Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software
Summary: As technology evolves at breakneck speed, it brings new opportunities and challenges to web application development. If businesses want to create lasting, successful web applications, they must address these challenges.
Let’s talk about web applications. I know it’s a vague term, so I’ll quickly define it for the sake of clarity.
…7 web application development challenges in 2024 (and a solution)Read More »
In a surprising move, IBM just pulled the plug on Db2 Web Query for i. They posted a brief announcement letter on their site that states, “Effective October 10, 2023, IBM® withdraws from marketing all IBM Db2® Web Query products, including the capability to order or renew Software Maintenance.”
So…what now? I know of many businesses that have significant investments in this product. They probably feel blindsided. It’s like the rug was pulled out from under them.
If you’re in this position…what are you doing? Will you continue using the product without support or upgrades? Or, will you look for alternatives? While IBM states that there is “no direct replacement for IBM Db2 Web Query for i”, there are certainly other options.
…
By now, you’ve probably heard all about the benefits of low-code development tools. They let you build business applications with little (or no) code. They reduce development time by 50-80%. They let you deliver custom business applications in hours or days.
I could go on.
The big question: If your organization does any type of manual web application development in-house, why aren’t you using low-code? If it still takes months to deliver business applications from scratch, what’s keeping you from using development tools?
Chances are, you’re skeptical.
Maybe you don’t believe the time-saving claims.
Maybe you’re worried that it isn’t as easy to use as the vendor claims.
Maybe you’re worried that it will limit your options.
Or, maybe you think that low-code is just 4GL or RAD tools all over again.
I could debunk every one of those fears, but prefer a different approach. I’d rather let you see it for yourself. To help you understand the low-code development process, our consultants put together videos of full development projects that:
Word of warning: These are longer videos (1.5 – 2 hours each) because we didn’t want to leave anything out. But, you’ll get a good idea of how quickly you can go from nothing to a working application with low code. Sound reasonable? Here are the videos:
In this video, we create a helpdesk portal from scratch using low-code. This portal includes user security, a helpdesk ticketing system, a helpdesk calendar, support dashboard, and more.
In this video, we walk you through a custom business intelligence/reporting project. We start with a single spreadsheet full of data and create a suite of BI & reporting applications that includes features like multi-tenant security, forecasting, dashboarding, data write-back, data warehousing, and many more.
In this video, we create a custom field service management system from scratch. This system includes a job listing application, signature capture, mapping, multi-tenant security, and much more.
Want to try low-code for yourself? Sign up for a free m-Power Trial right here.
Looking for a good low-code platform is a lot like buying a car. There are many options out there, and they’re all different. Some look flashy. Others are plain.
But, over time, we care more and more about one thing: How it was made.
…
How many business users in your company rely on spreadsheets on a regular basis? How many users access and edit a single spreadsheet? I know what you’re thinking: “How should I know?”
That’s the point. There’s no way to know. If your employees use spreadsheets to create reports, maintain business data, or even share data with other employees, it’s out of the IT department’s control. They could accidentally email spreadsheets full of critical business data to their friends, and you’d never know. Ten different employees could alter the same spreadsheet (often incorrectly), and you’d never know.
How do you regain control over your company’s data?
The ideal solution: Put all of that spreadsheet data into a secure database, and let employees create web applications over the top of it. The benefits of this approach are obvious:
The question: How can users easily convert their spreadsheet data into a database, AND build web applications over that data? Believe it or not, it’s actually simple. Rather than try to explain it, this video walks you through the whole process (in under 3 minutes).