thrust as a way for it to maintain hardware and services revenue by position- ing  itself  as  the  software  and  platform  vendor  of  choice,  much  as  Sun Microsystems was perceived as the Internet platform of choice. While  there  might  be  some  truth  in  these  ulterior  motives  by  some platform  vendors,  Web  services  are  farther  reaching  than  thatand  the benefits are far too compelling to ignore. The fact that all major software vendors  have  embraced  the  standards  of  Web  services,  and  are  racing  to develop  tools  and  solutions  to  facilitate  the  adoption  of  Web  services, shows how the move toward Web services is beyond the span of control of any single software vendor. BUSINESS VALUE FROM WEB SERVICES Web  services  will  drive  new  levels  of  collaboration  between  companies  in existing value chains as well as enable new relationships with trading partners in  emerging  value  chains.  This  situation  will  occur  because  of  the  friction- reducing promise of Web services, making it easier to perform B2B integration at the business process level. The last several years have witnessed the rise of middleware solutions to solve the problems of tying business systems together, to  perform  transactions  and  information  exchange  across  organizational boundaries. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) tools emerged, messag- ing-oriented middleware took hold, and a host of similar solutions addressed the need to make application portfolios work together within the organization and across organizational boundaries. Middleware solutions, and now Web services,  present  the  opportunity  to  solve  a  number  of  broad  business  and technology issues, including the following: n Reintroduce the business flexibility that Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) and other large, enterprise applications removed through rigid business process definition and proprietary application interfaces. n End  the  debate  about  IT  alignment  by  allowing  the  idea  of  Just-In- Time (JIT), or the implementation of new applications as the business needs  them  without  the  implementation  and  integration  lag  that accompanies large, enterprise software implementations. n Extend CRM, ERP, and other large, monolithic software applications to add new business functions or capabilities in response to changing business needs. n Provide  connections  to  other  trading  partners  for  collaborative  pro- cesses  such  as  forecasting  and  supply  chain  planning,  transaction management, and others. n Help  organizations  manage  change  given  their  existing  reliance  on large, legacy systems and change-resistant business processes. A Day in the Life of a CIO 13 74188_WY_Marks_01  2/5/2003  4:08 PM  Page 13