Brandwise announces launch of local iPad app

Home Accents Today Staff -- Home Accents Today, 11/15/2011 10:22:39 AM

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Brandwise announced the upcoming debut of an off-line iPad app that will include features from its Visual Merchandiser order capture and sales presentation tool. The app will debut in January 2012, and the company is booking pre-orders now.

Brandwise also announced it is working with Colorado tech company InspireSmart Solutions on the front end of the application as well as the conversion of Brandwise's extensive backend business logic to work on an iPad. The move is a strategic step in Brandwise's long-term goal for its technology to be hardware independent, and presents a solution for companies that have invested in iPad hardware but may be dissatisfied with existing pop-up applications that offer limited capabilities and don't integrate into their back-end, according to a company release.

"Our strength lies in our infrastructure," said Todd Litzman, president of Brandwise, who said the company's technology connects with thousands of suppliers. "By providing a fully integrated iPad solution we allow these suppliers to continue to benefit from this information pipeline regardless of the hardware platform used to take the orders. When you are investing in a technology partner, you want to be sure they're poised to go in any direction that technology takes them and not locked into a single platform solution, thus locking you into and limiting your reps to that platform."

Brandwise will continue to develop its Rep Portal application for sales reps who enter customer orders using a web browser. It will be widely available in the first quarter of 2012.

Litzman cautions businesses to be thoughtful when investing in tablet hardware or tablet-specific apps through the end of the year without first thinking through their goals, educating themselves on what's in store for the coming months, and ensuring the technology conforms to their needs and not the other way around. "With the introduction of the Windows 8 touch-centric user interface in 2012, the entire tablet and technology landscape may change yet again, much like it did with the release of the iPad. For the greatest ROI, you'll want applications, an operating system, and hardware that easily integrate with your other business systems."