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You’ve probably seen it before. A bad golfer buys the best equipment hoping it will make him better at golf, when in reality, a bad golfer with nice clubs is still a bad golfer. That’s the analogy used in this CIO.com article entitled, “ERP Lessons from Rich People Who Stink at Golf.” Many people think the best golf clubs will make them a good golfer, just like many companies think that an expensive ERP will always make them more efficient.
However, for an ERP to help a company, they must be running smoothly to begin with. An ERP is not designed to fix bad processes, but rather to make the current process more efficient.
I agree with the author’s point, but I believe there’s another point to be made. Many companies think that an expensive ERP is all they’ll ever need. After all, a product that costs 6-7 figures should do it all…right?
What a company needs to understand is this: ERPs are still pre-made solutions, and therefore won’t fit everyone perfectly. No matter how expensive it is, there are always a few things an ERP won’t be able to do. Many are surprised and/or upset to realize they need something else besides their ERP.
Many companies need ERP add-ons, or additional software that supplements their ERP. This is not uncommon. Here’s a good example of a company that bought an expensive ERP, only to realize they needed functionality beyond its capabilities. Find out what they did to fix the problem>>
If there’s one thing I like, it is inexpensive software that makes life a little easier. Lucky for us, there is no shortage of software that fits that description. It seems like there’s software to automate or help with just about everything these days.
With all of the different things a business or business person needs, and all of the different options designed to meet those needs, it’s sometimes difficult to choose the right one. That’s where lists like “25 Best Business Software Tools and Web Services”, can come in handy. It covers many different types of tools, so there’s bound to be one that can help you.
It’s really easy to point out bad web design. Why? Because there are so many bad websites, and even more annoying features incorporated into websites.
We recently asked the question in our forum: What aspect of a website annoys you the most? You have provided a lot of great responses so far, but don’t worry, if you have an opinion on the matter, it’s not too late to join the conversation.
Now, I’d like to turn the question around, and make it a little more difficult. My question is this: “What makes a good website? What features in a website make your browsing experience more pleasant?”
I know, it’s a tough question because it’s easy to take good aspects of web design for granted. In your opinion, what are the best things to do when creating a website? Join the conversation in our forum post titled, “Website Design 101: What you should do.”
Last week, we posed the question: “What aspect of a website annoys you the most?” If you could talk to a room full of web designers, is there any one thing you would ask them to stop doing? What could they do to make your browsing experience a little more enjoyable?
Well, here’s your chance. Join the conversation in our forum and voice your opinion on this very topic.
Our goal is simple: We want to turn your responses into a helpful article for web designers or webmasters of company sites. We hope that it will provide them insight into how others view their site.
The state of the economy has been all over the news this year, but was shoved into the spotlight last week. I knew that the credit crunch was affecting the financial industry, but didn’t realize it was so bad until last week.
We’ve seen the effect on the financial industry, but what about IT? How will the IT industry be affected by these economic problems? I ran across an article on Silicon.com entitled, “10 ways the credit crunch will hit IT” which attempts to answer that very question. It’s a pretty good read, and I feel that most of it is spot-on.
What do you think? How is the economy affecting IT at your company?
Anyone who has ever written a line of code knows the pains of debugging. In fact, some would say it causes emotional pain. According to this article, a programmer goes through 5 stages of grief upon realizing there’s a bug in their code.
More importantly, bugs waste time, costing companies hours in productivity. As a result of these lost hours, bugs also waste money. I remember a report about 5 years back that placed the cost of software bugs on the economy at around $60 billion. Wow.
From a programmer’s perspective however, bugs are no fun to fix. The general consensus I’ve received from programmers is that while they love their jobs, they hate debugging.
We’ve had many programmers tell us, “m-Power makes programming fun again!” Why? It’s simply because m-Power generates open source, error-free java code. It allows them to spend their time being productive, without having to worry about bugs.
Try it out for yourself for free. Build 2 error-free applications in 45 minutes with m-Power using our online lab. You don’t even have to know Java or be a programmer to use m-Power.
The latest problem to hit the IT industry: talent, or lack thereof. As this Informationweek.com article states, corporations are complaining that universities aren’t producing enough qualified job candidates. As a result, corporations turn to outsourcing to answer the talent problem.
Meanwhile, outsourcing leads to job cuts, which results in more IT workers in need of jobs. Therefore, if more IT workers need jobs, then the IT talent is out there just waiting to be hired. If talent is available, what’s the real problem here? The real problem is this: Companies want cheap, talented IT workers, and that’s hard to find in the U.S.
Therefore, companies turn to outsourcing for the apparent cost savings. On paper, it looks like a great idea. If you can get the same job done for half the price, why not? They fail to realize that there’s a whole lot more than money to think about when considering outsourcing. Just read this article to learn a few of them.
