June 28th update — updated below with reference to 1st of two CSB case studies, just published — bjl

————————————————— Original post follows:

I’ve just returned to the US from London where we held our annual Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit event, which this year prominantly featured a lot of research on cloud computing. One of my sessions was on cloud services brokerage, which I kicked-off with this picture:

It’s for a street I’d not seen before in a recently developed part of Phoenix, AZ (search for “Cloud Road, Queen Creek, AZ” in Google Maps). I took the pic right before my London trip, on my drive home after picking up dinner for my wife and I. She knows I cover Cloud computing and that I’m fond of metaphors so when I showed her the pic she immediately asked, “so, … are you running with ‘Stop!’ — or ‘Go!’?” Pithy, but indeed – which?

But it’s not like we have much choice, do we? Whether you believe the Gartner Cloud computing forcast (this and other Gartner research references require a subscription) or have simply been ‘following the money’ in the increasing supply-side investment in and — more importantly — IT consumer spend on cloud computing, it’s clear that answer is ‘Go!’. But the recent problems reported by many companies including respected organizations such as Amazon and Sony has many folks also calling for a ‘Stop!’ along the way to re-assess the risk / benefit trade-offs of this new IT consumption model. Nevertheless, there’s no compelling evidence that cloud computing adoption will be substantially inhibited by such IT (and mass consumer) ‘growing pains’. While no silver bullet for IT, Cloud computing is certainly here to stay and we expect rapid adoption to continue.

So what about my point above about “re-assessing the risk” of cloud computing adoption? One aspect of this is simple: if you need help, who are you gonna call?

Increasingly, system integrators, value-added resellers, B2B e-commerce and various other IT service providers are being tasked with answering this call. By creating new cloud-centric IT service offerings or cloud capabilities for traditional IT service offerings many IT service providers are quickly assuming the cloud services brokerage role — see Cool Vendors in Cloud Services Brokerage, 2011.

Particularly in B2B ecommerce we’ve created a roadmap for providers to add the cloud services brokerages to their traditional B2B role. These providers are competing ever more aggressively to consolidate the traditional B2B integration services market and to better position themselves to also deliver cloud services brokerage. Some noteworthy events in 1H11 include:

• Ariba’s acquisition of Quadrem — added more functionality to Ariba’s growing SaaS portfolio and expanded its B2B network’s community and global scope.
• GXS’ acquisition of RollStream — gave GXS social networking-style technology and services to better manage communities with 100′s or 1,000′s of trading partners.
• Liaison’s acquisition of nuBridges — gave Liaison token-based security, bulk (managed) file transfer, and native EDI VAN functionality for its XML real-time network.
• SPS Commerce acquisition of Direct EDI — incrementally grew it’s customer base particularly in the exploding mid-market for integration brokerage (managed B2B).
• Hubspan’s partnership with NetSuite — strengthened NetSuite’s ability to service B2B integration and expanded Hubspan’s indirect channel for brokerage services.
• Workday’s Generally Available Integration Cloud Platform — delivers integration PaaS capabilities to SaaS customers and gives Workday a cloud services brokerage role.
• Ingram Micro’s Brokering of Cloud Services — one of the worlds largest IT distributors now adds SaaS to its portfolio of IT products and services for its channel partners.

On the consumption side of cloud services brokerage I’m having ever more discussions with clients who are looking for help on IT projects that involve a combination of traditional e-commerce integration and cloud services consumption. For example, in London I spoke with an architect from a European manufacturer. We first talked about traditional e-commerce B2B, then about SaaS integration — and then we talked about (to his surprise) the viability of single-sourcing a solution for both requirements from a B2B provider that was also a CSB. No, really.

And there-in lies the rub, doesn’t it? While most companies have a pretty good idea of what solutions are available to them for traditional e-commerce, few clearly understand what approaches are available to address SaaS integration. Even fewer, still, know how solutions like integration PaaS and cloud services brokerage can help. My colleague, Massimo Pezzini, has taken the lead on our iPaaS research to advise companies who prefer a technical (‘do it yourself’) approach to SaaS integration, and I’ve re-focused nearly all my attention on the IT services (‘outsourced’) approach, aka CSB.

