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CIOs and IT managers face a problematical, uncertain future as they move into uncharted territories of e-business. Some guidance can perhaps derive from considering historical examples, such as the rise of the automobile, telephone systems or television, or even the development of the computer industry itself, but industry observers wonder whether any existing business model will help in anticipating what the Internet will bring. It is becoming clear that the shift to e-business will transform organizations, not simply technologically but culturally. Relationships with partners and suppliers are changing dramatically, with Forrester Research predicting that B2B revenues will exceed $1 trillion by 2003. Electronic marketplaces are emerging, also known as Web exchanges or Internet trading exchanges (ITE). Meanwhile, the wireless Web exemplifies how technologies are extending the geographical reach of communications. The government's roles in determining e-business policy are certain, at least, to involve taxation, privacy, international trade and restraint of unfair practices.

GuaranTec, a loan-processing service, had a problem. Faced with an increasingly competitive and ever-changing business environment, the company realized the time had come to replace its aging host system. But […]

Component-based development has been heralded as an excellent way to rapidly create business and application logic. But before you jump into it, there's something you should know: This new method […]

Packaged applications deliver 80% to 90% of the functionality a business needs. To get the remaining functionality, IS departments usually need to extend or modify the packaged applications in some […]

Make no mistake, Java is bigger than just a programming language. As languages go, Cobol, C++, and Visual Basic are more widespread than Java, but nobody gets too worked up […]

IBM is back in the application development business. After two successive disasters that left it stumbling and seemingly out of touch with developers, IBM is again leading the application development […]

Though there are certainly more active programmers using Cobol and Visual Basic, no programming language today generates the excitement of Sun Microsystems' Java. In February, Sun released the eagerly awaited […]

Application developers face a growing and, at times, confusing array of approaches to distributed computing-two-tier, three-tier, n-tier, and hypertier processing. The choice, however, goes to the heart of building and […]

Code recycling raises programmer productivity and shaves costs Chemical Bank had been capitalizing on code reuse since 1988, but the big score came last year when Chemical merged with Chase […]

Systems managers at Travelers Insurance sit at desks cluttered with monitors. Each console is linked to a different management system. From their "control towers," operators can monitor a centralized system […]

Corporate developers are confounded by the number of Web options Java, ActiveX, Netscape Plug-Ins, JavaScript, and JavaBeans. The array of technologies available to corporate developers is dizzying. All these tools […]

Those who think that SAP R/3 is a complete solution unto itself are in for asurprise. The purchase of the R/3 application suite is just the beginning of a larger […]

Applying for a consumer loan at any of the 680-plus Barnett Bank branches used to be an arduous process that took up to a week. "We couldn't have that and […]

It takes a lot of processing power to handle customer billing for the nation's fourth-largest long-distance service provider. An eight-processor symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) Unix server currently handles the company's billing […]

Auchincloss & lawrence may not have been on the bleeding edge of client-server computing, but there was nothing timid about its plan to run its entire business on new symmetrical […]

The concept of the data warehouse sounds disarmingly simple. It's a single place located across a corporation's networks where any user can get the latest data, efficiently organized, neatly stacked, […]

Users take notice of several new features that help make the IBM minicomputer a client-server platform alternative The IBM AS/400 order-processing system at the Andrew Jergens Co. was destined for […]

* Decision support systems have often forces compromises between completeness of data and ease retrieval and interpretation. Data warehouses give them am underpinning that allows you to increase both. 'If […]

Network managers are facing a sea change in the way corporate backbones are built. High-speed switching hubs, the agent of this change, promise a low-cost way to deliver more bandwidth […]

AS SERVER OS OPTIONS PROLIFERATE, USERS FIND IT HARD TO PICK JUST ONE; WESTVACO LIKED SCO'S MARKET SUPPORT Managers face no shortage of choices when searching for a server operating […]

As desktop systems proliferate, software managers A have discovered that moving boxes of software, feeding installation disks into individual systems, and maintaining paper license documentation is a losing proposition. It […]

The re-engineering wave has hit the commercial lending sector of the banking industry, compelling dramatic changes in organizational structure, operations and culture. The banking industry's commitment towards increasing efficiency and productivity has been heightened by increased competition in providing lending services by less regulated companies. The increase of commercial lending cost, which has resulted in poor loan production and questionable quality services, is likewise a contributing factor. A bank's commercial loan department is an area that warrants a total re-engineering effort. Piled with loads of paperwork and burdened with functions that contribute to inefficiency and raise costs, most banks have re-designed the functions of their commercial loan departments by using technological innovations and employing workforce training to adapt to such changes.

