One of the unique things about HansaWorld is the way it connects remotely. We call this WAN, or Wide Area Network connectivity. This means you want to connect to your system wherever you have an internet connection, typically outside the office. What makes HansaWorld unique regarding WAN is the way the client and server communicate. Unlike other software, HansaWorld uses TCP/IP as communication method. TCP/IP is the standard protocol for the Internet, i.e its the way the internet communicates, including the websites you access and the mails you receive.

Now why is this special? Very simple. If you use HansaWorld as your business management software, then you can work from anywhere where you have an Internet connection. This includes your accounts, sales, CRM, Purchase Orders, manufacturing or whatever you do on a daily basis. And you do this in the same software you use in your office, not just some limited web screens.

Think of some of the advantages you might have from working from anywhere?

You don’t have to drive to the office to get something done. If you are a sales rep on the road, you can lookup stock and order status right there when you sit with your customer. If you run a hotel, you can sell bed-nights while you are at an expo. If you are a manager out of town, but still want to be the only one that authorizes credit notes, then you can do it. Can you see the advantage?

But, I hear you say, any system can connect remotely. True, but it is in the way it is done that is the trick. Other systems need to use Citrix server, Remote Desktop, Teamviewer or any other remote viewing tool to communicate over WAN. This means these systems are slow. Slow means you have to buy thick data pipes to get workable speeds over your network, else your system will feel so slow you will not get anything done. So if your company has multiple branches you would need to invest in expensive dedicated lines between your branches if you do not use HansaWorld.

With HansaWorld, you don’t need any of these additional tools, making working as fast as being in the office, and it saves a lot of money. HansaWorld only needs 16KB/sec over the Wide Area Network for you to feel like you are in the office. Other systems using third party technology as specified above need 100KB/sec or more. The big reason for this is that in HansaWorld’s case only text gets transferred over the line, whereas other systems send pictures or vectors that take much more bandwidth.

So to sum up there are three advantages that we have mentioned. Firstly, you don’t need third-party software, therefore you save license fees and you don’t need to manage yet another program. Secondly you save on bandwidth cost since you don’t need high bandwidth pipes and dedicated lines, and thirdly you can work in the most remote places, even over satellite and GPRS connections.

We will look at other features that make HansaWorld different next time.

Until next week, and remember……keep it (A)FRESH!

About the writer: Immo Böhm

Immo Böhm is the founder and managing director of Afresh Consult.  He has been involved with business management systems for many years.  He is an experienced implementation and process design consultant and has done in excess of 60 projects in this regard.   Immo has a B.Sc degree, a diploma in IT and a MBA (UK).