We’ve already published a pretty good CSB body of research, addressing such basics such as our CSB definition, reference model, vendor landscape, etc. But we need to make it more ‘real’ — we need examples. Thus I’m happy to report that in the next couple of weeks we’ll be publishing two CSB case studies:

• The Men’s Wearhouse: Leveraging StrikeIron to improve customer service via the use of CSB to deliver near real-time contact validation across 20+ core applications. June 21st update — now published! See Case Study: Men’s Wearhouse Finds StrikeIron’s CSB Suits Its Customers (login required)
• Mohawk Fine Papers: Working with Liaison to drive process innovation and new business via traditional B2B integration services plus CSB for rapid SaaS enablement. July 19th update — now published! See Case Study: Mohawk Fine Papers Uses a CSB to Ease Adoption of Cloud Computing (login required)

I’m grateful to both organizations for the time they’ve spent with me to understand their business, the problem they were solving, and the role that CSB had in helping address that and their adoption of cloud computing. These bits of research will provide insight into the CSB role and begin answering the cloud computing challenge question above — when you need help, who are you gonna call? In 3Q11 Daryl Plummer and I will also publish our 2nd annual CSB special report in which we’ll cast more light on CSB use case scenarios, the CSB landscape, the role of CSB in the cloud services value chain, etc.

So, yes, ‘Go!’ — cloud computing is here to stay. But, ‘Stop!’ — if you’re like many companies cloud computing will be a bit tricky to tackle alone. CSB can help.

Cheers,

– bjl

A recurring theme with users integrating multiple SaaS applications is whether to put the integration solution ‘center of gravity’ on-premise – or in the cloud. And whether to implement the solution themselves – or with the help of an external provider. Building upon our recent special report on cloud services brokerage we’ll deliver more research on the outsourcing option in 2011. For example, we just published our definition of integration brokerage [subscription required], a form of IT outsourcing focused on Cloud services integration often delivered via cloud services brokerage. B2B integration specialists (e.g., IBM, GXS, Hubspan, Liaison) and cloud-focused system integrators (e.g., Appirio, Bluewolf, Celigo) offer cloud services brokerage.

Most integration brokerage is still delivered in conjunction with traditional ecommerce supply chain integration, e.g., typically you turn over customer or supplier integration project to a B2B integration specialist or system integrator who implements and runs that for you. Some integration brokerage is delivered in conjunction with SaaS – for example you may have a system integrator doing SaaS integration in conjunction with some custom SaaS development. I am interested in hearing from those of you with integration projects that involve both traditional ecommerce integration *and* SaaS integration. Perhaps you implemented order management as SaaS – and now need to get orders electronically from your customers. Are you addressing this with integration technology or integration brokerage?

These Predicts 2011 Reports include (subscription required):

• Predicts 2011: Cloud Computing Is Still at the Peak of Inflated Expectations
• Predicts 2011: Application Integration: A Nimble Veteran of IT
• Predicts 2011: Platform as a Service: The Architectural Center of the Cloud

These reports are chock full of predictions and detailed analysis — I hope you saw them. But in case you were a bit too busy with your own year-end activities to see these reports I’ve summarized a few choice bits here that underscore some of the fundamental changes in IT that are affecting companies that do B2B integration and are adopting Cloud services.

Select Strategic Planning Assumptions:

By 2014, the CSB vendor landscape will have grown from dozens to hundreds of providers.

Daryl Plummer and I have already identified a few dozen providers that deliver some form of CSB offering, but we believe that the proliferation of cloud adoption, combined with challenges of consuming cloud services for their IT users, will create demand for more CSB offerings to help facilitate consumption. In case the concept of CSB is new to you, we just recently published a bunch of research on CSB in our Special Report on Cloud Service Brokerages.

By 2015, 40% of integration projects involving A2A, B2B, MFT and cloud services will be implementing with one IT solution.

My colleagues and I predict that over time companies increasingly will use just one integration product or service to address all forms of application integration. This is because users increasingly wish to single-source their product or service to address various integration problems. In response, IT providers are doing substantial R&D and mergers and acquisitions, such that they can increasingly offer consolidated integration solutions that address A2A, B2B, MFT, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud integration project requirements.

By 2015, 50% of “Integration as a Service” (IaaS) will be consumed as an embedded feature of other IT offerings.

Today, we estimate that over 90% of IaaS functionality is consumed directly by IT users or IT services providers as a stand-alone solution for traditional e-commerce or cloud integration requirements. But we believe that over time, IaaS will increasingly be embedded and consumed in conjunction with other IT solutions — for example, as an embedded feature of ERP, SaaS, PaaS, Integration Brokerage, iPaaS or cloud services brokerages (CSBs).

What All This Means

As companies do more ecommerce B2B integration and consume more cloud services they will be looking for more complete and more highly evolved forms of B2B products and services to help them achieve their IT and business goals. Consolidated integration solutions, embedded integration, and Cloud services brokerage are examples of how IT solutions are evolving to meet more demanding IT user requirements.

