Launch of new Business Rules Engine to solve both business and IT headaches

Local distributor AIGS officially launched the Corticon Business Rules Management system in Johannesburg last week.

Corticon’s patented “no-coding” rules engine automates sophisticated decision processes, enabling organisations to increase efficiencies, operate more responsively, reduce rule development and improve development cycles by up to 90%.

The theme of the event was “Breakthrough in Business Rules Management”, which according to AIGS MD Rick Parry alludes to the system’s ability to translate complex programming code into business friendly terms and create greater agility. “It literally allows software applications to break though its constraints and to adapt quickly as circumstances within the company or marketplace change,” he explained in his opening address.

Speakers included Danie Mouton from Ninety-three degrees, Dina Jacobs of Trivector and Senior Solutions Consultant from Progress Software, Harold-Jan Verlee, as well as Tienie de Klerk, Business Systems Manager of Columbus Stainless.
“Extensive studies have shown that 50% of CEOs, globally, do not feel that they can handle the complexity of the environments they are facing currently,” Mouton revealed. “Factors such as regulatory change, policy change, competitors entering the market, consumer behaviour shifts and new forms of fraud have left companies locked in a continuous struggle to cope with these rapid changes.

As Forrester puts it, “there is relentless demand from businesses to deliver more solutions in less time, at low cost, to keep pace with business changes.” As a result, Business Rules Platforms (BRPs) have never been more important because they automate decisions for rapid business action – so that the software can automatically apply the business policies and procedures in a faster, cheaper and more scalable manner than human mediation.”
The impact of making use of a Business Rules Management System (BRMS) was attested to by Columbus Stainless Business Systems Manager, Tienie de Klerk.” Demand for steel has fluctuated dramatically over the last 2 years uncertainty and volatility have become the norm for the industry”.

In 2008, Columbus made the decision to replace and re-engineer their existing production planning system as an in-house development due to the limited skill availability of the old technology and its high maintenance costs, presenting a number of challenges.

“When replacing an existing business system, the principal challenge lies with the vast number of business logic and rules captured in the source code of the old application over many years of adaptation,” De Klerk explains. “Fortunately the Corticon business rules engine automates these business rules and logic in business friendly terms, understood by those who have to operate and maintain the system, without having to understand the underlying programming conventions of the application code. This puts the day-to-day operation of the system in the hands of the decision-makers, rather than being wholly dependent on IT staff who may not understand all the business variables involved.”

After the presentations, business users had the opportunity to test Corticon’s powerful Business Rules Management capabilities during an interactive demonstration.

“We are extremely pleased with the feedback received thus far,” Rick Parry has stated. “The product has traditionally been used within financial services, but we believe that South Africa’s extensive mining,manufacturing, and other industries could stand to benefit greatly from it as well.”

For more information, visit www.aigs.co.za.