Translating business needs into software outcomes has long been
an Achilles heel for the IT industry. Whether the approach has been
to write bespoke applications or find a best-fit package, the
result is normally an imperfect reflection of what was required.
More seriously, the resulting systems are a static reflection of
the needs of a particular moment in time. The weakness of this
approach comes when a business needs to radically alter the way it
operates, whether in response to changing market conditions or
simply a desire to reinvent itself. When the systems that
supposedly support the business can't be changed in a timely or
cost-effective enough way to make that change happen, the business
finds itself set in electronic concrete.
This is the third in our series on next-generation enterprise
IT, produced in association with IBM.
See also:
Accompanying in-depth article on BPM and SOA for business
agility