Here’s my question for you: If you could keep your development in-house and complete projects faster and cheaper than you could with outsourcing, why wouldn’t you? Try our online lab to learn why m-Power is a practical alternative to outsourcing. It will only take 45 minutes and could end up saving your company a bundle.
Problems have a way of just sneaking up on you. Sometimes they arise as a result of mistakes that just slip through the cracks, and you don’t realize that you are doing them until it’s too late.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” With that in mind, I urge you to read this InfoWorld.com article entitled, “20 more IT mistakes to avoid.” Who knows, maybe you will be able to stop a problem before it happens.
The great thing about technology is the speed at which it advances. Unfortunately, with every great technology advancement, there are people who will figure out how to use it to annoy you. Take for example the telephone. Great invention. Now throw in telemarketers. Annoying.
We have recently been adding forum posts aimed to help with web design. But now, I'd like to turn that around and ask you a question: What features annoy you the most about certain websites? How have people used new web technology, or even old technology, to make your internet experience a little less enjoyable?
We've started the discussion with our forum post, "Website Design 101: What not to do". We'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue.
Rich internet applications (RIAs) are web applications that have features and functionality of desktop applications. They are interactive, flashy, and usually offer rich functionality. More and more, they are being used to answer the demand for a better online user experience.
While I believe that RIAs are very useful for a business, there are a couple things that companies need to keep in mind before using them:
Which city/metro area in the U.S. is the number one location for technology jobs? I thought it was the San Jose/Silicon Valley area, until I saw this list. Surprisingly enough, at least for me, it wasn’t even in the top two. Even more surprising for me was the number 2 city. Never would’ve guessed it.
Where does your city rank? You can find the entire list here.>>
A good website will tell a visitor everything they need to know, and what they should do, all in a matter of seconds. Does your website do that? Take a good look at your company website. Is it clear and easy to understand, or is it confusing?
Does your website need help attracting and retaining visitors? We have a few tips for you in our latest forum post entitled, “How to keep visitors on your website.”
It’s no secret that the economy is affecting the IT industry, but here’s what I find strange: No one seems to exactly agree on how the economy is affecting IT.
I recently read two articles published in the last few days. One article reports that CIO’s are trimming staff. The other reports that CIO’s are having trouble finding people to hire, and that IT workers are in demand. Both of these articles are based on survey results.
Which is it?
I’m not the only one to notice this. Here’s an interesting article in Computerworld.com which explains a few of the seeming contradictions in the IT industry today. For example: The author reports that IT budgets are getting tighter, but cost cutting is not a priority. Sound contradictory?
Here’s the reason: There’s not a lot that can be cut easily these days. Rather than sitting idle and weathering the economic storm, IT shops should be focusing on how to grow the business. They must look for ways to achieve fast returns on low investments.
It’s not as difficult as you might think. Here’s a good example of a company that used a low investment to increase profits dramatically.
I’m a firm believer in using technology to better your life. Lucky for me, there are plenty of tools out there that promise to do just that. But not all of them actually deliver on that promise. How do you weed out the good from the bad?
PCWorld.com recently published an article detailing 20 tech habits that will improve your life. I hope you find it as useful as I did.
Why does your company have a website, and what is its purpose? Is it to keep up with the times? Provide information? E-Commerce?
These days, your website should be more than just information or e-commerce. Your website is the face of your company. Like it or not, it says something about your company to potential customers.
If you haven't given this much thought in the past, read our latest forum post entitled, “What does your website say about your company”.
According to a recent study, Fortune 500 Companies abandon one-third of software development projects after implementation because they don’t meet user needs. Also, the average project costs $3.2 million and takes 1,300 person months to complete.
Isn’t that ridiculous? We always just assume that Fortune 500 companies have their act together. Guess not.
Reasons cited for this failure includes poor planning, lack of a process, and inadequate tools. The first two reasons can be easily corrected internally. However, when choosing a development tool, here are a few steps to take.
Talk to any manager today, and they’ll tell you how difficult it is to attract good talent. Many of those managers will also complain about how difficult it is to retain good talent.
If that’s the case, they have no one to blame but themselves. Talent retention is the responsibility of the manager. If you have trouble keeping your best employees around for very long, maybe it’s time to take a good look at your management style.
How do you keep your best talent? You can start by not doing these 5 things.
When working with CSS, do you ever come across problems that just don’t make sense? Almost like the code isn’t doing what you told it to do? If it’s not a syntax error, it could have something to do with cascading order and inheritance.
In this CSS tutorial, you will learn the basics of cascading order and inheritance. When two styles conflict, which one is used? Which selector is most important? These questions are all answered in the latest tutorial, which you can find here.>>
If I've learned one thing in all my years in this industry, it is this: Keep it simple. More often than not, the probability of failure is directly proportional to the level of complexity in a project.
