T&E System Vendors Ponder Java
<B> T&E System Vendors Ponder Java</B>
By Lynn Woods
Vendors of automated expense reporting products that are introducing new Web-enabled versions fall into two camps: those offering traditional or "blended" applications, such as HTML or a mix of HTML and Java, and those coming out with cutting-edge 100 percent Java applications.
No one denies that Java is the solution of the future. What's at issue is how well such a far-sighted application meets the needs of the corporate marketplace now.
Supporters of the blended camp say that providing a full Java solution is premature, given the technological realities of most corporations. A Web application that combines HTML and Java is the most practical solution, they argue, because it uses browsers that employees already have on their PCs, in a format that is familiar to them.
In the blended camp are Portable Software, which this month is introducing its XMS/3 product in a combination of HTML and Java; Captura Software, whose Employee Payables is written in Active X; Automated Reimbursement Service, with a browser interface that allows users of its client-server based Travel Expense Reporter to access the Web; and U.S. Bank, whose new CARE (Customer Automated Reporting Environment) product, scheduled to begin beta tests this June, uses a mix of Java and Active X to enable users to close accounts, change reporting hierarchies and do other simple management tasks through the Internet.
Besides the issue of Java's requiring a 4.0 Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator browser, advocates of blended solutions also cite possible slowness in transmission and problems in functionality. Said Jeanne Miller of Captura Software, "Java is not living up to its promises. The application used to cross other platforms is only partially functional."
In the 100 percent Java court, meanwhile, are T&E newcomer Extensity Inc., with a suite of cost-management and reporting products (<I>BTN</I>, Jan. 26); IBM, launching an all-Java version of Electronic Expense Reporting Solution in the second quarter of this year; and Necho Systems Corp., whose NavigatER 4.1 is a true Java expense reporting solution.
Java users maintained the application is easy to use and doesn't present a problem to employees accustomed to Windows. Furthermore, the ability to use it off-line is a major advantage, and the Java system is more secure than an HTML application.
Said Michael Godley, director of business development for Necho Systems, "NavigatER further enhances the security of code upgrades and data routing, and makes them virtually unbreakable. The security of HTML applications is typically limited by the security defined at the browser level."
One corporation moving to an all-Java T&E reporting product is Bristol-Myers Squibb, which in April will become the first beta site for the intranet version of IBM's EERS. The product will be used at BMS's multiple U.S. headquarters, serving a total of 16,000 employees utilizing Lotus Notes or ccMail. BMS director of treasury services and state tax compliance Bill McDonald said that one of the enormous benefits of a Web-based product is its instant updating capability. In the past, "if we hired 500 or 600 people, the company address book wouldn't get updated. Now that will happen instantly," he said.
McDonald said there are other advantages as well, including a prompting feature that's faster than scrolling through multiple screens. Using Java, "the screens are sharper and the application is easier to use. Right now, after a traveler fills out an expense report, the system asks, 'Who pays?' With the new product, if you put in the amount, the system asks at the bottom of the screen whether you want payment to go to the card company." The main unanswered question, McDonald said, is whether the Netscape browser is as fast as the double-click function employees use now on the LAN application.
With IBM's new alliance with Sabre BTS, corporate customers like BMS also will be able to have their expense reports prepopulated with booking information--a capability that Portable Software also can offer its clients through its partnership with American Express. Meanwhile, IBM is rolling out its EERS product in Australia and Canada.