Smart Clients: Combining the Power of the PC with the Reach of the Web

For the business world, one of the most exciting promises of the information age is the opportunity to provide employees with access to information and the tools to act on that information whenever and wherever they need to. To a certain extent, that promise has already been achieved. Today, most businesspeople work on PCs that provide access to information, applications, and resources far beyond the boundaries of their local machine.

There are limits, however. Today's Internet model for information and application distribution assumes access to a network connection, but ubiquitous Web connectivity still lies in the future. And some computing tasks require robust functionality that can only be provided efficiently by "rich" client applications that reside on the local computer.

A challenge arises when your organization requires both the flexibility and immediacy that comes with online access to data and applications, and the full functionality of traditional client software.

The answer: smart client software.

An Introduction to Smart Client Technology

Built to take advantage of new XML technologies, smart client software delivers the best of both worlds, combining the reach of the Internet with the power of local computing hardware. Here's how they work:

Web Services are the Foundation of Smart Client Applications

The starting point for understanding smart client software is Web services. Built on open Internet standards, and programmable and reusable like component software, Web services can be deployed easily over a network. They help businesses overcome a number of critical issues, including the problem of enabling programs written in different programming languages and operating on different platforms to interoperate, and the complexity of integrating desktop clients with legacy applications and enterprise systems.

Web services are the magic behind smart client software. Web services enable desktop applications such as Microsoft® Word and Microsoft Excel to more easily exchange information with server-based applications including customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Web services can minimize the time-consuming and error-prone process of cutting and pasting data between applications.

Smart Client Applications can be Deployed and Updated From a Centralized Server

Like a browser-based application, smart client software can be deployed from a centralized Web server. (Smart Clients can also be deployed by CD, DVD or floppy disk.)

Once deployed, smart client software applications can automatically update themselves to the latest version of software that resides on the centralized server. This simplified deployment helps to ensure that users have the latest version of the application as well as help IT departments reduce deployment costs.

Supports Working Offline

With smart client technology, users can work with data even when they are not connected to the Internet or the network that hosts the Web service. Because all or part of the application logic sits on the local computer, smart clients can deliver useful functionality even while offline. This capability sets smart clients apart from browser-based applications, and for many mobile sales forces or remote offices, this is a key requirement.

Smart Clients in Action

So what does a smart client look like? Take as an example a large insurance company with a network of independent agents scattered across the country. Companies like this struggle with a number of difficult and expensive problems related to data transmission and data processing, including:

• Finding ways to eliminate the time-consuming process of retyping data gathered in the field into corporate line-of-business applications.
• Overcoming the cumbersome batch processes required to incorporate information from field agents to the central office or to disseminate corporate information out to local offices.
• Finding cost-effective ways to provide efficient access to data locked in older back-office computing systems.
• Determining how to deploy new applications to independent agents as business requirements change.

Smart Client software delivers an almost ideal solution to each of these problems. Using a Smart Client application, an insurance agent in the field who doesn't have Internet access can enter data directly into a line-of-business application on a laptop computer. When she returns to the office and connects her laptop to the Internet, she can upload that data directly to the corporate database. Because the Smart Client application is based on a Web service, data can move between the corporate and field systems even if they are built on different platforms or with different languages. When the central office needs to roll new software out to users in the field and at branch offices, the Smart Client enables enterprise-wide deployment without overwhelming the network or its IT staff.

The New Era of Smart Client Computing

As powerful and flexible as it is, the Smart Client approach does not provide a solution for every situation. For instance, the Web browser-based model still provides the most practical solution for online shopping, because the system must accommodate a wide range of platforms—and sometimes the platform is unknown. In corporate settings, however, Smart Clients deliver an almost unbeatable combination of power and flexibility.

Today, large organizations are just beginning to build and deploy Smart Client solutions, but because the business benefits are so clear, the technology is taking off quickly. This technology enables Ultrasoft to provide its corporate customers with solutions that reduce demands on their IT departments, while providing users with a range of computing options that enable fast access to information.