On Demand B2B with John Radko

Big SOA/Little SOA

My Google Alert for SOA brought quite an interesting blog hit today, from Neil Macehitter and Neil Ward-Dutton. Entitled Big SOA vs Little SOA, it is a great discussion of the difference between companies using service oriented architecture to change their entire way of doing business, versus those who just use it to build somewhat less chaotic software. The interesting thing is that information management hasbecome some criticalto how companies operate that it is quite possible that it has the same amazing "ripple effects" (think stone in a smooth pond) that financial management traditionally had.

In the same way that accounting rules and tax policy can encourage/discourage certain kinds of capital spending, the way an enterprise or organization architects its services could change its business model. The most common place I personally see this (no surprise...) is in B2B. Some companies practice "little B2B", which is mostly centered on either complying to partners' needs or lowering costs, while other companies practice "Big B2B", which is focused on leveraging their partners strengths andknowledge andbeing easy to do business with. Earlier I tended to call these tactical and strategic B2B, but I like the little/big nomenclature better.

Baseline’s Top 10 2007 IT Projects, where is B2B?

I'm usually behind on my print reading, so I've just not caught up with the March issue of Baseline Magazine -- a personal favorite. There are always interesting articles, but of particular interest in this issue was a survey of the Top 10 Projects in '07.

The REALLY extended supply chain

Interesting summary of some research in the March 2007 Harvard Business Review's Forethought section, about looking at your supply chain (if you are a CPG) all the way to the consumer's home. According to Peter J. McGoldrick and Peter M. Barton (a Manchester Business School Professor and Accenture Consultant, respectively), the stock outs you need to worry about are in pantries, not retail shelves. Their researchindicatesthat certain categories of product (includingbeer, carbonatedsodas, and snack food) are likely to be out of stock, even in the homes of regular customers. They found that 20% of homes that normally consume beer are out of it, and make the assertion that scarcity theory suggests this will act to "curb consumption" -- meaning you will sell less overall.