Intro


This blog is dedicated to open, interoperable manufacturing software and the coolest, latest and greatest things I see every day while conducting business under the banner of Inductive Automation.

Hello, my name is Steve Hechtman and I am president of Inductive Automation. During the span of one day there is more excitement, more discovery than I can possibly keep to myself. This blog is, therefore, my outlet. WARNING: This site is highly biased in favor of the most powerful, affordable manufacturing software in the world - Ignition by Inductive Automation!

The Value of Fast SCADA Installation & Development

When integrators install Ignition for their customers they deliver more bang for the buck in two ways. By an order of magnitude, they save their customers money both on software itself and on the labor to develop applications and deploy them. It's a double-sided benefit for end-users.

If you're an integrator, you might say, "but that's less work for me!" From experience I can tell you that's not true. I've discovered that in the same number of hours you will deliver way more functionality and end-users will love you for it. Then they will ask you to do even more. It's a win-win proposition. Essentially, what I have found is that they finally feel like they are getting the value they always expected.

This is a valuable concept you can use to your advantage as you offer your services.

Also consider this: Who wants to pay for an integrator to spend all week just to install and deploy HMI/SCADA/MES software? That's a huge waste of time and money and it makes the end-user feel like he's getting milked. Enough with that! Why should an installation and deployment take more than a few minutes? Spend the rest of your time building what the customer really wants and deploy it to a hundred clients with just a mouse click.

End-Users Are Beginning To Expect More From Integrators
End-users are starting to take all this for granted. I've been witness to the overwhelming reception of Ignition by end-users once they truly understand it. Hundreds of other integrators have discovered this as well. But now many end-users have come to expect what Ignition delivers as the new norm. When integrators approach these end-users with the old way they're going to get laughed right out of the place. I was recently a witness to a CEO ridiculing an integrator who proposed doing it the old way. It was embarrassing for me to watch.

Virtually all other software I'm aware of is so '90s. Relational databases are a way of life now in manufacturing yet most HMI/SCADA software treats it as an afterthought if they handle it at all. Sure, you could band-aid something together but why would you want to when you could be delivering real value in a fraction of the time? You want to feel loved? Well trust me, that's how you do it.

Offer Higher Value Before Your Competitors Do
Integrators should always be on the look out for better ways to do things more efficiently. Some integrators say, "I just do what the customer tells me." Do that at your own peril because one day the end-user will discover it on his own and some other integrator will be putting it in.

In one case recently, an integrator lost about a year's worth of work when another integrator showed the customer two bids: one for what the end-user requested, and an alternative bid using Ignition. The customer decided to use Ignition because the integrator showed that for the same amount of labor he could deliver more functionality – and more value for the money. He's feelin' the love now!

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