10 technology traps to watch out for

I recently read an article on Techrepublic.com, entitled "10 technology traps to watch out for." While the article contains some good tips, I’d like to add a particularly important technology trap that should have been included: Multi-user spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets are great when used correctly by one person. The spreadsheet was never meant to be a multi-department or even multi-user tool, yet many companies use it in these ways.

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A few cost-reducing tips

The economy may be improving, but it’s always a good time to lower costs. But where do you start. My advice: When looking for areas to cut costs, always start with technology. Technology changes quickly, and technology prices change right along with it.

Analyze your processes and systems every few years or so. Chances are there’s now a better and cheaper way to do things. You never know how much you can save unless you look around. For example, this company saw 6-figure savings by upgrading their outdated systems.

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Solving problems or making sales?

I usually buy car parts at Autozone. No, they’re not paying me to say that. And yes, I do have a good reason which very much applies to running a business.

Let me explain: A few years back, my car had a minor problem that I could fix on my own. A small plastic part had cracked and needed replacing. Not too difficult. I took the cracked part to an auto parts store, but no one in the store could identify the part. Instead, they tried to sell me a similar part and convince me it would work.

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Top 10 tech trends for the next decade

I had an argument with a friend the other day. I believe that technology is critical to the success of a business, but he disagrees. Technology, he said, is overrated, and many successful businesses are quite “behind the times” from a technology standpoint.

You know what? He’s right...to a certain extent.

You don't have to keep up with technology in the business world. Keep the fax machine. Keep manually entering your data. Offer 24-hour turnaround. You can run a business and avoid technology.

But...at what cost?

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Don’t drive with your eyes closed

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend across many businesses. They have data, lots of data, but have no way of easily accessing that data. Some have to request reports from IT, which can take days to receive. For others, analyzing data from the past months or years usually involves spreadsheets and can take up to a week to complete.

How can you direct a company if you can’t easily access real-time business data whenever you want? It’s like driving with your eyes closed.

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Are you complaining or doing?

The business landscape is changing for many industries, driven largely by the internet and new technology. Many companies are realizing something: What worked a few years ago no longer works today. What works today may not work in a few years.

My question is this: What is your company doing about it?

I’ve heard many people, even high-ranking executives, complain about the changing business climate. “If it wasn’t for (fill in the blank), we would be successful,” is the common refrain.

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The 5 best products of CES 2010, for business users

Every year, I pay attention to the Consumer Electronics Show, looking out for new technology that might affect business. Although it’s aimed at consumers, I always run across a few items with the potential to increase business productivity.

Obviously, you’d have a hard time justifying 3D TV for the business, which was one of the show’s biggest products. Other gadgets, however, like the coming wave of tablet computers, could very well find their way inside the business world this year.

If you’d like to see other CES products aimed at business users, here’s a nice list on techrepublic.com. How about you? Did you see any products at CES that could affect our business lives?

3D web apps

If there’s one thing a country struggling with obesity doesn’t need, it’s more interesting televisions. From the news coming out of the recent CES show, that’s exactly what we’re getting: 3D TV is coming!

If you’ve never experienced 3D TV, you may not understand the hoopla. Doesn’t regular TV work fine? Why do I need 3D? I’ll warn you though…when you try it, you won’t want to go back.

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Moving forward: JDK upgrade

In order to take advantage of newer technologies and allow us to continue to keep m-Power on the leading edge of technology, we are changing our minimum JDK requirement. In the past, m-Power customers were required to run JDK 1.4 or later. The minimum JDK requirement has been raised to version 1.6.

We’ve written up some instructions for making the upgrade to JDK 1.6, which can be found below:

Windows users: Click here

Linux/AS400 users: Click here

Please contact our support desk if you run into any problems.

Budget tips for 2010

The big question surrounding 2010 is this: How much will the economy improve? Some predict massive improvements. Most predict a gradual change. I agree with the latter.

How will the uncertainty surrounding the economy impact IT spending budgets, if at all? I believe the spending mentality is changing, and companies aren’t willing to write out the big checks like they were in the past. Two reasons drive this change: First, the uncertain economy will lead to a cautious approach to spending. Second, companies have more options than ever before. Why spend 6-figures for enterprise software when they have 10 other viable alternatives for a fraction of the price?

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The cheapest outsourcing destination

It's not China, or even India. Nope, not Africa either. Give up? Look around you. Given the right tools, the cheapest outsourcing destination is right inside your office.

