Windows 8 is one of the most innovative versions of Windows to come from Microsoft since Windows 95. Since the initial release of Windows 95 we have seen iterations of the same theme … a start button, a task bar and a desktop. Windows 8 is what a good software company should do with a new version, it is a new feel for a new set of technologies.
Windows 95 came about as computers were powerful enough to start to run a more graphical interface. Computers had enough memory as a general rule to allow them to store large amounts of environment (or what seemed “large” at the time). This meant that it was time for innovation – and Microsoft was beginning to be pressured to do just that, which they delivered quite well. That is not to say that Windows 95 was a huge success up front, as I still remember the infamous crash that Bill Gates had in one big presentation he was performing and how many nay-sayers jumped in to say “See? Microsoft is the worst and Windows 95 is a shining example of how bad they are!”
I believe a company should stay with a product to ensure that through innovation to perfection the product receives the attention it deserves. And I think with the (now) traditional Windows desktop this has happened, culminating with a very stable and feature rich Windows 7.
But where do we go from here? Our computers and monitors are moving to touch screens. Mobile and desktop computing is a line that is getting blurred more and more thanks to innovative applications, faster devices and more imaginative operating systems. In this evolving world Windows as it currently exists is being left behind. Those who “love” Windows 7 will find themselves relics of an era that simply cannot exist much longer.
I have downloaded and used both the developer and consumer preview versions of Windows 8 to this point and I am thrilled that Microsoft has gotten the message that they must innovate or bleed out. A 17 year old product idea simply will not survive another decade and the sooner that innovation is pushed forward the better it is for everyone. Even if Microsoft does not “win” the tablet marketplace, innovation and competition must be spread throughout the technology world or we end up with another Intel (before AMD pushed them to actually start producing products that were faster and cheaper).
It needs to be clear that while the tablet and mobile world is growing at a staggering pace, the “desktop” still reigns supreme (for now). In specific terms, the top 4 “personal computer” shipment totals (according to Apple in their latest keynote) shipped approximately 50 million units in Q4 2011 while the iPad shipped 15 million units in this timeframe. This list of shipments is not a complete picture, but for the sake of argument we will assume no other manufacturers exist. This means that the iPad accounts for fewer than 25% of “personal computers” – assuming that every iPad is replacing a desktop (which they are not). This is a big number, but it has not unseated the desktop by a long shot, especially as we consider that almost every iPad owner also owns a desktop.
What this big number does tell us is that the world is beginning to realize that there is more to computers than just being chained to a desk. The Internet is mobile via WiFi, 3G, 4G and a number of other options yet to come. Our computers have another evolutionary step to take over the next several years. Just as the PC needed to have a more graphical and user friendly interface to be adopted into almost every home, now it must be even more user friendly and faster to give us an immersive experience beyond our desk. But somehow this needs to happen in a way that does not prevent us from doing what we do love with our desktop computers (feature rich applications that a “tablet” can’t perform yet). Enter Windows 8 … According to Microsoft, that is.
There are bugs in Windows 8 right now that make it an operating system which I find definitely fits solidly in the category of “beta”. I do have confidence that Microsoft will iron these details out – even if it takes them a service pack or two to do it. Bugs withstanding, there are a number of great reasons to love Windows 8 – not the least of which is that it is much, much faster (it boots in ¼ the time Windows 7 does for me on most computers, ½ the time in a few cases). On a tablet PC the Windows 8 OS is a huge improvement with the new UI and shines greatly.
What I do think will be the “killer” for Windows 8 in this emerging mobile market is not the operating system. It isn’t even that it lacks mobile-style apps (those will be created quickly enough as Windows is a potentially massive marketplace dwarfing anything else out there). It is the hardware manufacturers.
I am using the Samsung Series 7 slate, and in my opinion it is “ok” at best for a tablet hardware platform. The speed and internal components are great – that is not an issue. I would put performance against an iPad 2 at the very least (and have done so, but have not had a chance at the new iPad yet). What makes this only a marginal platform is the overall design.
I keep reading blogs that suggest the iPad is too big and that there is room for a smaller device. Or that the iPad is not widescreen and it should be made widescreen. Or that the iPad is too small, it should be bigger by a couple of inches. And yet there has never been a device as comfortable to hold as the iPad – it is just the right size in both portrait and landscape modes for browsing the internet or reading a document. In spite of this popularity with the form and design, those clamoring for a widescreen or slightly larger screen now have this option in the Samsung Series 7.
