Agility is important, and SOA is all about agility, but agility is really IT’s concern and not the central focus of business executives, nor is dealing with change the key objective of BPM.
BPM’s top-down model-initiated approach can actually accelerate the SOA rollout by fostering business-IT alignment with concrete performance metrics, and encouraging an iterative approach to the production implementation.
When FHI 360 wanted to move to cloud-based business productivity services, the organization decided to implement a Microsoft cloud-based solution. We recently spoke to Douglas Wilkins, Director of IT Infrastructure at FHI 360, to learn how the company is benefiting:
FHI360 logoQ: Please tell us about FHI 360.
Douglas Wilkins: FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender equality, youth, research, technology, communication, and social marketing-creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 60 countries and all US states and territories.
Q: Why did you want to move to cloud-based services for messaging and collaboration?
Wilkins: We had a diverse IT infrastructure. Employees in the US had different IT toolsets and Internet access than staff in countries like Mozambique. Subscribing employees to a single, cloud-based solution was the most expedient way to ensure that everyone had the same IT tools, to work efficiently regardless of location. Migrating our communication and collaboration technologies to the cloud reduced much of the time required by our IT staff to manage divergent IT infrastructures and connectivity options found around the world.
Q: What criteria did you use to select Microsoft as your vendor for cloud-based business productivity services?
Wilkins: We wanted a vendor that demonstrated a real interest in our mission and goals, and that offered online business productivity tools tailored for the enterprise space. The capabilities of the Microsoft Services Consulting team, and the work of Intellinet, the partner Microsoft introduced us to, provided us with that. We migrated our 4,300 staff members around the world from diverse platforms to a Microsoft Offi
When FHI 360 wanted to move to cloud-based business productivity services, the organization decided to implement a Microsoft cloud-based solution. We recently spoke to Douglas Wilkins, Director of IT Infrastructure at FHI 360, to learn how the company is benefiting:
FHI360 logoQ: Please tell us about FHI 360.
Douglas Wilkins: FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender equality, youth, research, technology, communication, and social marketing-creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 60 countries and all US states and territories.
Q: Why did you want to move to cloud-based services for messaging and collaboration?
Wilkins: We had a diverse IT infrastructure. Employees in the US had different IT toolsets and Internet access than staff in countries like Mozambique. Subscribing employees to a single, cloud-based solution was the most expedient way to ensure that everyone had the same IT tools, to work efficiently regardless of location. Migrating our communication and collaboration technologies to the cloud reduced much of the time required by our IT staff to manage divergent IT infrastructures and connectivity options found around the world.
Q: What criteria did you use to select Microsoft as your vendor for cloud-based business productivity services?
Wilkins: We wanted a vendor that demonstrated a real interest in our mission and goals, and that offered online business productivity tools tailored for the enterprise space. The capabilities of the Microsoft Services Consulting team, and the work of Intellinet, the partner Microsoft introduced us to, provided us with that. We migrated our 4,300 staff members around the world from diverse platforms to a Microsoft Offi
Last month we talked about how service-oriented architecture (SOA) is making BPMS technology more agile by eliminating the custom code once needed to integrate the various systems involved in a business process.
2. A better way to sell architecture to the business (and IT).
It means business people can visualize, for the first time, how their businesses are constructed in terms of technology.
When IT projects are put in terms of business activities and processes rather than complex software applications, business people can better appreciate and support IT projects
Reuse, improved productivity and agility in IT and a software infrastructure tuned to specific business processes