Crossroads 2002 A-List Award Winners

Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA

BizTalk Server 2000
> Supply Web Integration

CUSTOMERS AT WORK

Economic conditions are driving businesses of all sizes—from hundred-person companies to multibillion-dollar concerns—to become more efficient. Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 customers are preparing for the day when exchanging XML documents with trading partners is mandatory for every company. Common objectives included:

§ Increasing supplier participation

§ Driving cost-control across all e-commerce efforts

§ Reducing the time required to implement B2B integration

WHY MICROSOFT?

BizTalk Server 2000 enables customers to rapidly build and deploy integrated business processes inside the company and across organizational lines. BizTalk Server 2000 makes it easy for developers to integrate application data into automated business processes. Business analysts and application developers use graphical tools for building XML schemas, performing schema transformations, establishing workflows and trading partner relationships over the Internet, and tracking and analyzing the data and documents that are exchanged. Using BizTalk Server 2000, companies and their trading partners are extending the features of traditional electronic data interchange to their entire industries.

BUSINESS IMPACT

Near-term value: Microsoft customers have proved that they can use BizTalk Server 2000 to exchange basic business documents in XML format with trading partners directly or through industry marketplaces.

Enterprise innovation: Customers agree that Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 will revolutionize B2B e-commerce by making the technology accessible to virtually every trading partner. The low cost and ease of use make BizTalk Server 2000 the obvious choice for midsized and smaller trading partners as well as large enterprises. Once industry-specific XML formats are fully defined and Microsoft implements the corresponding BizTalk Accelerators, customers expect usage to soar—shrinking cost and cycle time while enhancing flexibility throughout the trading network.

Technology gains: BizTalk Server 2000 enables your company to maximize self-sufficiency in exchanging business documents with trading partners. With savings on software, hardware, and outside consultants relative to competitive offerings, customers report a dramatic reduction in project cost.

SUCCESS FACTORS

Project strategy: Early customers proceeded one step at a time: they are using a new product to transmit documents in a new format through a new trading hub. For EAI adapters, customers recommend using a partner product, such as Compaq iOrchestrator for SAP.

Learning: Customers reported that BizTalk Server 2000 is intuitive for IT professionals who know their way around the Microsoft VB toolset. If your industry has a large number of very small companies, BizTalk Server 2000’s customers recommend making a special outreach to raise awareness and provide how-to information for these companies.

Resources: Customers expect document volumes to grow exponentially. As your XML-based trading system begins to scale, make sure you plan adequately for testing and systems management. BizTalk Server 2000’s customers advise diversified companies to stay on their toes: if your organization is active in multiple industries, you will have to map your internal data to more than one permutation of XML. This demands attention to configuration detail.

Fit: Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 is a good fit for Microsoft shops moving to XML standards for business document exchange.

COMPANY INFO

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is a public company with 43,887 employees.

425.882.8080
www.microsoft.com/biztalk
Published: January 2002