Opening up the corporate application

Web technologies are enabling organisations to make information held on external systems available to employees and trading partners beyond the corporate network.

Making information available to parties external to the organisation may be a chore, but it is also a valuable business opportunity. After all, so-called 'offline' processes tend to be error-prone and can frequently be expensive. Fortunately, by externalising applications using web technologies, companies can remove the majority of system integration barriers that prevent employees, suppliers, and customers beyond the corporate network from accessing the information they need to carry out vital tasks.

There are two reasons why applications bearing web-based interfaces are more straightforward to roll out to users across multiple organisations than traditional desktop based interfaces. First, the ubiquity of the web browser removes the need for client software installation and maintenance. Second, because most organisational networks are open to HTTP and secure HTTP traffic from the outside world, there is no need for network configuration, such as firewall rule changes, to be carried out on a per-application basis.