This paper highlights the environmental impact of printing and discusses how a managed print service can support an organization's sustainability goals, while also lowering costs and driving business efficiency.
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In late 2011, SNK Canada was engaged to help a sports management client select operations, accounting, and IT management software to replace a legacy system. The client was suffering productivity losses, and the cost of the legacy software was a growing concern. Learn how Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) helped SNK Manage the complexities of the project, so SNK could quickly identify the right system for the client.
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The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets, the growth of cloud computing, and the increased need for convenience printing means that organizations must provide employees with a secure and simple managed approach to mobile printing. Read this report and learn about the market drivers for mobile printing in the business environment and some of the best practices for building a mobile print strategy.
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Semiconductor manufacturers can work more closely with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and expand into new markets by using Web 2.0 technologies. Infosys' experts reveal "white spaces" in semiconductor marketing strategies that can be addressed by digital and mobile capabilities. They demonstrate how best practices in information and customer experience embedded in Infosys' Semiconductor Digital Engagement Maturity Model can deliver a competitive advantage.
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This white paper will give you ideas and procedures for monitoring your savings when you invest in outsourcing projects.
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Outsourcing of developmental activities is not new. However, the outsourcing of research activities remains relatively unexplored. Recent trends indicate greater research and development (R&D) outsourcing, with customers open to handing over complete product lifecycle responsibilities to vendors. The chief reason for this change is that companies are realizing that the benefits of R&D outsourcing extend beyond cost arbitration. Rather, it facilitates the creation of global collaborative development skills of both the provider’s and buyer’s employees through exposure to new research tools, methodologies and best practices. Learn more now.
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Enterprise configuration management (ECM) is a process to capture data and dependencies about an information technology (IT) infrastructure and to create an audit trail of changes against that infrastructure. The ECM process manages the revision and status of all the digital assets in an IT infrastructure. This white paper by Chris Kincaid from Configuration Management, Inc. discusses the benefits of ECM for risk mitigation.
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For more than a decade, offshoring and outsourcing enjoyed an unchallenged monopoly in terms of adding value to global organizations. Since the economic downturn of 2008, however, there has been a shift in the perspective of IT expenditure. An increased demand for direct linking of IT to business outcomes and variablization of IT cost has made IT services in the cloud an attractive business idea. Find out why.
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In this white paper, the author discusses the real-life challenges faced by field technicians and how those technicians can be empowered with mobility solutions to improve field productivity, increase the accuracy of diagnostics, reduce warranty and invoicing cycle times, increase service revenues, and most importantly, improve the customer experience.
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As a company in the financial sector, you place extremely high demands on your call center. The complicated and sensitive nature of the calls requires an agent who is highly trained and experienced. This leads to a high cost per call. At the same time, sacrificing caller satisfaction is not an option. This creates a tough challenge: How do you decrease the cost per call, while improving the customer experience? Download this white paper to find out.
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Printers can place a huge administrative burden on small to medium businesses (SMBs), which diverts them from their core activities. The solution is to use a managed print service (MPS), combining hardware, service, and supplies into a service based on cost-per-page. This paper discusses the printing challenges faced by SMBs and how a simple and flexible MPS can help save time and money while improving staff productivity.
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The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the first hotel in the US to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification at the platinum level from the U.S. Green Building Council. Combining luxury with energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, the hotel places the highest priority on guest comfort. The owner's goal is a sustainable, energy-efficient hotel that never compromises guest comfort. Learn more now.
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This IDC Buyer Case Study examines BT's successful project to reduce costs and raise efficiency and quality in its release-service introduction, testing, and deployment activities, using offshore-based partner Wipro. It looks at the challenges, risks, and outcomes of the project, and draws some lessons for organizations considering similar challenges.
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Credit Suisse, a global banking and financial services company, embarked on a global HR transformation program in early 2008 to create a number of shared service centers primarily focused on back-office HR operations. After evaluating a number of vendors for delivery capabilities, cost effectiveness, and a host of other factors, Wipro was awarded the contract. This case study by Everest Group provides a 360-degree view of this engagement.
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Security Information and Event Manager (SIEM) users face the pressure of high costs related to the selection of a SIEM product, its deployment, integration and day-to-day use. Such cost pressure stems from substantial initial cost of the product, additional expenses for specific hardware and third-party product licenses, etc. In the end, what was initially considered as an affordable price for the chosen SIEM solution may turn out to be a large hole in the budget with an enormous total cost of ownership. Download this white paper to learn different approaches for resolving them successfully.
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India-based design service firms enjoy a substantial share of the global design services business. However, they continue to rely on large client firms to achieve scale. This paper examines semiconductor design outsourcing in diverse client environments, from reputable firms in western countries to established firms in Asia, to startups—and then suggests a unique model for Indian firms to scale up the value chain.
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This report discusses the policy and business drivers of "clean tech," and the development of the clean tech sector in terms of business models, globalization, technological diffusion, and growth. The emphasis on clean tech has increased in recent years due to international concerns about the economic impact of climate change caused by GHG (largely CO2) emissions from energy production and consumption. This report examines government policies in different economies, and focuses on clean tech opportunities for software services such as measurement and monitoring, platform efficiency software, mitigation software, system integration, and managed services consulting.
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This case study showcases the University of Canberra’s (UC) successful outsourcing story amidst an increasingly competitive education industry in Australia. A broad coverage and decentralized approach to administrative support, coupled with lowering student demand and increasing budget deficit contributed to UC’s diminishing performance and margins. In order to rebuild its competitiveness, increase profitability and refocus on their core functions, UC decided to outsource its key functions to Wipro while still retaining some in-house, high-level technical or managerial role. Find out more now.
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Illumiti helps its clients achieve optimized operations in key areas at the core of their business, by implementing custom-fit SAP® systems and other solutions faster, at a lower cost, and at a lower risk than other alternatives. Illumiti leverages proven and highly-effective methodologies to maximize business results. This data sheet shows how Illumiti’s products and services can support your critical functionality needs.
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Near-field communications (NFC) is the hovering trend in the “mobile tech” world, not only adding convenience to the daily lives of consumers, but opening doors for enterprises to increase revenue, collect useful consumer data, and use that data in targeted marketing efforts. This whitepaper examines the background of NFC and explores the integration of NFC and its various uses. NFC security concerns are also discussed.
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Universities and other higher education establishments have to address the need for savings across the board. One area is expenses from faculty members and other associated with faculty. The complex mix of expense types needs a flexible yet solid means of managing spend as close as possible to the point of expense that encourages the individual to participate in the process without it being seen as an imposition. Know how.
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The advent of powerful yet inexpensive computers and global connectivity has produced data everywhere. Relevant data needs to be identified and brought into court. E-discovery essentially requires a professional approach to managing a project, with application of general principles to the legal world. Read this paper for a review of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) technology used for litigation and e-discovery.
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Integrated water resources management (IWRM) is a framework that supports collaboration and fosters proactive decision making for efficient management of scarce water resources. GoldSim is a software tool for conducting simulations of complex systems to support management and decision making in engineering, science, and business. This paper provides a brief overview of GoldSim, with special emphasis on IWRM applications.
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When switching to a new payroll solution, companies need to choose between commercial software and outsourced software. Commercial software typically offers more flexibility for midsized companies. Not only is it more cost-effective, it allows you to protect wage and salary information and maintain control over payroll processing. Discover the right questions to ask when choosing a commercial payroll software solution.
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Service-oriented organizations often find it difficult to balance infrastructure costs with software systems that enable frequent modifications. TEC examines UNIT4’s Vita Cloud Angel approach to this challenge—and lets you know whether it’s a viable option for you. Get the TEC analyst perspective in this special report on Vita Cloud Angel.
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If your firm is anticipating a steady stream of localization (“l10n”) projects in the near future, you’ve inevitably confronted the question of how to streamline and reduce the cost of such efforts. For technology firms with significant software components, the answer is often internationalization. Learn how to decide whether to farm out internationalization tasks to expert service providers or to keep the job in-house.
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In the ever-changing economy, organizations looking to cut costs and drive innovation are turning to co-sourcing as a cost-effective and less risky alternative to outsourcing or offshoring. This white paper explores the primary business benefits of the co-sourcing model and provides key information for evaluation.
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Midsize businesses are learning the hard way that most enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications are not truly on-demand, but instead require consulting and specialized customer support services. Learn about the critical consulting and support services required to select, deploy, and fully utilize SaaS solutions to achieve your business objectives and safeguard your mission-critical applications and data.
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Product engineering outsourcing (PEO) has evolved over the years. The process, from initiation to the closing phase, vary depending on the product and on the provider. Still, practically every phase in product engineering is outsourceable—from ideas, design, and analysis, to simulation, conversion, and documentation; to prototyping, testing, production, and knowledge-based engineering. Find out more.
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Hybrid human resources (HR) is all about combining every available delivery option—HR outsourcing being one of them—to provide HR services in as cost-effective and as standardized a way as possible. Companies can choose between an on-premise, on-demand, or a business process outsourcing (BPO) solution—or they can choose and combine the best of all worlds in order to match their business needs. Find out how.