If that sounds crazy, take a look at this company. They needed Java web-based portals, but no one had any experience with Java. Rather than outsource the project or hire consultants, they did it themselves.

The result: They completed the project faster and cheaper than any outsourcer or consultants could have.

How to run a meeting like Google

Chances are you've attended an unproductive meeting. You've probably even attended an unproductive meeting in preparation for another unproductive meeting. Many complain that they could accomplish so much more if they didn't have so many meetings.

Meetings are not inherently unproductive. Whether or not a meeting is productive falls squarely on the meeting leader’s shoulders. If the leader allows attendees to stray away from the main topic, the meeting quickly becomes a waste of time. However, if the leader keeps the attendees focused, meetings can actually solve problems and increase productivity.

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4 technology trends for 2010

Technology holds the greatest opportunities for businesses wishing to save money or increase productivity. However, technology’s rapid rate of advancement often leaves companies struggling to catch up. If you want to get a leg up on the competition in 2010, pay attention to these 4 tech trends:

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Unplug and give your mind a break

We live in a very “plugged in” age.  At work, we sit in front of a computer.  On the road, we listen to music or talk on the phone.  At home, we have televisions, computers, game consoles, etc….  The point is, how much time do you spend completely unplugged from outside distractions?  Probably not much.

Your brain is a muscle, one that needs a break once in a while.  Sometimes we need to unplug--turn everything off, and just think.  While I have no science to back this up, I truly believe this improves productivity.  I’ve noticed it to be true for me--when I give my mind a break, my productivity increases.  Try it sometime, you might surprise yourself.

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Free money-saving tips

In a struggling economy, everyone wants new ways to save money. Sure, you could hire expensive consultants to come in and show you how to save money...but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Or, you could learn from others. Here's a good example for you: One of our customers had a staff member who spent half of his time collecting, sorting, and distributing data with Excel. Realizing that this wasn't the best use of his time, they created an automated web application that did everything for him, allowing him to spend time on more mission-critical tasks.

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7 Steps For Making a New Year’s Resolution and Keeping It

The beginning of a new year is always great. We get to put the old year in the past and start a new one with a clean slate. Then, by the end of January when we’ve broken all of our new year’s resolutions, we get to look forward to the start of the next year…in 11 months.

Do you have trouble keeping your resolutions? Join the crowd. If you’d like to correct the problem, here’s a good article on lifehack.org entitled, “7 steps for making a new years resolution and keeping it”.

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Customer service is good business, but difficult to track

The other day, my wife complained to me about a certain company who didn’t care about their customers. She couldn’t believe their poor customer service and their unwillingness to help her, a longtime customer.

My response: Many businesses don’t believe customer service will generate revenue, so they don’t invest much money in it. Until they see that bad customer service hurts business or good customer service helps business, they won’t change.

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Attitude and productivity

What effect does a bad attitude have on productivity?  Answer: More than you can imagine.  According to this somewhat dated, but still very applicable article, negativity costs the US economy between $250 to $300 billion a year.

While I can't begin to imagine how they came up with that number, it provides a little insight into the effect a bad attitude has on the bottom line.  Even if the real amount is closer to half of $300 billion, it's still a huge number.

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The future of business

The future of business is real-time.  Customers don’t want to wait for answers.  Executives don’t want to wait for data.  No one wants 24-hour turnaround anymore.  Everyone wants everything instantly, right now. 


Who can blame them?  The business world has been trending towards real-time for a few years now.  Technology that makes every aspect of your business operate in real-time has existed for some time now.  Those that have fallen behind the real-time technology curve will stand out like a sore thumb in the coming years. 

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Happy holidays from your friends at mrc

This holiday season, I have a special treat for you. I’ve managed to wrestle a previously unshared cookie recipe out of the hands of one of our employees here at mrc. While often requested, this recipe has never before been given to anyone…until now.

Word of warning: While I can attest to the deliciousness of these cookies, I can’t speak for the nutritional information. In fact, if you’re at all concerned with nutritional information, you probably shouldn’t make these cookies. But, what’s the point of the holidays if not for breaking a diet or two? So, if you want a great cookie recipe this holiday season, you can find it in our forums.

I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for reading my blog this past year. From all of us here at mrc, we wish you happy holidays and safe travels!

The government's modernization mistake

I’ve written many times about the importance of modernizing your outdated systems.  Those that rely on old technology find themselves at a disadvantage, unable to keep up with the rapidly changing world of technology.  Even worse, they appear behind-the-times to their customers and may even leave their data or company at risk.

