On-Demand, SOA To Reshape Enterprise Apps: Report
SOA could become the next big platform shift, according to Merrill Lynch and Co. Along with SOA, Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) and Web services have been advocated by enterprise software companies as the perfect technologies to move toward a Web-based architecture.
Microsoft Corp., BEA Systems, IBM, Tibco and Webmethods have emphasized Web services for years. However, the movement toward Web services has increased in sincerity since applications companies, such as SAP AG and Oracle Corp. began making upgrading platforms, the equity research firm said.
A survey of 100 chief information officers conducted by McKinsey and Sand Hill Group and discussed at this week's Software 2006 conference concludes software spending is likely to accelerate. The percentage of IT budgets allocated toward software on an average is estimated to increase from 30 percent in 2006 to 35 percent in 2008, according to Merrill Lynch.
Admittedly, The Merrill Lynch survey of 100 CIOs in North America conducted January 2006, presented caution with close to 57 percent of respondents indicating flat to down software spending in 2006.
Merrill Lynch believes enterprise application vendors need to look more like Google Inc. and Salesforce.com platforms based on Web 2.0, and look less "dreary" to traditional enterprise platforms that run for back-office functions.
The impact of Web 2.0 technologies has been restricted to the consumer applications, while most of corporate IT remains focused on upgrading enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, strengthening security, adding capacity to serve up databases and applications.
"Web 2.0 technologies would provide the ability to build more interaction, context and customization into current business applications," Merrill Lynch said, providing an example into the ability to get an alert on an inventory manager’s cellular phone or Blackberry when a product runs out of stock, and new procurement or production schedules are initiated.
Merrill Lynch said the implication is large enterprise software companies, such as SAP and Oracle, must begin to design applications as easy to use, such as Google Inc. and Salesforce.com, for the masses. They need to target enterprise applications toward the masses, companies that have higher thresholds "for usability and do not have the bandwidth to be trained like the core group of users of these applications."