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Outsourcing is a marriage of two companies. Like marriage, both parties have differences that will affect the growth of the relationship—in this case, the development of the project. A good foundation will spell the difference between the success and failure of the partnership. Learn how differences in the viewpoint of outsourcing clients and the vendors can lead to project failures, and what your company can do about it.
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Managed print services (MPSs) offer organizations the opportunity to control costs, reduce the complexity of managing a heterogeneous infrastructure, and improve business processes. With many organizations striving to do more with less, MPS can cut expenses by passing control of complex printing infrastructure to the experts, and leaving the organization to focus on its core business competencies. Find out more.
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This paper focuses on identifying the similarities and differences between Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA) and Hyperion Planning (HP). For users who are migrating, or thinking of migrating, to Hyperion Planning, strategies will be discussed to ensure their existing functionality can be replicated in HP. The paper is aimed at users who are familiar with OFA or similar multidimensional database applications.
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For managed services providers (MSPs) aiming to serve small and medium-sized businesses, the ability to capture and retain lasting customer relationships is a determining factor for long-term profitability. Only by clearly and consistently communicating your value to your customer can you hope to attain the role of trusted advisor—a position that will help protect you from losing business to lower-priced competitors. Learn how an integrated, offline reporting solution can help ensure that your customers perceive your value in the ways that matter most to all managers within the customer organization.
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A business' success delivering managed services depends on its ability to improve the delivery of effective and efficient services to its customer base. Learn about ways that managed services providers (MSPs) can develop a higher-value business by improving their ability to attract and retain high-quality customers and provide IT services in an effective manner.
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Service companies that want to thrive need to find a better way to deliver services and run their business. Automating IT services is the answer, and it should be the immediate goal of any company that aims to stay in business as market pressures increase. Looking beyond basic automation, becoming a managed services provider (MSP) should be the long-term goal. Discover ways to ensure your service company's survival in today’s competitive IT services market.
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Margins on profitable products and services erode as they become commoditized. And now, the same process is starting to happen to the IT services market. To avoid the commoditization trap and distinguish their services from their competitors, managed services providers (MSPs) need to develop a two-pronged strategy that involves delivering higher-value services that yield greater profit margins, and driving down service delivery costs so they can effectively deliver responsive, tools-based services to compete efficiently in a commoditized market. Find out how.
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Most IT service providers have always and continue to operate in a break/fix service environment. When a customer calls with an issue, the service provider drops everything to fix it. Under these circumstances, service providers have a difficult time forecasting monthly revenues and staffing needs, which has a huge impact on profitability. Add to this the intense competition, excessive customer turnover, low technician utilization rates, and shrinking margins that characterize today‟s market, and the result is IT service providers anxious to find a new way of delivering their services. Learn about innovative IT-as-a-Service initiatives that are defining the new IT value chain of the future.
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For companies considering offering a product with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business and delivery model, there are many ways things can go wrong—from inadequate market research, to poorly planned release cycles, to a failure to keep up with industry developments. Discover 10 common ways that SaaS companies fail, and learn how to avoid these pitfalls.
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As software-as-a-service (SaaS) spreads rapidly as a business model among independent software vendors (ISVs), the importance of SaaS configurability has come to the fore. With increasingly competitive deployments, the ability of individual tenants to configure their own options, business processes, and data structures will become the key differentiator among otherwise similar offerings—and will often prove critical to
the success or failure of a SaaS deployment. Discover the variety of configurable options, typical technical challenges, and common approaches for optimizing SaaS configurability.
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The rapid deployment of nationwide technology rollouts requires well-defined processes, robust management skills, and a unique understanding of how to get the job done. Without a proven technology rollout system, businesses run a high risk of project complications that can result in increased costs, missed deadlines, and an overwhelming burden on internal resources. Learn what a technology rollout system is, how it can lower costs and save time without compromising quality, and what questions to ask a technology rollout company.
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For IT departments drowning in complex and expensive software maintenance chores, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model can ease the burden. SaaS reduces complexity by outsourcing most of the infrastructure needed to run software applications, and reduces costs by charging only for what is consumed. But you can also adopt a hybrid SaaS model, in which some systems are outsourced and others are kept in-house. Learn more.
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As you begin a customer relationship management (CRM) initiative, software selection is only one facet of a successful project. You may consider implementing your new CRM system with internal resources. But even in providing a simple CRM solution in your company, a number of steps need to take place, including requirements gathering, configuration, and more. Discover the benefits of selecting a CRM implementation partner.
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WebTrends, a leader in Web analytics, needed a way to offer customers reporting and analytical access to the information generated by its Visitor Intelligence product, which combines off- and online data to provide insight into customers. WebTrends sought a scalable best-of-breed business intelligence (BI) solution that would integrate with its own product. Find out about the reporting and analytics solution it chose.
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High Concrete encountered several challenges in trying to understand its customer relationship management (CRM) data. Its CRM reporting involved lengthy and error-prone processes. After seeing a demonstration of a business intelligence (BI) application specifically designed for its Dynamics CRM system, the company knew integrating the two systems would be easy—and provide flexible reports, quickly and accurately.
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Digital marketing involves using your Web site and associated marketing tools to promote your business online. You can learn some basic skills in both search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing. But for optimal results, you’re advised to consult a professional, who can provide you with insight into what SEO services should entail, allowing you to make an informed decision when selecting a supplier.
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Design globalization—and the access it provides to new markets, talents, and resources around the world—offers many opportunities to manufacturers today. Tapping into this growing network of suppliers and partners does bring risks and challenges. You can achieve best-in-class performance in a global design environment and achieve greater profitability. Find out the product design strategies of best-in-class manufacturers.
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Sales at F.J. Westcott began to grow, placing a greater demand on its legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system’s inventory capabilities. Unrelieved inventory and other challenges led Westcott to seek a new ERP system—and a software evaluation and comparison methodology within the company’s budget. See how Technology Evaluation Centers’ Software Selection Services provided the resources for a confident decision.
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Today’s mobile software companies face a daunting challenge: How can they achieve quality while getting to market swiftly? After all, speed is king in the mobile market. The trade-off between speed and quality in mobile software development is an illusion—or should be. Get a closer look at the situation with a framework that presents a way to use quality assurance (QA) processes to accelerate development.
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The crucial interoperability of wireless network devices built around the 802.11 standard is threatened by the advent of faster technologies. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is trying to cope by developing the 802.11n standard—but it’s still in draft form. Meanwhile, how can manufacturers cope with the confusion surrounding the future of 802.11? Get an outline of the situation.
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Efforts to improve the efficiency and maturity of a quality assurance (QA) or test organization have largely been academic exercises, and difficult to apply to real-world software development environments. Today, with newer methods such as the Testing Maturity Model (TMM), it’s easier to assess, implement, and improve test processes. Learn about fresh techniques for assessing the effectiveness of QA organizations.
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Stand-alone learning management systems (LMS) often lack scalability, reliability, and secure access—and the interfaces to offer these features. But new development strategies, standards, and tools can move LMS into the “next generation.” If you’re an independent software vendor (ISV), an engineer of educational software products, or the chief learning officer of a corporate university, this info will interest you.
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Today’s technology and application leaders are pressured to deliver functionality that drives efficiency, innovation, and growth—while reducing costs. As a result, technology and application portfolio management (APM) are top business priorities. Learn about a framework for implementing an APM program that can enable your company to monitor and analyze the impact of application changes and reduce portfolio complexity.
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Consultant Paul Mitnick chose the Training Partner learning management system (LMS) to help a real estate firm consolidate its learning management program. In addition to a breakdown of the steps involved in his LMS software selection process, you’ll also discover how the LMS implementation went—including the testing and timing involved in ensuring that all data was in the new LMS before it was accessed by users.
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Hosted services can offer a sound solution for small and medium businesses requiring safe and reasonably priced platforms. Applying the same concept at a higher level could result in hosting and services providers leasing or renting virtual real estate for the services they provide in order to lower their initial investments or subsequent upgrade costs. Learn more about “hosted hosting,” the new breed of hosting services.
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Oracle’s Accelerate is a program in which Certified and Certified Advantage partners build industry-specific solutions combining Oracle enterprise applications and rapid-implementation tools with the partners’ own expertise or software. The program aims to reduce the time, complexity, and cost of deploying Oracle solutions, to make them suitable for mid-market companies and governmental organizations. Learn more.
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While simple on the surface, the decision to outsource is a major strategic undertaking. Besides weighing cost reduction against the consequences of reduced control, companies must also consider various economic effects, political consequences, and even cultural limitations. Discover the economic and political implications of outsourcing and offshoring, and learn techniques for managing successful deals.
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IT departments rarely have the luxury of spare capacity or sufficient knowledge of all the products and technologies that the rest of the organization expects. However, IT is an integral part of most companies, and supporting diverse or specialized technologies and understanding their impact on the business is necessary. Organizations not only need third parties—they need them to be focused and cost-effective. Learn more.
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As marketing budgets shrink and companies in the corporate services industry aim to leverage their Web sites as less expensive alternatives to traditional marketing tools, Web-site strategy is becoming more important. Web-site strategy must focus on enhancing credibility, strengthening existing relationships, generating leads, and more. Get tips on how to create a Web-site strategy that will help you achieve these goals.
