Enterprise Application Integration

  • Enterprise application integration (EAI) is considered to be a very prominent issue within the IT industry. The industry sees enterprise application integration (EAI) as one of the areas for sales growth over the next few years. Enterprise application integration (EAI) is a strategy on the back of which the industry hopes to sell a variety of products - including more hardware.

  • A VNU commissioned technology research of 240 IT managers working across different industries revealed that exactly half of the companies were undertaking enterprise application integration (EAI) strategies. Only 19% believed that enterprise application integration (EAI) had already been achieved.

  • These figures would suggest that enterprise application integration (EAI) is well underway with almost 80% of companies believing they will have achieved it over the next few years.

  • Enterprise application integration (EAI) provides companies with a common view of data across the business and gives CRM systems the information needed to serve customers better.

  • According to a research by the Butler Group enterprise application integration (EAI) is a top priority for chief information officers but hype and complexity are stopping companies from investing in specialist software. Web services are now being tipped to be the low-cost integration alternative.

  • Over the next five years the market will change rapidly, with web services and business process management (BPM) leading to the re-emergence of service-oriented architecture (SOA). This trend will promote business-to-business trading.

  • Enterprise application integration (EAI) seeks to tie together different software - such as legacy code and a front office package - to work as one application. Research conducted by Spikes Cavell & Co revealed that 87% of users rated enterprise application integration (EAI) as increasing their ability to do business.

  • Ovum estimates that the enterprise application integration (EAI) market will be worth $32 billion by 2004 and according to GartnerGroup, enterprise application integration (EAI) accounts for 30 - 40% of total software maintenance budgets. Users have seized enterprise application integration (EAI) as the key to pulling disparate systems together so they can operate smoothly online.

  • The rise in enterprise application integration (EAI) projects has been prompted by consolidation within the IT industry due to over-capacity as IT managers are being asked to produce return on investments much more quickly. IT directors are also aggressively renegotiating existing IT contracts. Banks and financial institutions also face disruptions and fines if their IT departments delay preparations for 2006 Basel Capital Accord on credit risk.

  • Enterprise application integration (EAI) involves data collection, standardisation and consolidation. It also requires relevant technologies such as warehouse, portal, wireless and web services applications as companies seek to become real time enterprises (RTE).

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Micro Focus delivers a wide range of packaged and custom service offerings covering all aspects of COBOL enterprise application integration, development and transformation - more

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Legacy systems, particularly systems written in COBOL, play a key role in an enterprises ability to keep up with and stay ahead of competition. Micro Focus products and services provide the foundation for a multi-pronged, legacy application strategy - more 

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