Articles on Information Technology Trends
Written by Joe McKendrick since the dawn of the 21st Century | E-mail: joe@mckendrickresearch.com | Home page: McKendrick & Associates |
BLOGS
Service Oriented Architecture Weblog
Published at ZDNet site, since November 2004
Regular Weblog covering issues and news in the SOA and Web services space.
SOA in Action Weblog
Published at ebizQ site, since September 2006
Regular Weblog covering issues and success stories in the SOA and Web services space.
Enterprise 2.0 Weblog
Published at FastForward site, since December 2006. A multi-contributor hosted discussion.
Regular Weblog covering issues and trends in the Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0 space.
BI in Action Weblog
Published at ebizQ site, since May 2007
Regular Weblog covering issues and news in the business intelligence/analytics space.
Eye on the Enterprise Weblog
Published at Unisphere/Database Trends & Applications site, since February 2007
Regular Weblog covering issues and news affecting enterprise computing.
ARTICLES
2008
Insurers Become More Comfortable With SaaS
Insurance Networking, December 2008
Over the past year, the concepts of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud computing have been hot properties. They have been the "it" topic at industry conferences, and vendors have been scrambling to release their own takes on both. However, is SaaS appropriate for the insurance industry, which has more intense rigorous uptime and security requirements? Are data security and availability showstoppers? Industry IT executives and experts see potential for SaaS within limited roles and, so far, there have been few complaints about security. However, it's still unclear whether carriers would feel comfortable having mission-critical and data-intensive applications, such as policy or claims management, delivered from an offsite SaaS provider.
Specialty Insurer Reaches Out to Agents—Digitally
Insurance Networking, November 2008
Information technology now touches every aspect of the insurance business, and, as a result, files and data can be made available anywhere, anytime, and, at the touch of a button. At least, that's the way it's supposed to be. But while end-users may expect to have what they need almost instantaneously, it often doesn't work out that way. Picture the immensity of the growing volumes of images and graphics files associated with claims transactions and marketing efforts. Some are stored within individual workstations or systems, some are maintained within departmental servers, and some are maintained within centralized enterprise repositories. When it comes to securing a particular file, many end users simply don't know where to begin to look-if they are even aware that there is something to look for.
Governing IT Decisions: Who’s in Charge?
Insurance Networking, June 2008
No longer can IT departments operate in a vacuum, attempting to second-guess what applications the business needs. The business needs to guide IT decisions, say industry experts, especially in an era when the insurance industry relies on IT to manage everything from new applications to claims processing. Effective IT governance, driven by decision-makers outside of IT and from across the business, provides guidance to IT as to what projects are most critical and what ones are not. IT governance helps IT avoid making decisions inside of a black box, says Jeff Goldberg, senior analyst at Celent, Boston. In many cases IT has unilaterally made major systems decisions without thinking about the business implications, such as the purchase of a content management system, he says. As a result, “multiple IT projects end up competing with each other for scarce IT resources.”
New Tools Connect SOA to Business Success
Insurance Networking, January 2008
No longer can IT departments operate in a vacuum, attempting to second-guess what applications the business needs. The business needs to guide IT decisions, say industry experts, especially in an era when the insurance industry relies on IT to manage everything from new applications to claims processing. Effective IT governance, driven by decision-makers outside of IT and from across the business, provides guidance to IT as to what projects are most critical and what ones are not. IT governance helps IT avoid making decisions inside of a black box, says Jeff Goldberg, senior analyst at Celent, Boston. In many cases IT has unilaterally made major systems decisions without thinking about the business implications, such as the purchase of a content management system, he says. As a result, “multiple IT projects end up competing with each other for scarce IT resources.”
Fearless Predictions for Enterprise Computing in 2008
Database Trends & Applications, Enterprise Column, January 2008
What will the year 2008 have in store for enterprise IT? There will certainly be pressures and edicts to cut costs and run as mean and lean as possible - as there is every year. But what will be the “hot” trends that may not necessarily reach critical mass, yet will pique everybody’s curiosity this year? Software as a service will become a “normal” means of software purchasing. There will be plenty of talk about computing in the “cloud.” SaaS will not be limited to applications themselves. Enterprises will be able to grab functionality ranging from databases to messaging systems to storage right from the Internet, while only paying incremental charges for what they actually use. There will be increased interest in event-driven architecture (EDA). The explosion in collaborative and user-driven computing will reach deeper into enterprises. The cluster of Web 2.0 sites - from mashups to social computing - will add a new dimension to enterprise environments. IT shops will keep moving to simpler and lighter-weight architectures and standards. Open source will continue to make inroads into the enterprise - and open source enterprise applications may be the next part of this wave.
New Tools Connect SOA to Business Success
Insurance Networking News, Cover Story, January 2008
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is seen as a beacon of hope for insurance companies long beleaguered by tangles of incompatible legacy systems and networks. However, while the technology is now widely available, selling SOA to the business can be an uphill climb. Best practices such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) may help line-of-business executives outside the orbit of IT better see or grasp the benefits of SOA.
2007
Ten Data Management Trends to Watch in 2008
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, December 2007
The coming year promises to be yet another period of great change for the data management world, as vendors and end-users alike seek to better integrate solutions that have greater impact on the business. To highlight these trends, DBTA has assembled the forecasts and insights of a number of leading industry watchers, who helped identify the top 10 trends that will shape enterprises in the months to come:
1 - More industry consolidation, acquisitions.
2 - Finally, BI with enterprise reach will become more of a reality.
3 - Business intelligence moves toward performance management and complex analytics.
4 - Business intelligence and analytics will move to real time.
5 - SOA and integration will grow as enterprise IT activities.
6 - Mashups and Web 2.0 will rise within enterprise walls.
7 - More companies will embrace software- as-a-service (SaaS).
8 - Managing more with less, and aligning more with the business.
9 - More server and storage virtualization.
10 - Data and IT governance will become urgent requirements.
The Data Center: Cost Center or Engine of Growth?
Database Trends & Applications, Column, "Eye on the Enterprise," December 2007
Data centers are squeezed between tight budgets and rising end-user expectations.Looking forward over the coming year, consolidation and virtualization are the watchwords for data centers of all stripes, as managers seek innovative strategies to get more bangs for their bucks. These are all good strategies, but there is a one-dimensional aspect to it -- the old-line thinking that data centers are cost centers, and are necessary evils, like taxes and door locks. What is needed is more perspective on the growing contribution data centers are making to the business, in terms of greater agility, on-demand capacity, and improving business time to market.
Sniffing Out Claims Fraud Before the Check is Cut
Insurance Networking News, December 2007
Thanks to new technologies, carriers are unearthing fraud such as "rent-a-patient" schemes and physician upcoding. Unearthing such scams requires both vigilance on the part of healthcare payers and an ability to rapidly look through claims data to connect the dots on suspicious activities. Carriers not only face the challenge of detecting and forestalling outrageous schemes such as the rent-a-patient fraud, but also are tasked with detecting the even-more pervasive instances of "soft fraud," in which otherwise legitimate claims information may be fudged or exaggerated. Spotting potential fraud patterns-whether "hard" or "soft"-requires sophisticated analysis beyond the capabilities of even the most seasoned adjusters. As a result, many carriers are turning to predictive modeling solutions that can rapidly sift through claims data and flag suspicious activities and patterns, before money goes out the door.
Amazon SimpleDB: A New Database in the Cloud
Fast Forward Enterprise 2.0, Weblog, December 2007
Run an entire enterprise — including sophisticated IT — from the cloud? Amazon Web Services announced a “limited beta” of a new service called SimpleDB. SimpleDB, Amazon says, is a Web service for running queries on structured data in real time. This service works in close conjunction with Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which provide the ability to store, process and query data sets in the cloud.
Nine Places Where SOA is Making a Difference, Right Now
ZDNet Service-Oriented Architecture Weblog, December 2007
What kind of a year was 2007 for SOA? Yes, there was plenty of disgust and eye-rolling at all the hype around this still-emerging concept. But at the same time, we started seeing more and more examples of companies putting the methodologies and associated tools and platforms to innovative uses:
(1) To transform from a product-centric to a customer-oriented culture. (BT)
(2) To run the world’s largest particle accelerator. (CERN -- European Organization for Nuclear Research)
(3) To tie together customer service data for faster problem resolution. (Comcast Corp.)
(4) To facilitate master data management. (Pfizer Corp.)
(5) To better integrate disparate vendor products. (Intel Corp.)
