Introduction

Value propositions: It is now widely accepted in the field of

a new conceptualisation information systems that organisations are
for integration comprised of people and systems. It becomes
clear that as technology increasingly underpins
human endeavour to perform business, then for
Randall Perrey businesses to evolve and adapt to the markets
Alex Johnston they serve so must the supporting technology.
Mark Lycett and Therefore progressive approaches for building
information systems must seek to align
Ray Paul technology closer to business and in a way that
reflects the business need to adapt to market
The authors opportunities as governed by the strategic
vision.
Randall Perrey is a Research Fellow, Alex Johnston is a
Business mergers and acquisitions present
Researcher, Mark Lycett is a Lecturer and Ray Paul is Chair
business with the challenge of integrating
of Simulation Modelling, all at Brunel University,
different perspectives of business (both
Uxbridge UK.
ontology and epistemology) and the, usually
Keywords heterogeneous, supporting enterprise
Information systems, Integration, Perception
technology. Globalisation, supply-chain and
value-chain integration require an
Abstract organisation's enterprise technology to integrate
This paper argues that enterprise scale information systems with external parties; further complicating the
integration should be driven by business value propositions process with legal and security issues. The
rather than system level requirements. It reviews the existing internal drivers of cost rationalisation and the
literature of value and presents a summary of the issues and need to deliver consistently better services to
insights. A study of attitudes and perceptions from an customers requires continuous efforts to
enterprise system vendor organisation is presented. The integrate internal yet heterogeneous
study uses cognitive mapping to analyse the data and environments. The common theme behind
grounded theory to derive the concept of value proposition these diverse and multi-level integration drivers
as a suitable concept for comprehending integration. The is that they support strategies that deliver clearly
concept is further developed from a synthesis of the issues defined value to the organisation.
from literature with the results. The determination of a value A position common amongst most
proposition is argued to be a process of defining the organisations is that the total cost of ownership
consumer and providing perspectives. The provider of technology including operational running
perspective of value proposition is shown to be competency and maintenance is considerably more than the
based whilst the consumer is results oriented. Discussion of initial capital outlay for building the system.
the implications of value proposition driven integration The most common environment now is one
projects leads onto recommendations for industry and where inflexible systems are connected by
implications for further academic research. inflexible glue code, and major evolution of the
business function is prohibitively expensive.
Electronic access
Changes are restricted to those driven by high
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at value needs, and IT departments direct their
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister operations to limit any impact to the enterprise
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is system in order to reduce risk and cost. This
available at situation has been reached because the initial
www.emeraldinsight.com/1741-0398.htm systems were built with a point driven
mentality. They were built ill equipped for
The Journal of Enterprise Information Management
interconnection and integration within a
Volume 17 . Number 2 . 2004 . pp. 142-163
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited . ISSN 1741-0398 heterogeneous, distributed enterprise. This may
DOI 10.1108/17410390410518781 have made the building project cheaper and
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 Value propositions: a new conceptualisation for integration The Journal of Enterprise Information Management
Randall Perrey, Alex Johnston, Mark Lycett and Ray Paul Volume 17 . Number 2 . 2004 . 142-163

even more effective at the time but when the over the short time that IT has been a reality. IT
long-term issues of system flexibility, systems started as simple automation of the
maintenance and evolution are included they manual tasks that the organisation was
are shown to be inefficient. otherwise doing and progressed onto being the
The project mentality and funding key information resource (Zuboff, 1988). A
environment that concentrates on the later view of the role of IT in business driven
technological issues of developing technological organisations is that it has transformed them
solutions has historically resulted in poor and they are now reliant for their business
enterprise system. In such projects the business models to work (Scott Morton, 1991). Put
needs are translated through requirement another way if the IT does not work, neither
analysis into requirements lists which do not does the business. This is obviously true for
explicitly acknowledge their value to the Internet based business models but it is actually
business. Consequently the systems are built true for any otherwise traditional business that
without traceability of value. This indirection manages a high turnover. For any transformed
between the business intent and the business, what would otherwise be considered
technological solution makes identification of human competencies become embedded in
value creation behaviour a retrospective activity technology and the concept of competency
and severely limits the command of these must evolve to represent the value-adding
strategically critical business assets. behaviour of the system. As business
The business stakeholders must understand increasingly relies on technology for its
where the value lies in any new approach in order value-adding behaviour, it becomes just as
to balance the risk and cost of action. Where important to identify and understand which
stakeholders expect models of their key value system behaviours add value as it has always
creating processes they ought to expect models of been to identify which employee behaviours
their key value creating system behaviours. At add value.
present, technological models do not express the Porter's (1985) value-chain provides a way
value that they bring to the business. Identifying for decomposing a business into value-adding
where the value-adding activities lie within the activities. However its primary use is as a
enterprise system is an additional activity that is systematic approach for determining
seen as an unacceptable overhead. If it were done, organisational structure, grouping familiar
would be inaccurate because of the issues activities into departments. Strategic drivers of
surrounding measurement of value for system streamlining business processes for effective
behaviour. For enterprise systems models to and efficient business have led organisations to
inherently express the value of the system focus on core competencies and outsource non-
behaviour their construction must encapsulate core competencies to third party organisations
why the solution is built not just what is built. The (Hamel and Prahalad, 1990). Such
system models can then be decomposed by value reconfiguration of organisational structures call
through identifying value-adding activities and for more detailed evaluations of the activities
with such facilities enabled it would be possible to within value-chains to discover how value is
measure and compare the value of different created. Since competencies and value are
potential system behaviours. Then it would be connected (Bagchi and Tulskie, 2000; Wallin,
possible to align effectively specific system 2000) stakeholders have a number of
behaviour with the strategic aims of the business techniques at their disposal to understand
and examine potential possibilities enabled by the where value is added in their organisation:
technology from a business perspective.
Value-chain analysis
Value-chain analysis identifies those sections of
a value-chain an organisation operates within,
Literature review
the boundaries and linkages with partner
Value of behaviour to organisation organisations, and where opportunities to
It has been argued that the nature of the outsource exist. This analysis enables the
reliance of business on IT systems has changed de-aggregation of an organisation into broad
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categories of activities before further to establish relationships with potential