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Since 1996, NumeriX had been using in-house-developed licensing tools to manage and protect its applications. In 2006, it outsourced licensing to a third-party vendor that could provide a scalable solution with two licensing options. After some problems with integration, NumeriX consolidated on one commercial licensing management solution. Find out about the benefits of the licensing solution the company chose.
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The term program management office (PMO) has been around for some time. Its core concepts, methods, and benefits have remained constant, while resources and tools have changed somewhat over the years. But not understanding what a program office is and when it should be leveraged is a common pitfall and reason for failure. Find out more about the program office, and its roles, processes, and responsibilities.
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Currently, India’s population is approximately 1.0009 billion. The middle class is large and still growing; wages were low, but now are some of the best in various industries; many workers are well educated and speak English; and investors are optimistic and local stocks are up. Despite political turmoil, the country presses on with economic reforms. But for potential investors, there’s still cause for worry—find out why.
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Outsourcing can provide management with a powerful tool to control cost and enhance product and service delivery. Yet so many outsourcing initiatives fall short of expectations—why? For one thing, you need to know what you’re getting into, by going through an intense request for proposal (RFP) process and many rounds of contract negotiations. Find out how to better manage negotiating your outsourcing contract, and more.
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During a recession, successful businesses change their approach to managing information technology (IT) sourcing. The challenge is to become more efficient and invest in IT so the return on investment (ROI) is realized quickly and business competitiveness is improved at lower cost. IT vendor management allows you to build a mutually beneficial relationship with your suppliers and service providers. Find out how.
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Since 1996, Air International US (AIUS) has used an outsourced manufacturing strategy instead of maintaining its own facilities. For the first few years, communication between AIUS and its outsourced partners was manual, which formed a barrier preventing the company from maximizing its contract manufacturing strategy. To improve outsourcing processes, AIUS chose a change management solution with bill of materials (BOM) management and a software-as-a-service architecture. Learn more.
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Discover a framework for crafting a software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy in your company. Examine key concerns such as data integrity, maintaining compliance, and ensuring proper process management, as well as approaches to help maximize your return on investment (ROI). A SaaS solution for your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting system might be your ticket to improved business and application performance.
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Pronto Software—Australian vendor of software meeting the needs of a range of vertical industries such as retail and food and beverage—wants to ensure it sustains profitable growth. To find partnerships with value-added resellers (VARs) in North America and in other markets, Pronto relies on Technology Evaluation Centers’ (TEC’s) software industry programs. Learn about the other ways Pronto benefits from using TEC.
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There’s nothing like a recession to reveal the efficacy of shared services as a delivery model for human resources (HR) administration. Companies experienced with HR shared services find the model efficiently handles day-to-day administrative transactions, including such delicate issues as the paperwork aspects of layoffs, thus freeing staff to focus on morale and other issues caused by the economic downturn. Learn more.
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IT has long been seen as one of the best ways to address the challenges of the business environment. Yet the complexity and rigidity of IT infrastructure keep IT from fully serving the business. IT could better help serve your customers and reduce business costs if it were provided as a service. Find out more about IT service management standards and best practices, with a focus on SAP’s approach to IT optimization.
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Many business activities require access to real production data, but there are just as many that don’t. Data masking secures enterprise data by eliminating sensitive information, while maintaining data realism and integrity. Many Fortune 500 companies have already integrated data masking technology into their payment card industry (PCI) data security standard (DSS) and other compliance programs—and so can you.
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Rising data volume is not the only reason companies are concerned with issues of data integration and data quality. The growing numbers of disparate systems that produce and distribute data add to the complexity. But in many companies, data quality management has not kept pace with the growth of data integration projects, and its use is immature. Find out how moving toward a single data services architecture can help.
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IT has long been one of the best ways to address business challenges. Yet significant obstacles at the level of IT infrastructure stand in the way. Siloed IT operations and rigid IT management processes can impede business agility. When IT partners with the business to act less as a technology provider and more as a service provider, business objectives can be achieved more efficiently and cost-effectively. Find out how.
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Many small to medium businesses (SMBs) do not have experience with software as a service (SaaS), but are looking to adopt SaaS solutions soon. According to studies, 2009 will be the tipping point, with a majority of companies aiming to adopt SaaS this year. But these companies must be cautious, as the old rules for on-premise software analysis and purchase don’t apply. Discover the new rigorous criteria you should use.
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New Avenue Solutions is a consultant for small to medium businesses (SMBs) in network setup and installation, security, data backup, and more. As part of New Avenue’s service offering, it rents rack space in a data warehouse to manage customers’ network and backup solutions. As storage demands grew, transfer rates slowed, and maintenance became increasingly time consuming. Learn how New Avenue overcame the problems.
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Once you decide it’s time to upgrade the enterprise resource planning (ERP) for accounting system, the next question is: “How much does it cost?” However, many variables factor into the total project price—and software is only a fraction of that. Discover 16 insider tips that can help you save money, as well as 30 specific questions to ask your software vendor, so you can avoid hidden costs and understand the total quote.
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Unplanned e-mail outages or even routine maintenance can cause huge disruption, not only to your business, but also to your customers and partners. What issues do organizations face regarding e-mail outages? Learn about the different e-mail continuity solutions available and how a hosted e-mail continuity service can provide a cost-effective, high-availability e-mail solution with minimal deployment efforts required.
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Today’s economic environment requires you to evaluate whether your current financial institution is in it for the long haul and can offer the full breadth of services that you may need. Many of these vital services can be delivered from one source—your bank. Your primary concern in selecting a financial services institution should be the security of your assets and data. Find out what to look for, and what to avoid.
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IT spending is often an issue for companies, but in difficult economic times it’s even more important to see what benefit IT can bring to the business. But IT investments are most effective when they improve business performance. Find out the degree to which organizations in the United Kingdom (UK) understand what IT is doing for their businesses, and in particular how some companies measure this and benefit from it.
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Integrative software as a service (SaaS) business systems are a way of transforming your finance operations. SaaS can position finance as the nexus of standardized, real-time information. Finance executives should investigate SaaS solutions and providers, so that finance and IT can work together to enable a cost-effective transformation of finance to a stronger leadership role and improve finance’s value to your company.
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With an uncertain future, if you want to continue growing you must step away from “business as usual” and focus on keeping operations lean and efficient. Top-level executives have directed managers to restructure and cut costs. For chief information officers (CIOs), restructuring often means consolidating IT resources to eliminate redundancy. But today, managers must look past the numbers and evaluate long-term benefits.
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Unmanaged employee use of e-mail and the Web can subject your organization to costly risks including litigation, regulatory investigations, and public embarrassment. Responsible organizations should deploy clearly written acceptable usage policies (AUPs) for e-mail and Web usage, supported by employee training and enforced by technology solutions. Find out how to develop and enforce e-mail and Web AUPs in your workplace.
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The Internet creates new opportunities for mischief—and new challenges for managers. How do you balance individual access with the overall good of the business? What’s the right balance between monitoring and blocking? Learn about a Web security solution that can allow you to monitor and enforce your Internet usage policies, bringing site monitoring and filtering together with anti-virus and anti-spyware protection.
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Utilization is important for all services organizations. Maintaining high utilization of your employees drives higher billing, higher revenue—and higher profits. Yet tracking and measuring utilization poses challenges. Learn how to create a policy for calculating utilization that is consistent with common industry practices—and how to use your professional services automation (PSA) tool to measure and report utilization.
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Most companies are facing a number of pressures, thanks to a stormy economic climate. To help control costs and resources, many small to medium businesses (SMBs) are looking at implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. But you also need to control the costs and the time frame of your ERP implementation. Discover how partnering with a value-added reseller (VAR) can help you with your ERP selection process.
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When marketing managers look to expand their teams, they measure individuals on a number of different attributes, including creativity and attention to detail. And it’s no different when signing on with a marketing services provider. When outsourcing a database marketing solution, you should spend time evaluating the services offerings as well as the capabilities of various marketing services providers. Find out how.
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Outsourcing and global competition are forcing companies to transform their supply chains from linear processes into adaptive networks. Communities of customer-centric, demand-driven companies must share knowledge in order to adapt to changing markets, and respond to shorter life cycles. Discover how supply chain management (SCM) solutions can help your company create a truly adaptive and collaborative supply network.
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Office supplies manufacturer Esselte Corporation was the first company to implement Microsoft® Dynamics AX across four continents. About a third of the way through the implementation, the company had already begun seeing a high return on investment (ROI). Find out how Esselte and its global implementation partner, Tectura, managed this large-scale and complex, global enterprise resource planning (ERP) project.
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With the increase in global IT outsourcing agreements, many companies are looking at outsourcing quality assurance (QA) and testing to ensure high-quality deliverables and gain competitive advantages. These companies need to select an outsourcing partner that has local and offshore test centers—and a strong on-site consultancy presence. Find out about these and other issues that will help you in the short and long term.
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Unimed Porto Alegre, with 41 percent of the health care market share in Sao Paolo (Brazil) managed to make significant improvements to its operations by implementing a new solution to deal with hundreds of thousands of monthly online transactions. For one thing, the payment process has been reduced from 3 days to 10 hours or less. Learn about the other benefits this online customer service solution provides.