(6) To bring together heavy-duty manufacturing systems. (Bombardier)
(7) As a centralized online learning environment. (The State University of New York)
(8) As a compliance management environment. (USinternetworking)
(9) To improve enterprise search. (Merrill Lynch)
From Cable Systems to Sour Cream: More Examples of SOA in Action, circa 2007
ebizQ SOA in Action Weblog, December 2007
This past year saw a multitude of positive stories emerging around SOA deployments. Highlights of companies that "got it" when it came to applying SOA principles in proactive places include:
1) To speed up product roll-outs. (Comcast Corp.)
2) To unchain stovepiped systems. (Albert Heijn) Netherlands retail chain
3) To unchain supply chains. (Emerson Corp.)
4) To increase retail operating efficiency. (Kohls dept. stores)
5) To keep from getting creamed. (Daisy Brand)
Staying Ahead of the New Network Explosion
Insurance Networking News, September 2007
From collaboration to customer service, companies are turning to networks of applications and individuals to accomplish tasks, increase competitiveness and improve productivity. As a result, pressure is on enterprise networks to constantly keep increasing capacity, intelligence, speed and performance-both inside and outside the firewall. The typical insurance carrier is increasingly becoming a networked organization, albeit at a slower rate than other industries. The average insurance company is about five years behind in networking technology -- insurers are scrambling to keep up. The pressure is on to support a range of new initiatives, such as customer and agent e-business channels, Web services, service-oriented architecture, collaborative computing and mobile computing, which require robust networks with higher bandwidth thresholds. Add to this a plethora of multimedia files, which individually run into the multi-megabytes in size-that are choking current systems. For carriers, growing volumes of digital photos, workflow documents and customer data are taxing current systems.
Database Career Market Heats Up
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, November 2007
Are we coming up against a shortage of data management talent? Initiatives such as data center automation and outsourcing have long threatened to reduce demand for data professional jobs. However, signs abound that exactly the opposite has been happening. Companies are hungrier than ever for data management talent, particularly for hybrid positions that can connect database functionality to urgent business requirements. Today, data management and IT professionals are in a demanding field where there are not enough people to fill the job openings. This makes it very difficult to fill positions. This is a change from a few years ago, when many companies thought they could get by either by outsourcing or automating selected tasks - or simply piled on the work to their lean staffs.
Data as Demanded
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, September 2007
A couple of decades back, when a company was preparing for a merger or acquisition, lawyers typically submitted a large file folder’s worth of background documents for government agency review. Today, if most documents had not moved from paper to imaging and electronic documents, it would take truckloads to transport. Such is the fast-evolving nature of data on demand. Today’s enterprise user is not only seeking relational transaction data reports, but also documents in a wide variety of formats and contexts. Queries are more diverse and more complicated. There are many challenges associated with the quest for on- demand data. They begin early on, when tough questions arise while assessing business requirements: What data is needed? When is it needed? What level of accuracy, or data quality, is expected? How will the data be used or presented?
Competing On Analytics
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, July 2007
In theory, companies are now capable of capturing and analyzing the details of every minute transaction and event that occurs within their walls. Although businesses are being inundated with data, much of it is the wrong data. It's not timely, and it's not getting to the right end- users. This is perhaps one of the most vexing challenges to “ competing on analytics,” now seen as a key strategy for attaining competitive differentiation, and well- document- ed in popular books by industry experts such as Tom Davenport of Babson College. In the old days, you could more or less rely on your competitors being at about the same level of efficiency, but analytics changes the playing field dramatically. Business process automation is important too, but it essentially only enables you to execute strategy; analytics is what enables you to set the strategy in the first place, for example, by detecting trends and ‘ seismic shifts’ in your industry early. How can such shifts be accurately and quickly detected? Some leaders in competing on analytics have employed multi-faceted approaches that leverage a wide range of data sources, and they extend this capability to as many endusers as possible.
Burst! New Definitions of ‘Productivity’ Emerge with the New Network
SuperNova 2007 (University of Pennsylvania Wharton School) Conversation Hub, Weblog, June 2007
Can the “New Network” break the “9-to-5” mentality, once and for all? There’s a productivity paradox emerging with the rise of Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0, and social networking approaches and technologies. That is, the end users that engage in these new ways of working see their productivity occur in “bursts” of activity and innovation, versus a more incremental, plodding progress measured by the time clock.How does bursty productivity that comes with New Networking approaches differ from traditional “busy” styles of management? What does it mean to be engaged in the “burst” economy versus merely keeping “busy,” old-economy style? Of course, unenlightened managers out there will simply not see the bursty-ness of this new style of working.
