August 2012 - mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

2 ways “socialization” can improve business applications

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development

Here’s a question for you: Is social media good for business or bad for business? From the surveys I see, companies are fairly split on the issue. Some companies ban the use of social sites, while others allow it.

Regardless of your stance, don’t be so quick to dismiss the social revolution altogether. Whether or not your company chooses to ban social sites, the concepts behind social media hold some valuable benefits to your business applications.

How so? I see two ways that business’s applications can vastly improve with a little “socialization”: …

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How to build a mobile extranet

By Joe Stangarone / Extranets

You may remember the term “extranet” from back in the early 2000s. While the term may have lost traction since then, extranets are still widely used in many businesses. Today, they’re commonly known as customer-only sections, employee portals, or partner portals. It’s safe to say that most businesses probably use some sort of extranet on a daily basis.

If your business currently uses an extranet, here’s a question for you: Have you considered making it mobile?

The fact is, with the rise of mobile, extranets have the opportunity to become more useful than ever. What if you could make your employee portal, customer sections, or partner portals available as mobile web apps? Do you think your customers and partners would enjoy the added accessibility? Of course!

The best part: It’s really easy. This video explains how to create a secure extranet in just one day (with m-Power). Now, you might notice that the video doesn’t mention mobile. Here’s why: It’s automatic! m-Power automatically generates smartphone and tablet versions every time it creates a web app. So, if you follow the process outlined in that video, m-Power will create smartphone and tablet versions of your extranet automatically!

What’s really causing Shadow IT?

By Joe Stangarone / Shadow IT

It’s funny, really. We hear all of this talk about “Shadow IT”, like it’s some big new problem. The fact is, “Shadow IT” is not a new trend. It’s an old problem with a new name.

“Shadow IT” is nothing more than employees finding ways around the IT department. This usually happens when the IT department isn’t meeting the user’s needs in a timely manner.

In the past, it involved spreadsheets. If the IT department couldn’t meet the users needs fast enough, they turned to spreadsheets. Users found all sorts of uses for spreadsheets, creating forms, reports, analytical applications, and more. The fact is, spreadsheets were the original “Shadow IT”.

But, if “Shadow IT” isn’t new, why is it such a big problem all of a sudden? The way I see it, there are two reasons: …

What’s really causing Shadow IT?Read More »

Here’s a new way to save time on development (and more)

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, Web Development

What if you could save time on development, gain more control over your applications, and make your users happier…all at the same time? Sound interesting? Let’s learn how you can make this happen.

I’m going to tell you about a relatively new feature called “user rights and privileges”. It might sound technical (and a little boring), but it’s insanely useful. What is it? Here’s a basic definition: It lets you assign custom variables to any user, and then use those variables in any application.

Does that sound too technical? Here’s another way to look at it: Think of it like a data table or a spreadsheet that contains a list of user names. You can create and assign any variable to any user, and then access those variables anywhere. For example, take a look at the image below: …

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5 (more) big Business Intelligence trends of the near future

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence

I can picture it now. Twenty years or so down the road, we’ll probably be telling young business people, “Back in my day, business intelligence applications displayed data on these things called ‘computer monitors’ and couldn’t even predict the future. Also, we had to walk to work uphill both ways.” Then, everyone laughs thinking about how archaic life back in 2012 sounded.

What will business intelligence look like in twenty years? Who knows? Maybe we’ll all wear glasses that automatically display important data right in front of our eyes. Or, maybe we’ll all wear hats that send data directly to our brains. Sound crazy? Those technologies are actually being developed right now.

While we don’t know what BI will look like in 10 or 20 years, what do you think it will look like in the near future? How will business intelligence change in the next 2 or 3 years? I recently wrote up an article listing 6 important BI trends that will be important in the very near future. While I believe we can expect to see those trends in the next year or so, I’d like to go a step further in this article. What BI trends will be commonplace in the next few years? While you can always add your thoughts in the comments, I’ve put together a list of 5 such trends that we can expect to see in the next few years: …

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Have businesses fallen for Apple’s marketing?

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Mobile apps

“There’s an app for that.”

Who hasn’t heard that line by now? When Apple opened their app store back in 2008, they centered the ad campaign around that little phrase. From a marketing perspective, they were brilliant ads. They positioned the iPhone as much more than a phone. It was a device that could address most any need you were facing. Have a problem? There’s an app for that. Don’t have any problems? There’s probably an app for that too.

To put it lightly, the campaign (and the app store) was a great success. The app store now contains hundreds of thousands of apps. It recently passed its 10 billionth download. Other companies have opened their own app stores, hoping to cash in on the app trend. In short, consumers are crazy for apps.

The problem is, Apple’s marketing may have worked a little too well. …

Have businesses fallen for Apple’s marketing?Read More »

The small IT staff that’s making a big difference

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Mobile apps

Does IT matter anymore? I’ve seen that question cropping up around the web in the last month or so. Some people believe that the rise of SaaS options eliminates the need for a traditional IT department. They view IT departments as an added expense that doesn’t help the bottom line.

If you work in IT, that question must infuriate you. IT departments put in countless hours keeping the business up and running. The idea that a business would be just fine without an IT department is ridiculous.

Now, I could spend all day explaining why that question is absurd, but instead, let’s ask a better question: If the business views your IT department as an added expense, what can you do to change that perception?

While the answer to that question varies by company, let’s look at a real-life example of an IT staff that’s making a big (positive) impact on their company. This small IT department recently came up with an inexpensive way to improve employee productivity using smartphones and mobile apps. To find out how, you can read the whole story over at IBM Systems Magazine.

Month: August 2012