REMOTE ACCESS SOFTWARE PRODUCTS EVOLVE TO PROVIDE PEER STATUS TO MOBILE USERS; REMOTE NODE SERVER EXTENDS U OF ORE. LAN The mobile society is here. People are leaving the office, […]

UNTIL RECENTLY, AS/ 400 to AIX connectivity looked like it would remain a backwoods path. Initially, IBM didn't consider a link between the AS/400 and RS/ 6000 necessary and didn't […]

Microsoft Corp has moved in to provide the banking industry with an architecture that will facilitate the shift from mainframe power to that of PCs at a time when long-time vendor IBM is struggling with its mainframe systems. Microsoft has introduced the Windows Open Services Architecture (WOSA) Extensions for Financial Services that was designed for the banking and financial services industry. This product provides specifications for integrating Windows and Windows-based desktop applications into bigger systems and for facilitating common access to banking peripherals. Based on open interfaces, the new Microsoft product is expected to set forth a framework that will serve as a foundation for the creation of new information systems by banks and vendors. Despite its impressive features, there is no guarantee that WOSA Extensions for Financial Services will be the dominant banking architecture since other firms are also developing new products.

In today's tight-money world, fuzzy cost/ benefit assumptions simply must be challenged, and that includes the accepted wisdom that LANS save money. Sure they save-- compared with the expenses caused […]

A bank merger can fail if the information systems of the two organizations cannot be effectively consolidated into a single set of applications. Successful systems integration can result in inherent savings, primarily from the closure of redundant data centers, branches and departments. There are three basic approaches to systems integration that acquiring banks can choose from: absorption, best of breed and separate systems. The first approach entails absorbing the acquired bank's systems as soon as possible. The best of breed approach involves adopting only the best systems from both banks, while the separate systems method calls for the continued operation of two separate systems. In some cases, systems integration cannot be implemented immediately. One such instance is when the acquired bank has a long-term outsourcing agreement or commitments to outside systems vendors. Before cancelling such an arrangement, its pros and cons should first be evaluated.

SIMILARITIES MAKE USER CHOICE SAFER, BUT BATTLE LOOMING AT SERVER LEVEL; SPACE UNIT LIKES NT's INTEROPERABILITY Microsoft, IBM, Novell, SunSoft, The Santa Cruz Operation and others are jockeying for the […]

GATEWAYS, APIs AND 4GLs ALL OFFER MIDDLEWARE SOLUTIONS FOR ACCESS; AGENCY USES EDA/SQL TO UPDATE HOST Client/Server computing has changed the rules for accessing corporate data stored in host-based legacy […]

Compact Disc Technology Fast Forwards Information Delivery into Data Centers CD-ROM PROMISES TO deliver vast libraries of public and corporate information to every desktop computer user cheaply and quickly. Until […]

Banks are increasingly preferring the less expensive client/server systems over costly mainframe computers. Aside from the burdensome cost of the mainframes, banks are finding that the centralized data processing model is outdated and no longer corresponds to current business models. Client/server computing, on the other hand, takes advantage of cheaply available processing power to facilitate the easy development and use of information systems, as well as offer greater flexibility. Client/server systems links PC users together by wide and local area networks. Nevertheless, it should be noted that adopting these systems entails certain problems. These include the lack of the same control, security and management capabilities offered by mainframes; the cost of the systems; the rapid development of the technology; and the necessary changes in the way work is done.

DATA HEIGHTEN ROLE OF DBA; CUSTOMERS START FROM SCRATCH Like many database administrators these days, Kenneth Long is frustrated. In his host-based environment at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) […]

The high percentage of distressed properties has led to the emergence of workout specialists who devise strategies to make foreclosed properties marketable and minimize their losses. Workout specialists face challenges brought about by the properties themselves and their owners and issues may include property use, finances, legalities and environmental concerns. Developers need to acknowledge the problems early and explore all probable solutions to come up with one that will enable owners or investors to obtain a good return of investment., The need to refinance distressed properties in a down economy has made workout specialists a hot commodity in the marketplace. Institutional investors are turning to both large and small real [...]

