Just look at the funding of Alchemy, who is building an AWS-style platform for Web3.  In early February, the startup raised $200 million at a valuation of $10.2 billion, up nearly 2,000% since April 2021. Yet, the company has less than 50 employees.

Web3 is a decentralized internet and is built on blockchain and crypto. But there are still many details to work out. For example, there is a need for management systems to handle governance. DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) have emerged to do this.

So how do these work? Let’s take a closer look.

What are DAOs?

In simple terms, a DAO is similar to a true democracy. The members of the organization represent and control it. This is done with smart contracts on blockchains—and the most common is Ethereum. These smart contracts have the rules for the DAO and allow members to vote. There is also transparency, which allows for more trust in the system. This means that the details of the governance, votes, and decisions are publicly available on the blockchain.      

A DAO has a funding mechanism. The organization will usually sell tokens, and each will have voting rights.  

“Many DAOs are different from corporations due to the lack of formal hierarchy, pseudonymous participation, and a more egalitarian decision-making structure,” said Nick Casares, head of product, PolyientX. “DAOs can focus on a single objective as in the case of the ConstitutionDAO, which recently attempted to purchase a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Or a more general outcome, as in the case of ATX DAO, which is increasing community awareness for cryptocurrency in the city of Austin, Texas.”

Also read: What is the Metaverse and How Do Enterprises Stand to Benefit?

Pros and Cons of DAOs

In today’s Web2 world, platforms like Facebook, Apple, SnapChat, and Twitter dominate the online world. They are essentially walled gardens that have traditional corporate management structures. With super voting rights, it’s not uncommon for the mega platforms to have founders that control the decisions, which are often far from transparent.

In a Web3 world, the management of platforms and systems is through the consensus decisions of its users. They also have ownership and control of their data.

“Early adopters believe that DAOs have the potential to completely change the way that humans think about cooperation, collaboration, and collective resources,” said Casares. “DAOs present an opportunity for communities and organizations to rethink how we work together to provide more equitable participation and incentives.”

If anything, with the trend towards remote work because of the pandemic, DAOs are much more amenable to people. They essentially provide for operations across any geography at any time.

Yet there are certainly challenges. After all, can a consensus model allow for innovation? For example, if Steve Jobs were just one voter in a DAO, would his amazing capabilities have been realized? Probably not.

Another issue is that Web3 is still in the early stages, and the underlying technology needs much more work.  

“Some companies are offering millions in bounties to find bugs,” said Chris Clark, founder of DAOBnB. “For example, someone figured out how to print infinite amounts of Ethereum. In this case, it wasn’t stealing because the smart contract allowed it to happen.”

Of course, there are hackers that are focused on DAOs. These systems are a rich target because of their growing monetary value.

Because of the decentralized nature of DAOs, there is also a lack of direct business relationships, which can be risky.  

“Since there are multiple parties involved—such as the  buyer, seller, the marketplace—the coordination of who pays who, and how much, isn’t a simple as issuing a purchase order and waiting for payment,” said Murali Saravu, founder and CTO, Monetize360. “There are also the potential complications of currency conversion and taxes.”

The Future of DAOs

Given the momentum of Web3, DAOs are likely to see strong growth in the coming years.  

“First, the tools to support decentralized collaboration will expand, such as for project management, accounting and voting,” said Casares. “Second, the legal interpretation of DAOs will evolve to provide more clarity on the protection afforded for participants.”

Such things will take time. If anything, one of the most difficult parts will be the need to change people’s traditional perceptions of leadership and governance of organizations.  

“There will be a number of foundations or other organizations that create a set of processes, principles, values, and ethics that Web3 projects must follow if they’re to be supported by the organization,” said Dan Kirsch, managing director, Techstrong Research. “Individual members will contribute their experiences, thoughts, and what works and doesn’t work. And there will be an advisory board that oversees the general direction of Web3 platforms.”

Read next: Web3: A New Catalyst for Enterprise Software

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This infighting should not be surprising. Silicon Valley egos can be outsized. But venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurs also do not want to miss out on the next mega trend. 

So why the interest in Web3? And what is it really? While details are still a bit hazy, the main vision of Web3 is a decentralized internet, which is built on a foundation of blockchain and crypto.

While the initial applications are for gaming and finance, this is likely just a start, with interesting opportunities in the future for enterprises.

