Tag: functionality

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Mobile IT for Contractors and Builders (for every business, actually)

The Trend Is Up For Single-Family Housing Market

Even as lot and labor shortages and other supply side constraints continue to impact builders, and while the cost of building materials continues to rise, the demand for housing continues to increase at a fairly consistent rate. “November’s builder confidence reading is close to a post-recession high-..” NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald said in a recent release.

Supported by rising homeownership rates and a reduced number of available homes for sale, the trend up is expected to continue.

Increased competition for new business opportunities in the building market require that home builders and developers leverage available technologies and IT resources to improve operational performance and increase the profitability of every project. Applications for better estimating, project and cost management and accounting represent the foundations for information management and supporting the flow of work.Extending workflows to embrace mobile workers and remote offices is the next step to developing an efficient anytime/anywhere business. 92 percent of U.S. construction executives believe that technology will fundamentally change their businesses, and help them bridge the performance gap, according to KPMG’s Make it, or break it – Global Construction Survey 2017 report.

Collaborating while on the go and exchanging ideas and concepts quickly helps businesses be more agile and better-able to meet changing customer needs. Remote and mobile access provides businesses with mobile office options that allow users to get their jobs done no matter where they happen to be.

Business moves at a fast pace and working smarter means implementing the right IT to keep moving up with the demand and creating sustainability for leaner times.

Make Sense?

J

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Retaining Productivity while Empowering the Remote and Mobile Workforce

Retaining Productivity while Empowering the Remote and Mobile Workforce

anywhere-anydevicehttp://wp.me/p2hGOJ-J7

A lot of the marketing and discussion around why businesses should use the cloud for IT service is focusing on creating anytime, anywhere access to business data and improving overall IT performance.  By deploying applications to remote desktops and hosted systems, business owners are recognizing the benefits of outsourcing IT service management to professionals who can spend their time actually managing IT.  Focus is able to remain on the business operation and not the technology supporting it; the main office and remote locations are able to work with the same systems and information, and users are able to access information while at home or on the road. Bringing workers together with the same applications and data means new levels of productivity can be achieved regardless of where the work gets done.

Yet the perceived value of “working in the cloud” and the reality remain somewhat disconnected for many mobile business users. The confusion and frustration many users experience with connected, online working models has quite a lot to do with the realization that they don’t simply need remote access or virtual office solutions to bring them together.  Users want solutions that help them get their work done even when they aren’t working on a traditional computer.  When a computer is available, that’s great.  But users want to be able to work from their tablets and smartphones, too.  Have you ever tried to login to a remote desktop from your phone, or to see a full screen of data when the keyboard takes up more than half of the view?  It may technically function, but there’s no way to get anything useful done with that little teeny weeny screen, and that’s a problem.

It is this new multi-mode working environment which is testing the boundaries of usability for software developers and service providers alike.  No longer may the assumption be that users will perform their job functions using a desktop or laptop computer, just as it is no longer assumed that a mobile phone will be used just for phone calls.  Users want (and sometimes need) to be able to get their work done using their smartphones, iPads, Kindles, or other types of tablet, pad or surface computers.  Applications designed to run on full size screens and desktop computers often don’t work well for users accessing them with other types of devices, even when the device is connecting to a remote desktop service.

Mobile device users are starting to face these usability barriers somewhat less frequently when visiting various websites.  If you look at many reasonably modern business websites, you’ll find there is a “mobile” counterpart.  The mobile website is often somewhat less functional than the full website, providing only essential information for the mobile viewer rather than the expanded content and functionality available on the full site.  Yet the mobile site delivers a more pleasant and usable resource for the mobile device user, encouraging the user to visit the site more often.

Application software development can be approached in a similar manner, where essential functionality is presented for mobile users in a format usable by mobile devices, and where the full functionality and rich feature set might be available only in the full application interface.  Even where legacy applications are concerned – those firmly tied to the desktop and network – there are likely options for extending some manner of functionality and access to remote and mobile devices, perhaps by using 3rd party integrated or connected solutions.

Many commercial software developers are successfully viewing this “web and mobile enabled” approach as a means to capture Software-as-a-Service buyers by providing some web-based and mobile functionality with attachments back to the data and applications residing on the LAN or hosting platform.  This hybrid approach may actually present better and more options for businesses, as it embraces the concepts of mobility and device independence while at the same time retaining the features, functionality and productivity-enhancing working mode that only desktop applications have to-date fully proven… and the businesses can keep their own data to take with them and not be relegated to list-only extractions if they wish to change solutions.

This idea is not really new – the idea of providing users with the specific functionality they need (and not more) to accomplish their tasks and get their jobs done.  The concept of Service Oriented Architecture has always spoken to this philosophy, advocating that the right approach to software is the one which orients the application, functionality and view specifically and directly towards the user and their role.

The new twist on SOA is that the orientation of the application should be based not only on roles and functionality.  Modern business applications must also address device and modality, not assuming a particular form factor or platform of access, and having an understanding of the particular mode in which the solution exists or is experienced by the user.  Mobile users want a useful experience on their  mobile devices, and remote and  local desktop users want the features, functionality and performance of desktop applications.