deconstruction into activities at a finer level of consumers of the behaviour (Reichheld, 1996).
detail (Grant, 2002). The underlying behaviour Establishing these relationships and the
of these activities can be examined using cost subsequent consumption of behaviour requires
analysis to identify where value for the business the management of customer perceptions of
is created. value and the communication of unique value
propositions which leverage the customer
Core competency analysis
relationship (Gale, 1994).
Core competency analysis utilises techniques
An organisation assessing the suitability of
from the core skill or competency capability
incorporating behaviour into its structure must
approach (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989) to
be able to determine whether the value added
determine which activities deliver greatest value
coincides with its own perception of value. Such
in the value chain. Core competencies are
interconnected enterprise structures occur
defined as those activities which create superior where organisations focus on a limited number
value for the organisation and are ``expressed of core competencies (Hamel and Prahalad,
through, and interwoven with, its technology, 1990) and consume non-core competencies
processes, and structures'' (Hedberg et al., from third party organisations. In these
1994). Here, the value of competencies is ``value-networks'' each partner requires a clear
measured relative to one another in order to view of where value is created in the network
highlight those adding most value. (Papazoglou et al., 2000) to ensure that the
Competitor analysis value delivered to the end customer is
Competitor analysis (Porter, 1980) is used by consistent across the value chain.
organisations to ascertain their position within a A simple approach for calculating what makes
sector. The core competencies of an a product or service valuable is employed in
organisation are compared with competitors in value analysis (Miles, 1972). The objective of
order to measure how valuable the value analysis or value engineering is to ``make
organisation's competencies are in a sector, possible a degree of effectiveness in identifying
becoming a measurement of the relative worth and removing unnecessary cost'' in order to
of the business. Competency analysis from identify ``performance improvements for the
other sectors is additionally used as input for product and incorporate them into it''. As such
outsourcing decisions to ascertain whether it focuses primarily on how to improve quality
non-core competencies are better served by of a product rather than calculating the value of
other organisations. the product to the customer.
A move towards the needs of the customer
Value management rather than the quality of the product is
Value management is seen as: presented by Tassinari (1985) where ``value
. . . an organised effort directed at analysing the increases when the satisfaction of the
functions of goods and services to achieve those customer's need augments and the expenditure
necessary functions and essential characteristics in
of resources diminishes.'' The conformance
the most profitable manner (Creese, 2000).
quality approach is extended by Thiry (1997)
For organisations where value is directly related who sees value as a response to a customer's
to profitability, return on investment (ROI) and needs served by the ability to respond to those
internal rate of return (IRR) methods are needs. These approaches acknowledge that the
amongst the tools that may be used to identify customer is the only party truly capable of
and prioritise valuable competencies. determining the value of a product, since any
estimation will be according to their own
Value of behaviour to consumers definitions of value.
Where demand for behaviour does not originate With ``customer value'' as ``perceived by the
from the owner, there is the formation of a customers rather than objectively determined
provider/consumer relationship. Assuming that by the seller'' (Dummond, 2000) the focus is on
the provision of behaviour to consumers the satisfaction of the customer, usually taking
delivers value to its owner it becomes necessary the form of a trade-off between what the
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customer receives in quality, benefits, worth or ``driven by the functional business view for
esteem, and what is given up to acquire and use evaluating costs and margins for competitive
it. By attempting to understand the driving advantage'' (Martin, 1996).
forces of customer needs, it is acknowledged Additionally, where a service is delivered
that customer satisfaction is usually comprised Heskett et al. (1997) argue that the quality has
of a combination of factors that may be difficult an additional factor in how it is delivered as well
to specify due to their contextual and subjective as the quality of what is delivered. Crucially, out
nature. of all considerations when determining value,
Given that customers are the only real quality, or ``meeting customer expectations''
estimators of value it is important to consider still ``remains the single most important factor
the customer perspective. A product or service in determining customer-perceived value''
that is highly valuable according to the (Linen, 2000).
customer's perception of value will not be
bought if it fails to be presented in terms Mass customisation
suitable for the customer. Such a view is As behaviour may be incorporated into
supported by Christopher et al. (1993), Heskett multiple value-chains, each with their own
et al. (1997), Creese (2000), Dummond (2000) perception of value-added, opportunities arise
who see customer value as the trade-off for mass customisation (Piller et al., 2000).
between perceived benefits and the cost of Where a competency has several applications
ownership. for range of consumers, profiling can be used
Measuring customer satisfaction and value as to propose value tailored for the consumer's
perceived by the customer is best calculated needs.
through customer satisfaction surveys, focus
groups and the tools and techniques of Summary
customer value analysis (Day and Fahey, 1990; Table I provides a summary of the approaches
Christopher et al., 1993; Gale, 1994). Since this to customer valuation in the literature.
analysis is not financially based it supports the
view that although value is comprised of cost
and price (Miles, 1972) it is also heavily Case study background
influenced by the customer's perspective of a
product or service. ComCo is a worldwide information technology
Further attempts by the ISO to measure services and solutions company with more than
customer satisfaction with the ISO-9000 and 36,000 employees serving over 50,000 clients in
QS-9000 certification processes have been some 100 countries. The organisation combines
criticised by Loomis (1999) for lacking expertise in systems integration, outsourcing,
understanding of the concept of satisfaction, infrastructure services, server technology and
insufficient indication of relationships with consulting. The company offers a rich portfolio
crucial customers as well as process and analysis of business solutions led by its expertise in
errors. consulting and systems integration,
An alternate view of the customer's outsourcing, infrastructure services and
perspective is given by Heskett et al. (1997) who security, coupled with leading enterprise-class
argue that customers do not buy a product or server and related technologies. Primary vertical
service but instead buy results, the value of markets for ComCo worldwide are the financial
which varies with the size of the task and the services, transportation, communications,
importance to the customer. A focus on results media, commercial and public sectors,
is also a key component of a ``value stream'' ± an including US federal government
evolution from Porter's value-chain that customers.
describes an end-to-end collection of activities ComCo has a range of enterprise class
that delivers a result to an end user (Martin, products built on a proprietary technology
1996). Such customer focus is argued to be platform that manages code to system
necessary to overcome the limitations of generation. The origin of these products on
Porter's business perspective, described as this technology platform is as mainframe
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Table I Tree diagram of value issues

Perspectivea
Consumer
Provide Measurement
Chains Measurement Chains Quality Customer satisfaction Expression Behaviour
Value must be Value analysis Value must be Value is proportional to Value has a shelf life Customer Value is created in
mutually beneficial calculates value of mutually beneficial quality of product/service which changes over perceptions of behaviours
for strategic product to producer for strategic (Dummond, 2000) time value are managed embedded in
partnerships (Fallon, 1971; partnerships with value technology (Scott
(Porter, 2001) Miles, 1972) (Porter, 2001) propositions Morton, 1991;
(Gale, 1994) Hedberg et al.,
1994)
Value-chains Value can be Value must be Quality is comprised of Value increases with Value is expressed Value has links to
decompose decomposed into visible throughout quality of product and decrease of total in value competency (Bagchi
organisations into cost value, esteem the value chain or quality of process in resources expended by propositions to and Tulskie, 2000;
value-adding value, exchange network receiving product customer to own consumer Wallin, 2000)
activities (Porter, value and use value (Papazoglou et al., (Heskett et al., 1997) product/use service (Gale, 1994)
1985; Grant, 2002) (Miles, 1972; 2000) (Tassinari, 1985;
Creese, 2000) Christopher et al., 1993;
Thiry, 1997; Dummond,
2000)
Value-chains have Value streams have Quality is the biggest Only the customer can Value must be Value is created
a provider customer determinant of value determine the value of demonstrated to most in core
perspective perspective (Linen, 2000) a product or service customers for competencies
(Porter, 1985; (Martin, 1996) (Dummond, 2000) relationships to (Hamel and
Martin, 1996) form (Reichheld, Prahalad, 1990)
1996)
Value is best calculated Understanding
through customer value according to
satisfaction surveys, customer types
focus groups and value enable mass
analysis (Miles, 1972; customisation
Day and Fahey, 1990; through profiling
Christopher et al., (Piller et al., 2000)
1993; Gale, 1994)
Value of product or
service is proportional
to results expected by
customer (Heskett
et al., 1997)
Customers value results
(Martin, 1996; Heskett
et al., 1997)
Value increases with
increases of customer
satisfaction (Tassinari,
1985; Christopher et al.,
1993; Heskett et al.,
1997; Thiry, 1997;
Dummond, 2000)
Note: a For value to be seen it needs a perspective (Heskett et al., 1997; Ahola et al., 2000)

