It can be frightening to think about just how much trust a company, especially one with mission-critical Web-based applications, must put in its enterprise database environment.
XML deepens the data content of e-business applications, but it also makes data management more complex largely because most companies store their XML documents in database management systems that aren't optimized for XML.
It can be frightening to think about just how much trust a company, especially one with mission-critical Web-based applications, must put in its enterprise database environment. To avoid making the wrong choice, companies generally stick to a small group of top-tier products when making a buying decision. IBM Corp.'s DB2 is among those on the short list of high-end solutions. DB2 has flirted at the altar of greatness but never quite reached the pinnacle, due in part to a more complicated management environment and its lack of optimization for Web-based application development.
Common sense suggests that if you want unrestricted scalability for your applications then the Unix platform is mandatory. When open-ended performance is a requirement, most companies prefer the Unix platform, which is a more expensive and complicated solution than Intel-based hardware running Windows. But as we've all learned, sometimes technology turns common sense on its ear.
Developing business applications that use different technologies is like trying to hold a meeting among people with completely different agendas: It's possible, but you're just as likely to fail as to succeed. What you need is a well-designed plan before you begin. Similarly, if you don't have a solid outline to build from, your application development team could waste time and money spinning its wheels --and, worst of all -- you might end up with a solution that can't address your business needs.
Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that this is the year to integrate business processes into e-business applications. You may well be focused on business metrics, such as cost benefit analysis and ROI, but you should also be factoring in the technical challenges of developing and deploying e-business applications.
The ability to use computer-aggregated data to discover patterns and critically analyze business processes is one of the important benefits that computers have bestowed on business. Doing business on the Internet allows companies to gather real-time data, process that information immediately using business intelligence tools, and react accordingly.
When you're adopting a CRM (customer relationship management) package, it's important to get a solution that integrates well with your existing back-office applications. If your software can seamlessly update the company books and inventory whenever a transaction is completed, you can offer more competitive prices and better customer service -- all without reducing the bottom line or overstepping the limits of company policy.
When it comes to customer relationship management (CRM) software, it's often best to stick with products that are easy to work with and don't force users to wrestle with arcane technical details. Many users fear that unfamiliar programs will impede, rather than facilitate, their interactions with customers.
Redeploying a legacy application to a new environment, rather than building one from scratch, makes good business sense. It's usually faster to reuse business logic (those parts of an application's code that manage business functions) that has already been proven than to perform an entirely new analysis. But that can be a costly and time-consuming process. A common approach is to manually inspect the code for sections with business relevance, applying the same logic to the new system. Yet because most code deals with technical issues, you have to do a lot of digging to find the parts containing business logic. So a redeployment project could involve entire teams of developers.
When it comes to CRM (customer relationship management) software, it's often best to stick with products that are easy to work with and don't force users to wrestle with arcane technical details. Many users fear that unfamiliar programs will impede, rather than facilitate, their interactions with customers.
WHENEVER there's a major software release, IT directors face both good news and bad news. True, embracing the new approach may bring improvements in functionality, but then there's the inevitable hailstorm of glitches. This scenario is especially pronounced when it comes to an OS like Windows 2000, which includes thousands of modules and measures disk storage in hundreds of megabytes.
SINCE THE VERY EARLY days of programming, developers have had to divide their code-writing efforts between two competing goals: On one hand, you must define the logic of the business context; and on the other, your program must handle the technicalities to support the application environment.
AS THE INTERNET brings people from across the globe to the front door of your electronic-commerce site, you may find that your software needs to go to language school.
IBM Corp. VisualAge for Java 3.0, Enterprise Edition