FileMaker 15 Platform Grows into Custom Apps for Teams

FileMaker is a unique software entity in the crowded data-driven application space. Trends come and go in data analysis software, but the monetary risk to core business functions makes strategy a critical element. With roots stretching back to the 1980s, and stable ownership under Apple’s wing, FileMaker has steadily grown into a serious platform for custom app building with deployment that hits most of the modern marks for user expectations.

Projects, teams and even entire organizations will grow or fail based on their ability to collect, track, share and analyze their information. This often puts FileMaker in a very instrumental role. Organizations with effective and affordable systems tailored to their workflows are the ones who succeed. Too rigid, mismatched or expensive information systems can strangle the bottom line.

FileMaker 15

To this market comes FileMaker 15—an incremental update to the stable FileMaker 12 lineage.

Perhaps the change with the most ramifications is to the licensing model. Shifting towards teams of five-plus using a FileMaker server, the new licensing model is per seat as opposed to per concurrent user. With iOS clients using the free FileMaker Go platform and web browsers hitting a WebDirect-created page both counting as seats, deployments can, and will, ultimately change going forward.

FileMaker is honoring the previous licensing model with version 15, so this new model is opt-in. But we can expect this to be FileMaker’s new way of licensing moving forward.

Don’t worry, though, because MainSpring’s FileMaker experts can help you navigate this change.

FileMaker 15 features

In addition to the new licensing model, FileMaker 15* also brings a number of new and improved features to the platform:

FileMaker Go for iOS

• Supports app extensions to share data with other apps
• Supports Touch ID (security), 3D Touch (convenience), and iBeacons (location-based solutions)

WebDirect

• Works well on phones & tablets, running on both iOS and Android browsers

FileMaker Pro for Windows/OSX

• Improved SSL certification
• Integration with PostgresSQL and IBM DB2 databases
• Improved script development area with proactive error checking and deeper “undo” controls
• Improved password security features
• Speed improvements with a multi-threaded user interface (UI) (i.e. portals draw and refresh within their own thread)
• Improved user toolbar and launch center

FileMaker Server

• Improved statistics logging
• Improved SSL management

If you see the need for a custom app or system for under 100 people, especially cross-platform, it’s hard to beat FileMaker 15. With so many improvements to the user's experience and minimal price increases, it's clear that FileMaker 15 is yet another solid advancement for the platform.

*For more information on the technical specifications of FileMaker 15, check out FileMaker's official list. Also, feel free to browse Macworld's FileMaker 15 review.