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Software companies are creating financial software packages with the single European market of 1992 in mind. Software companies are selling a wide variety of ledger systems that have multinational accounting features. An accounting package for the single European market should include multiple language support, multiple currency features, international fiscal regulations support, and flexible reporting features. Firms will need software with multiple language support only if they intend to implement a common accounting system in their foreign subsidiaries. Standardization will lower costs because the accounting software can be bought in bulk, and accountants can move easily among offices without having to get used to a new system.

Unix is becoming increasingly popular as a computer operating system and as an economical alternative to mainframes dedicated to inflexible operating systems. Mainframe computers typically can not run software from other systems, forcing owners to buy applications software for that unique operating environment. Owners desiring to move to another computer supplier or a more powerful computer usually must have to have their applications rewritten for the new operating system at great cost, which can force owners to stay with their old system. Unix, which was developed by AT&T and refined at the University of California, Berkeley is an open system that performs on par with alternative proprietary operating systems. Unix gives owners the ability to share software and is cheaper than proprietary operating systems.

A JOB WITH NO NAME In an industry where jobs turn over at a dizzying rate, the corporate PC support specialist is more likely than most to have moved on, […]

Conventional wisdom has it that mainframes are the big, difficult beasts requiring armies of systems programmers, planners and operations staff to tame them. Midrange systems, on the other hand, come […]

Faced with having to staff five International MVS sites from scratch Standard Chartered Bank chose to automate as much as possible. Candice Goodwin reports. A few months ago Phil Reed, […]

SOFT MARKET FOR LEASES Three years ago, veteran IBM-watcher Bob Djurdjevic predicted that IBM would need to raise its software prices to maintain its profit levels. The company's new software […]

Electronic commerce is expected to generate $400 billion worth of business by the year 2000. However, while the outlook for online marketing looks very positive, many companies that have entered the market have yet to make real money through the Internet. Businesses realize that the point of going online early is not only to generate immediate profits, but to achieve other objectives such as gaining differentiation from the competition and a competitive advantage as an early entrant. Electronic commerce can also help companies reduce their operating costs, because there will no longer be a need for heavy investments in constructing regional branches. It is likewise advantageous for shoppers because they now have access to products that are cheaper or easier to purchase from specialist shops or those in other countries.

The Pacific Rim is positioning itself as a major industrial force. Highly industrialized countries in the region, including Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, are being joined by such upstarts as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, in terms of manufacturing capabilities, especially in the field of information technology. The whole region is home to 18 of the 50 largest manufacturers in the world, as compared to only 14 in the US. Companies based in the Pacific Rim are improving their competitiveness by investing in technology and expanding their global reach. Meanwhile, Western companies are recognizing the potential of the region, particularly its cheap labor force, burgeoning market and attractive tax cuts, by establishing their presence in the bloc. However, they should avoid treating the whole region as a homogenous area and consider the differences among the countries in terms of culture, infrastructure and economic status.

The rewards of successful biotechnology research and development projects are enormous. Unfortunately, European biotechnology companies are being hampered by lack of funding. Venture capitalists in Europe are hesitant to provide the necessary finance to these biotech firms because they are short-term-oriented, which means that they want to have immediate results. They do not take into account the fact that it takes many years before a single product can be tested and finally approved for marketing. Moreover, they do not understand what exactly constitutes biotechnology, which is no surprise given the fact that even biotech insiders are not in consensus when it comes to defining biotechnology. Nevertheless, hopes are up for the biotech industry of Europe as it shifts its focus from monoclonal antibody to gene therapy and forms alliances and acquisitions.

Effective response to customers is essential for winning orders in this recession, especially for the recently privatised companies. Candice Goodwin explains how IT is integral to helping companies distinguish themselves […]

THE LURE OF UNIX Will Unix, once the joke of the commercial computing world, have the last laugh after all? Over the past two years, the number of large and […]

DESKTOP SUPPORT A mainframe challenger, a departmental mini or a big PC, the AS/400 has been described as all three, and can be found playing all those roles in user' […]

Arthur Andersen is a major player in the field of information technology (IT) consultancy in the UK. Arthur Andersen still receives more revenue from its traditional tax accounting and auditing functions than it does from providing IT consultancy services, but the IT consulting part of the company, Arthur Andersen Consulting, is growing at 25-30% annually. The firm's tax and auditing services have given it advantages over other consultancy firms: wide contacts, and a reputation for being business-oriented and reliable. The firm invests heavily in training for its IT consultants, spending $112 million internationally for training in its consulting division in 1989. The firm's approach to IT consulting is heavily oriented towards clients' business needs, with each job being assigned an engagement partner whose function is to keep a client's business objectives constantly in mind. The company is now offering computer-aided software engineering, providing clients with the automated means to build software systems.

