Masonry Magazine April 2005 Page. 36
TECHNOLOGY
As Wendl says, "Wireless for job site trailers or high-speed Internet access in one's truck is going to become more and more commonplace, in addition to the main office having high-speed Internet access."
He continues, "Second, the technology that you have today wasn't available even three or four years ago. For example, Corecon 4.0 was built on the Microsoft.NET platform. And, in the past, the ASP companies were well funded, but to some extent they didn't have domain expertise. That hurt them. The companies that are still around today did something right-they listened to their customers, focused all their energy on building a better product and better service. For example, we have a PDA version of Corecon with a limited number of features that lend themselves to use out in the field-like lists, things that need to be checked off and so forth."
Glen West, Director of Product Marketing for Best Software's Timberline Office, notes that "there is a lot of noise in the industry about mobile computing. As is often the case, hardware innovations are years ahead of software. As hardware devices become more 'ruggedized' and can replicate the user experience of a PC, software will follow. Currently, inexpensive devices are not generally rugged enough to withstand job site rigors, and they do not support a simple interface. Many 'ruggedized' devices that are available are expensive and out of reach for most subcontractors."
"Wireless for job site trailers or high-speed Internet access in one's truck is going to become more and more commonplace."
Norm Wendl
Corecon Technologies, Inc.
West claims that "the ASP model is attractive to some subcontractors because the cost to get started is lower than a typical desktop strategy. Still, subcontractors should perform a thorough due diligence when selecting an ASP software solution to ensure it contains the desired functionality. The time and expense to bring the ASP software online is not that different from typical desktop packages. Vendors, customers, employees, open transactions, forms and formats must all be entered to utilize a full system.
"In addition, most ASP systems are typically horizontal software (generically designed for several industries), or are limited industry-specific versions due to constraints of speed and bandwidth placed on Internet software. In that regard, subcontractors may find that the functionality does not meet their requirements. This may require a second software purchase and implementation, when a full-featured vertical system is brought in-house."
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