Here's an interesting article in InformationWeek.com, entitled "A simpler approach to SOA" which touches on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA). The author explains how a "keep it simple" approach is far better when it comes to SOA.
I wish more people would espouse the KIS approach. Why try to force a complicated SOA on your company when you could accomplish the same thing faster with a WOA? SOA is more difficult, expensive, and has less of a chance to succeed than a WOA.
Choose the simplest solution that will solve your problem. Whether it's an SOA or WOA, m-Power can simplify doing it. We've kept it simple in this WOA demo site. . .
Click here to see a good example of a WOA.>>
From a skills standpoint, how would you rank yourself as an IT professional? If you think you know quite a bit, then here's a good test for you. Read this CIO.com article entitled, “30 skills every IT person needs”.
How many of them do you have? Would you add anything to this list?
In a perfect world, enterprise software (ERP’s, MRP’s, BI, etc…) would do everything you need it to do and more. Anything with a 6-7 figure price tag should work smoothly, install easily, and create revenue for your company…in a perfect world.
But, the world isn’t perfect. Anyone who’s ever implemented an ERP knows it often takes longer, costs more, and does less than you thought. (Exhibit A: Read about the Waste Management/SAP litigation.)
A couple things to watch out for with enterprise software:
When you hear the word “underachiever”, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Most likely, it’s the name of a previous coworker or employee.
What happened to that underachiever? When it comes to poor performance, a manager generally has two options:
What kind of person are you? Are you one who constantly looks for ways to advance your career, or are you satisfied just staying put?
I think that most people would claim to be, or at least want to be, someone who is not satisfied just standing still in their career. If you are that type of person, make sure you read this article in Computerworld.com entitled, “Career Advice: How to move into a leadership role”.
What is a web button? In its most basic form, a button is a link, a doorway to another page. That being said, would you rather go through a plain door, or a fancy door?
Web buttons play an important role in web design. If used correctly, they can attract visitors to a specific page, and if used incorrectly, they can do the exact opposite.
In the past, fancy web buttons were only possible with javascript or Flash. But did you know that you can do the same thing with CSS? How? This forum post entitled, “How to: Make Rollover Buttons with CSS” will clearly explain why this formerly difficult task is actually quite easy.
Business technology is moving at such a rapid pace, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. However, the need to modernize legacy applications is greater than ever, for a few very important reasons:
According to a recent survey by Goldman, Sachs & Co., the IT industry is feeling the effects of a slow economy. Going into 2009, staff cuts are likely, with contract workers feeling the brunt of the cuts.
A second survey indicated that IT spending will also decrease. CIOs want to stick with tried and proven methods over new technologies and ideas. They are looking for a fast and high ROI from their purchases.
How else will the slow economy affect the IT industry in 2009? Read the full story on CIO.com>>.
If you had to create a web page, could you do it? If so, could you do it without using tables?
How can you design a web page without using tables? In this latest CSS Tutorial, entitled “CSS Tutorial #4: DIV and SPAN tags”, we overview the DIV and SPAN tags and how they are used in design and layout of a page.
If you are still unclear why using CSS is better than using tables, read our forum post entitled, “Benefits of Using CSS for Website Layout”.
The software development industry has a problem. According to this article in Datamation, the problem stems from two software management formulas (SMFs) that drive much of the industry:
Here’s an unsettling statistic: According to this CIO.com article, only 29% of IT projects are completed successfully. One contributing factor is that IT departments are repeating the same mistakes over and over.
Most of the problems boil down to poor planning or lack of communication, but all are correctable. Find out what the problems are and how to fix them>>
Most m-Power developers don't know that they can use data-base functions and even their own User Defined Functions (UDFs) in their m-Power servlets.
In this forum post, I will show you how to develop your own UDFs, how to call them in your servlets, and some of the powerful things you can do with them.
Think of it as External Objects on Steroids!
By now, you know what Web 2.0 means, and have no doubt been saturated with the term. Well, here’s a term you may not have heard of: Application Development 2.0.
As you might have guessed, application development 2.0 involves applying web 2.0 concepts to application development. According to this article in Infoworld.com, there are 5 ways to do that:
In short, application development 2.0 is all about the users. The developer must receive input from users and then work quickly to give the users what they want. As a result, many are abandoning the more powerful (but more difficult) languages such as Java, and using dynamic scripting languages for the sake of speed.
However, some people like to get the best of both worlds. This developer found a way to use Java to create feature-rich applications faster than dynamic scripting languages. Find out how he did it>>
It seems like at least once a week, some big company makes the news for “massive layoffs”. It kind of makes you wonder: Who’s next? Obviously, certain industries are hit harder than others, but it’s enough to make anyone at least a little nervous.
