor

by Bob Shearer and Bruce Taylor

Today, a new business phenomenon is taking shape that values the ability to transform individual and collective institutional knowledge to net worth.

Today, a new business phenomenon is taking shape that values the ability to transform individual and collective institutional knowledge to net worth.

New imperatives, new concerns, and new technologies are forcing companies to rethink their fundamental business assumptions. Business no longer revolves around long-term plans and projections, large inventories, and long lead times. It is increasingly being driven by impatient customers and intensifying competition.

Electronic business activity totaled more than US $980 billion in 2000, according to the US Department of Commerce [1, 3]. Business-to-business (B2B) transactions accounted for more than 94% of all e-commerce transactions, and much of this activity involved B2B collaboration.

Trust and knowledge-based relationships are the glue that holds together the disaggregated virtual enterprise, far more than the transactions that are exchanged in shared information systems. The real value chain in virtual enterprises is not delivered with transactions alone; it's delivered through the exchange of knowledge with trusted partners.

Trust and knowledge-based relationships are the glue that holds together the disaggregated virtual enterprise, far more than the transactions that are exchanged in shared information systems. The real value chain in virtual enterprises is not delivered with transactions alone; it's delivered through the exchange of knowledge with trusted partners.

In Robert Wright's book Nonzero [1], he describes the impact technology has on the evolution of society. New technology comes along, and society rises to leverage the new capabilities that exist. He uses gaming theory to explain his point. Zero-sum games have winners and losers. The total benefit from playing the game nets out to zero. The winner benefits at the expense of the loser.

A primary IT focus in the early 21st century is support of business-to-business collaboration. Driven by many factors and enabled by the Internet, the opportunities to open up marketplaces and create operational efficiencies are simultaneously exciting and enormous. The technical challenges in doing so will prove just as exciting and enormous.

"Science Finds -- Industry Applies -- Man Conforms"

-- Motto of the Chicago World's Fair, 1933

You're probably reading this summary and the accompanying Executive Report because you want to improve software development in your organization.

"A fundamental problem in our industry is that software projects are chronically overconstrained and underspecified," said Cutter Senior Consultant Ken Orr. This statement underscored a lively debate during the Modern Project Management panel discussion at the recent Summit 2002 conference.