Partner Article

Progress & Sparta Digital Hold Development Workshop

Progress & Sparta Digital to Hold Rapid App Development Workshop and £7,000 Hackathon for Local Businesses at Manchester MadLab

Manchester, 4th February, 2015 – Sparta Digital and Progress, a global software group that simplifies the development, deployment and management of business applications, will be holding a free ‘Kickstarter’ event on 6th February at MadLab in Manchester for local businesses and developers.

The event will help developers and businesses in the local community join the ‘citizen developer’ movement and learn how they can develop applications quickly and effectively that can help generate revenue and reap real business benefits. The event will include:

• An app development contest with £7,000 worth of prizes for the winner
• A series of educational webinars on rapid application development
• A presentation from Adrian Slatcher, Digital Development Officer for Manchester City on the importance of apps and technology to the region’s economy.

Many companies know that apps can help them unlock the potential of their business but either don’t have the resources to develop them or don’t know how to get started. The advent of rapid application development tools like Progress’ rapid application development platform, Rollbase® has changed this, creating an ‘80 per cent click to 20 per cent code’ ratio that simplifies and streamlines the development of business applications, using point-and-click, drag-and-drop tools to reduce the amount of coding necessary. This has lowered the barrier to entry to app development considerably.

“SMEs are the lifeblood of any economy and it is important they have access to all the tools they need to ensure that they are run in as a productive way as possible. Through Rollbase, Progress is empowering businesses, enabling them to develop and deploy applications with the minimum amount of fuss. We’re looking forward to working with Sparta to deliver this hackathon which will give the business community of Greater Manchester the chance to see what rapid application development can do for them, “ commented Mark Armstrong, VP and Managing Director of Progress EMEA.

The Hackathon on February 6 will encourage tech savvy local companies, IT professionals and developers to create and deploy their own applications using Rollbase®. Educational workshops will be held to help teach the basics of rapid application development before putting teams against each other as part of a competition to win £7,000 worth of prizes including a $2,500 25-user Rollbase® license and £2,500 worth of consultancy support to help the winner jump start the application of its app.“

“Enterprise applications aren’t just a luxury for the biggest businesses – they can offer very real economic benefits to companies of all sizes. This hackathon will be a great opportunity for businesses to look at how they can use technology to improve their operations and serve their customers,” said Zulf Choudhary, CEO of Sparta Digital.

If you’re interested in signing up for the event please go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/rapid-development-kickstarter-tickets-13199769867

About Progress

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global software company that simplifies the development, deployment and management of business applications on-premise or in the cloud, on any platform or device, to any data source, with enhanced performance, minimal IT complexity and low total cost of ownership.

Progress is a trademark or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Progress Software can be reached at https://www.progress.co.uk or +31 10 286 5700.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire lynch .