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systems with complete control of user the second phase. The second phase interviews
interface to data persistence. Their allowed deeper insight into the initial issues and
interpretation in modern architecture additionally exposed further issues which were
terms is ``stovepipes'' of functionality which discussed in detail as they arose.
are very complex to integrate. Customers now The theory expressed by this publication was
see this technology platform as legacy and developed from a grounded interpretation of the
ComCo are keen to be seen to be migrating data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The data were
away from it. first open coded looking for initial categories.
In addition to migrating from old technology, These categories were refined and adjusted to
ComCo are moving away from the traditional find an interpretation that gave orthogonal
product-oriented focus of their delivery towards categories with interesting properties for which
a process focus that places emphasis on the the dimensions could be expressed from the
management of the customer relationship, the data (Strauss and Corbin, 1998).
management of products and the delivery of
services. This new focus allows processes to be Data collection
centred on the customer and not the product. All interviews were tape recorded in addition to
The aim of a process-focussed approach to memo notes kept by the interviewer. The
system development is one of producing recordings were committed to text in cognitive
maps inspired by personal construct theory
flexible, scaleable and reusable systems of
(Kelly, 1955).
integrated products. To achieve these aims, the
ComCo program engaged in developing a
Cognitive mapping
generic infrastructure in new technologies such
Cognitive mapping is an established technique
as J2EE and .NET. The proposal is that all new
in strategic consultancy and research (Eden,
domain specific system ``solutions'' be
1989). The method provides a structured
assembled within this infrastructure. Its stated
means for identifying constructs/issues from the
role is to supply the conceptual and technical
chain of argument employed in describing the
mechanisms of communication, co-ordination
situation. The relationship between constructs
and collaboration that allow for ``plug-and-
is assumed to take the form of explanations and
play'' flexibility.
consequences and offer positive reinforcement,
negative reinforcement or connotive
reinforcement (unknown or neutral). The
Research objective product of a cognitive mapping exercise is a
map in the style of a directed network made up
The objective was to capture involved of nodes (consisting of phrases used by the
practitioners' understanding of the issues and individual to describe the situation) and arcs
constraints that impact on integration in the (links identified from the individual's
various contexts that it occurs. These would be description of the situation).
analysed and structured to illuminate the In the context of this exercise a map was
underlying abstracts inhibiting integration and constructed for each interviewee using a
hopefully suggest or scope others that might cognitive mapping tool (Decision ExplorerTM).
profitably replace them. Issues raised across the set of interviewees were
then clustered and ``slices'' of the combined
map were produced to illustrate explanations
Research method and consequences in the context of super-
ordinate goals. Map slices were then
The primary data collection method was rationalised against the output of the issue
interview. The first phase interviews were very categorisation exercise and action options
open, with subjects allowed to explore what considered against the definitive set of issues.
they believed to be the issues. Analysis was Uncertainty or different views about the
conducted on these and a coherent set of initial meaning and/or import of constructs were
issues were compiled and used to semi structure examined and resolved in the context of the
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original data and the combined results are Each of these is subdivided into properties
presented herein. which are themselves divided into the successful
and unsuccessful to create the categories into
Verification which the examples and evidence is structured.
Cognitive maps were drawn up from the
recordings. Two techniques were used to verify Business understanding
the accuracy of the representation. First, the When discussing the activity and practice of
mappers restricted themselves to using only the integration the business understanding of the
subject's words and not paraphrasing. Editing behaviour of the organisation and its systems
was allowed only to untangle the often complex was an evident category. What the business
sub clauses. Second, the maps were segmented understanding is and how it affects all aspects of
into manageable chunks along broad thematic behaviour during the integration exercise will
lines and returned to the subjects for review. All ultimately affect the behaviour of the systems
amendments were agreed and included before themselves once integrated. It was clearly
further analysis was carried out. recognised that changing market forces demand
There are three drawbacks to being so faithful changes in capabilities, however there was less
in the early cognitive mapping exercise: one is clarity around which competencies will deliver
the need to make the data anonymous for that capability and how those competencies will
publishing purposes, second the quantity of need to be managed as the market forces
distinct concepts mapped in order to catch the change. Analysis of the successes and failures
nuances of each subject and finally the around organisational competencies was quite
additional difficultly in the subsequent coding complex.
of the data. The last two points are interesting
in that they raise a question over the extent of The context of a business opportunity
unconscious coding by the interviewer that The mechanism for negotiating with clients is
takes place in interpretive data recording. dependent on the level of trust and degree of
openness with which the solutions team can
Analysis discuss the fit of their product to the client's
The cognitive mapping tool has many forms of needs. The team allows the client to describe
analysis but none has the sophistication to deal their requirements whilst judging where the
with the nuances in addition to the underlying product will fit (usually these are the more
concepts. In some cases our research agenda is standard areas) and where it will not. If there is
more interested in these subtle but significant a high level of trust the team can move the client
nuances than in the headline issues. In order to
quickly forward over the areas of good fit and
represent the nuances under the constraints of
concentrate on detailed definition of the areas
anonymity and succinctness we have adopted a
where bespoke work is needed. This is
mechanism of interpreted summary maps. This
commonly called ``gap analysis''. The gaps are
has the advantage over simple quotes of
refined and defined within the business expert
combining many points of view and the
side of the team and a list of gaps is passed to
advantage over pure map analysis of clarity
the designers in the technical side for
through information hiding.
estimation. The designers assess the work in
days and resources and the estimate is passed
back to the business side for conversion to
Results financial cost. The whole process is
requirements driven but the requirements are
Analysis revealed three key concepts by which
managed internally from identification through
issues and factors influencing the
definition to solution.
conceptualisation of behaviour and its
integration may be categorised. These are: Successful
(1) business understanding; The solutions team has managed to maintain
(2) technological constraints; and the loyalty of valued staff who know both the
(3) the wall. business and the product inside out. They have
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not needed to recruit in the last four years. The Figure 1 The value of modelling
staff are somewhat locked in, due to their
detailed knowledge of a highly proprietary
product, although this is not seen as a
hindrance ± as one business expert pointed out:
I would have to take the hit of three months
retraining to understand a different product in the
same domain, a technical expert would need ten
years retraining to fully understand the domain!

