Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software
Summary: It has been a crazy ride over the past few years–especially for CIOs. They’re faced with a job that’s both more important and more challenging than ever. How will you address the challenges in the coming year? In this article, we explore 5 challenges that CIOs and IT leaders should watch in 2023.
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5 Big Challenges Facing CIOs and IT Leaders in 2023Read More »
In honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we decided to celebrate in true m-Power fashion: We made a data-driven web application! Better yet, it’s all about Thanksgiving Football! We grabbed all the Thanksgiving Football Game statistics we could find and put them in a database. Then, we created a few handy web applications that answer questions like:
Sounds exciting, right? You can find it here: Thanksgiving Football Statistics.
While we were building the applications, we ran across some great facts about the Thanksgiving Day football games. So, we’ve pulled some of the more interesting “fun facts” and listed them below. Enjoy!
Thanksgiving Football Fun Facts
Finally, from all of us here at mrc, we wish you safe travels and a very happy Thanksgiving!
In this article, we’ll explore actionable ways that your business can improve productivity. Since this is such a broad topic, I’m focusing only on improving productivity through the use of technology.
In the spirit of productivity, I don’t want to hide these tips behind a long intro. Rather, let’s get straight to the point with a couple of notes before we dive in.
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5 (unique) ways to improve business productivity with technologyRead More »
There are many myths floating around about low-code software. One of the most common myths: Low-code means low customization. There’s a general belief that low-code tools offer limited customization and functionality. Many believe there’s no way to add features or customize the output to perfectly fit their organization’s needs.
The reality: Every low-code platform is different, especially when it comes to customization. The problem is, when people use a basic low-code tool that limits their options, they assume that all low-code tools are similar. This isn’t the case.
The fact is, many enterprise-class low-code tools won’t have these limitations. You can customize applications however you wish. You can add custom logic or features if needed. You can even edit at the code level on some tools.
Here’s a case study that provides a great example of this. An automotive service company needed a way to create web applications and workflows that could be:
After trying other low-code tools that lacked important features and customization options, they discovered the m-Power Development Platform. Read the whole case study to learn how m-Power addressed their needs and why they say, “m-Power owns the space on customization in terms of how well it integrates into what you’re doing and how easy you make it.”
How easily (and securely) can you manage your business data? In my experience, businesses typically answer this question in one of three ways:
1.“We use spreadsheets to manage data”.
This is probably the most common response, but also the riskiest approach. Sure, spreadsheets are readily available and easy to work with. They do the job when you only have small amounts of data. The problem is that many businesses stick with this approach as their data grows. This is a mistake. Why? Spreadsheets aren’t designed to be multi-user data management tools. When you’re managing lots of data across many users, spreadsheets will waste time and lead to data errors.
2. “We don’t really have a good way for users to manage data.”
In many companies, data just sits in the database–inaccessible to business users. Sure, the IT department can run reports and make changes but no one else can.
3. “We have a web-based database management system.”
This is the ideal response. A web-based data management system provides a secure way for end users to manage database tables using a web browser. Security is in place to ensure that users can’t see or manage data that they’re not authorized to manage.
If you don’t have a web-based data management system yet, how do you create one? We’ve recently published a video that walks you through the whole process. In this video, we create three different applications that let users view and manage their database tables from a web browser. Then, we’ll add security to ensure that only specific users can modify the database. Finally, we’ll wrap everything up into a data management portal so users can easily access all of the applications. All this in 7 minutes! You can watch it here:
Want to learn more? Set up a demo here: Set up a demo.
Summary: Low-code development tools are seeing an uptick in adoption rates. The problem is, many businesses don’t fully understand low-code before they dive in…which leads to unpleasant surprises and expensive ‘gotchas’. In this article, we explain 10 things you should know about low-code to help minimize these surprises.
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Businesses collect and have access to more data than ever before. It’s a huge opportunity. They can analyze this data and use it to guide their strategic decisions.
The problem is, many businesses aren’t taking advantage of this opportunity. I see them making a couple of common mistakes with their data:
If you’re dealing with either of these issues, here’s a video to check out. It shows you how easily you can create web reports using a database reporting tool. In just under 7 minutes, you’ll see 3 different reporting types created…all without coding!
Want to learn more? Set up a demo here: Set up a demo.
If end-user reporting is a burden on your IT department, you’re certainly not alone. The question is…how can you reduce the amount of time your IT department spends creating end-user reports?
One way to fix the problem: Create canned reports with run-time options for end users. This lets your users quickly access the data they need, while reducing the time your IT department spends creating reports.
Here’s how it works: Your IT department creates the initial reports with run-time filters for the users. The users can select which data to display, or filter their data however they wish when they run the report. With the right run-time filters, users can use a single report in many different ways. …
5 canned reports that take the reporting burden off of ITRead More »
Since the term was first coined by Forrester back in 2014, low-code software has really picked up steam. The pandemic (and the subsequent move to remote work) only furthered its adoption.
