Manifesto
Solving the puzzle to success in your database application
Like everything you do in your business, success is often
realized in finding a "good fit". So how do we make sure a web-based
database will be a good fit for our organization? Let's start by
addressing a few common misconceptions:
- "It's a piece of software on the web." A web-based database
is not just a piece of software - it's a service. Since it's a
service, you should consider not only software features and options,
but also in the team that is supporting web database service. Does
the web database vendor try to understand what you are trying to get
out of your application? How dedicated is the vendor to making your
application a success?
- "80% of your application in 20% of the time." It's true that
web databases are much faster at building applications. But take
care to realize that quite often, 80% of the value of an application
sits in the last 20%! So while 80% is great, make sure the product
will be able to get you the other 20% when you need it to. This is
often called "future proofing".
- "Just start with a template". Templates are great - when
you're business "fits the mold". We have also had much success
extending a template - we call these "plus applications" as in a CRM
plus project management. However, altering templates to fit your
process often leads to poor data design that gets more difficult to
fix the longer you use the application. Nine times out of ten, it is
easier to build something from the ground up.
Now that we have the major misconceptions out of the way, the
answer is simple; Make sure the team behind the web-based database
service
- can understand my business
- and help me build something from the ground up
- on a platform that at least has the potential to be
customized past the 95% level
So how does Lightspoke fit in this picture? We promise that you
will find our philosophy and the way we work focused on your
continued success.
- One customer at a time: Each customer is a new project for
us. Mind you, this does not translate to being costly. We leverage
our unique application generator ( Lightspoke Easy Creator ) to get
the busy work out of the way. After that, a little professional
guidance goes a long way - remember, out engineers help customers
build several applications a week!
- Unique business process OK!: Lightspoke can "inject"
customized business logic specific to your business upon system
events (record saves, running views, custom work flow tasks, etc). We
call this "Customizable Event Triggers".
- Extend and Expand: Lightspoke can integrate to your website
or existing systems via standard web services technology.