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Brazilian health care cooperative Assefaz wanted to change its health care plan administration system, as it didn’t offer enough options to create business rules and specific procedures. The new system it chose offers new modules, including Medical Audits. Find out how the co-op divided up the implementation, and how the new solution has streamlined numerous processes related to its administrative health care services.
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Want to know more about distributed agile best practices for software development projects? Find out about the challenges and lessons learned from this implementation of distributed agile for teams distributed across US, Europe, and India. Discover how this large, globally distributed project for a large telecom vendor realized such benefits as better collaboration, higher quality product, and on-time delivery.
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Today, business is driven to change per customers’ needs, and IT organizations must be strategic partners with the lines of business. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices are gaining popularity as one way to manage change. However, implementing ITIL best practices in an IT organization is not without challenges. Learn about the approaches that can be used for successful ITIL implementation.
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The Delphi technique—drawing wise counsel from senior and experienced software developers—can help you prepare estimates for software development projects. With this method of software estimation, project specifications are given to a few experts, depending on their availability. Learn about the essential steps involved in this software estimation methodology for more accurate estimates of software development effort.
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Project management tools for software development should include a broad range of functionality. Project teams must be able to estimate the scope and duration of each project, divide work into components and tasks; provide quality assurance; and generate detailed performance metrics. Find out how many project management solutions are missing the mark, and learn what to look for when choosing a solution of your own.
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In today’s marketplace, creating sustainable growth requires constant innovation. Innovations—in both product features and service delivery—are increasingly important as a means of differentiating yourself from the competition. Either you invest in innovations or risk losing market share to a competitor. In this webcast, you’ll find out what’s happening globally that makes investing in innovative technology important.
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Most businesses are impacted by the slow economy, but recessions and economic slowdowns don’t last forever. Smart companies will be able to manage the challenges and emerge stronger and more vital for the experience. Discover how business process automation, a renewed focus on customer service, new tax opportunities, and other best practices can help your company shine in these tough economic times.
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You can leverage economies of scale to increase production by using existing equipment and people, lowering cost per unit, and increasing profit margins. The same applies to providers of services. Using the talented personnel you have and expanding the quality and distribution of services and support are much easier than starting from scratch. Find out how you can take advantage of economies of scale for profitable growth and gains in market share.
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With more manufacturing being outsourced, and suppliers located farther afield than ever, logistics is much more complex than it used to be. To simplify the complexity, companies are looking for a way to manage their global business communities that integrates transactions across trading partners and logistics providers. Many have found that a third-party managed services providers is the best solution. Find out why.
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An unprecedented wave of security breaches has led to the establishment of technical standards, IT governance frameworks and laws designed to improve and enforce IT security. Companies are under increasing pressure to control their IT infrastructures more effectively. Learn how ongoing automated vulnerability assessments, together with well-defined network security policies, can simplify the compliance process.
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Today’s data transmission departments are battling for budget and relevance. Moving files and ensuring delivery is getting tougher every day. To successfully deliver data to an increasing number of target platforms and meet rising customer expectations, leading companies are adopting service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and upgrading their file transfer departments into data transmission services. Find out more.
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Outsourcing is increasingly used to reduce costs and increase value—but it has its risks. As companies look to push more of their custom software application development needs to outsourcing partners, you need to plan carefully to build stringent security requirements into contracts and create metrics to ensure those requirements are met. Find out how to increase the value and reduce the risk of outsourcing.
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Although early customers of human resources outsourcing (HRO) are moderately satisfied, many are not achieving the benefits expected from HRO. Some of the reasons for this include a perceived lack of innovation by service providers, resource constraints, and misaligned expectations. Buyers must thoroughly evaluate several criteria and know what they need to have in place in order to reap the rewards of HRO. Learn more.
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As companies come to grips with current fiscal realities, choices may result more from reaction than the use of sound judgment. Removing vital resources and reducing services can create an even lower return on investment (ROI) than existed before downsizing. Outsourcing may offer a solution. Learn about the effects that the present financial situation will have on the outsourcing community, including buyers and suppliers.
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Retro-sourcing refers to the processes involved in reversion control for outsource engagements. It allows proper care and protection to be related to a plan of return for development and service delivery. This can help you control unexpected and risk-laded initiatives, particularly in first-time outsourcing engagements. Learn about the six stages of retro-sourcing, and how they can help you make better-informed decisions.
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Whatever you offer as a service provider, success depends on how well you manage key accounts to ensure long-term relationships and the highest possible margins. But with today’s challenges, it’s difficult to maintain market share, let alone grow. SAP’s All-in-One fast-start program offers a solution that can help you maximize client and service-line profitability by supporting industry best practices. Learn more.
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Recent EquaTerra market research finds a consensus among western business leaders that increased globalization is inevitable—and that it will generally be beneficial. Quickly and efficiently leveraging opportunities created by globalization is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed by its challenges. Learn how to compare buyer and service provider data and get insight into developing a responsive global strategy.
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For many companies, the second largest cost after people is facilities. Solutions have evolved from traditional out-tasking and outsourcing to the more recent strategy of integrating facilities management and real estate under a single service provider. But first, understand marketplace realities: provider capabilities don’t always line up with buyer expectations. Learn about the challenges of integrating these services.
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Chief financial officers (CFOs) and procurement directors want to speed up and simplify the outsourcing provider selection process, to reduce costs and gain benefits sooner. Here are key issues you should consider when fast-tracking the process of scoping and negotiating a sourcing transaction. Collaboration and interaction are key to shortening the process while still achieving your end goal. Find out more.
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Ping Identity provides software for the computer security and identity management industry. Ping wanted to facilitate rapid, high-end development and accelerate time to market for its leading Web security product. When its first outsourcing choice didn’t offer enough Agile development expertise, Ping found another solution that helped reduce costs by 46 percent and doubled in-house performance in key areas. Learn more.
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Albert Lee, executive director of technology at New York Media, thought he already knew everything he needed to know about outsourcing. Throughout his career, outsourcing has always meant mismanaged offshore teams that replaced onshore talent “all in the name of saving a few dollars.” Find out why—and more importantly, how—he overcame his prejudices.
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With more than 5,000 global employees serving as touch points for sales and customer service, Deutsche Bank could no longer afford to rely on its outdated customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The financial services powerhouse now has a system that serves 5,500 Deutsche Bank employees, and includes information on over 10,000 customers. Find out how Deutsche Bank saved up to 40 percent in development costs.
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We all know the payoffs that can result from the “agile” methodology: highly effective self-managed teams, increased flexibility, real-time change management, tight quality control … and the list goes on. But what happens when you need to expand your agility to include an outsourcing partner 5,000 miles away? Learn what happened to Elastic Path, a Canadian company competing in the fast-paced market of e-commerce software.
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Development and enhancement budgets for an enterprise’s information architecture are under tremendous pressure to deliver cost-effective results. Indeed, enterprises are finding it more and more difficult to keep pace with new technology trends and complexities, and a growing diversity in the skills needed. So how can an enterprise ensure internal and competitive gains? Outsourcing? Maybe. But where’s your safety net?
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Offshore outsourcing of IT services drives productivity gains, delivers attractive
efficiencies in scale, cost, and time-to-market, and contributes significantly to enterprise agility by freeing up precious in-house resources. But that’s only when it’s prudently executed. Want to avoid disaster? Don’t miss our seven-point checklist for success.
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E-business is more than a smart Web presence or a slick, flash-driven shopping cart. But thanks to astounding hype-over-Internet, droves of large and medium enterprises were woefully late in realizing the need for a sensible strategy deployment. By now, however, they have realized that e-business initiatives have to cohere strongly with overall business strategy. Yes, right, sounds good, but how?
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Expectations of the business community from the database development domain are high, but slightly unsettled. The customer community worldwide needs to understand that while there are common threads among relational databases, they also nurture important differences. Find out what they are.
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In today’s economy, small businesses’ primary differentiator is service. If systems are down, then customer service levels are down too, ultimately hurting the business and the bottom line. This can make giving up control over critical IT systems daunting. However, surveys show that 55 percent of large companies plan to increase their IT spending with external service providers. Find out what they know that you don’t.
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Before you talk to a payroll services provider, you need to ask yourself several important questions about the current situation of your organization, and to consider its budget, expected growth, and more. Here’s a checklist of some of those questions so you can make the most of your consultation with potential services providers. Get organized and know your requirements before you commit to buying a payroll solution.
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A software migration can cause pain over many months in at least three crucial areas, though it will provide long-term benefit. But with a migration assurance program, you can completely avoid major pain. Find out how a rollover to Office 2007 and Vista can impact the productivity of your users, your IT staff, and your business. And learn about the steps you can take to minimize or avoid a decrease in productivity.
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IT organizations struggle with the challenges of shrinking budgets, ever-changing technology, compliance pressures, and more. For greater efficiency, many IT organizations are turning to information technology service management (ITSM) to help improve processes. But there’s still too much focus on technology and not enough on business outcomes. Learn key strategies for changing your approach to delivering IT services.
