Looking Down The Road With Tigerpaw

During last week's Tigerpaw Partner Summit in Dallas, President James Foxall discussed and reviewed recent tweaks to its Tigerpaw 11 product, as well as outlining what 2012 will bring for Tigerpaw partners. Last year, Tigerpaw released version 11 of its business automation software, which was a complete overhaul of the product. Driving that revamp was the vendor's customer advisory group, which participated in online planning talks and product demos throughout the V11 development stages. Foxall reiterated that ongoing participation by Tigerpaw users is paramount to development of next-step features. "What we did before was fine, but it's not good enough now. We are dedicated to looking forward and building our business – and yours – into a scalable engine for growth," says Foxall. He teased the new roadmap by pointing out that the job of a software developer is to self-obsolete, and Tigerpaw is dedicated to doing just that. "Our attitude is that we must constantly look at what isn't working and why, then move forward," he added. Announcements from Foxall included a plan for a cloud offering in early 2012; updated mobile apps, which should hit in the first half of 2012; and a Web API, which empowers partners to securely interface and integrate with other vendor partners.

Foxall also unveiled the vendor's development priorities: to achieve a hot-fix model that can roll out fixes in a matter of days; new features that are more service driven than feature driven; and a twice yearly release schedule that will bring major releases in February and August. Foxall explained that with a late summer release, Tigerpaw expects partners to come to the partner summit with feedback after using the new release for a month or two. He says partners will also see release notes, quick reference guides, and timely training videos – all ready before each release date.

Last, Foxall highlighted new features in the most recent Tigerpaw release, including simplified time entry that automates what can be a repetitive and time-consuming task; payment processing built directly into Tigerpaw, which allows partners to not just bill but accept payments through the software; leasing integrations; a new encrypted password keeper; and service order templates geared toward standardization and better use of tech resources. Other changes to V11 coming in 2012 include a new home page, dispatch board, and knowledge base, as well as parent/child merging of service orders, field-level granularity on workflows, and on-boarding changes. Those features are due to roll out to partners before year's end.

Overall, Foxall shared an enthusiastic outlook for the next 12 months and challenged partners to engage with Tigerpaw and help each other shape a more efficient, effective product.