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We like to share our experiences and opinions to reflect on the variety of projects, businesses and technologies we are fortunate enough to work with.

 

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    MCP Servers: Should you connect to that one?
    Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the new "universal adapter" for AI. Think of it as giving your AI platform a dynamic toolkit - turning AI into an active worker.
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    Security used to be about defences. Now it's about speed.
    The security posture that was solid a year ago isn't anymore. Three shifts in the AI era, and three questions every IT leader should be asking their vendors right now.
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    How to fix a Power BI environment that went from clean to a mess
    Is your Power BI environment cluttered with zombie reports and duplicate measures? Learn how to fix a messy environment and restore data governance.
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    Roseann’s Principles: The 20-year legacy of soft skills at Sandfield
    For over twenty years, Roseann’s Principles have quietly been a part of Sandfield's DNA, shaping a company culture that values communication, collaboration and technical expertise.
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    Watch: Fresh Insights from ANZ Research: How Logistics Companies Use Tech to Get Ahead
    In this on-demand webinar, Origin shares findings from the 2025 Logistics Tech Outlook, revealing where the industry’s investing, what’s working, and how top performers get ahead.
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    Backing resilience through play (and a little comedy)
    andfield is proud to support The Covert Theatre’s Resilience Playground, helping Kiwi kids build confidence, resilience and emotional intelligence through play.
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    Is your website invisible in Google’s AI Search? Here’s why it might be.
    Google's new AI Overviews are replacing traditional search results, bypassing top ranking websites. Learn why your website might be missing from these AI-generated answers
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    The Origin Logistics Technology Outlook 2025
    The ANZ benchmark for logistics technology. Insights from 85+ operators on integration, AI, ROI, and competitive edge. Download the 2025 report.
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    Press Release: Customer demands for greater visibility are increasing logistics and transport sector technology adoption
    Transport and logistics companies in New Zealand and Australia are increasingly adopting a digital mindset and plan to maintain or increase their technology investments.
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    AI Agents: Are they a Tool, a Mechanic, or a Team?
    Sandfield's CTO, Carl Millar, breaks down the role of AI Agents, how they work and what you can utilise them for
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    Examining the Ins and Outs of GitHub’s AI Copilot Tool: An Interview with Albert Gouws
    AI Tools are helping change the way we think and design things.
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    Sandfield's UpShot Magazine 2024
    Sandfield's annual 'UpShot' magazine just dropped with all the latest news, stories and updates from the past year. Check it out.
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    Sandfield co-founder talks tech for business and being a good custodian
    Tech publication iStart, sat down with Bruce to discuss 35 years of software development, the changes he's seen, why he's placing bets on best of breed.
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    Transforming Enterprise: How SaaS and Specialist Solutions Are Reshaping Business
    Explore how the shift to SaaS and best-of-breed solutions is transforming digital innovation and enterprise IT with tailored, agile applications and new integration challenges.
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    Carl Millar's 25-year journey with Sandfield
    Carl started at Sandfield as an intern in his last year of uni. Off the bat, he got involved in web projects, back when Notepad was considered a development environment.
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    OnAccount: Breaking the mould of conventional accounting systems
    OnAccount is Sandfield's dynamic Financial Management System (FMS), used by some of Australasia’s leading supply chain and travel companies.
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    Mainfreight's approach to decarbonising domestic transport in NZ
    Hear from global logistics provider Mainfreight on what they’re doing to ‘shift the dial' on carbon emissions in NZ
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    Supply Chain Sustainability - Stories From the Front Line
    Kiwirail and Mainfreight, on what they’re doing to ‘build sustainable business practices’ across NZ's supply chains.
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    The carbon shadow of remote work at Sandfield
    As we now embrace post-pandemic processes at Sandfield, we revisit how we calculate our carbon footprint, and look deeper again into expanding our scope of emissions measured.
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    Will ChatGPT replace developers? We put it to the test
    One of our developers here at Sandfield wanted to put ChatGPT the test and see if it could not only help with coding but potentially replace the developer role completely.
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    Four reasons why it might be time to rebuild your mobile app
    So you've got a rapidly ageing mobile app. When it was developed, it was designed to provide a rich experience and leverage the power of the device and mobility..
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    A new era for Sandfield
    As Sandfield continues its exciting growth path, our natural evolution has led to the launch of four new business units, each focused on unlocking innovation within specialised..
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    Going to the moon and back - measuring our GHG emissions
    In our first article we covered why it is a good idea to go through the process and get certified as Carbon neutral. In short, we thought it would be straightforward.
