[Updated September 22, 2016]
Kivalliq Trade Show 2016
For the last 15 years, CoreSolutions Software has worked with northern organizations from a variety of industries, to create custom software solutions. During that time, we’ve learned that these organizations face many unique obstacles that require unique solutions to achieve their goals.
We love creating innovative solutions to assist our clients – that’s what’s made us so successful for over 25 years and it’s what we enjoy the most about working with organizations from the north. If you would like to discuss some of our solutions, we will be at the 2016 Kivalliq Trade Show from September 26 to 28. From infrastructure to telecommunications and geographic challenges, developing software for organizations that work in remote locations, has certainly provided our team with ample opportunities to come up with new and exciting solutions for desktop, web and mobile platforms.
Here are some common issues our northern friends face on a daily basis and what can be done about them:
Infrastructure & Technology Issues
Infrastructure or lack thereof, is a major issue in the arctic and Canada’s north. Internet speeds can be extremely slow in some regions, while other areas have no access at all. When internet access is available, connectivity can be intermittent. If you’re from a community that’s lucky enough to have access to the internet, the service itself can be costly. Although it’s evident that improved high-speed internet access is slowly starting to make its way to select northern communities, the fact of the matter is that much of the north remains disconnected from the web. As a result, we hear concerns about how to effectively and efficiently save and sync data when they can’t connect to the internet.
Automatically Sync & Save Locally - Then Push & Save Online
One approach to solve these connectivity challenges is to build systems with automatic syncing logic, which allows one to store information locally and then sync to a database once in range of the network. This means is that if a field worker is out on a site and the system can’t seek out and establish a reliable internet connection (which is done automatically), then the app instantly stores the information on the local device. When an internet connection is successfully re-established, the application automatically pushes and saves the information online.
For an organization that does business in any remote location where internet connectivity is inadequate, the ability to automatically save locally and then push that data online when internet access is available solves these issues. Data is never lost and is always saved to either the local device or online - this means that no duplicate entry of data is required. In addition, there’s no need to go through the lengthy process of constantly checking for a stable internet connection and then once that connection is established, uploading your information online to the server – the app completes these tasks for you in the background.
We know how important your data is to you - that’s why this functionality is built into all apps that we develop for our clients.
Switch to Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design is a relatively new approach to web design that aims to provide an optimal viewing experience for multiple devices of varying screen sizes using a single code base. Responsive web design means that sites have one URL and the same HTML code. This ensures universal compatibility across all desktop and mobile platforms, which is ideal for companies that have employees who work from remote site locations. In a nutshell, using a responsive framework means that all staff members can access the same content on whatever device they choose. In addition, since internet connectivity can be unreliable in many areas, the move to a responsive format offers northern organizations a more efficient method of transferring data, as responsive web design is the optimal format to utilize when dealing with limited bandwidth.
Use Terminal Services (Remote Desktop Protocol) with FileMaker
Although it’s an older solution, terminal services (remote desktop protocol) has proved beneficial to many organizations that we work with in the north. What terminal services you install an application on one central server that users can connect to remotely over a network. Providing your system does not require heavy graphic and video streaming support, terminal services has many pro’s, including increased security, a single point of maintenance, access from anywhere, and oftentimes, decreased costs. By advising our northern partners (that aren’t already doing so), to use terminal services to connect to their FileMaker client, these organizations have been able to put a reliable process in place that grants their staff access to FileMaker applications by connecting to a server from their local computers.
Contact Us Today!
At CoreSolutions, we understand the challenges northern-based companies face when accessing and sharing data – that’s why we work together with our clients from the north to come up with solutions that streamline and expedite processes, and offer easy access to their information. The bottom line is that we create systems that simplify what you do, to make your life easier.
To learn more about how CoreSolutions can assist your organization, please contact us directly at 1-800-650-8882 or visit the Contact Us page on our website.
And as always, thanks for reading!
Barney Lawn
