2013 – Page 6 – mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Weekly recap: 10 development predictions, the need for adaptable ERPs, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, ERP Systems

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on application development predictions, why ERP systems must adapt to business changes, and more. I hope you find them useful:

SMEs must be able to adapt their ERP to business change
A recent study by Aberdeen Group highlights the importance of being able to react quickly/inexpensively to business change without major disruptions. In a growing organization, change is inevitable, and companies stuck with inflexible ERP systems will ultimately suffer. If your company is stuck with an outdated ERP system, this guide outlines one way to fix that problem. …

Weekly recap: 10 development predictions, the need for adaptable ERPs, and more…Read More »

Why development projects fail (and what can IT do about it?)

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, Development Tools, Web Development

Depending on the survey you read, anywhere from 25% – 68% of IT projects fail. These failures often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, waste months (or years) of time, and usually lead to people losing their jobs.

The big question: Why do projects fail so regularly?

Today, I’d like to examine IT project failure, but focus specifically on development projects. Why do development projects fail? Perhaps a better question: What can your IT department do to make them succeed?

To help shed some light on why development projects fail, we posed the question to a few experts on the subject. I’ve listed their advice below, as well as a short “take-away” from each point that briefly explains how IT can avoid each problem. I hope you find it useful: …

Why development projects fail (and what can IT do about it?)Read More »

Build web-based pivot tables (and more) without programming

By Joe Stangarone / Web Development

If your development process is too slow, or if you just want to build web applications without programming, you should really sign up for a free m-Power Trial. It’s completely free, and guides you through the process of creating enterprise web applications using m-Power.

Here’s the best part: We’ve recently updated the m-Power Trial with additional guides to walk you through the creation of even more types of web applications! Now, Trial users can build any (or all) of these web app types:

1. Web-based pivot tables (like this example),
2. Interactive reports (like this example),
3. Database CRUD applications (like this example), and
4. Database lookup applications (like this example).

Each application only takes about 15-30 minutes to build, and the whole process is entirely point-and-click. Want to get started? Sign up for a free m-Power Trial right here.

Weekly recap: 5 ways devops can help companies, tablets outsell PCs, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, Mobile, Shadow IT

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on how devops can help companies create applications faster, why “Shadow IT” must be embraced, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Shadow IT: Once hidden, often hated, but well worth embracing
The concept of “Shadow IT” is becoming more and more prevalent. Tired of waiting around for the IT department, end users are now buying and using SaaS services without the IT department’s knowledge or approval. IT departments are scrambling to adjust, driven by the fear of being bypassed altogether. The solution: Give users a development platform that meets their needs, while giving the IT department control over data and user access. …

Weekly recap: 5 ways devops can help companies, tablets outsell PCs, and more…Read More »

4 steps to create a more agile IT department

By Joe Stangarone / Application Architecture, Shadow IT

Many IT departments have developed a reputation of being slow and difficult. They make users jump through hoops and then take months to deliver requested solutions. The business users often feel like IT stands in their way, or even holds them back.

The problem is, business users now have other options. Many are bypassing IT altogether and using unsanctioned SaaS options to accomplish their goals. If IT can’t (or won’t) deliver solutions in a timely manner, they find another way.

IT departments have no choice: They must become more agile and responsive to the business user’s needs, or risk being bypassed.

The question is…how? How can a slow IT department become more agile and responsive?

We posed that question to a few industry experts, who delivered some excellent advice. You can read their tips below, as well as some of my own. I hope you find them useful: …

4 steps to create a more agile IT departmentRead More »

Think your outdated ERP keeps you from mobile apps? Think again…

By Joe Stangarone / ERP Systems, Mobile apps

“We’d love to build mobile apps, but we can’t because our business runs on an ancient ERP system.” I’ve heard that phrase (or variations of the phrase) with increasing frequency recently. Many people think that mobile apps (or modern apps in general) aren’t even an option because their business still runs on an outdated enterprise system.

If you’re in that boat, I have some good news: You can still build mobile apps even if you’re tied to an old system. Better yet, you can even integrate these modern apps directly with your enterprise system…all without any modifications to the underlying code. To learn more, check out this video:

What to look for in a good Business Intelligence solution

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) solutions come in all shapes and sizes. Some emphasize architecture while others tout their flashy interface. Some cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others cost hundreds.

With all of these options, how do you separate the good from the bad?

We just released a BI Guide aimed at helping you do just that. It outlines which essential features and capabilities make a good BI solution, and even separates each feature into 4 different categories:

High-level features

Security features

Must-have applications

Advanced features

The guide is free and you can download it right here: Essential features to look for in a good Business Intelligence solution. I hope you find it useful.

Application architecture: Ignore at your own risk

By Joe Stangarone / Application Architecture

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the world of business web applications. It seems that emphasis is shifting away from application architecture and shifting towards application design. These days, flashy interfaces beat out well-built web applications.

Why is this happening? I recently read an article over on techrepublic.com that highlights a major factor driving this trend: End user’s expectations are rising. They expect enterprise applications to be as well-designed and easy to use as the apps and tools they use every day. After all, if their enterprise applications don’t meet their expectations, there are plenty of other web services they can use.

Now, I get it. I understand the problems this creates for businesses. But, in the rush to please the end users with well-designed interfaces, let’s not forget about the most important aspect of business applications: Architecture.

For business web applications, architecture is infinitely more important than design. While application architecture might be invisible to the business users, the effects of application architecture are clear as day.

