hardware and software

A global market economy - what is means for U.S. manufacturers and IT providers
Global competition is making it more difficult for American manufacturing companies to make a profit. Manufacturers need to become more agile to compete globally with economies where the cost of labor is an almost insignificant part of the cost of goods and they have access to the same high tech manufacturing equipment. It is time for forward thinking, competitively focused comanies to move to the next generation of IT tools, and strengthen their manufacturing and management information systems. Technology providers need to provide manufacturers with cost effective, highly mobile, highly adaptable, thin-client competitive capabilities. These capabilities will come in the form of software which is web-based (or web-native), object-oriented, model-driven, thin-client, configurable and offered as a service (SaaS).

Old ERP technology - the first generation

The truth is that first generation ERP applications lack the flexibility to add or change functionality and they just aren't capable of full web funtionality. Because of their age and code foundations, most existing ERP vendors just can't provide the full range of functionality made possible by the internet-native technologies. The ability of the native browser-based applications to interact with any device that can run a browser i.e. PDAs, cell phones and various data capture devices makes them intrinsically more valuable than the old ERP systems. These old legacy systems are difficult to expand and modify to make use of these wireless devices, or to change and add any new functionality to the system. It is also costly and laborious. Some vendors try to present the old systems in a browser and call the applications "web-enabled", using a technique known as "screen-scraping". But don't be fooled. Web-enabled does not mean web-browser native. These applications lack all of the abilities and advantages of a truly browser-native application. These first generation ERP vendors are racing to convert their aging, first generation offerings to the new, object-oriented, browser- based model of software. This is a difficult task, since the internal source code for these older packages is fundamentally unsuited for the web and cannot make use of the native functionality of the web browser. The total cost of owernship (TCO) for first generation systems is high, due to the legacy code burden, thick-client server setup and heavy support infrastructure. Much more IT workforce is needed to support a first generation ERP application.

A new vision for information technology - next generation software

The ultimate goal for any manufacturing organization is graphic, actionable, timely information when ever and where ever it's needed to support performance. Next generation software makes that goal attainable. Every manufacturer wants supply side and finished goods inventory reductions, energy use reductions, operational efficiency improvements and increased overall efficiency. Browser-based software applications which are easily configured are allowing manufacturers to become lean. A lean organization is one which can quickly and effectively adapt and make changes which lead to better productivity. The success of any software implementation needs to be measured by the achievement of benefits such as a reduction in manufacturing operational costs, a reduction of administrative costs, improved complete and on-time shipments, improved customer satisfaction and improved manufacturing schedule compliance. Next generation software, which is fundamentally different in design, function and form from legacy applications, is the beginning of the software revolution. Although the first generation systems have had their place and time, business practices of the new millennia, wireless technology, and the need for flexible systems is more than these aging systems were designed to deliver. The time has come to move on to a new generation of browser-based, object-oriented, model-driven toolsets which have the flexibility and functionality needed to carry us to the next level. The ultimate goal, real-time availability of information, is now attainable.
How does next generation software technology make an organization better able to adapt?
Adding functionality to software systems is a historical problem for first generation ERP vendors. This is because of the legacy code it is built upon. A next generation ERP provider does not have that problem, due to the use of an object-oriented software architecture. Making changes to or even adding functionality to an existing software system already in use is more easily and quickly done. Tuppas has also developed a set of rapid application development tools to which make modifications even faster. An application which might take a man year to develop using traditional methods such as asp.net, would take a matter of weeks with our development tools. Due to the relative ease with which they can be configured and changed, object-oriented software tools have brought drastic price reductions to normally high priced integrated management support software. Now not only can the largest organizations afford these software applications, small and medium sized businesses can too. The ease with which these applications can be reconfigured allows a vendor to collaborate with clients to quickly build customized software. This is extremely beneficial to corporations with a number of diverse plants. Tuppas can even help the customer learn to use their development tools so that they can modify the software themselves at their discretion. New business practices can be readily incorporated into an existing system. Our toolset gives us the kind of flexibility which allows us to create highly configured solutions for the corporate level and the plant level. Having the ability to modify the software that helps run the company as their needs change is a huge advantage in a highly competitive market. The system becomes more that just a software purchase. It is an adaptable tool to help them grow and innovate now and in the future.

Wireless adaptability accelerates decision making with real-time or just-in-time information

The faster that mission critical information can be recognized and made available, the faster the reaction time can be. The wireless capabilities of next generation software are providing unprecedented opportunities to accelerate the decision making process due to the decrease in time to acquire critical information. Wireless technology can be used to connect corporate entities, mobilize a sales force, track warehouse inventory, trace products and jobs, empower field personnel and more. The applications are really limitless. Having the ability to collect and organize timely information in a global environment, whether it be a field service technician, a sales person or a CXO, extends the power of any organization.

SaaS-Software-as-a-Service

The idea of software delivered over the web and hosted by a vendor has been around for a while, but it is just now beginning to come into it's own as a viable option for software buyers. The benefits are numerous. Making monthly or quarterly payments for a system allows many more buyers into the market for high end software applications than traditional licensing purchases. Other benefits include lwer cost of entry, quicker start up, faster return on investment, decreased internal support costs, reduced risk (initial investment is small), and better service and support since customers must be happy to be retained. Typically, the vendor or a third party host provide the maintenance, upgrades and security for the system relieving the customer of these burdens too. The absence of on-site servers, software, security and IT professionals means significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for buyers.

The advantages of the thin-client system

A thin client strategy allows for the use of inexpensive work stations along with various other devices, such as palm computers, cell phones and more. It means anywhere, anytime access to information within the system from any browser capable device. It has made complete connectivity very cost effective. Thin-client software is browser-based software which resides on a dedicated server. The server may belong to the client, the vendor or a host. Users have full access the system via "thin client terminals", which really only require access through a browser to the dedicated server. This differs from traditional software installations, which require that a copy of the application be installed locally on each computer where it is to be used. This makes software upgrades infinitely easier, since only the program on the dedicated server needs to be upgraded, and not numerous client computers. This also saves time and disruption of work flow. Another advantage is the reduction in hardware needed at individual work stations to operate the software.

Model-driven design makes integration and upgrades easier
In conclusion

When you combine all of the features of the next generation software applications, what you end up with is a new class of software. Together, model driven development tools, object-oriented design, browser-based development, rapid development tools and wireless possibilities have created a revolution in software design and development. These applications mean greater flexibility at a significantly lower cost than first generation systems offered. U.S. manufacturers need to become more able to quickly react, move and respond to changing markets, regulations, finances and the competition in order to survive. This adaptability will soon become a necessary trait for any manufacturer who wants to survive in our new global marketplace.
Model-driven software applications allow users to focus on functionality and core business processes without having to worry about technology platforms, technology upgrades and integration issues. Model-driven applications separate the business, or application logic from the underlying platform. It means that the software is created with two layers, so that one can change and upgrade the user side independently of the technical under-layer, and vice-versa. Software based on model-driven development eases platform integration issues and is a wise IT investment in the uncertain world of changing platform technology. It means reduced cost of ownership, reduced development time for new applications, rapid inclusion of emerging technology into systems and an increased return on technology investments. Model-driven design provides the framework which frees users to evolve their software and practices independently of the underlying technology or platform. It enables better, faster and less expensive system integration.

Dawn Tupciauskas, Tuppas Inc.
Tuppas offers manufacturing and ERP modules which were developed as browser-based, thin client applications. Their easily configurable modules gives manufacturers the ability to make changes to or even add functionality to the software. Tuppas software is web-based, object-oriented, model-driven, thin-client, configurable and available as a service (SaaS). Applications offered include: Production Scheduling, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, Production Reporting, Inventory Management, Warehouse Management, SPC, SQC, SCM, CRM, Accounting, Procurement, Job Tracking, Capacity Planning, Quality Assurance, Materials Requirements Planning, Process Control, Training Solutions, CMMS (Preventive Maintenance), Business Intelligence and Performance Dashboards.

During the past 30 years the world went through a very dynamic technological transformation. In retrospective, it can be stated without exaggeration that the emergence of electronic devices and the Internet have greatly impacted daily life as well as managerial practice to an unforeseen extent. The computerization of multiple business processes and the creation of large scale databases, among many other radical technological advances, have lead to enormous cost savings and quality improvements over the years. The interconnection of financial markets through electronic means and the worldwide adoption of the Internet have greatly reduced transaction and communication costs and brought nations and cultures closer to one another than ever imaginable. Computers are now fundamental tools in almost all businesses around the world and their application and adaptation to specific business problems in the form of software development is a practice that many companies perform on their own. In the past, such computerization and automation efforts were very costly and therefore only practiced by large corporations. Over the years, however, the software industry emerged to offer off-the-shelf solutions and services to smaller companies. Today, having survived the massive dotcom crash of the year 2000, software development businesses established themselves as strong players in the technology industry.
The emergence of numerous computer standards and technologies has created many challenges and opportunities. One of the main opportunities provided by the software sector is relatively low entry barrier. Since the software business is not capital intensive, successful market entry largely depends on know-how and specific industry domain knowledge. Entrepreneurs with the right skills can relatively easily compete with large corporations and thereby pose a considerable threat to other, much larger organizations. Companies, on the other hand, need to find ways to reduce turnover and protect their intellectual property; hence, the strong knowledge dependence combined with the relatively short lifespan of computer technologies makes knowledge workers very important to the organization. Knowledge workers in this industry therefore enjoy stronger bargaining power and require a different management style and work environment than in other sectors, especially those industries that have higher market entry capital requirements. This relatively strong position of software personnel challenges human resource strategies in organizations and it also raises concerns about the protection of intellectual property.
The relatively young industry is blessed with sheer endless new opportunities, such as the ability of companies to cooperate with other organizations around the globe without interruption and incur practically no communication costs. In addition, no import tariffs exist making the transfer of software across borders very efficient; however, the industry with its craft-like professions suffers from lack of standards and quality problems. The successful management of such dynamic organizations challenges today's managers as well as contemporary management science because traditional management styles, such as Weberian bureaucracies, seem to be unable to cope with unstable environments.
Challenges in the Software Industry
Many studies indicate that present-day software development practices are highly inefficient and wasteful (Flitman, 2003). On average, projects are only 62% efficient, which translates to a waste of 37 %. The typical software development project has the following distribution of work effort: 12% planning, 10% specification, 42% quality control, 17% implementation, and 19% software building (2003). There are many possible interpretations of the nature of this distribution of resources. First, the extraordinarily high share of 42% for quality control purposes can indicate a lack of standards and standardized work practices. This large waste of effort may also be the result of inefficient planning and specification processes. Because the share of 19% for software building is a function of software complexity, hardware, and tools used, there is a chance to reduce it by carefully managing and standardizing internal work processes. The disappointing share of only 17% for implementation, however, should be alarming to business owners, since implementation activities are the main activity that results in revenue. The relatively low productivity level reported by Flitman (2003) seems to be also reflected in the fact that the average U.S. programmer produces approximately 7,700 lines of code per year, which translates to just 33 per workday (Slavova, 2000). Considering that a large software project, such as Microsoft Word, is reported by Microsoft to require 2 to 3 million lines of code, it becomes obvious how costly such projects can become and that productivity and quality management are major concerns to today's software businesses. The challenge for contemporary software managers is to find the root of the productivity problem and a remedy in the form of a management practice.
A plethora of recent studies addresses software development productivity and quality concerns. Elliott, Dawson, and Edwards (2007) conclude that there is a lack of quality skills in current organizations. Furthermore, the researchers put partial blame on prevailing organizational cultures, which can lead to counterproductive work habits. Of the main problems identified, project documentation was found to be lacking because documents are deficient in detail and not updated frequent enough. Quality control in the form of software testing is not practiced as often and there seems to be a lack of quality assurance processes to ensure that software is built with quality in mind from the beginning. Organizational culture was found to be deficient in companies were workers tend to avoid confrontation and therefore avoid product tests altogether (2007).
Since knowledge workers are the main drive in software organizations, creating a fruitful and efficient organizational culture constitutes a main challenge to today's managers. The relationship between organizational culture and quality and productivity in software businesses was recently investigated by Mathew (2007). Software organizations tend to be people-centered and their dependency on knowledge workers is also reflected by the enormous spending remuneration and benefits of more than 50% of revenue. As the industry matures and grows further, the challenge to organizations is that larger number of employees need to be managed which brings culture to the focus of management. Mathew (2007) found that the most important influence on productivity was achieved by creating an environment of mutual trust. Higher levels of trust lead to greater employee autonomy and empowerment, which strengthened the existing management view that trust and organizational effectiveness are highly related. Those companies with higher trust and empowerment levels benefitted from more intensive employee involvement and thereby achieved better quality products (2007).
Product quality, however, depends on other factors as well that reach beyond the discussion of work processes. Relatively high employee turnover was found to have a detrimental effect on product quality and organizational culture (Hamid & Tarek, 1992). Constant turnover and succession increase project completion costs, cause considerable delays, and expose organization to higher risks because their development processes can be severely disrupted. While human resources strategies should help find ways to retain key personnel in the company, organizations need to nevertheless be prepared for turnovers and minimize their risks. One of the greatest risks for people-centered, knowledge worker organizations is the loss of knowledge when employees leave.
Knowledge management has evolved into a relatively new discipline in the last two decades but is mostly practiced by large, global organizations only (Mehta, 2008). As corporations realized the importance of knowledge management activities to mitigate the risk of know-how loss within their organizations, they started employing chief knowledge officers and crews with the goal of collecting and organizing information. By building custom knowledge management platforms, companies can benefit from increased transfer, storage, and availability of critical business information. Such activities can help companies innovate and build knowledge capital over time (2008). The challenge remains, however, to set up such systems and to elicit employee support for knowledge management systems. In addition, these systems leave another critical question open. What happens when top performers take all the knowledge with them when they leave?
Another crucial variable affecting software product and service quality is top management involvement. Projects in the software industry commonly fail due to one or a combination of the following three major causes: poor project planning, a weak business case, and lack of top management support and involvement (Zwikael, 2008). Software projects are similar to projects in other industries by focusing on timely project completion, budget, and compliance to specifications, the industry requires specific support processes from top management to facilitate projects. These processes are summarized in Table 1. Key support processes, such as the appropriate assignment of project managers and the existence of project success measurement, indicate that successful companies demonstrate a higher level of project progress control than others; however, Zwikael acknowledges that top managers rarely focus on these key processes and instead prefer to deal with those processes that are easier for them to work on personally.
Table 1
The ten most critical top management support processes in the software sector (Zwikael, 2008). Those processes marked with an asterisk (*) were found to be the most important.
Support Process
Appropriate project manager assignment *
Refreshing project procedures
Involvement of the project manager during initiation stage
Communication between the project manager and the organization *
Existence of project success measurement *
Supportive project organizational structure
Existence of interactive interdepartmental project groups *
Organizational projects resource planning
Project management office involvement
Use of standard project management software *
Opportunities in the Software Industry
The advent of low cost communication via the Internet and the diversification of the software industry into many different branches brought a multitude of new market opportunities. Some of the main opportunities are rooted in the low costs of communication, while others originated from the possibility of geographic diversification and international collaboration.
One major opportunity which especially larger organizations seek to seize is geographic diversification in the form of globally distributed software development. Kotlarsky, Oshri, van Hillegersberg, and Kumar (2007) have researched this source of opportunities that is mainly practiced by multinational companies; however, an increasing number of small companies is also reported to be benefitting from dispersed software development across national boundaries. The study revealed that software companies can achieve significantly higher levels of productivity by creating reusable software components and reducing task interdependencies. By reducing interdependence, the produced modules are more likely to become useful in future projects on their own; furthermore, this reduction of intertwined computer code also has a positive effect on project teams. Teams in companies that globally distribute their developments benefit from increased autonomy and reduced communication requirements. The authors point out, however, that the prerequisites to distributing software development are not only good project planning but also the standardization of tools and development procedures. Without such prearrangements it may become almost impossible to manage and consolidate the various distributed team activities (2007). Especially for teams working across countries away from one another, it may pay off to deploy video or other Internet-based conferencing technologies and exploit huge savings potentials. But are these means of communication effective?
In the last decade a new form of organization has emerged that has taken the most advantage of the Internet. Virtual organizations exist entirely in cyberspace and their team members communicate mostly, if not exclusively, via the Internet using webcams and messaging software. The challenge for managers in virtual organizations is to exploit the new technology but also to find ways to motivate and direct the workforce and work processes. A study by Andres (2002) compared virtual software development teams with face-to-face teams and identified several challenges and opportunities for virtual managers. Managing work from a different time zone can be problematic due to the lack of physical presence. Communication will need to be asynchronous or can only occur at work hours that overlap in both time zones. Virtual teams facilitate this process by using email and voice/text messaging but more importantly by reducing the interdependency of tasks. Andres (2002) suggested that these types of communication have lower "social presence" meaning that humans have a need and ability to feel the presence of others in the group. The problem with many computerized communication channels is that visual clues, utterances, body language clues and clues from the person's voice are missing. When placed on a social presence continuum, the various communication types rank as follows from the lowest to the highest: email, phone, video conferencing, and face-to-face meetings. Andres' comparison between development teams using video-conferencing versus face-to-face meetings revealed that the latter group was far more efficient and productive, even though the video-conferencing team benefitted from reduced travel costs and time.
The study conducted in 2002, however, has several shortcomings. First, it is already seven years old and Internet costs have dropped and speeds have improved significantly since then. Considering the improvements in video quality and availability and computer speeds, this form of communication became more feasible recently. In addition, today's managers are just now starting to learn how to use these means of communication efficiently. For example, even though email technology has been around for two decades now, many managers still find that emails can create a lot of ambiguity. The challenge to future generations of managers will be to change their writing style to match the limitations of email and other text messaging technologies. Another important factor to consider is that written communication may be stored indefinitely and have legal consequences; hence, more often than not, managers may intentionally prefer to avoid such communication channels for political or legal reasons. The study by Andres (2002), however, resulted in a negative view of video conferencing probably because the technology was not yet matured and the team members were not yet comfortable with it.
For video conferencing to work well, all participants need to be knowledgeable of the peculiar characteristics of that technology and adjust their communication style and speech accordingly. Regardless of meeting type, another important factor is preparation. What could be researched in conjunction with Andres' study in the future is the degree of preparation of the group. Do team members invest enough time in preparing questions and answers for their teammates before coming to the meeting? Video conferences may require more preparation than face-to-face meetings in some circumstances.
Another opportunity for software businesses and challenge for managers worldwide is outsourcing. In the year 2007, $70 billion were spent globally for outsourced software development (Scott, 2007). Given the extreme shortage of IT skills in the U.S. and Europe, many companies take advantage of globalization by choosing international suppliers for their software development tasks. Outsourcing, however, requires elaborate coordination between the organization and its many supplier groups. The idea is that in total, coordination costs and problems are less costly than in-house development; however, this goal is not always achieved. While outsourcing, when it is deployed and coordinated correctly, can result in 24 hour development worldwide and thereby provide continuous services to the organization around the clock, it may result in the loss of intellectual property. While mechanic parts are patentable in most countries that support intellectual property rights, software is not patentable in most countries outside North America.
In addition to the challenge of managing outsourcing, software organizations exploit technologies in various ways to save costs, for example by offering remote access, telecommuting, and service-oriented architectures (SOA) (Scott, 2007). Remote access and telecommuting has increased six-fold between 1997 and 2005 and resulted in $300 million annual savings due to a reduction of office space (2007). SOA is a similar concept and involves a software rental for customers. Instead of buying, installing, and maintaining software and servers, customers can rent a service online and reduce the total cost of ownership because these activities are no longer required on the customer side. Gradually the virtualization of the software business opens new horizons and provides further opportunities but it also presents managers with endless challenges.
Some of the strengths and weaknesses of offshore and virtual team development were studied by Slavova (2000). In the year 2000, India and Ireland were the largest offshore software development locations. Offshore companies can offer up to 60% cost reduction, a faster completion of development tasks by distributing them around the globe, and specific domain knowledge which they acquired over the years providing similar services to other customers. The integration of work from external sources, however, constitutes a major hurdle. Furthermore, language and cultural issues can cause serious communication problems that put the project at risk, especially when misunderstandings cause misinterpretations of project specification documents. Slavova (2000) found that the most common remedy and strategy avoiding problems with offshore suppliers is to visit them frequently face-to-face; however, this tactic results in higher travel costs and disruptions of the managers' workflows and hence may offset the benefits gained for outsourcing altogether. Managers in the software business need therefore to balance the risks and opportunity potentials before engaging in outsourcing because for many companies this strategy failed to pay off in the end.
A huge opportunity that emerged in the last decade is online innovation. The collective innovation effort of many individuals and companies is generally known as open-source on the Internet and it has lead to many advances in the computer technology, such as the free Linux operating system. At first businesses felt threatened by this wave of developments on the market because the businesses perceived that open-source solutions were in competition with their products. In many cases this was and still is in fact true; however, a couple of companies, including IBM, are exploiting this new way of innovation for their own and for a common benefit (Vujovic & Ulhøi, 2008). Because software companies operate in an increasingly instable environment, they struggle to create continuously new and better products. By exposing the computer code to the public on the Internet, companies can benefit from ideas submitted by the public, especially other companies. Furthermore, companies benefit from free bug finding and testing by external users but one of the primary reasons for "going open-source" is the quick adoption and spread of the company's technology at a relatively little or no cost. The spread of IBM's open-source technology, for example, is also free marketing for the company. But how can companies make money by offering something for free?
The closed innovation model (the traditional model of providing software without revealing the software code) can be combined with open-source, so the company can charge for the product. In other cases, the company can reveal the technological platform on the Internet for free and then sell specialized tools which utilize the new platform. The big money savers are obviously the shared development, testing, and maintenance costs since many interested parties work on the same project.
The knowledge-sharing model of open-source is nothing new, however. The philosophy and the benefits of open innovation models have been already realized in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Back then, open innovation was practiced in the UK iron and
US steel industry. The cooperation of many industry players ended the domination of proprietary technologies for which costly royalties were due (Vujovic & Ulhøi, 2008). Given the dynamic environment of the IT industry and the short lifespan of computer technologies, the adoption of open innovation models gained much more popularity. By analyzing the largest open-source players in the market, Vujovic and Ulhøi put together a list of supportive strategies, which is shown in Table 2. Several of these strategies are quite relevant from a top management perspective as well, such as deploying open-source to block a competitor and using the open model as a gateway for greater market share.
Table 2
Strategies for adopting the open-source approach (Vujovic & Ulhøi, 2008).
Business Strategy
Obtaining higher market share
Obtaining market power
Better adoption of a product and thereby establishing standards
Shifting competitive advantage to another architectural layer
Making the product more ubiquitous
Delivering faster time-to-market
Spurring innovation
Complementing a revenue core stream
Blocking a competitor
Conclusion
Reviewing the rather recent emergence of the IT industry and the software industry in particular, several parallels can be drawn to management history. While Taylor's scientific management was a highlight in the evolution of management science (Wren, 2005), the software industry seems to be lagging behind such great advancement. Due to its high level of complexity, the software development discipline is still plagued with quality problems stemming from a lack of standardization. Similar to Taylor's efforts, managers need to analyze software development processes and develop industry-wide standards and measures. Once such measures and procedures exist, this will help make software projects much more predictable.
Much of today's software industry practices would have been a déjà vu for Taylor, if he was still alive. In addition, the anomie and social disorganization concerns during the social person era apply today more dramatically than in the past. Mayo described in the 1940s how managers overemphasized on technical problems in the hope of raising efficiency ignoring the human social element (p. 296). The same situation is now evident to a larger degree in the computer industry. The rapid technological advances have created many opportunities and changed the work environment drastically. At the same time, however, management was unable to prepare for these dramatic shifts technology would bring to the workplace. At best, managers are simply reacting to technological advances because the consequences are mostly unpredictable given the complexity of human nature. For example, email brought several benefits such as low cost and simple asynchronous communication; however, many email messages are misunderstood because they are not written appropriately. Moreover, IT knowledge workers are struggling to keep up with the vast number of messages received per day as they constitute a severe disruption of the daily workflow.
As knowledge workers are becoming more and more essential to an organization's survival and as organizations in this industry mature and require greater headcounts, the span of control is becoming an issue for managers to handle correctly. As discussed in Wren (2005), as the team size increases, the number of interrelations to be managed rises astronomically (p. 353). Managing larger teams poses a great problem because the sheer number of interrelations makes it also more difficult to develop trust within the team. Motivating large groups of knowledge workers can hence be tricky, especially because creative tasks can require a large degree of collaboration. Work design is hence a major hurdle for future managers to overcome. Much emphasis has been on hygiene factors and not on motivators of the workforce. Flexible hours, telecommuting, empowerment, and increased responsibility may help in the short-term but for the long-term management will need to find new strategies for retaining knowledge workers.
Product quality remains a big issue. Deming's ideas are good but quality assurance in the software world is difficult to implement due to the lack of standards and measures. The open-source innovation model may provide some relief in this respect because the greater involvement of external developers can help improve overall quality. On the other hand, however, open-source projects are hard to manage for the same reason. Since open-source projects are self-directed and not owned by anyone in particular, those projects sometimes suffer from uncontrolled, tumorlike growth.
Several of Deming's deadly sins (Wren, 2005, p. 463) apply directly to the software industry. Most products are made from scratch rather than from components and there is little standardization in software organizations. Since software developers have a tendency to see their job as a craft they defy standards and procedures. In addition, the rather complex environment with its dynamic requirements and the push for meeting deadlines make it easy for practitioners to lose sight of quality improvements through the preparation of organizational standards. High turnover and individual performance measures continue to be industry practice, even though many scientists, such as Deming, have argued for long that such measures are counterproductive.
Future managers need to find ways to compensate for the high turnover, if they cannot find a way to avoid it. The division of labor might work well for the company but it is not well perceived by the workforce which tends to require constant challenge. Top performers disfavor mundane tasks and prefer to walk away with all their knowledge. IBM has successfully deployed job enlargement for some time to combat this phenomenon (Wren, 2005, p.332). Unfortunately, this strategy might not work for every company and it can only be used within certain boundaries of the organization. Given the developments of the last two decades, managers will need to confront the discipline of knowledge worker management and find a workable solution for their organization.
The integration of management science with the advances in psychology and sociology may provide a route towards the solution of the knowledge worker management problem. It is crucial for managers to have an accurate understanding of the motivational drives for this particular group of the workforce. These employees enjoy higher income, greater flexibility and freedom, and greater bargain power. This puts them in a gray zone between the traditional, lower skilled employee and an owner in the company because knowledge workers create intellectual capital in the company. Because most of this capital is lost and remains with the employees when they decide to leave the organization, turnover can be much more damaging than with traditional workers. Managers can therefore not simply apply conventional strategies to this dissimilar group of employees; rather, they need to seek for more creative incentives for motivating and retaining knowledge workers.
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Copyright 2009 by Savas Papadopoulos, FastNeuron Inc Savas Papadopoulos is a software business consultant with FastNeuron Inc http://www.fastneuron.com He can be reached at 410 571 5950 or via email: savas@fastneuron.com. Related articles can be accessed here: http://fastneuron.com/Misc/tabid/58/Default.aspx

The leasing industry is yet to significantly harness the powers of the Internet. Despite the hype, the web enabling of the leasing process has been sporadic at best. While the industry has already taken to the Internet's obvious convenience for credit scoring and front-end application processing, a larger and perhaps a more significant impact on productivity has yet to be realized. The advent of the lease life-cycle management model can realize this untapped potential for productivity and, if implemented well, can even directly enhance profitability. Online lease management and accounting software certainly has the makings of a paradigm shift in the lessor's approach to the lease accounting software. More specifically, it holds enough promise to replace the client/server model just as the client/server model itself dethroned the main frame.
The Benefits of an Internet Model based Lease Management system
To implement, the Internet model is much simpler than its client/server based counterpart, demanding nothing more than a secure Internet server on which the lease accounting software and database reside. Each of the limitless number of computers accessing the server can run any operating system, be it Apple Macintosh or Windows 2000, with nothing more than access to the Internet. By inference, the type of Network and the leasing software's compatibility to it no longer matters. Even the physical implementation of the network itself, in laying down the wiring and connections, becomes redundant when any authorized computer belonging to any authorized user, is part of the virtual network. In this respect, especially for lessors with multiple operations in different locations, the model used in the lease management software is a boon that takes no more significant effort to tie two computers into its virtual network as it does 2,000. Even training employees to use the lease accounting software becomes easy when there is one standard program worldwide. This immediate scalability and operating-system/network-independence of the leasing software model makes it possible for lessors of all sizes to experience IT benefits unknown in the client/server world.
It would seem that today's nascent Internet technology compromises the functional power of the client/server model in their leasing software; complex algorithms required to amortize income or calculate yields appear hard or even impossible to replicate on a browser. Fortunately, however, with the growing sophistication of Internet developmental platforms such as Microsoft's Active Server Pages, Internet applications run a tight race with client/server technologies. The Internet based lease accounting software enables yields and depreciation schedules to be calculated with the same click of a button. The lease management software facilitates reports to be sorted, filtered and queried to obtai any conceivable information available in the database. Income, IDC and residual can be accrued, blended and separated, just like they are in client/server systems.
Not surprisingly, even technology as complex as an Enterprise Resource Planning system, simultaneously used for solutions from global car-manufacturing to domestic chemical-production, runs on Internet-based applications today similar to the internet based lease accounting software. Leading ERP vendors including SAP, Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft, for instance, have tried and tested success stories of highly versatile and complex system that are browser based. "Lease Management Software", says Jay Mehra, COO of Odessa Technologies, Inc., "though sophisticated in its own right, can quite easily be implemented on the Internet." Despite the complexity, therefore, the functional powers of traditional models are easily captured in Internet-based applications.
Functionality of the Internet model and the Lease Management Software
While functionally the Internet application is interchangeable, its differentiating quality lies in its approach to data. By the very nature of their technology, client/server systems typically just crunch numbers. A good Internet based application, on the other hand, maximizes the value of that data, in addition to maintaining it. This translates into a direct value-add for the lessor's operational efficiency. Sales staff can, for instance, be allowed to access the leasing software from anywhere they can connect to the Internet. During negotiations, they can obtain historic information about the lessee to make informed decisions for new business opportunities through the lease management software. The traditional one-way pipelines of data delivery thus become forums for information exchange.
Equally important, as shown by the diagram above, the new channels of Internet-driven communication can now enhance the lessor's external relationships. Odessa Technologies, developer of a wholly web-based Lease management and accounting software, uses a series of independent web sites that ties the lessor with its various business partners. Through their lessee web site, lessees can get online help, access important account information, download invoices and even make secure Net payments enabled by the lease management software. Moreover, by leveraging the critical data residing within the Internet application, the lessor can even customize business promotions based on the individual lessee logging onto the system. Far from being just a tool that manages a part of the leasing business, lease management software thus becomes a way of conducting and even marketing the business. Through the Internet model the leasing software is able to bring about new sources of productivity, both direct and implied, are thus created from business relationships that are fuelled by information flow.
LeaseWave© - A new Wave in Lease Accounting Software
While the advantages of Internet-based applications are obvious, there is a conspicuous absence of such technology in the leasing industry. It is this gap between the ideal technology and what is typically available that Odessa Technologies, Inc. is fulfilling. With the release of LeaseWave©, a technology built entirely on Microsoft's Internet platforms, Odessa brings the lease management process online. Through LeaseWave© and technological collaborations with companies such as CapitalStream and Ivory Consulting, the company offers a comprehensive solution that is entirely Internet based by way of the lease accounting software. LeaseWave©, at its core, provides for complete asset management and lease accounting functionality, allowing the lessor to efficiently manage any number of lease portfolios in the leasing software. Beyond this core, LeaseWave© provides a series of interactive web sites that connects the lessor with business partners including lessees, funding sources, auctioneers and banks via the lease management software. Each line of communication in the lease software employs secured socket layers for complete security and is even e-commerce enabled, allowing for secure online ACH and credit card payments.
It is common knowledge that front-end systems, such as CapitalStream's CapitalStream - FinanceCenterTM are already leveraging the powers of the Internet. The efficiencies that they have realized, however, represent only the beginnings of a greater change. Still to be tapped are the efficiencies of large data-rich back-end processes. The web-enabling of lease management and accounting software is a step towards this efficiency-realization. As Internet technology seeps into the back-end, the leasing industry stands to experience a rare paradigm shift: one where the technology drives the process rather than being driven by it.

Bios
Madhu Natarajan, CEO Odessa Technologies, Inc.
Madhu Natarajan became the CEO of Odessa Technologies. He has consulted for various companies including Caterpillar, Inc and Crowe Chizek, LLP; Madhu brings with him an extensive research based leasing background with 5 years of leasing software experience. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from Monmouth College, Monmouth, IL; Madhu graduated Magna Cum Laude. fax copy to 610-293-9903

Successful online business can't be led without email marketing. Many people know that it is very important to have a web site but having a web site is only one step in creating successful online presence. You have to stay in touch with your clients and prospects. You need to have a two way communication with your clients and prospects and best way to do this is to have an email newsletter. To send emails to your customer you need the right email marketing software.
Choosing your email marketing software is one of the most important steps you have to take in e-business. What are those necessary steps in choosing email marketing software?
Free or fee-based
The first thing you will have to decide in choosing software for your email campaigns will be whether you want to use free or fee based software. Some people may say: "There is much free software on the Internet. Why would I pay for email marketing software?" This is because some people still don't have a habit to buy things on the Internet, especially non-tangible items such are software and services. Many people still don't realize the power of email marketing so they think that can be satisfied with a free service.
One of the most famous contemporary economists, a Nobel Prize winner Mr. Milton Friedman said that there is no such thing like free launch. And there is another statement that says "You get what you pay for". I usually agree with these two statements. These have been proven on many examples, especially on the Internet.
You can choose to use free software for email marketing but you will be limited for some more advanced options. Some big portals offer free services for creating groups. This is OK, but in this case you will send your email messages without many important features like personalization, email tracking, sending SMS, using CSV files etc. I don't have to mention that many "free" email marketing software providers will include their ads in your email newsletter. I guess that you don't want that in your business email communication.
Some other free software like the free version of Group Mail will have limitation on the number of subscribers per one session. In this case you will be able to send your email newsletter to 100 subscribers at once and in paid version to unlimited number of subscribers and create unlimited number of lists.
It is recommended that you use fee-based email marketing software for your business email campaigns. However, you always have to look for a provider who offers a free trial, as well.
Important features
You have to check if your email service provider offers these several important features.
1) Personalization - personalization is one of the most important things that email marketing software has to provide. With good personalization you will have better open rates and click-through rates. Some more advanced email marketing software like Group Mail paid version offers if-then personalization for users who want to get the maximum personalization.
2) Monitoring - email marketing is popular and useful because results can be measured very effectively. You have to ask your email service provider if their product offers ability for detailed reports for open rates, click-through rates, deliverability...If their main product doesn't offer that it is important that they offer additional service that can be easily integrated with their main product.
3) Scalability - one of the main features of modern software is scalability. At this moment you might need software that will be able to send 1,000 emails at once but in 3 years your membership base can be 5,000. Will your software be able to handle that?
4) Creating HTML newsletters - HTML newsletters have better response rates than email newsletters in plain-text format so this is also another thing you have to consider in choosing your email marketing software. Without sending your email newsletter in HTML you won't be able to do email tracking.
5) Integration with existing applications and databases - your email marketing software has to offer you ability to import data from existing applications and databases like SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Access, FoxPro and Excel. Also, it is very useful that it can be integrated with popular email clients like MS Outlook.
6) International Character Support - Online businesses have to have a global focus so it is useful that email marketing software provides support for International Characters.
7) Plug-ins and updates - it is very important that the email service provider constantly works on creating useful plug-ins and updates in order to make your work easier and more effective.
8) Technical support -If you are an average Internet user without technical knowledge you will probably want to get support for your software. How good is your email service provider when it comes to technical support?
Desktop email software vs. Hosted ASP
Now when you know do you want free or fee-based software and what to look in your email marketing software you have to decide do you want to have desktop email marketing software or so called Hosted ASP. Both types have limitations and advantages. You have to choose the best option for you.
Desktop email software like Group Mail Plus, one of the leading desktop email marketing software, has several very big advantages. The most important is that details of your subscribers are kept private and secure on your own computer. Dot com crash is not so far behind us. Imagine that you have several thousand clients and use web based service from a company that will later go out of business. You can only imagine how that could affect your business and credibility! With Group Mail Plus you can manage an unlimited number of groups with unlimited number of recipients in each. You will have a larger initial investment than with Hosted ASP which charge a monthly fee, but you will a full control of your email campaigns and after some time of using your software you will repay it.
With Hosted ASP you will usually have a lower initial investment. You don't have to buy hardware and software. However, price is usually determined by the number of emails you send so you will pay more how your membership base gets bigger so this option will be much more expensive than a desktop email marketing software option in the long run.
You can see that choosing the right email marketing software is very important. You have to bear in mind that the biggest investment is one that it is paid - twice. So, choose your email marketing software wisely.

Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for Infacta. Infacta is email messaging services company providing powerful, yet easy-to-use award-winning Group Mail, software for sending highly-personalized email messages and Group Metrics, software for email tracking. For more information visit: http://www.infacta.com

Each year millions of Americans have their taxes prepared by a professional tax preparer. Having tax returned professionally prepared reduces the likelihood of errors being reported on a tax return; however, professional tax preparation is often expensive. For this reason there are a large number of individuals who are making the decision to file their own federal and state tax returns. While it is possible to file tax returns the traditional way with paper tax forms there are now many taxpayers who are relying on tax preparation software to quickly and accurately prepare and file their taxes. Tax software programs have increased in popularity over the past few years; however, like many other software programs tax software programs have advantages and disadvantages.
Before learning about the different advantages and disadvantages of tax software it is important that taxpayers learn the different types of software programs that are available. There are a number of popular tax software programs that include Turbo Tax, TaxCut, TaxAct, and more. Each of these tax software programs are likely to offer multiple tax software versions. Many tax software programs come in a standard version, a deluxe version, or a premium version. Each brand of a tax software program may include different features under each tax version; however, many of the tax software programs operate in the same way. Standard or basic versions are likely to only include federal income tax return forms. Deluxe and premium software versions are likely to include both federal and state income tax forms. Premium tax software versions are likely to include additional help in finding tax credits and deductions.
One of the main advantages of using a tax software program is that they are fairly easy and quick to use. Tax software programs are usually step-by-step; therefore, many individuals can complete a tax return faster than on traditional paper and in less than half of time. Many taxpayers who use tax software prefer the software versions that offer both state and federal tax forms. The majority of software programs will transfer the information from a federal return over to a state tax return. This not only saves time, but it also guarantees that the information found on a state tax return is accurate.
Another advantage to using a tax preparation software program is that is costs less than hiring the services of a tax professional. Tax preparation fees generally depend on where the taxes are being prepared at and how many tax forms need to be filled out and how complicated they are. The majority of individuals end up paying one hundred dollars or more to have their taxes professional prepared. The price of a tax preparation software program can range from free all the way up to sixty dollars or more.
In the past few years e-filing has become popular. E-filing allows a tax return to be received and processed quicker which often results in taxpayers getting their tax refunds sooner. Even though e-filing has dramatically increased in popularity there are still a number of individuals who do not feel comfortable e-fling their taxes. These taxpayers are often worried about their personal information being transmitted over the internet. All tax software programs give users the options of e-filing their federal and state tax forms or printing them out.
While e-filing tax returns may be convenient there are many tax software programs that charge an additional e-filing fee. Taxpayers are encouraged to fully read the box of a tax software program or read the description of the software program online. It is not uncommon for many taxpayers to not realize that they will be charged an additional fee for e-filing. There are some tax preparation software programs that only mention the e-filing fee in the fine print of their product description. Even with the additional fee it is still likely that the majority of tax software programs are cheaper than having a tax return professionally filed. In addition to e-filing fees, taxpayers are encouraged to be on the lookout for any other hidden fees because there are likely to be some with many tax software programs.
With many tax software programs guaranteeing their work it is evident that tax software programs are easy to use and accurate. With mathematical checks and easy print offs for personal records it is obvious that there are many advantages to using a tax software program. Taxpayers are encouraged to weigh the above mentioned advantages and disadvantages of tax software programs and then make an informed decision on how their tax returns should be prepared and filed.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for the http://TaxHelpDirectory.com. To learn more about tax software, visit http://www.taxhelpdirectory.com/taxsoftware/ and to learn more about accounting software, visit http://www.taxhelpdirectory.com/software/.

ive years ago everyone was talking about virtual worlds, such as Second Life, and how they could be used in business. Henry Tucker MBCS asks if they are still there.

Back in 2006 the media was awash with articles about virtual online worlds such as Second Life. Companies were opening up offices there and people started, it seemed, to make real money online. Platforms such as these looked as though they would be the model for future business, then the hype died down and people started to pull out.

So is the Second Life model dead, does anyone use it anymore or is it still going?

Ian Hughes, better known by his online moniker ePredator, is the Chair of the BCS Animation and Games Development Specialist Group and a self-proclaimed metaverse evangelist.

He started out coding in his bedroom and then went to work for IBM dealing, mostly, with emerging technology. It was during this time that he says he wanted to see how he could introduce game technology into corporate life.

‘I became very aware that the way that we communicate in games, and what you get to know about someone in games, was a lot richer than our standard emails and telephone calls. And as we were increasingly doing instant messaging in corporate worlds it didn’t seem that big a leap to be using virtual environments, although not necessarily games,’ he said.

In about 2000, Ian tried to persuade people in his team to do things with virtual worlds and game technology. He and his team started to see how to work with one another and communicate across their offices using these environments.

He said that sometimes it was as simple as having a game of Quake to get to know people. Then, in about 2006, he turned himself into a metaverse evangelist at IBM, which was the start of the next phase of virtual worlds when Second Life was popular.

‘When we started to look at Second Life we said “this isn’t a game. It is game technology, it lets you design, share and immerse in things as well as talk and do more than just PowerPoint in a space with other people at distance.” I spent several years in IBM helping people with worlds such as these, sometimes with Second Life, often it wasn’t.

‘These virtual worlds hadn’t spawned out of the game industry but they were based on game technology. Despite this the game industry was ignoring everything that happened with virtual worlds and corporates because that’s not their normal business. Yet I was thinking this is all the same stuff.

If you take what the games industry does and what traditional IT does, they are not that different. In fact they are identical, yet they don’t talk to one another. This technology, as well as being useful, is good for bringing the technologies together.’

Part of the reason for the perceived decline in virtual worlds is down to the usual adoption curve for a new technology. When it was new a lot of people were talking about it, so the media paid attention. Second Life still has a passionate set of users, it doesn’t have as many users as Facebook, which is always the comparison, but it is nine years old.

‘It seems to be getting more attention again,’ says Ian. ‘A new generation of people are discovering that just doing things on Facebook isn’t that interesting and can be irritating. They want more engagement and they want to try some other stuff.

‘At the same time Facebook has created CloudParty, which is a 3D virtual world. Alongside this is Open Sim, which is an open source virtual environment. This started off as a sort of clone of Second Life except you run your own servers or you can pay someone to run one for you. That is getting used by some universities that need private virtual environments to rehearse certain medical scenarios.

‘There are lot of things happening and a lot of people doing stuff, but because it’s not high-end marketing stuff and because companies are nervous about saying that they are anything to do with it, working in virtual worlds is an uphill struggle because even gamers don’t like virtual worlds. So there’s a large virtual community and we’re still here.’

Just before the launch of its latest game, Henry Tucker MBCS spoke to Peter Hofstede, from Spil Games, about the challenges of mobile game development.

Spil Games are based in Amsterdam and have a history of making Flash games.

The teams work on games for a worldwide audience and according to Peter Hofstede, who manages the process of thinking up new games, ‘if you work for Spil for a number of years you get to know the word for game in a number of different languages.’

In the past year though the company has changed its focus towards mobile gaming and it now does full-on app development.

He says that this wasn’t that easy a process as it meant a major change in terms of the skills his developers needed.

The studio now uses the Unity game engine, which according to Peter is a very different toolkit than they had used before. And with 80 per cent of its projects now made using the engine this has meant that whereas the development for Flash games was between three and four months, it can be as much as a year with the bigger budget mobile products.

Another issue they have with mobile is that they can’t port the games between the various platforms but have to start from scratch each time. At best, Peter says, they can use some of the assets but you generally have to rethink the control scheme at the very least. This has the knock on effect of increasing the production costs, plus the projects are getting more complicated.

‘We have worked on quite deep Flash games, which sometimes took a year to produce. But in general production costs have increased ten-fold. So one of the effects is that we are focusing on doing a lot less and really only taking our best IP and not building a really wide portfolio of games,’ he added.

An issue with mobile games is that they don’t sell for much compared to the boxed products you get for the big consoles. This then has an effect on the way that the games are developed. With some apps there is a more to free-to-play approach, where the game is free but you buy things in-game. At Spil they consider this, but it depends on what the game is.

‘Our research has shown parents are willing to pay for a good product. If there is a good trial version they are quite keen to invest in the product. For others it makes sense to go with a free-to-play mechanic, but it needs to fit with the IP.’

As to how much the development costs that’s still drifting says Peter. ‘We’ve been working on a number of games and Sara has been our biggest project. We know that we’re going to have quite a lot of cost after the launch as well, probably if we do well we will have to spend more after the launch than before.

‘This is because we are shifting towards games as a service and that means we are building updates for after the launch. We also need to adapt to what we see in the game. If we see things aren’t interesting we swap them out and also if we see some traction we are going to invest more. We hook the games up to an analytics back end so that we can see where people fall off, are they stuck and so on.’

When asked if he thought there is a sweet spot for games he said that deep down it’s about psychology and different audiences have different drivers.

‘We know that boys are into extreme stuff where they can experiment, see how far they can go. For girls it’s different, with things like roleplay, playing out future careers. Creativity is very important, there are themes that work; animals, beauty their future self. It starts from that.

‘Then there are game mechanics. It needs to be rewarding, needs to be a challenge. There’s this concept of the killer game loop, which is you need to have a small gameplay cycle that you can finish in two minutes.

The player completes one cycle, then they can go in and do another or they can step out. You need to be able to dip in and out. The guys from NaturalMotion Games are talking about the Starbucks queue test. You need to be able to finish one loop whilst you are waiting for your coffee. You do something then you get a reward, a positive feedback loop.’