Published 2004-11-04.
Time to read: 1 minutes.
With the advent of web services, any company that wishes to expose a programmable interface to their business processes also inherits the issues faced by software vendors. Connecting up a supply chain isn't quite as simple as one might want it to be.
Software vendors have an urgent need for their channel partners and customers to adopt their technology quickly. The faster their products are understood, the more money they make. Shorter adoption times drive top line revenue.
Similar dynamics affect companies that use web services to transact business. Businesses with custom interfaces need to somehow show system integrators how to program to their web services. Executives need to be able to wire their enterprises together quickly and easily in order to take advantage of business opportunities. Web services are supposed to make this easy... but nothing is ever quite as easy as it is supposed to be.
The answer for both software vendors and businesses with custom web services interfaces is a comprehensive developer relations program. Not surprisingly, live online code examples are an important aspect of such a program. I have begun writing a follow-on to my article entitled Top Ten Issues for Developer Relations Managers. I would be happy to hear from you if you would like to review a draft before it is published.