One thing that I do not hear discussed is the reasons why you even need a website. In my consulting work, I will frequently ask if the client is sure that they need a website.
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Coghead - Realtime Application Development Online
written by Dave Merwin
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
I am EXTREMELY excited about Coghead. Read the blog here: CogBlog.
For the past few years I have been involved, in small or large part, with Enterprise applications. Either recommendations, design, or the whole deal, they have always been a bit of a bear. Well, more than a bit. They have been HUGE ugly angry bears looking to eviscerate any employee that wastes time considering them.
Honestly, a lot of small business owners simply can not afford enterprise class software. It can be VERY expensive. And the time it takes to develop a custom solution is often prohibitive. Never mind training.
So imagine being able to build an app that is web based. You can build a tool in real time with the project sponsor watching and make changes and deploy. Right away.
This could be ridiculously cool and a HUGE boon for the church market. There is not one church I know that isn’t dealing with multiple member databases at the same time. What if you could build one app, the way you want it, that all your members can access? What if you could do it in days?
I am more excited about this than I have been about any web development in a long time.
Of course, I haven’t gotten my invitation yet (hint, hint, nudge, nudge Coghead 
PLEASE! ) so it might all be bunk. But if it will do what it says it will do, this could revolutionize the small business applications market. I hope ACT! And Quicken are paying attention!
UPDATE: I forgot: I found Coghead from Guy Kawaski’s site. He does a great job explaining the concept as well.
Have you heard of Interneer Intellect? It is very similar to Cog Head (it is also a web-based platform for building custom business applications). However, it has been under development for 6 years (Interneer is currently on the verge of releasing the 6th version of Intellect), so it can be used to build some very sophisticated applications.
Interneer Intellect is a web-based, user-friendly system that allows the average person, with or without knowledge of computer programming, to easily build fully-functional and extremely useful business applications. Intellect automates the processes needed to deliver results with easy to understand visual guides and wizards. Since Intellect is fully configurable without coding, companies gain the flexibility to adapt to change, eliminating the need for costly software modifications in the future.
Intellect’s Instant Application Framework makes it simple to quickly create dynamic forms, interactive tables, workflow diagrams and collaboration tools such as due date notifications and sign-off requests. As a result, the typical business user is empowered to configure the system whenever necessary, even if he or she has no knowledge of computer programming. If you can get by in Excel, you can build sophisticated applications with Intellect. Intellect allows for levels of flexibility and user-control not possible with hard-coded applications, at a fraction of the cost.
Matthew Steffen November 30th, 2006 at 3:44 pm