SAN JOSE — New software at Hewlett-Packard Co. was supposed to get orders processed faster at the computer giant. Instead, a botched deployment cut into earnings in a big way in August and executives were fired.
Last month, a system that controls communications between airliners and controllers in Southern California shut down because some maintenance had not been performed. A backup also failed, triggering potential peril.
Other recent computer code foul-ups delayed financial aid to university students in Indiana and caused retailer Ross Stores Inc.'s profit to plummet 40% after a merchandise-tracking system failed.
Such problems are often blamed on bad software, but the cause is rarely bad programming. "In 90% of the cases, it's because the implementer did a bad job, training was bad, the whole project was poorly done," said Joshua Greenbaum, principal analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley. "At which point, you have a real 'garbage in, garbage out' problem."
As governments, businesses and other organizations become more reliant on technology, the consequences of software failures are rarely trivial. Entire businesses -- and even lives -- are at stake.
"The limit we're hitting is the human limit, not the limit of software," Greenbaum said. "Technology has gotten ahead of our organizational and command capabilities in many cases. It's amazing when you go into companies and see the kinds of battles that go on."
Often, the first step leading to a failure is taken before the first line of computer code is drawn up. Organizations must map out exactly how they do business, refining procedures along the way. All this must be clearly explained to a project's technical team.
"The risk associated with these projects is not around software but is around the actual business process redesign that takes place," said Bill Wohl, a spokesman for software giant SAP. "These projects require very strong executive leadership, very talented consulting resources and a very focused effort if the project is to be successful."
A 2002 study commissioned by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found software bugs cost the U.S. economy about $59.5 billion annually. The same study found that more than a third of that cost -- about $22.2 billion -- could be eliminated by improving testing.
