On Challenges in Enterprise Systems Management and Engineering for the Networked Enterprise of the Future

Abstract

Since 20 years, many traditional firms transform their orientation fromproducts to services, among them also many potential SAP partners,competitors and customers. Powered by globalization, competition, andthe Internet, that process happens globally and at accelerating speed.It breaks existing product supply chains and transforms them into avolatile network of collaborating businesses the business value network.The network forms around service value propositions of the participantsthat lead to joint value creation. While SAP and other players havedeveloped quite a sophisticated understanding of on premise softwaresolutions and accompanying services, the field of on-demand softwareservices is relatively new to the industry, and the underlyingprinciples of value creation in many successful new service businessesare often a miracle. Business value networks will become increasinglyimportant in the world's economy in the future. Their appropriate ITsupport must efficiently realize business collaborations andinteractions between globally spread organizations. In the past,Enterprise Interoperability has been often seen as a synonym forEnterprise Application Integration at intra- or inter-organizationallevel. In the future, the ability to adapt to changing market andbusiness requirements together with the ability to reflect the businessadaptations on the level of the connected ICT systems will constitutekey challenges for the support of business network formations.Enterprise Interoperability will have to address business value networksnot only from ICT viewpoint but also as socio-technical systems from thebusiness and operational perspective. Over the past years, SAP Researchwas involved into intense research that has taken place to explore theInternet of Services. New ways of developing, hosting, aggregating,mediating and finally consuming services have been described and tested.The developed Service Delivery Framework will be presented as afoundation for a Future Internet platform for business value networksdemonstrating the key roles and relationships involved in the formationand value creation of business value networks from the business,operational and technical perspective.