While wide screen works great for TVs … for a tablet it is not a good decision. The device is too short in landscape mode for any significant keyboard use (the on-screen keyboard hogs the screen). In portrait mode the device is too narrow to see a document or internet web page properly. Finally, the screen ratio makes holding the device cumbersome and off balance.
Buttons on the Samsung feel poorly though out in positioning and how much they stick out. If I undock, odds are I want to see most of my content in portrait mode – but suddenly that puts the “start” button on the side of the device instead of intuitively at the bottom. This is a bad design. As well, the power button and volume buttons have their own drawbacks both with position and what it takes to press them (I constantly hit the volume buttons while holding the device and the power button is too recessed by a millimeter or two). It is like the device was not held for more than a minute or two before being finalized.
One thing Samsung got right is that it feels solid. It is a complete unit without ten removable accessory doors to replace anything I want. Many kudos to Samsung for this. So despite my screen ratio gripes and button issues, the overall feel of the device is good. Not great, but good. Change the form factor to be non-wide screen and put a bit more effort into making the buttons smart for both landscape and portrait modes and I would take Windows 8 on this PC over an iPad any day as a mobile platform.
Until then, it is a good thing this device does well in the desktop role in addition to being average as a tablet. By bridging the world of desktop and tablet with the Windows 8 platform, this has taken me from an avid iPad user to only picking up the iPad when I need an app from it I don’t have otherwise available. Even with the bugs and quirks in this beta version of Windows 8, I am sold that the desktop and tablet world are inevitably combining at an alarming rate.
As a final note, the ability to do pen notation on the Samsung is amazingly handy (the pen comes with the unit and pen input has been in Windows since XP). Using Microsoft OneNote with a pen that actually works is very intuitive and awesome – it recognizes almost every type of handwriting, lets me search my own handwriting and even erases more intuitively than any note taking app I have used before (there is no app even close to the note capabilities of OneNote anywhere else, imo – especially once the pen is included). Unlike other touch devices out there, the pen also “turns off” sensing my hands as I use it – which makes for great precision and error free writing even as I rest my hand on the tablet like a pad of paper.
As a conclusion I would offer that Windows 8 is a big risk for Microsoft, but in my opinion it is the right risk. PC manufacturers will make or break the Windows experience, but the variety of devices soon to come as Windows 8 launches may be more advantage than disadvantage. Some people may want this widescreen view more than I do – and some may not. If manufacturers can produce both types of unit, then the market can provide this choice; and having a choice is a good thing.
After some significant use the past several months on the Windows Phone, I am confident that I am familiar enough with the system to compare it to my iPhone 4 experience. I am a huge advocate for usability on my portable devices – specifically it needs to be reliable, consistently available and able to handle both personal and business use. For the purposes of comparison, I have been using the HTC Titan as my phone on the AT&T network.
I am not reviewing or comparing an Android phone as I have yet to really enjoy my experience on one yet. I’ve heard great things about them, but everyone I work with prefers either an iPhone or Windows Phone so I can’t even say that I directly know people who prefer Android except on principle that “it isn’t Apple or Microsoft” (as if Google is less of a bully-ish big company).
Is the Windows Phone up to the task of meeting my daily requirements? Yes. Is it my desired phone platform? I have to be honest … I’m not sure.
I will be breaking down and comparing what I consider to be key features of a smartphone these days.
User Interface
Regarding the look, feel and use of the devices I have to say this was a toss-up.
The best “feel” of pressing on buttons is hands down better on the iPhone. The buttons are more responsive and have a more polished look upon using them. This is a hard to define feeling, but the best example might be in how most buttons on the Windows Phone press down and to the right a bit, much like they do on a computer. My finger didn’t push down and to the right … so why did the button move that way? It is a small thing, but subconsciously I can “feel” that it is off.
The keyboard is a bit of a toss-up. The layout and use is more polished on the iPhone. But, word suggestions are handled much better on the Windows Phone. The Windows Phone suggests multiple words at the top of the keyboard based on context as much as possible – so after “good” if you press “n” it might suggest “night” as one of the words you may want to use, or you can happily keep typing away without selecting a word.
As to icons and base UI, I much prefer the Live Tiles to the iPhone icons. They have a lot more information, are dynamic and give a more alive look to the home page. The downside to the Windows Phone is if you have a large number of apps – there is only one home page, no ability to tile multiple pages on the Windows Phone yet.
