Enterprise Integration: The Essential Guide to Integration Solutions

Chapter One. The Business Imperative for Enterprise Integration

Executive Overview

Information technology has fundamentally altered the business landscape. In the 1960s and 1970s businesses automated accounting, billing, and other back-end functions. This was the era of the mainframe and the database. In the 1980s information technology provided tools that enhanced the capabilities of workers to be more productive, whether through spreadsheets, word processors, or graphics applications. This was the era of the personal computer and desktop applications. The 1990s opened up communications inside an organization as well as with customers and suppliers. This was the era of the network and the Internet. We are moving into an era driven by the need ...