BizTalk - Where it all started

Looking back on the (sometimes turbulent) history of computing, it is clear that the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web has been an incredible success. It has already had a huge impact on many businesses and markets. In some cases, completely new industries, markets and marketing strategies have popped up.

When people talk about eCommerce, they don’t mean putting a button on the website which says “call 0800…”. No, what they are referring to are smart systems (be they desktop machines, CE devices or mobile phones), which can describe themselves to other smart machines and computing devices. These systems are able to sustain automated relationships with each other. Moving information around, fulfilling just-in-time orders, providing receipts and more.

That is the power of this new interconnected economy, which has only just begun. XML is the powerhouse behind it, as you will see.

Take a moment to consider the huge importance of this to your business model. What aspects of your business could be streamlined if you sustained an automated relationship (possibly at all levels) with your customers and partners? This also applies to the benefits internally in your organization, where your business can reap the benefits by having well-structured data stores, possibly without re-engineering your existing data systems.

You may ask yourself why these benefits have not yet been delivered? EDI proponents made the promises, but the overhead of building EDI systems crippled many IT budgets. SGML was too complex to use. The Internet/HTML combination is too simple and not flexible enough.

The common failure in all the above is that the output of current computer systems can only be understood by other systems that have been developed to understand the data. In other words, unless Microsoft Excel had been programmed to understand a Microsoft Access database, it would not be able to work with the Microsoft Access database. Another simple example is, if your customer or partner upgrades their software, it could lose synchronization with your systems and communications and data exchange could cease.

But XML changes this, because with XML, systems need never know where the data is coming from or what version the software is and so on. XML is used to structure and define the content of your data in your current systems, like SQL databases and so on. Used correctly, XML (or more specifically an XML file called a Schema) will enable intelligent and useful data exchange between two pieces of software, which have not been programmed to understand each other.

Therefore, regardless of what software business systems your partners are using, XML can be used to correctly identify their data to your IT systems and do the same for your data to their systems. Consequently a massive boom in eCommerce, business-to-business solutions and of course electronic data transfer is starting to occur as data exchange and transfer becomes easier and therefore more common. Opportunities to streamline your organization will begin to abound. External partners will be able to exchange data seamlessly without reprogramming their system.

You may be wondering who will be building this marvelous intermediate application which will actually be responsible for the transparent communications between these (until now) non-communicating business systems? It is already being built and it is called the Microsoft BizTalk Server, key initiative in the product-wide adoption of XML within Microsoft.

Microsoft BizTalk is the Swiss Army Knife of the business world when it comes to data. Not only does Microsoft BizTalk Server talk XML, but it also talks to all the major applications like SAP. It uses most major protocols (such as email and http) and it can guarantee delivery of your critical data to or from your clients. The key issue here is where your systems may not have previously been able to exchange data with your customers and clients, Microsoft BizTalk may be able to now provide this seamless communication, with the power of XML.

Doing business or exchanging information with non-Windows systems is catered for because the BizTalk Framework conforms to open and established standards and in particular Internet protocols.

Looking back over the growth of the PC industry, the combination of HTML (which is easy to learn and use) and the inexpensive and wide availability of Internet access have resulted in a staggering 56 million different places to visit on the Internet! These statistics also show the existing demand for information and for connectivity between businesses. They also indicate the future requirement to be able to do business in this way.

Now, with the introduction of XML and the Microsoft BizTalk Server, this level of business communication can become a reality and business benefits can be achieved.