Vertical Alignment

Demand grows for industry-specific EAI

Opportunities in the integration market have grown as more and more companies attempt to connect their strategic enterprise applications and business processes with those of their trading partners. Increasing demand for EAI expertise in key vertical industries has led many vendors to deliver packaged solutions based on requirements unique to specific fields, such as healthcare and financial services.

WebMethods Inc. is one of the EAI vendors now marketing specialized solutions with suites for retail banking, wholesale banking, and securities. The company faces strong competition from Tibco Software Inc.'s TIBCO Real-Time Trade Management for Financial Services. Vitria Technology Inc. is also a contender with its new Vitria Collaborative Application (VCA) for GSTP 2.0 solution for global straight-through processing — a vital goal in investment banking circles to accelerate transactions.

"Customers want business solutions and without the benefit of an out-of-the-box application, they often struggle to achieve immediate operational return with integration technology," said Tyler McDaniel, director, Hurwitz Group.

Industry experts observe that financial services and other industries are struggling to link legacy data and business processes from back-end systems across the value chain in order to operate in real time, shorten order and product cycles, and remain competitive. Enterprises are also trying to integrate complex systems with fewer resources and funds.

In "Building Blocks for the Consumer Economy," Meridian Research Inc. identified strong growth potential for EAI vendors extending their applications into CRM integration, Web services, and business process integration, particularly in the financial services industry. Meridian analysts noted, "As financial services firms rethink their strategies and choices ... business process integration and the EAI and component architectures underpinning it will provide strategic advantage to those who make the necessary investments."

Vertical EAI vendors are also focusing on the healthcare industry, where hospitals and insurance companies face data integration deadlines imposed by the U.S. Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Vitria offers VCA for HIPAA 2.0, while Sybase entered the market with New Era of Networks HIPAA Studio in Q1 2002. Tibco also introduced TIBCO Healthcare Integration Pack in late 2001. Microsoft released BizTalk Accelerator for HIPAA and recently signed customer MedUnite Inc., founded by seven major insurers.

In a recent study, IDC pointed to vertical EAI as being a critical factor contributing to a European economic recovery: "The need for integration, differentiation, and higher returns [is] increasingly associated with the ability to run flexible and transparent operations. [EAI] projects are a top priority in 2002, especially in the highly exposed vertical markets (such as financial services, large retail, automotive, consumer electronics, and pharmaceuticals)."

Integration vendors see potential for vertical EAI apps in other industries as well. For example, SeeBeyond Technology Corp. also offers EAI solutions for energy, government, manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail markets.

— Claudia Willen

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