Known issues with Syclo's Agentry solution?

[Former Member]

Hello everybody,

I have been asked to look into Syclo's Agentry solution for MAM and have been reading a bit here and there. When I tried to look for known problems or issues, I did not find very much, which puzzled me. Is it because there really are not many problems, or has Syclo been doing a good job "covering up"?

Also, I searched this forum and found this thread:

From what I gathered, SAP has acquired its own solution through the purchase of Sybase. Does anybody of you have any thoughts or comments on what this might mean for the future of Syclo? I suppose they will lose in some way, but what effect might this actually have on the end consumers? Will Syclo "be cut out of the loop"?

I would be most thankful for any feedback that could shine a light on these issues for me!

Regards,

Björn

(I posted in this forum, since the thread I linked above was here. If this is the wrong place, please direct me to the proper sub-forum and I will re-open my thread there.)

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Björn,

I am glad you brought up the missing forum activity around Syclo related topics and I have the strong intention of contributing more to SDN myself in the future. Possible explanations why this hasn't happend so far are a) the Syclo / SAP co-innovation partnership is still relatively young although Agentry as a platform has been around for many years. b) The Syclo professional services team typically stay very close to all implementation projects, which means that if there are any issues they can resolve those directly - and in effect people are less likely to raise them on SDN.

Syclo has a strong market position, especially around field service and asset management, and I don't see that changing in the short term. Where this whole area is going in the long term is up to anyones guess and speculation - and you might have noticed that there is plenty of that going on right now. Both SUP and Agentry have different qualities and strengths which means that it comes down to what fits a customers requirements best.

I'd love to hear back from you what you found during your research and whether you came to any conclusions.

Regards,

Steffen

[former_member339403]

Hi Björn,

We implemented Syclou2019s products within 5 different projects over the last months and I would like to share my thoughts around the two questions you asked.

1. Known problems or issues:

Taking a look at the mobile platform and the applications running on top I have to admit that I would consider the UI layer of the Windows clients the weakest part of the overall solution. Due to the development concept being used by Syclo, you as a developer currently could not replace the UI layer with your own flex, .NET, Javau2026 controls. Instead Syclo is providing native UI controls which are showing a good performance on the device but the look & feel could be improved. The benefit is also that the UI could be easily configured and for sure every field could be shown. Nevertheless I think this still could be done in a more fancy way on the Windows devices. Taking a look at the Syclo Iphone/Ipad or Syclo Blackberry client I can realize that they are improving in this area.

Within our projects we have been facing minor bugs which have been fixed by Syclo Support after we opened them. Therefore currently no other problems or issues come in my mind.

In addition I agree to the statement Steffen made in regards to Syclo. They (mainly their Support and Partner organization) are staying close to the implementation project and therefore they are able to react and help the implementer.

Talking about the benefits and advantages would be easier because there is more to report.

2. Future of Syclo

In regards to the future of Syclo I also agree to Steffen. The market changed quickly over the last years and I do not expect that the Sybase acquisition was the last change in the market and Syclo will play a role as a SAP Co-Innovation partner. SAP, Sybase and Syclo announced the partnering and the intent was and still is to deliver mobile solutions. Within the next months the architecture of the solutions might change but I am sure that all three companies will be part of the game. Furthermore Syclo Agentry platform has several hundred customers and therefore I am sure that Syclo will continue investing in this area. One last point: Knowing the three companies I am aware that all of them are having talks with each other and that they are working on a joint roadmap. Maybe the next solutions will be a convergence between the ideas of the three companies.

Regards,

Flo

[Former Member]

Hi Steffen and Florian,

thank you both for your excellent answers! Please excuse my ridiculously late reply, but I have had my attention directed elsewhere of late and this whole Syclo issue has been down-prioritized by our management.

If and when we decide to take this up again, I will try to remember to update this post. As it looks now, I cannot see us doing anything with Syclo (nor with any other similar solution) for quite some time.

Anyway, thank you both for taking your time with me. I have forwarded your input upwards, so at least they know what you know (and now I).

Regards,

Björn