Systems Integration Beyond Your Corporate LAN

The most difficult task involved in any remote systems integration problem is not getting your own remote systems and processes to work together, but rather getting your newly integrated IT network to work smoothly with existing partner relationships. It is therefore tempting to simply stop at your own computers and leave patched layers on the edges of your networks to remain loosely connected as before with your business partners. However, huge companies including IBM and WalMart have successfully gone from simple internal systems integration to external business systems integration with customers and suppliers, enabling a truly dynamic, flexible, and robust operating environment that allows them to be extra responsive to sudden changes in the market, even at their extreme size. Even though persuading your business partners to adopt the remote communications standards necessary to allow for your organizations to more closely integrate your systems, it will make both of your organizations more nimble and dynamic and is well worth the trouble.