Enterprise Mashups and Cloud Applications

Corizon’s recent launch of mashup extension packs for Siebel and eBusiness suite has prompted a number of conversations with journalists on the extent to which this value proposition transferred to enterprises adopting SAAS applications. I was surprised by the initial perception that enterprise mashups were required because of the difficulty of deploying applications on premise. Conversely there seem to be preconceptions that the need would be much less with on demand applications.

Enterprise mashup adoption is driven by the need to transform the economics of integrating applications to make people more efficient. The deployment of new applications, whether they are on-premise or in the cloud,increases the requirements for integration. The more new SAAS business applications are adopted, the more such integration will be required. This is exactly the experience reported by GE CIO Gary Reiner: implementation costs for applications:

“...they're largely around interfacing with existing systems, process changes and data cleansing, those three costs exist regardless of whether GE hosts that application or whether the supplier hosts that application.”

As a matter of fact, cloud computing is even more adapted to enterprise mashups. The key reason for this is that they promote the concept of keeping each functional application as vanilla as possible to reduce costs. Why re-invent a CRM package and not just adopt best industry practice? Differentiation is not gained by modifying each application but by integrating them to streamline your desired processes. For example superior end to end customer experience delivery is more likely to be achieved by seamlessly integrating the different applications required to support a particular customer journey (trouble ticketing, service diagnostics etc.) rather than customizing each application. This is where enterprise mashups play a critical role: by providing a quick and non intrusive way to create mashable components from existing applications and easily combining them to mashup a fit for purpose solutions that guide users to complete a task, they are perfectly suited to integrate your cloud with your on premise applications.

We are big proponent of service based applications at Corizon – this is where the company started! We also happen to believe they will be one of the key drivers to accelerate adoption of enterprise mashups. As enterprises adopt SAAS, they will be looking for new approaches to quickly, flexibly and cost effectively integrate their new cloud applications to allow people to do their jobs better. In the same way that enterprise mashups transform the economics of owning on premise enterprise applications, they will transform the economics of integrating cloud applications.

Labels: Cloud Computing, CRM application, customization, enterprise mashup, ERP application, IT strategy, mashup, process mashup, SAAS