Joe Stangarone – Page 27 – mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

How mobile will revolutionize inventory tracking

Mobile is about to change inventory tracking as you know it. Before I show you how, let’s take a quick look at current inventory tracking methods. Right now, inventory is typically tracked in one of two ways:

1. Manually: This involves employees manually logging inventory on paper, and then entering that information into their system. This is the cheapest option, but also the most time consuming.

2. Barcode scanners and software: This involves employees scanning inventory with barcode scanners, which automatically update the system. This is certainly much faster than tracking inventory by hand, but purchasing all of the scanning equipment and software can get expensive.

How will mobile change this? Mobile provides an inexpensive, yet efficient method to track inventory that can easily replace expensive barcode scanners.

Here’s a great story that illustrates this point: A medical supply distributor needed a better way to track incoming inventory. Rather than purchase expensive scanning equipment, they used mobile apps running on standard smartphones that automatically update inventory levels in their system. The result: They nearly automated inventory logging while using inexpensive, off-the-shelf parts. That’s just a quick summary, but you can read the whole story right here.

Can IT really drive revenue?

By Joe Stangarone / Tech Advice

How does the business view your IT department? Do they see it as an added expense? Do they see it as a cost-center? If so, you’re not alone: This is a common problem faced by IT departments around the world.

The question is…how can you change this perception? How can you change from a “cost-center” to a “problem solver” or even a “revenue generator?”

One way to change this perception: Ask more questions. Talk to end users and learn what problems they deal with on a daily basis. What currently frustrates them the most about their job? Does anything keep them from accomplishing their daily tasks?

As you ask these questions, you’ll probably learn two things. First, you might find that many of these problems are easily solvable with technology. Second, you might find that fixing these problems will directly impact your company’s revenue.

Here’s a great example of one IT department that solved a problem in their company, which directly boosted revenue. How did they do it? They first identified a problem, and then identified the tools that would let them fix that problem quickly. You can read the whole story here.

Weekly recap: 10 strategic CIO priorities for 2013, concerns with BYOD, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / BYOD, CIO Challenges, 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 CIO priorities, BYOD concerns, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why you’d be stupid to bet against HTML5
If your company is considering mobile apps, what approach are you taking? Native, mobile web, or hybrid? While each approach has its benefits, this article explains the big reason why the mobile web approach is so useful for business. …

Weekly recap: 10 strategic CIO priorities for 2013, concerns with BYOD, and more…Read More »

5 common problems that kill IT productivity

By Joe Stangarone / Modernization, Productivity tools, web reporting

Do you ever come to the end of a busy day and feel like you didn’t actually accomplish anything? Although you worked hard all day, you feel like you have nothing to show from all of that work?

Chances are, you got caught handling minor, yet essential tasks that kept you from tackling more important projects. Maybe you spent the day supporting untrained users, running end user reports, or trying to fix yet another problem with your company’s old, patched-up legacy software.

Tasks like these have a few things in common: They are necessary, yet time-consuming tasks that could (and should) be avoided. More importantly, they keep you from working on essential projects that could ultimately improve the company’s bottom line.

In other words: They keep you busy, but not productive.

How can you avoid these “productivity killers” and instead focus on essential tasks during the work day? First, you must identify which tasks fall within this category, and then you must figure out how to avoid them. So, what are some of the most common productivity killers? While it varies across companies, here’s a list of 5 productivity killers that commonly plague IT departments: …

5 common problems that kill IT productivityRead More »

3 great ways other companies are using mobile apps

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Mobile apps

Mobile apps. They’ve taken the business world by storm. They’re helping businesses become more efficient, boost sales, improve customer satisfaction, and much more. The fact is, mobile apps offer all types of benefits to all types of businesses…yet many companies still hesitate to jump on board.

Why is that?

In my experience, companies hesitate for one of three reasons: They’re not sure exactly how mobile apps can help their business, they’re not sure how to build mobile apps, or they lack adequate resources.

Today, I’d like to take a look at each of these issues. First, let’s examine how mobile apps can help businesses. However, rather than explain all the different ways mobile apps can help a business, let’s look at some real-life examples. I’ve picked 3 great examples of ways that other companies are currently using mobile apps: …

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The huge trend that no one is talking about

By Joe Stangarone / ERP Systems, Tech trends

The cloud may get all of the press these days, but are companies actually doing anything about it? Probably not as much as the press would have you believe. I recently spoke with an IT professional at a large company about that very subject. When asked if his company had any plans for the cloud, his response was simple and straightforward: “Our whole business runs on the mainframe, and it runs well. Why would we move to the cloud?”

While it’s just one company, and one opinion, I get the feeling that many businesses are in a similar situation. There are many, many companies that have invested so much time and money into their current systems, they couldn’t possibly justify ditching everything and moving to the cloud any time soon.

That begs the obvious question: If these companies are stuck with old systems, how can they possibly keep up with tech trends? What if they want modern features and capabilities that aren’t supported by their outdated system? …

The huge trend that no one is talking aboutRead More »

5 common Business Intelligence mistakes to avoid

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence

Did you know that most Business Intelligence (BI) projects fail? While the various surveys on the subject can’t seem to agree on the exact percentage, somewhere between 50% – 80% of BI projects end in failure.

Where do these projects go wrong? What could they have done differently?

While the reasons vary by company and situation, there are a few common mistakes that can lead to BI failure. What are they? While I’m sure there are more, here are 5 mistakes to avoid when implementing Business Intelligence: …

5 common Business Intelligence mistakes to avoidRead More »

What is NFC, and how can it help your business?

By Joe Stangarone / NFC, Tech trends

The topic of Near Field Communication (NFC) came up again this week with reports that the new iPhone will contain NFC chips. While I don’t care to speculate about the new iPhone, I do believe NFC is about to become very important for businesses in the next few years.

Why is NFC so important? How will it impact your business? Today, I’d like to answer those questions. In this article, we’ll take a look at the basics of NFC and how it can help your business.

What is NFC?

NFC is a technology standard that is used to transfer data between two devices at close range (usually within 4 inches of one another). For example, two NFC-equipped smartphones could transfer a data file simply by touching the devices together.

However, NFC goes far beyond transferring data from one smartphone to another. The real power of NFC comes in the form of tags. NFC tags are essentially paper-thin circuits that store data which can then be read by (or even overwritten) by an NFC-equipped device, like a smartphone. NFC tags can be placed almost anywhere, and can store all types of data. For instance, NFC tags could be placed on walls, embedded in paper, built into products, and much more.

How is this useful?

So, how is NFC useful to your business? The answer: All sorts of ways. Rather than try to explain every possible way, let me share a few examples of different ways businesses could (and probably will) use NFC in the near future: …

What is NFC, and how can it help your business?Read More »

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: …

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

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: …

5 (more) big Business Intelligence trends of the near futureRead 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.

Weekly recap: 9 endangered species in IT, what to consider in a BI solution, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, Business Intelligence

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 things to consider before investing in BI, endangered IT species, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Beyond the smartphone: Emerging platforms developers should target
Smartphone and tablet apps may get all the press these days, but they are just the beginning of the “app age”. Apps are slowly spreading to other devices, like cars, clothes, and appliances to name a few. …

Weekly recap: 9 endangered species in IT, what to consider in a BI solution, and more…Read More »

Author name: Joe Stangarone

What is NFC?

How is this useful?