Here’s a bit of good news. A study was recently completed which lists the 20 most recession-proof professions. How does IT rank in this list? Out of the 20 jobs listed, 6 of them were in IT.
Is your job one of them? Find out here>>
We are excited to introduce a new m-Power enhancement: uploading. As the name implies, it gives m-Power users the power to create applications that upload files.
How might this benefit you? Here are just a few ways:
There are always two sides to a story, and I’m sure this article is no exception. A new Gartner report is out, with findings that aren’t exactly shocking: Employees are frustrated with IT.
I’ve heard it before, and it usually goes like this. Someone brings a project to IT with a pre-conceived idea of how long it should take without understanding either the complexity of the project or how many other projects IT is currently working on. When it takes longer than expected, they become frustrated. Meanwhile, IT is frustrated with the unrealistic expectations.
What's the answer? Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the expectations will change, but does that mean IT has to find the solution?
Not necessarily. This company found a solution, and met a near impossible deadline as a result. Find out how they did it.
Do you ever feel like you work hard without receiving recognition? Do you add a lot of value, but nobody seems to notice?
Maybe you need to do a better job of demonstrating your value.
This article in CIO.com entitled, “5 Ways to Put Your Value in the Spotlight” will help you do just that. It outlines methods you can use to generate a “buzz”, and help you get noticed.
Last week, we explained CSS syntax, and how easy it is to use. This week we move into two of the most important concepts in CSS: Class and ID Selectors. Anyone who wants to use CSS must learn why Class and ID selectors are important, how to use them, and the difference between the two.
This tutorial will give a detailed explanation, as well as a sample webpage to illustrate these concepts. If you're interested in learning all about Class and ID selectors, click here>>
Try to think back 10 years ago. How has life changed since then as a result of technology? Thinking back, I’m amazed at the drastic changes that have occurred in 10 short years.
For instance, digital cell phones were just coming out, and all you could do with one was…make and receive phone calls! It was rare for a battery to last all day, and phones were getting so “small” that people could carry them on their hips without being too much of an interference.
Now try to think forward a few years. How do you think technology will change our lives? The Technology Review has published a list of 10 emerging technologies for 2008, which are most likely to change the way we live. What do you think? Can you add anything to the list?
When you hear the word, “Outsourcing”, what comes to your mind? Big savings? Big pain? Smart business? Necessary evil? According to a recent security study detailed on ITWire.com, the two words that should come to your mind are, “Security risk”.
Most of the participants in the security study agreed that outsourcing increases the likelihood of hacking. However, while they feel that internally written code is far safer, many companies still outsource their application development, undoubtedly for cost reasons.
Quite a dilemma? Do you choose the cheap but vulnerable option, or the secure but expensive one?
What if you could choose the cheap and secure option? We think you can. Here’s how.
Develop your applications internally with m-Power. m-Power generates java code through a simple point-and-click interface, increasing development productivity tenfold. It’s cheaper than outsourcing and builds industry standard security into everything it generates. You will save time and money, without worrying about security.
To learn more about m-Power click here. To experience m-Power for yourself, try out our free online lab!
Following up last week’s forum post entitled, “CSS Tutorial: Style Sheet Types”, we are now moving into CSS syntax. If you are new to CSS, you will find it very easy to understand and write.
In this next forum post entitled, “CSS Tutorial #2: CSS Syntax”, you will learn the basics of style sheet syntax and how to write a simple style sheet.
As an IT professional, what do you look for in a company?
ComputerWorld recently published a list entitled, “100 Best Places to Work in IT 2008”. According to their findings, IT workers want:
How would you like to buy some savings? Purchase a cost reduction? Spend to save?
Sound ridiculous? Well, according to this article in CIO.com, spending money is often the best way to earn it. In a slow economy, it's especially important to spend wisely in order to position your company for long-term cost reduction. According to the article, companies should spend money on things that will make them more agile or provide immediate business benefits.
Does m-Power fit that description? Our customers tell us that m-Power typically pays for itself after just one project. But don't take it from us, here's a happy customer who reported an ROI that was "way beyond what was originally conceived" using m-Power.
Curious to see what m-Power will do for your company? As a proof-of-concept, we will build you a custom web application over your own files, absolutely free and without further obligation. Just fill out this short form to get started!
Over the past few weeks, we’ve added some high level CSS tutorials to our forum. Our forum is used by people with a wide variety of skill levels in a wide variety of areas. That being said, I’ve recently received a few requests for some more basic CSS tutorials.
Over the next few weeks, we intend to take a step back and examine the basic principles of CSS. Please check out our forum for the first of these tutorials entitled, “CSS Tutorial: Style Sheet Types”.
Do you find yourself often telling your boss things like, “That’s impossible” or “There’s only one way”? Do you regularly surprise him/her with bad news? Well, your boss doesn’t want to hear it, according to this recent Computerworld article entitled, “5 Things You Should Never Tell Your Boss”.