However this situation is not sustainable and

the inability to balance the work pressure on
specific staff has already become a strain on
both the team and the individuals. The details of solutions have no traceability
The management of the requirements as a external to the inherent knowledge of experts
purely internal activity is possible because of the requiring further demands on their time if
long-term client engagements that are the details are to be acquired. The durability of
company norm. Business and technical start to customised configurations as well as the
understand each other more inherently once the
operation of the base product itself is entirely
business experts have worked on the customer
dependent on the combined understanding of
specific specialisations and seen their
the staff. If and when staff members leave the
development over time. Likewise the technical
project, this overview picture deteriorates and
experts tend become specialised in areas they
with it the chances of future business. The
have been involved in developing, since it
chance for this detailed knowledge to be learned
becomes necessary to understand parts of the
by incoming staff is all but lost without the
customer's domain in order to deliver the
experienced staff's time and the business
solution. One business expert describes the
models. New recruits would have few sources of
``blurring of the boundaries between customer
learning beyond the user manuals and the
staff and us''. This situation also locks in both
supplier and customer and is a sufficient actual code (once they have learned the
relationship provided the customer's business language).
One product has a substantial customer base
doesn't evolve beyond the potential capabilities
of the product. At this point the customer may who expect product enhancements to keep
well drop the supplier company entirely and them up-to-date with statutory and market
source elsewhere. changes. The team as it stands is not capable of
doing this additional comprehensive analysis
Unsuccessful work and the company is understandably
The tension caused by relying on a few very
reluctant to broadcast the fact. There are two
experienced staff is beginning to show. All staff
factors in this issue:
agreed that the business models are now so far
(1) the limited ability to combine and
out of date to be useless. The team expects
manipulate the business knowledge locked
completeness and accuracy in both business
up in the heads of the team members with
and technical expertise but because the
all the consequent durability issues of such
individuals are obviously unable to deliver it
a model.
consistently the projects suffers. Without
(2) the disjoint between the forward design
adequate business models and with the staff so
capability of the technical team (already
occupied there is no capacity to abstract pieces
extremely limited) and the knowledge input
of business utility from the systems and expose
from the business domain.
the relevant technical functionality. The
interrelated forces that contribute to this Frequent shortcuts have created a technical
tension are illustrated by the map segment architecture inflexible at accommodating new
shown in Figure 1. stresses.
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Organisational competencies ideas is to create an electronic repository of

Competencies are not explicitly identified interlinked models from the market to detail
within the organisation at present although the technology against which the customers can run
competencies of the organisation's product are new opportunity simulations in order to do risk
well understood within the marketplace. The analysis and devise mitigation strategies. This
organisation is used to integrating their illustrates the strength of the research and
products with those of partners in the provision development competency within the company
of a solution to the customer. The strengths of although it also demonstrates the lack of a
the product are understood from a business ``competency identifying'' competency.
point of view although the limited numbers of A different type of success has been the market
people who know and the constrained nature of and technical model harmonisation in the case of
their time and network limit the evolutionary the domestic market for a particular east-Asian
potential of the product. country. A business expert saw the potential for
Successful exploiting this market and made links with a first
The core competency of the base product is a customer. They developed a small team of
transaction engine and the experienced experts to analyse the market and the company
business staff (with their extensive technical used this analysis to develop a market specific
knowledge) have ensured this remains clean customisation on top of base product. They then
and independent ± a difficult task given the sold this into the first customer with additional
limited discipline of the development customer specific functionality sold as bespoke
environment and the unyielding project work. The country specific business team went
timelines. Lucrative contracts that require the on to sell into other customers and indeed
integration of the product with other, fixed develop other products related to that market in
jurisdiction products and expect the product to conjunction with both individual and groups of
demonstrate high throughput performance customers. In some ways this success could be
provide the financial driver. The identification attributed to the circumvention of the sales
and protection of this competency in both the function in establishing the market. The clarity
product and the market niche is a consequence of roadmap for the development of both product
of the long-term experience (over many and market was effected through collaboration
projects) of the key staff and their interpersonal with customers in a way not feasible in a highly
relationships with key technical staff. competitive marketplace.
Fulfilling contracts which require integration Unsuccessful
also demonstrate the competency of The internal identification of competencies is a
partnership management. The company has purely reactive process and as such limits the
acquired the necessary partners for an end-to- ability of the company to capitalise on its
end solution and manipulated these partners to strengths.
ensure a cleaner fit between the products. The company has allowed a situation where
These partnership groupings have been critical information is retained purely in the
maintained through the strong technical links heads of the practicing experts (see Figure 2).
and built on the interpersonal trust developed
between key individuals in the partnerships. Figure 2 Internal competency identification
Amongst the business experts there is a
reflective aspect that has identified the strengths
and weaknesses and suggested a solution which
has not been taken up by the company. The
idea recognises the significance of modelling for
simulation and is abstracted from the detail of
individual technologies. It would require the
exploitation of the partnership relationships to
collaborate on domain expertise and modelling
standards (both in type and adherence). The
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This inhibits the potential for other Technology constraints