Let me try to highlight a few tangible benefits of good architecture, and help you understand why ignoring it might be the worst mistake your business can make. To help drive this home, I solicited feedback from a few experts in the field of application architecture. You can find their responses below, along with 5 big reasons why application architecture is so important. …

Application architecture: Ignore at your own riskRead More »

Stuck with an outdated application? Here’s a solution.

By Joe Stangarone / enterpri, ERP Systems

Many companies face this issue: They’re stuck to an outdated enterprise system (like an ERP). The reasons vary. It might be the
– cost to upgrade,
– the high degree to which they’ve customized the package, or
– the fact that their application vendor is out of business.

But the problem remains. These companies are locked into their current software.

Meanwhile the world is changing at an ever increasing rate. Their applications are looking and feeling dated, and the company is falling behind their competition.

Is your company facing this problem? If so, here’s a new guide that might help: 21 ways m-Power will improve your enterprise systems. It outlines and explains m-Power’s unique approach to enterprise system integration, what types of modern features it lets you add to your existing system.

5 ways software vendors try to trick you

By Joe Stangarone / Software Purchasing Advice

While speaking with one of our customers a few years back, he remarked that our software didn’t have any “gotchas”–bad surprises that spring up after the purchase. In dealing with software vendors for many years, he told me that he had come to expect “gotchas” in all software purchases.

In other words, he actually expected that software vendors were trying to trick him. I don’t know about you, but that makes me sad. Should a customer be surprised when software does what it’s supposed to do, and costs what they expect it to cost? Of course not!

Perhaps a better question: How did it get to this point?

I think much of it starts with pricing. Business software licensing models aren’t exactly straightforward. In fact, they’re downright confusing. I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years, and I still run across licensing structures that confuse me.

The problem is, many of the licensing structures are confusing by design. Vendors lure buyers in with cheap price tags, only to sneak in a few “gotchas” when it’s time to buy, or after the purchase.

I’d like to help you avoid these unpleasant surprises. I’ve listed below 5 common vendor tricks to watch out for when buying business software: …

5 ways software vendors try to trick youRead More »

Building an executive dashboard over an aging ERP system

By Joe Stangarone / Business Dashboards, ERP Systems

If your company runs on an aging ERP system or has difficulty connecting disparate data sources, here’s a great success story you’ll want to read. A manufacturing company needed a centralized place to access reports on the web. The challenge: It needed to integrate with their aging ERP system and pull data from 9 separate plants. The additional challenge: No one on their IT staff had any experience building web applications.

The result: They built a custom, web-based executive dashboard that pulled data from their 9 separate plants and integrated with their ERP system…in just 12 weeks. To find out how they did it, you can read the whole story right here.

Weekly recap: 10 things to improve application development, HTML5 tutorials, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, HTML5, Mobile

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on how to improve application development, HTML5 tutorials, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Mobile developers look to cross platform development tools
A recent report highlights the current trends in mobile application development. As it turns out, developers are turning to tools that let them build one application for all platforms, rather than building separate applications for each platform. …

Weekly recap: 10 things to improve application development, HTML5 tutorials, and more…Read More »

5 uncommon reporting features that will impress your boss

By Joe Stangarone / web reporting

When your boss (or any other executive in your company) asks for a web report, what do you create? Do you create a standard web report that displays the necessary data, includes some interactive charts and graphs, and lets the user drill down to more details?

Those are all nice features, but they’re fairly standard. What can you do to make that report really stand out? What can you do to make your boss say, “Wow!”?

I have some ideas that might help you. If you want to create reports that really stand out, they should… …

5 uncommon reporting features that will impress your bossRead More »

Turn procedural character based programs into event driven web apps (in 3 minutes)

By Joe Stangarone / Modernization

Is your company still using those outdated character based programs? If so, here’s a short video you’ll want to watch. It explains the limitations of character based programs, a couple of different approaches to modernizing those programs, and even walks you through the process of turning a character based program into a modern web app. All that in under 3 minutes! I hope you find it useful.

Note: This video is best viewed in 720p(HD) resolution at full screen. Click the “gear” icon below the video to change the resolution.

Weekly recap: 2013 IT priorities, why BI is failing businesses, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence, Tech trends

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on why BI is failing business, 2013 IT priorities, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why business intelligence software is failing business
While the need for business intelligence is growing, many BI solutions don’t adequately meet the company’s needs. Why not? This article highlights a few reasons, like poor usability and a lack of personalized notifications and alerts. BI software should be simple to use and should automatically alert users when certain data thresholds are met. …

Weekly recap: 2013 IT priorities, why BI is failing businesses, and more…Read More »

How to get the most out of a small IT staff

By Joe Stangarone / Productivity tools

According to our 2012 survey of IT professionals and IT management, small IT staffs are one of the biggest barriers to success. In the survey, we asked two questions:
1. What are the biggest problems or challenges that your company deals with?
2. What keeps you from addressing those challenges?

Can you guess some of the most common answers to question #2? Most of them sounded something like this:
– We don’t have enough staff
– No time
– IT staff is too small

While IT department size is a perpetual problem for many companies, it seems to be getting worse. More and more companies point to limited staff as the reason they can’t accomplish what they want to accomplish.

So, if your company is dealing with this problem, what’s the answer? How can you get the most out of your small IT department? To help you out, we posed this question to some people who deal with small IT staffs on a regular basis. I’ve included their advice below, as well as some of my own. I hope you find it useful. …

How to get the most out of a small IT staffRead More »

mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Year: 2013