The recent spike in low-code usage got me thinking: What does the low-code market look like now? Where will it be in a few years? How are modern businesses using low-code?
To answer those questions, I did some research. I’ve found many different low-code reports, studies, and surveys and compiled those statistics into this article. One thing to keep in mind while you’re reading: Some of these surveys and statistics say similar things, especially when it comes to predictions. I included them because they help paint a complete picture. Low-code is growing and will continue to grow in the coming years. How much will it grow? That’s hard to say. But multiple studies and research firms agree on one thing: The low-code market isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
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38 important low-code statistics and facts for 2022Read More »
If you’re at all considering low-code software, there are a few things you must understand:
First, there are hundreds of low-code tools available these days…and new ones are constantly popping up. You can’t possibly evaluate every option.
Second, they’re all different. This is a big deal because most people think low-code tools are generally the same. They’re not. They have different features, interfaces, and development approaches. Some are great in certain areas but poor in others. Some are customizable. Others are not. As a result, comparing your options is tricky. Depending on your needs, some tools will fit better than others.
Finally, there’s really a lot to know about development tools in general. The problem is, not everything is obvious until you really get into them…some of which will come back to bite you if you’re not prepared.
The big question: What ‘not-so-obvious’ areas should you look at in a low-code tool?
We created a video to help you answer that question. We’ve compiled our best advice into 5 important questions to help you identify the ideal low-code platform for your business. You can watch it right here:
Okay, so you’ve been asked to create a business dashboard. Where do you start? How can you create a dashboard that is equal parts powerful and amazing?
Before you do anything, you must define a clear objective. You must understand who plans on using the dashboard, why they want a dashboard, and what they hope to get from this dashboard. You’ll want to pull very specific objectives out of the future users. Don’t settle for generic answers like, “We want to see sales data.” Get specific. You can’t develop a clear objective without very specific goals.
Okay, so you have the specifics, you know the objective, and you’ve mapped out a plan for this dashboard. How can you make it great? Here are 5 tips for you: …
When it comes to budgeting, one size rarely fits all. Most businesses want budgets that work the way they work, rather than trying to adapt their processes to fit within the constraints of their budgeting software.
The problem: Creating a custom budgeting solution is time-consuming and expensive…so they make do with tools that don’t exactly fit their needs. Or, they just fill the gaps with spreadsheets.
But…what if you could create custom budgeting software easily? It’s not as difficult or time-consuming as you might imagine, and we made a video to show you how it’s done. In this video, we’ll show you how easily you can create custom budgeting and forecasting applications…without coding. In just 15 minutes, we’ll create:
This video walks you through the whole process from start to finish and explains each step along the way. Watch it below to learn how easily you can create custom budgeting and forecasting tools for your business.
Want to learn more? Set up a demo here: Set up a demo.
** This guest post was written by Jason Richardson. Learn more about Jason in the author bio at the end of this post. **
COVID-19, digital transformation, and rising global competition are just a few of the reasons why planning for the next financial year is essential to your company’s success. Business process management (BPM) is an excellent framework for understanding how your company operates today and, more importantly, how you may improve it in the future. BPA’s rapid growth will significantly speed up as we approach 2022.
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Summary: Web application development is changing and becoming increasingly important. What can we expect for 2022? How will web application development evolve and what areas should you focus on? In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the biggest web app dev trends to monitor in the coming year.
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7 Web Application Development Trends to Watch in 2022Read More »
Composable applications are business apps that are made of reusable, modular components. They use ‘building blocks’ which can be reused across other applications.
Now, this isn’t a new concept. The idea of modular application development has been around for years. But, why is it so important right now? Why are analyst firms like Gartner pushing the composable concept recently? According to Gartner, it’s so important because “Composability helps you keep up with the accelerating pace of business change.”
They’re absolutely correct. We’re living in a time of rapid change. Agility is more important than ever. A ‘composable’ approach to application development helps businesses adapt to change at lightning speed. It helps your business deliver new applications in hours/days instead of months/weeks.
The next question: How do you create composable applications? Is it difficult to build all of those reusable blocks? Rather than try to explain it to you, we just put together a new video that walks you through the whole process from start to finish. You can watch it below:
Want to learn more? Set up a demo here: Set up a demo.
Summary: It’s been a challenging past 2 years for many businesses. CIOs and IT leaders were forced to adapt on the fly as the pandemic stretched on. Many receieved a rude awakening–realizing that they didn’t have the technologies in place to adapt. The big question: What technologies will have the biggest impact on the business world in the coming year? In this article, we explore a few more technologies that the modern CIO cannot afford to ignore.
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5 Technologies that CIOs and IT Leaders Can’t Ignore in 2022Read More »