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    Why you should add 'my vaccine pass' scanning to your customer app
    The introduction of the NZ COVID vaccine passport, ‘My Vaccine Pass’, is a positive indication that the country is gearing up to re-open. Whilst hospitality, gyms, events and more
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    What Conscious change, Kermit The Frog and the journey to zero carbon have in common
    There is an increasing realisation that we don’t actually have a carbon footprint - more of a carbon shadow and it's a long one.
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    How culture connects to business and customer success
    Sandfield's Marketing Lead, Luke Sinclair, reflects on the true impact culture has on Sandfield's customers and, ultimately, its own success.
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    We're ISO 27001 certified, is it worth it?
    Sandfield is now IS0 27001 certified for implementing, maintaining, and improving an information security management system and the related processes.
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    Why move your business to the Cloud now?
    Explore the benefits, key considerations and recommended providers of a fully Cloud-hosted approach.
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    What's the hype about open banking and how could it affect my business?
    The potential Open Banking holds for a company’s financial systems, and how it would work in practice for businesses using our integrated financial management system, On Account.
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    4 Best Practice Essentials of Microservices
    Microservices is a single application developed as a suite of small services, each running in its own process and communicating with lightweight mechanisms often an HTTP resource.
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    Cryptography 101
    What are the three most common types of cryptography - hashing, symmetric key encryption and public key encryption.
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    The rise of ransomware - 2019 update
    It is increasingly important to have the right policies and tools to prevent, detect and respond to cybersecurity threats.
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    3 essentials for optimising and securing websites in 2019
    Optimising and securing websites require speed, content delivery networks and internet security and DDoS Mitigation
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    Delivering IT solutions for users on the move
    Our tagline is 'get an edge' and we work with our clients to help define what a competitive edge is to them and how technology will realise it.
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    Sandfield's Secret Sauce (No, It's Not Agile Methodology)
    Over the past 30 years, we’ve witnessed the introduction and evolution of many different agile methodologies in the software development industry
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    From 1989 to now: Q&A with Sandfield's original software developer
    In honour of being “Bruce’s first hire”, we asked Brent about his three decades at Sandfield. Here’s what he had to say.
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    Control those thoughts, learning to minimise the mental chatter
    Nicola Young, Head of team and talent at Sandfield discusses the impact of meditation and how it can benefit the Sandfield team.
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    Sandfield Awards May 2019
    The Sandfield Awards are our semi-annual peer-nominated awards where we recognise some stand-out team members in the following 5 categories:
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    Make it easier to get user feedback with in-app survey tools
    Without real-time and real-world user feedback, it is hard to accurately judge whether an application or feature is a success.
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    Happy 40th birthday, barcode!
    It was recently the 40th NZ birthday of the humble barcode and we thought it was worth expanding on this and provide the backstory of its introduction and early use in New Zealand.
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    Why vanilla vendor-driven IT solutions are the nemesis of disruption and innovation
    Disruption is a term that is frequently used at the moment, disruptive technology, digital disruption or more accurately, disruptive business models.
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    How to get ahead in the shipping business
    As the number of lines decreases through acquisition or combined services, shippers are finding that they have far fewer options.
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    Hey finance people! Roll up your sleeves on that IT project
    Head of On Account, Amy Fong discusses how digital transformation is significantly changing the way accountants and finance teams work.
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    5G demystified and why it’s nothing to get excited about (yet)
    5G is a major architectural change from a network deployment and engineering perspective and will most likely feel more incremental for users, with the potential being huge.
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    UX Design Part 2: How to slow the product treadmill
    UXHG aims to highlight the growth of the practice by sharing the often untold stories of UX practitioners and their projects, reflecting what UX looks like in New Zealand.
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    What’s shaping supply chain systems today?
    Demands on systems are changing as customers demand more sophistication, optimisation and cost savings.
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    UX Design Part 1: Designing human centred experiences to delight customers
    User experience (UX) design is the process of designing user-centric products that meet user’s needs.
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    Solving the challenges facing container EDI today
    Before EDI, all container control movements were manually keyed - creating a labour intensive data entry job - especially when tracking a stock of thousands of containers.
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    SQL upgrades: Why you need a roadmap
    A good roadmap should show the plan for moving systems forward from older version of SQL to current or cloud platforms over a timeline so that each intermediary stage is visible
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    Hybrid systems: How to maximise your IT investment as an SME
    how existing SMEs, who have already invested in IT infrastructure, really need to approach using the cloud wisely; by not writing their existing resources off too quickly.
