The benefits of a SOA-based approach have already become apparent as the company is able to reuse newly created interfaces and services across subsequent implementations. For example, the time required to update partner interfaces was slashed from weeks to hours in a recent project.
Regarding SOA-based approach, Software AG, a global leader in business infrastructure software, recently announced that 3Com has implemented a real-time business infrastructure for its internal operations using the webMethods suite from Software AG.
By embracing a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to drive its business integration strategy, the technology leader has streamlined core business processes, reduced IT costs, synchronized master data, and secured better real-time visibility into enterprise operations. Significant improvements in IT productivity are already evident as an initial project, which was designed to improve customer service, moved into production faster and at less cost than budgeted.
According to Jerry Kelly, CIO and vice president, 3Com Corporation, due to the ability to work faster and more efficiently, the company has to establish IT as a change agent. On the other side, business users are beginning to grasp what's now possible and have raised their expectations accordingly.
3Com’s adoption of the webMethods suite from Software AG has had a significant impact on IT performance. A new messaging bus has replaced much of the cost and burden associated with maintaining brittle point-to-point integrations while other time-consuming bottlenecks have been eliminated and obsolete applications and their underlying systems have been retired. Finally, by reachitecting their existing SAP and Siebel applications within an SOA, 3Com can also improve the flexibility and responsiveness to change of its core business systems.
Specific components of the implementation include the webMethods ESB, a comprehensive, standards-based enterprise service bus (ESB) enabling integration and interoperability of applications, services, processes and partners via a single platform.
3Com's initial project with the technology focused on consolidating the company's customer support operations to further improve service levels. Key deliverables of the project included an expansion of single customer view, additional deployment of Web-based, self-service functionality, and extended visibility into the real-time status of third-party providers.
Despite the perceived risk associated with the use of new technology to address these business-critical requirements, the initial project was actually completed under-budget with follow-on projects tracking under-budget and with earlier than anticipated completion dates.A project currently underway calls for the company to update its existing EDI implementation as it replaces legacy technology with the webMethods for B2B solution. This will allow 3Com to further automate end-to-end processes like fulfillment, enhance real-time reporting of order status, and improve overall scalability and reliability.
Subsequently, 3Com plans to expand its usage of webMethods BPMS to further optimize a number of decision-intensive processes, such as employee on-boarding.
"By partnering with Software AG’s professional services team, we've been able to quickly take advantage of their years of experience. We've also benefited from their global reach. As a result, our internal users have quickly embraced these new tools, which have greatly enhanced their productivity," said Kathleen O’Neill, Director of IT, 3Com Corporation.
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