Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
with each other. This led to the creation of silo-type systems. As it was a very inef-
ficient method of interdepartmental communication, slowly these systems started
to be connected with each other through some integration technologies.
The roles of these internal MIS and IT departments have changed completely over
the last 50 years. After commercial ERPs were introduced in the 1970s, companies
started to implement these ERPs instead of developing custom applications for their
needs. But still a lot of their IT system requirements were not met by these early ERPs.
Some applications were still being developed by these internal IT departments.
Nowadays these internal MIS and IT departments act as sourcing agencies as
well as are responsible for maintaining IT systems that were implemented for their
companies. Most of the applications are now procured from software vendors, and
there is little scope for custom software development. So these departments have
now become expert at evaluating software applications available in the market and
finding best solutions for their companies. The number of services companies who
provide evaluation services for these IT departments has also mushroomed. Some
of these services companies also provide ready-made templates and questionnaires
that can help these IT departments to evaluate software vendors and their applica-
tions and choose best-fit applications themselves.
For support functions, these IT departments engage service companies who are
providing their specialized support services, though some amount of support and
maintenance work is still carried out by these IT departments.
For software testing, these departments are doing software testing from the cli-
ent perspective. They also outsource software testing to third-party service provid-
ers. Many times software testing is done by the implementing service provider.
To reduce costs, software vendors themselves have been outsourcing software
product development and software testing to service providers. In such situations,
the software vendor keeps some amount of software development, architecture
development, and software testing with itself and outsources large parts of these
activities to its partners. The software vendor controls activities of its service partner
through elaborate service level agreements.
From the service provider's point of view, each account is crucial. So they form
a dedicated team for both software development and software testing. To ensure
that their work is of the highest quality, they adhere to best practices norms for all
of their processes which are available to the industry. They assess their processes for
the capability maturity model for software development, the test maturity model
for software testing, and other such industry certifications. These service providers
have developed a well-defined software development life cycle (SDLC) model and
software testing life cycle (STLC) model, which help them to ensure that their
clients have confidence that whatever their partners are working on is getting done
with the highest quality. Excellent quality of work also ensures that customers of
these software vendors have a good product implemented and they are satisfied.
This helps the software vendor to have good confidence in their products by the
market, and it also ensures that support costs for their product get reduced.