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An estimated two-thirds of IT projects aren’t completed on time or budget, while 15 percent are cancelled entirely. But your IT project doesn’t have to be a gamble. By knowing the most common causes of project failure, your company increases the potential for a successful project outcome. Learn more about how inadequate initial project planning can be one of your greatest obstacles to success—and how you can overcome it.
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The latest Pulse surveys reflect business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) market activity during the first quarter of 2008 and projections for the future. If you’re considering BPO or ITO, the surveys’ results can inform you on demand and buying patterns, deal scope, sales cycles and ramp-up time, as well as outsourcing’s role in making human resources more strategic. Learn more.
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The challenges of doing business in today’s economic climate are the same for mid-market companies as they are for larger corporations. The mid-market, however, has typically addressed those challenges differently and has not employed alternative service delivery models. But more and more mid-market firms are discovering that information technology outsourcing (ITO) can have a positive impact on growth. Find out why.
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In a world with few constants, sustaining growth and outpacing competition are key concerns for just about every company, regardless of industry, geography, or size. Globalization puts pressure on companies to find the best talent and use best practices. Discover the corporate attitudes to the risks and opportunities of global competition—and how you can overcome the challenges of outsourcing your business processes.
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Small and medium businesses (SMBs) often don’t know how to engage and manage outsourcing initiatives. Both outsourcing provider and seeker should together address several questions when starting a project to outsource business or technology processes. What’s the cost benefit? What are the risks involved? Find out the customer and the vendor perspectives, and how to achieve cost savings and service-level improvements.
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Software-as-a-service (SaaS), also called on-demand software, can be a convenient and profitable business model for vendors. And for clients, SaaS can provide greater processing efficiencies than a company’s own internal systems. As a result, human resources, customer relationship management, or accounting process costs decrease when handled by an SaaS vendor. Learn about the benefits—but also the challenges—of SaaS.
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As companies expand—often globally—they may operate multiple customer service call centers. Unifying these geographically dispersed and discrete contact centers creates a single, virtual contact center operation that is more efficient, easier to manage, and has better customer service. Learn about contract center trends and the five key elements to consider when outsourcing your customer service center business processes.
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Genius Project4Domino and Microsoft Project are both project management tools, and though their range of features is different, they are also complementary. Using the solutions together can bring a well-rounded project management solution to companies of all sizes. Learn how they can be used to ensure consistency and eliminate downtime, so your long-term strategic project plans are a success.
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It’s not just operating talent and facilities that win business for logistics service providers. Every community of clients, customers, suppliers, and carriers must work together to fulfill perfect orders. However, few supply chain communities consist entirely of companies with top-notch supply chain applications. Learn how a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution can help fill the gaps—and increase value to your clients.
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For many companies, a challenging business event or critical business pain precipitates a conversation about business intelligence (BI). But don’t wait until you introduce new products, upgrade your IT environment, or notice that your inventory is increasing but not your sales. Find out how to build a return on investment (ROI) for your BI applications and projects, so you can leverage your own data before it’s too late.
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Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, had a rapidly expanding customer base and shortened product life cycles. This led the company to add more contract manufacturers to its supply chain, meaning more complex decisions had to be made in less time. To stay competitive, the company implemented response management technology. Learn more about the company’s rapid growth and the software that helped make it possible.
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Customer and commercial demands are changing the way manufacturers manage their positions in the supply chain. The financial impact on a company that is unable to respond to change can be crippling, especially in a global market. Learn about the benefits of using a response management process, so you can access live data from multiple systems across various locations—for more intelligent and empowered decision making.
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Managing the demands of constant change is one of the biggest challenges facing the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry today. Collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers (CMs) can help both sides leverage the supply chain to manage change. Find out about a solution that can help you create a successful collaboration strategy that optimizes your supply chain.
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Although IT outsourcing can result in cost savings of up to 60 percent, you’re not as likely to see that return if you don’t have an offshore development center (ODC). This team of programmers and developers, hand picked to complement your skill-set and culture, works on your behalf at the service provider’s site, and can be a seamless extension of your IT department. Learn more about the benefits of setting up an ODC.
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Social networking sites offer recruiters a valuable opportunity to seek out, scout, and connect with applicants in ways that traditional channels can’t support. The key to success in this space is to develop a smart, targeted recruitment strategy that works with, not against, the fundamental principals of social networking. Get 5 tips to crafting a social networking recruitment strategy—so you can recruit the best talent.
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Online recruiting is one of the pillars of smart recruiting strategies for firms in every sector. Job seekers and employers alike are turning to electronic resources for their job search and recruiting processes. But human resources staff may not know the best practices for online recruitment, and should stay on top of online recruitment trends. Get a clearer picture of the impact and implications of online recruitment.
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Business processes outsourcing offers a company value in many functions, such as payroll and benefits administration. But recruiting outsourcing is not yet so common. Three hurdles can stand in your way to successfully outsource your HR recruitment process. Learn about these and the top seven success factors in managing HR outsourcing services providers, so you can find the best recruitment outsourcing provider for you.
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Effective CRM deployment can bring many productivity gains. And although free customer relationship management (CRM) tools may sound great to overburdened company directors, there are five reasons why free CRM tools should be avoided. For one, free isn’t always free, as hidden costs can undermine your budget. Find out about the other reasons why it’s better to tighten your CRM budget now, rather than go bust later.
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Electronic health records can provide many benefits for patients and health care providers and insurers. Health care technology managers should have a strategic technical background to make informed decisions about integrating, partnering, or supporting personal health care record (PHR) solutions. Learn best practices on implementation, and how to leverage your existing health care technologies with new PHR platforms.
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Every decision you make factors some kind of risk. When making the decision to implement a content management system (CMS), it’s important to be aware of all possible potential risks—and how to prepare for them. How high is your risk of data loss? What can you do to mitigate the risk of security breach? And which is riskier for your company, a hosted or an installed CMS? Learn more about these and other risks.
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Intranets must be personalized for individual users and will manage themselves if a Web content management system (CMS) is installed. Right? In fact, these are two common and long-standing myths about intranets. One of the main objectives of a knowledge-sharing intranet is to be the authoritative source for up-to-date, company-wide content. Debunk other intranet myths and learn how simple can equal successful.
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Over 80 percent of consultants in service organizations consider spreadsheet-based business plan modeling inadequate. Weak client–partner relationships reflect this inadequacy. An integrated business planning and modeling platform can provide deeper insight into a range of strategic and operational issues. Find out how this can result in enhanced decision making and optimized long-term client engagement and satisfaction.
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Although information technology service management (ITSM) is not a new discipline, many organizations have yet to adopt it as a part of their IT service improvement strategy. To be successful, businesses must start by building a custom road map. Read about how focusing on long-term, strategic objectives—including a realized return on investment (ROI)—can greatly improve your IT service delivery and support.
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In the public sector, where it’s often more about process than the business case, recompeting a current outsourcing relationship doesn’t always make the most sense for ensuring continued value. Due to the cost and time investment in the recompete process, it can often cause more problems than solutions. In many cases, outsourcing agreements simply need to be updated to meet changing business requirements. Find out how.
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In the past 10 years, business process and IT outsourcing markets have become globalized, raising some key issues for outsourcing buyers. How can you develop a service delivery model for your business that fully exploits global sourcing opportunities while supporting overall corporate strategies, goals, and principles? By developing a set of integrated capabilities and processes as part of your core competency.
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Empirical evidence demonstrates that the benefits of a distributed IT services model are considerable—yet many companies still resist the change. If IT professionals took the time to fully understand the positive impact of distributed services models on both cost and value, they’d be better equipped to fight organizational resistance and develop a road map for successful change. Find out how you can build yours today.
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A contact center is a mission-critical component of any organization’s operations—regardless of who they service. Yet stakeholders often remain dissatisfied with its performance. In the past, contact centers benefited from advances in information and technologies, yet many companies struggled to determine how they could take advantage of these benefits. Find out how embracing both old and new technologies today can work.
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For many organizations, undertaking IT and business process outsourcing involves everything from finding and assessing providers, to selecting locations, to determining which services are required. But the hardest part of outsourcing occurs after the deal is done. To help businesses ensure consistency in outsourcing governance, there are nine critical factors to keep in mind that can help guarantee its success.
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The days of telephone switchboard operators are long gone. In today's electronic age, through private branch exchange (PBX) technology, operators have been replaced with Internet protocols that automate the switchboard process. But how can you make the most of your modern phone system when you're not really sure how it works? Discover some tips and tricks that can help you understand—and optimize—your business phone setup.
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How can you leverage your current IT infrastructure without increasing complexity—and cost? Creating the next generation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) via enterprise services architecture (ESA) outsourcing can make your IT system leaner, less expensive, and more adaptive. Read more for a clear picture of how to avoid difficulties when adopting an enterprise services approach for your back-office processes.
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Aligning your business plans with your method of execution requires more than a peek at financial metrics. Initiatives, tasks, people, and metrics must be aligned with corporate goals. Find out how strategy management software, alone or as part of a performance management solution, can provide clear visual links between individual initiatives and broader goals, and ultimately enhance your business’s overall performance.
