COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Excerpt from Book I Edited
What Are Open Systems?

Open systems are about choice. Unlike closed, or proprietary, systems, open systems allow users to opt into and out of vendor product lines and architectures, to swap products and platforms, to select from a greater variety of applications, tools, and other technologies. Open systems break the chains that have until now bound companies to a particular vendor and its limited product list. Open systems enable the industry to move away from a "supply side" market—where technology choice is limited to compatible products within a given vendor line—to a "demand side" market—where we can choose products from different vendors and mix and match to meet our specific business needs. 
 

Key Characteristics of Closed Versus Open Systems

(Very) Closed		(Very) Open
Proprietary	Technology	Standards-based
Primary vendor controls technology direction	Technology Direction	Industry organizations and alliances direct technology evolution
“Lock-in”—Choice is limited to products within and supporting the primary vendor’s line of products	Technology Selection	Choice—free among vendors creating competitive products
A vendor is the sole (primary) source for a given customer. Other vendors may provide products that comply with the primary vendor’s proprietary protocols under special alliances and agreements	Vendor Participation	Industry-level cooperation and vendor alliances promote that widespread support of common frameworks/models, standards, and source codes
Limited leverage with limited set of vendors	Purchase Leverage	Open market leads to strong competition on price and features

Excerpt from Consulting Group Newsletter
Recovering from a Troubled Information System Implementation

Implementation dates have come and gone; the systems are either not yet in production or falling far short of end-user expectations. Your budget is blown, project resources are stressed or leaving, and end-users are frustrated.

Sound familiar? It might, because the majority of major information systems projects do not go into production on time or within budget. How do you complete the project, meet everyone's expectations, and salvage your own credibility in the organization? There is a process that will get you there from here. The process involves seven steps:

Intro to Survey Report
Managing the Risks in Enterprise Application Solutions

The advent of scaleable, client/server enterprise software for retailers has opened the door for significant improvements in core merchandising and supply chain management systems. These enterprise application solutions (EAS), currently being considered by more than half the retailers responding to a recent (Company) survey, also bring new risks and challenges.

Risk 1: Technology architecture: Unlike the mainframe world, client/server solutions are unbundled: separate decisions must be made about operating systems (primary choices are Unix or NT), databases (Oracle, Informix, Ingres), hardware architectures (centralized or distributed), and hardware providers (HP, IBM, NCR, Pyramid, Sequent).

To reduce this risk.... 

Excerpt from Software Package Promotion
You May Be Paying More in Occupancy Costs Than You Should

Occupancy costs are considered by some a "fixed" expenditure, beyond the control of the tenant. But now there's a way for tenants to get control of these expenses, even reduce them. 

Many companies are paying more than they need to because they do not translate the "legal-ese" in their leases into "financial-ese." For example, leases often stipulate a "pro rata charge for common area maintenance (CAM)." But two tenants with identical space usage may be paying different CAM charges. Why? Because one simply accepts the terms of the lease as written; the other gets beyond the legal-ese to the hard numbers that make up the pro rata charge. As a result, this tenant can substantially reduce the CAM charge.

How can tenants uncover the hard numbers and reduce their expenses? With (Product Name), the software developed just for tenants.

Excerpt from Trade Magazine Article Written with Consultant
Wireless Data Transmission

Wireless Data Transmission (WDT) and Computer Assisted Dispatching (CAD) are two new technologies being adopted by a number of transportation organizations. While neither technology is necessarily appropriate for every transportation organization, those operating in certain ways are likely candidates.

For example, WDT might be something to look into if your transportation organization exhibits the following characteristics:

• Schedules are not very flexible because dispatchers do not have real-time feedback on their drivers' progress in the field. Consequently, the dispatchers have limited knowledge on which to make assignment adjustments, regardless of changing needs, such as cancellations, emergencies, and drivers' running ahead of or behind schedule.
• Drivers receive instructions or pick-up locations from their base via telephone or two-way radios, and use these means to communicate back their status, problems, or delays.
• All information provided by customer bills-of-lading is entered into the system by data entry personnel.
• Office personnel spend considerable time preparing and distributing computer-generated pros and route information.