K.I.S.S. With FileMaker, Alpha Five

With more and more users relying on their browsers as a primary way to gather information, simple desktop databases fell out of favor.

As a result, many companies were forced to turn to expensive custom development projects and to hire programmers versed in ASP and other high-end coding tools. While driving database functionality to the Web enhanced the end-user experience, the high overhead of building what once were simple databases started to impact the bottom line. Those costs made it that much harder for solution providers to get custom programming contracts.

Now, thanks to innovative products such as FileMaker and Alpha Five, both solution providers and end users can regain control of developing simple databases. Both of these products (or integrated development environments) offer tools and wizards to quickly define basic databases, and then deploy those databases to the Web, thereby bringing speed and simplicity back to basic databases.

The advantages here are many: Solution providers can now quickly demonstrate custom database development, while keeping costs to a fraction of what other technologies demanded. Solution providers also can use either product as a development environment to build basic Web-enabled databases, while still offering an upgrade path to higher-end technologies.

In many cases, that upgrade path turns out to be the key to profitability. By quickly developing a basic database at a low cost, solution providers can introduce their customers to the advantages of Web-delivered data, while building a long-term relationship that could bear fruit in a high-end development project.

It all comes down to the old acronym KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)--simple solutions are often easier to sell and can lead to long-term profits. Solution providers need to remember that leveraging basic or end-user-type products can lead to bigger and better things, thus the hype behind FileMaker and Alpha Five may be well placed.

What's been your experience with database development of late? Let me know via e-mail at [email protected].