FileMaker DevCon 2017 - Jarvis CRM

Jarvis CRM

I interviewed Joe and James Scarpetta at their DevCon 2017 exhibition booth and learned more about Jarvis CRM.

Joe Scarpetta  is man behind Jarvis, a powerful and well built Customer Relations Manager (CRM).

What makes Jarvis CRM unique?

Among other things, it takes full advantage of FileMaker 16 Card Windows, JSON, and other new features. It fully unlocked, easily integrated into other solutions, and packed full of features:

• Project Management


• CRM for companies and contacts


• A new calendar


• Email integration with 360Works Email plugin


• Quotes


• Invoicing and payments


• Products and services


• Purchase Orders


• Marketing campaigns


• MailChimp integration


• Team Dashboard


• Reports and data visualization

Check out the interview here:

https://youtu.be/BsuZHTLNMig

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No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

Abraham Lincoln

Tableau and FileMaker (Video)

Tableau and FileMaker

Luke Rochester's presentation at DevCon 2017 shows how to build a dashboard in FileMaker using Tableau - in under 10 minutes!

Sounds great, but what is Tableau?

According to Wikipedia, Tableau Software is a software company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States which produces interactive data visualization products focused on business intelligence.   Not very helpful.

From the Tableau website: Tableau helps people transform data into actionable insights. Explore with limitless visual analytics. Build dashboards and perform ad hoc analyses in just a few clicks. Share your work with anyone and make an impact on your business. From global enterprises to early-stage startups and small businesses, people everywhere use Tableau to see and understand their data.  Not much better...

How about this:  It's a powerful tool that helps visualize data in new ways.

I need a Tableau presentation to show me what Tableau is.  Just kidding...

Rochester shows how to use the free version of Tableau to build very powerful FileMaker based Dashboards, resulting in new ways for your clients to see their data.  Which makes those dashboards valuable to your client.

What you'll see in this video:

• How to connect FileMaker to Tableau


• Learn Tableau's terminology (Dimensions (think FileMaker text fields), Elements (number fields), Measures, and more)


• Basic Tableau usage


• Interdependent Charting (changes in one chart effect others)


• Story boarding (very powerful feature)


• How to build a dashboard in less than 10 minutes


• The Business Intelligence Stack compared to FileMaker with Tableau


• How Tableau makes it possible to do What If analysis on the fly

So take an hour plus and expand your horizons by integrating Tableau and FileMaker.  It is worth your time:

https://youtu.be/k-mieKCWfDo

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A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.

Michael LeBoeuf

 

 

FileMaker DevCon 2017 - Henrique Bilbao of HiMaker

Henrique Bilbao of HiMaker

Meet Henrique Bilbao, the founder of Brazil's only Platinum level FileMaker business:  HiMaker.  Henrique is a mover and a shaker, very high energy, and is always looking for ways to improve his business model. Among other things, Henrique made several changes in the past year and watched his business grow:

• Leveraging the use of sales partners instead of a sales force


• Has redesigned his presentation and closing techniques to increase sales


• Changed to a per user model combined with a subscription model


• Improved use of project management techniques


• Asks his clients to sell for him

https://youtu.be/NIPV29T4MxY

The Olympics and FileMaker

Henrique's firm developed a FileMaker solution to handle hotel bookings for the Olympics last year, collecting information from hundreds of countries in almost every format imaginable.  Imagine the challenge of dealing with all the different formats and all the different languages.  HiMaker and FileMaker handled it all.

Artificial Intelligence

Henrique is also integrating IBM's Watson with FileMaker, too.  In you haven't heard of Watson, here is IBM's short description:

Watson can understand all forms of data, interact naturally with people, and learn and reason, at scale.

Henrique believes Watson is the wave of the future when it comes to integration with FileMaker. His team integrated Watson with two different solutions so far:  interpreters and dentists.  Look for more information on integrating Watson next year from Henrique.

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More business is lost every year through neglect than through any other cause.

Rose Kennedy

FileMaker and Amazon Web Services (AWS)

FileMaker and Amazon Web Services

Mike Duncan and Bill Heizer of Soliant Consulting presented at DevCon 2017 on FileMaker and Amazon Web Services (AWS).  First, kudos to both for tackling a large and complex topic in less than an hour.  By necessity, they had to take a high level view, meaning it's not really a good primer for learning how to do all they show.  But it is a great roadmap of features and capabilities.

If you plan to use AWS (or are just thinking about it), you need to watch this video:

Developers:  You'll get a decent overview of what it takes to start using AWS.

Everyone else:  You'll get an decent overview of the capabilities of AWS and how they will help your organization.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbE1QX_Z6n4&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Topics covered in this video:

• Making an AWS account


• An overview of the terminology


• An overview of the various AWS services


• Configuring an EC2 instance


• An overview of using VPC and other security options


• Identity and Access Management


• Pricing examples

AppStream 2 ( at the 40:25 mark)

This new Terminal Service type program has huge possibilities for Remote FileMaker Users.  Essentially, it provides full FileMaker capability via a web browser with these capabilities:

• Producing and printing a pdf report


• Sharing items from your hard drive to a shared storage area


• Opening multiple windows at one time


• Plugin usage


• It's fast

My initial take:  if the cost is reasonable (and from the info provided it seems to be), this gives fast, full featured access to a FileMaker solution via a web browser.  And it is way more powerful than WebDirect. I need to do more research on this, but the possibilities are exciting.

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Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative.

H. G. Wells

soSIMPLE Calendar - FileMaker DevCon 2017

soSIMPLE Calendar

As a developer, deciding what you will build versus what you should buy (or what is available for free) is often a critical decision. Make the wrong choice might result in wasted time, an inferior solution, or a product that won't work on all platforms - Client, Go, WebDirect, or server.

A calendar is a great example: Should you build your own, us a free one or buy one and add it to your solution? If you build your own, will you be able to get it done on time and working correctly?  Will it integrate with other calendars like google or Outlook?  Check out the soSimple Calendar: a powerful calendar that works with client, server, Go and on the web. It's been extensively tested for compatibility and functionality, and might be the best solution for you and your client.  Check out what Ken and Lauren have to say:

https://youtu.be/0M8_x9HNLjU

It's not really a bolton solution

Ken says it's not a bolt on calendar: instead it's look and feel is as if it was embedded, and it works everywhere you need it to work:

FileMaker Pro
FileMaker Go
FileMaker WebDirect
on any smartphone
on any tablet
on your iPad
on your web site (WebDirect NOT required)
as an iCal subscription (NO extra cost!)
standalone, or with FileMaker Server
write once – deploy anywhere

Give it a test drive: It may be just what you need.

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Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Oscar Wilde