The increasing vogue for decentralized computing, made possible by the increase in power for both mid-range computers and personal computers, has reduced the market share of mainframe computers to 15% of the total market. Mainframes are useful for those companies that need to maintain a single large data base which can process transactions online, process online inquiries, and execute batch processing. Mainframes are good data processors because the central processor is fed from between eight and 128 multiple channels that move data in and out of the CPU rapidly and prevent the computer from being slowed due to wait time. Mainframes remain ideal for computing jobs requiring the shifting of data around very large data bases.

MOVING MOMENTS How would you like to slash your mainframe software costs by at least 75%, reduce your need for systems programmers to almost zero, and on top of that […]

With 80 directly attached systems to upgrade, engineering consultancy Arup chose a radical solution - to junk DAS and move toward a single, tapeless solution. Candice Goodwin reports From the […]

recruitment The best companies, the prime locations and the hottest skills on the market Candice Goodwin computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The first half of 2003 was good for employers and tough for IT […]

It is important for a web site to fit the needs and desires of the customer, rather than use the latest gimmicks. An inexpensive web site may be relatively useless, if it does not produce results.

Discusses the possible impact of a draft privacy directive planned by the European Commission on epidemiological research, particularly in Great Britain. Fear of medical researchers that tighter controls could prevent them from using named records; Opposition to data matching; Data protection law in Great Britain; Public opinion about the use of one's medical record; Struggle between personal privacy and public health. INSET: Match making..

Firms must make adequate investment in protecting their businesses from network failures. They must also ensure suitable management is put in place to deal with technology failures.

As computing moves out of the back office and into the foreground, computer people have reason to hope that their days of being backroom boys are numbered. Personnel managers, marketing […]

TRAINING FOR AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE Training, training and more training is widely touted as the answer to the skills shortage afflicting the computer industry. Computer service companies are fond of […]

Properly managed manufacturing and design automation can improve companies' efficiency and competitiveness. Some of the technologies that have become important in manufacturing include computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) machinery, and computer-integrated manufacture. CAD, CAM, and CNC allow manufactures to: reduce product lead times; increase the flexibility of machinery; increase product quality; and gain better control over production processes. To take advantage of what manufacturing automation has to offer management needs to know exactly where manufacturing problems are and needs to be prepared to make major changes in organizational relationships.

GROUP THERAPY The UK IBM Computer Users' Association (CUA) has a problem: its midrange users are getting too numerous to fit into the hotels they meet in four times a […]

This article describes Amazon.com's claim of being larger than UK giant Sainsbury's. Psychological aspects of Internet stocks, Amazon's high investment potential without profitability, and how Amazon.com is managed are discussed.

An information technology (IT) strategy has evolved into a necessary component for the success of a merger. A good IT strategy, which is most often neglected or done only after an initial problem has already appeared, is most often the factor responsible for the success or failure of a corporate union. Reducing the overall cost of effecting a merger is one reason some companies must adopt an IT strategy early on as operating on different systems can be a costly proposition, especially for firms that rely heavily on information. The IT strategies that a company learns from its past acquisitions and mergers will also be applicable to future IT integrations, including the addition of new delivery channels such as the World Wide Web to its back-office systems.

Scandinavian software companies have been increasingly finding success in international markets. Among those that have succeeded in expanding outside their small domestic markets are Scala and Hansa Business Solutions from Sweden; Navision, Maconomy and Damgarde from Denmark; and Agresso from Norway. Scandinavian software developers have been particularly innovative when it comes to accounting products, which is not at all surprising given the region's technology-oriented culture and education system. In addition, Nordic countries have highly rigorous tax regimes, thereby creating the need for very efficient accounting computer programs. Further enhancing their chances for international success is the language ability of the Scandinavian software companies. Most of these firms develop English-language products, which they later translate to the languages of their home markets.

Companies are increasingly relying on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to cope with the pressure to do business faster, cheaper and a more international scale. These systems provide better, timelier and more comprehensive business information. They are particularly appealing to businesses because they integrate different software packages and facilitate the exchange of information between different computer systems. They also allow multinational companies to manage their core business processes all over the world in the same manner. The recent growth in the sales of ERPs can be attributed in part to the efforts of companies to become Year 2000 and EMU compliant. Installing new systems would be easier and cheaper for businesses than upgrading their old ones.

The selection and implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system are two of the most important tasks for companies venturing into the global market. The process begins with the selection of an ERP product that will support a company's key business drivers and competitive advantage. ERP selection should also be based on the organizational structure and corporate culture to be established in overseas business units. Another consideration is the degree of autonomy to be given to these units. Moreover, companies must decide whether or not to implement a standard ERP system for their entire multinational operation. A standard system can streamline reporting procedures and reduce information technology costs. However, standard systems appear less feasible for diverse or autonomous operations. The international expansion of healthcare organization BUPA is described.