While I liked the article, and thought it had some good advice, I think it just takes a little common sense to figure out what your boss doesn’t want to hear. Just try to put yourself in your manager’s shoes, and ask, “Would I want to hear this if I was in his/her position”?
For those of you who found the first article interesting, you would probably enjoy the follow-up article entitled, “5 Things You Should Always Tell Your Boss”.
Before Cascading Style Sheets, a web developers tool for layout was the table. With CSS comes more layout options, which provide for easier positioning, neater code, and more versatility. However, positioning is one of the most misunderstood parts of CSS.
The two extra layout tools made possible with CSS are called "positioning" and "floats". However, before you learn about these tools, you must first understand the box model. But before you can learn any of these concepts, you should understand why they're important. We have written up a few handy tutorials explaining these concepts, which can be found in our forum.
To learn why CSS is better than tables for layout, click here.>>
To learn more about the box model, click here.>>
To learn more about CSS positioning, click here.>>
According to Gartner Research quoted in this TMCnet.com article, the Business Intelligence (BI) market grew 13% internationally in 2007. In the US, however, it grew only 5%. Considering the growing importance being placed on BI, that’s a little surprising. Analysts say the weakened US economy is the main factor, which will continue to have a negative impact on BI in the US.
Gartner's research leads me to the conclusion that many companies don’t see business intelligence as being worth the cost. If a company truly thought that the benefits of a BI tool would pay for itself and more, they would buy it. However, when you have to drop 6 figures on a BI solution, that’s a hard concept to grasp.
Good business intelligence doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn't take much research to find that there are affordable options that have all the power at a fraction of the price. A weak economy doesn’t have to be a reason to avoid BI.
If you’re curious to see what an affordable BI solution can do, check out our Crazybikes demo site, which was built using m-Power. If you would like to see what m-Power can do for you, we will build a live custom web application over your own files, absolutely free and without obligation. Simply fill out this short form to get started!
This post will show you how to:
1. Make asynchronous servlet calls in your web 2.0 servlets,
2. Fill input fields with information obtained through an asynchronous call,
3. Fill an area of the screen with information from an asynchronous call.
That sure sounds onerous. What this post really does, for those of you who will stick through a little tech talk, is show you how to make your web 2.0 servlets behave as if the information is coming from a locally attached PC.
In your opinion, what are a few of the greatest turning points in tech history? Just for fun, try to come up with a few, and then read this InfoWorld article entitled, “15 turning points in tech history” to see if any of yours are mentioned. I personally found the article to be fascinating, though I would have made a few changes.
For example, the lithium-ion battery was a seemingly small breakthrough with huge implications. It helped make the cell phone revolution possible over the last decade, which in turn affected countless aspects of our lives, from the way we communicate to the way we do business. Do you really think that the cell phone would have had such a huge impact if they had large clunky batteries that couldn’t hold a charge all day?
I’m curious to hear your thoughts. What would you have added or removed from this list? Feel free to comment to this post with your ideas.
If you were contacted by a previous employer and asked to fix a bug in code that you had written, what would you do? That’s the question recently posed in this CIO.com article.
Personally, I found the reader's comments to this article just as interesting as the article itself. Some commented that they would in fact help out, while others cited potential legal problems and possibilities of recurring requests for help as reasons not to.
Of course, this situation could be completely avoided simply by writing flawless code 100% of the time. Impossible? You should try using m-Power. It generates error- and syntax-free java code through a simple point-and-click interface, eliminating the possibility of bugs altogether. m-Power allows you to spend your time programming and being productive, without wasting time finding and fixing bugs. That is why we have had so many customers tell us, “m-Power makes programming fun again”!
If you would like to see what they are talking about, check out our online lab where you can create a couple error free java applications in under one hour.
The Blackberry is an extremely useful device right out of the box, but it's quite a bit more useful with additional applications. While I love the fact that most of the applications are free, there is one thing I like better: free open-source applications.
I recently ran across 5 free open-source applications for your Blackberry that I’m sure you’ll find useful. You can read about and access them here>>.
I am certain you've heard about Apple's announcements this week. One in particular - a common development environment for both their iPhone and Leopard (read computer) applications which should set them apart from RIM and the BlackBerry.
Well, I don't think so. Although they may present it as they're taking the lead in this area, m-Power has provided that to customers for years now. And,I'm willing to bet that our development environment has some serious advantages over Apple's. For server based business applications that also deploy to handhelds, like the BlackBerry, you can't beat m-Power.
That's a question you don’t hear every day, yet it is one that was asked of a CIO.com columnist. After reading the article and the comments, I am still left with my original reaction: "What?!"
Here’s my short answer on why that is a ridiculous question. We live in a “right now” world. If your company does business at a speed that is anything less than instant, you are at an extreme disadvantage. Why? There are two reasons:
This new forum post will show you how to bring AJAX suggest functionality to servlets you write using the magic of javascript and our web 2.0 templates.
Not certain what I'm talking about. Click here, erase the vendor number and start typing it starting with a '1'. You'll quickly see what I'm talking about.
If you choose to try this in your servlets, I hope you'll share your experiences with me by commenting in the forum post.
What makes a successful IT team? I recently read a very interesting article in CIO.com that illustrates just how valuable socially connected employees are to an IT team.
Using only a 4 question survey, a VP of IT Operations was able to identify which employees were central to his organization, and which areas needed improvement. Using this particular VP as an example, the article lays out good advice for management, as well as members of an IT team.
You can read the entire article here>>.
Mobile devices and applications have taken over many functions previously carried out by the PC. As a result, we now have new, transportable security risks. For instance, if a mobile device loaded with confidential information is lost or stolen, two potential problems arise:
Those in IT won’t be surprised to hear this, but according to this ITJungle article, a recent Gartner survey found that IT managers are under increased pressure to cut costs. Also, more than half of those surveyed said that the poor economy was having a negative impact on their budgets.
Despite the budget crunch, most of the organizations were involved in legacy application modernization. However, many of the applications being modernized were coded in an older language with very industry-specific features, so it's hard to just start over. Besides these problems, IT Managers are also having a difficult time finding good .NET and Java programmers.
If you're looking to modernize applications but still use your own logic, and use java without hiring java programmers, m-Power can help. As a demonstration, we will build you a live custom app over your own files, absolutely free. Just fill out this short form for a no obligation demonstration.
Business intelligence (BI) is extremely important to any successful business. It provides valuable real-time information in a visually appealing dashboard environment. It allows company leaders to see how their business is doing instantly and base decisions off of this data.
So, why doesn’t everyone have BI in place?
Many companies hold off due to pricing. BI applications are very expensive, most with 6-figure price tags. I just read an interesting CIO.com article on this very subject. A company saw the need for BI but couldn’t afford even the cheapest of options. Their solution involved pivot tables in Excel spreadsheets. This cost roughly 25k, took a year to deploy, and came with limitations. Still, the article outlines the solution as a great success considering the budget the company was working with.
I disagree.
m-Power could have done the job better, faster, and for nearly the same price. They could have had a much more powerful java-based BI solution without all the limitations that come with Excel.
If you’re interested in BI for your business, but find the prices are too high, fill out this form and let us know what you need. We’ll be happy to provide a free, no-obligation demonstration of m-Power’s capabilities.
One of the most important tips that anyone designing a Web page or application should take into account is Image usage and optimization.
Images can take up a lot of bandwidth and your users need their critical business applications to be lightning fast and efficient in order to be productive. And if you're working on B2C applications, your external users will lose patience with slow load times, and you will lose their sale.
So, how do you incorporate images and still maintain that speed? Simple. Optimize them!
Here's how»
Can you guess what the hot tech trends are? Five well known venture capitalists shared their opinions on the top ten at the recent "Annual Top Ten Tech Trends Debate".
Not surprisingly, 4 out of the 10 trends are mobile-device related. I believe we are only beginning to understand the impact mobile devices will have on the business world. Real-time information, while important now, will become a necessity in order to stay competitive. As the world becomes increasingly “instant”, companies will be forced to keep up or shut down.
m-Power makes staying up to speed simple, by generating secure java servlets which can be accessed through your mobile device. Imagine the advantages of having real-time company information in the palm of your hand. Now imagine that it’s secure, easy to create, and inexpensive.
Click here to find out how this is possible, or fill out this short form if you would like a no-obligation demonstration of m-Power’s capabilities.
Have you ever used Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) while designing a web page only to realize later that it looks different in Internet Explorer than it did in Firefox, or vice versa? CSS has been limited by poor browser implementation more than any other web-related technology. Because of this problem, certain pages that look fine in one browser will look completely different in another. If unaware of the browser differences, web design with CSS can be extremely frustrating and take far more time than necessary.
We have put a list in our forum of helpful tips to easily create cross-browser compatible CSS, which can be found here.>>
This Technology Buyer's Kit might help»
This short, lighthearted, and informative assessment packet is designed to help you gauge your current technology and software requirements and begin making the right technological choices to meet your needs.
Do you find that your company has an overall lack of business intelligence? Are you sure your applications are secure? Are consultants creating more problems than solutions? According to a recent eWeek.com article, these are just 3 of 10 IT problems you might not know you have.
Fortunately, m-Power can resolve each of these 3 problems, faster and cheaper than you might think possible.
If you've held off on purchasing BI software for price reasons, m-Power can provide these tools for a fraction of the normal price. If you've worried about software security, m-Power will take care of that for you, by generating java applications with all the security features built in.
