Business Apps Land Starring Role

Automation became a key feature in applications during the past year. Application vendors are focusing on automating routine tasks, freeing up people to build your business, and increasing the productivity of analysts by providing more data, more often.

Another key area is Web services. By the second half of 2004, 40 percent of Global 2000 enterprises will have unauthorized, undocumented and unmonitored Web services connections that extend beyond their perimeters, according to Gartner. If that doesn't scare you, you haven't been listening: WSDL (Web Services Definition Language) provides a system-independent way for your applications to say, "If you want to talk to me, here's how you have to do it"--human-readable pointers into your internal business process and data--what services you have running, their data formats, even how to access them.

Despite these concerns, the payoffs can be great, not only in better application integration and seamless interactions but in very flexible business processes. In fact, 102 of 191 readers we recently polled said Web services would be of "fundamental importance" in the way software applications are built and deployed at their organizations.

The real-time enterprise is coming, but to survive, you must ensure that your underlying application and network infrastructures can support it. Web Services Platform |

Business Intelligence Solution | Business Productivity Solution | Employee Provisioning Solution

Web Services Platform

Winner: WebLogic Workshop with WebLogic Server 7.0, BEA Systems, (800) 817-4BEA, (408) 570-8000. www.bea.com

WebLogic Server 7.0 is a continuation of BEA's application server platform with support for Web services (SOAP). But what is truly innovative about WebLogic is BEA's development environment, WebLogic Workshop. It makes developing Web services a breeze for the uninitiated, plus it provides a wealth of innovative features for experienced developers creating asynchronous Web services. BEA goes above and beyond the basics, offering features and functionality that are forward-looking and bringing the benefits of a Web service-oriented architecture to the enterprise.

Finalists:
• Cape Clear 4, Cape Clear Software, (888) 227-3439, (781) 622-2258. www.capeclear.com

• Novell Extend Application Server 4.0, Novell, (888) 321-4272, (781) 464-8000. www.novell.com

Business Intelligence Solution

Winner: Cognos Series 7, Cognos, (800) 426-4667, (613) 738-1440. www.cognos.com

Business intelligence is all about the process of turning raw data into useable information, and Cognos pushes the boundaries of intelligence with its Series 7 solution, offering value beyond that of its competitors. This exceptional product provides intelligent agents, which function as your own personal assistants. These agents can be taught (via rules) to recognize patterns in reports and then run additional reports based on user-configurable thresholds, ad infinitum if necessary. Smart.

Finalists:
• Brio Intelligence 6.6, Brio Software, (800) 879-2746, (408) 496-7400. www.brio.com

• WebFocus 4.3.6, Information Builders, (800) 969-INFO, (212) 736-4433. www.informationbuilders.com

Business Productivity Solution

Winner: Nobilis Ci, Nobilis Software, (617) 556-8288. www.nobilis.com

Nobilis Ci is our pick here--and our Business Applications product of the year--thanks to its intuitive management interface and integrated work-flow tool that give business users a more efficient method of distributing, tracking and aggregating data while remaining within the comfortable confines of Excel.

Finalists:
• AdomoMCS for Microsoft Exchange, Adomo, (408) 996-7086. www.adomo.com

• Clientele Customer Support 8.0, Epicor Software Corp., (800) 883-4582, (949) 585-4000. www.epicor.com

Employee Provisioning Solution

Winner: eProvision Software 3.0, Business Layers, (201) 291-8999. www.businesslayers.com

Business Layers' eProvision Software makes the task of employee provisioning effortless. With out-of-the-box support for myriad systems and a unique layer on top of traditional RBAC (role-based access control), configuring and managing this product is troublefree for both technical and nontechnical users. The integrated work flow is flexible and its Web-based management console is easy to navigate. A well-designed self-service system coupled with support of notions, such as "teams" and "projects," lets the product support a wide variety of organizational structures and business processes.

Finalists:
• IBM Tivoli Identity Manager 4.4,formerly Access360 enRole 4.2, IBM, (877) TIVOLI1, (512) 286-0000. www.ibm.com/tivoli

• Waveset Lighthouse 2.0, now shipping 3.0, Waveset Technologies, (512) 338-1818. www.waveset.com

Lori macvittie is a Network Computing technology editor. She has been a software developer, a network administrator and a member of the technical architecture team for a global transportation and logistics organization. Write to her at [email protected]. Post a comment or question on this story.

Nobilis Ci, Nobilis Software, (617) 556-8288. www.nobilis.com

Trust us, there are hundreds of Excel spreadsheets being used as rudimentary collaboration tools throughout your organization. A spreadsheet is set up, copies are mailed to the entire team and, when they're returned, the originator spends hours aggregating the data via an advanced technique known as "cut and paste."

Nobilis Ci enhances productivity and moves Excel up the food chain by endowing it with the ability to be part of a real, centralized and manageable business work-flow process. A well-designed management interface and work-flow editor make it easy to turn a static spreadsheet into a productivity tool.

A truly impressive and innovative product, Nobilis Ci proves that older, familiar technologies can be effectively extended, to the benefit of cut-and-pasters everywhere. Business Applications Links at www.nwc.com ...

• 2003 Survivor's Guide to Business Applications • Application white papers

• Application books

• Application stories on nwc.com

• Discuss winners and losers

... And Around the Internet • OASIS Organization

• World Wide Web Consortium Web Services

• WSDL

• XML.org