Process-Oriented CRM Enabled by Component-Based Workflow Technology

To remain competitive, companies are starting to organise their work around customer-centered business processes that cross functional and organisational boundaries. Customer-relationship management is becoming more important than ever before. This paper proposes a new type of process-oriented CRM system suitable for Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) seeking to integrate a large number of service providers and services and create an added value for their customers. Process-support is enabled by component-based workflow technology. Design of this system is based on a flexible model of declarative business processes that is also briefly described in the paper. To illustrate the importance of the proposed type of CRM support, the paper uses an example of an Australian service-oriented SME. 1

Model-driven design, simulation and implementation of service compositions in COSMO

The success of software development projects to a large extent depends on the quality of the models that are produced in the development process, which in turn depends on the conceptual and practical support that is available for modelling, design and analysis. This paper focuses on model-driven support for service-oriented software development. In particular, it addresses how services and compositions of services can be designed, simulated and implemented. The support presented is part of a larger framework, called COSMO (COnceptual Service MOdelling). Whereas in previous work we reported on the conceptual support provided by COSMO, in this paper we proceed with a discussion of the practical support that has been developed. We show how reference models (model types) and guidelines (design steps) can be iteratively applied to design service compositions at a platform independent level and discuss what tool support is available for the design and analysis during this phase. Next, we present some techniques to transform a platform independent service composition model to an implementation in terms of BPEL and WSDL. We use the mediation scenario of the SWS challenge (concerning the establishment of a purchase order between two companies) to illustrate our application of the COSMO framework

Integrating information and knowledge for enterprise innovation

It has widely been accepted that enterprise integration, can be a source of socio-technical and cultural problems within organisations wishing to provide a focussed end-to-end business service. This can cause possible “straitjacketing” of business process architectures, thus suppressing responsive business re-engineering and competitive advantage for some companies. Accordingly, the current typology and emergent forms of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) technologies are set in the context of understanding information and knowledge integration philosophies. As such, key influences and trends in emerging IS integration choices, for end-to-end, cost-effective and flexible knowledge integration, are examined. As touch points across and outside organisations proliferate, via work-flow and relationship management-driven value innovation, aspects of knowledge refinement and knowledge integration pose challenges to maximising the potential of innovation and sustainable success, within enterprises. This is in terms of the increasing propensity for data fragmentation and the lack of effective information management, in the light of information overload. Furthermore, the nature of IS mediation which is inherent within decision making and workflow-based business processes, provides the basis for evaluation of the effects of information and knowledge integration. Hence, the authors propose a conceptual, holistic evaluation framework which encompasses these ideas. It is thus argued that such trends, and their implications regarding enterprise IS integration to engender sustainable competitive advantage, require fundamental re-thinking

ERP AND E-BUSINESS

The Internet has revolutionized twenty-first century business. Organizations today can communicate with customers, suppliers, and sellers at e-speed with the click of a mouse. Yet, with all of the excitement about the external possibilities of the Internet, companies still need efficient internal processes to make and move products, manage finances, recruit and motivate employees, and excel. The companies best positioned to succeed in the near future are those that can balance existing enterprise resource planning (ERP)-based infrastructures and capabilities with exciting new e-business innovations. This paper elaborates the issues of ERP and e-business.ERP, E-Business, network, enterprise, management.

User adoption of a CRM-based information system within a financial services organisation: An empirical analysis

Financial Services firms require processes and systems which can support and maintain customer-related information for the purposes of core business-focussed activity. Specifically within the investment banking sector, the importance and criticality of such customer information underpins the firm’s ability to transact sales, trading and other advisory-based services in an efficient and relevant manner. The design and development of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to address the given external vs. internal customer information touchpoints, therefore provides a vital link between financial services professionals, client data and business processes. In doing so, the input of CRM user requirements is a key step in deriving benefit from such a technology solution. This paper henceforth identifies and details user requirements and experiences of such an information system within a case study company and highlights pertinent issues for the adoption of such systems within the given secto

MOSE': A grid-enabled software platform to solve geoprocessing problems

Grid computing has emerged as an important new field in the distributed computing arena. It focus on intensive resource sharing, innovative applications, and in some cases, high-performance orientation. This paper describes how grids technologies can be used to develop an infrastructure for developing geoprocessing applications. We present the MOS`E system, a grid-enabled problem solving environment (PSE) able to support the activities that concern the modelling and simulation of spatio-temporal phenomena for analyzing and managing the identification and the mitigation of natural disasters like floods, wildfires, landslides, etc. MOSE' takes advantages of the standardized resource access and workflow support for loosely coupled software components provided by the web/grid services technologies