Technology Evangelist went to Tech Cocktail 2006 in Chicago, IL to interview some of the interesting people attending. Troy Haaland and three fellow programmers in Chicago developed a tool called eSigma that aggregates Web-based business process software. eSigma has developed a global Web Service-based repository for business processes that provides process discovery, publishing, testing and management delivered over the World Wide Web. We are able to provide these services utilizing public networks, leveraging existing market services reducing the cost of participation significantly.
Full transcript after the jump.
What Brings you to Tech Cocktail?
It is a great event that allows the community here is Chicago to get together in a social atmosphere. To collaborate and Share ideas, share passions, knock a few back and talk about technology.
What are you demonstrating here at Tech Cocktail?
What we are demoing here today is a platform that we developed called esigma. What we do is we allow companies to share business processes over the Internet. A lot of people talk about web services or SOA, a lot of popular buzzwords. What we allow is organizations to share web service based business processes over the Internet.
What is an ideal client for you?
We have a people that kind of use our service today. Google, E-bay, amazon, Continental airlines. But really the user of our platform are going to be companies that are looking to develop composite applications that are based off the web 2.0 framework. If you look at Google as an example, you go to Google to search for web content, you go to eSigma to search for web services.
What is your revenue model?
It is really a complex model. We have an open source model, where we provide a repository that allows companies to catalog services. And then we have a transactional model that is kind of viewing the on demand business model for brokering business processes. A good example of that would be E-bay. E-bay releases an API and then you get an entrepreneurial spirit where somebody wants to integrate Fed-ex, where it not only integrates the fed-ex aspect but the fulfillment. So they build their composite application, where somebody shows up, drops off their product, takes a picture of it and then automate the whole auction process, whoever buys it gets shipped to.
What do you see as the future of business software.
In my opinion there is really a change underway from the way people think, about how they do business. It used to be that if you had to develop an enterprise application it required millions of dollars to help automate your business. Now with the whole web services movement. It allows companies to develop reusable business services and then share them with other companies.
