mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software

Author name: Joe Stangarone

Joe Stangarone is a 40+ year veteran of the IT industry and president of mrc—the software company behind the award winning development platform, m-Power. Joe shares his leadership and technology insights through the Cup of Joe Blog, focusing primarily on ways businesses can save time, money, and increase productivity using technology.

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Weekly recap: Why big IT projects fail, a wake-up call for CIOs, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 big IT projects fail so often, a new look at the “native vs. mobile web” debate, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Smartphones: Business Risk or Opportunity
Business owners, CIOs, and IT leaders face a dilemma: How to harness the efficiencies of mobile devices while defusing the security risks. The fact is, many end users just don’t practice safe security habits. Those end users could very well compromise your company, unless you approach mobile the right way. My advice: The same thing I’ve said for the last couple of years. Treat the device like a thin client and use mobile web apps. This approach doesn’t store data on the device itself, and lets you keep your data safe behind your own firewall.
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6 common IT practices that should be eliminated

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EducationIn a past article, we explored the growing need for IT evolution and outlined 6 keys to a high-performing IT department. The fact is, keeping the lights on is no longer good enough. Modern IT organizations must move quickly, and drive the business forward.

However, I noticed a problem. While all of the keys outlined in that article will help IT departments improve performance, it ignores a critical issue: common IT practices that kill productivity and waste precious resources.

The fact is, you could follow each one of those points perfectly…yet still struggle. If your IT staff focuses its energy on time-wasting and resource-draining tasks, you’ll never drive the business forward. You’ll be caught in a never-ending cycle of being busy, yet ultimately unproductive.

So, what are these common time-wasting and resource-draining IT practices that must be eliminated? We posed that question to a few experts in the area, and have compiled their responses (as well as some of my own thoughts) below. Without further ado, here are 6 common IT practices that should be eliminated.
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The dangers of choosing the wrong reporting software

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EducationWhat’s the only thing worse than running a business without good reporting software in place? Running a business with bad reporting software in place.

The problems caused by bad reporting software can range from small inconveniences to major financial losses. For instance, bad reporting software can lead to:

  • Lost productivity
  • Wasted money
  • Security breaches
  • Flawed business decisions
  • and more…

How so? Take–for example–the most commonly used reporting tool: Spreadsheets. Why are spreadsheets a dangerous reporting option? Two reasons: They’re inefficient and dangerous:
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Weekly Recap: 10 old-school IT principles that still rule, how to leverage BI for executive reporting, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 old-school IT principles have adapted with the times, how to leverage BI, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Four ways to leverage BI for executive-level reporting
While data is growing at a rapid rate, many don’t know how to turn this data into actionable insights. Why? It boils down to a lack of appropriate tools and processes.
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Weekly Recap: 10 old-school IT principles that still rule, how to leverage BI for executive reporting, and more…Read More »

6 critical guidelines for Business Intelligence beginners

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EducationBusiness Intelligence (BI) consistently ranks as one of the top priorities in various CIO and IT surveys. A recent Gartner survey puts BI as the top CIO priority for the last two years running. Forrester comes to the same conclusion.

The fact is, many companies are (or are planning on) adopting a Business Intelligence solution for the very first time. With data growing by leaps and bounds, it’s no surprise that more businesses are looking for ways to capitalize on that data.

The only problem: Most BI implementations fail. It’s no secret. According to various surveys on the topic, anywhere from 60% – 80% of BI projects fail. Yikes.

This paints a grim picture. Implementing BI is the #1 CIO priority, and many businesses will start a BI project in the near future…but most BI projects fail.

Today, let’s explore a few ways to lower those numbers. What must companies who are new to BI do to ensure success? What critical tips should these companies follow? We posed those questions to a few experts in the field, and have compiled their advice (along with some of my own) below. Here are 6 critical tips for BI beginners:
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Weekly recap: 9 hottest mobile development skills, strategic tech trends for 2014, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 the hottest mobile development skills, Gartner’s strategic tech for 2014, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Combatting the information deluge
Information is exploding at an unprecedented rate. The burden falls on companies to not only turn that data into actionable metrics (like this user-defined dashboard, for example), but also secure and store that data.
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The need for self-service reporting

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EducationDid you know that a full 90% of the data in the world has been generated over the past two years? We’re creating more data than ever before, and this trend is only growing. The only problem: Many businesses still aren’t sure how to capitalize on all of this data.

Oftentimes, the data is inaccessible to the very people who need it most. Salespeople have no way of easily viewing their sales data. Marketing managers can’t easily create the reports they need to view prospect data. As a result, all of that data goes to waste.

The fact is, as businesses generate more data than ever before, self-service reporting becomes increasingly important. You must give your employees a way to pull that data out of your systems and turn it into meaningful management information–without going through the IT department.