Basic Phone, E-mail and Contact Management
For basic communcation, I consider e-mail, phone usage and contact management essential to any smartphone. In this realm, crazy enough, the Windows Phone is a clear winner – even though the iPhone has been at it longer.
Both the iPhone and Windows Phone handle calls pretty much the same with a few very small differences such as when bluetooth is used to connect to a call. In the case of bluetooth, the iPhone decides based on how you answer the phone whether to use your headset or handset, the Windows Phone always assumes the headset is your chosen method to use and requires you to manually deselect it to talk on the handset. Otherwise the differences were minimal and could go either way based on what you personally might prefer.
For email management, however, the Windows Phone was hands down the better system. Email is not all merged into one bucket (even if you can view singular accounts at a time, this is a pain in some cases on the iPhone). I use a personal and two “work” accounts, and I want to always know what is in each mailbox – but I don’t want them all “merged” into one view. With the Windows Phone I can view each mail account as a separate icon on my live tiles, or I can leave them in my apps list … or I can even link any combination of accounts I want (for instance I can link my personal hotmail and my personal gmail accounts while leaving work accounts separated). This linking feature plays into how message counts are displayed on the home page and lock screen – I not only know I have (3) emails even before unlocking the phone, but I know in what accounts.
Contact management also is in favor of the Windows Phone. Both phones let me see complete lists of people from my contacts for all accounts on the device, but the Windows Phone will include my Twitter and FaceBook contacts in this list. Linking people between accounts is easy on the Windows Phone, and posting updates or seeing what is in their latest live, FaceBook , Twitter or similar feed is all built into the contact card. A final “win” for the Windows Phone is the complete list of all contact I have with any person tied neatly together – I see emails, phone calls, text messages, etc, all rolled into one nice list by person on the contact card.
One final note is that whenever a bluetooth device is hooked up to my Windows Phone, it will read texts to me by voice command (it says a message is received and asks if I want to hear it). Just don’t try to dictate a message back – voice recognition on the Windows Phone is painful at best (Siri rocks this one).
Pictures
Both phones take about equal pictures – the most features and best app for these pictures belonging to the iPhone. It handles albums, taking pictures and even some basic editing slightly better. Neither are meant to be full featured picture managers though, so don’t expect much magic and expect to use a computer to do any “heavy” picture management if you like to organize and review what you take.
However, for album management I come back to the Windows Phone. I don’t have to download an app to see my FaceBook or SkyDrive picture albums. Both are again baked into the base OS on the Windows Phone and if I go look at my “albums” on the device, the FaceBook and SkyDrive albums are neatly placed right in my pictures app on the Windows Phone.
So, while taking and initial basic editing is better on the iPhone – organization is better on the Windows Phone (as is accessing, downloading or emailing those online photos from FaceBook or SkyDrive).
Music and Multimedia
As the heart of the multimedia and music stems from the computer management first, I will be including the Zune software for Windows Phone and iTunes for the iPhone in this section.
While the Windows Phone shines in the photo organization department, the iPhone with iTunes is a much, much better platform for music. Zune is clunky and obnoxious to navigate. The Zune Marketplace requires me to pre-buy “points” and use those to buy my music with (72 points for a song, but I buy points in blocks of 400 … who thought this crap up?). The selection is better on iTunes especially in terms of movies and TV. The Zune app makes me wonder who thought it up … I just have not been able to get into it despite months of trying to force myself to.
And music rating … iTunes lets you rate 0-5 stars for songs. A tried and true system that lets you have degrees of “liking” music. Zune is a heart – you either like (heart) or don’t like (broken heart) a song – nothing inbetween. This becomes an issue when, if like me, you use your device for a music platform and use this rating system to make new playlists from time to time.
Playing music on the Windows Phone is pretty straight forward, and they do allow you to get most of your songs you download from iTunes (I have a few it simply will not pickup for some reason, which I assume has to do with digital rights). This transfer of songs between the two systems is simple – just point your music to see your iTunes folder and it will automatically pickup any songs you have or purchase over time (it does this automatically). The downside on the Windows Phone itself is trying to find the tiny “shuffle” button to the side of a song … some of these music features should not be so difficult to find or use.
