FileMaker is the #1 Workplace Innovation Platform (WIP) in the world. In fact, more than 50 thousand companies, ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to global Fortune 500 firms, use the Claris FileMaker Platform to quickly and easily create custom apps to solve their unique challenges and drive growth.
The word “enterprise” typically refers to larger and more complex businesses and corporations. Workplace innovation is a key differentiator and productivity booster in businesses of all sizes, from the enterprise all the way down to small businesses.
Within an enterprise, individual departments need quick access to the right information as well as the ability to manipulate that information to do their jobs. Where traditional enterprise software tools and databases are too complex, rigid or expensive, and spreadsheets and SAAS applications are too simple or inflexible to meet business needs, FileMaker is friendly, flexible, and fully customizable.
Sometimes the barrier to the adoption of FileMaker in large organizations has been simply getting on the radar. We have found that when businesses are making technology decisions at a corporate enterprise level, FileMaker is often not expensive enough! When IT departments are making technology budget decisions in the millions of dollars, they may wonder how a tool that lives in the more economical thousands of dollars range could provide such incredible value.
Here’s a real-world example of how FileMaker works in an enterprise. When working with Target Corporation, there were over 600 clients using FileMaker, with 40 custom application solutions running critical functions in multiple departments. At one point, FileMaker was the link between internal stakeholders and every single product on Target.com as it was hosted by Amazon.com. All photography, text content, pricing, and variations were edited within FileMaker and sent nightly to Amazon’s servers — that’s a pretty important role for a tool like FileMaker to play!
LuminFire has worked with large enterprise clients to make FileMaker work within the larger IT system. An enterprise has specific needs that need to be met to enable FileMaker adoption — among them are: Stability, Repeatability, Controllability, and Compliance/Security.
Enterprise clients are justifiably concerned about data security while also wanting to avoid data silos. Often they are concerned about critical business data being locked up in a custom database that they do not understand. They also worry about data being stored in Excel or cloud spreadsheets that are difficult to share, or pose compliance risks.
LuminFire can work with IT departments to help them understand the value of a WIP like FileMaker. Knowing the common language, vocabulary and reservations, we can assist with getting FileMaker adopted as a platform within an enterprise using education and understanding as our primary tools. LuminFire can also host solutions securely in the cloud to remove the burden from IT, while maintaining data security and compliance (including HIPAA compliance).
Perhaps you’re using FileMaker today and your IT department is saying you need to graduate on to something else — they think that you’ve outgrown FileMaker. We can help. By adding our middleware products such as BrilliantConnect, BrilliantSync or BrilliantGateway to your FileMaker solution you can make your FileMaker data more secure, scalable, integratable and accessible to other departments and developers within the organization who need it — and they won’t even need to learn anything about FileMaker.
LuminFire helps to enable FileMaker in an enterprise by scaling solutions to thousands of users, integrating with existing systems, and answering all the requirements of IT departments such as security and maintainability. Use your favorite tool from LuminFire to make your FileMaker solution work with the world. No longer an island, FileMaker can integrate with other external systems, the cloud, and has earned its place in the enterprise market. That’s really what BrilliantHub, Brilliant Connect, BrilliantFlows, BrilliantPortal, and BrilliantGateway are all about.
Our products make integration with ClarisFileMaker possible within an enterprise and beyond. FileMaker as a Workplace Innovation Platform plus our toolset will make all the difference.
It all starts with a conversation. Contact us for a free consultation today.
Tim Cimbura – CEO, CFO and Software Engineer
Tim is an expert in creating custom business solutions that make businesses more effective, productive, and profitable. He specializes in rapid application development with the Claris platform including FileMaker, Laravel, and WordPress. He also knows Apple macOS technology inside and out.