Poor integration stymies UK ecommerce

UK ecommerce is being held back by a poor understanding of enterprise integration.

A survey published this week by research firm Opus claims over two-thirds of UK corporate IT departments have "little or no understanding" of enterprise application integration (EAI).

The majority of respondents admitted to having problems with data integration across the enterprise, driven by the growth in business-to-business systems, ecommerce, voice and data convergence and ERP installations.

Sam Curling, manager of UK operations at HiServ, the company which commissioned the research, said: "EAI is a critical part of the enterprise, but most IT literate respondents had little or no understanding of what it means. EAI addresses the question of getting multiple applications to talk to each other - it simplifies that process."

Curling admitted to being surprised by the lack of knowledge the survey revealed. "There's lots of confusion about what EAI can offer businesses," he said.

According to Curling, most companies have been too busy focussing on ERP implementations, Y2K projects and getting ready for the euro, to really get to grips with EAI. "It's a gradual process of people beginning to understand," he said.

HiServ, which is just launching its UK operations, is now planning to market its services based on solving business problems. "We can't sell a concept customers don't understand," Curling said. "We'll look at the issues instead."

Opus questioned IT directors and managers from 400 UK companies in the telecoms, finance, manufacturing and distribution sectors.