Also read: What is the Metaverse and How Do Enterprises Stand to Benefit?

What Got Us Here

Even though the origins of the internet go back to the late 1960s, it was not until the 1980s that there was Web1. It was actually about a decentralized approach to building the digital ecosystem. This was made possible with open protocols like HTTP, TCP SMTP, and so on. The result was explosive innovation, which brought us e-commerce, search, portals, and online communities.

But after the dot-com bust in 2000, there was a transition to Web2. It focused on developing more proprietary and closed protocols. The biggest beneficiaries of this were megatech operators like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. They had enormous power and troves of valuable user data.

By 2021, the online world was looking to Web3. Users would be able to control and monetize their data, which would come through crypto tokens and the use of Ethereum blockchains. There was a new management approach to these systems called decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Decisions would not be based on a CEO like Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, the community would vote on various matters and the decisions would be implemented in smart contracts.

A notable use case of Web3 is the NFT (non-fungible token) market. This allows for someone to get a one-of-a-kind ownership in blockchain technology, which can be represented as art, music, or even tweets. For example, in March 2021, digital artist Beeple sold a JPG file for $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction.

DeFi (decentralized finance) is another fast-growing area of Web3. This involves using blockchain for financial services applications like lending, peer-to-peer transactions, and cross-border payments.

Also read: UX/UI: Trends to Watch and Mistakes to Avoid

The Enterprise and Infrastructure Software

When Web1 emerged, some of the early breakout companies were the developers of tools, browsers, and infrastructure. And yes, Web3 will likely be no different. The toolsets are fairly immature, and the protocols are complex and difficult to use. There are also nagging issues with security and scalability.

However, success will require a different mindset for developers. 

“You will need to think about data ownership, security, accountability, and traceability,” said Amol Ajgaonkar, the CTO of intelligent edge at Insight Enterprises. “You will also need to consider decentralizing the application modules based on how data is acquired, stored, and understood and how to build a common understanding of datasets that can be transferred to other applications in order to build a holistic view of the business.”

This means there will be lots of opportunities to build frameworks and software that can work with all types of applications, whether in the cloud, data center, or edge. What’s more, the traditional open source models will start to evolve. Because of the crypto tokens, it will be possible for developers to better monetize their efforts.

Keep in mind that there has already been progress with the development of new infrastructure systems for Web3. 

“Networks like Akash, Aweweave, and Livepeer offer Decentralized Web Services, such as compute, storage, and file stream at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional cloud services,” said Greg Osuri, the CEO of Akash Network. “This is a way for enterprises to take advantage of Web3.”

In terms of the potential applications, they are vast and could disrupt many parts of the internet. After all, many of the dominant players—like Amazon, Expedia, PayPal—have been around for more than 20 years. They all have infrastructures and business models that would be challenging to transition.

Just like Web1 transformed the types of applications—going from client Windows software to distributed approaches—the same is likely to be the case with Web3. 

“An example of a Web3 application is an AI personal finance advisor to whom you can trust and provide information about all your assets,” said Zenyk Matchyshyn, the chief architect of digital enterprise at Capgemini Engineering. “If there is no way for it to lose the data—because the system was designed in such a way—that creates trust and reliability. 

“Focusing on Web3 will provide strong differentiation by adapting to the new realities of the modern world.”

The Future of Web3

Web3 is still in the nascent stages. But some of the world’s top venture capital firms, like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, consider it a high priority. Note that Sequoia Capital believes it to be “one of the most important platform shifts of our time.”

If this is true, then it’s probably a good idea to get serious about this technology—and sooner than later.

Read next: User Centered Design: Focusing Software Development on the Users

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I’ve been a generalist most of my life. Even in college, what made me attractive as a job candidate wasn’t my grade point average, but that I took almost all solid courses. Over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of young companies—and even some mature firms—fail because the executives lack core business skills. I was uniquely trained across categories that have come in handy when trying to write a post-mortem on a project or firm that has failed catastrophically. And those catastrophic failures were most often due to a lack of core business skills.  

HP has come to the same conclusion, and they have rolled out a series of online business courses that will help you develop the core business skills you may find incredibly useful in your career. Many of us have a lot of time on our hands as we run out of things to stream. So, why not stream some course material that will make you more successful in your business life? This material could also help your older kids develop skills they’ll most certainly need in order not to boomerang back home again after they move out.  

