New interface + 30 minutes = 2 web apps

As any of you who follow this blog may know, we recently released m-Power’s new user interface. It provides a more graphical and intuitive experience, while simplifying the web application development process.

A couple months ago I shared some screenshots of the new interface, but today I have something better. We just created a brand new m-Power test drive area where you can see m-Power for yourself!

Try the m-Power test drive to:

• Sample m-Power’s new interface
• Understand why the m-Power build process saves time
• Build 2 fully functional web applications

Better yet, the whole process will only take about 30 minutes. Get started here.

How to waste money

I noticed something interesting while looking through the survey results posted in last week’s blog. I noticed that many companies claim to have big needs, but don’t fix them because they are too expensive.

Has anyone stopped to calculate the opportunity cost of doing nothing? Doing nothing does cost money, and can cause you to lose out on more money than you might imagine. Don't be "penny-wise and dollar-foolish".

Want some money-saving ideas? Here are 7 ways that real companies solved real problems with web applications and saved money.

17 Notably Bad Products from Great Tech Companies

Timing is everything in the tech industry. If your product is behind the times, no one wants it. If it is ahead of the times, no one understands it.

I thought about this fact while reading an article on Datamation.com entitled, “17 Notably Bad Products from Great Tech Companies.” Interestingly enough, while they failed as products, not all of them were “bad”. In my opinion, #10, #13, and #16 were just ahead of their time.

Out of curiosity, did anyone have any experience with any of these products? I would love to hear about it.

Demo app: Google maps + drag-and-drop

We just released a brand new demo with a slick user interface. We combined a drag-and-drop maintenance application with an integrated Google map and gave our fictional bike company, Crazybikes, an order assignment application!

When you drag an order to a different truck, you update the database AND alert the map that it must redraw itself to reflect the most recent changes. While we chose an order assignment application for the demo, this user interface technique could apply to a wide variety of applications, such as:

• Job Scheduling: Let’s say you’re a manufacturer with many different plants. You could view the current workload for each plant and assign new work orders to the appropriate plants with a single application.
  
• Coverage Feature Selection: Let’s pretend you’re an insurance company. You could let customers log into a portal and select their coverage options through a drag-and-drop interface.

Want to see this user interface technique in your business applications? Let us know, and we’ll build you a free proof-of-concept web application.

Survey says . . .

Congratulations to Chuck Ciali, winner of the 2009 mrc netbook giveaway! Thanks to everyone who took our survey and participated in the 2009 mrc giveaway.

Want to see the survey results? We created a tabbed report with m-Power, displaying the results of each question on a pie chart in separate tabs. Click here to view the survey results.

10 best places for technology jobs

While the recession is technically over (according to Mr. Bernanke), recovery is a slow process. Like it or not, some cities will recover faster than others.

So, which cities are best for tech jobs in the near future? Here’s an article on usnews.com which lists the 10 best places for technology jobs in 2009. While much of this list is predictable, a couple cities surprised me.

For example, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Washington D.C. is turning into a hotspot for tech jobs thanks to the government’s increased reliance on technology. How about you? Did any of these cities surprise you?

Demo app: Where drag-n-drop meets scheduling

We just created a new order shipment calendar application packed with a couple of time-saving features: Drag-n-drop and hovers. This is just one example. You could create many different types of applications with these features.

At first glance, the application might look like an ordinary shipment calendar, but try this:

• Drag-and-Drop: Want to move a shipment to another shipping date? Simply drag it and drop it to the appropriate day on the calendar. When you move a shipment to a different date, m-Power auto-magically updates the shipping date in the order data-base. (The only caveat in this particular demo is that we chose to leave out the edit checking allowing you to move shipments into the past. No,we haven’t perfected time travel just yet.)


• Hover: Want to see details for any shipment? Hover over any shipment and a little box pops up with all the information you need.

That’s one simple order shipment calendar, isn’t it? Imagine all the different applications that could benefit from these features. Want to see this functionality in your business applications? Let us know, and we’ll build you a free proof-of-concept web application.

Last chance to win a netbook

Reminder: mrc’s 2009 netbook giveaway ends this Thursday. If you completed our survey, you are eligible to win. If you haven’t yet completed our survey and want to enter the drawing, you can find the survey here.

The winner will be announced via Twitter this Thursday. Are you following us on Twitter yet? If not, you can follow us here.

10 game changing tech ideas that failed

Thinking back on recent “game-changing” tech ideas, I notice a trend. Most of the game changers weren’t new inventions, but rather improvement on existing concepts. Take the iPod for example: Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player, but they did make the mp3 player better.

I thought about that while reading an interesting article on Techradar.com entitled, “10 game-changing tech ideas that didn't change the game.” Sure, maybe these ideas failed initially, but could any of them succeed with a few improvements? The tablet PC stands out to me as a possibility.

What do you think?

Netbook winner to be announced via Twitter

mrc is now on Twitter! To kick off our Twitter arrival, we are announcing the winner of our 2009 giveaway next Thursday (9/17) via Twitter. If you took our survey, you’re already eligible. If you haven’t, you can take the survey here.

What can followers of @mrcproductivity expect? Well, you won’t hear mundane details, like what I ate for breakfast, or complaints about the weather. Rather, we will provide our followers with value, such as:

• Helpful industry tips, tricks, news. When we run across interesting information that our followers might enjoy, we’ll post it on Twitter.
• Another means of communication. Want to ask us a question, shoot us a note, or tell us a witty joke? Twitter is a great way to communicate.
• Company announcements. We’ll keep you updated on new products, updates, or contests.

Start following us today: twitter.com/mrcproductivity.

A funny story (that really happened)

Our marketing director needed some web applications a while back, so I sat down and gave him a quick 15 minute m-Power tutorial. He picked it up from there, creating and deploying the web applications he needed.