In 2011 my colleagues and I are substantially evolving our B2B research agenda which, amongst other things, will increase our emphasis on these areas of innovation. What can you expect from us in 2011?

• Look for research on “integration brokerage”, an evolved form of managed services for B2B/EDI that is relevant to both traditional ecommerce and cloud computing projects. I am putting the final touches on a 2011 research plan for my colleagues and I to address how the market is evolving, how to choose vendors, etc.
• Look for research on “integration platform as a service” (iPaaS), an evolved form of integration as a service (IaaS) that delivers a hybrid combination of integration, governance, security and other interoperability capabilities delivered in the Cloud to link applications, SOA services and Cloud services. in 2011 Massimo Pezzini will lead a group of analysts including myself in an active 2011 research agenda on this concept.
• Look for more research on Cloud services brokerage, a form of Cloud-enabled IT services offering specifically designed to aggregate and add value to proliferating Cloud services. Besides individual research throughout the year Daryl Plummer and I and other contributors will publish another special report later in the year.

I’ve been covering B2B integration with Gartner for over 10 years and its been a good run (you can find abstracts for most of my research online here — yeah I know it ain’t pretty, but its efficient). I’ve helped users and vendors navigate and adapt to fundamental changes in B2B before, e.g., when B2B software emerged and when the EDI VANs evolved into Integration Service Providers. But the changes to B2B occurring now — driven by Cloud computing, IT consolidation, outsourcing and vendor M&A activity — are having a higher impact on B2B than anything I’ve ever seen before.

Which is why we’re making so many changes to our research. You’ve gotta adapt. We’ve gotta adapt. That’s the consequence of perpetual innovation. But in the end we’ll get through these changes — too — together.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

- bjl

Gartner’s formal consolidated response to the Cast Iron acquisition will likely publish by end-of-day tomorrow.

We’re already working on a consolidated response to this acquisition as well, but shooting from the hip here’s a few initial reactions:

• Acquired by IBM WebSphere group, along with Cast Iron, Lombardi, etc. — they’re decisively assembling a lotta B2B horsepower
• The WebSphere group now has even *more* integration software — hey, has anyone seen my software roadmap GPS?
• Sterling Collaborative Network + Cast Iron Cloud == A viable integration as a service offering for both traditional ecommerce & Cloud services
• The WebSphere group now has a bunch of Apps — some inherently multi-enterprise Apps — that’s a lot *on top* of application infrastructure
• IBM has pitched this acquisition in the context of “Dynamic Business Networks” — more expansive, but builds upon business process networks

From an industry impact think about other IT mega-vendors and think about other ‘pure-play’ B2B vendors … what impact might this acquisition have on SAP’s alliance with Crossgate or Oracle’s alliance with E2open, etc.?

I’ve said it before and its worth saying again — these are interesting times in B2B!

Cheers,

- bjl

• My peer review of Eric Knipp‘s upcoming case study on New York Time’s Open WOA
• A client specifically asked me — “do any B2B integration vendors offer Cloud API’s?”
• I spoke with the folks at ECGridOS — who offer a full set of Cloud integration API’s

Eric’s research tends to focus on how IT end user companies use Open WOA API’s. The storyline he’s unfolding is that there’s real value in API’s both from the technology point of view — e.g., to lower technical barriers to implementing collaborative multienterprise processes — and the business point of view — e.g., how API’s help companies to tap into “The Collective” of their external constituents to increase insight into their customer’s needs — and even their own business.

The same week a Gartner client was speaking with me about their B2B consolidation project — a typical strategic IT initiative focused on consolidating various B2B and Cloud services integration projects onto one shared B2B infrastructure (either via on-premise software or via some form of B2B managed services outsourcing). In our conversation after we’d explored all their options they casually asked me whether any of the B2B integration vendors I cover day-to-day offer a full set of API’s into their integration services, much like those publicly available for Force.com, Amazon S3, etc.

That was a great question. I’ve been following the emerging role of Cloud API’s for some time now — see Will WOA API Adoption Kill Integration? and Are You a Victim of “API Slamming”? — but not many clients ask about API’s related to integration services in particular very often. A typical use of API’s for integration services that I’ve seen is where B2B providers (e.g., GXS and Hubspan) publish API’s for their provisioning engine, e.g., so that IT end users or channel partners can provision new trading partners electronically, e.g., from Microsoft BizTalk into the GXS Trading Network. Or API’s to support automated message tracking, i.e., instead of forcing the consumer of integration-as-a-service to login with a browser or run a report.

