Industry 4.0 Benefits – Part 2

Industry 4.0 Benefits

In part two of the Industry 4.0 blog series let’s look at a few of the great benefits of adoption. More and more companies are increasingly adopting strategic approaches around digital transformation. The benefits of leaning in to new digital tools build on each other to yield undeniable outcomes for companies that successfully execute these strategies.  Industry 4.0 – Visibility  With highly connected devices and a vast amount of data within arm’s reach, the modern factory becomes visible in ways it never could before. Real time monitoring and big data analysis puts this all front and center for everyone from top level executive to factory floor worker, at any time.  … Read more

Industry 4.0 – Part 1 – The History 

Industry 4.0

What is Industry 4.0 Industry 4.0 is a term that has been around for about a decade already. Also known as the fourth industrial revolution, it’s a term that’s quietly slipped by a lot of people’s radars. A quick recap is required. The first industrial revolution occurred in the late 1700’s with the advent of steam and coal power and genesis of the manufacturing industry taking over from agriculture as the backbone of the global economy.   The second industrial revolution took place in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with the onset of new energy sources, electricity, oil, and gas, along with process refinements in the factory such as the … Read more

Custom Applications: Choosing the Right Company for Your Needs 

Custom Applications

Custom Applications: Choosing the Right Company for Your Needs  Today, many organizations are turning towards custom applications to use in their daily operations. Some will use them to target and attract new customers and others will use them to improve their daily operations. If you are looking for a custom application, you are one of many organizations that are searching for the same thing. But due to the volume of application development experts, how do you choose the right one for your needs?  There are many factors to consider when selecting an organization to build your custom application. You should:  How Can I Evaluate an Organization’s Experience and Expertise?  The … Read more

Microsoft Secure Score Shows Effectiveness of Data Security

Microsoft Secure Score

Microsoft Secure Score Shows Effectiveness of Data Security   A current hot topic of conversation in the technology world is safety and security – and for good reason. It often feels as though we are constantly being warned of new scams or online threats. Remaining diligent is essential, especially when it comes to your organization’s data. The Microsoft Secure Score is an effective way to measure the quality of your organization’s protection policies.  What is the Microsoft Secure Score? The Microsoft Secure Score is a tool available in the M365 security portal that helps you measure and improve your organization’s security tactics in Microsoft 365.   It gives you a numerical summary … Read more

Secret Manager to Protect Sensitive Data in App Development

Secret Manager

Secret Manager to Protect Sensitive Data in App Development   How you deal with sensitive data is critical to your organization’s success. If you are not careful with sensitive company or client data, you risk losing trust between you and your employees or customer base. But how do you protect sensitive data when developing a new application where you may need access to said data? Secret Manager provides a solution for protecting sensitive data during application development.  What is Secret Manager?  Secret Manager is used to store sensitive data during the development of an ASP.NET Core application development project. It keeps the “secrets” out of the source code and stores them … Read more

SharePoint Add-Ins to be Retired in M365 

SharePoint Add-Ins

In Microsoft’s effort to provide modern, evolved digital solutions, they will be retiring SharePoint Add-Ins and pushing SharePoint Extensibility Models instead – such as SharePoint Framework.   SharePoint Add-Ins will stop working for new tenants in November 2024 and will be fully eliminated in early 2026. You will no longer be able to update, purchase, or acquire SharePoint Add-Ins.  How Does the SharePoint Add-In Retirement Affect Me?  Many people are unaware of this new change, and it will greatly impact those who have used SharePoint Add-Ins or made custom Add-Ins in the past. If you made a purchase from the Microsoft Store or downloaded a free application, they will stop working.   … Read more

Increasing Productivity with Microsoft PowerToys  

PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys is an application aimed to increase productivity by providing the user with a set of tools and offerings.   Originally introduced in the 1990s and resurrected for Windows 10, PowerToys are a collection of free, open-source utilities designed to enhance your Windows experience. Whether you’re a power user or simply looking to streamline your workflow, PowerToys offers a suite of tools that can make your computer usage more efficient and enjoyable.   There have been a few new tools and updates showcased in the Microsoft Build 2024 conference. Here is a list of the most notable features with PowerToys so far:  PowerToys – Mouse Without Borders  If you use multiple … Read more

How the Bushcraft Rule of Threes Helps Me Think about Project Management 

Project Management

Using survival skills can help with project management. Yes, you read that right.   What is the Bushcraft Rule of Threes?  The bushcraft rule of threes is a simple guideline that helps campers and survivalists to prioritize their needs in a wilderness situation. It states that you can survive:  The rule of threes helps you prioritize what will cause you to fail fastest first. When you follow the rules, it prevents you from wasting time and energy on less urgent matters. For example, if you are in a cold and wet environment, finding or building a shelter to keep you warm and dry is more important than looking for food … Read more

Staying Current with Technology: The Benefits & Drawbacks

Staying Current with Technology

Recently Microsoft announced several updates for their flagship technologies. These updates included a new version of .NET, .NET 8, as well as updates to Entity Framework Core, .NET Maui, and more. These updates are not limited to Microsoft either – Angular recently released Angular 17. Every year there are new updates and versions released for many development technologies, but should you be updating your applications every year? Here are a few points to consider:  New Features  The first and most obvious benefit is the new features updates provide. Generally, these features introduce benefits like quality-of-life changes for developers, which help development go faster, easier, or become more streamlined. Sometimes, new … Read more

Application Update Leads to Improved Performance and Functionality

A provider of real estate advisory services contacted Imaginet to assist them with an application we had previously developed for them. Most of the application was developed using .Net framework 4.8, which is now outdated. The application’s front end was developed with version 8, but now Angular 16 is the most updated and recent version. An application update would improve the overall use, performance, security, and functionality of the application itself.   Our Solution  The application required an update so it would use .Net core and Angular 16 as the frontend. The client also requested other fixes that would improve the performance, such as moving some data processing from the Angular … Read more