October 2002

In this Issue…….

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Feature Article: The Next Big Thing?

The next big thing may not be a ‘killer application’ - the computer industry’s magazine may be running low on ‘silver bullets’. The big challenges of the next few years may be surprisingly mundane. As applications have developed they have become more complex and more expensive. In order to deploy new and exotic applications, you need to have deployed the simpler tools and realised the benefit. This is more likely to be the case in larger companies. In recent years the knowledge and skills gap between staff working within organisations who ‘know’ IT and those who don’t has become a serious challenge. The chain is, after all, only as strong as its weakest link.

This was less of an issue in the ‘old world’ where enterprises were substantially closed hierarchies. In the new world of outsourcing, where the enterprise is a network of separate businesses, the rules have changed. To realise the benefits of the new class of collaborative applications, such as SCM, PLM or CRM, all the participants in the extended enterprise need to use the tools in a similar way and attribute the same level of importance to the task.

We all know that selling technology to the CIO alone no longer works. Selling ‘solutions’ to the LOB managers has been working. However, in the extended enterprise, selling to the company at the top of the chain can lead to stalled implementations, if these companies lack the power to impose the solution on their partners. There is evidence that this is happening already.

Flawed implementations will yield unsatisfactory ROI. Vendors who want to sell collaborative solutions within the extended enterprise need to understand how to achieve consistency in terms of commitment to the solution and applications competence. A big project means that a large number of people will need training, and training at sensible prices.

This should be very good news for channel partners. But the role the channel can play does not appear to be appreciated, and the vendors’ marketing strategy seldom attempts to integrate their potential contribution. IT vendors need solutions, marketing strategies and go-to-market models that are multi-touch across the industry segments they target. Every potential participant in a collaborative network must be in tune with the same story.

In future, sales success may be about coordination of marketing and sales campaigns of very broad proportions. Nobody ever said it would get easier!

Bob Brown

Hot Topic: Design Data Operability – A Product Lifecycle Management pre-requisite?

It’s no secret that the objectives of current efforts in the design world are to create an environment that optimises the information and knowledge generated by software applications, processes and consumers. In the 1980’s, software vendor focus was applied to increasing task automation, and subsequently into somewhat more process integration, sometimes via data translators based on common formats such as IGES, Parasolid, ACIS and STEP. Realising that modern manufacturing requires more than just better task automation, and arms-length integration between these applications, what vendors now strive to achieve is more effective use of previously isolated data representations throughout the (often extended) operation within our businesses. Realisation of this goal will unlock immense productivity benefits that will enable the emergence of the next generation of manufacturing organisation.

To achieve this goal, a more global and open approach to data integration must be engendered. The vision of a single repository of information which can be accessed by a disperse set of applications and consumers is the foundation of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) vision. Whilst this may yet be some way off, customers’ business and process evolution and distributed enterprise environments are forcing vendors to develop standards and software infrastructures that will move the concepts to reality.

Recent agreements amongst EDS PLM, SeeBeyond (e*Gate products), PTC and Autodesk endorse the move towards a more open application approach. And customers are the ones pushing the vendors to deliver. Ralph Szygenda, Group Vice-President and CIO of General Motors, cites; “The selection of an eAI (enterprise Application Integration) solution provides General Motors with one of the key enablers to support the continued eBusiness journey we began several years ago. We have process-reengineering initiatives in motion within virtually all facets of the company to substantively transform GM into a digital corporation and capitalize on Internet technologies. That transformation cannot happen without application integration.” (www.seebeyond.com/).

In recent history, enterprise application integration (eAI) vendors have focused on integrating Web, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SCM (Supply Chain Management) systems. The intent to encompass elements of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) within the enterprise application framework is certainly a significant step to delivering on the fundamentals of PLM. To make this useable, software vendors will also need to enable intimate access to the native application data structures and attributes. This may well be a bitter pill to swallow for some vendors, as this means that their data may be more easily migrated to other applications. In truth, only time will tell of the true success and commitment behind current integration initiatives. Furthermore, we know that our customers’ products consist of interoperating technologies, including mechanical, electronic and software. Let’s not forget that customers expect us to deliver the integrated vision, irrespective of their products’ component technology. In essence they need to develop and operate within a truly digitally integrated environment.

As for the future, whilst closer application integration between PLM and enterprise applications is ‘on the cards’, a single data repository concept for the extended enterprise is still some significant way off. This would undoubtedly deliver immense benefits to customers, guaranteeing a consistency of information and transparent, location neutral, data use. Amongst the leading enablers to this objective are J2EE and XML, which have already garnered significant support.

In part, the objectives are somewhat limited by current database technology and system performance. More important are limited open access to vendor applications, lack of interoperability standardisation, and continuing isolation of multi-discipline digital development environments, such as those used within electronic design automation, software engineering and mechanical design.

Vendors that aim to deliver truly integrated solutions within multi-vendor multi-disciplinary environments, based on the principles of the single virtual product data model, will provide the next manufacturing leap in productivity. They will move the objectives of CRM, PLM, ERP and MRO into a new world of customer-focused, digitally integrated product manufacturing.

