Taking ESA from concept to reality

Enterprise Services Architecture isn't magic dust. We can't sprinkle it on your systems overnight, and then they're ready to go in the morning. Enterprise Services Architecture is a journey that you need to start out on today. In this and coming blogs, I want to show you the most important roads to implementation.



Like most things in life, you need a carefully structured plan. I'm not suggesting you decide right now what you're going to do for the next 12 years. We're talking multiple three- or six-month projects. But I can't stress this enough: have a plan before you do anything. And we can help you devise one.



So where do you start? Remember: ESA is about the business. It starts with the business and it ends with the business. If you don’t look at it this way, you disconnect it from the value.



First and foremost, you need an understanding of your differentiators. Which processes are core, i.e. mission critical, and crucial to your competitiveness? And which processes are context, i.e. standard throughout your industry? The golden rule is this: consolidate context processes, this is where you can drive productivity; compose core processes, invest in them, innovate with them and differentiate your company.



Leverage the standard enterprise services that we ship (500 already published and counting) for your context processes, or buy them from other vendors. And concentrate your big bucks on composing your core processes and achieving the kind of differentiation that steals- and keeps-customers away from the competition.



The second step on the road to ESA is to consolidate master data and hardware. I'll tell you how in the next blog.