Markxman is only available in an online version*. That has a lot of advantages. But to be fair, there are of course also disadvantages. However, we would not opt for online if we could not support it one hundred percent.
Cons
The disadvantages that you could think of for an online solution are that it cannot be reached if your internet connection fails and that a website is more vulnerable when it comes to malicious parties. It is difficult to come up with a counterargument on those points.
You could also find it a disadvantage that your data is not locally available. The question is, incidentally, whether you could do anything with that data if you had it locally. The application is often needed to access and structure the data.
These disadvantages must therefore be minimized as much as possible. The advantages of online must simultaneously counterbalance the disadvantages.
A standalone/offline version has the major disadvantage that you can only use it on location and often only from 1 machine. You can make a standalone application available over the Internet (as sometimes happens), but that actually entails the same risk as a website.
Another disadvantage of standalone is that updates are more difficult (you have to install from a CD/DVD yourself) and that the backups are your own responsibility.
Minimizing risks
Our solution stores data in a database. All personal data, including password, of all members is encrypted
before entering the database. A strong encryption is used for this.
The data is also encrypted differently per record. So it takes a lot of work to decrypt the data.
In addition, at Markxman Online it is mandatory to use strong passwords and all internet traffic is encrypted via an HTTPS connection. After three incorrect passwords, your access will be blocked for a short period. Trying passwords endlessly (brute force) is therefore difficult.
Many advantages of online
The advantages of online are great:
Technical
- Modern, no separate server required and no separate installations on different PCs.
- Always the latest version on every device on which you work. No risk of outdated installations.
- No system requirements, except for a current web browser. IE is supported from version 9. Chrome and Firefox update themselves. A current browser version is important for your own security, also on other websites.
- Responsive where possible, so also usable on tablet and smartphone.
- Backup of data is not a concern, we arrange that centrally. The data is and will remain on Dutch servers.
- Solving problems and bugs can be done quickly and directly. You do not have to perform any installations and actions yourself, except for the reporting itself 😉 .
- Proven: several associations have been working with it for several years. See also our customer
- experiences
Functional
- Access from any location where you have internet (provided you don’t block this, because you can do that in the settings). The member administrator therefore does not have to go to the association on Sunday to update data. The board can also see what is happening, enter shooting results and update prices from home, etc.
- You can log in to the association wherever you have internet access. So both at the location of present reporting, the weapon issue, at the track and at the bar, etc. This is unlimited and you can
- log in on multiple PCs with the same account or with a different account. This means that remote access to an internal server is not required, as is the case with a standalone solution.
- This leads to the advantage that you can further automate at multiple locations with, for example, barcode scanners.
- The interchangeability between associations that use our system is great. You can report your present to another association without them having to enter your details (= profit) and you can report guests present without administration. This takes into account privacy legislation: another association only sees your name and KNSA number, not your photo and certainly no other private data (!)
- You can have head-to-head competitions with other associations that use the system (depending on the version you choose). This can be a solution for smaller associations that have too few participants for a discipline.
Financial
- Save time and money. Our product is available quickly, always scalable and has no hardware installation costs. That saves time and money. No local server required, so you also save energy.
- Terminable per month. No contracts per year or high purchase costs.
- Continuous innovations without additional costs and without new installations.
- Reduced risk and no need for your own IT specialists or hiring.
* The very first version of Markxman was a standalone package. Given the problems with outdated
versions and the difficulty of sharing data, we stopped developing it and switched to an online version.