Business Solutions

Web Applications

What are internet or web applications?

Simply put web applications are applications delivered to users from a web server over a network such as the World Wide Web or an intranet. Since the web browser is now a prevalent piece of software on most users desktops it is an ideal medium for delivery of the content. This type of approach is often refereed to as "thin client"

The major advantages are that the web application software does not have to be distributed to many users and installed on their machines. Changes and updates can happen centrally at the server and user experience improved performance without the need for a new version of software.

Though many variations are possible, a web application one simple option is a 3-tiered application.

web browser is the first tier, This contains all the user inputs and UI
an engine using some dynamic web content technology (e.g., Active Server Pages) is the middle tier, Often the business logic will be here.
and a database is the third tier.

The web browser sends requests to the middle tier, which services them by making queries and updates against the database and delivering content back to the first tier. The Nexus Architectural Model has expanded this simple description significantly to enable us to re-use much of our code and therefore deploy well tried and tested applications.

Examples of web applications are:

Document management solutions (DMS) that make it easier to find an retrieve important information.
Content management solutions (CMS) that will give you the freedom to update and control your website, intranet and extranet systems.
web sites and systems delivering database and dynamic content both inside and external to the enterprise.
Management Information Systems (MIS) - virtually any in house system today is better developed using a networked solution that utilises a web browser as the platform of choice for content delivery.
E-Learning Applications - consultancies and agencies that provide training, benchmarking and distributed learning.
Online databases - the ability to retrieve data in real time that may have been updated from a variety of locations around the world.
Workflow management solutions - providing manufacturing and service companies with the in house tools to deliver their products and services more efficiently and cost effectively
Product catalogues and interactive product choosers. When products have an enormous variety of options and technical variables, the ability to allow the customer to pick the correct variant quickly and choose to purchase your product.

Advantages of web applications

Widespread support: A significant advantage of building web applications to support standard browser features is that they should perform as specified regardless of the operating system or OS version installed on a given client. Instead of creating clients for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other operating systems, the application can be written once and deployed almost anywhere.
No special requirements: Web applications are often convenient because the only requirement on the user is that they have some sort of browser and a web connection. No special software needs installing, and they user doesn't even have to be at their own computer to get access to the software they need to use.
Faster to develop: Compared with traditional software development, web applications are quick and inexpensive to deploy. The inherent modular nature of a web app makes it straight-forward to develop and deploy incrementally, so you can get something up and running very quickly. Functionality can then been added as necessary.
More Maintainable: One of the primary principals of maintainability is centralisation, or the concept that if something needs changing it only has to be changed in once place. Traditional software development supports this on a code level, but not at the point of deployment. If you fix a bug in a piece of desktop software, the new build has to be distributed to each user and in turn they have to install the fix on their machine. Web applications offer the ultimate in centralisation - make a change and not only is it changed throughout your (well written!) code, but it is immediately changed for every single user because they're all running off the same copy of the code. A knock-on effect of this is that those users are now easier to support, and you have control over the version of the app they're running.

Internet technology has changed the world of business, and successful companies are responding by exploiting this great potential and opportunity. As a marketing medium, a communication tool and as a new way to do business, the web brings fresh ideas and opportunities to your company and your clients.

Our web applications will give you increased revenue and competitive advantage, as they enables you to: