Digital Disruption from EX²

People love to listen to stories. In ancient times, groups would gather to hear tales told by wandering storytellers or poets, and even today, millions of children get a nightly bedtime story before being tucked in. Movies, television shows and plays offer visual venues for "hearing" a story. Furthermore, the love of stories seems to transcend economics, cultures and geographic boundaries.

Augmented reality, or AR, is still perceived by some as a future technology, straight out of science-fiction movies. In truth, AR has been in use for several years, and it is a rapidly growing technology for marketing. As the name implies, AR takes a picture of a real scene, allows the user to add or change elements and then displays the integrated (or augmented) image.

The volume of data that businesses can accumulate today is staggering. The information can provide a level of business intelligence that was only dreamed of two or three decades ago. However, a traditional data warehouse can only provide hindsight -- what happened a few hours ago, yesterday or (in some cases) last week. In a competitive economy, businesses need access to data as quickly as possible, and mastering real-time data is one aspect of making technology a strength rather than a weakness. Many enterprises have already begun moving to real-time data aggregation to improve the speed with which data becomes available -- but the process is not without challenges.

Thanksgiving is a day set aside in the United States for giving thanks for all that we have received. Preparing such a list requires reflecting on all that has transpired during the previous year. For EX² Solutions, 2014 has been packed with activity. With so much for which we are thankful, narrowing the list down to just six items was a challenge. However, by enlisting the aid of all our team members, we have compiled the following list.

Oracle recently previewed its Mobile Application Framework (MAF) and Mobile Application Accelerator (MAX), which are cloud-based products designed to facilitate cross-platform mobile application development. You may be thinking, "So, the IT guys have some new toys to play with." If so, you are missing a critical part of MAF and MAX: They are designed for use by "citizen developers" as well as professionals. This means that business users with only rudimentary skills can leverage these tools. Keep reading to learn what this can mean to your enterprise.

Few things are certain in the world of retailers, but one fact is inescapable: Customers are going to continue to become more demanding even as their habits change. Customers are no longer satisfied with a "cookie-cutter" approach to retail. They are not interested in why Jane Doe should buy an item -- they want to know why the item is perfect for them. Nor are they interested in whether a retailer has thousands of products -- they are only interested in whether the retailer has the product they want.

How much do you know about your customers? There is a good possibility that you do not know them as well as you think. Despite having collected a lot of data on past and potential customers, you might not be able use the data in any type of meaningful manner. You may know that "Jane" always buys "Brand X" cat food, that "John" is 25 years old or that "Joe" makes purchases at all hours of the day and night, but how does this information help you create a personalized experience for them? Unless you just happen to sell products for cat care, these tidbits of information are relatively useless for most businesses. In other words, collecting data is easy -- connecting it is the challenging part.

Each year, the "Austin Business Journal" publicly recognizes the top 25 website development firms in the Austin area. EX Squared Solutions recently learned it had been awarded the #2 position on the list. This marks the second time that the company has earned a spot on the ABJ's list of top website developers.