You'd think so ... but you'd be wrong.
There is a direct, measurable correlation between certain variables in client/server projects and the project's chances for success. That was a key finding of an exhaustive study of client/server implementations by the IBM Consulting Group. The study involved weeks-long interviews conducted at two dozen customer sites, examining client/server computing in relation to business management issues throughout the life cycle of development, implementation, and operation.
"Maximizing the odds for success in any given project requires a balance between process readiness and complexity," according to Mike Sinneck, vice president, worldwide application solutions consulting, IBM Consulting Group. "Client/server implementations magnify the need to integrate technology, people, process, and organization in order to succeed." Translation: trying to adopt client/server without re-engineering business processes in tandem is a prescription for failure.
Several conclusions reached by the study were surprising. For example, most of the applications studied were not delivered on time -- and most were over budget. Yet users of the applications were nearly always very satisfied!
Also, the study could find no evidence to support the common belief that client/server is a less costly approach for an enterprise. Nevertheless, study findings indicate that client/ server delivers demonstrable business value, especially when used to enable process re-engineering.
"Cost reduction is the least important reason to go client/server," Sinneck says. More than two-thirds of the cost of the typical client/server implementation goes to personnel related expenses; less than a quarter of such costs are related to computer hardware.
Most of the participants in the study chose client/server over a more traditional approach because of perceived improvement in speed of delivery, Sinneck reports.
In a very real sense, implementing client/ server is analogous to the pioneering voyages of discovery to the New World. As each succeeding expedition revealed a bit more about what lay beyond the horizon, subsequent explorers had a better chance of succeeding. The insights gained by the IBM Consulting Group in this study could help future client/server navigators chart a safe passage through potentially risky shoals.