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    How to make your company’s supply chain integration world-class
    Having full visibility and timeframes of shipments isn’t some utopia or false promise, this capability exists now with EDI and API integration
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    Should I leave now? We look at Auckland traffic data
    This blog post is not about how bad the traffic is, or how we can solve it. It’s a fun experiment we set up out of curiosity to see if there was anything behind our assumptions.
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    Blockchain Part 3: Trust in the supply chain and busting the myths
    Blockchain is a tool that allows us to build relationships with others, based on this inherent trust, this technology allows information stored in the blockchain to be trusted.
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    How the Facebook scandal affects your social media strategy
    Social media has been a key component of many online campaigns, product marketing, go-to-market and customer engagement strategies for many years now.
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    Seven key things to consider when streaming video for business
    Streaming video is an effective tool for many businesses needing remote visual access. When executed well, it provides a real advantage for those using it.
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    Six ways to stand out when you're starting out in software development
    At Sandfield we get a lot of enquiries from people wondering how they can get a job with us as a Solution Developer.
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    Redefining innovation: Four ways to create a workplace that promotes it
    How do you define your business innovation? How do you create an ecosystem that stimulates innovative ideas for your business? Read on and find out.
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    Happy 40th Birthday Mainfreight
    It's been 40 years since Mainfreight joined the supply chain management industry and we're honoured to provide software customized exactly for their business needs.
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    Event organisers: Apps to enhance your customer experience
    Learn how you can use technology to enhance event organising by improving user experience and providing meaningful info in your app.
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    Part 2: Data Science in Action
    Explore the possibilities that data science can offer and how it can be used to give your business a competitive edge.
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    Four testing methods to develop great custom applications
    In Sandfield, we make sure that our custom applications perform as they should. Learn about testing techniques and how to apply them in your projects.
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    Meltdown and Spectre: What you need to know
    Identify these "catastrophic" vulnerabilities, how they can affect your software development strategies and the updates on how they're being handled.
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    What does the “Netflix tax” mean for your finance team?
    Tax and legal rule changes can be 'taxing'. Learn how your finance team can fit more flexibility in their work process and focus on more important tasks.
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    It’s time for a new IT disaster recovery plan
    Having a disaster recovery plan is essential to keep up with modern needs and threats. Find out how to design a suitable recovery plan for your business.
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    WiFi Security & KRACK: What you need to know
    Do you often to connect to open WiFi? Find out the vulnerabilities of WiFi security, what KRACK is and learn how to remain virtually safe.
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    A roadmap after Windows CE
    Find out how Sandfield managed to bring in new technologies as an alternative to the dying software development technology.
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    Part 1: Data science - so what is it, exactly?
    Defining exactly data science is and what a data scientist actually does - the hybrid field of scientific methodology, software expertise and business acumen
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    When new software isn’t enough - How effective management can drive the success of new software systems
    Learning from other IT systems' challenges, let's explore how to ensure the success of new software systems with proper, effective management.
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    Blockchain in 2017 - Could an emerging tech really solve the freight paper trail?
    Learn what is blockchain and how your business can take advantage of its possibilities.
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    The “Tyranny of Agile” - When methodology becomes law in IT projects
    Are you applying Agile methods in your business process? Do you find it effective or suffocating? In this article, we'll learn how to bring back the agility in Agile.
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    We really are a social bunch - 5 Benefits of having great workplace culture
    A strong culture essentially means an engaged workforce - it unites your team around the organisation’s vision, values, and goals.
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    Getting IT right in small and medium businesses
    Big or small, companies can benefit from automated IT systems. The question lies whether the IT system aligns perfectly with the business' goals and process.
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    Moving the database to the cloud
    You might know a lot about setting up your own hardware. You might know a lot about network and SAN configuration
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    Managing the space between IT systems and the business users - Own that “bridge”
    Owning the bridge means recognising that the gap between IT systems and users represents a significant risk to the efficiency and effectiveness of IT resource.
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    Extending Power BI - When standard visualisations won’t do
    Power BI supports a large array of visualisation options - built-in solutions and more available from the Custom Visuals Gallery.
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    Hosting with WP Engine - What you need to know
    WPE is a WordPress specific hosting platform. Here are a few pros and cons from our experience with WP Engine (WPE).
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    Rich Windows app to browser app: What we learnt
    Read about why and how we developed and designed our Windows app into a browser application for our financial management system, On Account.
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    No plan survives contact with the enemy
    The best laid plan will go a long way towards achieving the original objectives, budget, and timeframe, but also plan for change.
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    Are you ready for HTTPS in 2017?
