In order to provide a secure platform and architecture to underpin its online offering, business advisory services firm Ernst & Young has chosen Macromedia ColdFusion technology.
According to Grant Brewer, director of e-business at Ernst & Young in SA, rapid development and ease of application maintenance were key factors in the decision-making process. "ColdFusion offers us the ability to turn an idea into a client-ready application in a very short space of time. Development and maintenance time has been further cut by our shift to the new Macromedia MX family of development tools because of the integration between different products," he says.
"We developed Ernst & Young`s mid-enterprise CRM application in only 12 weeks, and took EY/Exchange, our document management application, from concept to first release in 16 weeks. Timeframes like this are simply not achievable with other application server platforms. This adds significantly to our competitive advantage and our ability to provide innovative solutions to clients. It also makes for more attractive return on investment figures," explains Brewer.
Cost, security and integration with other systems were all issues that Ernst & Young deals with when developing solutions. "ColdFusion`s integration into LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and its overall security functionality were important to Ernst & Young developing a secure platform for sharing information with clients."
"In addition, the product`s custom tags and the new CF Components in ColdFusion MX provide an easy way get more effective code reuse including full object-oriented technology.
"The integrated XML functionality within the new Macromedia MX products have also created an easier route to integrate our applications with client systems or other Ernst & Young systems, such as Lotus Domino which is used extensively for knowledge management," he notes.
Brewer believes that Ernst & Young`s online applications must, by their very nature, constantly adapt to changing business needs. "ColdFusion allows greater flexibility than competitive platforms, allowing changes to be made rapidly as the need arises," he says. "And it allows us to build applications that range from the simple to the very complex."
Since purchasing its first ColdFusion licence almost two years ago, Ernst & Young has already created several significant applications, including community sites and a document exchange application. "ColdFusion and the entire suite of Macromedia MX tools, including Flash MX and Dreamweaver MX, fits neatly into our strategy to be enterprise-ready without requiring a huge initial investment in technology and development time," comments Brewer.
Jeremy Matthews, MD of local Macromedia distributor and e-business enablement consultant, Dax Data, agrees: "The product roadmap for ColdFusion will see it embracing J2EE and Web services, among other technologies, in future versions," he says. According to Matthews, these developments can already be seen in the slew of new versions recently released by Macromedia.
Share
Editorial contacts