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Hospitals contain a wealth of data. Not only do physicians need to know immediate data – what may have happened to a patient and how – but also medical history and the complicated web of medical insurance.

These institutions may benefit from a custom database software that can provide the robust information processing systems that are also easy to use – much like database software FileMaker – which is why, according to BusinessWeek, many hospitals are seeking help to keep track of this wealth of data.

According to the media source, only 35 percent of hospitals have integrated electronic health records into their daily operation. In response to the rising IT crisis in America's hospitals, a group of New York healthcare providers created the New York Digital Health Accelerator. Started on May 10, the program will give 12 health IT startups the opportunity to design a custom database software that will, hopefully, improve the access and processing of medical data and records.

The program is backed by numerous hospitals and care providers as well as a slew of venture capital firms and the New York City Investment Fund. Startups have until June 1 to design and implement their software, which will be chosen over the summer.

One of the main goals of the operation is to improve the State Health Information Network of New York, a database that provides caregivers with a wealth of information, but requires an upgrade in access as many physicians are still unable to gain the necessary data from this source.

One example comes from the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. According to BusinessWeek, one woman was hospitalized due to a cough she claimed was "brought on by the spirits." She was given psychiatric medicine and released to her family, who the doctors kept regular contact with for two months before losing track. When the hospital finally found her, it turns out she had been admitted twice without the hospital knowing until months after the fact. 

In the world of major Division I athletics, being able to maintain finances and expenses is extremely important and most often schools will need a custom database software to be able to handle the imperative task. This may be especially true for the University of Texas' athletic department as it is the most funded college sports program in the country, according to USA Today.

For the past three years the newspaper has maintained its own custom database of major collegiate athletic finances and it found that no programs have earned or spent more than Texas. In the 2010-11 school year, the Longhorns raked in more than $150 million in revenue. Ohio State University came in second with a comparatively low $18.5 million. Furthermore, Texas expenses for football and 19 other varsity sports was roughly $130 million, which was nearly $11.5 million more than Ohio State spent on all 36 of its varsity teams. 

"There's nothing to stop Texas or other very successful financial enterprises with these gigantic television contracts from continuing to grow, grow, grow because their revenues match their expenditures," said former University of Arizona president Peter Likins to USA Today. Likins was also the head of a high-level NCAA panel that examined college athletics finances. "But the disconnect between what's happening in athletics and what's happening elsewhere in the same universities create stress, and the stresses will create a breakdown."

Furthermore, according to information the newspaper collected from its database, Texas' athletic program is one of only 22 in Division I athletics that operate in the black. This has become a touchy subject as economic factors add stress to higher education finances. In fact, the University of Texas' athletic department spotted $6 million to the school's academic side last year.

Some experts believe that a government intervention may be needed for the amount of finances flowing through these programs, while others fear that this may proceed for years due to the economic advantages that many schools and communities gain from programs like Texas'.

IT security is an increasingly important facet of operating a business – whether it be a small corner store or a major multinational corporation. This is especially true as many more companies are beginning to shift their data – an important aspect of decision making – from hard paper copies, to taking up space on hard drives and then to being stored in the cloud.

But, a recent BusinessWeek article cites that just because some businesses may have moved their data from the more manual services to the cloud, it doesn't mean they should skimp out on making sure that data is secure.

"They say they're getting rid of their IT department," said Joe Coyle, the CTO of Capegemini North America that created a service that helps companies determine whether they should migrate data to the cloud or not, to BusinessWeek. "I say, 'No. You still have to do this.'"

According to BusinessWeek, the biggest threat to cloud-stored data may be the company's inability to understand who is responsible for keeping it protected. Global tech provider IBM is customizing each contract it creates for clients before they start using their services for cloud computing to increase data security awareness.

This means some of the company's contracts go into great detail on what exactly happens when a server goes down or gets breached, while others hardly mention it.

Furthermore, more often than not, when a company leases space on a server to store data on that server it will most likely be in a remote location. The data's location complicates everything to the point where about 74 percent of IT security providers say that more training is needed for cloud issues.

