Guest Articles >> XML Web Services - To develop or Not to develop - Part 2
Author: Vidya Rajagopalan
Current Business Models for Web Services
A business model is that method of doing business by which a company can sustain itself by generating revenue and so keep me happy too!
Let me just check out the Internet for all the possible business models which can be used for web services.
1. According to this model, an entire application thrives online. The user will have to log into this application and start working, without any hassles of local installation, distribution, up gradation or may be even support costs. Besides, the need for parallel development on competitive platforms is also eliminated. Now, this is a trouble free concept for the user. Moreover, because of ease of updates, there will be more scope for innovation.
And there are live examples like the Hotmail or any other E-Mail services that all of us are aware of. But most of such services have already been taken care of by many desktop software products. On these grounds and the anxiety-causing economic grounds, development on Web Services has not taken a big leap.
2. Develop components using web services, which can be plugged into our applications. Again, the problem here will come in terms of billing the usage. How can that be monitored? Unless a proper billing and usage tracking system is in place, revenue cannot flow in sufficiently and... (let me NOT finish that sentence!).
3. Develop web services, which function like the Windows API; return data without any user interface. There are a number of such components available in the market. So developing components on these grounds will be easier to understand. Well, here again we have the problem of billing and tracking usage. Besides, an experienced person, such as me, needs to be convinced that the available services are indeed reliable.
So, what are the problems that we face with the current business models for the Internet that may be solved by the usage of web services?
The current models deal with application-to-application communication. So, there are problems in
1. Development to be done on different platforms. For each platform, the application may have to be developed again (and that is a royal pain)
2. Most of the applications are built on proprietary standards and so their interoperability is a problem
3. As different standards in the line of development are used, integration is difficult
4. As a result of this point specifically, marketing costs increase and so reduce profits
There are other problems too present in the existing models but most of these problems will definitely be resolved or addressed by Web Services. Because by using the web services, the business enterprises will no longer be just "connected" but will be "networked".
"A picture speaks louder than words".
Click here for the picture.
This is made possible by the use of standardized services like XML. "God Bless XML"(as of now).
As far as replacement of any model is concerned, I think no model, till now has been completely replaced with a newer model. There have always been modifications to the existing model and the drawbacks of the earlier model are removed in the newer version.
So, to expect the usage of web services to completely replace any model is not practical. The criteria for choosing and developing web services could be based on the quality, its adherence to specifications and its interoperability.
Chosen well and developed well, I think web services can dramatically change the way in which businesses are conducted over the Internet. "Let’s make things easier" could as well be termed as the motto of Web Services.
And on that note, O Face in the mirror, I conclude this preparation for the technical paper. I wonder what will make the judges rank this paper as the best! :-)