Catalyst Resources
User Interface and Rapid Application Design for
Financial Services & Software as a Service (SaaS)
Everyone talks about Web 2.0. We give you a plan to implement it.
Catalyst's AJAX Fast Track is a unique service that gives you a jump-start on developing your next application UI project. In 30-45 days we develop a UI strategy plan, come up with a visual design, determine the best AJAX / RIA technology that matches your requirements and back-end, and provide a full implementation plan for optimizing your application UI in the next release.
Determining where your application UI will benefit from AJAX
AJAX-powered user interfaces can dramatically improve the user experience of Web-based applications in many different ways. As part of AJAX Fast Track, a Catalyst team will review your application and identify where AJAX can offer the most dramatic impact and and best return on investment.
On the lightweight end of the spectrum, you can re-implement basic features of your Web application to be more responsive and offer visual pizzazz (e.g. Google-style "suggest" search box, background content loading, balloon help, tabbed displays, sortable tables, etc). On the other end of the spectrum, rich AJAX clients can replace Web-based portals as a way to interact with Web services and SOA assets (e.g. Enterprise Mashups).
What it takes to succeed with AJAX
It is common to think that the same Web developers who code Java or .NET server-side Web applications or design CSS-based HTML pages, will be able to quickly become expert AJAX developers. The reality is usually very different. The technical skills are are not the same, the UI demands are more complex, the ramp up time can be high and it can be time-consuming to evaluate the various frameworks as they relate to your customer and back-end needs.
AJAX Fast Track provides you with a UI design and development team that is experienced with a broad range of AJAX component libraries and frameworks, and understands the CSS, HTML and DOM programming necessary for implementation. This gives your team more time to come up to speed, decisions on what AJAX tools to use, a strategy on how to incrementally add AJAX, and a visual blueprint of how the final web application will operate.
The Catalyst Advantage
- Minimize start-up time and adoption risk by leveraging Catalyst's experience in AJAX implementations
- Work with a multi-disciplinary team experienced in AJAX and dedicated to your project
- Identify and focus resources on scenarios that produce the greatest returns
- Maximize return on investment by increasing user adoption through on-going user modeling & validation
- Identify areas where adding AJAX would have the greatest benefit and select libraries that provide the right tools
- Provide clickable models to create an unambiguous visual blueprint for development
- Provide a 4-12 month road map for optimizing your application UI
What you get with the Catalyst AJAX Fast Track
Catalyst's AJAX Fast Track is a unique service to give you a head start on your next UI implementation using rich client UI tools and components. In 30-45 days we deliver the following:
- 3-person multidisciplinary team assigned to your project
- On-going Web-based user validation
- Assessment of your current application to determine where AJAX would be effective in optimizing user experience
- Screen flow map of UI architecture based on high-value usage scenarios.
- Identification of key view types that could be AJAX-enabled and then extended across the application
- Visual design for key view types in your software application that includes the AJAX implementation with an updated look and feel
- Identification of modular reusable code components
- Assessment of AJAX and RIA toolkits to use in your application to reduce development time and optimize UI performance
- Code clickable model based on key view types (optional)
- Full UI implementation plan that provides a 4-12 month road map for optimizing your application UI in the next release
Fast Track for Flex and Java-based RIA technologies
In addition to AJAX, Catalyst also offers Fast Track for Flex and Java-based Rich Internet Applications (RIA). Based on an assessment of your project requirements, we select the RIA that provides the best UI components, tools, security, ease-of-implementation and scalability.
Bottom line benefits of AJAX Fast Track
The benefits and ROI of the AJAX Fast Track are tangible and dramatic:
- No Team Ramp-up
An experienced UI design and development team will identify the most effective areas to use AJAX. This reduces the investment required to bring internal resources up to speed on any AJAX project. - Faster Time to Market
We recommend an AJAX strategy, design and UI components all within 4-6 weeks. This accelerates time to market & drives competitive advantage. - Reduce Development Costs
Our designs only use AJAX where it will have meaningful impact. You implement in a focused and agile manner rather than trying to AJAX-enable an entire application. This significantly reduces development investment and maximizes measurable returns. - Eliminate Investment Decisions in the Wrong Technology
Catalyst is experienced with a broad range of AJAX UI toolkits and can ensure that you develop with the right components that match your requirements. You stop bad technology decisions from happening in the first place. - Increase User Adoption and Reduce Support Costs
Because the UI for your application will be designed by an experienced multi-disciplinary team and validated directly with users, the design will be optimized to deliver the most effective user experience. The result is sharply improved user adoption as well as reduced training, support, operating and deployment costs.
AJAX is all about user experience
AJAX not about technology. Customers don't care about technology; they care about how the application feels and works. AJAX is a way to tune and optimize the experience users have with your software and is fast becoming a requirement for business. For consumer applications, well-designed AJAX UIs increase online conversions, improve customer satisfaction and reduce customer support costs. For enterprise applications, AJAX UIs increase productivity, reduce support costs and speed the delivery of new functionality.
Contact Us to Discuss Your AJAX Project or Request a Confidential Briefing
To discuss your project, or request a confidential briefing on case studies relevant to your own project, we ask you to complete the following form. The specifics you are able to provide will allow us to respond accurately to your request. We will respond to you shortly and look forward to discussing your inquiry.
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Contact Info
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Or contact us via phone:
1.800.313.7874
1.650.655.6700
