This is Part 2 of 2 of our Error Handling mini-series. You can download a PDF of both (extended) posts here in our Error Handling Handbook.

This is Part 1 of 2 of our Error Handling mini-series. You can download a PDF of both (extended) posts here in our Error Handling Handbook.

Data management can be one of the most challenging tasks companies face today. There is more and more information, generated and accessed by multiple users across multiple platforms and network locations. Data may be in both an unstructured or semi-structured format, and exist in various forms including emails, presentations, pictures, and other files. Some companies also have data in the form of images, audio, and video.

Remote staff, BYOD, multiple file types, and various internal and external Cloud applications all add to the complexity and challenges of data management.

Many businesses are finding that off-the-shelf applications or standard file sharing such as Dropbox and Google Drive are not robust or searchable enough to deal with these complexities. Knowing that ineffective data management can lead to wasted staff time and money, they're turning to custom desktop software development for greater efficiencies and better performance both internally and externally.

Buying electronics either from a product catalog or online can be complicated. When customers can't tell what they're buying and whether it will be compatible with their systems and equipment, that creates barriers to sales for your business.

Many products have multiple components and accessories with many combinations of product codes and parts numbers. In addition, some combinations of options may not be compatible, which is difficult for manufacturers to convey – and for customers to understand – from a catalog page or static web page.

Product companies must ask themselves, are they missing sales because of their own inventory systems?

A decade ago, adding Ethernet to an embedded product was an expensive investment. Now, it can be done for $7.00 or less in hardware combined with embedded custom software development. What happened? 

The number of transistors on integrated circuits has been doubling approximately every two years, as predicted by Moore’s Law. This has made it possible for IC manufacturers to embed Ethernet media access controllers into low-cost microcontrollers. Which, in turn, has made it possible to add Ethernet to an embedded product at a low hardware cost.

Now that the technology is within reach, manufacturers and product designers need to at least consider incorporating a cloud connection into every manufacture. Why?

While buttons, LEDs, and character LCDs were sufficient for interfacing with the embedded systems of the past, future embedded systems will be more intelligent, configurable, and connected, requiring a new approach to the user interface. Modern users are accustomed to more advanced user interfaces, ones with touchscreens, and on-screen keyboards.

But LCDs and touchscreens add unwanted cost adders to embedded system products in the form of board cost, and software support. Luckily there are better and more cost effective ways to provide your embedded system with an easily programmable user interface.

Instead of building an embedded system with a LCD and touchscreen, why not take advantage of the LCD and touchscreen that most people carry in their pocket every day?