The U.S. Government just learned that the hard way.  As it turns out, Iraqi insurgents have been stealing video feeds from their surveillance drones using $26 software readily available online.  Even worse, now that the government knows what’s happening, they’re having trouble fixing the problem because the network is more than a decade old and runs on proprietary software.

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10 ways to reenergize your staff

I’m sure the business world isn't very sad to put 2009 behind them. It wasn’t a good year for many companies. Many employees lost their jobs. Many who who still have jobs are stressed out and worried about the 2010 economy.

Chances are, morale is lower going into 2010 than it was a year ago, and nothing drains productivity like low morale.  So, how can you re-energize and motivate your employees? How can you provide a great, low-stress work environment in a bad economy? Jon Gordon, a workplace motivation expert provides some great tips that can be applied in just about any company. You can check them out at CIOInsight.com.

Order Entry as it should be

I speak to lots of companies about application modernization and what it can, and has done for their business. Often, they are afraid to try and modernize their order entry application. The reasons vary.

Many consider screen scraping and bringing their character based order entry application to the browser sufficient. I'm not sure that I agree.

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Why I won’t ever buy a GPS unit again

I’m never buying a standalone GPS unit ever again, for the same reason I’ll never buy a pager, Peek, or PDA. Why? Because I recently upgraded to the Droid, which performs all of the tasks I mentioned above…eliminating the need for devices built for a specific purpose.

It’s a simple concept: I don’t want to purchase or carry around four different devices, so I bought one that does everything. This is a concept that should be carried over into enterprise software purchases, but seldom is.

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The key to a successful business plan

We’re nearing the end of another year, which can only mean one thing: It’s time to plan for 2010. It’s time to take a look back at the last year, analyze the data, and make a plan for next year based on that data.

But what if you’re doing it wrong? What if you’re missing a vital step in the process? According to this article on Forbes.com, successful companies focus their planning efforts more on the future and less on the past.

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Save money, listen to your customers

AT&T and Verizon have been doing a bit of bickering lately, which has attracted plenty of media attention. Verizon has run ads disparaging AT&T’s network, and AT&T filed a lawsuit against Verizon (which was later dropped) and run counter-attack ads.

What AT&T needs to understand is this: Verizon didn’t say anything that people didn’t know already. Ask any iPhone user what their biggest complaint is, and 9 times out of 10 you will hear, “The network.” In fact, consumer reports just verified the general consensus in their latest “Cell-phone service” survey, in which AT&T came in dead last. Verizon simply listened to AT&T’s customers and broadcasted the message.

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The overwork cult is alive and well

Suppose you have two companies that are the same in all aspects except one.  In the first company, everyone works 12 hours every day.  In the second company, everyone puts in a regular 8-hour day.  Which company is more likely to succeed?

While I’m sure most would choose the first company, this article provides an alternate point of view that flies in the face of common thought.  While many connect working overtime with success, it may actually have the exact opposite effect.

If your company encourages employees to work overtime, check it out…it’s a very interesting read.

7 productivity tips for people who hate Getting Things Done

Considering the sheer amount of productivity advice in existence today, it’s a wonder that anybody is unproductive.  There are articles, books, and entire methodologies devoted to the subject (Getting Things Done).

Despite all the advice, the two most important productivity tips were things that I had to figure out myself.  First, I’ve learned that I'm infinitely more productive with a good night's sleep.  That is the single most important productivity factor for me.  Second, I concentrate better in the morning.  Therefore, I work on tasks that require greater concentration in the morning.

Want some more productivity tips?  Check out this article on zenhabits.net entitled, "7 productivity tips for people who hate GTD”.

The "Pimp my Ride" effect

Have you ever seen “Pimp my Ride” on MTV? In every episode, they find the worst looking car possible, and make it look flashy. This usually involves chrome, video monitors, lots of speakers, and obnoxious paint jobs.

Now in the very few episodes that I’ve seen, the outside of the car was completely overhauled, but nothing under the hood was touched. In other words, the old beat-up 85’ Yugo now looks glamorous, but inside it’s still an old beat-up 85’ Yugo. The way I see it: Garbage covered in chrome is still garbage.

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User guide improvements

The PDF version of the m-Power manual was recently enhanced to include a very nice table of contents for easy navigation. If you prefer reading on good old-fashioned paper, I’m sure you’ll be quite pleased with the improvements.

However, I must warn those who prefer the printed manual: Due to the sheer quantity of updates we push out to m-Power, a printed manual will typically be out-of-date within a week or so.