While showing those applications to one of our consultants, the marketing director jokingly mentioned, “We should start up a campaign: So easy, a marketing guy can do it.” Our consultant replied, “No way! No one would ever believe that.”

It was both funny and thought-provoking. Is that so unbelievable? Is it unbelievable that someone with no programming or web application development experience whatsoever now creates web applications faster than a seasoned programmer? On second thought, yeah, I guess so.

Then again, if you don’t believe it, you can always take m-Power for a test drive and see for yourself.

How to get fired

Are you doing more to hurt your career than you’re doing to help it? If the company is downsizing, certain behaviors turn employees into layoff targets. This article on CIO.com entitled, “How to get fired”, lists 5 such behaviors to avoid.

I’ll add one more, specific to the IT industry: Never create an “IT vs. Non-IT” atmosphere. For example: If an IT professional spends all of their time shooting down requests or ideas, other people in the company get the feeling IT is out to thwart them, rather than help.

If you must reject ideas, try to explain why the idea isn’t feasible and suggest a different solution instead (if possible). Become someone who tries to help, rather than someone who only says “no”.

We've redesigned our web site for you!

You might notice the blog looks a little different today. So does our web site.

Why, you ask? To improve your browsing experience.

You'll find that we simplified the look, cleaned up the organization, improved navigation, and added a much requested solutions section.

We’re happy with the result and believe the new site is much more user friendly. Feel free to check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

How to bring your business applications to the web

This whitepaper covers techniques available for bringing your business applications to the web. It covers the pros and cons of 4 popular methods, pitfalls to avoid, and modernization best practices.

If your company is thinking about moving your business applications to the web, this is the whitepaper for you. You can read the entire whitepaper here.>>

10 record breaking achievements in tech

There’s a record for everything these days. People do the strangest things just to get in the Guinness Book of World Records. For example, I saw a news story this year about a woman who set a record for living with live scorpions for over a month. My first thought, “Why???”

But what about technology? What technology records are waiting to be broken, or haven’t yet been set? Here’s an interesting article on techradar.com that lists 10 record breaking achievements in tech. Some of them are quite impressive, while a few are very breakable.

Think your company can break any of them, or set a new record? I’d love to hear about it.

Modernization with limited resources

Modernization. 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 didn’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.

m-Power allowed them to modernize their outdated systems with minimal resources while only costing a fraction of what a “bandaid” for their old solution would have cost. All in all, their choice to modernize saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. Find out how.>>

If your company is in the same boat—you don’t think you have the time or resources to modernize--think again. m-Power is a perfect solution for those who need to modernize on a budget or with limited resources. Fill out this short form and tell us about your modernization needs and we’ll tell you how m-Power can help you.

The human factor of Business Intelligence

Ordinarily, I talk about the importance of good business intelligence. Up-to-the-second, accurate information is an essential part of the decision making process.

But, good data isn’t the only ingredient in the decision-making process, though many companies these days seem to think so. For example, many companies outsource their customer service department because it looks like a sound financial decision. But, how many customers will they lose as a result of bad service? How many customers will spread negative publicity about them via the internet? How many sales will they lose because of negative publicity?

You see, while that idea looks like a money-saving initiative on paper, it might be a corporate nightmare thanks to factors which can’t initially be measured. So, when making a decision, first make sure it’s based off of real-time data...but don't stop there. Consider all other factors that could affect the outcome before making the decision. You’ll be glad you did.

While I can’t tell you what to do with your business, I can help you see your data clearly. If real-time data is something you need, please fill out this form and tell me about it.

10 stupidest tech company blunders

I recently read an interesting article in PCWorld.com entitled, "The 10 Stupidest Tech Company Blunders.” While it’s easy to sit back and laugh at how dumb these decisions look now, I like to look at lists like this and think, “What mistakes did they make and how can I avoid them?”

In a few of these examples, but most notably the RIAA example, I see a valuable business lesson: When the world changes, don’t fight to keep it the same way—you’ll lose every time. Instead, figure out how to adapt to the change and capitalize on it.

How about you? Do you see any valuable business lessons in all of these mistakes? I'd love to hear them.

New m-Power feature: Web 2.0 Grid Maintenance Template!

Within the last couple months, we introduced a new m-Power template with some powerful features: The Web 2.0 Grid Maintenance Template! This new template allows users to update multiple records at one time.

While it is great for a variety of applications, here are a couple ways the Web 2.0 Grid Maintenance template could be used:

• eCommerce: Customers using an online shopping cart can make changes to multiple order lines at once instead of editing each one individually.
• Budgeting applications: Executives working on a budgeting application can change budget numbers quickly and easily.

There are plenty of uses depending your industry and business needs. You can check it out for yourself in our m-Power demo site, Crazybikes.com. It’s a live demo, so feel free to play around with it as much as you like.

10 business intelligence apps we need to see in 2009

I was checking out an online service (which shall remain nameless) the other day, and signed up for their free trial. My expectations were high after reading user reviews and getting a glimpse of their flashy user interface. Long story short—I was disappointed.

I was disappointed because the interface was their best feature. There was little substance behind all the flash. Now, I have no problem with a nice interface, but I’m a firm believer in building a powerful product first, and then putting a nice interface on top of it…not the other way around.

I was reminded of that story as I read a great article on smartertechnology.com entitled, “10 business intelligence apps we need to see in 2009.” In one point, the author mentions that a good BI tool needs to start from the data and not from the graphics. I couldn’t agree more.

But that's not all, there are plenty of other features to look for when searching for a BI solution. If you want to know more about what to look for in a good BI solution, just fill out this short form. We would be glad to help.