B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

396 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
13.9.4. Optimization of business processes in
light of B2Bi
Agents enable companies to optimize their business processes and
allocate the most qualified resources to perform activities in the shortest
amount of time. By doing business more efficiently in conjunction with
their value chain partners (e.g., order fulfillment, new product launch,
contract negotiation and project management), companies can achieve
significant cost savings.
For example, Exterprise utilizes collaborative agent technology in its
Agent-based Process Engine (APEx) to optimize business processes.
EXTERPRISE'S APEX PLATFORM:
POWERING COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS NETWORK
Today's market conditions warrant fast change; frequently no two
suppliers or channel partner relationships are the same. Also, business
rules can vary from partner to partner. Exterprise utilizes collaborative
agent technology in its Agent-based Process Engine (APEx) platform
(see Figure 13.6) to bring together business process activities, business
rules and resources at runtime. Exterprise customers report cost
savings of 20% to 30% and higher.
The APEx platform consists of a network of collaborative agents,
'event-condition-action' driven programs designed to work continuously
to complete a specific action. As their name implies, collaborative
agents work together to solve a problem. Although each agent is
autonomous, the resulting synergy from their cooperation makes the
agents collaborative in problem solving.
In an agent-based model, activities, rules and resources are
independent of one another and are brought together at run-time.
Thus, business processes adapt in real-time to varying conditions.
Each process is highly configurable so companies can adapt and
change as their businesses change. Processes are monitored as
well, so each process can be examined and streamlined over time to
maximize efficiencies.
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