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Managing growth is a monumental undertaking—and one that Valero Energy Corporation has mastered. But as one of the largest oil refinery companies in North America, with revenues exceeding $90 billion (USD), the company needed to find a way to fit new applications into its existing infrastructure in a quick and cost-effective manner. By switching to SAP’s NetWeaver platform, Valero saved $480,000 (USD) in the first month.
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According to Web services provider IronPort, over 92 billion spam messages are sent around the world daily. While it may seem like an uphill battle, several strategies are available that can help. To combat these threats, many organizations are implementing new technologies to secure their inboxes by blocking unsolicited messages. Discover what other tactics your business can adopt to help e-mail deliverability.
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Choosing the right professional services automation (PSA) solution may be one of the most important decisions a billable services organization will ever have to make. It’s a decision that can clearly impact your company’s bottom line, so it’s crucial that you get all the facts—up front. When talking with PSA vendors, knowing what questions to ask in order to make an informed selection is vital. Read here to find out why.
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With the growing significance of services to the bottom line, it’s never been more important to effectively monitor, measure, and manage your services business. Knowing which key performance indicators (KPI) can help drive success and contribute to your bottom line is essential. But with over 150 KPIs available, where do you start? Discover how these few small key improvements can help your service business performance.
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Manufacturers today face increasing pressures to boost revenues and secure profitability. But for them to realize the full financial value of these initiatives, they must invest in a system that can quickly and easily implement or consolidate core business applications. With QAD on-demand, businesses can reduce IT complexity and costs with simplified deployment options and complete application management alternatives.
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Why choose on-demand when there are so many integrated software solutions on the market? Because on-demand packages provide a number of benefits that can help IT focus on innovation and creating true business value, rather than dealing with network headaches. But along with the benefits there are a number of challenges. Read more about these challenges and how you can manage your on-demand implementation project.
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Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 is frequently deployed in small or midsize applications. And while many customers view it as an excellent small network-attached storage (NAS) solution, they often move to larger, proprietary file server appliances when their needs expand beyond its capacity. This approach, however, adds more expense and complexity. But with Sanbolic’s Melio Cluster, capacity can be added as needed.
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Microsoft System Management Server 2003 and Operations Manager 2005 storage monitoring solutions provide the necessary tools to centrally manage and monitor Windows client and server infrastructure. Now, Sanbolic’s LaScala clustered volume manager and related products offer a complementary toolkit which enables administrators to centrally configure and assign storage assets in a storage area network (SAN) environment.
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As businesses become increasingly dependent on the effective delivery of IT services over global networks, technologies that optimize application performance over wide area networks (WANs) become more competitive. But how do you know which WAN to choose when there are so many solutions on the market? By learning about WAN best practices and principles, and by making comparative evaluations of competing vendors’ offerings.
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Food-borne illnesses are recognized as a significant public health problem in the US today. As such, food inspection and safety administrators have implemented Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems regulations. Without the proper software system, however, complying with HACCP requirements can be difficult. With Sage ERP X3 process manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP), it doesn’t have to be.
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Today, more and more companies are purchasing goods from overseas. But once those goods are on the water, many companies find it difficult to keep track of where they are at any given time. Ineffective container management leads to extra costs, but with Sage ERP X3’s import tracking functionality, business functions are tied together in a single database—enabling real-time access to information and improving productivity.
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In order to meet the increasing need to extend services around the world, companies must be able to consolidate data centers and business applications while adhering to compliance rules and security regulations. While SAP addresses these business needs through its enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions, the question of how to test these global enterprise SOA deployments still needs to be answered.
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Today, more business than ever is done in branch offices or at remote sites, but very few IT resources are actually hosted there. To reduce costs, businesses often consolidate applications—but consolidation can lead to poor performance. With the right solution, however, acceleration techniques—like bandwidth management and protocol optimization—can be properly dispersed to remote applications, helping increase performance.
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Although secure sockets layer (SSL) is a ubiquitous enabler of e-commerce and outsourcing, it creates a special challenge for network administrators and security professionals because its encryption is known to decelerate data. In order to regain control over application delivery—when everything business-related is encrypted—organizations need to look toward SSL-aware solutions that can help decipher and accelerate data.
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With the recent amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), businesses must take a closer look at how they manage their electronic data. Recent studies have shown that many companies are not prepared for how these changes will affect their business. To improve their governance procedures to meet these new requirements, businesses must invest in technology that can adequately preserve electronic data.
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For consumers, fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) means a world where integrated voice and data services are available anywhere through a single mobile handset. For carriers, FMC represents a lucrative opportunity to leverage inexpensive technology. This technology, however, has its technical challenges, making performance hard to predict. To be successful, carriers need to understand the factors that influence this behavior.
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Today, dozens of independent operating companies and international carriers offer Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services to homes around the world. But IPTV for in-home distribution has been a weak link in the IPTV delivery chain—until now. Ruckus Wireless multimedia systems can help overcome current Wi-Fi limitations and enhance subscriber experience by uniquely enabling a whole-home network for video, voice, and data.
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Corporate governance encompasses the processes and systems by which organizations operate—and it affects every business. To effectively participate in governance processes, businesses should consider closed-loop service oriented architecture (SOA). Although stand-alone applications for governance, management, and security exist, find out why they do not enable the demand and value management that closed-loop SOA offers.
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With a vast global network that supports over 60,000 employees, vulnerability and risk management programs are crucial for Oracle GIT. To further enhance its IT system risk management capabilities, Oracle deployed QualysGuard’s on-demand software vulnerability and compliance management solution. Since its deployment, Oracle has optimized its scanning capabilities and automated its demand security auditing processes.
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Web analytics has never been an exact science—which can make the process extremely frustrating. How can you be 100 percent certain that the data you’re working with is always accurate? To deal with this and many other questions that will arise, businesses must gain a better understanding of how well their analytics tools work with their existing data integration solutions, and how using testing platforms will help.
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What can user-driven applications like Morello and Microsoft’s Office SharePoint (MOSS) 2007 do to help your web content management strategy? By combining the two, users can develop web applications and collaborative workspaces themselves rather than acquiring IT development input. In doing so, they unlock the silos of working practices and content stores, and add significant value to the web content management strategy.
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For many years, S&C Electric, a global provider of electric power system equipment, used internally built tracking and Subversion data to manage source code and documents and to track viruses. But as it grew, its needs became more complex, and more maintenance time was required. A managed source control solution now manages and protects S&C Electric’s intellectual property, and saves the company a lot in man-hours.
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Software company Terra Technology’s development team often worked remotely, without a centralized development system. Managing documents manually was quickly becoming an unproductive use of the team s time—and increased its chances of making errors. Since using ProjectLocker’s document management system, Terra Technology has saved valuable time and money, and can now focus on its core competency—supply chain software.
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An estimated 55 percent of users of business critical applications work in remote locations. With so many users working remotely, networks become congested and user productivity suffers. Until now, wide area network (WAN) monitoring and shaping has required special appliances, but there’s a new alternative software-based solution available that leverages the power of the user’s PC—providing unprecedented traffic control.
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What can a managed Subversion solution do to help .NET businesses solve their integration problems? Subversion meets the challenge of software development by allowing teams to use branching and tagging methods that help them work better with their QA organizations. It also saves .NET businesses a lot of money over setting up and maintaining a development infrastructure in house, which keeps the cost of ownership manageable.
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The future of customer service management (CRM) is changing—and SAP’s CRM 5.2 is a big part of the reason. SAP is known for constantly enhancing its products—whether it’s changing its tier architecture or introducing new dimensional components. But its latest in CRM technology provides many new features and functionalities, and introduces some of the latest trends. If you want to know more about SAP CRM 5.2, here it is.
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Today’s complex enterprise networks present unique challenges to those whose task it is to manage and secure them. Existing security measures that worked yesterday may not be sufficient tomorrow. But by combining Configuresoft’s Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) with Microsoft’s System Center 2007, businesses can secure their data, protect their bottom lines from costly downtime, and meet regulatory standards.
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Organizations of all sizes face similar challenges when managing storage—not enough capacity or protection. Help has arrived with Internet small computer system interface storage area networks (iSCSI SANs)—and they're steadily gaining momentum. With iSCSI SANs, businesses can effectively manage their storage needs, while lowering costs and increasing security. Find out why many industry leaders are choosing iSCSI today.
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Information lifecycle management (ILM) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a process crucial to the success of many IT initiatives. The reason for this is the importance of managing data. With the growing demand for ILM comes a variety of solutions that follow a disjointed, point product approach. By choosing an ILM software designed to scale to its needs, a business can benefit from software built on a unified platform.
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While virtualization technology can simplify server management and reduce operating costs, in production environments it presents a disaster-recovery challenge. The problem: simply backing up a host server doesn’t always ensure that data within virtual machines is recoverable. With Acronis’s True Image, IT managers can rest assured their data, settings, applications, and operating systems are protected against disaster.
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To boot or pre-boot, that is the question. There’s no doubt that operating systems (OSs) are complicated given the sheer amount of code that must be flawlessly interfaced and the potential vulnerabilities that can ensue. While full disk encryption (FDE) is one step closer to a more secure OS, encryption without strong authentication isn’t enough. For security-conscious users, pre-boot authentication is the only way to go.
