As more and more organisations attempt to move mainstream applications into the cloud, what will happen to the art of desktop integration that has seen improvement over recent years.

"Why won't it just work" is something I hear all day around the office, at home and whilst out and around computers. All of us expect IT systems to work together, to be built around standards and allow for information to be passed from one program to another. Sadly the reality is often very different. Sometimes this is because vendors have made different technology choices. Sometimes it may be a deliberate attempt to encourage customers to buy a range of products from the same stable.

If you speak to any IT professional who has experienced the process of rolling out a new ERP solution, then they will confirm that there are two major factors that contribute to the adage that “major ERP projects always over-spend” – Data and Users.

It’s no longer about the hardware or infrastructure; this component has thankfully been the smallest piece of the pie for years. Nor is it about functional fit, as new solutions become more feature rich, and IT professionals become experienced and more forceful in insisting on formal gapping exercises.

Alt tab, alt tab. Maximise, minimise. How many clicks and key strokes a day are wasted when you switch between applications?

At SmartPoint we believe that window switching is a waste of time. It’s like starting up and shutting down your computer or pressing buttons for automatic telephone answering systems – dead time. Tasks you need to do in order to get the information you want, but ultimately of no use at all.

Welcome to BlogPoint, where we'll be posting opinions and observations on all things that we believe are interesting to your business.

For anybody new to SmartPoint, our information dashboards deliver relevant information from multiple applications to the desktop, at the right time and in the right way. It's context sensitive, so our customers spend less time searching for information and more time helping customers. By knowing more, instantly, SmartPoint users sell more, and can handle many more enquiries.