Let’s talk about that this week.

The importance of business fundamentals

I can speak to this because I not only picked up three degrees but also took every fundamental business class I could get my hands on, and it created a set of core skills that have been incredibly valuable to me. Most people specialize, but if you are doing a startup, or even working in a big enterprise, you’ll find you need to know how the company operates to outperform your peers.  

In a company, you are part of a complex ecosystem that includes finance, accounting, development, manufacturing, services, sales, marketing, research, operations, and human resources. Each of these functions is co-dependent on all of the others, but if you only understand the one you work in, you don’t understand these co-dependencies—making you less effective.  

Let me give you some personal examples: When I got my first job in finance, it was managing commissions for the US West Coast of a large US Enterprise. Because I understood how commissions worked, and about motivation (an HR skill), I was able to recommend and then implement programs that improved sales performance. In addition, when the then CEO decided to change the commission structure, I was also able to accurately forecast that sales would drop off a cliff, allowing me to get a new job in Market and Business analysis.  

While in that job, my understanding of how sales and prices interacted. A finance skill allowed me to accurately point out that the VP of Sales was full of crap and that the problem wasn’t that we were priced too high, but that his people were inadequately trained.  

When the Sales VP then moved to get me fired, my background in security allowed me to both anticipate his leaking of a confidential document to a competitor and catch him in the act. (He had suggested I’d leaked the report.) This saved my job.  

Now, as a consultant, my value is that my recommendations take into account what the company can be reasonably expected to execute and include advice that focuses on all elements of a solution, not just one specialty.   

Overall, this breadth allows a person to be able to both better see the problems that need fixing and come up with a comprehensive strategic plan that has a far higher probability of success. And, by the way, I’ve done a lot of CEO post mortems, and generally, a CEO will fail because they lack the critical breadth of skills needed to be successful.  

HP’s course material

What HP offers isn’t a degree, although you do get a certificate of completion. It is a breadth of basic courses, so you understand how the various parts of any company work. They have classes in business communications, finance, marketing (social media marketing), operations, funding, sales, leadership, design, inventory management, and planning. They also have classes for personal growth like presenting data (and better presentations), success mindset, managing contacts, business email, and building a unique value proposition that make you a better employee overall.  

And finally, if you want to do a startup, they have classes on finding funding, identifying your target audience, starting a small business, and hiring staff, which are all critical to getting a business off the ground.  

Wrapping Up

Breadth increases the value of any employee, and since you’re stuck at home anyway, why not use this time to make yourself more valuable and far more capable? You’ve got the time, and HP has the classes. Streaming them will probably do more for you than watching Star Wars again—even though May 4th is next week.  

Enjoy, and stay safe (and educated) out there.   

Rob Enderle has been a TechnologyAdvice columnist since 2003. His areas of interest include AI, autonomous driving, drones, personal technology, emerging technology, regulation, litigation, M&E, and technology in politics. He has an AS, BS, and MBA in merchandising, human resources, marketing, and computer science. Enderle is currently president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a consultancy that serves the technology industry. He formerly worked at IBM and served as a senior research fellow at Giga Information Group and Forrester.

The post HP Life: How to Make Yourself More Valuable while Social Distancing appeared first on IT Business Edge.

SAP this week at the Sapphire NOW 2019 conference announced that it has developed a series of add-on software offerings that are designed to reduce the time and effort required to integrate its diverse portfolio of applications not only with each other, but third-party applications as well.

Mike Flannagan, senior vice president for Intelligent Enterprise Solutions at SAP, says the first 15 SAP Guided Outcomes developed by SAP consist of code to address integration issues customers routinely encounter. In the first wave, the SAP Guided Outcomes specifically address cross-application scenarios involving cost optimization, revenue growth, customer experience, total workforce management and product and service excellence. Silver- and gold-level package options are now available for SAP S/4HANA ERP applications, the SAP C/4HANA customer experience suite of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and SAP SuccessFactors employee management applications.

All the packages employ SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation, SAP Conversational AI and SAP Leonardo machine learning software to facilitate integrations. The gold option provides additional access to SAP Analytics Cloud to provide access to predictive analytics software and visualization tools.

Flannagan says SAP expects to develop hundreds of these integrations as part of an effort to provide customers with an application experience reminiscent of the suite of applications the company delivered before it started acquiring its portfolio of cloud applications.