SOA Rejuvenates Aging Mainframes
Insurance Networking News, Cover Story, May 2007
For many carriers, policy administration systems are the ultimate "legacy applications." Many were custom-built years ago by in-house development teams and still run on mainframe systems with "green-screen" terminal interfaces. However, as carriers begin to explore ways to open up these systems-and make applications and data available to end-users across the enterprise-they are finding themselves at a crossroads, faced with the dilemma of whether to modernize or to replace core policy administration systems.
The Meaning of SOA Success (PDF download)
InfoWorld's SOA Executive Forum: Building a Foundation for Continuous Change, Cover Story, May 2007
It was only a few years ago that service-oriented architecture burst upon the corporate scene, but it
is already dramatically changing the way companies design and deploy software. Now, as SOA deployments mature at early-adopter sites, and begin to spread across the enterprise IT landscape, companies are reporting visible results, from greater efficiency to more agility in business processes. Since its inception, SOA has promised relief to organizations hamstrung for decades by stovepiped legacy systems and slow turnaround of new functionality. It proponents claim that the methodology can
bring faster development and deployment of applications that map closer to ever-changing business processes. Experts and end users agree that while much work still needs to be done — particularly in the areas of governance and measuring return on investment — SOA has lived up to many of its promises so far.
Enterprises Weigh the Business Value of Real Time
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, February 2007
Is the “real-time’ enterprise real? The concept of real-time enterprise has been hyped and predicted for years, seen as the Holy Grail of business intelligence and decision support. Peter Fingar and Joseph Bellini were among the early pundits that encapsulated the concept of the “real-time enterprise” in their 2004 book by the same name. “Time is the critical variable in squeezing out costs, for squeezing out time can reduce costs such as inventory, overproduction and transaction handling costs,” Fingar and Bellini observed. “Reducing or eliminating information lag time across the value chain has a positive impact on the bottom lines of all value-chain participants, including customers.” Are organizations heeding such advice, and getting a grip on “time” as a critical differentiator? Recent research confirms that organizations are aware of the ideals of the real-time enterprise. In a survey of 248 data management professionals and executives, 70 percent of the respondents said that real-time access to data was important to have. The survey, conducted by Unisphere Research, the research group affiliated with DBTA, finds that 29 percent consider this capability to be “extremely” important, while another 41 percent regarded real-time capabilities as important.
Wanted Desparately: More SOA Movers and Shakers
ZDNet, Weblog/Commentary, January 2007
An enterprise architect "drought" looms, and this may slow down many SOA efforts over the coming year. In a new prediction issued within the past couple of weeks, ZapThink's Ron Schmelzer has sounded the alarm that there simply won't be enough SOA proponents to fill the burgeoning demand for new SOA projects. "First, there is a significant demand in the marketplace for experienced SOA talent. Second, we are seeing a burgeoning of SOA consulting companies that offer kick-start approaches to SOA in which they supply the experienced architects and their customers supply the heavy-lift labor to implement the Services. Already we’re starting to see a bifurcation in the IT community between architect and developer, with development seen as an increasing commodity whereas architecture is an increasing scarcity." Yes, we've been hearing all the predictions that that SOA is now moving from pilot stages to enterprise-scale implementations in many organizations, but who's going to drive these efforts in organizations? Such individuals need not only technical know-how, but also an ability to sell SOA to business leaders.
2006
The Great Resurgence: Why Middleware Matters Again
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, July 2006
There was a time, about a decade ago, when “middleware” was considered passé, but in recent times, companies have been finding it to be more profitable and manageable to abstract enterprise information from underlying systems. However, there is little agreement as to what types of technologies, approaches, or architecture should constitute what has been called an “information layer,” “integration tier,” “enterprise data management,” or as some call it, “enterprise data fabric.” Many industry watchers say service-oriented architecture fills the bill, while others look to data extract, transfer, and load approaches as the purveyor of the information layer. eBay is a data giant. The online auction provider currently stores more than two petabytes of data; or over 200 times the size of the Library of Congress. In addition, the company rolls out more than 100,000 lines of new code each week. To manage multiple data sources and applications, eBay has built what it calls a software-based “integration tier,” James Barrese, vice president of systems development at eBay, told DBTA. “This contains both a data access layer and a services framework,” he explained. “The integration tier acts as an abstraction layer for software engineers to work with many disparate back-end data sources through a consistent set of abstractions.” eBay is not alone with the challenge of more effectively managing large reservoirs of data streaming into its organization through multiple channels.
