Abstract: Increasingly, organizations find that they need to integrate large number of information systems in order to support enterprise-wide business initiatives such as e-business, supply chain management and customer relationship management. To date, organizations have largely tended to address information systems (IS) integration in an ad-hoc manner. However, some organizations are now realizing the value of adopting a more strategic and systematic approach to IS integration, and are therefore turning to the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) tools being marketed by a number of integration vendors. EAI initiatives, however, not only involve technical challenges, but also significant business and organizational challenges. This instructional case, adapted from a real-life case, describes the EAI initiative at a Europe-based financial services provider. The case brings out several important lessons in relation to EAI adoption including the business justification for IS integration, EAI vendor selection and evaluation, business process co-ordination and EAI customization.

Keywords: Information systems integration, Enterprise application integration, Enterprise integration

Download this article: JISE - Volume 18 Number 2, Page 149.pdf

Recommended Citation: Lam, W. (2007). Teaching Case: Information Systems Integration and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Adoption: A Case from Financial Services. Journal of Information Systems Education, 18(2), 149-157.