Volume 7, Number 1, Page 56

Viewpoint
Best Practices

by Pam McIntyre

I recently had the opportunity to write a "Best Practices in Information Technology" paper for a small, but well known consulting firm. It was interesting to see what the business world was doing with regard to not only new technology, but also what it was doing to salvage "old" technology. A best practice is generally defined as a practice that is used successfully by the "best" companies to improve productivity, increase cost-effectiveness, reduce time-to-market ... you get the idea.

I was not amazed to see what was being done with mainframe computers, for instance. Many companies are using their mainframes as web servers. Morgan Stanley allows its customers to access their stock portfolios via the web and initiate any number of transactions. The nice thing about mainframes, of course, is that they were made for high-volume transaction-processing applications. The two other uses just made for mainframes are data warehousing and data mining because of the large databases involved. Even better, the information derived from these applications is increasingly important to the strategic decision-making process meaning that those old systems may still be able to pay for themselves.

Another not so surprising bit of information is the decreasing interest in client/server technology. The complexity involved in trying to get multiple platforms and operating systems and applications to work together has turned out, in some cases, to not be worth the effort and the increased amount of technical support necessary to keep them running. I love the term "thin client." I equate it roughly with the term "dumb terminal." Who says history doesn't repeat itself?

Best practices are dynamic. They are always changing. Sometimes it is because there is a genuinely new circumstance to deal with: doing business over the Internet, for example. But mostly, best practices are common sense: selecting a model for use in software development versus winging it; or using cross-functional teams, another way of saying "get everyone involved who has a stake in the project." Just be aware that what is best practice for one company may not be the best for another. Remember that practices may come and go but common sense will live on forever.


Welcome to Viewpoint. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of MTA. Guest writers and responses to columns are welcome and will be printed at the discretion of MTA. Email: MTA@mtechnology.org Pamela G. McIntyre received a B.S. degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin and a masters degree in business and information systems from the University of Maryland. She has spent over 16 years in the field of information management and is currently a freelance writer, and managing editor of M Computing. Email: pgm@erols.com