Wrapping Up "Working Through the Buzzwords"

Modern Business Information and Applications

"Gone are the days, when software developers locked their
customers into closed, proprietary packages and ransomed
updates and fixes. We’re focused on delivering applications
which stimulate cost-effective software systems expansion in
our clients’ business processes."

Applications can co-exist with modern business information and data such as RSS feeds, document repositories, email and wiki messaging systems. Application organization and integration with standard office tools is again, a matter of web page editing. Applications can easily be converted to web services for delivery of information to alternate devices and locations.

Internet “web mashups” can be easily inserted into web-based applications, so that users have access to familiar and required tools such as Google, trip-mapping, street-level mapping and GPS, flight informations, stock quotes, and the list goes on. Dialing and telephone software can easily be integrated into web applications, to automatically highlight phone numbers for dialing, and to make free or inexpensive calls over VOIP internet.

We could wrap it up, but wait, there’s more. Web services or purchased databases can be used to auto-complete addresses, check and replace shipping addresses, provide geographical distance searches on contact data, perform real-time stock, credit or D&B retrievals, and even data-mine for free-text phrases on the web. All by editing web pages, rather than loading the source of a compiled Windows application into a professional developer’s editor, making careful changes to forms, and then re-distributing the modified application back to every user’s machine. I think we are communicating the difference.

There’s one thing to remember, here. When talking about open architectures which share data and manipulation-tools between your purchased business applications—it’s not just the 3 or 7 or 12 or 42 applications you have installed in your office. It’s thousands, all moving at the speed of business. Who knows what valuable product or service is going to hit the market for your business, tomorrow?

Now, we can say it: A best decision would be: Use appropriate languages to develop for your server base (Microsoft or Linux) and develop for the web. Integrate your applications with your corporate intranet and public web site, where appropriate.

At NSK, we’re excited about all these technologies. Sometimes, we’re a bit intimidated (we’d be crazy if we weren’t), but we’re very good at rising to the challenge of our fast-changing landscape and exceeding expectations for the quality and performance of our delivered products.

Written by Keith Mitchell, Senior Developer at NSK Inc