Event Processing can be included in SOA, BI, BPM and various Event-Driven solutions to help increase responsiveness and agility. Event processing technologies can detect events as they happen and alert a responsible person, invocate a service, trigger a business process, and/or publish information across the enterprise.

Different types of business solutions require different types of event processing technologies. Simple event processing detects an event or the absence of an expected event and sends an alert. Event stream processing filters large volumes of events for a specific value or threshold, such as a stock price.

Complex event processing (CEP) uses inference engines and neural networks to correlate patterns of disparate events, such as blizzard forecast and inventory levels of shovels in a specific region. CEP enables predictive analysis and has the potential to make a company proactive.

When event processing is including in SOA, BI, and BPM initiatives, it can help improve responsiveness and deliver real competitive advantage.