But most API’s for integration-as-a-service are limited in scope — I am not aware of any prominent B2B provider that publishes a full set of API’s for their integration services. But Loren Data Corp — a very small Ecommerce provider with a history of OEM’ing basic VAN transport capabilities — has recently deployed a comprehensive set of API’s for their integration-as-a-service offering at ECGridOS.net. (As a .NET developer myself I was struck my the breadth and readability of these integration-related API specifications).

Without promoting one provider over another, I found it intriguing to discover such a full set of API’s devoted to integration-as-a-service. I wonder if other providers of integration-as-a-service also publish such comprehensive API’s. It also makes me think that perhaps other providers — who, Boomi? Cast Iron? Hubspan? GXS? — should also do so in order to better serve the needs of their users.

I will be following this closely, and welcome hearing more from other providers who publish API’s specifically for integration as a service. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m not prone to hyperbole, and frankly I consider API’s to be simply another incremental opportunity to enhance your overall value to external constituents. But given that Cloud services and the SOA approach to integrating distributed functionality is an enduring, high impact IT scenario I believe that B2B providers *should* be developing an API strategy for exposing their integration as a service functionality. If not immediately, probably soon.

What do you think?

- bjl

… but indeed the fires of bacteria were raging such that the first time I thrust my hand deep into the core it nearly burned. (Yeah, my wife thought that was a dumb thing to do too – but you know, I simply didn’t count on my first bacteria party being such a big hit!)

So last week I spent some time on the phone with folks at Google (I know, harsh transition – indulge me) getting an update on the Google App Engine (GAE) and in particular adoption patterns for its new Secure Data Connector (SDC), which I recently referenced on a blog post regarding Cloud and EDI – The Ultimate Mashup. Precious few public details so far from Google on enterprise adoption of GAE and SDC, but they claim there’s viable quiet early adopters and I’m willing to give the folks at Google the benefit of doubt and a bit more time to make good on future public examples.

Also seeking to more easily link Cloud-based services to on-premise enterprise Apps, Amazon recently announced the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud to help drive adoption of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). It has partnered with Cast Iron to provide for Cloud-enabling integration as a service (IaaS) capabilities to help accelerate adoption of Amazon EC2. Here again adoption of IaaS to solve Cloud computing / SaaS integration problems is still light, but given the potential for Amazon to get real traction on EC2 I’m willing to give this new market time to mature.

So back to our steaming compost heap … of traditional B2B.  EDI tenaciously persists; as well do the providers of supply chain-enabling IaaS that carry huge chunks of EDI-based B2B traffic such as GXS, EasyLink, Inovis, and Sterling Commerce. While Cloud computing providers steal IT headlines and forge relationships with Boomi, Cast Iron, Informatica, Pervasive and other emerging purveyors of Cloud-enabling IaaS, the large providers of supply chain-enabling IaaS are quietly modernizing their networks and laying business intelligence across billions of transactions. (Follow the money)

Cloud-enabling IaaS. Supply chain-enabling IaaS. A delicate new sprout. The compost heap that nurtures its growth. Cloud. EDI. The point I made in my Cloud and EDI – The Ultimate Mashup post was that the Cloud and EDI world will soon be IT’s biggest Mashup ever. Expect some cross-pollination. But who ultimately will be the IaaS winners? Native members of the new Cloud eco-system? Incumbent carriers of most supply chain traffic today? Or yet others, jostling now to govern Cloud interactions? In the end, will the steaming compost heap of B2B nurture the Cloud?

• Boomi (a Cloud computing / SaaS integration provider) announces EDI support
• Google announces Secure Data Connector so GAE functionality better integrates with on-prem applications (login required: Google App Engine Comes Closer to Enterprise Adoption)
• GXS (the world’s largest EDI vendor) is quietly piloting encrypted EDI document archival via RAID 1 striping across Cloud-based storage sites Amazon S3 and Nirvanix.

Answer: They herald the ultimate IT / business Mashup: Cloud and Ecommerce, including EDI.

So … Cloud providers are adding EDI support; EDI providers are adding Cloud support. No, really.

Ok, but just don’t expect Cloud providers to voluntarily bring up EDI – it ain’t “cool”, you know.

One take-away from all these discussions is that despite cautious spending in this economny companies across all industries are still investing in B2B modernization projects. Investments include simplifying and improving the way they do B2B integration — for example, using community management and visibility to drive B2B process improvements (to reduce costs and drive growth).