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On top of the many challenges faced by IT managers today comes yet another challenge: ensuring efficient and secure user access to SAP. Because of the unencrypted communication between users’ workstations and the backend servers, the SAP environment—and the confidential data it stores—become vulnerable. With a secure single sign-on solution to SAP, however, you can significantly improve the security of this environment.
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Protecting your company’s data is not only wise, but often legally necessary. In order to beef up their data security programs, more companies are implementing full disk encryption (FDE). In the past, FDE was software based, which left it open to greater security risks. With the advent of new technology, however, it is now possible to migrate from software- to hardware-based FDE while still protecting your existing systems.
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Why is Vyatta’s open source networking approach so successful? Because it is in touch with today’s users needs. By eliminating the reliance on specialized hardware, Vyatta’s open source, Linux-based approach to networking is changing the way networks are being purchased and deployed. With its strong community of users, Vyatta is challenging even proprietary networking vendors like Cisco. We challenge you to find out more.
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With ever-changing technology, businesses often spend too much time and money trying to sustain their outdated systems. But is it possible to maintain a legacy system without the substantial costs of frequently updating it? By adopting service-oriented architecture (SOA)—which provides a suite of automated tools and services for migrating and extending legacy platforms—businesses can maximize quality and minimize costs.
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Today’s data centers are an increasingly complex mixture of server platforms, hardware, operating systems, data, and applications that have accumulated over time. So how do you take your data center from a tangled mess of suboptimal servers which may be hampering your service levels, to one that can maximize performance? With the use of virtualization technology, data center optimization can become a reality.
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Today’s support organizations often face the challenge of providing efficient and effective customer service. Without the right tools, it can become an uphill battle. To gain true scale and effectiveness in service and support, many organizations are now turning to knowledge management initiatives like knowledge-centered support (KCS)—a business process that directly addresses the root causes of support inefficiencies.
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Registry cleanup is inarguably an integral component of PC maintenance. However, many PC users may be wasting time and effort cleaning their registries more often than necessary, depending on the age of their computers, as well as how often software and other utilities are installed. In order to save time and get the most out of your PC, there are a number of myths about registry cleanup you ought to dispel.
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If you base your selection of an outsourcing partner on a service provider’s strengths, it can be difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison among the various models. The best way to make a comparison in a thoughtful and effective manner is to develop individual specifications matching buyer needs with service provider strengths in order to make an enduring match. Find out how.
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The cardinal sin of outsourcing governance is to focus entirely on the mechanics and the price. If you do that, you’ll squander the true potential of the relationship. So spend the time and effort required to ensure an effective governance process—and don’t lose sight of the fact that without cultural alignment with your vendor, you’ll only be creating ground rules for debate, not agreement.
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The rules have changed for IT outsourcing companies and their clients. The US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) casts a giant shadow over every person and organization that comes in contact with a company’s financial records and reports. We’ll look at ways in which outsourcing companies can take proactive measures to meet both the spirit and letter of compliance guidelines through audits and adherence to industry best practices.
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Out of 100 IT projects, 94 will start over again at least once. Before your company launches its next package implementation or upgrade, make sure you don’t cripple the project from the start. Make sure your company has a clear understanding of how important the requirements definition stage is, and carries it out properly. Most importantly, find out about tools and ideas you can put into practice immediately.
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Benchmarking is a process where companies compare their performance over time against their competition. In doing so, they can identify where their strengths lie and where improvement may be needed. The point of benchmarking is to focus on areas that will yield the best return. For companies to succeed in their benchmarking efforts and gain a sustained competitive advantage, five key steps should be considered.
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As pressure increases to reduce costs and improve customer service, many companies are outsourcing outside the US. Although India and Malaysia are the least expensive options, companies that want to build strong long-term partnerships with a call center—while taking quality, political climate, and cost into consideration—should look north of the border. Canada builds a solid case for any company’s outsourcing dollars.
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An increasing number of companies are turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) because of the many advantages it provides. In 2002, the outsourced call center industry reached $22 billion (USD) and is projected to increase to $25.7 billion (USD) over the next two years to serve the growing demand. For outsourcing to be a success, companies need an overall strategy. After that, it boils down to one question: where?
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Despite rumors to the contrary, IT and business process outsourcing markets are delivering much of their promised value. But when buyers experience problems with outsourcing efforts, it’s usually the result of faulty expectations, inadequate resources, or service provider shortcomings. That’s why buyers must focus on avoiding the usual mistakes—by understanding where, how, and when (and when not) to leverage outsourcing.
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IT plays a critical role in any business process outsourcing (BPO) effort—it’s the backbone that supports the transactional operations of outsourced business processes, as well as analysis, tracking, and quality control efforts. Given the importance of IT, organizations pursuing BPO must ensure that they take the time to adequately assess their skills and IT options—before committing to a service provider.
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E-mail is a powerful business tool that most enterprises can’t live without. Unfortunately, along with its capability of accelerating commerce, productivity, and social interactions, there are some drawbacks—such as spam! Companies that rely on e-mail to do business simply can’t afford the negative affects of spam. However, new technology is emerging that helps stop spam and allows users to get on with business.
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It s hard to go anywhere these days and not see ads for mobile wireless carriers. But the technology is so confusing and the choices so overwhelming, it can be impossible to know which solution to choose. Before making the wrong choice, it’s best to have a basic understanding of mobile wireless communication—how it is currently being used in the industry, and how it can benefit your organization in the future.
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In today’s global market, providing quality products and services is essential for any manufacturer’s continued growth—but maintaining a competitive edge is not always easy. For success, quality awareness must begin at the conception of the product and continue throughout the various stages of its development. To improve in this area, many manufacturers are now adopting the total quality management (TQM) approach.
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When considering any software solution, two things come to mind: flexibility and cost. With virtualization technology, multiple applications can now be hosted safely and securely on a single server, eliminating the overhead of running multiple operating systems (OS) per server. This capability can greatly reduce costs and help organizations deliver consistent service levels despite unpredictable workloads.
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An important question facing IT professionals today is how best to harness computing power to further improve automated business processes. This is especially critical in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. While service-oriented architecture (SOA) delivers the benefits of IT integration to business, it needs a programming language—such as Lisp—that can optimize its capabilities and scale in size and complexity.
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The Web has become a vast potential business asset for many companies today. But while business users have the vision, it’s the IT department that actually creates and deploys the Web application. This often raises the question of Web site ownership. Empowering both parties with the right tools to match their respective skills can help address this question—and many others—for businesses in this confusing situation.
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It’s no coincidence that the surge in counterfeiting over the past decade has coincided with a huge increase in Internet access around the world, and the more recent shift toward broadband connections. The Web provides a shop window to the world, yet it is impossible to police. New, intelligent, automated monitoring technologies are beginning to offer powerful solutions to this rampant online problem.
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Understanding how a system really works is the first step toward using, improving, automating, or explaining it to others. The basic concept of a system is that it is driven by cause and effect—but there is so much more to understanding its full complexity. The best place to start is by learning how causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are used to model dynamic systems by identifying variables and causal effects.
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As a business employing IT, you may have encountered situations where the software application you purchased didn’t come with a help file. With no time to write complete documentation yourself and no budget to hire a professional technical writer to do it for you, what do you do? By applying the basic principles of cost-effective documentation, your business can develop impressive documentation quickly—for a minimal cost.
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The client: a US-based provider of reusable rack rental, recovery, and closed loop logistics management for bulk shipping and display of live goods, from nurseries to retailers. Faced with growing demand for its racks, the distributor required an enterprise-wide application that allowed flexibility for growth, while reducing operational complexity and maintaining the company’s excellent track record.
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A software consulting service provider needed to develop a web-based interface having touch screen functionality to provide instant schedule visibility, eliminate double bookings, and fully automate the reservation process—including sending attendee invitations, managing catering
orders, and reserving equipment. The service provider turned to Rishabh for development services.
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A leading application service provider of business applications needed to develop a replica of enterprise resource planning (ERP) for veterinary practice. The application required customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), a financial accounting system, human resource (HR) management, and medical records management. Rishabh Software developed the solution using EJB, XML, Java servlets, JSSE, JBoss, and J2ME technologies.
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A global marketing information firm was conducting paper- and telephone-based employee exit surveys. However, its manual process was time-consuming and costly. There was also the challenge of obtaining honest, accurate data from the employees in a completely confidential manner. Thus, the firm needed to automate its manual employee exit survey process, and replace it with a web-based application.
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A US-based multinational company providing end-to-end customer service via an online shipment and tracking system needed to develop an application that would allow customers to track shipment without going to the service provider’s web site. The multinational turned to Rishabh for development services.
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In recent years, increasing numbers of businesses have chosen to outsource their application development overseas for smaller, defined projects, or through a long-term outsourcing partnership model. The main reasons for outsourcing include a desire to increase company productivity and efficiency, while simultaneously lowering operating costs in an increasingly competitive economy. But outsourcing, whether overseas or locally, comes with severe risks.
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Software testing is carried out primarily to unearth system defects, and to prevent defective products from reaching customers. It’s also carried out to convince customers that a product conforms to and fulfils the agreed-upon specifications and functionality. However, in order to evaluate potential approaches to estimating test efforts, it’s vital to understand what the activity of testing actually consists of.