If you'd like to learn how m-Power can best fit your business needs, or if you would like us to build a live custom app over your own files to demonstrate m-Power’s capabilities, simply fill out this short form.
With the increased popularity of executive dashboards and portals and the constant demand for better BI (Business Intelligence) one of the most useful at-a-glance tools available is the dashboard "speedometer." You can see three examples along the bottom of this dashboard.
With one quick glance, a manager can grasp what is really going on in his or her business and react quickly.
If you'd like to use this metric monitor in your dashboard, this short article tells you how.
With a weakened economy, job security has become a major concern. It’s more important than ever to stand out and demonstrate worth to your current employer.
If you’re in IT, then you will enjoy this article entitled, “Four Secrets to Becoming a Rising IT Star”. The article lays out 4 ways to not only succeed in your current position, but to also advance.
Besides those 4 methods, I’d like to add a fifth: Save your company time and/or money. How can you do that? Well, if you or your company has a need for application modernization, BI, reporting, executive dashboards, wireless applications, or web applications in general, then m-Power can accomplish this proposed “fifth method” for you.
If you would like to see how m-Power can save you time and money, please fill out this short form. We will build you a live custom web app using your own files, absolutely free.
Software vendors are not in business to give away their software for free, or virtually free. And recently there have been a rash of companies who seem to be doing just that. The problem? Their software isn't even close to free, but the bulk of their pricing is hidden.
So, it is important to keep your eyes open and ask the right questions. For example:
Here's a fun game to play next time you're at the grocery store. Count how many labels you see that read "Instant", "Ready in Minutes", or even "Ready in Seconds". You'll be surprised how many there are.
We live in a very instant world, a world where demands must be met on the spot.
That being said, I’m always shocked by the number of times I run across companies that keep and/or distribute their data on Excel spreadsheets. This data may be comprised of prospect lists, sales numbers, or other important information that may be needed instantly. When that data changes, a spreadsheet must be manually updated and re-distributed. Not only is this method unsecure, it's a completely unnecessary waste of time which can hurt a company's chances of staying competitive.
Wouldn’t it be much easier if all the data was stored in one secure place? What if all the data was sorted and displayed as graphs and dashboards at the push of a button? What if all the data was instantly accessible via the web?
Not only would this solve the security problems, it would make the company more competitive in an "instant" world.
Click here to see how an automotive manufacturer solved this very problem using m-Power.
This article states that there are two areas that can be greatly improved by establishing enterprise wikis. The first is reducing occupational SPAM aka "reply-to-all" emails that make up 30% of all email.
The second has to do with the implementation and modernization of Enterprise software. To paraphrase, when you go and buy an ERP, let's say, and implement the same 15,000 business processes that it provides to everyone, you don't gain any real competitive advantage. The advantage opportunity lies in how your business handles the exceptions to these business processes and creates solutions custom to your user needs.
One way to track these needs and the solutions that are established is by establishing an enterprise wiki. Here are some tips for getting started»
If you'd like to learn more about creating custom solutions for your enterprise software, just fill out this form.
A couple months back, I wrote a blog linking to a CIO.com article that listed 6 free BlackBerry downloads. Well, the good folks at CIO.com have just published another article outlining 6 more free BlackBerry apps that you're sure to love.
Does your company have business applications that you wish could be accessed wirelessly through your BlackBerry or handheld device? m-Power allows you to create custom business applications tied to your ERP, MRP, CRM, or whatever software package you use...that can all be accessed wirelessly. Click here to learn more about the benefits of wireless applications.
What does it cost to keep an IT worker happy? Perhaps the question should be asked, what does it cost if you don't? Some estimates place the cost of losing a valued IT worker at 150% of that employee's salary when all is said and done.
This is even more dramatic in IT when factoring in the time and costs of technical training, education, and certifications that can easily stretch into the tens of thousands. So, keeping your IT workers happy can be a definite advantage. Here are 7 easy ways to keep IT workers happy.
One way to keep workers happy that is not mentioned in the article is to make their work fun. Many of my customers tell me that m-Power makes programming fun again.
Of course, if you're interested in improving productivity, then try m-Power. Here's an example of a company that reduced development time by 98% using m-Power.
Application security has become an increasingly hot topic. It seems like I see new articles on the subject every day. Recently, Microsoft was in the news for putting a feature in Vista designed to annoy users and put pressure on software vendors to make their code more secure.
It seems like they may be on to something. According to an eWeek.com article, “75 percent of attacks are now targeting applications”. The article also speculates that developers who know how to incorporate security into application development will be in high demand, and easily command a higher salary.
You can read the entire eWeek.com article here.>>
If you're interested in developing secure java applications quickly, m-Power makes it easy. Here's a demo site that gives a good example of role based security, one the many security features that can be created with m-Power.