Web 2.0 or SOA? Web 2.0 and SOA? Let the Debate Begin! (Part 1)
Webservices.Org, Weblog/Commentary, May 2006
Let the debate begin! John Hagel sums it up this way: SOA evangelists “tend to dismiss Web 2.0 technologies as light-weight 'toys' not suitable for the 'real' work of enterprises.” Web 2.0 champions, on the other hand, “make fun of the 'bloated' standards and architectural drawings generated by enterprise architects, skeptically asking whether SOAs will ever do real work." Lately, a debate has been raging across the industry and blogosphere around whether enterprise interoperability can be better achieved through Web 2.0 or Service-Oriented Architecture approaches. The two camps have been calling each other a lot of names, and accuse each other of being overhyped. Some say the debate is downright silly: as Dave Orchard put it : “It's not ‘SOA vs Web 2.0,’ the question really ought to be ‘why aren't more corporate environments using Web 2.0 technologies.’ To which the obvious answer is, ‘It's the apps silly.’” Most enterprises have all the functionality they need right on their own servers, Orchard points out. And, ultimately, it’s a matter of where will Web 2.0 approaches best fit the needs of end users in the enterprises, and where will an SOA approach fit best. The solutions need to be complementary, with roles for both – not a question of either/or. This being said, it’s not clear yet how ready Web 2.0 is for the enterprise, and how ready enterprises are for Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 or SOA? Web 2.0 and SOA? Let the Debate Begin! (Part 2)
Webservices.Org, Weblog/Commentary, May 2006
Web 2.0 has almost many critics as SOA. Is all this Web 2.0 talk the blather of ‘architecture astronautics,’ or something of more importance to enterprises’ futures? Some say Web 2.0 is actually all about SOA. The bottom line is that while Web 2.0 and SOA have their differences, it’s not an either/or choice to use one or the other. The entrepreneurial energy and passion the Web 2.0ers are exuding is wonderful stuff. However, SOA is not as moribund as it’s now being portrayed. SOA itself is a process of creative destruction, which breaks complex or legacy processes and applications down to an atomic level so they can be reconstituted, on demand, into new shapes and sizes. Most organizations, in fact, are not ready for the scope of such changes.
Do We Need This Animal Called BPEL4People?
Webservices.Org, Weblog/Commentary, April 2006
Does Business Process Execution Language lack the "human touch"? Some industry leaders say that BPEL is too automation-centric, and lacks support for human interaction with the workflow. However, not everyone agrees on the best way to resolve the matter.Process workflows are like the rivers that dot the planet; each one has its own unique sources and tributary streams, terrains to be travailed, and eventually emptying out somewhere, be it an ocean, bay, larger river, or lake. But there are also plenty of waterfalls, dams and locks on the way. Workflows are as unique as the companies that create them, and all have their own points where humans intercede. We are only in the early stages of automating business process management, and have only begun linking business processes to SOA. Processes get touched many times, and sometimes are required to be by law or regulation. BPEL promises to speed up much of our workflows, but the points requiring human interaction may negate efficiency and speed gains. The question is whether BPEL4People - or other approaches - can compensate for the human equation.
Riding the Wave: What to Do When Your Software Vendor is Acquired or Merges
Insurance Networking News, Feature article, January 2006
Over the past two years, many carriers, either to their dismay or bewilderment, saw key software vendors fall under new ownership. And it hasn't been simply a case of small fish being eaten by larger fish. Some of the largest names in the software business have been caught in the net. PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems, giants in their markets, for instance, were scooped up in acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions are always sprung on the market by surprise, and it's difficult to predict or sense when a change in ownership may be pending. What's certain is that such market moves can disrupt even the most meticulously laid plans of IT executives. The recent rash of acquisitions and mergers reads like a Who's Who of the software industry. Oracle Corp. has been grabbing the most headlines lately, scooping up Siebel Systems to build its customer relationship management (CRM) portfolio. Prior to that, PeopleSoft, an enterprise software vendor, which had bought out JD Edwards, was also acquired by Oracle. Symantec, the computer security provider, merged with Veritas, a storage management vendor. IBM took the reigns of DWL. Enterprise software provider SSA Global Technologies acquired Epiphany, a CRM system vendor. And Attachmate, a provider of legacy system access tools, merged with WRQ, its fiercest competitor. Past consolidations are still being digested as well. HP, which swallowed Compaq whole in 2003, continued to feel the ramifications for some time, which included the resignation of HP's CEO. Compaq itself was still wrestling with technology acquired through its acquisitions of Digital Equipment and Tandem Computers. While grabbing fewer headlines, vendors specializing in the insurance space have been doing their own share of changing ownership hands.
