In business integration and data integration there is much talk about the "business network". And if you have been around EDI and EAI for 20 years or so like Remedi, I'm sure you've noticed some changes. While there are certainly advancements in IT disciplines and tools, some things stay the same or seem to be re-named to modernize the terms. For example, business network is the new trading partner base, B2Bi is the new EDI, and data integration is the new EAI and ETL.
Given some of the things that have been a constant or re-named in the IT discipline of business and data integration, what exactly has changed?
Largely, the evolution has taken place in multi-functional integration tools, data exchange/transport, self service portals, solution deployment options, integration vendor consolidation and attrition, etc.
Plenty are still doing EDI the way they always have, others are using more modern integration approaches to reap the rewards of efficiency and automation, and best in class integrators are integrating with their business network so all parties optimize the advantages of integration. More about the latter in my Smarter Commerce Blog article, for IBM and their upcoming conference, titled "Creating Extraordinary Moments For Your Integration Clients".