    2016 has been “the year of HTTPS” - with game changing moves setting the tone for further changes in 2017.
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    Are chauffeurs or mechanics driving your IT?
    At Sandfield we aspire to build productive, long term partnerships with our clients to produce technology that provides a competitive edge.
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    How I'd hack you (Part 1)
    Hacking is in part a technical endeavour - the right hardware, the right software, the right team, the right opportunity. But where hackers really excel is exploiting your people.
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    Inheriting a system from another software company
    Taking over an existing project requires a different approach as compromises are required.
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    Growing at Sandfield
    Sandfield is a business, and a successful one. There’s definitely a culture of “there’s work to be done, so get it done”, but it’s a collaborative environment.
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    The Open Bank Project - a bridge too far for Australasian banks?
    The Open Bank Project is an open source API where financial institutions can quickly and securely develop new applications or use third party applications for their customers.
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    The secret ingredient in successful projects
    We hear so often of failed IT projects. So why does this happen? Of course there is no simple answer, but I do think one thing is vital to success. Communication.
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    The rise of ransomware - Are you safe?
    Ransomware has become so lucrative and widespread that cyber criminals have set up sophisticated businesses with dedicated call centres and sales and marketing functions.
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    Optimising your business with B2B system integration
    Reduce reliance on your staff for day-to-day activities by automating areas of your business, reducing error prone manual data entry and increasing timeliness of information.
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    Hey Siri, tell me about SiriKit
    SiriKit allows third party applications to use Siri to enrich the app experience. This opens the door to us as developers to do amazing things for our customers.
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    The next app frontier - What your app needs to deliver
    Before developing any app - ensure it has genuine utility and provides benefits for your users.
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    Let the machines do the learning
    Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence where computer algorithms are used to autonomously learn from data and information to help solve problems.
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    Sandfield selected as finalist in 2016 AUT Excellence in Business Support Awards
    Sandfield has been selected as a finalist in the 2016 AUT Business School Excellence in Business Support Awards.
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    Wireframes (Part 2) - How much detail?
    Low-fidelity wireframes capture the interface layout and controls but don’t resemble the finished product, high-fidelity wireframes look closer to the final product.
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    Architecting a robust, scalable system
    One of the key architectural decisions that needs to be made when designing a transactional system is the trade-off between concurrency and accuracy.
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    Amazon Web Services - A pleasant surprise
    AWS’s approach to networking infrastructure is just one example of the technology and processes required to deploy high performing, resilient, competitive hosting services.
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    Forget the controversy around Bitcoin - The real story behind it is in blockchain technology
    A blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a continuously-growing list of data records hardened against tampering and revision.
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    Wireframes - An agile specification tool (part 1)
    Wireframes are used to design (and define) the form and function of an application, usually a web application or smartphone app.
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    Why we said no to AngularJS
    The most popular and now almost industry standard, AngularJS is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t use these common monolithic libraries.
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    Architecture - Business focused design
    If the architecture is fundamentally flawed, any application built on top of it is doomed to fall short of its potential.
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    Databases - All up and running well
    Over time, execution times for procedures can change. Detecting these kinds of changes quickly can mean problems are resolved even before the phone starts to ring.
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    Load testing - What’s your number?
    Although increased traffic is what we all want for our business website, what we don’t want is for the site to choke under the pressure and become unusable.
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    Gaining value from your investment in SQL Server Enterprise
    Stepping up from Standard to Enterprise, we need to consider the features as a value proposition - the benefits that would be difficult or impossible to build.
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    Throw the manual away, but give me some useful contextual help
    ‘Help’ can be done well, and ‘help’ can also be a blight on your beautiful app. Here are some considerations when adding contextual help to your system.
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    Innovation, profit and the pareto principle
    How to apply the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to your business' advantage? Learn how to leverage your resources and see significant results in your organisation.
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    Mobile site or app? Or both? Ask yourself these 12 key questions before you leap in.
    Responsive website, mobile app or a combination or both? What would fit your organisation's needs? Answer these 12 crucial questions to find out.
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    “One of our sales reps just left - what did they do?”
    Activity Logging allows us to log any and all activity a user/visitor makes, including pages they visit, data they change, and any exceptions that might have occurred.
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    5 ways to write faster C#
    Henry Payne, Head of Crossfire, discusses five ways to write faster C#.
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    Bringing Innovation to FIRST Security’s Prisoner Transport Services
    FIRST Security’s needs involved all the common elements of a supply chain, allowing the Origin development team to deliver a unique solution for their business.
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