Things to Consider Before Selecting an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
Customer demands are constantly rising and they require a powerful IT & business model. Instead of fragmented portfolios, customers prefer a single unified solution. More importantly, they want these solutions delivered on the device of their choice. A solution which cannot engage customers or deliver better service can be outdated easily. Enterprises are scrambling to figure out ways to integrate disparate components and smack down silos. An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is a powerful business transformation engine that can help an organization address these needs. It can help enterprises integrate all components in an ecosystem and deliver composable solutions.
An ESB helps enterprises address their pervasive integration needs. Specifically:
- Integrate a portfolio of hybrid applications into a cohesive suite.
- Empower users with information, analysis, and drive business processes.
- Minimize deployment time and ensure interoperability and scalability.
The benefits are quite clear but it’s hard to find the right solution for the use case in a market where so many players, including new entrants and technological behemoths, are operating. Enterprises should go under the covers to select the right solution. Here is a guide that can help enterprises find an ESB solution to help them create greater value for customers.
Decision Guide for Selecting the Right Solution
Smart Controls: An ESB is not just a plumbing tool that connects applications, and it should be smart enough to support business transformation. A next-generation ESB packs smarter controls to support digital transformation needs. It should pack a business user portal and exception handling capabilities to define business rules and process documents in certain ways. The solution should pack an intuitive rules engine to make changes to running applications without any coding. It should alert users on changes taking place during events. A modern-day ESB solution should support analysis of unstructured and structured data and audit workflows.
Business Processes Automation: An ESB should help a business streamline a series of operations, i.e. mortgage applications, checking a patient, etc. It should automate and orchestrate processes from scratch. An ESB should pack graphical design tools to architect processes, information flows, rules or workflows with logical interactions. Enterprises should look for functions like a rich graphical editor and information flows for automating processes.
Operational Insight: A future-ready ESB solution provides the ability to find actionable insights from solutions. The solution should enable users to prepare data for real-time analytics. Users can derive insights to gain a competitive advantage. It can alert users on tracking system performance and eliminate challenges.
Related Info-graphic: 6 Roadblocks to Successful ESB Integration
Interoperability: From a business standpoint, interoperability is the key to success. The right ESB platform enables bi-directional information exchange between business applications. It supports a broad range of protocols and standards like TCP, SSL, FTP, SFTP, etc. More importantly, it boasts a high-performance database to store all messages and encrypts them from external threat actors. Apart from this, a promising ESB supports an adapter framework to manage errors, timeouts, breakdowns, and recovery.
Enterprises should ensure that these elements are present in a modern-day ESB framework. These elements support changes in project road-maps and confirm that business transformations are successful.
Description:
The Business Benefits of an ESB are quite clear, it supports effective management of all technologies and supports change management initiatives. However, the tricky part is selecting the right solution. Here is a definitive guide for selecting the right ESB solution.
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