In 2013, roughly one third of businesses will increase their IT outsourcing budgets. Chief Information Officers and CEOs, from small businesses to large enterprises, are planning to up their spending on the outsourcing of web/e-commerce platforms, application...
Software companies often choose to rollout new products by having their developers work directly with beta test customers. But is this really a good idea? Not really, but let's understand why not, and then consider a couple of best practices if you just have to do it...
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into software engineering and automation is revolutionizing the software industry. This integration is enhancing how teams develop, deploy, and manage software. Our team is sharing how transformative the impact of AI is...
Agile teams are under constant pressure to deliver high-quality products quickly. Unfortunately, the increasing number of tools teams rely on can become overwhelming. These teams need tools for version control, testing, deployment, project management, collaboration,...
The conversation surrounding platform engineering is growing louder in the software delivery sphere. While DevOps has been the main focus in recent years, platform engineering may be the next big trend. DevOps focuses on integrating development and operations for...
In a recent post, I spent a few minutes with Windows 8 and Office 2013 using a Dell Latitude ST -- and in my excitement over the launch of a new Microsoft tablet, I purchased a Microsoft Surface running Windows 8 RT hoping to see how it performs in an...
At this year's Electric Cloud Summit there was big focus on Agile software development practices. Even a casual look at Electric Cloud's product line, which includes ElectricAccelerator, ElectricCommander, and most recently ElectricDeploy, will make it obvious that...
To succeed in any market, a company needs to innovate, pioneer and push out the borders. The recent one-year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs reminds of one of the tech industries greatest comeback stories. Apple's key to success, other than the charisma of Jobs...
Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development methodology that uses small and frequent incremental changes to the code base, which are incorporated into a rapid build and test environment. Each change integrated into the source repository is verified by the...
Outsourcing IT, technical and engineering related tasks, rather than employing extra staff, is a cost effective way of staying flexible in an ever changing market and economy. However, one big question that needs to be answered is; does your outsourcing company have...
As an IT engineering expert for SPK and associates, a California based IT services company, I write blog posts on topics such as Software Configuration Management and other Engineering Applications. This week I’d like to blog about my experiences in upgrading...
At SPK and Associates we are often asked for direction with respect to versioning control systems. The management of software and related artifacts is core to your development process and a key factor in determining the operational productivity of your...