CTO Blog

So why does an integrated software application need more integration technology?

To my mind it’s a fascinating question – and perhaps more complex than it first appears - and one which was answered at a session I was at yesterday with a mixed industry and technology group discussing SAP past, present and future.

The joke goes that whatever you do in SAP it results in a ledger entry. Good for the CFO, potentially not so good for the COO and business line leads who need flexibility in their own processes as they interact in their world without being locked into the bottom up needs of the financial process with every activity step they undertake.

Much has been made of NetWeaver’s integration capability with non-SAP environments and this is of course high value. But of equal value to my mind is the ability to _disintegrate_ integrated processes of SAP and re-integrate in ways that provide both flexibility and control from the individual perspectives of business units, while still maximising the value from the business content model.

Perhaps it’s just me, but disintegration – and then re-integration – seems a much more relevant concept in a co-value creation, post-business process re-engineering world than yet more integration in of itself. I for one am celebrating NetWeaver the disintegrator!