On Friday I was chatting with Greg Faubert – CEO of Messageway Solutions – about the barriers to successful implementation of B2B integration projects and – shooting from the hip – I claimed that “the only barriers to successful B2B projects are politics and ignorance”.

Pithy, indeed.

But my point was that technology itself isn’t usually a barrier anymore. It might have been five years ago, but not anymore. Whether you’re still using EDI or SOA, doing traditional ecommerce or Cloud computing, there are plenty of B2B products and services availabile to help. Rather than technology, the barriers to success for B2B projects are usually non-technical, such as internal politics (IT group in-fighting and no shared B2B strategy), unrealistic expectations (trying to force one method of B2B onto customers — good luck), or simply ignorance (unaware of innovations like Cloud governance or packaged integration).

Similar barriers to success impact higher-order IT initiatives such as SOA and BPM initiatives, so perhaps its no surprise that B2B integration projects have similar challenges. Yet I still have quite a few conversations with companies who aren’t aware of the opportunity to succeed in B2B. No, not every technical challenge has been resolve (e.g., ubiquitous authentication – *sigh*), but, really, your challenges are less likely technical and more likely politics and ignorance — no friends of B2B.

I welcome your comments.

No, integration isn’t cool – as it was 10 years go – but it still rocks. Without it even cloud computing – IT’s latest darling – is just another set of IT “stove pipes”, reminiscent of the Circa mid-1990’s “stove pipes” of internal applications that took us a decade to integrate.

A few weeks ago Google announced enhancements to its Google App Engine (GAE), which included its new Secure Data Connector to integrate its cloud-based stove-pipes, with those in your data center – see Google App Engine Comes Closer to Enterprise Adoption. This week IBM and Hubspan announced WebSpan (I’d suggested “HubSphere”, but – hey – I only do marketing as a hobby) – an integration services offering using integration as a service (IaaS) that links stove-pipes of on-premise applications with trading partners and cloud-based functionality (my analysis of that should be published next week).

Interesting that for both IT mega-vendors these announcements were part of larger PR initiatives, GAE enhancements overall for Google, and one of many partnerships for IBM announced at its IMPACT event. By itself that makes my point. Integration isn’t the goal – it’s an IT pinch-hitter, an enabler for higher-order IT objectives like process improvement or cost containment.

A large retailer with 4,500 suppliers recently asked whether they should integrate their suppliers in-house or outsource the project; either way the goal is to automate then later improve the procurement process. A small biometric solutions company recently installed a packaged integrating process to synchronize sales orders between Salesforce.com and Quickbooks to lower costs and improve customer service (I’m publishing a case study on this). In both cases integration itself wasn’t the goal – it’s a means to an end. Context, not core. It adds value – like a beautiful patina on the coin of IT.

EDI specifications are generally heavyweight – often 25 to 75 or more pages. For example, Target’s EDI 850 (Purchase Order) Implementation Guide is 48 pages long. Despite standards even the ubiquitous EDI 850 purchase order varies substantially from supply chain to supply chain. (“Standards are great – everyone should have one!”).

The “EDI binder” schtick is clever because the degree of EDI complexity and diversity is daunting – so many companies often can’t or won’t deal with EDI themselves. FUD generates business, right?

So what about SaaS API’s? These are proliferating to the same degree that SaaS solutions are proliferating, i.e., fast. Are SaaS API’s better, i.e., easier to deal with, than EDI specifications?

In some ways, yes. For example, SaaS API’s are typically implemented using Web services via SOAP, REST or other Web technologies. You can directly execute these using any modern Web-enabled middleware and application development tools. This is generally easier than translating EDI, then importing or exporting data from applications.

But are SaaS API’s any less complex than EDI? Or any less diverse? Consider:

• Salesforce.com Force.com Apex API’s specification … 500+ pages
• Taleo Business Edition Web API … 50+ pages
• Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network API … 90+ pages

The dirty little secret of SaaS API’s is the “Devil in the Detail” – that, yes – like EDI, these specifications are, generally speaking, remarkably complex and diverse.

Robert Mitchell of ComputerWorld has learned that SaaS integration a leading cause of IT headaches – but many IT users are only now beginning to realize its complexity. But some companies understand this complexity – which may explain why Salesforce.com offers 90+ SaaS integration solutions across 40+ 3rd-party technology partners. This may explain why there’s a whole cottage industry of IT vendors (e.g., Boomi, Cast Iron, Pervasive, et al) that are focused on SaaS integration solutions.

It’s because, well, you know, SaaS APIs are cool – in an EDI Retro sort of way.