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16 declining tech salaries for 2010

I don’t think I have to tell anyone that 2009 was a bad year for the economy. Positions were eliminated, jobs were shipped overseas, and salaries were trimmed, as detailed by this article on Eweek.com entitled, “16 declining tech salaries for 2010”.

The workload, on the other hand, hasn’t changed. Many companies have critical projects on the table, but can’t afford to hire consultants or bring on new staff with the necessary skills. If you’re in that boat, here’s a bit of information you may not know: You might be able to use your current employees.

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Celebrate Thanksgiving with Smoked Salmon

Is it just me, or has 2009 just flown by? I can’t believe it’s already Thanksgiving week again.

This Thanksgiving I'd like to share a recipe for smoked salmon (from foodnetwork.com) and a few humorous holiday quotes.

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.
- Kevin James

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How to train your employees on the cheap

Keeping employees up-to-date with current trends and technologies is critical for any successful business. The only problem: Training costs money, and money is in short supply for many companies these days.

If your company is in that situation, you’re in luck. Thanks to the internet, we have many training options at our fingertips…absolutely free. While the internet can’t replace a training class dedicated to a specific subject, it’s a viable alternative when money is tight.

Here’s some advice for department or company leaders with limited training budgets:

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5 ways to be more effective with your time

How many of you have ever wished you could manipulate time?  I sure have.  I would get everything checked off my to-do list and maybe even sneak in a nap or two when I get tired.  It would be great!

Unfortunately, we’re stuck with just 24 hours in a day and it’s up to us to use that time as effectively as possible.  If you struggle with effective time use, or just want some tips, check out this video on Techrepublic.com.  It covers 5 ways you can be more effective with your time.

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Build web apps in minutes

Did you know anyone - not just programmers - can build web applications in minutes with m-Power?

If you want to see it for yourself, check out the all new m-Power demo video. In this short video, you will see m-Power in action as we take you through the creation of a maintenance application.

Integration and ease of use vs. features

A couple of weeks ago, I stressed the importance of user adoption in the software purchase process. Software that users don’t use is useless, however full-featured and powerful it may be.

Similar to user adoption, I believe that integration often takes a back seat to features in the buying process. Companies become so blinded by functionality, they lose sight of the more important aspect - software integration.

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CIO priorities for 2010

I am a technology bigot.  I believe technology provides the greatest potential for businesses to boost productivity and save money.

Many companies already look to their IT department for cost cutting measures, and according to a survey conducted by the Society for Information Management, that will only increase.

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Changes...they are a coming

An important announcement for readers of the Cup of Joe Blog:
I'm making a few changes to the blog, which will take effect this week. First, the look has changed slightly, which you've probably already noticed. You also may notice the images in each post. These are for scanning purposes and represent the topic covered by that post.

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How To: Initiate batch server jobs from a browser

Have you ever wanted to initiate a batch job on your server from a web application? For example, you might want to:

• send a group of reports via email, or
• send a group of reports to a network printer, or
• execute a month-end function, or
• begin a backup procedure, or
• start an MRP run.

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5 ways IT wastes money

I believe technology provides the most opportunity for businesses to save money. At the same time, technology can turn into a major budget drain if not managed correctly.

Want to see the most common “budget-drainers”? Here is an interesting video on techrepublic.com, entitled, “5 ways IT is probably wasting money.” While it contains some great points, I want to add one more for consideration: Failure to use the proper tools.

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User adoption under 50%?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about user adoption and how critical it is to the success of your software. I just saw an insightful survey on CIOInsight.com that really drives this point home.

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Los Angeles adopts Google e-mail system

The city of Los Angeles recently decided to use Google’s email system. From what I've seen, the reaction to this news is fairly divided.

Some view this as a mistake. Some view this as a catastrophe waiting to happen. They believe entrusting the data, emails, and information of such a large city is a security risk.

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5 new technologies that will change everything

How will technology change in the next 5 years, and how will it affect you? According to this article on PCWorld.com entitled, “5 new technologies that will change everything,” the future of technology lies in speed, mobility, and instant information.

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Easy development made easier

If you haven’t heard yet, we’ve recently overhauled m-Power’s entire browser interface. The new interface simplifies the application development process even further and provides a more intuitive experience for non-developers (and developers alike) who want to create web applications.

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Are you proud of the face of your company?