Allan Behrens

Book Review: The Death of e and the Birth of the Real New Economy
by Peter Fingar and Ronald Aronica, ISBN 0-929652-20-7, Meghan-Kiffer Press

The authors start by explaining the dot.com bubble of 2000, and use the ensuing melt-down in world markets as the call to arms for all businesses to re-examine their models and strategies, now that the Internet and e-business are simply part of normal commercial practice.

For anyone who is interested in what the e-business boom was, or is, all about, this book provides interesting analysis and builds credible models and arguments for the future of the digital economy. A casual reader can focus on certain areas or technologies of interest, by flicking through relevant chapters and appendices. The more committed business manager or academic can follow the authors from the start in developing their vision of the digital future as a dynamic business ecosystem built around Internet technologies. The large, corporate American focus may deter some readers, but beneath the gloss is some sound and practical advice.

It is, in fact, a book of two halves (plus some useful appendices):

Part I discusses the work of recognised leaders in business thinking – Michael Porter’s value chain analysis, Hammer & Champy’s business process re-engineering, for example. It re-builds them into more dynamic, Internet & technology-driven models that are closely aligned to the changing needs of business in the 21st century. On the way, the authors cover emerging technologies and models like electronic marketplaces, peer-to-peer commerce, e-hubs, B2B exchanges, auctions, wireless applications, m-commerce, intelligent agents, B2B consortia, collaborative commerce, digital strategies, essential technologies and Web-services.

Part II consists of, “In-depth analyses from the Thought Leaders”, a collection of papers ranging from “Peer-to-Peer Commerce” and “Collaborative Commerce”, through “Portals: Business on the Network Edge” and “Adaptive Strategies for B2B Marketplaces”, to “”B2B Integration: The Message is in the Medium” and “Bringing Visibility to the Extended Supply Chain”.

Part I’s solutions provide some stimulating reading, though some of the proposed solutions are perhaps, even now, looking dated by the inevitable forwards roll of technology. Some of the models are also destined to remain simply as logical visions, as the authors themselves acknowledge - “Building and maintaining such software are monumental tasks beyond the capabilities of individual companies”, (“Bringing it all together”, p126). They call for companies and software suppliers to build the architectures and applications in true partnership using what is available today, but with an eye on what will fit tomorrow.

In Part II, the thought-leaders are often closely-related to their interest areas – from commercial concerns using certain types of technology to standards bodies like the OMG and XML Foundation. They are pro-usage, but provide an interesting, if partial, perspective in-depth on each issue. The appendices also give more background on the crash of 2000, digital commerce in the 21st century and emerging standards like XML, UDDI and UML.

Nick Ballard

Noticeboard:

Cambashi Website
We have recently restructured our website, www.cambashi.com to make it easier to find information about the market sectors we cover, clarify what Cambashi does and describe our areas of expertise. While most bookmarks set for the old structure should continue to work, it is possible that one or two will fail, and this will include some links from search engines until they re-spider the site. If you have any comments or suggestions for the site, please email Melanie Bradley.

Join the PLM debate..
As part of our ongoing research programme, Cambashi has instigated a debate on product lifecycle management (PLM) and how it interfaces with the supply chain. We have now produced several articles on this subject, including the discussion paper "In 2004, will PLM and SCM still be recognisable TLAs? a version of which was first published in the Financial Times in April. Various IT vendors have responded and their comments are included on the website.

Find out more in the Cambashi PLM debate pages

Conference Review: A/E/C Review
For a review of the A/E/C Systems show and conference in Anaheim, California (June 3-6) by Allan Behrens please follow this link to our website….A/E/C review

EC launch Framework 6
The European Commission is organising a conference from 11-13 November, in Brussels, as part of the launch of Framework Programme 6 (FP6). FP6 is the Commission's vehicle for sponsoring research and technology development. See www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/conferences/2002/index_en.html for details of the conference. The key IT related part FP6 is called the Information Society Technologies (IST) thematic programme. IST has a budget of 3.6 billion euros for the lifetime of FP6 (2002 - 2006). There will be a preview of FP6 at the annual IST conference and exhibition, 4-6 November, Copenhagen (see 2002.istevent.cec.eu.int)

COFES 2003:
The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software will be held from May 15 –18th, 2003, in Scottsdale, Arizona. COFES has developed as a new type of event. Unlike typical trade shows and conferences, where the emphasis is on selling, COFES is about relationship building, future forecasting, and one-on-one interaction. It has proved an unparalleled opportunity for vendors to present to the assembled press, industry analysts and editors. www.cofes.com/

COFES is designed for decision-makers (CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, presidents, vice-presidents, directors, etc.) from the vendor, user, press, academic, VAR, investment, consulting, and research communities. The goal of the two-day event is to bring clarity, vision, and focus to the definition of the issues facing the engineering software community, and to speculate about what is just over the horizon.

Mike Evans of Cambashi plans to act as a host at COFES and would be delighted to meet you there if you plan to attend (email mike.evans@cambashi.com)