Every business faces the challenge of managing and using data in a way that is meaningful, accurate and easy for users. To meet objectives, plan strategies and analyze information, the average enterprise must juggle best-of-breed, legacy systems, and many other data repositories that sometimes seem to hide data from even the most gifted analysts and IT staff members.
Every enterprise has best-of-breed, enterprise and out-of-the-box software products to help them run the business and organize users and team members. But, when it comes to custom software solutions, the average organization is hard-pressed to get the work done.
Features and functionality are important to software applications and software products but, without a great user experience designer, the solution is apt to fail. Today’s users (whether they are business users or consumers who use a software product to buy products or get information), are more sophisticated and demanding.
I HATE disorganization. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have a particular item and searching everywhere to find it, only to come up empty. I have a friend, Jenny, who collects thimbles and she has everything catalogued! From the date of purchase to the locale where the thimble was made, the age of the piece and in which display cabinet that thimble resides. SO…if she wants to know how many thimbles she has from the U.K., she can get a count. If she wants to know which thimble is the oldest, she can find that information too! Jenny created her own little database to capture and manage this information.
If you manage or own a software company, you know that it is a constant balancing act to create, support and manage products for the business world. You understand your products and services. You know the strengths and unique qualities of your business and you can attract and retain customers. You know your market, technology landscape and your competition, and you know how to use technology solutions and software products to satisfy your customer and market needs.
We all hate those products and services that are designed as ‘cookie cutter’ with the assumption that the service provider just KNOWS what you need and will deliver that to you without any consideration for your actual requirements or the fact that your requirements may differ depending on the day, situation or location.
Every application must be mobile if it is to be successful with business users or consumers. Every user has a smart phone, a tablet, a smart watch or a laptop and every user expects mobile application design to support user needs, no matter what device they are using.
If you work in the public sector or in a government enterprise, your business practices, standards and compliance requirements are very specific. Sometimes you must comply with standards set for a country, a function or security and legal regulatory guidelines. Working with IT partners and service providers can be challenging, if these service providers do not understand the requirements or the environment in which your team functions.
I recently attended a technology conference where I listened to attendees grumble about outdated technology, and apps and software products that just didn’t deliver when it comes to performance, scalability and navigation on smart phones and other portable devices. These same people said that they could not justify the cost or time required to complete a software re-engineering project.
There are a lot of ways to manage, manipulate and store data today and those options can sometimes be confusing. Organizations often get lost when considering the myriad of options for big data and cloud development services.