2005
Benefits Portal Builds Direct Relationships
Insurance Networking News, Feature article, August 2005
Not only is self-service technology helping employer-clients control benefit administration costs, it might also be insurance carriers' missing link to employee consumers once they leave the workplace. This potential is not lost on MetLife, a large New York-based provider of non-medical group benefits with accounts at more than 3,500 organizations. To better service the needs of close to 17 million employees working at its client companies, MetLife embarked on an effort five years ago to build an online employee benefits portal called MyBenefits. By all measures, the online self-service portal has been a hit. Recently, MetLife announced that the one-millionth employee had registered to access accounts online through MyBenefits. The portal enables employees to log in-either from work or from home-and get answers to frequently asked questions, learn about plans and coverage specifics, obtain price quotes for certain products, and enroll in dental benefits, critical illness insurance, long-term care, life insurance, auto and home insurance, disability insurance, and banking services. Users can also check their claim status for certain products, locate a dentist who participates in a MetLife preferred dentist program, or learn about retirement savings options. A popular feature is service e-mail, such as e-alerts that notify employees of claim updates.
Failure is Not an Option
Insurance Networking News, Feature article, May 2005
For insurance carriers, brokers and agencies, the ability to recover quickly from a systems outage or disaster is critical to their business-and, increasingly, may be mandated by law or industry oversight groups. As a result, business continuity has become a core management issue, whereas in the past it was an issue that was addressed by IT executives. "The insurance industry is moving from recoverability toward resilience," says Ted DeZabala, national leader of Deloitte & Touche LLP's security services team. "This is a huge change of mentality, of management, and of technology for the insurance industry." Pressure for more effective business continuity and disaster recovery planning comes from many directions. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulates that health care providers and payers meet basic requirements for protecting and recovering critical data. And, last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved rules proposed by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the New York Stock Exchange which require NASD and NYSE members to develop business continuity plans that establish procedures relating to an emergency or significant business disruption. This move will affect insurers that also offer financial services products.
2004
Portals Get More Intelligent
Database Trends & Applications, Feature article, December 2004
Welcome to the age of the intelligent portal. Portals now being integrated into mission-critical infrastructures, and are, in many cases, becoming the defacto front-end interfaces to many applications. The ability of portals to support enterprise infrastructures doesn’t come a moment too soon. “Today, our enterprises and our architectures are a large confluence of many applications,” according to Thomas Koulopoulos, president and founder of Delphi Group. Such applications include “Web services, and traditional applications like collaboration, search, knowledge management, process, and portals. Today, all of this is held together with the proverbial rubber bands and scotch tape, and bubble gum. We can’t have enterprises that truly express agility with those kinds of risky architectures.” Are portals ready to fill such a daunting role – the glue of the enterprise? The answer from many industry experts is a resounding ‘yes.’ “When portals first hit the market a few years ago, they primarily served “as a front end to information sources,” said Tim Thatcher, director of Websphere portal products for IBM. "We've evolved portals to include access to applications, as well as access to people through integrated collaborative tools.”
Is Your Enterprise Data Warehouse Ready for the Future? Seven ways to ensure the survival and success of your EDW through proper guidance
Special supplement/white paper prepared for Teradata Corporation, published Fall 2004 (volume 4, no. 3). (Above link is downloadable PDF file.)
Once an EDW is put into production, end-users from throughout the organization can look at the data and ask questions in ways previously unimaginable. Getting the EDW up and running is only the first step on a long journey of exploration and discovery. To make the most of this journey, the EDW needs to be a business tool with business managers just as intimately involved in the growth of the data warehouse as the information technology team that manages the nuts and bolts of the process. Businesses don’t stand still, and neither should the EDW. The greatest risk to an EDW is the collapse of governance. A true enterprise effort requires a strategic enterprise-wide governance strategy backed by the senior leadership team. EDW governance is a process that should continue for as long as the EDW itself exists. But what does governance require of a business? What’s involved, and how do you ensure that proper checks and balances are in place?
Is the Database Just More Middleware?