Rather than requiring customers to hire expensive external service providers to integrate applications, Flannagan says SAP wants to provide customers with integration software that has been validated by SAP.

“We want to deliver on the integrated suite promise,” says Flannagan.

One of the inhibitors to acquiring new applications these days is the simple fact that organizations often wind up spending more on integration than they do on the application itself. SAP has a vested interest in helping organizations reduce those integration costs. Whether reducing those costs will result in more software being consumed remains to be seen. At the very least, however, the total cost of acquiring and implementing SAP applications should noticeably decline.

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Workday wants to make it simpler for IT organizations to consistently fill in the gaps between the software-as-a-service (SaaS) application software it provides as a cloud service.

A Workday Canvas Design System recently announced provides IT organizations with a set of tools that enable them to build applications that have the same basic look and feel of Workday applications.

Workday CTO Joe Korngiebel says the goal is to enable internal IT organizations to create applications spanning multiple business processes that are a natural complement to Workday applications.

“We want to make it easier to fill in the white spaces between our application,” says Korngiebel.

While there’s a lot of focus these days on digital business transformation, Korngiebel says not enough attention is being paid to the design of applications. End users are not going to accept new applications that are either cumbersome to use or require them to navigate multiple user interfaces, says Korngiebel.

Korngiebel says The Workday Canvas Design System leverages the open application programming interfaces (API) exposed by Workday to make it simpler for IT organizations to deliver a set of applications that provide a consistent user experience that organizations using Workday human resources and financial applications already widely employ.

Without some consistent approach to design, Korngiebel notes, end users become susceptible to business process transformation fatigue, which results in applications not being as widely embraced as developers might have initially hoped.

There’s no doubt then that when it comes to digital business process transformation, IT organizations are struggling to find where SaaS applications end and their own custom application efforts begin. Many of those efforts are being led by so-called “citizen developers” who are essentially business analysts working within line of business (LOB) organizations that have the skills required to develop applications using, for example, low-code platforms. The challenge most of those citizen developers face is that most of them have little experience when it comes to designing an application that any of their colleagues would actually want to use.

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Usually when I write up a post, I’m reaching out to readers in a business context – what kind of threats are affecting your networks, how that relates back to your customers, the need to provide better security training to employees, and so on.

But I also know that my readers are like me. Your internet usage spills over from work time into personal time. Much of what I discuss here is useful information for both sides of your life, but in today’s prediction post, I want to focus a little more on the personal rather than the professional.

I predict that in 2018, we’ll see cybersecurity issues have a serious social impact. Security breakdowns will play a factor in our elections, in our relationships, and in our way of life. I think for the first time, the public sees – or will see by the end of the year – that cybersecurity is something that we all have to care about in ways beyond identity theft and compromised credit cards.

And in no way is that more visible than in the 2018 election cycle. Brian NeSmith, CEO and co-founder of Arctic Wolf Networks, predicted that in the coming year, it will be important for states to reassess their elections systems, stating:

Twenty-one states were targeted during the most recent presidential election, making it clear that we can’t afford to continue collecting votes with the existing machines and lax security measures. With midterm elections on the horizon, the voting systems are due for a major upgrade and this will continue to be a big conversation in the upcoming year.

It is not just the risk of our voting systems being hacked and manipulated. We need to take a closer look at the role social media has, as James Foster, CEO of ZeroFOX, told me in an email comment:

The presidential elections might be over, but we can expect to see more targeted social media attacks against public sector organizations leading up to mid-term elections this year. Social media has increasingly become a channel for public organizations to connect with their constituents, making it a prime target – particularly for bot attacks. Bots are being used by actors to create discord, distribute cybercrime at scale, and disseminate political messaging.

Of course, social media involves more than politics (although there are times you’d never know that, looking at either my personal or professional social media feeds). We depend on social media for everything, including building relationships between business and consumers. But our social media infrastructure is a major player in cybersecurity. Foster predicted that social media will become the number-one vehicle for ransomware distribution in the coming year, and because ransomware will have the ability to spread even farther through these channels, he thinks the price of ransoms will skyrocket.

