Innovation Reloaded

Ben Newman

Published in A*QUA Issue 007, Q4, 2011

In the last issue of A*QUA, we talked about a number of new and extended integrations that we have in place with other commonly used technologies. While this has been a major focus for our development group in recent years, AutoStar Solutions has always been committed to creating functional improvements to our software from the very beginning. These improvements are grounded in the belief that innovation for innovation’s sake does nothing to serve the industry in any meaningful way. It is because of this conviction that many of our technological advancements occur at the back-end, as opposed to the highly visible front-end.

Over the years, our internal back-end systems have undergone many changes and improvements. Although our front-end developments often take center stage, it is actually the back-end changes that create the foundation for true innovation. Though many of these advancements may not be easily perceptible to the end user, what we have planned next will be anything but obscure. As we move into the new year, we are looking forward to unveiling some very tangible and noteworthy changes which I am certain you will not only notice, but also enthusiastically applaud.

While we lay the foundation for a true revolution in our products, we are also planning to use some new technology to deliver exceedingly desired functionality to our current products. At Innovate 2011, we will be giving you a glimpse into this future, and will be revealing our big plans for the upcoming versions of our applications. In addition to this, we will discuss and demonstrate technology integrations that are certain to have a real and positive impact on your business. Most importantly, attendees of the conference will have the opportunity to provide us with feedback on the prototype functionality which will be demonstrated at the event. By prototype, I don’t mean hollow UI mock-ups, but a real, working application, elements of which will be released by the end of the year.

For the past year, our team has been working diligently to complete a number of very large and time consuming projects, and I am very happy to report that you will soon see the results of this effort. At the same time, we have been bringing in resources, and have started to develop the foundation for the next generation of AutoStar technology. One of the major areas that we always focus on when developing new capabilities, is the power to automate or schedule processes that are currently done manually. In the future, we will utilize these capabilities to automate some of the more critical manual processes in our software. This should make your day-to-day activities more efficient and ultimately more profitable.

Over the next few years, we will be releasing brand new versions of all of our products, which will be built around this new technology. At the same time, we are carefully planning the development of this technology to provide some immediate benefit and enhancements to our existing products. This will enable you to do things faster, better, and more efficiently than ever before. Those of you that have been customers since the beginning have probably come to expect this type of innovation from us. Over the years, we’ve prided ourselves on constant improvement, or as our company tagline suggests, “endless innovation”. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the next twelve months will be a very exciting time as part of the AutoStar family.