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, August 2004
Companies Can Conquer BI One Step at a Time
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, July 2004
Database Skills Are Back in Demand
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, June 2004
Get More Bang for Your EDW Buck: Seven practical tips for an enterprise data warehouse
Special supplement/white paper prepared for Teradata Corporation, published Summer 2004 (volume 4, no. 2). (Above link is downloadable PDF file.)
ACORD XML Approaches Critical Mass
Feature article, Insurance Networking News, May 2004.
Unlike previous industry attempts to standardize data exchanges between carriers, agents and third-party partners, it appears that XML is the real deal. Still, the industry has a long way to go before support for ACORD XML turns into widespread adoption. ACORD's XML specifications-covering property/casualty, life, and reinsurance- were designed for transferring data across firewalls, but some carriers are exploring use of the standards as a cost-effective internal integration tool for extracting data from legacy systems. In addition to controlling costs and opening access, such internal data integration capabilities may also help companies meet growing demands from regulators for increased accountability in internal operations. After a slow start, support for the ACORD XML standards is now widespread across the industry. Nearly 87% of life carriers and 94% of P&C carriers are investigating and eventually plan to adopt ACORD XML standards in some fashion, according to a survey conducted last year by Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Research Inc. And, a study of 20 major U.S. carriers issued last year by Boston-based Celent Communications found that 63% of respondents had live production systems using ACORD XML standards, while a majority of the remaining firms had pilot programs in place. Experts note that the insurance industry is surpassing other industry groups in agreeing on and adopting data standards. "We're past the 'why,' now we're just working on the 'how,'" says Lloyd Chumbley, assistant vice president of standards for ACORD, Pearl River, N.Y. "Two or three years ago, people were struggling with understanding the XML structures. Now, they've moved on to working on communicating messages over the Web and the protocols for getting data out to partners and customers."
Open Source Databases Gain Ground
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, May 2004
A Fresh New Look at EDW: 10 reasons why you need an enterprise data warehouse
Special supplement/white paper prepared for Teradata Corporation, published Spring 2004 (volume 4, no. 1). (Above link is downloadable PDF file.)
The Seduction of Web Services Begins
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, April 2004
Multivalue Enters a New Dimension
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, March 2004
Real-Time Data Comes With Costs
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, February 2004
Databases Move Closer to the Edge
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, January 2004
The Business Case Against Instant Messaging
ENT Online, January 2004
Managing the Instant Messaging Paradox
ENT Online, January 2004
Vendors Press Groupware Below Exchange Rate
ENT Online, January 2004
2003
BI Less Expensive, More Expansive
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, November 2003
SQL Server: Ready for the Big Time?
ENT Online, Special Report, September 2003
Microsoft Hopes New Features Will Warm Up End-Users to Yukon
ENT Online, Special Report, September 2003
Small Databases are Beautiful
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, August 2003
Finally, CRM Begins to Pay Off
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, July 2003
[Data Warehouse ROI] Pedal to the Metal: If ROI is the
destination, get there, and fast
Teradata
Magazine, Spring 2003
Open the Mainframe Mine
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, May 2003
Data Warehouses Emerge Real-time
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, March 2003
Pick Your Database: Multivalue Systems Emerge
Database Trends &
Applications, Cover Story, February 2003
A
New Role for Portals
Database Trends &
Applications, Cover Story, December 2003Reversing the Supply Chain: Teradata Demand Chain Management
takes the guesswork out of inventory planning and control
Teradata Magazine, Applied Solutions, Summer 2003
E-Business Rocks On
Database
Trends & Applications, Cover Story, June 2003
2002
The New CRM: Lowered Expectations, Targeted Deployments
Database Trends &
Applications, Cover Story, August 2002
CRM: Microsoft Tries to See Around Corners
ENT Online, Column, August 2002
Make Room for the Monster Databases
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, December
2002
Embedded Databases Drive New Computing Model
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, July 2002
The Case for Database Availability
Database Trends & Applications, January 2002
Portals Plus Bring New Data to Light
Database Trends & Applications, Cover Story, October
2002
E-Business, 2002, Has Less Sizzle, More Steak
Database Trends &
Applications, Cover Story, September 2002
Exchange Takes the Lead - This Year
ENT Online, Special Report, December 2002
The Greatest Misconceptions About E-Commerce
Electronic Commerce
World, Column, June 2002
OTHER
Low Awareness Hampers Government Assistance for
Agricultural Export Finance
Journal of Agricultural
Lending, June 2002