This is 5th and final part in a series of posts publishing extracts from a forthcoming Adobe whitepaper – see the first entry in the series for background information and links to the other posts in the series.
Discussing the opportunities for RIAs in the enterprise is all well and good, but the real test is whether they are being successfully deployed and whether they are delivering upon their promise. From a technology selection standpoint, it’s also critical for Adobe to be able to demonstrate the use of the Flash Platform in this context, so that enterprises can have confidence in choosing our tools and technologies to build RIAs.
For me, the inclusion of case studies in the whitepaper was critical so as to highlight what has been achieved by our customers in the relatively short time since the release of Flex 3 and Adobe AIR, key components of the Flash Platform.
As well as highlighting the business benefits from deploying a Rich Internet Application, each case study demonstrates how the Flash Platform integrates with existing infrastructure – in the case of the decision support tool developed by Keytree, integration is with SAP’s R/3 platform; LMG’s Self Serve application aggregates large volumes of data from a custom back-end, whilst Model Metrics’ application extends Salesforce.com to provide a sophisticated and customised view of data.
A quick overview of each enterprise RIA is show below, but you can also download the complete whitepaper, entitled “The business benefits of rich Internet applications for enterprises” to get more information. For more case studies you might also like to review the customer success stories on Adobe.com for AIR and Flex.
If you are working on an enterprise RIA and would like to showcase it here, or would like to contribute to future discussions on the use of RIAs in an enterprise environment please contact me.
iApprove, developed by Keytree
“As a ‘one stop shop’ for approval-based decision-making, iApprove provides context for decisions throughout the enterprise structure. All types of decision-makers from floor managers to senior management and top level executives can see the details they need in one place at any time. Decisions on invoice approvals, leave requests, expenses submissions, and procurement orders can be made immediately through a single application.
Flex and Adobe AIR combine to provide high performance access to multiple back-end ERP systems, a highly flexible and intuitive UI, and easy deployment.”
Self Serve, developed by Loyalty Management Group
“Self Serve provides analysis of Sainsbury’s till figures overlaid with Nectar customer data direct to Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies such as Nestle and Birds Eye via an Internet-based application, and offers the fastest turnaround and most comprehensive breadth of shopping data available in the industry. It has access to analysis drawn from 100 percent of Nectar customer data, allowing users to analyse the hundreds of millions of transactions made by half of UK households annually. The tool provides access to trend data only – no individual customer details are released.
Self Serve provides analysts with new insights into the data, helps them identify trends, an enables them to build sophisticated reports in minutes. Retail buyers can now view the entire relationship between customers and the purchases that they make, enabling them to see how well products have sold. When negotiating they can see all the relevant business data from other suppliers, helping them put the best possible contracts in place for their business.
For LMG, basing Self Serve on the Adobe Flash platform has provided the flexibility to rapidly meet the needs of other clients with loyalty programs in place.”
Pharmo2Go, developed by Model Metrics
“As a leading Salesforce.com integration partner, Model Metrics is regularly commissioned to extend the Salesforce.com platform for its customers. Many customers engage Model Metrics to create a customized user interface tailored to their specific needs (such as inclusion of company branding), or to provide more sophisticated graphical richness to their Salesforce.com implementations.
Model Metrics decided to use an RIA platform to provide their users with rich, expressive, and intuitive interactions and allow them to work when disconnected from the network. The company needed technology to develop and maintain code as an ISV as well as meet the specific custom project needs of their clients.
To meet the demands of a high volume transaction environment, Model Metrics chose Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR, which enable the company to push data to the client. The clients use a local datastore, SQLite, to handle any data calls and queries. The technology choice was also driven by the need to address multiple platforms and browsers, work offline as well as online, and provide a rich and intuitive UI.”
Even though Flash has evolved considerably since the days of just creating animations and interactive content, I often hear that developers have to “sell” the Flash Platform to their clients, especially in corporate environments where the project represents the customer’s first exposure to Flex or AIR.