competencies within the company to further the
company objectives. The requirements The technical constraints of integration were
gathering experts have compiled a list of clearly a key concept. What was less obvious
``improvements'' to the base product that have was the human perception aspects of these
been frequently requested. This list contains constraints and how they related to the system's
such things as Euro compliance and 24 by 7 context. The straightforward issue to do with
technology constraints was the ability to furnish
processing for internet enablement. The list is
the appropriate functionality for the job. This
updated by the team each time a project is
was also related to the perception of what the
completed during the project review panel. At
job was. The last issue was the maintenance or
present however the company is not funding
long-term view. There was clearly a trade-off
these essentially fundamental enhancements
here between getting the job done for the
through R&D but allowing each project to
project at hand and leaving the options open for
re-implement with them as customer specific
the future. Managing this trade-off between the
functionality. Clearly the product is becoming
technology experts and the project managers
less competitive with the additional
was perceived as always a tension.
customisation burden and the business experts
unofficially agree that no genuinely new Understanding the integration context
customers will accept this. This expert opinion The context of an integration effort must be
cannot be communicated to strategic understood in sufficient detail and with an eye
decision-makers since the lack of regular review to the future for the technical side of the team to
and R&D maintenance makes it impossible to go ahead with an appropriate design. The
assess accurately the product's market solutions team does not have an explicit
potential. The funding is not forthcoming mechanism for modelling the critical
because the scarcity of customers and the dimensions of the context. It approaches
diverse application of the product mean the everything through the use of requirements
R&D team cannot guarantee the return on documentation. The technical side have little
investment (ROI). That an R&D team should access to anyone but the business side in order
be required to guarantee this demonstrates the to understand the context. The requirements
lack of competency identification. Client documentation is relied upon to contain
holding projects should have to demonstrate enough detail to convey the nature of the
ROI but the proper competency for an R&D integration but not too much instruction on
team is providing potential routes for the future. how to implement the functionality. This is
The Solutions team has identified a strategy because business experts, especially those who
for supporting the ``legacy'' technology have an understanding of the system,
migration. This involves the integration of the sometimes believe they can specify how and
old technology with new technology platforms what to change at a technical level without fully
but also the abstract conceptualisations for understanding the implications of what they
managing both the ongoing relationship and suggest.
graceful switch-off of the legacy. Successful
Lack of support for the central R&D In recent technology development projects
competency of innovation restricts the some of the more technically experienced
migration of legacy technology to the business experts have been encouraged to
company's own new technology solutions to remain part of the process of design until much
piecemeal efforts and is proving less than later than usual. This opportunity has arisen
successful. There is disappointment and some out of a client engagement, otherwise the
bitterness that such an opportunity, not to lifecycles would not have allowed it (see later).
mention significant effort investment, from the The contribution of the business expert
team was passed up without explanation and throughout the analysis stage was found to be
indeed without evident alternative. extremely significant in the ultimate design,
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with spin-off ideas being included in This work was a success in that the context of
subsequent requirements hand-over exercises each type of integration was analysed and
by the team. successfully translated to a technical context for
Being able to understand the context of an the solution.
integration is not merely a comfort issue for the
developers. The past life of one of the base Unsuccessful
products operated purely in a domain which Whilst the above example was a success in the
was and continues to be very stable. That was, terms described, it was also unsuccessful. First
and indeed remains, a very stable domain with no clients have purchased the product to
international standards for business related address both domains. It would have been
technical aspects such as process and easier and cheaper to have different products,
messaging. Later, significant functionality was had the team known. Second the strategy of the
added to the product to enable it to operate in team with regard to the market was only
another related domain but this time the enforceable within the remit of the team and
domain was much less standard. The market that was not the whole chain.
was not global but local to each country or The strategy of the market development (of
small grouping of countries. The processes which the product development was part) is to
within each market had the potential to be have a base product and packaged add-ons for
radically different, as were differences between different local markets. The base team address
players in a given market due to their only the global issues in the domain and the
competition through unique business functions. local teams address the development of the
The differences between the two types of
add-on packages for their local market. This
marketplace that the product was addressing
arrangement is commonly called
were analysed from a business point of view.
``glocalization''.
(Note: in fact the product went on to be
The strategy behind ``glocalization'' assumes
successfully modified to operate in a further
that the first customer in a local market will
related domain that holds characteristics from
both these domains.) substantially contribute to the costs of the
The business analysts worked with the design add-on package but will not pay for it
team on the framework that would support the exclusively (cheaper competitor products and
new functionality. The core of the product the cost of total in-house build would put a
remained unchanged (see above) and the new, ceiling of the contribution). The company will
more flexible functionality was built as a set of have to contribute to the first customer on the
user configurable, soft-coded modules. The understanding that once the market package is
advantage was that the product could be complete subsequent customers will be the
configured to work in almost any market and profit generating projects. Unfortunately the
could be reconfigured as and when the market sales team are funded through commission and
changed. The disadvantage was that the consequently are dedicated to chasing revenue
product would not work out of the box and the wherever that may be found. They do not
company was competing with country specific constrain themselves to building up the market
products using a product that required
share within an existing country but ``bounce
expensive configuration to work. The success of
about'' getting customers wherever they can.
the approach was demonstrated with the far
Figure 3 describes the view from the solutions
eastern client and market described above.
team. It is a resigned position since they feel
When the product was installed to address
both domains the standardised side would powerless to affect what they see as a damaging
operate with high performance out of the box situation. The misalignment of sales and
(almost). Meanwhile the country specific could marketing development strategies has had a
be configured for local conditions and the negative impact on cost efficiency of the market
whole product could incorporate bespoke development strategy and this is ``tacit'', i.e. not
customisations to suit the exact needs of the knowledge that is well known, or widely
particular client. discussed within the company.
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Figure 3 Selling the country specific development

Furnishing the appropriate functionality application programming interface (API) but

The technology platform is now a legacy from the team knew that the mechanism they had
the company's perspective since it contains was proprietary and unsuitable and would lose
intellectual property deemed valuable, as well as them the client. The team addressed the
from the client's perspective since it contains problem from both a technical and a business
critically valuable data that has risks associated functionality front. The business side examined
with any migration. In this state it is not the expectations of the other products in the
considered a viable approach for the future and client web and defined the necessary
needs to be retired by being migrated in functionality to be exposed. The technology
multiple, disparate but functionally declining side devised a mechanism of grouping
ways in order to make way gracefully for the functionality within the product into what were
latest technology platform. called ``stateless services''. The team were then
able to identify what functionality the client
Successful
required from the product and expose it as
To get the platform to perform the appropriate
stateless services that the other products could
functionality for each stage of this decline the
interface to. This was a success in this case,
solutions team have had to re-conceptualise the
although the team are clear that as a mechanism
product several times and now have the
it works for a limited subset of the functionality.
capability to address it in a number of varied
The closer to the core of the product (which
ways as they see appropriate. One important
corresponds to the further back in time of
re-conceptualisation has been the transition
coding) the less likelihood of exposing
from monolith to back end product. The
functionality as stateless services.
original context of the product was as a
The collective understanding over the years is
mainframe system that expected to manage all
demonstrated in Figure 4, which is the solutions
stages of the processing from displaying the user
team's perception of the informal categories
interface to persisting the data as a single unit.
formed from the ambiguous demands on the
The abstractions used were tailored for this
product in different client engagement
purpose and have been a constraint in every
scenarios. There is a loose project template
conceptualisation since. For a considerable
including a tailored conceptualisation of the
time the user experience or ``front end'' has
product for each different situation.
been managed by other products including the
companies own ``new technology'' solution. Unsuccessful
This downgrade of the system from monolith to The company addressed the challenges of
back end represents a serious concept selling consultancy in new technology with a
management problem for the team. One reference architecture. This framework operates
potential client with a complex web of products at both the purely conceptual and J2EE
serving specific business functions considered reference levels. A client engagement team have
the company's product as a back end for the used the reference architecture in their joint
overall system. They expected a standard development with the client and been largely
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Figure 4 Business understanding passed into the design