DOWNSIZING MAY be the IS manager's worst nightmare. Not because it results in the loss of jobs, requires a completely new skill set, or turns the IS shop upside down, […]

Credit scoring refers to the statistical assessment of credit applicants' chances of defaulting as compared to past applicants. This creditor-evaluation method is appealing because it is based on objective statistical and probability principles, it helps make lending decisions more consistent and it can be used as a portfolio management tool. A variation of credit scoring, behavior scoring, focuses on assessing the future performance of current credit customers. The use of credit scoring is no longer confined to the traditional consumer credit areas. It is now also being used in making decisions pertaining to mortgage lending, commercial leasing and commercial credit.

Jim Ricker saw the handwriting on the wall. After a long career at Digital Equipment Corp., where he handled a variety of real estate assignments, he encountered the seemingly irrefutable [...]

Banks managing and advising their own mutual funds need to have specialized systems to deal with the many nuances of the business. Bankers cannot assume that the systems they presently have apply to mutual funds. Mutual fund operations are more complicated given the stricter requirements they must satisfy in several areas, including accounting, record keeping and audit. The heavy burden of meeting system requirements of mutual fund management is prompting banks to leave most of their mutural fund processing to outside experts. Banks that choose to outsource have two options. They can opt for third-party services that provide support to the product, or for those that offer support to fund distribution.

Visitors to Boston are amazed at the jumbled maze of streets in some of the older sections of the city. According to the locals, the streets follow old cow paths. […]

IBM Corp has recently introduced the Advance Peer-to-Peer Networking (APPN) designed to replace the Systems Network Architecture that the company introduced in the 1970s. APPN is a networking technology that allows any resource, such as information, applications and devices, stored anywhere on the network to be easily available to authorized users. Aside from giving users access to scattered resources, APPN also aims to facilitate the exploration of sophisticated information systems strategies, minimize expenses through the disposal of redundant networks and resources, and simplify network management. For all the technology's purported benefits, APPN appears to inspire little enthusiasm among bankers. The reason for this is that many banks have already found ways to build their own peer-to-peer systems and do not see APPN as making a lot of difference.

The advent of public switched networks has made it possible for banks to operate under a wider telecommunications bandwidth at reduced costs. The costly and maintenance-intensive private telecommunications networks of banks have been replaced by hybrid networks built through linkages between resized private networks and switching services. Using a specific format and capacity, banks gain access to public networks through the concept of bandwidth on demand. Among the major advantages of bandwidth on demand are cost reductions resulting from payment only for network services used, the capacity to manage local area network traffic effectively, increased accessibility of network services to smaller banks, and greater options for disaster recovery. Services offering bandwidth on demand are integrated services digital networks, frame relays, switched multimegabit data services, and switched digital services.

Predictive dialing systems are commonly used in banks as time-saving tools for contacting clients. These systems automatically dial numbers from a list of customers, pass connected calls onto bank operators and provide the necessary information regarding the customer on the line. The newest models can screen for answering machines, as well as pace dialing in such a way that bank operators can handle the volume of calls. Vendors claim that these devices can enhance the productivity of banks by about 300% to 400%. Productivity gains can come from the reduction in the number of needed bank operators, the elimination of the time wasted in trying to contact customers and in preparing customer information files, and the increase to as much as 55 minutes per hour in the time spent talking directly to customers. These systems sell from around $100,000 to more than $1 million.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT WASN'T AN issue when a network consisted of a few workstations hung off a server. But networks today have grown far beyond that simple model, and with that […]

The much-touted benefits of image processing may induce bank managements to invest in this expensive technology without careful consideration of the pros and cons of such an action. Some observers are concerned about the increasing number of banks that have been joining the imaging bandwagon before they have even analyzed the technology's potential payback and its usefulness in meeting the bank's overall business and technology objectives. To avoid blind spending, banks are advised to work out a strategic imaging plan to determine the relevance of image processing in the bank's business plans. It is also important for banks to have an information technology plan that will guide them as to how the imaging technology may be used, which investment areas will prove profitable, and how imaging may be applied in other bank operations.