In order for companies to maintain an accurate track on their data, they may want to consult a software application development company that can create a custom database software to store the data, regardless if they use the cloud as well. 

With more companies switching to cloud computing as a means to store essential documents or work papers, many employees are taking advantage of this by working remotely. Oftentimes working away from the desk can increase morale and cause a nice change of scenery to the usual office space, but sometimes it can cause communication issues that could prove costly.

The use of a custom database software like FileMaker can be very effective for those who are working remotely as it can store and share many important documents and information between employees.

If employees wish to combat these risks and maintain a productive workday away from the office, they may want to adhere to some of these tips provided from major technology website, Wired.

According to Wired, working remotely can be very easy, it just requires a "digital omnipresence." Being in all digital places at one time is needed in order to successfully complete the necessary work and assignments, while still maintaining excellent communication with fellow employees. Wired says that the use of cloud based services can easily help share documents from personal computers to colleagues in the office.

Also, those working remotely will need to ensure they aren't missing anything nor leaving anyone out of the loop by informing co-workers that they will be out of the office that day. This level of communication is critical to the point where Wired suggests that employees and managers working away from their desk take the effort to respond quickly to inquiries and even "over-communicate" to ensure that nothing gets lost between one computer and another.

If business owners wish to give themselves or their employees the opportunity to take advantage of this technology, they may want to consult a FileMaker developer. 

Organization and document storage is, oftentimes, either an ignored issue or one that consumes too much time and energy from employees or even CEOs. Although some companies may have their own ways of dealing with organizational debacles, one lost paycheck or a misplaced contract can be the difference between success and failure for many others.

To ensure that small businesses or startups are able to perform at their best, Inc. Magazine has listed a few areas of business management that may need some extra technological help for organization.

According to Inc., storage is always an issue with business, big or small. File storage capabilities have gotten the point that having multiple hard drives to back up tax forms and shipping receipts can seem outdated, let alone keeping actual hard copies of documents. Businesses may want to invest in a custom database software that utilizes cloud services to store their documents with little to no physical imprint than the device that was used to file it.

Furthermore, most standard database programs – much like Microsoft Excel – are efficient and productive, but don't fulfill the number of duties needed by business owners to help with customer relationship management. Some companies may need to keep track of when sales representatives have called a potential client or when executives need to document what was discussed in a teleconference. For this, a much more dynamic database may be needed to hold all of the information.

Also, contracts are a major concern with small businesses or startups. Any company that outsources its workload or hires independent contractors may have a number of different types of contracts it needs to use. While cloud storage solutions can assist this process, companies may want to speak with FileMaker consultants that can develop a custom database software that can not only store essential customer information but keep any number of contracts in one easy-to-access location. 

On April 17, I presented the third webinar in the 12 Days of FileMaker 12 series titled Layout Mode Enhancements which discusses powerful new layout tools that will help you design more consistent and graphically pleasing applications. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for this free webinar series at the FM Academy web site.
Here is a link to the video. FM Academy: Layout Mode Enhancements

Despite a pending lawsuit from the Department of Justice on the price of ebooks, Apple – and its keystone product, the iPad – is doing remarkably well, especially in the small business market. It's almost no wonder that when FileMaker, a business database software application, released the latest edition of its software that it was downloaded over 100,000 times in its first week alone.

FileMaker announced that the combined downloads of FileMaker Go 12 for iPad, FileMaker Go 12 for iPhone and FileMaker Pro 12 have breached the 100,000 download milestone. The software assists businesses with the management of nearly every asset from payroll to inventory.

"The rapid adoption of FileMaker Go 12 strengthens FileMaker's position as a leading platform for creating custom iOS business apps," said Ryan Rosenberg, the vice president of marketing and services at FileMaker. "Businesses are using FileMaker Pro to create apps to manage everything from their inventory to contacts to salespersons' routes, and deploying these on their iPads and iPhones with FileMaker Go."