Malcolm Harkins, chief security and trust officer of Cylance, on the other hand, sees a shift in social media security conversations. While social media presents a myriad of security risks, Harkins thinks we’ll soon be including social media networks in conversations surrounding the critical infrastructure. He explained to me in an email:

Social media was originally a fun a way to communicate and stay up to date with friends, family and the latest viral video. Along the way, as we started to also follow various influencers and use Facebook, Twitter and others as curators for our news consumption, social media became inextricably linked with how we experience and perceive our democracy. While a downed social network will not prevent society from functioning, these websites have been proven to have the ability to influence elections and shape public opinion generally, making their security essential to preserving our democracy.

It all comes back to our democracy, doesn’t it? For that reason, I think we are going to see an uptick in the way we talk about cybersecurity and cybercriminals and cyber espionage, and how that conversation will finally move beyond how it affects us in terms of businesses to how it affects us in terms of life.

Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Tom’s Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba

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I know Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, but the holiday shopping season is in full swing. Some interesting cybersecurity studies are out right now that I think should serve as a good reminder on why companies should be taking a hard look at their cybersecurity systems – not just during November and December, but all year round.

The other day I mentioned that if I were an Uber customer, I’d be very leery about using the company’s services anymore after their data breach (among other issues). I’m not alone in my apprehension of returning my business to an organization that has suffered a data breach. A new study from Gemalto found that 70 percent of shoppers would stop doing business with a company if it experienced a data breach, according to a survey of more than 10,000 consumers worldwide.

It also seems like consumers are a lot more aware of data breaches and cyber threats. More than a third realize they could become the victim of a cyber incident at any time (a number that has been on the rise over the past couple of years), but especially think they are more at risk during the holiday shopping season. At the same time, nearly two thirds believe that the organization needs to step up and take responsibility for protecting customer information and the consequences when a breach occurs. This is resulting in businesses being forced to take additional steps to protect consumers and enforce robust security measures, as well as educate them on the benefits of adopting these. As Jason Hart, CTO, Identity and Data Protection at Gemalto, said in a formal statement:

Consumers are evidently happy to relinquish the responsibility of protecting their data to a business, but are expecting it to be kept secure without any effort on their part. It’s now up to businesses to ensure they are forcing security protocols on their customers to keep data secure. It’s no longer enough to offer these solutions as an option.

Unfortunately, as consumers relinquish responsibility of data protection to businesses, employees aren’t able to properly protect that data. According to a new study from MediaPro, nearly 80 percent of retail employees are insufficiently prepared to handle common privacy and security threat scenarios such as incident reporting, physical security or personally identifiable information.

The holiday shopping season puts a special emphasis on retail outlets and security, but I think that all businesses should take note. Bad security loses customers, and bad security can be caused by poor employee preparedness. What are you doing to make sure that your customers will stay with you in 2018?

Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Tom’s Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba

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At a SuiteConnect 2017 event held this week as part of a larger Oracle OpenWorld 2017 conference, NetSuite today announced it has made available a SuitePeople human resources (HR) application as part of the company’s portfolio of software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Oracle acquired NetSuite last year.

In addition to expanding into the HR realm, NetSuite today added an Oracle NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service module that makes uses of software originally developed by Oracle, as well as an inbound shipping and quality management and enhancement to the way the company’s ERP application manages bills of material.

Finally, NetSuite extended the capabilities of the applications it provides services firms to include a Bill Rate Card module and an enhanced timesheet module, and made available customized editions of its software for nonprofits and services companies as part of an ongoing SuiteSuccess initiative that provides access to various editions of NetSuite software targeted at vertical industries.

Paul Farrell, senior vice president of product marketing at NetSuite, says the latest enhancements are proof that Oracle is continuing to fund enhancement in the NetSuite portfolio. IT organizations should expect to see tighter integration between the NetSuite and Oracle ERP application portfolios where it makes sense, says Farrell. For example, Oracle NetSuite Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service superseded third-party budget and planning applications that NetSuite will continue to make available on request, says Farrell.

Farrell says the two ERP suites have area focuses in terms of the type of customers they serve. NetSuite is squarely focused on the midmarket, while Oracle concentrates on the enterprise. Farrell concedes there may be some areas of overlap. But for the most part, the two ERP portfolios have two completely different designs when it comes to the types of companies they target, says Farrell. As such, Farrell says while certain capabilities might converge, it doesn’t make sense to combine the two suites.

“There’s no plan for a super solution,” says Farrell.

In effect, NetSuite and Oracle expect customers to self-select whatever SaaS application platform appeals to them versus waiting to be told by either arm of the company what they should do next.

