The competitive environment for today`s application developers places a premium on the development of the right product for the right market, at the right time and at a price that appeals to prospects, but still provides enough profit to sustain the business model. That`s the word from Henry Adams, country manager of InterSystems South Africa.
Rapid application development (RAD) is a software development process that allows usable systems to be built in as little as 60 to 90 days. It provides more sophisticated, more integrated applications with shorter product cycles and faster payback. So your business gets better applications sooner with lower development costs.
RAD allows systems to be built with smaller teams, which in turn means higher efficiency. Each developer adds overhead, which means reduced efficiency the larger the team. For instance, the most productive scenario, running at 100% is a developer on his own. Two developers running together yield 95%; five operate at an average of 82%; 10 at 63%; 15 at 49%; and 20 at 38%.
Throwing more bodies at a project does not work, as it has been shown that for every developer added to a team, there is a 5% overhead added to the project.
The advent of Web services
The idea that the Internet would bring with it a radically new way of doing business is now history. However, InterSystems is seeing a growing number of successful Web-based applications and companies. Emerging again is the age-old wisdom that a good idea, crafted into a superior product built upon optimal technology platforms and, of course, an intelligent business strategy with suitable delivery mechanisms, can produce excellent opportunities for revenue growth.
The advent of Web services will bring a fundamental change in the way services are provided and enable greater co-operation than ever before. However, businesses must remember that Web services are not the panacea but rather part of the overall solution. Success depends more on the business outcome rather than the technology. The Java application vision is to write once and run anywhere, but for Web services the vision is to write once and use anywhere. All organisations can benefit from Web services, but service-oriented companies will be first to derive the most benefit.
Why the right database matters
Choosing the right database on which to develop Web-based applications can yield benefits such as a simplified architecture, faster performance, lower costs, better fit with existing applications and hence longer application life. Developing your applications using a database such as InterSystems Cach'e allows for direct object access, without the need for object to relational mapping middleware, and a real-world data model allowing rapid access to data and built-in scalability.
So, just what are today`s Web-based businesses looking for from their database technology providers? InterSystems has identified major demand in the following areas:
* Scalability - While it is relatively simple to anticipate and satisfy user demands on an application running in-house on a client/server platform, developers are crystal ball gazing when it comes to customer demand on the Web. QuikOrder.com, for example, knows that in the US, on "Superbowl Sunday" pizza vendor Domino`s sells more than one million pizzas nationwide in the hours leading up to kick-off. Orders on the Web will far exceed average daily demand throughout the year. Their database technology has to scale to meet demand on the biggest sales day of the year without requiring the large hardware investment typical of relational database software to meet this level of peak usage. Because of this, InterSystems sees QuikOrder.com as representative of a growing trend among developers who are calling for virtually limitless scalability, with definitely limited investments.
* Object-oriented (OO) development - The Web is inherently object-based and Web-focused companies are increasingly comfortable with an OO development approach.
* eXtensible markup language (XML) - The portability and robustness of XML make it one of the elite technologies where marketing hype is likely to be matched by market acceptance and implementation of products that will soon be available through the channel. Healthcare is one of many industries where application developers are evaluating XML capabilities. One area of focus is the impedance mismatch that comes when developers are building an OO application that will use data stored in a relational database. One option is to use a mapping tool to generate mappings between the existing database and business objects. InterSystems` Cach'e database provides a high-performance alternative with a multidimensional database, which enables a unified data architecture that simultaneously presents data in both object and relational form.
* Performance - Developers are finding it essential to match underlying database technology as closely as possible to the application requirements in order to achieve the fast response customers require from Web software products. Companies that need database software that enables high-performance transaction processing on the Web and that is optimised for complex queries are increasingly looking beyond relational software. Making the most appropriate choice will be key to business success.
* Faster is not necessarily better... but it helps - Looking back no more than 18 months, there was a widespread feeling that being the first to market with a Web application was the top priority. Even if the product was not quite complete or of the highest quality, many developers tightened product delivery cycles of Web-based applications to a point where it was not possible to deliver top-tier solutions. As a result, a significant number of application providers in the Web sector crashed and burned.
Today`s developers of value-added Web applications are recognising that the priority now is to build a high-quality application that meets customer needs and that can be supported without excessive investment, while still delivering the level of service needed to ensure ongoing customer loyalty and the ability to cross sell. Still, all of this must be accomplished in the shortest possible timeframe. The goal of fast time-to-market has not disappeared. It has just been made more complex by the fact that customers` expectations of the final product are higher than ever. Companies that meet those expectations are already reaping rewards.
It is clear that by making appropriate database technology choices, developing savvy business plans, staying on top of new product trends and rolling the right solutions out as rapidly as feasible, RAD can be successfully leveraged to maximise business opportunities.
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