mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Weekly recap: A strategy to improve application development, web accessibility, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, Big Data, Business Intelligence

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on improving application development, web accessibility, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Most data isn’t “big,” and businesses are wasting money pretending it is
It’s all over the tech sites. You’ve heard the hype. “Big Data” is the next big thing. Quick! Buy expensive software to manage all of your big data! Of course, I’m joking. The fact is, most companies don’t actually have “big data.” Unless you’re dealing with absolutely massive amounts of data, you don’t need “big data” software. You need BI software that will let you quickly analyze your data and run reports. If you’re looking for good BI software, here’s a handy guide that will help you choose the best option. …

Weekly recap: A strategy to improve application development, web accessibility, and more…Read More »

5 common IT practices that waste your time

By Joe Stangarone / Spreadsheets, Time Wasters, web reporting

How much time do you waste at work? It might be more than you think. No, I’m not referring to blatant wastes of time like talking on the phone all day, surfing the web, or even sleeping. I’m referring to work-related practices that keep IT professionals busy, yet ultimately unproductive.

Here’s the tricky part: They aren’t easy to identify. They look like work, they feel like work, but they keep your IT department from accomplishing important tasks.

So, how can you avoid these time-wasting practices and focus your efforts on essential tasks? The first step: Identify the culprits. To help you out, I’ve compiled a list of 5 of the most common, yet unnecessary IT practices that waste your time. If you can think of any others, feel free to share in the comments. …

5 common IT practices that waste your timeRead More »

If you could start over…

By Joe Stangarone / ERP Systems, Modernization

“Why can’t our applications do (fill in the blank)?”

How many times have you asked that (or a similar) question? How many times have you wished that your old business applications were more capable, or included modern features?

Let me ask you a question: If you could start over, and build your applications for today’s world, what would you include? Mobile apps? Maybe email and sms messaging integration? Better reporting, BI, or workflow features? The list could go on and on.

Of course, all of this wishful thinking doesn’t do you any good. You can’t throw out your old apps and systems and build new ones from the ground up. That’s an expensive, time-consuming, and risky project. That’s something most companies just can’t do.

But, here’s something you can do: You can bring these modern features to your old apps and systems. No need to replace it. You can have all of the modern features you want, today! To learn more, this guide explains how m-Power lets you build modern features over your existing system, and even gives you a glimpse of what’s possible.

Weekly recap: 7 traits of effective programmers, most common mobile development trap, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Modernization

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on traits of effective programmers, the most common mobile development trap, and more. I hope you find them useful:

The most common mobile development trap
Are you considering creating mobile versions of your apps or site for your users? That’s a good idea. But, be careful: This article explains one such solution that often seems like the easiest approach…but it’s actually the worst option. …

Weekly recap: 7 traits of effective programmers, most common mobile development trap, and more…Read More »

6 strategic development questions that many overlook

By Joe Stangarone / Application Development, strat, Web Development

I’ve noticed a lack of long-term, strategic thinking in the business application development world. Many businesses build applications for current needs, but ignore the future.

It usually goes something like this: A manager says, “I need an application that does X, Y, and Z. When can we have it?” The developers rush through the project, deliver the application, and everyone’s happy.

Or, at least they’re happy for a year or so. Then the business changes, technology advances, and new trends roll around. Now, the application must also support A, B, and C. But it can’t. It wasn’t built for change. It wasn’t built for the future.

Now what happens? They need new apps. All of the previous work is now wasted because they didn’t build the initial app with the future in mind.

That leads to the obvious question: “How do you build applications for the future?” How do you build applications that adapt to change?

The answer: It starts with asking the right questions from the get-go. Ask strategic, long-term questions before you build your applications. To give you an idea of what to ask, I’ve come up with a short list of strategic questions to consider before building a business web application. While I’m sure there are others, these are all key questions which will help you build applications that last: …

6 strategic development questions that many overlookRead More »

How to create home screen icons for your mobile web apps

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile apps

During a recent conference, we spoke with one attendee who bemoaned the fact that mobile web apps don’t offer home screen icons (like native apps do). Our response: Of course they do! You just need to create the icon and put it in the correct location. It’s really no different than creating a native app icon. After all…regardless of application type, the developer must still create an icon.

Here’s the best part: Creating home screen icons for your mobile web apps is really easy! If you’d like to learn how, we’ve written up a short tutorial, which you can find right here: How to create home screen (web clip) icons for your mobile web apps.

One more thing: I’ve noticed much confusion surrounding the differences between native apps and mobile web apps. For those of you still unclear about the differences between the two, here’s a white paper you’ll want to read. It outlines the differences between each mobile app option, and explains why the native approach is usually the wrong choice for business.

Weekly recap: 10 critical ERP upgrade mistakes, evolution of enterprise software, and more…

By Joe Stangarone / CSS, ERP Systems, HTML5, Mobile

Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on critical ERP upgrade mistakes, the evolution of enterprise software, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Evolution of enterprise software
Enterprise applications are changing. Giant, confusing enterprise apps are being replaced with simple, web-based applications. Companies who still use outdated enterprise apps must figure out a way to transition to modern web apps without disrupting business. …

Weekly recap: 10 critical ERP upgrade mistakes, evolution of enterprise software, and more…Read More »

7 major web development trends of the next 5 years

By Joe Stangarone / Tech trends, Web Development

Driven largely by the rise of mobile computing, web development has evolved dramatically over the last 5 years. Just think: Five short years ago, we developed web applications for use on a PC. Now, we develop applications for multiple devices.

While I could list many more ways web development has changed in the last few years, I’d like to instead focus on the future. How is web application development changing? What big trends will shape web development over the next 5 years?

I’ve compiled a list of trends that I believe will shape web application development in the coming years, which includes both my own predictions and predictions from others. While I don’t consider this a comprehensive list, I do believe that each of these trends will affect web development in the coming years.

One more thing: As this is a business-focused blog, the trends below are geared primarily at business application development…though most of them apply to development in general. Of course, if you think I forgot any major trends, please feel free to add them in the comments. …

7 major web development trends of the next 5 yearsRead More »

Workflow application demo

By Joe Stangarone / Workflow

A couple of months back, we released a powerful new m-Power feature: Event-triggered messaging. In short, it lets your applications deliver email or sms messages on a pre-determined schedule, or based on application events.

Now, you can use this feature in all sorts of ways–from running and emailing reports on a scheduled basis to automatically corresponding with customers and everything in between. Really, you’re only limited by your imagination.

Today, I’d like to show you one very powerful use for event-triggered messaging: Workflow applications! That’s right, this new feature lets you create new workflow applications, or even add workflow elements to your existing applications.

Rather than try to explain it, we’ve put together this short workflow application demo video. Hopefully, it will give you a better idea of what’s possible, and even spark some ideas of your own. Enjoy!

…

Workflow application demoRead More »