successful. The learning from the experience Ongoing maintenance

was to be propagated throughout the solutions The maintenance of the products is generally a
team. An R&D, new technology project was significant issue for the company. The diverse
undertaken by the team with advice from the customisations and the somewhat laissez faire
experts in the client engagement team. There attitude towards version control in the past has
were two problems with the arrangement. The led to a complex upgrade scenario. More
pressure of the client engagement project had specifically as the industry evolves, the role of
lead them to compromise over some of the the product in the overarching enterprise
ideals in the framework and these were architecture may well change. How it copes
contaminating the pure R&D. The client with changing integration requirements is the
project worked and it was almost impossible to focus of several projects.
actively criticise their use of the framework Successful
despite the R&D team demonstrating that their Over many maintenance cycles the team
approach confounded the ideals of the identified that the multiple and diverse access
framework. The major concern was that the mechanisms were a problem. Each served its
framework ideal of separation into layers that purpose well in context and had its strengths
contained components that could operate and weaknesses but various features of the
independently was not working in practice. The underlying technology that they relied upon
client engagement had built components from were being changed or removed. When the
scratch and currently these were not required to different versions of the product were overlaid
work, other than as a set so the ideal was not on the different versions of the technology the
being tested. When the R&D team attempted a maintenance was extremely time-consuming
similar project they tested the ideal and found and error prone. If the legacy was to retire
the components were not operating purely in gracefully then a standardised, open mechanism
their layers and the concerns of the component for accessing the products was needed. The
were not being addressed independently of the Host Integration Gateway (HIG) was the final
concerns of the application as a whole. This version after circumstances and experience had
meant that they were much more tightly shaped the project a little. The considerable
coupled than would allow extraction and reuse. experience of senior architects and
In short the R&D team, under the guidance of programmers produced a single mechanism
the client engagement team, had created a slice that works for all the products built on the
through a monolith: a mini-monolith. The first legacy technology and across diverse access
iteration review was a comprehensive needs. The key to the success was the
assessment of the issues of the project and the identification of the underlying needs of the
second round went ahead without the influence access requirements rather than examine them
of the client engagement team. at their face value. The mechanism is
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configurable to enable a range of compromise The team face a common situation where the
situations between high throughput business experts describe a piece of
performance and sophistication of message functionality that needs to be exposed for
interpretation. The mechanism was successfully integration. The ability to mine this intellectual
employed in a project directly on completion property technically is severely inhibited by a
and was proved suitable for the resolution of a lack of documentation that link the business
completely different requirement on a different functions with the technical implementation,
product soon after. i.e. there are no business models or context.
Unsuccessful Even the technical experts with long experience
On cursory consideration the team generally have an incomplete knowledge of the mapping
supposed that the technology platform did not and panels of experts are sometimes needed if
have an impact on the way the requirements for the integration is to go ahead as planned. The
an integration were gathered (see Figure 5). documentation that exists has a user manual
On closer examination the legacy technology focus and exhibits the same problem as the
products which were screen based displayed the screen based analysis described above.
codename of the underlying mechanism at the Another maintenance problem that the
bottom of the screen. The business experts technical team face is the historical inclusion of
could hardly avoid using this information to customer specific functionality into the base
reference a fault or change. However, the product. Important customers with lots of
underlying structure of the products have funding require significant support and the
changed across the years in response to their staffing structure usually separates the
changing conceptualisation and consequently customisation teams from the base. The base
the expectation that the screen is the unit that team is the largest team and has the widest
performs the application logic is no longer valid. expertise so they were used for the large
The habit of referencing the codenames and customer specific functionality. Subsequent
describing what is to be changed rather than maintenance has proved to be a problem and
what change is required has persisted. Partly the interconnected structure of a monolithic
this is a lack of proper understanding of the product makes consequent removal risky.
technology by these business experts and partly
it is a habit. The outcome is that some changes
are driven by this practice (usually more senior The wall
business experts with more junior technology
staff) that conflict or confound the deeper The wall was more of a derived concept than
architecture approach that the technology one which cropped up explicitly although the
managers are attempting to implement. This term was actually used by several people in
does nothing for intra-team relations. relation to ``throwing [requirements] over the

Figure 5 The platform's impact on gathering requirements

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wall''. As a concept here it borrows the organisation that maintains the protocol and
connotation of ``them and us'' and extends it to these must be acquired in addition to the
all accepted wisdom that creates barriers product licences. The interface that the product
between people who the organisation expects to was using was specific not only for the protocol
collaborate (even if it is the organisation that is but also for one front end product. This was the
the root cause of the wall in the first place!). most popular front end product but interfaces
The wall is about the world-views of the to other front ends were considered
individuals and the groups involved but its customisation and thus made the product less
impact on two really significant topics was the competitive. The initial lead came from a large
main location of discussion. The first is the customer with the popular front end who
interconnection of different parts of the complained about the cost of additional
knowledge about the product in context. This is licences. The team investigated the messaging
represented here as the traceability of models of protocol and discovered an XML version that
the product. The second is the packaging of did not require the same expensive licences.
functionality. These two topics are examples of When they analysed the necessary changes to
the arena in which the wall makes its effects felt. the product for the XML version they realised
that they could create a more universal interface
World-views that would work with other front ends without
Within all business related software enterprises modification. Thus they created a business
there are stakeholders. These stakeholders are opportunity and serviced existing customer
usually diverse with different agendas and needs. The success was based on the
tolerances. Satisfying all of the stakeholders, all consideration of the interests from a wide
of the time is near impossible so most of them stakeholder group and support for a solution
most of the time is the realistic target. Crudely that addressed the value requirements of
the stakeholders can be classified into the unheard stakeholders.
upward looking (business) perspective and the
Unsuccessful
downward looking (technical) perspective. In
The wall is where a stakeholder group with a
order to manage the conflicting demands the
particular set of concerns takes a ``them and us''
maximum leverage should be sought from the
view of other stakeholder groups. The usual
overlap of the two perspectives.
result is a loss of accurate communication
Successful leading to embedded and solipsistic
The different and unaligned stakeholder world-views, i.e. the perception of the way the
perspectives within the company structure were world works is not allowed to be examined or
addressed through the development of a opened to criticism and it forms the single way
solutions team. Having one team that that those stakeholders regard the activities and
encompasses both technical and business actions of other groups.
experts has enabled the successful and The way that power differentials are
profitable crossover skills that are so critical to expressed through relationships is an example
the company's project success. of the wall. R&D projects are funded internally
Having a one-team approach allowed the and certain groups express dissatisfaction that
R&D function to promote a technology led funds are used in this way, particularly when
evolution of the product. Usually the business there is a downturn in the industry and people's
experts identify the opportunities and explain jobs may be on the line. The R&D projects are
what is needed to the technical side so that they frequently referred to as the poor relations when
can effect the necessary changes. In this case compared to client engagement projects. Such
however the technical side saw the opportunity attitudes create the wall.
to make a change which had positive effects for The wall is a factor in the distinguishing of
the business. One important feature of the innovators and laggards in the customer base.
product is the use of an international messaging When a new innovation appears in a market the
protocol for a business function. The use of this players in that space must each decide how they
protocol requires licences for the international will respond. Some will be the innovators that
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 Value propositions: a new conceptualisation for integration The Journal of Enterprise Information Management
Randall Perrey, Alex Johnston, Mark Lycett and Ray Paul Volume 17 . Number 2 . 2004 . 142-163

