mrc's Cup of Joe Blog – Page 71 – Save money, time, and increase business productivity

Struggling to manage your data? Read this story.

Are you struggling to manage your data? Is reporting a complicated job? If so, I have a story you’ll want to read. It’s about a business that was comprised of 15 different companies representing 8 different industries spread out over 50 locations across the United States. Sound complicated? It was. As you might imagine, managing the steady stream of data was time consuming and difficult.

What did they do? They found a flexible reporting option that brought all of their data together, turning their complex data management into a simple task. To learn how they did it, you can read the whole story right here.

8 must-have features of a good Business Intelligence application

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence

If you’re looking around for Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, you’ll certainly find plenty of options. Some are flashy. Others are plain. Some are expensive. Others are free.

How do you know which one is best for your business?

To answer that question, let’s get down to the absolute basics of BI. A good BI solution will provide simple access to any aspect of your data whenever necessary–ultimately leading to well-informed business decisions.

Now, that’s easy to say, but what does that look like in real-life? How can you know whether or not a BI solution will fit that description before you buy? What features or elements do you look for?

To help you answer that question, let’s take a look at a full-featured BI application, and then highlight each feature and explain why it’s important. Sound good? Okay, let’s get started. Click the image below to view the demo BI app.

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How one IT department completed a 1,000-hour project in 300 hours

By Joe Stangarone / Web Development

Here’s an inspirational story for any IT department facing impossible project deadlines. It’s about an IT department that had a huge web development project with an immovable deadline…but faced one big problem.

They weren’t sure how they were going to do it.

They estimated that it would take 1,000 hours, but with only one web developer on staff, completing the project on time seemed impossible.

What did they do? They found a way to let the rest of their staff develop web applications, and managed to complete the project in just 300 hours. To learn how, you can read the whole story right here.

6 big Business Intelligence trends of the near future

By Joe Stangarone / Business Intelligence, Tech trends

Business Intelligence (BI) is changing. In the past, BI was used mainly by company executives, providing them with monthly/yearly reports on various aspects of the company. Using this data, executives could formulate company plans and strategies.

While BI is still a vital piece of the planning and decision making process, this idea of “traditional BI” is quickly fading. As the workforce becomes more mobile, BI is moving outside the confines of the office. Modern business leaders demand real-time BI that’s always accessible–from anywhere at any time using any device. They demand BI that gets the right information into the right hands precisely when it’s needed.

So, what trends are driving this new approach to BI? Here are 6 key trends that I believe will dramatically alter the BI landscape in the very near future. …

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Application modernization comparison chart

By Joe Stangarone / Modernization

Here’s a million dollar question: What’s the best application modernization method for your company?

Here’s the answer: It depends.

If your company needs to modernize existing legacy applications, choosing the best method varies largely on your needs, goals, and resources. You’ll need to answer a few questions before you begin, such as:

Why are you modernizing in the first place?
What’s your budget?
When do you need the job completed?
What do you hope to accomplish?

If you need help choosing the best modernization solution for your company, here are a couple of things that could help: First, here’s a free whitepaper entitled “Crash course in modernization,” that takes an in-depth look at the modernization basics. We’ve also created a handy little comparison chart, which compares 5 different modernization methods.

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7 reasons why mobile web apps are better for business than native apps

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Mobile apps

If your business is planning to build native mobile apps, ask yourself this question: Are you building native mobile apps because you need to, or because you think you have to? While native apps are popular with consumers, they’re quite impractical for most businesses.

To understand why, let’s first look at why native apps are popular with consumers. Native apps do a couple of things very well: They deliver highly graphical interfaces and they’re easy to find and download. While these are important factors for consumers, are they really important to your business?

For most businesses, the answer is a resounding “No”. Unless your business needs highly graphical applications, mobile web apps simply make more business sense. How so? Here are 7 reasons why mobile web apps make more sense from a business standpoint: …

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Even small IT staffs can accomplish big things

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development

Fill in the blank: “Our company needs to _____________, but our IT staff is too small.” Based on feedback I received from a tech conference we recently attended, this is one of the biggest problems facing IT departments these days. IT professionals know how to help their companies, they just lack the time and resources to do anything about it.

It’s a depressing thought–knowing how to help your company but realizing that you can’t. You feel stuck. But don’t worry…if you’re facing this problem, you’re not alone and you’re definitely not stuck. Here are two stories of small IT staffs that found ways to complete urgent projects despite their limited staff. I hope you find them useful:

1. This 2-person IT staff found a way to quickly modernize their green-screen interface and replace their order entry system without bringing in any outside help.

2. This 3-person IT staff built a brand new, custom extranet, and did it faster than it would’ve taken to deploy an off-the-shelf option.

See? Even small IT staffs can accomplish big things! …

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The 3 most important aspects of a business dashboard

By Joe Stangarone / Business Dashboards

Here’s a question for you: What’s the difference between a worthless business dashboard and a dashboard that makes an impact? To help you understand, take a look at the two dashboards below. Which one is better?

Dashboard #1

Dashboard #2

So, which dashboard is better? …

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5 approaches to application modernization

By Joe Stangarone / Modernization

How much time and money does your company waste maintaining your legacy applications? A recent survey indicates that companies use anywhere from 70-80% of their tech budget (and countless hours) just keeping their legacy applications running.

It’s kind of like owning an old, beat-up car. The car might still work, but it lacks modern features, doesn’t run very well, and a good portion of your time and money goes into keeping that car on the road. In fact, buying a new car would probably cost less than maintaining the old one.

Modernization is similar…but different. It’s similar in the sense that modernizing your applications is often less expensive than maintaining legacy applications. However, modernization is a bit more complicated than just buying a new car. How much more complicated? The degree of difficulty varies per modernization approach. Choosing the right approach largely depends on your company’s needs and goals.

If you’d like an in-depth look at modernization requirements and methods, here’s a free whitepaper that will help you: Crash course in modernization. If you just want a basic overview of your modernization options, I’ve summarized 5 different methods below, along with the pros and cons of each: …

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