The face of your company is whoever or whatever a potential client encounters first. It could be a person, a website, or a physical store. It creates a positive or negative impression and often makes or breaks a sale. Take this story for example:

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10 tech trends to watch in 2010

The technology industry is easily one of the fastest moving industries. New advancements in technology frequently bring new time/money saving opportunities for businesses. However, the IT industry as a whole is slow to adopt many of these new technology trends. Why? I could rattle off a number of reasons, but I think this article in Techrepublic really hits the nail on the head.

That being said, those who stay on top of the ever-changing technology industry have a real chance to better their organizations. But what are the latest up-and-coming tech trends? Gartner offered its opinion on the top tech trends of 2010, which you can find on Datamation.com.

It can do that?

I always thought our Crazybikes demo site was pretty self explanatory until a few weeks ago. I was going over the list of features with our marketing guy for one of our Crazybikes demo applications. At one point he stopped me and said, “Whoa, I didn’t know it could do that.”

Maybe it wasn’t a self explanatory as we thought.

So, we created a little help box on every page listing each feature along with a short description. You might not realize some of the time-saving features built into these web applications, and some might even surprise you. Next time you visit Crazybikes, hover over this image to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Handy tool or ticking time bomb?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard about a problem caused by the overuse of spreadsheets, I could retire early. By “overuse of spreadsheets", I’m referring to tasks that spreadsheets were not meant to handle, such as reporting, business intelligence, shipment schedules, etc…

I know many companies are guilty of this, but I doubt that management at those companies know how much time and effort is wasted on spreadsheets. Here’s something to try: If your company uses spreadsheets extensively and you don’t know how long they take to create and manage, find out. You may be surprised.

I wish that a little wasted time was the worst problem associated with spreadsheet overuse, but it’s not. Read this forum post to learn about more potentially serious problems, as well as a solution.

17 tips to improve productivity

Do you struggle with productivity at work? Here’s a great article on productivity501.com that lists a bunch of tips sent in from many different people.

Here’s a tip taken from the article that I’ve found to be true in my own life: “Focus on three things: diet (including water), exercise, and sleep.” That is so true. It’s a lot easier to be productive when I’m getting good sleep and eating well.

How about you? Do you have any productivity tips to share?

Free modernization whitepaper

This white paper covers the techniques available for bringing your business applications to the web, pitfalls to avoid, and best practices for making long term technology decisions in today’s market.

It even takes a practical look at the steps we took to modernize the character-based mrc-Productivity Series into the Java-based m-Power and a few tips to help you modernize quickly.

You can download the white paper here.>>

How to create an iPhone app

Want to see your m-Power applications on your iPhone? Turning your m-Power app into an iPhone app is not only possible, but very simple. Better yet, you don’t have to go through Apple’s unpredictable approval process.

All it takes is a little formatting in m-Painter. We’ve written up some instructions and placed them in our forum.

6 ways to beat job stress

It’s a stressful time in the business world, especially in the IT industry. When you combine the bad economy with outsourcing fears, IT professionals deal with a lot of stress.

If you need some help dealing with your stress, check out this great article on Forbes.com entitled, “Six ways to beat executive job stress.” Not an executive? No worries, the information in this article really applies to anyone dealing with stress.

Have a good stress relief tip? Feel free to share it in the comments section.

Is your great software actually worthless?

User adoption is a funny thing. You may have the best, most cutting-edge software in the world, but if people in your organization don’t use it, it's worthless. Many enterprise software purchases focus on features and functionality, while forgetting the most important aspect of all—user adoption.

I recently spoke with a former insurance company employee. Their IT department rolled out some powerful ad-hoc reporting software that required multiple training classes to understand. To make a long story short, people went back to the old method of requesting reports from the IT department because the software was so complicated.

When it comes to applications that non-IT employees must use, such as ad-hoc reporting applications, ease of use is paramount. For instance, take a look at this ranking report example. While you are there, hover over the (and tell us what you think of our new Crazybikes user guide). Do you think non-IT employees would need a training class to run ad-hoc reports with this?

Want to create reports like this for your users? Let us know and we’ll build you a free proof of concept application.

Five top IT budget killers

I just read an article on CIO.com entitled, “Five Top IT Budget Killers.” The article lists the most common areas that businesses waste money within their IT department. While it was an interesting read, I’ve seen a few others ways that businesses waste money.

For example, many IT organizations waste money purchasing separate software packages for specific tasks, such as shopping carts, business intelligence, order entry, report writing, etc… In other words, they have to pay for, and spend time learning, each individual software package. This becomes even more costly when paying per user or per seat.