Website designers have figured out that visitors may access the website using any variety of computing devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.  Understanding that each device has a different capability in terms of displaying and interacting with content, site developers have begun to include mobile site designs as a standard offering with business website services.  Users accessing the site with smartphones and tablets are able to effectively navigate and view information on the site because it’s been formatted to fit the screen, and navigation and other action options are accessible from smart menus that are sized and placed for touch screen access.  This approach is now finding its way in many business applications now that the applications are also “living” on the web.

The growing number of web and SaaS products on the market clearly demonstrate that mobility is a big consideration in modern application design.  Unfortunately, productivity losses due to sluggish interfaces or complicated operating processes often offset the benefits of the solution, even though it may be both desktop and mobile “friendly”. Software companies rolling out new SaaS models to their existing desktop product user bases are finding that the desirability of the subscription model web-based solution may be somewhat less than expected.  This may be attributed to the fact that users have become not simply accustomed to how they can make the desktop software work for them – they’ve become reliant upon that ability.  Initial experiences with transitioning from desktop applications to SaaS has left many businesses with frustrations founded in overall productivity loss.  I’ve even heard the term “productivity-sucking”, which I don’t think describes either a feature or a benefit.

There must be a balance found, where productivity is enhanced for both desktop and mobile users and where critical functionality is not sacrificed in order to facilitate a mobile capability.  The goal is to empower the remote and mobile user to be as productive as the non-mobile user, and to do it without forcing changes which may impede rather than improve productivity of the overall organization.

Make Sense?

J

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The Cloud is Not the End of ERP

With the emergence and general acceptance of “cloud” technologies and services, many in the information technology industry have begun to wonder if the traditional approach to enterprise software – the ERP solution – is nearing its useful life.  Is this the end of ERP?  Well, the hype sometimes becomes the reality, and businesses are moving in droves to software-as-a-service to find the cost and efficiency benefits promoted in the sales materials, and they’re finding them.  Look at Sage’s acquisition of Intacct as an expression of increased focus on cloud-based solutions. This activity around the cloud and cloud-based software-as-a-service represents a major change in how people access and consume information technology and business services, a change that’s being driven by the huge momentum of the overall growth of “cloud”.  The market is moving to a customer-centric subscription model, where the legacy approach was more in tune with the “purchase it once and use it forever” mentality, and customer relationships were largely centered on upgrade cycles.

“As an economy and a culture, we are rapidly moving away from owning tangible goods and, instead, gravitating towards becoming members of services that provide us with experiences  – such as listening to a song, using a car, watching a movie or collaborating with our colleagues.

Of course, this cultural transformation has profound implications for business models. Why? Success is no longer gauged by counting how many units of your product you have sold. Rather, success is measuring how many customers are using your service on a recurring basis and how successful you are monetizing those recurring relationships.”

Forbes.com guest post written by Tien Tzuo http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/09/the-end-of-erp/

While it sounds like the cloud is the right approach for everyone, looking at the variety of real business situations in the market suggests that, as always, one size does not fit all, and more “traditional” ERP solutions may well continue to be the right foundation for many enterprise operations.  Particularly when considering that many businesses already significant investments in platforms and infrastructure, software and data integrations, and operational process support, cloud software solutions may not provide the necessary functionality to support existing business.  Further, integrations that may be available and supported with legacy systems are often not available with cloud-based counterparts, while different integrations based on cloud standards may be present.

For smaller businesses and those in emerging markets, subscription-based IT models may make more sense, especially as popular traditional software makers have introduced their cloud-based counterparts which will likely incorporate the features or functionality of their legacy systems, while taking advantage of the capabilities introduced through cloud integration and interoperability standards.  Strong consideration should still be given to “traditional” ERP solutions, however, as there may be a level of stability, usability, or process support desirable by the business.

Utilizing these traditional ERP systems does not mean eliminating the potential for the business to benefit from cloud solutions.  Rather, cloud platforms and hosting solutions, as well as cloud-based integrations and extensions, are enabling mobility and collaboration around legacy systems, delivering cost and efficiency benefits just as significantly as those who have adopted a full-on “cloud” approach.

“It also makes sense to explore “edge” investments. […] there are significant innovation opportunities outside of core operations. Look to take advantage of the ERP platform’s capabilities in these spaces. Or implement low-cost, smaller-footprint solutions – even if on an exploratory basis. If they are fully adopted later, you can integrate them into the ERP backbone and expose standardized data and processes to the edge.”

from Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2011 report titled “the end of the “Death of ERP” 

So, what does this mean for your business?  It means you need to consider all the possibilities.

First, evaluate cloud-based options, and balance features with cost, time-to-value, and operational requirements.

Then, selectively innovate.  Figure out which areas of the business give you a competitive differentiation and innovate in those areas.

The traditional thinking, which is in line with the traditional ERP approach, is that all of the business functionality has to be incorporated into a single platform solution.  This is certainly no longer the case, and businesses are finding that they now have an ability to take advantage of the benefits of their existing systems while extending and innovating through the use of cloud services.