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Entire contents Copyright © 1999 Business Insurance

"RMIS Owners Not Clicking With Windows 95"
Business Insurance, August 21, 1995

By Sara Marley

Windows 95 is expected to fly off the shelves of computer stores this Thursday, but most risk managers aren't quite ready to toss their old operating systems.

Microsoft Corp.'s much-touted new operating system has not caught the fancy of many risk managers, who are concerned about its reliability and ability to run risk management information systems that have not been written expressly for the new operating system.

"I personally have found that the Windows 95 improvements and enhancements are superfluous to our operations,'' said Jeffrey W. Pettegrew, vp-risk management of Western Staff Services Inc. in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Both Windows and Windows 95 are point-and-click systems, in which the user manipulates a "mouse'' to drag an on-screen pointer over to the appropriate icon and select the desired option.

Western Staff Services is happy with its current Windows-based RMIS.

"We will use what we have until there is a substantial change that truly benefits our operations from a risk management viewpoint,'' Mr. Pettegrew added. ``We're not anxious to incorporate what could be a burden. There are more bells and whistles, but it drains a lot of memory and there may be flaws.''

Mr. Pettegrew's attitude echoes what several RMIS vendors are hearing from their clients.

"Corporate America is not breaking down the doors'' for Windows 95, said David P. Duden, director of marketing for Corporate Systems Ltd. in Amarillo, Texas. ``A lot of our clients have a `look and see' attitude. It's a lot of adjustment to get to Windows 95, more training and resources.''

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft projects that between 20% and 25% of U.S. corporations will jump to Windows 95 right away. The rest will evaluate the system and wait until future upgraded versions are issued.

Until companies purchase all new software, their computers may run faster and look somewhat better, but they won't be able to use some of Windows 95's intended ``multitasking'' enhancements.

Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp. delayed implementing a new RMIS system until its vendor, Anistics Inc., could provide a Windows system. But the entire corporation will hold off on switching to Windows 95.

"Norwest is going to test it for six months to a year before they decide,'' said Allan P. Harris, risk management analyst at Norwest. ``Until our vendor switches, I can't see a lot of advantages.''

Some corporations may choose the Windows NT server instead, which is geared toward business users but has the same look and feel as Windows 95 to the user.

"Corporate America is leaning more toward NT than Windows 95,'' said Ted Burns, vp of product development for DAVID Corp. in San Francisco. ``Microsoft is really giving price breaks there.''

Some companies will have to make significant hardware improvements in order to run Windows 95.

Microsoft says Windows 95 will run on a computer with a 386 processor and 4 megabytes of system memory, or RAM, but the preferred configuration is a 486 processor with 8 megs of memory, Mr. Burns said.

Mark E. Dorn, president and CEO of Dorn Technology Group Inc., is recommending 16 megs of RAM to run the operating system.

Most of the Livonia, Mich.-based RMIS vendor's clients already have either 8 or 16 megs, he noted.

The required hardware improvements also concern Mr. Pettegrew of Western Staff Services. Not all of his department's PCs could even accommodate 16 megabytes of RAM and buying additional memory would be a more significant financial outlay than the cost of purchasing the Windows 95 operating system.

Another hindrance to switching to Windows 95 now is that most software that risk managers use will run on the new operating system though it is not specifically designed to take full advantage of the new system's features.

RMIS vendors report that their product versions for Windows 95 are expected to be released later this year.

"We are redeveloping our entire product line for Windows 95 and Windows NT,'' DAVID's Mr. Burns said.

"We've been writing software to leverage'' the improvements on the new operating system, Mr. Dorn said.

Dorn Technology's June release of Riskmaster/Win 2.0 already utilizes the ``common look and feel'' of Windows 95.

Corporate Systems also is developing Windows 95 software.

"As soon as (clients) ask for it, we will be able to make a transition quickly,'' Mr. Duden said. ``We recommend they wait until the bugs come out. Windows 96 will probably have fewer.''

Updated versions of new operating systems often are released about six months after the original, Mr. Burns noted.

Transition time also is keeping some businesses from embracing Windows 95 this year. Coming out relatively late in the year could make it difficult to have the operating system running smoothly before year-end reports are due.

Despite identifying many reasons why clients should wait to make the leap to Windows 95, RMIS vendors expect it to be the operating system of the future.

Many have been testing Windows 95 for months and have favorable reports.

"No. 1, it's reliable. No. 2, it runs Windows and DOS applications faster,'' Mr. Dorn said. Dorn Technology's Riskmaster for Windows will run on the new system, he said.

Applications can run in protected mode, which makes it harder to interrupt functions. It has better user interfaces than the current Windows, making it easier to ``cascade through menus faster,'' Mr. Dorn said. Users will have easier access to different parts of the system, shortcuts to creating new icons and find key files accessible via a main menu bar.

"The learning curve for the end user is not substantial,'' Mr. Dorn said. ``At this price point, it's reasonable. We have tested it for nine months and not seen any level of bugs or errors.''

The price for commercial users will be negotiable, depending upon how many users and computers a business has.

It will retail for $85 to $109 for individual use.