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No matter how unique a project may be, project quality is always the top concern for both the software services providers and the clients—on time and within budget. Indeed, there’s a good chance the customer will be satisfied if these fundamental goals are met. Thus, successful projects are fostered through mutual trust and cooperation between outsourcer and client.
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Installing software and patch updates can be frustrating and time-consuming for IT staff and users alike. But it's critical to update your computers regularly to keep security filters current. This need increases exponentially if your users are mobile and geographically dispersed. Should this continue to be the responsibility of your IT staff? Or should you outsource this function to a managed service provider (MSP)?
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By nature, outsourcing is highly imitative, with organizations attempting to duplicate the imperfectly observed successes of others. Indeed, the myths and simplistic beliefs revolving around outsourcing—along with the usual technological, organizational, and cultural barriers—seriously impediment the effectiveness of collaborative models. The key to successful collaborative teamwork in offshore outsourcing lies in understanding and leveraging project management best practices.
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Application software companies often find themselves in positions where their products and services depend heavily on software that they may not be equipped to optimally engineer. This typically results in misallocated resources, inferior products and services, and ultimately business decline. Companies need to know when to outsource critical integral design, development, and delivery requirements that they cannot effectively meet themselves.
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There is much discussion in the marketplace about outsourcing management and governance (OM/G). Many organizations mistakenly assume they understand the science of effective OM/G, but that’s often not the case. OM/G is a critical discipline enabling companies to achieve the intent of their outsourcing deal. In fact, without it, value leakage of 15 percent or greater is the typical result.
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Large-scale, complex outsourcing deals have produced equally complex management issues. Indeed, the leading cause of missed expectations in outsourcing is poor governance—after the deal is signed. For this reason, executives can benefit tremendously from outsourcing management tools, including third party vendors. Where and how do they work? And what is the cost in terms of time and money?
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Organizations undertaking information technology and business process outsourcing typically are very focused on "doing the deal." This involves assessing service providers, determining geographies from which to source services, developing contracts, defining service levels, and a myriad of other tasks. Yet arguably the hardest part of outsourcing occurs only after the deal is done—performing ongoing outsourcing management and governance.
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Outsourcing is increasingly embraced by manufacturers seeking ways to reduce costs, increase agility, and enhance market competitiveness. Yet poorly managed distributed manufacturing operations compromise visibility and quality control, which in turn erodes execution, management effectiveness, and profitability. To truly optimize the value of outsourcing, business systems and procedures must be deployed that create a collaborative, transparent information environment for manufacturing.
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IT plays a critical role in any outsourcing effort. Organizations engaged in or pursuing business process outsourcing (BPO) must ensure that they truly understand the capabilities of their existing software environment, as well as the capabilities of candidate BPO service providers. Embedding IT requirements and capabilities from the start will thus improve the likelihood of success for any BPO endeavor.
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The multitude of messages and media in this interactive age contributes to a fragmented consumer goods market. Shorter product life cycles, mass product customization, and increasing supply chain complexity are all symptoms of the new project economy. The arrival of this new age must be recognized by business leaders, and the systems supporting business must change to accommodate this reality.
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Given the challenges facing governmental human resources (HR) departments, HR organizations need to take a hard look at their operations, and face the realities of what works—and what doesn’t. Shared services are the largely predominant organizational structure for delivering HR, and public sector HR executives must determine what must be done to take their organizations to the next level.
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Most research shows that offshoring and outsourcing are clearly the next wave of improvement initiatives for delivery of support services, but how do you decide whether outsourcing or offshoring are right for your organization? It may be helpful to examine the lessons learned from companies who have already made the internal build versus external outsource, and onshore versus offshore decisions.
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Companies spend staggering investments to make and keep their offerings competitive. By providing a centralized location to store account history and detailed contact information for every buyer and automating what had been manual tasks, sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management (CRM) have begun to positively impact sales efforts.
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The concept of getting business requirements right sounds straightforward. However, flawed requirements trigger 70 percent of project failures. The larger the number of stakeholder groups involved, and the more complex the processes, the more likely a project will fail. Success in large projects is not just about completeness, but also about getting complete requirements information early in the development process.
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Companies are successfully realizing benefits from their procurement initiatives, and viewing procurement as an integral part of their overall corporate strategy. They no longer perceive procurement as a cost center, but rather as a strategic lever for improving profits or funding new initiatives. Procurement opportunities are significant—translating directly, with no dilution, into measurable, hard dollar profit increases.
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Procurement Outsourcing: The 10 Things Companies Really Want to Know draws upon recent discussions with dozens of companies that are exploring outsourcing services. Jason Gilroy and colleagues draw upon their years of procurement expertise to provide answers to common questions surrounding the outsourcing of procurement services.
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European nearshore locations are viewed as a complementary and alternative sourcing option to onshore and offshore locations. It offers a language and culture fit, and in some cases enjoys certain international trade agreements with the client's residing countries. Malta is an ideal nearshore location because it offers significant reduced development and implementation risks and lower hidden costs.
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Ten years ago, very few managers would consider “subscribing” to their mission critical technology solutions over the Internet, as they would subscribe to cable television or telephone services. Today, these same managers are realizing the substantial cost savings and productivity increases that the software as a service (SaaS) deployment option can bring to their organizations.
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The decision to use external resources on a project of any size or focus can be a tough one for a company facing the need to look outside its trusted staff to make something happen. "Can the appropriate skills be found at an acceptable cost?" is the first question. Indeed, defining your service needs, and then developing and maintaining a proper relationship with the provider you've hired is one of the most important things you can do to increase your success potential.
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How many times do you hear network administrators scream at the top of their voice, "I have spent millions of dollars buying expensive and the best antivirus software solutions and yet every two months, when a new virus strikes, I have my entire network go down!" This is a common complaint you will get to hear from one and all network administrators, primarily because most security vendors today concentrate more on a "reactive" approach to stop virus attacks, than a “preventive” approach!
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Decison support systems range from simple electronic filing cabinets to complex data intensive and analytically sophisticated executive information systems. This primer provides an overview with real case studies.
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This paper examines key issues for CFOs and CEOs in managing ERP systems in the new world of SOX, IFRS, Basle II. While most IT management attention seems to be on document retention, reporting quality, and security, there are broader issues to be considered toward ensuring good governance and compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, IFRS and Basle II.
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You can blame your sales people all you want, but if the lead data is bad, they’re not going to bring in business. You can blame your product managers for ineffective promotions, but if the target lists are redundant, the pitches fall on deaf ears. You can blame your customer service representatives for low satisfaction scores, but if customer data is missing, then no wonder the complaint resolution pipeline is backed up. Think it’s your customer resource management (CRM) system? Think again. It’s bad data, and it’s costing you millions. Request your copy of The Bottom Line on Bad Customer Data that delivers detailed advice from Jill Dyche, partner and co-founder of Baseline Consulting, about what you can do to address the impact of bad data on your company. The report gives you insight into how bad data is impacting your company and what you can do about it. How to identify where the bad data is and quantify its impact, and different approaches to determine the sources and causes of bad data are all offered in this paper.
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The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (also known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 0f 2002) was passed by US lawmakers to reinforce honest and transparent corporate practices in the wake of the various public accounting scandals and corporate failures of the 1990s. The Act, named after US Senator Paul S. Sarbanes and US Congressman Michael G. Oxley, has changed the way public companies do business. Although not specifically covered under the Act, non-public entities are also finding that bankers, investors, and acquisition candidates are now conditioned to expect increased transparency and real-time disclosures, in effect placing a greater accounting and reporting burden on companies that are not legally obligated to comply with this act. As with any far-reaching legislation of this magnitude, there is plenty of hype that has emerged in connection with this law. This document is designed to help companies large and small navigate some of the "hype" that sometimes blurs the line between fact and fiction.
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For a distributor to be successful in today’s competitive market, inventory-carrying costs must be minimized and accurately tracked. One way of accomplishing this in many industries is by assembling finished goods to meet customer orders. This is particularly true when numerous items are sold containing the same base components, but have minor modifications that make them unique.
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Creating an efficient centralized maintenance and operations program is made easier if you start with the right planning. This article addresses a tactical view to making your CMMS and EAM implementation work the first time.
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Companies are going global because the risk of not doing so greatly outweighs the comfort that staying domestic brings. According to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report issued in October 2004, "Despite the rise in oil prices the volume of world trade is likely to grow by 8.5% in real terms by the end of 2004." The liberalization of trade, the reduction of tariffs, the elimination of quotas, the continued rise in China as an industrial force, and the rise of outsourcing as a cost reduction opportunity, all create an environment that is full of opportunity and fraught with hazards. The ability to effectively manage global commerce will be a key strategic competitive differentiator. Global commerce management (GCM) is what is required by companies to win in this tougher, more competitive environment.
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Nearly half of all new products do not justify the resources it takes to launch them—they fail in the marketplace. Product lifecycle management (PLM)—a powerful IBM e-business on-demand enabler—is a strategic approach to creating and managing a company. Learn how to improve supply chain communication and business process, and innovation by linking technology islands together and break down the barriers between function silos.
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