techwatch
building better software bridges
WHEN PURCHASING SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE TODAY, A
buyer has to look at more than just the purchase price; it also has to
factor in the time and expense of systems integration. For example, if
a company installs a warehouse management system (WMS) in its
distribution center, it will have to integrate that program with any
other software it’s using—like an enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system—so that the apps can “talk” or exchange data with each other.
In the past, getting two software packages to talk meant hiring a programmer or systems integrator to map a point-to-point data
exchange between the applications.
Today, the growing availability of middleware is making integration
both less expensive and less of a hassle. As its name
suggests, middleware is a special type of software
that sits in the middle between two applications.
Once in place, it allows one application to gain
access to specific information stored in the other
application’s database. For example, a WMS system
might use middleware to extract order information
from an ERP system. Middleware eliminates the
need to have an integrator build data bridges for
information flow because it comes with the bridges
already assembled.
Although middleware has been around for
almost two decades, the market has exploded in
recent years. Nowadays, these programs are available from a variety of sources. Software giants like
IBM and Oracle now offer these packages, as do
several newcomers that deal exclusively in middleware. Big WMS vendors like RedPrairie and Manhattan Associates are also getting into
the act, introducing middleware tools of their own.
As middleware for the more popular supply chain software pack-
ages becomes increasingly available, systems integrators themselves
are taking advantage of middleware tools to get their jobs done quick-
ly. “Middleware speeds up integration,” says Jim McNerney, a princi-
pal at the Kansas City, Mo.-based consulting firm TranSystems.
“We’re seeing more and more people using these tools rather than
doing a point-to-point map,” he says. “You can use the middleware to
create standard messages. So if a WMS requires an order and you
send that request to the ERP system, you use this tool to pull out the
data you need and then pass it to the WMS.”
As much as today’s middleware has done to simplify the process, it
appears the story’s not finished yet. A new generation of middleware
is now under development that promises to
make integration even easier. A couple of
middleware developers are going beyond
simply creating a set of prebuilt bridges for
data exchange and adding artificial intelli-
gence to extract data. Such intelligence
extends the reach of data gathering for sup-
ply chain applications; in
fact, it makes it possible
to extract information
from even “unstruc-
tured” databases like e-
mail repositories or post-
ings on a social media
site like Twitter or
Facebook.