In good times, 7 out of 10 companies look to keep IT costs down. If the economy weakens, the pressure to make deep cuts will soar. Will your CIO slash jobs or adopt other cost-reduction strategies? What are the best options for making a major difference to the bottom line in such cases.
Here's a quick presentation on improving your ROI through Web initiatives that can provide new areas to make money as well as save money.
If you'd like to learn more about improving your bottom line through Web initiatives, fill out this form.
When building a Web application, you may often find it useful to provide users with selection criteria using drop down lists that are "forward filtered" or dependent on each other.
For example, if you had drop-down menus for state and city, you could make them dependent so that choosing a particular state would repopulate the city drop-down menu to only include the cities in that state.
m-Power makes it incredibly easy to accomplish this. Here's how»
When Boise Cascade's management told them to develop a complex and comprehensive Web-based reporting system that could interface with multiple host systems...and then to do it in just three weeks time...they just about fell over. That deadline would be impossible to meet.
However, despite being short a developer, they not only got it done, but did it well! How? Here's what IT Jungle's reporter uncovered»
There is always a constant buzz around the hottest new areas of IT, but the savviest IT professionals understand that it's the core specialties that can provide solid career prospects.
Here are 7 Top Tech Skills That Employers Need»
And note #2. Many of our customers began teaching themselves Java application development using m-Power. Here's how one IT manager got started»
In his latest book, author Jim Champy studied 1,000 companies with double- to triple-digit growth, and then he produced a collection of case studies on the most innovative, growth-charged business models he found.
The common thread? These companies all drew on IT to produce substantial competitive advantages. Here's what else he found»
I can remember a while back when “free” meant something. It simply meant you were getting something and paying nothing. No longer. Now there are asterisks and fine print. To say an item is free these days invokes justifiable skepticism and spam filters.
Nothing is free.
A similarly disturbing trend is arising in the web application development world. “Easy” is going the way of “free”. When nearly every product claims to be easy, but nearly all aren’t, “easy” has been relegated to an overused marketing term.
So, what can I say? Is m-Power easy? Read our customer testimonials. Look through all the m-Power demos. Try our online lab.
You be the judge.
This white paper lays out five key practical steps that legacy-based businesses should apply to modernize their systems, and how to do so using Java (much faster than PHP.)
The article demonstrates a practical application of these steps through a carefully detailed case study on how we modernized mrc's character-based mrc-Productivity Series legacy software into the fully Java-based m-Power solution, including all metrics, technologies, and timelines involved.
"Getting to Java in 5 Practical Steps" can be found in our white paper library.
Splash pages are the pages that pop up in Web applications, most often to let the user know that the program is in the process of loading or processing their last request. But there are other areas where incorporating a splash page into your Web application can enhance your business. For example, you can:
If your business has applications and business data housed on multiple databases, you know that transferring data between disparate databases can be a frustrating, problem-filled process.
Arduous steps are involved for IT and these steps often lead to transfer errors, impartial or incorrect data, and delays. And, when there are errors, you may not know it. That can spell big trouble for BI, reporting, order fulfillment and inventory management.
This new method gets rid of all of those troubles in just one easy step.
General Binding Company was in a bind. Their Movex software package didn't have the operational reporting capabilities they required and their IT department was being forced to create ad-hoc reports, taking time away from their more critical IT projects.
GBC knew it needed a better operational reporting system that could tie directly to Movex, but didn't want to make changes to the underlying core software package.
Here's how they did it»
In just 20 minutes there are things you can do that can have a meaningful long-term effect on your IT organization, your career, your technology knowledge, your management skills and your relationship with the business.
I like #4 and #16, but then again, I've always thought asking the right questions is the key to those successes you never knew were possible.
Here's the list»
So, they decided to take it to the next level and develop a centralized Web scheduling system where users maintain their own accounts, individual facility managers are notified automatically with any changes to scheduling, and the system administrator assigns authorization so users only view the functions, menus, and facilities they have permission to.
See how cool it is for yourself». (Roll over menu items for more information.)
If you'd like to build one yourself, fill out this form»
There is no denying that sometimes using a third party to get things done quickly and efficiently simply makes the most sense in IT projects. But, there are also areas where CIOs need to be careful to pay attention to common pitfalls.
For example, this recent article on outsourcing reports that while 70% said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their outsourced projects, more than a third felt they should have spent more time evaluating providers before signing on.
If you would like insights or questions into outsourcing application development, like knowing what questions to ask or where to start, let us know what you have on your plate. You may be unaware of some of the choices available to you.
SQL is a powerful language that many people use in their m-Power-generated Java applications...but many more can take advantage of it...and don't.
That may be because there's not a clear enough understanding of how easily m-Power's external object feature works with SQL. This quick article in the m-Power forum brings those capabilities home.
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