You cannot play your iTunes movies on your Windows Phone. Or at least you can’t that I have tried. You can download new movies / tv shows through the Zune Marketplace, but I don’t reccomend it – the marketplace is not nearly as well laid out or easy to browse as iTunes (and neither feel that “awesome” as they feel more like they try to direct me to what content they think I should want). And, again, Zune requires you to pre-buy points to purchase any content – which is an extra step that has kept me from using Zune to buy much and I keep going back to iTunes for my purchases. I know this point system is supposed to tie back to the XBox Live system … but I don’t care about points for a gaming console – this is my business and multimedia device, not my XBox.
Built-in Apps
The ability to edit, view and link to online content right out of the box for Office is a huge win for the Windows Phone. I get a more powerful note taking app (OneNote) than the base notes for the iPhone, and I get Word / Excel right out the gate as well. To top it off, these apps natively connect to my office SharePoint, my SkyDrive and my Office 360 with hardly any effort. This is a hands down win for the Windows Phone.
Mapping, however, is much better on the iPhone. Though neither is as good as some of the third party apps out there (both have much better navigation apps for sale than the built-in ones).
Add-on Apps
Absolutely no question here – if you use a lot of apps, odds are you “can” find it on the Windows Phone Marketplace (and no, it won’t require you to pre-buy points). But, also odds are that there are better versions (much better) on the Apple app store. I did find a very few rare exceptions to this, but Microsoft really needs to get a lot more developers on board, and fast.
I like the metro UI for apps when it is done well and thought through – maybe more than the default iPhone button-based app layout. But most apps that are ported from the iPhone feel more slapped together than done right, which is a shame.
One big win in favor of the Windows Phone – most software can be “try” before you “buy”. In-app purchases sort of take care of this for the iPhone but more and more I feel like every app is asking me to spend more money on my iPhone these days, which is definately a downer.
I will also say that the Marketplace in the Zune application on the PC is very painful to navigate – use your Windows Phone to buy software, it has a much better layout and navigation.
Security and Stability
From a business perspective, the Windows Phone is the best device to put on a network. It is designed to be managed by an IT team without being obtrusive to the end-user, and does this quite well. The iPhone on the other hand is designed to be used by the end-user – while the IT team for a company is left scrambling to setup security as best they can.
Stability I would say almost leans to the Windows Phone. I say “almost” as neither phone crashes much — I have had my iPhone need to be restarted about a half dozen times a year, where the Windows Phone has not required a restart in the last 4 months of use. The Windows Phone also seems to manage resources better – it doesn’t “lag” very often at all, and picks back up from the lag more quickly than the iPhone. Both phones feel full-power no-lag use 98%+ of the time, so this is a really nit-picky detail that I can’t say for sure goes one way or the other.
App security. Because of how the Metro UI handles app interaction, it is as secure or more secure than the iPhone – and apps can actually still communicate (my custom photo editing software can “talk” to my google picasa app to hand a picture back and forth for example – though these days I use my SkyDrive more than any other online storage). I am sneaking in the cross-app communication here instead of the Add-on App section as most apps do not take full advantage of this feature yet; it is a dormant yet big possible winner for Microsoft … if it gets better taken advantage of.
The “Cloud”
Storage is pretty even here. Both systems can “sync” most of your relevent data to the cloud. The winner for backups and restore goes to iCloud (it syncs all app data for a smooth restore from the cloud if the worst happens, the Windows Phone still relies on your Zune application). However, since most apps that use any kind of saved data have their own online sync, the “cloud” feature is not a mandate at all.
One advantage to SkyDrive vs. iCloud … you get easier access to SkyDrive and 25 GB of data for free. You also get to start playing around with features such as Live Mesh and other cross-computer sync options from Microsoft which makes the iCloud look a bit feature poor (both services are great, I simply have grown to appreciate more on the “Windows Live” platform than the iCloud platform).
Multitasking
Both platforms multitask, but the Windows Phone uses a “suspend” state that prevents apps in the background from updating while they are not active. For most purposes this is “ok” as a suspended state can still get data at some intervals – but for any gps tracking or similar type of app this will not work at all (you need constant updates, even though it does drain your batter more).
Switching apps “kind of” works on the Windows Phone – it trys to be smart about getting back to other apps but more often than not is too cumbersome to sort through and I simply end up re-opening apps from their live tile. The iPhone is fairly clearly the better system here for switching apps or background tasks – but only if you switch often or require constant background updates (I use a running tracker app as an example).
