Hardly a day goes past where I don’t have a conversation in which someone is comparing Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange.  The thing that I can never get over, is that the two are completely different.  Microsoft Exchange does email and does it really well.  Lotus Notes does email and again does it really well, but, Lotus Notes is also an application development platform.

So what do I mean by “RAD”?  It’s an acronym for Rapid Application Development.  Basically, what it means is, if you have a business problem which you want to address through the use of technology, you can quickly create an application and deploy it to everyone within the organisation just by sending them an email.

Take for instance, The Salvation Army in New Zealand.  When an earthquake caused significant damage and claimed many lives in Christchurch, The Salvation Army played an important role in relief work.  As a result people were being flown in from all around the country and managing who was coming and going was becoming hard to control.  Each person coming to assist needed flights and accommodation.  Overnight, an application was written to manage this process.  An application which could be used offline with synchronization to a central server.

Business changes from day to day.  It is important to be able to keep up with the demands which are driven by the market in which you operate.  To be able to use simple technology to support this, can take the headache out of having to create your business around an IT solution.  IT should not be dictating process to the businesses.  Through the use of Lotus Notes, even a novice computer operator can begin to develop databases and applications which support the requirements of the business.