@amywohl
Of course the physical aspects of interoperability are trivial (we've had TCP/IP and HTTP for quite a while now).
What tends to get brushed over in the nebulous enthusiasm is that the really hard part is if two businesses actually mean the same thing when they use the same word? As far as I am concerned a customer is someone or some company who has already placed a order, as far as you are concerned it might be anyone in the Customer Relationship Management system (including sales leads that no one has called yet).
Syntax and technology are easy, clear and unambiguous communication is the hard part - and cannot be automated, you have to do the work up front.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
