Customer and Partner Trends in Application Development

I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately, visiting with hundreds of OpenEdge customers and partners, presenting the latest OpenEdge enhancements and gathering their feedback on the current “state of the application development” world. And along the way I’ve learned a few things that I think are worth sharing.

• Productivity - Gone are the days of utilizing multiple programs/applications (e.g. BPM) or even development tools to build a solution. Customers and partners keep telling me, “Give me a single tool that simplifies the work I need to get done - that will enhance my productivity.”
• Security - Customers and partners are constantly seeking new ways to isolate and protect their sensitive data from the constant barrage of hackers, especially when looking at the Cloud as a potential deployment option. The last thing they want to see is their company in the news headlines as the latest victim of stolen data.
• More dynamic – Static applications with hard-coded logic are no longer “cutting it” in today’s market. They need a solution that can work like “Microsoft Visio® on steroids.” Partners, in particular, like the idea of creating value for both new and existing customers with incremental bolt-on modules that can increase “wallet-share.”
• Mobility – Like it or not, everyone recognizes that mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are becoming the preferred means of interacting with business applications. Customers and partners are seeking best practices for long-term deployment to ensure they don’t go down a dead-end path.

By no means is this the complete list of what our customers and partners are telling me they want - I need to hear it directly from YOU! I hope to speak with you soon at an upcoming event or visit!

Thanks and as always, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.