introduced the new thing, others will want to feature of conceptualising integration but the
get in as quickly as possible to ride the wave of wall confounds their effective management.
enthusiasm from the public. Others will wait for
Successful
the second wave where they will produce a
The wall has been successfully negotiated by
better, perhaps leaner version and finally there
the Computer Aided Modelling repository
are the laggards who will put off implementing
described above. Where the risk of a potential
until the opportunity becomes a necessity to
solution is not known a combined repository
trade in the space. Some may even move out of
could allow pertinent stakeholders to express
the space because the risks have become
their perceptions of the outcomes for a
unacceptable. The company business experts
mediated simulation. This would give rise to
with long experience in the industry are
considered mitigation strategies and facilitate
confident that they can predict which players
the player to engage in opportunities that it
will do what. This reading is based strongly on
might otherwise have passed up as unreliable
the trust and cooperation between the business
risks. Whilst nothing has been done to address
experts in the player and their IT support.
this solution directly the fact that the wall has
Where the relationship is cooperative then the
been acknowledged and a solution space has
player will be an innovator, where the wall
been described is a big move forward.
affects the relationship the player will be a
Another example of aligning different
laggard. This is described as a complex
stakeholder views is the definition of what the
interplay but it revolves around the speed with
packaged product does. The re-
which the player can manipulate its IT systems
conceptualisation of the product described
to support the innovation. This in turn is
above created the opportunity to reinvent the
dependent on a history of investment and
product for different markets ± the example
maintenance leading to flexible and
described above of furnishing the appropriate
well-resourced systems.
functionality where the product is sold as a back
end, or a complete system or a part player in a
Traceability and packaging
concerted whole depending on what is needed.
Traceability and packaging are critical aspects
Likewise the example of different domains with
of system management that are affected by the
different stability requirements being serviced
wall. In the lifecycle of an enterprise system the
through innovative technical solutions
individual products that comprise it play a
demonstrates progress in removing the wall.
definite part that may change or become
redundant. The products may become Unsuccessful
inadequate or need adjustment to meet their The team has not breached the wall when it
need role. Tracing the complex interweaving of comes to translating context issues. The roles of
this integration is a hard task that the business the business and technical staff have an
experts claim is rarely done well, particularly in enforced separation by their lifecycles. When
the company. the technical take over, the business are
The packaging of functionality is a term that supposed to move on to the next project
both business and technical experts use but they because they are no longer needed. This creates
mean different things when they do so. The wall the situation of passing on documentation that
prevents them from resolving these differences describes the ``what'' of requirements but not
and allows damaging misunderstandings to the ``why''. This lacking context is a significant
occur. The technical experts take packaging factor in the unconnected and thus ultimately
functionality to mean creating components redundant business models. The absence of
from business objects: the kind of thing that a these is a clear contributor to many of the
single, or small group of closely linked database company's most pressing issues.
tables would manage. The business experts on The business drivers could create very
the other hand speak of packages of scenarios different and possibly conflicting packages from
and even the requirements engineers package the technology drivers. Figure 6 describes this
uses cases. These packages need not be tension. The issue is that the different drivers
conflicting and indeed might be a significant are not being aligned and thus the potential for
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Figure 6 Different rationale create different packages

conflict is not being managed. The issue has The process above is described in a top down
been highlighted within the team and flagged way which is the strict modelling perspective on
up within the company but no resources were the whole system. These models must
released to address it. ultimately be built and this will form the bottom
up way. In practice the process will not be first
decomposed and then recomposed but after an
Discussion initial period of upheaval will resolve into a
dynamic stasis. This is the long-term position
The scope and characteristics of a value
that the value proposition drivers are designed
proposition
to address more effectively than, say,
It is quite common for businesses to have high
requirements. It is from this dynamic stasis that
level, abstract descriptions of their business
the conditions for evolution will come.
propositions. These tend to be vague and wordy
Assessment of the value of different possible
and have the key characteristic of being catchy
options will drive the adaptation of the
slogans rather than practically oriented. It is
enterprise system and genuine flexibility in
profitable for an enterprise-wide business
systems will finally be recognised as important
proposition to be seen as a summation of the for their long-term feasibility (Truex et al.,
propositions from the contributing business 1999).
areas. These tactical propositions would Making sense of behaviour as value
themselves be composed from the encapsulated propositions requires the conceptions of a
values propositions within each piece of provider and a consumer and the relationship
business behaviour owned by that business between them. Justifying why it should be
area. This situation is comparable to the object provided as well as why it should be consumed
oriented paradigm concept of the system being creates the opportunity for expressing the
the sum of its objects and their relationships behaviour's value. Issues that determine what is
(Booch, 1994) and is consistent with the idea of valuable to both parties must be examined to
complex systems being ``nearly decomposable'' determine the basis for justification. If value is
in the manner described by Simon (1996). The something that is to be exchanged between
value proposition would have to encapsulate the provider and consumer then the provider
capabilities in a way that made them a unit of concept and the consumer concept must align
closely coupled behaviour but there would be at the point of exchange. They need not be the
some interaction between units towards the same or even the same level of value but they
greater whole and this choreography would be must align in the sense that they create the force
an independent part of the greater unit that to commit to exchange.
creates the value. This mechanism for These sound like complex and
describing how value is delivered in the ``value interdependent abstracts but they should be
network'' is something both the consumer and compared to the familiar but equally abstract
provider need to understand. concept of requirements remembering that the
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requirements concept also introduces a level of the necessity for different types of alignments
indirection. and different resolution mechanisms for the
The consumer perception of a value forces. The tension to integrate always arises
proposition is as a contribution towards a result where one entity requires some behaviour for a
that the consumer is looking for from outside valuable process but it does not ``own'' the
their remit. This may be an information necessary resources or capabilities and another
contribution to a system that could not entity owns that behaviour.
calculate it for itself or a process step If these entities are internal systems and the
contribution to a business process for a overarching decision-maker for what
company that otherwise has no capacity to constitutes a valuable process has control of
generate it; the principle is the same. The value both, the nature of alignment will centre on the
of the contribution is determined by the global maximum benefit to be gained for the
following: organisation with little regard for the utilisation
. The level of satisfaction the consumer feels potential of any single system. If the entities are
concerning the delivery of a successful owned by different stakeholders then each will
result for their driving need. be looking for the maximisation of their benefit
. The perceived scarcity of, or significance of from the integration. The provider will want to
acquiring the resources necessary to package the value proposition in a way that
perform the contribution internally. returns the maximum possible margin from the
resources committed by the competencies. The
The provider perception of value is related to consumer will want to ensure they are getting
the concept of business competency. A business exactly and consistently the contribution to the
competency is comprised of those results they require. This situation may produce
organisational routines, systems behaviours and a different, negotiated resolution from the
human skills that the provider has invested in theoretical overall maximum.
and thus it represents a valuable asset to them.
The value of competencies would most usually
be derivable through an equation based on the
Value propositions as the drivers of
cost of them to the provider and the revenue or
integration projects
benefit stream that they generated. This view
can skew the perception of what is and what is The integration context is not homogeneous.
not a competency and what constitutes Integration between business systems is always
competencyhood. The identification of a in the context of a business endeavour and the
competency for the purposes of expressing value proposition is designed to express the
provider value is a process of analysis and tensions in those situations in the appropriate
attribution of units of business function to manner. Integration contexts can be broadly
definable business roles. Clearly multiple categorised into business-to-business and
functions are attributable to each role and many internal. Whilst these have multiple sub-
roles may collaborate in a complex function. categories which can be radically diverse, for
Attempting to keep the multi-role functions to example B2B could be established supply chain
those that really add value from the complexity or internet trading, these two categories have
rather than simply summative makes the value some fundamental differences of significance to
proposition identification that much easier. the value proposition concept. One other
Value propositions for the provider can be context for considering the value proposition
identified as the contribution that a competency impact on integration is the state of integrations
makes to a given revenue generating process. In as the business context changes over time.
this way the complex interplay of factors that go
into making up a revenue generating stream can Business-to-business (B2B) integrations
be decomposed in a more realistic way than the At this level the issues are around negotiating
traditional cost attribution. the commitment of resources in the selling and
The different situations where provider and buying. The consumers will want to see that
consumer roles have been applied will create they are getting value for the resources
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sacrificed even if these are not explicitly in comprehensive assessment of the potential for
monetary terms but, for instance, in terms of an integration solution. The opportunity cost of
opportunity cost. approaches enabling future integration can be
This changes the landscape of B2B analysed and included in the information
interactions in two ways. These are the dynamic considered. This will reduce the chances of
nature of integration behaviour and increasing failure to capitalise on the hidden benefits of
competition expanding the diversity of what, at first, appears to be the commitment of
integration business. excessive resources but which is, in fact, the
Expression of value increases the confidence provision of a longer-term solution that will
of consumers and providers in the assessment of increase margins.
the suitability of their relationships. Failing to
differentiate the trust in the relationship from Changing business activities over time
the confidence in the integration has been a A value proposition approach enables
significant factor inhibiting loose binding traceability of the value of integration solutions
behaviour. Establishing a different and more to the strategies they serve. This allows for
explicit basis for holding confidence in an periodic assessments of the alignment of an
integration will lead to more dynamic enterprise's information environment with its
integration behaviour. business strategies. It also provides a basis upon
Competition is increased as consumers which the retirement of architecture can be
compare the potential of alternative justifiably deemed defunct and
relationships and contrast providers to find the decommissioned.
best fit for their strategic needs. The diversity of Behaviours can be viewed as competences of
value propositions is increased by the drive the business for as long as the value they create
towards competitive advantage and an correlates with the business's current
explosion in the number of possible perception of value. The nature of resource,
combinations of B2B value chains that utilising particularly in the area of information
the idea enables. technology where Moore's Law continues to
Different models of dynamism and apply, makes the basis of competency difficult
competition will evolve in different to assess. Assigning value propositions to
marketplaces dependent on whether there is a competencies is one way of managing the
single, powerful consumer in a market, a single, perception of how core a competency is or
powerful provider, or a more open marketplace indeed whether it still operates as a
with multiple, heterogeneous players. competency, as well as a means to justify the
resource allocated.
The needs of internal integrations In a given integration, if the contribution to a
The value proposition approach would allow result of value has been expressed as a value
for the explicit analysis of the cost benefit of proposition then the consumer can assess its
each piece of internal integration within the continuing applicability directly at various
context of the emerging business. The true cost stages. Predetermined acceptable levels of
of integrating with inflexible glue code would be performance are not necessarily durable and the
exposed and the benefits of other, more applicability of a value proposition may decline
adaptable solutions would be more clearly over time as alternatives appear. This makes
visible to the business decision-makers. A given value proposition a suitable measure of
integration would be considered for its best contribution in an emerging context.
overall outcome in terms of value. Short-term
benefit may well be the most effective use of
those resources and this decision and its Recommendations for practice
evidence can be captured in the value
proposition. Several recommendations for practice have
Given that decisions are based only on the emerged from this research.
information available to decision-makers, the Description of changes to systems behaviour
use of value propositions will enable a more should express the value of the change, in
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Randall Perrey, Alex Johnston, Mark Lycett and Ray Paul Volume 17 . Number 2 . 2004 . 142-163

