AptSoft Breaks the Code, Delivers Point-and-Click App Integration
New AptSoft software does integration at one-third the cost, one-tenth the effort
BURLINGTON, Mass., Nov. 17, 2003 -- With corporate America regretfully spending $13 billion annually integrating its business software - over 70 percent of this on writing code - AptSoft Corporation today unveiled a new approach to application integration that significantly reduces the cost, time and burden. AptSoft's new Director software lets companies quickly integrate different applications with point-and-click ease at a business process level - rather than relying on hardwired code or middleware alone - typically at a third of the cost, in a fifth of the time, and a tenth of the maintenance effort compared to conventional EAI tools or custom coding.
AptSoft Director gives companies great ease and flexibility in choreographing how their disparate business applications respond en masse to critical business situations in real time. The secret to AptSoft's unique approach is the extension of business process management (BPM) - a technology originally designed to automate business workflows - to now include the underlying application integration, which is the hardest part. Director employs Web services standards to create a service-oriented, event-driven architecture in which users can define integration with point-and-click ease using reusable components.
Rather than reinvent the wheel with each integration project, Director lets companies tap the business logic already embedded in their existing applications. It turns the logic into intelligent, reusable software components and automates data retrieval. Companies can now painlessly integrate data and existing business rules into dynamic business processes on the fly - with minimal setup by IT - to capitalize on business opportunities when they occur.
Circles, Inc., a leading loyalty management and online concierge service provider, is using AptSoft to help integrate its various customer service channels. The company used to manually maintain redundant applications and their associated customer databases, resulting in higher operational costs and reduced data integrity. "By integrating our offline and online customer service systems, we believe we will save thousands of dollars in operational costs while enhancing our ability to delight customers," said Deb Ryley, Circle's vice president of information technology. "AptSoft will significantly reduce the amount of effort required to connect our applications, allowing us to get to market faster and improve operating efficiency."
Circles also plans to coordinate these customer service systems in real-time with those of select Tier-1 clients. Once implemented, when a Circles employee opens, changes or closes a service request, Circles' Tier-1 client will instantaneously be made aware through their own service system.
For example, by connecting various inventory, CRM and e-commerce systems into a responsive watchdog of online customer abandonment, multi-channel retailers can use AptSoft Director to recoup millions of dollars lost when customers abandon or save their electronic shopping carts just prior to completing their purchases. Financial services organizations can use AptSoft Director to better integrate on-line and off-line activity by making customer service representatives aware of problems encountered with loan applications or bill-pay configuration processes on the Web. Manufacturers can use AptSoft Director to connect configuration and manufacturing systems, reducing errors and improving agility.
Conventional integration approaches, especially custom code, require skilled programmers to hard-code additional layers of complexity to link core applications. Every time a company adds or changes a business process, they spend money recoding the integrations. AptSoft Director, by comparison, lets people with only basic technical skills easily assemble and reassemble intelligent components representing information and business events in different applications, such as a disappointed customer, an inventory shortage or competitor's pricing change.
"Application integration no longer needs to be a corporate root canal," said Frank Chisholm, AptSoft's founder and CEO. "It turns out BPM provides a surprisingly efficient starting point for a New Age of Application Integration. We believe our new approach will do to application integration what Powersoft's PowerBuilder did to client/server development - make it simple, fast, and less expensive."
Pricing and Availability
AptSoft Director(tm):Data and AptSoft Director(tm):Integration are immediately available and start at $200,000 for an initial installation with a projected three- to six-month payback period. AptSoft is also packaging its Director Software as "out of the box" integration with selected ASP and application providers.
About AptSoft Corporation
Burlington, Mass.-based AptSoft Corporation provides business process management (BPM) software solutions that simplify application integration by reducing the time and expense of writing and maintaining custom code by as much as 80 percent. Companies use AptSoft's lightweight, easy-to-use software to generate new revenue streams and improve customer service while reducing IT costs by extending existing systems. For more information, go to the company's Web site at http://www.aptsoft.com.