IN A RECENT technology journal competition, featuring vendor ratings in 27 categories, Microsoft took first place in many of the key groups: Cloud Applications, Business Intelligence, Data and Information Management (SQL database), Collaboration Software, and Middleware, just to mention a few. So, what does that mean for you?
It means software tools are getting smarter, easier to use, and more cost effective. On a recent Southeast regional call with Microsoft, it was impressive to discover that the year-to-year growth rate for the company’s cloud services in this region increased a whopping 333 percent. Many businesses are moving traditional in-house applications to the cloud. It’s simple, easy, and affordable.
An example of a cloud-based application for agriculture is www.LandMagic.com. It is a product built from the ground up on Microsoft technology, and it is a true example of a cloud application being used as a real tool for agriculture.
The developers at ProPak Software, the author of LandMagic, CitrusPro, and BeveragePro, are excited about the recent deployment of Microsoft SQL 2012. With SQL 2012, business intelligence (BI) is built into the database. The BI announcements from Microsoft include SQL, Sharepoint, Excel products, and ProPak. Developers will start to take advantage of this technology in its June software release and leverage it for the farmer.
CREDIT
column by RICK MONTNEY
BIO: Rick Montney is the vice president of ProPak Software. His extensive experience spans more than 35 years in business information system technologies and previous employment with Exxon Office Systems, Information & Computing Services, and IBM. For the past 20 years, his focus has been on agricultural software technologies.