How to save: Look for software packages capable of performing a variety of tasks. This is an easy way to save money on licenses, training, and even maintenance costs. If you have any money-saving ideas, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

10 BlackBerry apps for the IT professional

I love how quickly the tech industry changes. For example, just a few short years ago, mobile applications were rare. Today, mobile apps are a booming business.

If there's an application you need, chances are, it exists. Wading through all the available apps to find the one you want is a different story entirely. If you're an IT professional looking for apps, here's a nice list of Blackberry applications on Eweek.com.

Have you found a great mobile application specific to the IT industry? Feel free to tell me about it in the comments section.

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.

10 great ideas from 5 great bosses

Have you ever noticed how some people succeed despite the obstacles in front of them, while others seem to struggle over the smallest hurdles? The same can be said for many companies as well.

It’s no coincidence. Successful companies (and people) generally have certain habits that contribute to their success. I recently ran across a great little article on Techrepublic.com that lists 10 great ideas for success, taken from 5 great bosses over a 30 year period.

While the article is aimed at managers, many of the tips can be applied to just about everyone. You can read it here.>>

An empowerment riddle, explained

Last week, I posted a riddle that went something like this: What do you get when you combine m-Power’s new ranking report with m-Painter’s new import facility? The answer: An instant executive dashboard!

But, it’s no ordinary executive dashboard. It’s a dashboard instantly generated using criteria specified at run-time. What does that mean? It means that you can generate an executive dashboard displaying the information you want to see at that moment…with just a click of a button.

The best part? That same application can be used to generate an unlimited number of executive dashboards.

Want to see an executive dashboard built over your own files in under 24 hours? Fill out this form to get started.

Google Voice for iPhone to re-emerge as web app

When I first heard about Apple’s blockage of the Google Voice App, I thought, “Why don’t they just make a web app?” As it turns out, according to this article on mashable.com, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

It’s a genius move on Google’s part. Apple can’t very well block a web application without raising some serious eyebrows over at the FCC. Also, a web app is far more flexible than an iPhone app. It’s accessible from any web browser, opening their app up to other phones in the process.

Did you know that you can do the same thing with your business applications? You can turn them into web apps with m-Power and access them on your iPhone, Blackberry, or other smartphone, all while avoiding rigorous application approval procedures. Fill out this short form if you want to know more, or if you want to see a free proof of concept web application.

15 Hot IT Skills: Certified and Non-Certified IT Skills in Demand

Learning a new skill or getting a new certification is often a good idea - bad economy or not. But, not all skills and certifications are created equal. Which ones should you focus on?

Here’s a nice list on Datamation.com which lists Hot IT skills and certifications, as well as certifications that are rising or falling in value. The information is gathered from a survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. and Canadian employers.

The next big security problem

Before computers, we worried about property theft. When the internet became commonplace, it brought in threats like identity theft, viruses, and thieves that can pillage your bank account from the comfort of their own homes.

Now, as smart-phones take over many of the tasks formerly performed on desktop computers, we inch closer to a mobile security problem. More and more sensitive information is stored on smart-phones today, information that could do great damage to a company if that phone is lost/stolen and the data is compromised.

How do you avoid the problem? Instead of storing information on the phone itself, create web applications designed for mobile browsers and place as much security on them as you would a regular web application. Your users can access those web applications from their smart-phones to see the data they need. That way, if a smart-phone is lost, your company data isn’t at risk.

If you need help getting started, we’ve written up a few tips for creating mobile web applications and placed them in our forums.>>

An empowerment riddle

What happens when you combine m-Power's new ranking report template with m-Painter's new import facility? Click the question mark to find out. (Hint: The link will lead to a page that looks very similar to the ranking report. Select your filtering criteria, click the "run report" button, and you will see the answer to the riddle).

Ranking report

+ m-Painter Import facility =

20 best blackberry, iPhone apps for summer travel

Smart-phones are revolutionizing the way we travel. Are you lost? Just pull up a map on your phone. Bored on the plane? Chances are there’s something on your phone to keep you occupied. Need to find a restaurant in a new city? Again, check your phone.

If you plan on traveling during the remainder of this summer, there are a few applications that might really come in handy. Here’s a nice list on CIO.com of 20 Blackberry and iPhone apps for summer travel.

Be warned: The more we depend on our phones, the more costly losing one can become, especially in business. Check out this week's blog post entitled, "The next big security problem", for a way around those risks.