Unfortunately, this is still a problem in many companies. They still force end users to go through the process of requesting reports from the IT department, and then waiting around until they’re delivered. While all too common, this process often causes 3 big problems:
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New graphs and charts (with demo)!

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AnnouncementI’m excited to announce that we’re bringing improved graphs and charts to m-Power! They’ll be available to m-Power users in the coming weeks, but if you’d like to get a glimpse of what’s in store, head on over to Crazybikes.

While you’ll find the new graphs and charts across many of the applications over on Crazybikes, you’ll see the widest variety on the User-Defined Dashboard demo. Try adding a few different charts, graphs, or gauges to the dashboard to get a glimpse of what the new m-Power charting will look like.

How will this help you? Here are a few ways:
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Pre-registration is now open for a new consulting program

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AnnouncementI’m happy to say that we’ve just opened up pre-registration for a brand new consultant program! This new program gives consultants access to a low-cost, cloud-based version of our enterprise web application development platform, m-Power.

If you’re a consultant, you’re familiar with the struggle of finding new projects. Completing the project is the fun part. It’s the lull between projects that makes consulting difficult.

Small, and one-man consulting operations have an especially difficult job. After all, they can’t afford to hire a marketing and sales to team to bring in business for them. They handle all aspects of their business themselves. The majority of their time is spent either working on projects or looking for new projects.

The problem with this arrangement: In between working on projects and finding new projects, there’s little time to keep your skills current. How can you keep up with the ever-changing technology trends if you spend all of your time working on, or looking for, projects? Why is this such a problem? Because consultants who fall behind the rapidly changing technology curve risk losing out on valuable new business in the future.

Now, larger consultant shops often address these problems with development platforms (like m-Power). This offers a number of benefits, such as:
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Weekly Recap: Hot IT skills for 2014, Blackberry’s demise, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 hot IT skills for 2014, the demise of Blackberry, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Blackberry agrees to sell itself for a measly $5 billion
In a bit of sad news this week, Blackberry agreed to sell itself for $4.7 billion (at press time, though there’s rumblings the deal might fall through), ending the company’s rapid decline over the past few years. If $4.7 billion sounds like a lot of money (which it is), consider that the company was worth $77 billion just 5 years ago.
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7 deadly sins of web application development

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EducationWhat percentage of IT projects fail? It’s hard to say. I’ve seen surveys that put the number at 25%. Others surveys push it closer to 70%. While that’s quite a range, the point is this: those numbers are far too high. Even if it is “just” 25%, that’s still 1 out of every 4 projects. That’s too many.

How can we bring those numbers down? Today, let’s focus on ways to reduce failure for one common project type: web application development projects. In this article, we’ll take a look at mistakes that hurt web application development projects. These are chronic bad habits that turn web application development projects into disasters.

What deadly sins do even the most experienced web application developers make? What common web app development mistakes crop up over and over again? We posed those questions to a few experienced developers and have compiled these answers below. Without further ado, here are 7 deadly sins of web application development:
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What killed the big companies?

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EducationWhy do 70% of the companies listed on the Fortune 1,000 list ten years ago no longer exist today? Inflexibility. They couldn’t adapt to change. In the past, big companies ate small ones. Now, fast eats big.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder that CIOs list legacy modernization as one of their top priorities. Legacy applications aren’t flexible. They don’t quickly adapt to change. As such, companies that rely on these applications lack flexibility, which…kills companies.

Hence, the growing push towards modernization. Application modernization promises flexibility. It frees these companies from the shackles of their legacy software.

The problem: Modernization isn’t exactly straightforward. There’s more than one way to modernize. By my count, there’s five. How do you know which way is best?
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Weekly recap: Survival strategies for IT chaos, why your development process is broken, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 survival strategies for IT chaos, why your software development process is broken, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why your software development process is broken
As businesses push for increased flexibility, many discover that one of the biggest problems lies in their development process. Despite their best efforts, they just can’t turn development projects around in time. What’s the answer?
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Weekly recap: Survival strategies for IT chaos, why your development process is broken, and more…Read More »

6 keys to a high-performing IT department

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ProductivityDo you want to hear a shocking statistic? According to Forrester Research, 70% of the companies listed on the Fortune 1,000 list ten years ago have now vanished. The reason: an inability to adapt to change.

As modern technology evolves, we’re seeing a shift in the business world. In the age of the web, business agility trumps size. More and more, the ability to adapt to change is critical to a company’s success.

From a technology perspective, this means that IT departments must evolve. Keeping the lights on is no longer good enough. These days, IT must innovate. They must move quickly. They must drive business forward.

