Custom Software vs Off-the-Shelf Software: How to Choose Best For You
In today’s digitized business environment, applications and software are integral to any organization. The right software makes processes easier, more efficient, and cost-effective. One of the biggest questions that arise when a company is looking for special software is whether to order a custom program or an off shelf-one. At Entrance Consulting, we recommend that […]
4 Reasons Why Shadow IT is Taking Over
The term “Tech Stack” is used to describe the collection of approved applications, software, and hardware that individuals or teams within a company use to perform their daily business functions.
The stack includes everything from your company’s communication tools like messaging solutions and email service providers to sales, financial, and HR software that your IT and management have approved for use by different teams to achieve your corporate goals.
However, wherever a company has an established technology program, there is a risk that employees may try to work around it and work outside the stack without consulting the IT department. Although working around approved technology is not a new issue, the recent trend toward remote work and other cultural factors can worsen the problem.
7 Ways a Software Consultant Can Help You See Around Your Blind Spots
You know your business like the back of your hand. You’ve been in it for years, and you know every inch. But even the most experienced business owners can have blind spots when it comes to their industry. That’s where a software consultant can help. They can provide an outsider’s perspective that can help you see around your blind spots and make better decisions for your business. We’ll discuss how a software consultant can help you and give some relevant statistics to back it up.
Legacy System Modernization Approaches And Strategies
You’ve been contemplating legacy system modernization for a while now. But, what does it take to implement? We reveal 6 modernization approaches and what it takes to implement them.
What is a legacy system?
Legacy systems present challenges in a modern market ecosystem. Learn why you should modernize your legacy system and what modernization entails.
Ed-Fi Compliant Data Exchange vs. Custom Data Warehouses
Looking to derive actionable insights from your data? If so, which data repository is best? In this post, we highlight the benefits of custom data warehouses when Ed-Fi compliant data exchange isn’t possible.
When to Use NoSQL vs. Relational Databases
Designing applications in the era of Industry 4.0 can be a challenge. Learn how to leverage NoSQL and relational databases to your advantage when it comes to app development.
7 Timely Questions to Determine the Efficacy of Your Tech Stack
How do you decide when to modernize your tech stack? We reveal seven important questions to ask before you make the leap.
Streamlining the Midstream Oil Industry With Digital Transformation
In a climate of uncertainty and market volatility, learn how your midstream oil business can leverage digital transformation to gain a competitive edge.
4 Critical Reasons for Adopting Enterprise Application Integration in Manufacturing
The economic downturn has exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, but enterprise application integration can bolster outcomes for your business. Learn how.
5 Ways To Mitigate Risk on Software Projects (AKA – What To Do When Your Developer Gets Hit By A Truck… Literally)
I’ve been involved in a lot of development projects — I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. One of the scariest things that can happen in a software project is losing your developer for some unforeseen reason. This kind of thing happens even when you have a big team. Because they are typically […]
Using Dashboards and Exception Monitoring to Increase Production Efficiency
I recently attended a conference discussion about using dashboards and exception monitoring to increase production efficiency for production maintenance engineers by directing their attention where and when it is needed, while also including the appropriate diagnostic information for the situation. This allows for earlier detection of potential issues, in time for planned fixes rather than unplanned outages. The […]
The Microsoft Single Page Applications Approach: WinJS
Microsoft has been steadily working to improve WinJS, their implementation framework for Single Page Applications (SPA) using JavaScript. This framework is a modern alternative to existing ASP.NET client-side infrastructure (MVC and WebForms). At Entrance, our approach for SPA uses several frameworks: Backbone Marionette, jQuery, Underscore and Bootstrap. If we were to look at getting on […]
A Great First Ride!
Biking to a healthier Entrance This year, Entrance has been making a push towards healthy activities, with our fitness room, gym memberships, and now a biking club. We are thinking we will start working towards the goal of training for the MS150.
Custom Software: Your Business Logic, Codifed
When it comes to software, every company has to evaluate whether an off the shelf or custom software option makes the most sense. Off the shelf products are often cheaper, but they may not be able to provide the complete functionality that your team needs to get their job done. For one pipeline engineering services […]
Visual Studio 2012 update 2 released
Visual Studio 2012 update 2 was released yesterday and it contains a variety of new features that I thought might be notable to some of you. In particular:
Visual Studio 2012 now supports code reviews via TFS 2012: Software Consulting Tip
Software consulting and custom software development requires that we keep up with new technology. As such, I wanted to share a best practice related to Visual Studio and Code Review.
C# Generics Summary: Methods, Types and Specifying Generic Type Parameter Constraints
Generics in C# are classes, structures, interfaces, and methods that have type parameters for one or more of the types that they use. For example, instead of using a collection class that allows any type, we can use a generic collection class and define the specific type(s) for the collection. The primary use case of […]
Why use Linq instead of SQL?
To give you an idea of what Linq looks like, and how it compares to SQL code, below are some very simple queries in both SQL and Linq. This assumes a Customer table with columns ID and Name:
