Developing Advanced Services for SMEs using Service-Centric Tools: Experiences and Challenges

This paper presents the experiences and the results achieved for delivering sophisticated Business Support Systems to Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs), using advanced service centric solutions developed in the SECSE project. The SECSE methodology provides concepts methods, processes, and techniques for developing service centric applications, and the supporting toolkit include tools for supporting the principal activities such as publication, discovery, execution, monitoring, and testing. The paper illustrates the use of the methodology for building a pilot, which delivers to SMEs integrated solutions including computing and communication infrastructure, and complex functionality such as CRM, Work-Flow processing, and logistics. Metrics and evaluation results for assessing both the technical benefits and the business benefits of the SECSE outcome are also described.