By being able to use FileMaker on both personal computers as well as mobile devices such as iPhones or iPads allows businesses to have access to important documents and information no matter where they are. Furthermore, the mobile versions are free from Apple's app store, helping businesses save on IT costs by only needing to invest in the FileMaker Pro version.

As more businesses start to see customer interactions and transactions being done online rather than in person, having a database software like FileMaker to assist with whatever workflow streamlining and management business owners may need is imperative. In order to fully reap the benefits of FileMaker Pro 12, companies should consult a FileMaker developer to assist with the integration. 

On April 4, software developing company, FileMaker released its newest line in database software, the FileMaker 12.

This update on the already excellent database solutions system offers numerous advantages for small- to medium-sized businesses. The latest update includes 16 different "Starter Solutions" that are pre-made templates that allow business to manage tasks such as content management and invoicing.

FileMaker 12 also includes 40 "themes" that allow users to update the way their databases look and feel. These include multiple "touch" oriented themes that were designed to comply with the increasingly popular iPad and iPhone. Although the mobile themes cannot be customized, users can create their own custom database software.

"The iPad is really influencing people's view of what design should be," said Filemaker vice president Ryan Rosenberg, in an interview with InformationWeek. "People think that you should tap to an icon and this get beautiful app that's really easy to use. Those same requirements are drifting over to Windows and Mac desktops."

Users don't have to be software development and coding wizards to enjoy custom apps and databases through FileMaker 12, though. "We have this entire platform that helps create these custom iOS apps and then deploy and manage them," said Rosenberg. "It's a great alternative to programming environments."

Although FileMaker has excellent design and capabilities in desktop computers, the product's performance does not suffer when being used on more mobile oriented operating systems. The FileMaker Go applications for iPads and iPhones have actually become free with the update. Before, FileMaker 12, the iPad app cost $40 with the iPhone version around $20. This can mean big savings for small- to medium-sized businesses if employees add these apps to their mobile devices.

If business owners want to see a streamlined workflow and increased productivity, they should consider seeking FileMaker consultants to help implement and kick-start FileMaker software in their business. 

FM Academy, a consortium of leading FileMaker development companies in the United States, will be hosting the “12 Days of FileMaker 12” a free webinar series to help FileMaker users get up to speed quickly on the many new features of FileMaker 12. As a founding member of FM Academy, Kyo Logic is pleased to participate in presenting this important training series.

FileMaker 12 brings big changes to this already powerful database platform currently licensed to over 18 million users worldwide. The “12 days of FileMaker 12” series will expose the many important new capabilities of this platform.

The series will begin on April 10th at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific). Chuck Melton of Anvil Dataworks will present the new Layout Design Surface in FileMaker Pro 12. Chuck is a FileMaker Certified Developer and experienced presenter. Future topics will include Charting, FileMaker Go 12, Container Fields, FileMaker Server 12 and the Execute SQL function.

Click here to register:

Webinar Schedule and Details:

April 10, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 1: Layout Design Surface

April 12, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 2: Charting Enhancements

April 17, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 3: Layout Mode Enhancements

April 19, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 4: FileMaker Go Enhancements

April 24, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 5: Quick Table View

April 26, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 6: Container Field Enhancements

May 1, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 7: Design Surface Behavior Changes

May 3, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 8: Server File Management

May 8, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 9: New Calculation Functions

May 10, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 10: ExecuteSQL Function

May 15, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 11: Script Trigger Enhancements

May 17, 2012 2:00 pm
Webinar 12: Moving to FileMaker 12

About FM Academy FM Academy is a consortium of seven FileMaker Business Alliance Platinum companies. Our goal is to educate FileMaker users and developers, encourage best practices, and foster adoption of the FileMaker platform. The members of FM Academy are 360Works, Anvil Dataworks, Fiddlehead Software, IT Solutions, KyoLogic, MightyData and Skeleton Key. Contact information: http://www.filemakeracademy.com