System iNetwork

November 6, 2007

Web Apps Make Every Enterprise a Software Company

I'm sure we're all somewhat familiar with the software release process. Even if you're a member of the rare enterprise that uses all custom-built software applications, keeping up with the various iterations of i5/OS (V6R1? Where has my life gone!?) and Windows has attuned most of us to the cyclical nature of new versions of software and the idea that what follows has to be better than what you already have in place. But if you're moving into the brave new world of providing your Internet customers with web-based applications, even if it's just a simple app for ordering your products, have you realized how much that activity is turning your enterprise into a defacto software company?

Any enterprise that writes custom programs for its internal processes already faces this to some degree. Issues such as tracking progress on new versions, making sure software is as bug-free as possible before rolling it out to internal users, making impromptu problem fixes, and managing different releases of the same application aren't new.

But of course, what is different about web apps is the audience. Instead of all your potential users being employees of the same company, who are going to be required by their management to use a piece of software no matter how lame or cool it might be, web apps serve people who are under no compulsion to tolerate bad software. That raises the stakes and puts a real premium on producing applications that are understandable without any training and that actually do everything they're supposed to do, correctly, in version one. And that places web app development in the same league as producing software products for sale. A web app has to work well because no memo from the company president can make all the users put up with something that doesn't. The web app also becomes part of your public face, just as if you were selling it to the public. The only part you get out of is having to haggle over the price. And you don't get the benefit of paying customers pointing out your problems, either, like they do for the software product vendors. The disgruntled will simply go away.

If you're putting custom software programs onto your web site, you're basically introducing yourself to many of the same dilemmas software companies face as part of their basic business challenge. No matter how simple it is, that app is going to have to be changed some day because no process is totally static. What's even more urgent, though, is that web consumers' expectations are constantly going up as they encounter other web sites, in other business realms, that are even slicker than yours is.

Once you step into the web app arena, you're not just vying with the same competitors who've been on your radar for years, in a way you're competing with every other web site in the world. And while you might be able to hide from this problem long enough to fool an upper management that isn't sufficiently forward-thinking to see the danger of not fully participating in web commerce, you can't outrun this reality forever, and you'll be even farther behind than you are now if you don't get started really soon.

Dealing with this situation may require some thinking along different lines than some of us are used to. Concerns such as providing a GUI that's intuitive and inviting but not too cluttered, making sure there are no significant bugs even in minor functions, and always thinking ahead to what's going to be in the next version aren't optional anymore. Software company executives seem to be born thinking such thoughts, that's how they stay in business. With web apps, the rest of us have to start thinking that way, too.

The saving grace is that everyone other than the software executives are in the same bind. And how are your opposite numbers at other companies handling this new challenge? Not too well, it seems. Or at least, that's the picture presented by a recent survey released by Interwoven, a content-management solutions provider.

Interwoven conducted the survey of 130 IT operations professionals worldwide. Admittedly, that number may not be statistically significant, but even if the percentage levels might not be totally representative, I think the trends the results show have at least some validity. Interwoven's motivation in conducting the study was to promote its Custom Application Provisioning (CAP) product, which helps IT departments "automate delivery of code, content, and configuration" to speed up delivery of web apps. (CAP doesn't run on System i but does support System p, by the way.)

In summary, Interwoven's results showed 77 percent of respondents report development efforts are on custom projects, more than half said they thought their number of web-related custom app projects would double in the next year, and 71 percent are accomplishing upgrades with manual processes such as FTP, build scripts, mailing CDs, or copying files. (Interwoven refers to this as the "push and pray" method, a term that seems to be adopted from poker, in the sense of pushing something out there and praying that it works.) 73 percent said they can only accomplish one or two new web app releases a month and 60 percent feel pressured to issue releases more frequently. Also, 54 percent say they have to make up to 10 "hot fixes" a month.

Web development on the System i generally isn't advancing at this frantic a pace yet in most shops, but the need for it doesn't spare our platform. When those needs arise, though, the intensity will be as great or greater than the pressures that already accompany internal custom software development. The issues raised by this survey should be food for thought for any software development manager who sees a requirement for a more dynamic web presence for his or her enterprise coming down the pipeline. What seems clear for at least some of us is that paying more attention to the mechanics of producing web applications may be an inevitable part of our 2008 landscape. And looking to vendors of general software products for some inspiration isn't a misplaced notion.

Posted by at November 6, 2007 9:40 AM