Summary
In final notes, I have to say the two devices are so closely tied that it is hard to say which I prefer unless we add some context to the choice.
From a base-system preference, the Windows Phone is better. Even if you do like some apps (such as a handful of games) or if you are not what I would consider a “power app user”, the Windows Phone is still the better choice.
For me personally and those like me who use a lot of apps, the iPhone is still the platform of choice. I love the Live Tile setup, but without more apps supporting the Metro UI as it “should” be done, and without gps updates to background apps, the iPhone is a clear winner. As well, the difference in app selection is vastly better – Apple has this market clearly won against any mobile platform out there.
Recently I ran accross the need to export a very large amount of data to Excel. This was not just a “dump” of one table, but required some relatively complicated filtering as well as tying multiple tables together based on inconsistent criteria. In a nutshell … it wasn’t going to be difficult, just BIG, and I’ve dealt with more onerous requirements (heck, even runninng this through SSRS it shouldn’t have been a problem).
That being said, I decided to make it easy for my NAV users to run this anytime they wanted on their own in the future. The data they wanted can and does change relatively frequently – specifically it gets added to. So, I created a process only report that exports to Excel using the built-in Dynamics NAV Excel Buffer table.
I ran sample reports. They tested great.
I ran sample reports with more data (30,000 rows in Excel). These also tested great.
With everything set and everyone signed off on a final format for the data, I went for a “full” export. And … crash.
Operating System Returned the Error (131). An attempt was made to move the file pointer before the beginning of the file.
Multiple attempts to watch the screen (I have a dialog progress window up) and tracking possible data issues and I had to resort to the best diagnostic tool I had. The search engine on the internet. I then found that any temporary table that exceeds 2 GB will crash NAV.
Ok, first off I have to admit it kinda made me a little taken aback that my Excel Buffer temporary table was getting to be 2 GB in size! Then I remembered I have 16 columns for every row of data and every column has a complete record saved in NAV. Doing a little calculating, I need a LOT more space! NAV was simply not going to be able to handle this as-is.
Without making a long post too boring, I am writing this with the intention of making a suggestion to everyone who is looking to do something similar to this. I ended up simply writing my contents directly into Excel every 10,000 records into the buffer table. This kept my temporary table file at 363 MB and let me write … well, a LOT of data to my excel file without worrying about the issue of a temporary table limitation.
The two functions I created (the first to be called every 10,000 rows written to the buffer, the second to be called at the end of the report) are:
CreateExcelWorkbook()
IF FirstCreate THEN BEGIN
TempExcelBuffer.CreateBook;
FirstCreate := FALSE;
END;
TempExcelBuffer.CreateSheet(‘Export’, ‘Export’, COMPANYNAME, USERID);
TempExcelBuffer.DELETEALL;
CreateFinalExcelWorkbook()
IF FirstCreate THEN
TempExcelBuffer.CreateBook;
TempExcelBuffer.CreateSheet(‘Export’, ‘Export’, COMPANYNAME, USERID);
TempExcelBuffer.GiveUserControl;
What does your ERP system, your mobile phone and your tablet computer have in common? These days, likely not much. If you are trying to be on the cutting edge, you may have a browser based link into your ERP system that can be used on each of these systems. If you’re not one of the avante garde in this technical world then you’re in luck (yes, meaning you didn’t spend your money on something that will be obsolete soon).
To be clear, integration to web solutions for customers or business to business sites will continue as they have for the moment. There is not any trend or technology pushing the boundaries on these fronts beyond the need for a custom website with backend integration (even if that “custom” website is based on a template).
But for internal use, on-demand reporting, live updates and management or sales dashboards on any and every device you use in business … Get ready for a great change coming in way of technology from Microsoft. Yes, Microsoft. Not Apple or Google (these are great end user phones and tablets, but are not as business focused).
With Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango), Microsoft has started to build a synchronous platform that integrates their tested and global programming platforms (Visual Studio) together on every device you might own. This is not in the distant future but is already starting now. Dynamics CRM implementations can take advantage of dashboards through Windows Phone devices. These dashboards will soon port over and be available on tablets running a FULL desktop software of Windows 8 with the same look, feel and ease of use as found on the phone. The blending of information and ease of use is blurring for businesses more and more.
