For decades, technologists have been predicting the replacement of traditional teaching with more sophisticated, less people-intensive approaches. Starting with videotapes in the 1970s to the current interest in distance learning via the Internet, vendors and organizations have sought to find a less expensive, less time- and travel-consuming method for training people.

For decades, technologists have been predicting the replacement of traditional teaching with more sophisticated, less people-intensive approaches. Starting with videotapes in the 1970s to the current interest in distance learning via the Internet, vendors and organizations have sought to find a less expensive, less time- and travel-consuming method for training people.

Phil Knight -- of Nike's oft quoted public utterance, "This is what I get for $400 million?" -- has become the poster child for highlighting the difficulty of implementing supply chain technologies.

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) has emerged as the middleware approach of choice for companies that want to create distributed applications (Web services) on the Internet. By itself, XML provides a message format. In the past year, XML has been supplemented by a variety of protocols that extend its power. XML's tag description facility has been extended with XML script to make it easier to describe complex data formats. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) has been widely adopted to provide a transport mechanism.

Cutter Consortium: We understand you've been working with a client on an integration project. Can you describe it?

In every facet of life the question of who you can trust surfaces, though the answer often eludes us. In the information security game, we try to create mechanisms to help us answer this question, and our reputation as well as professional pride are tied up with getting it right. But is that possible?

Sustainable competitive advantage usually results from a company learning how to create its product or service more efficiently than its competitors or charging a premium because the company's product is widely believed to be superior. Top managers seek to develop strategies that will provide their companies with a secure competitive advantage.

Cutter Consortium continues to survey companies about their customer relationship management (CRM) practices. In this Executive Update, we discuss findings on a number of CRM issues, including:

The dreaded dragon of traditional project management is alive and well and now stalking e-projects. "Bring it in on time, on scope, and on budget" continues to be the cry of CIOs and other senior management as they seek to get projects under control and avoid unpleasant surprises.

As part of Cutter Consortium's ongoing survey of IT executives and managers on the nature of their IT outsourcing, we asked whether companies had transferred responsibility for a system from one service provider to another. A fairly large number (59%) had not, indicating that there is not a high level of experience in this area (see Figure 1).

As part of Cutter Consortium's ongoing survey of IT executives and managers on the nature of their IT outsourcing, we asked whether companies had transferred responsibility for a system from one service provider to another. A fairly large number (59%) had not, indicating that there is not a high level of experience in this area (see Figure 1).

Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends and Impacts Advisory Service's Assertion #47 states:

Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends and Impacts Advisory Service's Assertion #47 states:

Nothing in life is perfect, although software development practitioners persist in seeking the elusive (and presumably mythical) silver bullet. Experience shows that as soon as one stubborn obstacle is overcome, another generally looms into sight behind it.

Nothing in life is perfect, although software development practitioners persist in seeking the elusive (and presumably mythical) silver bullet. Experience shows that as soon as one stubborn obstacle is overcome, another generally looms into sight behind it.

Editor's note: A recent assertion from the Cutter Business Technology Council states, "Loss of core competencies will continue. Outsourcing of core competencies will continue and will continue to fail." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Editor's note: A recent assertion from the Cutter Business Technology Council states, "Loss of core competencies will continue. Outsourcing of core competencies will continue and will continue to fail." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Editor's note: A recent assertion from the Cutter Business Technology Council states, "Loss of core competencies will continue. Outsourcing of core competencies will continue and will continue to fail." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

We're in a period of belt-tightening -- cutting expenses, reducing staff, and decreasing the number of projects we're working on. Managing our project portfolios is one of the hardest problems in IT, and one of the most necessary, because there are always more possible projects than there are people and time to do them.

Respondents to Cutter Consortium's latest Business-IT Strategies Survey, which focuses on e-business and IT alignment, tend to take a formal approach to IT in general and e-business in particular. This is reflected in the fact that 81% of respondents have a formal IT strategy, and 57% have a formal e-business strategy.

Most of the attention pertaining to application service providers (ASPs) has been focused on companies using them to outsource their transaction processing applications and services (Web hosting, human resources, payroll, processing, etc.). Very little discussion has taken place regarding the extent to which companies are embracing the ASP model for outsourcing their customer relationship management (CRM) operations.

A year ago, Cutter Consortium surveyed IT executives and managers about the nature of their IT outsourcing. Were they using sole source arrangements or engaging multiple service providers? How many vendors did they involve? An overwhelming 83% of respondents used more than one external service provider. In fact, most used three or more.

A year ago, Cutter Consortium surveyed IT executives and managers about the nature of their IT outsourcing. Were they using sole source arrangements or engaging multiple service providers? How many vendors did they involve? An overwhelming 83% of respondents used more than one external service provider. In fact, most used three or more.

People -- especially skilled, knowledgeable people -- are in great demand today. Organizations are recognizing that fact and trying to react. As a result, concepts like human capital are increasingly popular. Recently, the Cutter Business Technology Council issued an Opinion authored by Tom DeMarco and Peter O'Farrell ( Vol. 2, No.

People -- especially skilled, knowledgeable people -- are in great demand today. Organizations are recognizing that fact and trying to react. As a result, concepts like human capital are increasingly popular. Recently, the Cutter Business Technology Council issued an Opinion authored by Tom DeMarco and Peter O'Farrell ( Vol. 2, No.