LOCKDOWN-PROOF SOFTWARE : A NEW BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE FOR SME’S

An article by Mike A. Jurado, founder of Prime Software and a Cebuano IT practitioner for the last 30 years sharing his experiences with current IT-related business continuity activities being done by their customers during this unexpected LOCKDOWN period.

With the current COVID-19 LOCKDOWN, People are required to stay home (quarantine) and businesses are forced to temporarily close and are advised to allow workers to just work from home. The only way to do so is to have the right software solution in place. Do you?

PRIME SOFTWARE IS LOCKDOWN-PROOF

Luckily, Prime Software Customers can switch to "work from home" mode EASILY and at NO EXTRA COST! A tremendous "business continuity" benefit in times of lockdowns.  They just Copy or Download the Client Application Software to their home computer or laptop desktops, Edit a couple of numbers, Save, and Connect to any stable low-bandwidth Internet. Whamm, the workers are now connected to your office Server and continue their office work just as fast as they are just in the office premises. The business continues as usual.    

TRANSITION CHALLENGES AND COSTS

In shifting to "work from home", there are common challenges and costs associated with this standard software industry practice.

THE MAJOR CHALLENGE - Is the business software being used, by itself, ready for work anywhere?  If so, what are the logistical requirements and costs in making the shift? How long will it take to do the transition?  Let's look at the leading software practices...

Globally, the leading Enterprise Business Software currently used by majority Small, & Medium Enterprises (SME's) is Germany-based SAP B1/B2 because it is the lesser-priced version as compared to their high-end SAP R/3 version. Technology-wise, SAP B1/B2 version is still on the old 2-Tier Client/Server, Fat Client Technology software architecture wherein data processing is mostly done on the client-side. Client/Server Architecture by itself freezes to a halt when made to run over internet networks - it's just unacceptably slow.  For it to work from home or remotely, you will need another remote control software called CITRIX SOFTWARE installed on the PC Server. Your SAP application will now be hosted by CITRIX and you can now remotely see and control the application from your PC desktop from home. This is a costly add-on because you will need to pay extra for the CITRIX SOFTWARE per Named User or Concurrent License plus the Service Cost of a Citrix Expert to install, balance the load, and maintain/support it properly.

I believe that SAP decision-makers had to take this solution path because they had so many SAP B1/B2 customers globally then and upgrading all of them to a 3-tier web-based platform will require a Complete Software Rewrite, Tremendous Data Migration Activities, and Costly Re-implementation run - a close to impossible herculean task. The next viable solution is the use of Remote Contol Software like PCAnywhere, or Window Remote Desktop, or CITRIX.

SAP's 3rd option for work anywhere enablement is the very expensive high-end SAP R/3 version which is based on a 3-Tier Client/Server, Thin Client Technology Software Architecture wherein data processing is mostly done on the Server Side, thus saving a lot of network bandwidth. Typically, it is made up of three functionally distinct layers namely: the user interface, business logic, and database. The R/3 was still under development stage yet when they decided to partner with CITRIX software then.

To work from anywhere, R/3 does NOT use CITRIX SOFTWARE anymore. This is SAP's version equivalent of the de facto widely used browser-based or web service based technology platforms.  Now, the majority of the world's top corporations, those that can afford, run on SAP R/3 or Oracle Software - another competing high-end Application-Database technology platform. These software brands are big and have become quite pricy because of the higher global overhead and expenses they carry. Understandably, they pass these costs to the customers.

Our Filipino made Prime Software 2006i-2015i version architecture is the Hybrid 3-tier Windows Client/Web Service/Database Server Software architecture, similar to SAP’s R/3, designed to "plug and play over LAN/Internet networks" and "securely work from anywhere" with even low-bandwidth stable internet. It also uses the efficient HTTPS: JSON protocol to communicate data packets, as most browsers do. NO 3rd party remote control software like CITRIX is ever needed. Prime Software uses a cost-free enterprise-class open source database software as it's the default database. Prime Software can also use other databases and is certified/tested with MSSQL Server, IBM DB2, Sybase DB, or Oracle Database Software if the customer prefers so. Prime can be deployed both on-premise or on the cloud, whichever is practical for the customer. Since 2010, so many Prime Software hosted instances actively run on either AWS or MS_Azure cloud. Prime is Cloud stress-tested 10 years now, stable, secured, and works consistently fast anywhere. Isn't that enterprise computing worth considering?

Ohh, you may ask how much is the cost? Quality-oriented  Filipino Developers with Filipino Costs, with a Filipino Price, for the Filipino Enterprise, figure that out.

We are all now in Crisis Situation. Please follow Government Lockdown and Quarantine Guidelines. Stay at home. Stay Safe. Keep cool. We will get over this crisis soon. We pray to God - Protect all of us.

MAJ