If you need to know your quarterly, monthly or weekly running sales figures – simply look at your desktop tile for Dynamics NAV (this is already in process to being created by several studios). If you need to have your message system include Dynamics NAV or other Dynamics ERP alerts – such as vendor spending, PO approvals, document management, inventory alerts and many other features at your fingertips – it will be coming soon and will be seamless between your desktop, tablet and phone on how this information is gathered and displayed.
The future of ERP systems and efficiency has never looked brighter. Keep your eye on Windows 8 and the Windows Phone platforms – as a business you can’t afford otherwise.
Your salespeople still carry a personal day planner stuffed with notes and business cards. Your warehouse manager is so busy tracking and overseeing their inventory movement that they don’t have time to talk about improving efficiency. Your services department is full of qualified professionals who cannot seem to fill out their paperwork the same from week to week.
Everyone in your business has their habits and unique hurdles for your growth. How can you understand your sales pipeline without seeing a good metric of what sales are in each stage – or what marketing campaigns brought those sales in the door as a cost comparison? Warehouse efficiency would give control of your warehouse manager’s time back to them, but how do you give efficiency that is easy and usable at a glance? Your services department needs a streamlined data entry system easily available to your workers that they can use anywhere at any time – how will this possibly integrate back to real data and invoicing?
A good ERP system should be able to answer these questions. Here are some additional questions to ask yourself about the software that manages your business:
- Does my current solution help my sales team generate new business and find the most successful venues for future marketing campains?
- Can I as an owner look forward 6 months with reasonable accuracy to see where my business and future growth will likely be? 12 months?
- Is my warehouse saving me money on every shipment?
- How accurate and easily can I review my inventory to know my costs and forecast inventory pitfalls?
- Will my software integrate with outside data collection, allowing me to create streamlined processes for those users that don’t need the “full” software packages getting in the way of day to day operations?
While this is just a short list of many questions that can be asked, it is a good starting point to know your business. Are you ready to weather bad times? Are you ready to handle explosive growth? Do you know which is coming? If you have questions about the possibility of letting your users be the individuals who drive your business to success – while more tightly integrating those individuals to a complete picture you need to see – then perhaps it is time to have a talk with your ERP vendor to find out more. Don’t settle for second-best options when the best will save you time, money and possibly your future as a business.
Where are your most important documents or spreadsheets and can you find them quickly?
Finding a document is sometimes an easy enough task these days. Most users work with no more than 10-12 critical documents per week and the “Recent” list in many document tools more than covers the easy retrieval of these files.
However, ask these same users to find their files and allow others to view or edit these files and you end up with a copy of the file now on their hard drive, in email and on the network somewhere. If you’re lucky. If you’re not so lucky you end up with at least a half-dozen versions of the document running around and now finding the most reliable source file becomes a nightmare.
Enter the magical new catch-phrase that is all to common these days …
The Cloud.
It will solve all of your problems. You can share your documents with ease. Your editing and source control nightmare is now over. Data integrity and version control is built-in. Cloud redundancy means no backing up.
The point here is not that these idioms are false – but that they are not new. This technology has been reliably available for over a decade. The difficulty has not been in the technology but in the presentation and adoption of these systems.
Right now, however, the major players in the world of document software are vying for your attention. They want your money, and are willing to do whatever you want to get it. Specifically Google and Microsoft are the biggest games in town – though some smaller solutions do exist.
What will switching to these new solutions do for you? How about just to start, the small list of …
- Data reliability and version control
- Automatic saving while you edit (Microsoft Office 365)
- Document storage and sharing with multiple levels of control in the cloud – from public to completely private
- Integrated email solutions
- Website solutions built-in with integration to view / manage content based on personalized security settings per customer or group of customers (again, Office 365)
- Online document editing – no more software installations needed, and you can leave your laptop at home
- Searchable and indexed document storage … never forget where that file is again!
Our money is on the Microsoft solution for now – they were the first to this market space with SharePoint. But, Google is a very close contender and is known for being able to provide reliable and consistent improvements every bit as robust as Microsoft.
This is also just round one. Document management is great … but wait and watch as business software giants such as SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics begin truely competing for SaaS based online ERP solutions. Both SAP and Microsoft Dynamics have solutions available now … the question isn’t technology. The question is back to presentation and whether you as a user think these systems will be worth adopting for your business model.
In five or ten years it will be interesting to see what features are available to seamlessly and effortlessly manage data without having to be tied to any computer or server. Until then, however, the best way to find the solution that is right for you and your pocket-book is to contact a Network or Software specialist today.
