Stories by Mike Heck

Real-Time Window on Your Web Server

With i-commerce fast becoming the linchpin of many organizations' sales efforts, it's imperative for you to know how well your Web servers and applications are performing. Alas, this data is hard to find -- often requiring lengthy analysis of server log files or the installation of software that degrades server performance.

Product review: Project 2000 leverages the Web

Many enterprises view project management as a top-down process, so there's little opportunity for feedback from those who perform the actual tasks. Still, this situation isn't totally the fault of your executives. To date, project-management software hasn't been very team-centered; nor do most desktop packages permit data from smaller subprojects to be easily consolidated for corporatewide reporting and analysis.

Product Review: Tools target online customers

Many companies, especially mid-size ones with little experience selling online, see electronic commerce as a cure-all for sagging sales. But this mistakenly downplays other aspects of online business that directly affect customers, such as sales, customer service, and marketing. Further, many vendors omit these traditional front-office functions from their e-commerce software offerings.

Product Review: DocuShare handles large data collections

Document management applications form the backbone of many corporate intranets and extranets for good reason: they can extend the file-sharing capabilities that typically reside on LAN servers to anyone with Web access. Xerox's DocuShare 2.0 is a strong example of this type of solution. This easy-to-use program puts the control of shared documents directly in users' hands, offering the drag-and-drop usability of a networked drive, plus browser and client software document management features such as version control and full-text search.

Product review: FormFlow 99 creates secure 'e-forms' for Web

JetForm has always offered tools to ease the designing and routing of electronic forms. FormFlow 99 is the first JetForm offering specifically for the Web. The release of FormFlow 99 marks the company's move away from proprietary form and data formats to Internet standards, a trend consistent with other data format vendors. Further, FormFlow 99's adherence to the Component Object Model standard means that developers can use it to build front ends for legacy applications.

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