IT Strikes Back

Our saga begins in a company, not so far away, where a federation of end-users from all corners of the organization is unhappy with its IT department. They want more apps, better representation during the design phase, and faster delivery. IT, which is currently handcuffed by constantly changing technologies, can’t seem to do anything right … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Why Don’t Users Ever Know What They Want?

Why Don’t Users Ever Know What They Want?

We’ve all been there. In the heat of an IT project – be it greenfield, modernization or just a little “tweak” – users provide you with their requirements. Everything seems to be so clear and obvious that you write up the specifications for the user, and they say it looks great. The project continues, and … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Evaluating Your Technology Investment

Evaluating Your Technology Investment

At some point in your career, you may have encountered one or more of the following scenarios: Your CIO reads about a new industry solution that she feels will be a game changer and recommends that your company should be an early adopter so you are ahead of your competitors. You attend a presentation and … …

Read More >

Continue reading
GS1 Connect 2017

Why Attend GS1 Connect 2017?

With spring in the air, it is time to start finalizing plans to ensure your attendance at the most important annual GDSN community gathering, GS1 Connect 2017. The focus of this event is for industry leaders to learn how to better meet today’s business challenges and position their organizations to unlock tomorrow’s opportunities. Over this three-day … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Kroger Vendor Item Portal - Automating the Process

Kroger Vendor Item Portal – Automating the Process

Several years ago The Kroger Company launched Program Mercury, a data synchronization initiative that requires suppliers to provide information about products sold in Kroger stores. Now called the Item MDM/VIP, the program continues to utilize the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) and the Kroger Vendor Item Portal (VIP) to collect product item data that is … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Why GDSN Matters

Why GDSN Standards Matter

In 2004, GS1 launched the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) to provide a common language and set of documents to improve the exchange of product information between trading partners. The goal was to reduce the number of individual connections used to exchange master data. To achieve this vision, standards had to be developed and agreed … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Low-code development: the fallacy of the Sprint

Low-code development: the fallacy of the Sprint

(The original article was posted on LinkedIn Pulse.) A marathon is not just a series of sprints. We know that the preparation required to run for 100 meters is not the same as that for a 26-mile slog. This maxim applies equally to the software development process as it does to running a race. Yet … …

Read More >

Continue reading
Responsive Web Design

Business Application Development

The Rule of Three It occurred to me some time ago that the creation of business software, once we get past the design and planning stage, boils down to three basic activities.    1 – We read and write data from and to a storage device.    2 – We manipulate the variables that contain … …

Read More >

Continue reading