Weekly Review: Microsoft Shows It's Well-Connected
By Phil Wainewright
March 26, 2003
Ever since graphical Web browsers and the Java programming language burst on the scene in 1995, everyone has understood that the Internet is going to change the way applications are delivered. But few would have predicted what a profoundly complex picture was going to emerge.
Read and React
"Microsoft's Business Portal and Business Network, combined with other upcoming releases, round out a set of capabilities that demonstrate the complex reality of Internet applications "
Many observers predicted that sofware would be swept off the desktop onto massive Internet servers, thus ending Microsoft's market dominance. But although Microsoft has often seemed slow to adapt, the latest crop of announcements from its Business Solutions division last week provided an almost perfect illustration of the shape of connected applications in the Internet age.
Formed from the acquisitions of business software vendors Great Plains and Navision, combined with its bCentral online business services unit, the Business Solutions division unveiled two new offerings last week at Microsoft's Convergence 2003 customer conference in Orlando, Fla.
It launched Business Portal (an add-on that provides Web access to business data held in Great Plains applications), and Business Network (a combination of installed software and online services that allows businesses to exchange data over the Internet). Combined with other upcoming releases, these new utilities round out a set of capabilities that demonstrate the complex reality of Internet applications.
Several characteristics have emerged that are quite different from the simplistic projections of those early observers:
A wide range of clients
One of the most unexpected developments has been the emergence of Office acting as the client interface into Internet-based applications. Its support for XML, which is set to be significantly bolstered in the next release, makes it possible to manipulate native XML data in applications such as Word and Excel, and then upload the results directly to other applications running on Internet servers. This capability will be exploited by the new Business Network and also by future releases of Great Plains, allowing users to work with Internet-based resources within the familiar environment of Office. Meanwhile, the Business Portal makes it possible to access Great Plains applications directly from a Web browser, as an alternative for those users who don't need or can't use Office. In the future — thanks to the Web services flexibility of the underlying .NET framework — that capability will be extended to mobile devices too, adding to the range of client choice available.
Blending on-site software with online services
Business Network, which has been developed by bCentral in Mexico, uses BizTalk server to convert XML data into other formats, such as EDI, for onward transmission to trading partners. This functionality will be provided as a service, substantially reducing the cost for each individual customer. But other elements will be provided as traditional licensed software for installation on the customer site. This blending of online and on-site functionality is not what the early proponents of Internet applications envisaged, but practical experience has proven it to be the most economical way of utilizing network resources.
On-the-fly data manipulation and integration
Business Network, either alone or working together with forthcoming versions of Great Plains and Navision's VIP Web services broker, makes it possible to exchange and manipulate data anywhere in the network. Doing this electronically used to take huge investments in proprietary integrated systems. With the XML and Web services capability built into Microsoft's new products, it can be done with a copy of Excel and a Business Network subscription. Not only does this work out cheaper, it also puts the user in charge of the data manipulation, which takes place in Excel, rather than having it hard-wired into a custom-developed system over which the user has no control. This on-the-fly ability to take charge of the data processing allows for much more flexibility and creativity in managing business processes than anyone has ever seen before in an automated system.
Composite assembly of functionality
Business Portal (which was previously also known as Business Desktop) is to be the platform for a series of Web-based business applications that Microsoft plans to release this year, including a self-service human resources suite and a professional services automation suite. These new suites will consist mainly of functionality that already exists within existing Microsoft applications, and their rapid appearance in the wake of the portal demonstrates the power of XML and Web services to isolate and reconfigure the component functionality previously locked away in old-style integrated application suites. As times goes on, Microsoft's partners and customers will increasingly find they too will be able to reassemble functionality to suit their individual requirements, even joining together application components located on different machines and at separate companies. Instead of being concentrated in the huge central servers foreseen by early commentators, the reality is that functionality will be scattered throughout the network.
Doug Burgum, the former CEO of Great Plains who now heads Microsoft Business Solutions, likes to call the combined effect of these characteristics "transformational functionality." The implication is that the capabilities to be unlocked will enable businesses to transform their operations and competitive reach. We will have to see whether businesses are going to be ready to realize that potential, but whatever happens, one thing is clear. The functionality of familiar applications is being transformed in ways that no one was predicting just a few years ago.
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