December 6, 1999

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Real -Time Reality
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Companies Cope With Real-Time Operations

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With enterprise application integration products and large enterprise application suites, modules such as manufacturing, order fulfillment, and inventory can be linked together in real time. Diamond Multimedia Inc., a vendor of graphics cards and other PC components, is using Oracle's enterprise resource planning and E-commerce applications and Paragon Management Systems Inc.'s supply-chain software. How important is it that all pieces of the business work together? "I could probably equate it to oxygen," says CIO Bernard Miller. Such integration helps the company promise products and deliver them on time, he says. Customers coming in over a Web connection have instant views into available product inventory and get clear, accurate information on expected time of delivery.

BellSouth Wireless Data LP is using Tibco Software Inc.'s enterprise application integration technology to link the systems-including billing, order management, inventory, activation, and provisioning-that help it set up two-way wireless pagers for new customers. The old system had five points of entry for customer data, so the data wasn't integrated. That meant a lot of manual work. "It took a lot of extra people to accommodate things that fell through the cracks," says Anne Marie Berger, managing partner at ForeFront Inc., the systems integrator that helped BellSouth with the project.

It also meant a longer wait for customers wanting a pager: With the current system, activation can take 12 to 14 hours. But Tibco, in an integration project that will go live shortly, will likely shave the process to 10 seconds. The integration will give customer-service reps a single point of entry for customers, and it will help them monitor when inventory is running out. Customers will also be able to access the applications to see if their pagers have shipped. The Tibco software, which BellSouth chose because it could be quickly deployed and updated to support new applications, handles complicated workflow and contingency plans to ensure the system reacts correctly to customer requests.

Liz Claiborne Inc., the clothing manufacturer, has developed its own integration platform, which connects all the company's internal applications. If a customer places a large order, the transaction is placed directly into manufacturing and logistics applications so the order can be fulfilled immediately. The integration extends outward, too. Liz Claiborne has opened its ERP systems to its key suppliers and partners so those companies know what orders have been placed. Companies that specialize in cutting and sewing garments, for example, can find out what the new product line is and what's required to manufacture it. Then they can wait to get an order from Liz Claiborne before they start making it, effectively manufacturing on demand.

First American Financial Corp., a title insurance company, is using IBM's MQSeries integration and messaging software in its database product division, which sells information about properties to mortgage lenders. MQSeries lets First American connect large-business customers directly into its systems-if a mortgage lender needs appraisal details for a property, the integration technology receives the request from the customer's applications over an IP network. It then sends the request to the systems needed to answer it, receives the replies, and feeds them back into the customer's system-all in just a few seconds.

The Santa Ana, Calif., company also has less-intensive real-time communications with smaller customers. For them, the company offers a browser connection into its systems. For midsize companies, First American provides a Java application that lets them tap directly into First American's databases. It not only allows real-time connections to a user's desktop, but is itself deployed and updated in real time, ensuring users always have the most current version of the software.

First American uses software from BackWeb Technologies Inc. to update the Java application. BackWeb updates only the pieces of the software that need to be changed, then pushes those changes out to users simultaneously. In this case, real-time technology helps the IT department itself. "Real-time enterprise means it's there when you need it, where you need it," says CIO Allan Lubitz.

Lubitz says the company has had some form of electronic connection available for customers for roughly 20 years. But it's seeing an increasing demand for such real-time information because the real-estate market is requiring participants to move ever faster. A consumer typically goes through a direct lender or an auction-style mortgage broker over the Web; the lender gets property information from First American and consumer credit information from credit agencies-and the loan can be executed instantly.

The quick turnaround is especially critical for buyers trying to compete in highly competitive real-estate markets. "Why should you be able to walk into a car dealership and drive away in two hours, but not be done with a house right away?" Lubitz says. "In order to do that, you have to have information instantaneously."

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