Web Applications

We design and build web applications.  But what are they?

A web application is like a very intelligent web site.  A good example would be Facebook ® as it's far more than a simple web site, performs many actions and activities but is purely web based.

In essence a web application is just like any 'program' that you use on your computer,  we've just moved it from the desktop to the web.  By re-creating your program, whether it be your warehouse stock control system or your sales ordering system into a web application, we can realise some nice benefits:

• Available 24/7, 365 days
   
• You don't need to install anything extra on your Desktop / Laptop / Mac / iPhone to use it
   
• You can use your web app by firing up Firefox® / Internet Explorer® / Safari® and visiting your web app Internet address just like visiting Google ® or Facebook ®.
   
• You can use any 'Operating System' so you can equally use Windows®, Apple® or Linux® to access your web app.  You are not restricted to what type of computer you choose.
   
• Using your web app over low speed connections, like when your 3G card suddenly decides that the much slower GPRS option is flavour of the month is surprisingly workable.
   
• A web app is easy to manage.  When updates are needed, however large, they are made in one place: inside your web app with no other changes having to take place anywhere else.

In summary, a web app is frequently the best choice for many business solutions.  It allows you to take a business need, determine the processes involved and then implement it using web technologies.

So now we know what a web app is, what can a web app do?

It's a bold statement but that's the nature of bespoke web development.  The Internet is extremely diverse, highly available, able to connect to multiple systems and is increasingly becoming connected to the physical world.

We can make your web app process your sales orders, accept new enquiries and feed them to the right department, show pretty graphs of your rising sales and we can also have it switch your coffee machine on (and no, we aren't joking).

Designing a web app requires that we understand your business processes and how they relate to the app we're creating.

Ordinarily, on the initial development stages, the analysis of the requirements uncover existing flaws in the current way of working. This is usually due to the fact that working methods evolve over time and sometimes it takes an outsider to ask why to make existing flaws apparent. As a result, the requirements gathering exercise can produce effective cost savings in process terms that are a healthy side effect to the web app development.

It's not terribly easy to explain how a web app might work for you without knowing what you want it to do. If you have an idea and want to bounce it around to smooth the edges and provide you with a more accurate starting point, give us a call on 01970 800800 and we'll tell you what we think.