Several key technologies play a very important role in modern corporate application software engineering. These include Web Programming, Wireless Applications, IVR and Database Programming. Ampersand International Inc. considers these technologies as strategic directions for its business. We provide expertise in each of them, but more importantly, we try to combine these technologies and provide turn-key Integrated Solutions. This article opens a discussion on how these technologies can benefit your business. We will be happy to continue this discussion with you in person.
First – there were home pages. Then came e-commerce sites. And now all corporate computing is moving to the Web. Is that simply a fad? Not really. The reason is simple – the bottom line! Whether the company is small or big, savings resulting from moving business software to the Web are enormous. Let’s discuss a few of the most important factors.
First of all, the Internet provides inexpensive readily available infrastructure for corporate communication. Never before has it been possible to connect all remote offices to a central server for a minimal monthly fee. No long distance costs for dial-up connections, no per-minute charges for dedicated 24-hour access! And with strong security readily available, communication over the Internet is nearly as secure as over a leased line.
Well, this is just one part of the story. The biggest savings come not from communication costs, but from software maintenance and deployment. When software runs through a web-browser, there is no client-side installation at all, and all maintenance is centralized at the server. Software updates are painless and almost instantaneous. And new customers and business partners can gain access quickly and effortlessly from anywhere in the world.
Another important advantage of Web-based programming is scalability. The exact same software can run on a single computer (running Personal Web Server), on a local network within a company, or it can serve thousands of users connected over the Internet. It is important to realize that Internet technologies and Web Applications do not necessarily require a public Internet connection. They are equally useful on a local area network (in an Intranet environment).
And last, but not least, is the psychological factor. We were surprised to discover that the end-users of our software products actually prefer the Web-style user interface over a traditional one. They find it easier to learn and they feel more comfortable with it.
Whether Web-based programming is the best solution for your needs will certainly depend on specific circumstances and requirements. Our professionals will be happy to explore different possibilities and to recommend possible solutions for your business.
Web-enabled cellular phones and hand-held devices, like Palm VII, for example, provide inexpensive alternatives to portable computers as a way of communication with corporate servers and centralized databases. Agents, sales reps, field staff, doctors and business managers away from the office can get instant secure access to the corporate data to look-up important information - whether it is a policy, a sales forecast, a patient history or a price-list. They can also deposit information to the central server directly from their cell-phones or hand-held computers. Claims, sales orders, visit information can be entered remotely for immediate processing.
The greatest news is that many of the current cellular phones on the market already have web-browser capability built-in. There is a good chance that your field people are already carrying phones that can be used for such a purpose. Maybe they are already checking stock-quotes or baseball scores. Now, let’s unlock the power of wireless applications to make them serve the needs of your business.
Ampersand International considers Wireless Application programming as one of its strategic directions. We develop applications for web-enabled cellular phones (based on WAP and WML technologies) and for wireless hand-held devices (like Palm VII).
Let us look at your business procedures. We will help you identify how wireless technology can be applied to your specific needs. We can show you significant savings for your business in saved time and in hardware costs.
Compared to web programming this is a relatively old technology, yet it is still gaining popularity and it has yet to show its full potential. To be precise, Computer Telephony is a relatively broad area that includes various technologies; some of them are old, and some are new. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is probably one of the most attractive applications of Computer Telephony for business computing. It allows using a regular telephone as an interface to computer. (The most typical example: accessing bank accounts and making transactions over the phone.)
IVR applications are so attractive because they are very easy to use. No computers (or computer experience) required. All users need is a touch-tone phone. They just listen to the prompts and punch numbers in response, or simply say their answers in response to prompts.
In spite of its simplicity, IVR is a very powerful technology that allows entering rather complex information over the phone. For example in Dial-n-Document system for Home Health Care, we use an IVR interface to enter detailed visit information that includes starting and ending time of the visit, mileage traveled, a detailed list of performed services and supplies used. Nurses are able to enter information like temperature, blood pressure, and pulse rate. They can also leave narrative messages, such as case comments. Since the IVR application is connected directly to the database, any information being entered can be immediately validated and verified against a visit schedules, services prescribed, business policies, and more.
Let us show you how Computer Telephony and IVR interface can be used to improve the productivity of your personnel.
The way we see it – the database is the heart of almost any corporate application. After all, it is all about data! Of course database programming itself is not a new technology. What is new is the ways how data is accessed and presented. Web, IVR, wireless devices - these all can be viewed as alternative ways of accessing the database.
An efficient database structure and algorithms are critical for any corporate application – big or small. It is the area of programming that most significantly depends on a programmer’s knowledge and experience. Poor database design and inefficient queries can kill performance and compromise data integrity – things that may not be obvious initially, but can hit hard over time.
Ampersand International takes the task of database programming very seriously. We involve programmers that are well trained and have many years of database programming experience with SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Access and other systems. Whether you have an existing database that you want to re-design or you are planning a brand new application, our expertise in database engineering will be of great help to your projects.
Most effective programming solutions in a corporate environment usually include a combination of various technologies. With a corporate database in the heart of the system, Web interface, Wireless interface and IVR provide different ways for data access and retrieval that complement each other.
Many companies are developing Web-based applications and database solutions, other companies are working with wireless applications and yet some other companies are engineering IVR and other Computer Telephony systems. But there are not too many firms around that can deliver all this in a single package.
Our company is committed to providing integrated business solutions that incorporate a winning combination of many modern computer technologies. With extensive experience in these and other areas of software engineering, Ampersand International, Inc. can be considered as a one-stop shop for application software solutions.
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