Yeah... so I'm a little late posting my observations from Management World 2008, but later is better than never. My marketing team has been trying to get me to blog about it so instead of waiting, they dragged me into the studio to record a podcast (listen below).
Overall, it was really a great show. The Progress Software booth was very busy because we were introducing a new book, Application Integration Using the SID, available on Amazon.com and co-authored by TM Forum's Sr. Technical Program Manager, John Reilly, and John Wilmes, Chief Technical Architect, Communications Sector, Progress Software. I didn't have too many opportunities to attend sessions and visit other exhibitor booths, but based on my many conversations, it is clear that the competition in the telecommunications space is tough and getting tougher! They MUST find ways to reduce costs and operational expenses through system (often legacy) consolidation, reduce the churn of customers by providing "the best" customer service, and sell more services to existing customers.
Semantic Integrator (SI) was really well received because of its use of standards, specifically TM Forum's Shared Information Model (commonly referred to as the SID), and because it makes it possible to create a common understanding of the information flowing between all of their systems - no matter how many different formats that information may be in or how often those formats change. This in turn allows telecommunications companies to get more of their systems to "talk to each other" which lets them introduce new services more quickly, replace existing legacy systems with minimal risk and create a common understanding of their products and customers across all of their application silos.
One of the sessions that I was able to attend was presented by Thomas Norberg, CIO, Nordisk Mobiltelefon. He shared his experiences in deploying the SID. By relying on industry standards and a common model, his company is now able to be much more reactive to customer demands.
Listen to my more detailed summary below: