October 1, 2002
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| Hard Facts About Software Technology |
The latest software trends business that
managers can’t miss |
By Brian Pelletier
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As software technology evolves, more managers find themselves struggling to keep up.
Taking a closer look at the latest software trends, however, can help executives better understand how to make their businesses more competitive.
One of the biggest concerns for nearly every industry is security, and software is no exception. How can companies protect and defend their data – and their business itself – from an attack?
Any company connected to the Internet is at risk, but attacks come from within a company more often than from outside. While the FBI considers insiders to be the “most imminent threats today,” many security problems result from inadvertent virus infections rather than from malicious attacks from disgruntled employees.
Whatever the cause, potential losses from a security breach at most companies are staggering. Pulling mission-critical applications offline to repair a hacker’s damage, even for a few hours, can also result in enormous losses. Theft of sensitive business, company and employee data, including credit card and other personal information can lead to further crimes of identity theft, which costs merchants, credit issuers, and the financial industry upwards of $11.9 billion each year.
“Securing your business begins with a vulnerability and risk assessment, to determine where the critical data is located and what the cost might be to protect it with varying levels of security,” says Meghan McLaughlin, security specialist with Subject, Wills & Co., an Oak Brook-based technology company. “A security consulting firm can then determine the best combination of virus protection, firewalls, intrusion detection and enterprise security management solutions that will be most appropriate.”
Another software hotspot is the competition between .Net from Microsoft and Java from Sun. Both technologies help businesses move information from back-office applications like inventory and purchasing systems to customer and partner-facing applications on the Internet. Both Web service architectures accomplish the same result, but Sun’s Java is open-source – virtually free and easily modified by programmers – and heavily favored by enterprise software vendors like SAP and Oracle. The proprietary .Net solution integrates easily with Windows, giving Microsoft a hefty edge in potential applications.
“Conventional wisdom says that eventually .Net and Java need to work together,” predicts Rich Behrens, e-business sales manager at Subject, Wills & Co. “Many large companies invested in both architectures and won’t be able to pick just one solution.”
Another trend nipping at Microsoft’s heels is the Linux operating system, which is also open source. Linux is extremely cost-effective and becoming more popular with manufacturers like IBM, Dell and Gateway, who are now shipping Linux-ready servers and desktops.
While most IT professionals understand Microsoft, Apple and Unix, few have the Linux proficiency necessary to manage these systems effectively. “Training and certification ensure that someone who already has hardware and software experience has a baseline knowledge of Linux,” explains Eva Chen, senior certification program manager at CompTIA in Oakbrook Terrace. “Linux certification can be a foot in the door for IT professionals and a vital benchmark for hiring managers.”
Perhaps one of the more relevant software trends for business managers is that software is making highly technical feats easier for non-techies to accomplish. User interfaces are becoming friendlier and more powerful, and new applications now allow managers to become tech wizards in their own right.
Corporate Web pages, for example, once the domain of only HTML coders, can now be easily updated and changed by managers without any programming experience. “Website content management is more critical as people become more Web savvy, so it’s important to keep content fresh,” explains Clint Jones, CEO and co-founder of Norvax, a Chicago-based software developer. “If you have stale content, your customers won’t come back.”
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Brian Pelletier is a freelance writer specializing in
high-tech and business-to-business communications. He can be reached
at blp@chi1.com.
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