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The movement of business from brick and mortar to online has been the overwhelming trend during the past 15 years. While this has transformed much of the way in which people shop, it remains true that a good percentage of folks simply like to get in their cars or on their bikes and head for the store. Indeed, brick and mortar stores are making a comeback.

A milestone in the countermove from online to brick and mortar was reached with the closing of Amazon’s $13.76 billion acquisition of Whole Foods. eWeek’s Wayne Rash takes an interesting look at how this may play out. For instance, once the supply chains are integrated, people would be able to buy food and traditional Amazon items simultaneously. The distribution points likely will be the stores for the food, however, since obviously time is more of the essence in delivery of bananas and salads than T-shirts and books.

The transition Rash describes is great and puts Amazon on a collision course with brick and mortar heavyweights such as Walmart. The bottom line is that the commercial world is on the point of learning some very important lessons:

What we’re seeing here is whether an e-commerce company can integrate physical stores effectively or whether it works better when a company with physical stores integrates e-commerce. While Amazon gets all of the attention, it would be a mistake to discount Walmart’s ability to compete in this arena, especially when it has Google as its partner.

Amazon is no stranger to retail. It has opened 10 bookstores during the past two years. Nat Levy of Geekwire takes a look at its newest, which is in the Bellevue Square Mall in city of the same name in Washington. The story doesn’t describe how lessons that are being learned at the stores can be applied to the Whole Foods acquisition, which the writer says “take[s] its retail footprint to a new level.” It seems likely, of course, that a significant amount of insight was gained. Amazon plans to open bookstores in New York City, Los Angeles and Walnut Creek, California, this year.

Pink Lily is a women’s clothing retailer that started online, grew to the $30 million revenue level and, this year, opened its first physical store. Forbes invited Pink Lily Co-founder, President and COO Chris Gerbig to share his thoughts. He counsels nascent businesses to start online. While existing as an online business only, he writes, the company should learn as much as possible about its customer base and build revenue as it prepares to enter the more expensive world of brick and mortar:

While many customers are switching to the convenient method of online shopping, some still like the experience of shopping at a physical store and trying on clothes. At Pink Lily, we are happy to be able to serve both types of customers. According to Forrester Research, U.S. cross-channel retail sales (influenced by the web, but made in stores) will reach $1.8 trillion this year. If you want a piece of that pie, you need to think carefully about how you choose to cut your slice. Depending on your business, that may just mean going digital first.

The move of web companies into brick and mortar seems to be more than a trickle and less than a wave. For instance, the Chinese giant Alibaba is moving aggressively into the real world. It is, as described by First Insight, using a decidedly different strategy than Amazon. The bottom line, however, is that both companies see the value of real-world stores. That’s great news for the mall and the village square.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at cweinsch@optonline.net and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.

The post Amazon Closes Whole Foods Deal: Good News for a Mall Near You appeared first on IT Business Edge.

The relationship between professional and so-called citizen developers is often uneasy at best. Too often, citizen developers opt to employ higher-level development platforms that run out of head room as the application they created needs to scale. That usually results in professional developers having to rewrite the entire applications.

Kony, Inc. today unveiled an update to the Kony AppPlatform that promises to provide a middle ground via which applications built by citizen developers can easily be extended by professional developers when necessary.

Burley Kawasaki, executive vice president of products at Kony, says Kony AppPlatform 8 has been enhanced to make it simpler for citizen developers to build omni-channel applications that span both mobile and web applications. At the same time, Kony has infused the platform with pre-built application programming interfaces (APIs) that make it simpler for professional developers to invoke backend services such as SQL databases whenever necessary, says Kawasaki.

“We’re trying to provide the best of both worlds,” says Kawasaki.

Regardless of how individual classes of developers may feel about one another, the fact remains that organizations are relying more on citizen developers to create applications. Professional developers are not only expensive to hire and retain, but the amount of time it takes a professional developer to create an application usually exceeds the requirement set by an individual department requesting that application.

Frustrated then by what they perceive to be an IT organization not making their needs a priority, it’s not too long before some individuals inside a department start to build their own applications. Those applications may not always pass muster with a professional developer. But more often than many professional developers would care to admit, the application created by the citizen developer gets the task at hand accomplished. The opportunity and the challenge going forward is to not throw that successful application out with the proverbial bath water just because there’s now a need to scale it beyond a single department.

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