I've been asking myself the following question lately: What defines a "good" convergence platform these days? Of course, the definition of good is highly subjective, and I've found that many organizations want and need different things out of their communications network.

We've reached the time when simply providing dialtone and voicemail doesn't suffice. Now, we're charged with providing advanced IVR systems that automate business functions and provide advanced workflow features for both front-office and back-office systems and users. Convergence is ultimately about successful and intuitive integration, right?

I recently was doing some research about the integration of Business Intelligence and Service Oriented Architecture. While BI's main thrust is pull and replicate information and use it for analysis, SOA generally aims to keep information in a single location, emphasizing normalization. Almost polar opposites, it's difficult to imagine a marriage between the two. Putting it into the "convergence" spectrum, it's possible to think of VoIP and dialtone services as a single element in a SOA scenario. Most PBXes and voice infrastructures are indeed "data silos". However, integration between these legacy systems does NOT provide normalization, however.

It's the lack of EFFECTIVE integration that can really kill the relationship between IT, in general, and business processes. Are an organization's communications systems the weakest link? Possibly so. But, this too is changing.

Look at any new and successful attempt at a true convergence solution, and you'll find "integration" at the heart of all successful development. These ongoing integration-focused approaches force legacy vendors to radically redesign their architectures.

In the end, it all comes down to a systems that supports the business function. If I want my PBX to run SQL SELECT statements against my Oracle ERP, it better be possible, and without six middleware connectors to handle the interface between the systems. With true integration and convergence, the possibilities are endless. Without true integration platforms, we're simply left with another data silo that just happens to dish out dialtone.