particular why it is necessary, rather than just a The existing area of business competency
specific description of what and how. This will should be addressed with attention to how
facilitate two things: competencies are viewed and what
(1) Core competencies of the development characteristics related to value are applied.
team are utilised ± providing innovative These may be developed along the lines
solutions to problems that align with a indicated here to more fully explore the limits of
product strategy enabling reuse of the the concept.
solution. Additional research is needed to review the
(2) Value behind the change is documented to context in which value related structures, for
understand the context and strategic example value-chains, deliver value in order to
thought behind the change, allowing better understand the propositional aspects.
profiling of customer needs for future New topics of research would include the
development of value propositions from a
patterning and packaging.
theoretical basis, particularly how the value of
The sale strategy and directive should be an integration is perceived from the point of
synchronised with the market and product view of the primary consumer or benefactor.
development strategy and the relationship
should be managed and mediated by evaluation
of value generating competencies. The explicit Conclusions
expression of the value of the behaviour to the
ultimate revenue generating process will serve The paper reviews existing literature relating to
as the most equitable basis for controlling value within the fields of marketing strategy,
difference and conflicts in strategy. business strategy, cost analysis, customer
The lifecycles of the business and technical service quality, virtual organisations, value
elements of the integration context should be networks, customer relationship management
managed in such a way that a representative of and enterprise integration. It summarises the
the business value of the integration remains literature and presents a taxonomy of the issues
involved throughout the analysis and even the and insights. The taxonomy structures the
design of the solution. Similar proposals have issues according to the perspective of consumer
been made from exponents of eXtreme and provider and a category of behaviour-based
Programming (Beck, 2000) but this issues. The consumer and provider categories
are further subdivided into chains and
recommendation focuses specifically on value
measurement where chains is an
rather than on an understanding of
acknowledgment that value only has relevance
requirements. The particular difference is in the
in the context of a business structure such as a
extent to which the representative can speak
value-chain and measurement scopes the
with authority on the design in terms of the
factors that may be used as the dimensions of
value verses the fit to the stated requirements.
any assessment of value. Measurement for the
The sponsor of integration project ought to
consumer may, itself, be subdivided into the
seek a view from a long-term maintainer of the quality addressing issues and the satisfaction
architectures affected to understand the value addressing issues. Consumer sub-categories
limiting consequences of what is proposed. At also include expression to group the concepts of
least the recording and dissemination of the communication and visibility of value. These
context for an integration should be enforced, are shown to structure the literature in order to
particularly alongside the specification of give greater insight into the value issues.
requirements. The results of a study are presented. First the
background of the organisation under study is
Implications for research given to orientate the reader. It is a large
This research has uncovered a number of areas enterprise system vendor organisation that has
that require further research before value expertise in both business and technical
proposition driven integration could become concerns. The objective of the study is given as
a reality. capturing the practitioners' understanding of
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 Value propositions: a new conceptualisation for integration The Journal of Enterprise Information Management
Randall Perrey, Alex Johnston, Mark Lycett and Ray Paul Volume 17 . Number 2 . 2004 . 142-163

the issues and constraints that impact on this leads to wider combinations of
integration in the various contexts that it partnership opportunities. Contrasting with
occurs. The research method is briefly B2B is internal integration in which the key
discussed stating that the analysis of the data driver is delivery of increasingly better services
was derived from grounded theory and an through the flexible application of finite
introduction to cognitive mapping is given. The resources. The internal integration scenarios
results take the form of attitudes and benefit from value propositions through more
perceptions combined into more generic issues comprehensive assessment of the potential of
maps. Illustrative quotes and examples are used an integration solution. This is done by
to more fully elucidate the points made. exposing the long-term costs incurred against
In the discussion section the concept of value short-term benefit. Value propositions offer an
proposition is further developed from a ongoing facility to reassess and reassign the
synthesis of the issues from literature with the resources in an alignment of an enterprises
points raised in the results from the study. It information environment with its business
argues that enterprise scale information systems strategies. The traceability of the value of
integration should be driven by business value solutions provides a basis upon which
propositions rather than system level architecture can be justified as defunct and
requirements. It presents a conceptualisation of decommissioned.
a business as layers of value propositions that Discussion of the implications of value
can be decomposed to identify significant proposition driven integration projects leads
behaviour. This behaviour can be recomposed onto recommendations for industry and
and choreographed to address high-level implications for further academic research.
business objectives. This process is contrasted
with a requirements driven process. It is argued
that value propositions are more appropriate for
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