However, this is impossible with slow or inefficient IT departments. The question is…how can IT departments become more efficient? What’s needed to create a high-performance IT department that actually pushes the business forward?

We posed those questions to a few successful IT leaders, who delivered some great advice that you can find below. If you want to create a high-performing IT department, you must:
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Weekly recap: 20 great ideas to steal, the growing importance of business agility, and more…

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EducationEvery 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 great tech ideas, the growing importance of business agility, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Make Business Agility A Key Corporate Attribute – It Could Be What Saves You
Here’s an amazing stat: 70% of the companies on the fortune 1,000 list a decade ago have now vanished. Why? They couldn’t adapt to change. Agility is quickly becoming a critical aspect of business, and one that you can’t ignore (if you want to survive).
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Weekly recap: 20 great ideas to steal, the growing importance of business agility, and more…Read More »

7 things experienced CIOs and IT leaders wish they knew earlier

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EducationA couple of weeks back, I put together an article entitled, “7 things experienced web developers wish they knew earlier.” It was filled with great advice from long-time developers, who shared some of the most important lessons they learned over the years.

That got me thinking. What about other professions? In any job, you’re bound to know more today than you knew starting out. There must be at least one important lesson that you wish you knew earlier.

Today, I’d like to approach this topic from a CIO and IT leader perspective. If you’re an experienced CIO or IT leader, what do you know now that you wish you knew when you started your career? If you were to have a conversation with a younger version of yourself, what advice would you give?

We asked those questions to experienced CIOs and IT leaders, and received some great input. I’ve compiled their advice below, but–as always–feel free to contribute your thoughts in the comments. Here are 7 things experienced CIOs and IT leaders wish they knew earlier:
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Is the CIO position dying or becoming more important?

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EducationOver the last few years, I’ve seen countless articles predicting the “death of the CIO.” Frankly, I’m tired of it.

Sure, the CIO position is evolving. It’s becoming more challenging. But, it isn’t dying. Far from it. As data expands and technology becomes an increasingly important part of business, the CIO’s role becomes even more critical.

These days, the modern CIO is pulled in all directions. They must keep the business current with rapidly evolving technology. They must address the ever-growing number of consumer devices and consumer applications in the workplace. They must keep the business’ current technology running smoothly while preparing for the future.

I could go on. The point is…CIOs and IT leaders have become even more important than ever before. The responsibilities and duties placed on these positions is only growing.

The question isn’t, “Is the CIO position dying?” Rather, the question should be, “How can modern CIOs address their rapidly growing challenges and responsibilities?”

Here’s one option to consider: Use a web application development platform. How does that help? More than you might think. We’ve put together a short paper that explains how web application development platforms (like m-Power) can help modern CIOs solve many of the issues they face today. You can find it right here.

7 worst practices of Business Intelligence

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EducationImagine waking up at 2 a.m. to the sound of a screaming smoke alarm. Would you go back to bed? Of course not! You’re scrambling to get up and get the family out of the house as fast as possible!

Now, let’s compare that smoke alarm to your Business Intelligence (BI). Like a smoke alarm, a BI solution gathers data and alerts you to issues–but it ultimately falls on you to take action. This is where many businesses stumble. They either ignore the signals from their BI solution, or aren’t prepared to act when an issue arises. It’s like going back to bed when you hear the smoke alarm, or removing the battery so it won’t wake you up anymore.

I know that’s an extreme example, but it illustrates just one common “worst practice” of BI–a topic that we’re going to examine today. Now, chances are, you understand the concept and the value of BI. It helps you better understand your business and improves decision making, with the end goal of increased revenue.

The problem is, many businesses misuse BI, rendering their Business Intelligence either less effective or completely ineffective. What are these mistakes, and how can you avoid them? To help you answer those questions, I’ve compiled a list of 7 of the biggest “worst practices” of Business Intelligence, and outlined them below:
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The rising need for software flexibility (with example)

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EducationOne of the points mentioned in this recent article on buying software you won’t later regret was, “Look for adaptability.” Any software you purchase must be flexible, scalable, and easily adapt to future technology.

That being said, “flexible software” is still a rather vague term. What does it mean? What does it look like in real life? Today, I’d like to dive into this topic a little more, and explain what it means, how it helps your business, and even give you a real-life example of flexible software in action. Sound good? Let’s get started:
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Modernization with limited resources

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ProductivityModernization. It sounds like such a daunting task. Just the thought of converting old systems into new, modern systems is enough to make IT executives cringe in fear.

Bimba Manufacturing knew that modernization was a big job, and that their IT staff didnâ??t have the time or the capabilities to take on a big modernization project. In fact, they even looked into ways to put a “bandaid” on their old solution until more time and resources became available. Then, they discovered m-Power. …

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