Most organisations are sitting on IT equipment that is not supporting the business optimally, yet the received wisdom is to sweat the assets to gain as much perceived lifetime value from them as possible. However, IT assets have inherent value which can change significantly through each asset’s lifecycle—whether this is through its hard resale value or just through its scrap value. By applying a full IT lifecycle management (ITLM) approach to the complete IT platform, a business-optimised platform can be created—one where business value overrides the embedded concept of sweating assets.
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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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Looking into the future, oil and gas companies that initiate data management projects should carry out a reality check on the barriers to the adoption of analytics. This will greatly help the data management project team to deliver along desired and expected lines. Download this white paper to find out more.
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Sage 300 ERP (formerly Sage ERP Accpac) 6.0 is TEC Certified for online evaluation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for services in the ERP Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Offshoring is well-entrenched in most global corporations today and has in fact become a necessary means of supporting business growth. And as companies familiar with offshoring will agree, integrating diverse cultures and geographies is essential. If unaddressed, it can lead to lack of trust, low morale, and loss of productivity. More often than not, these outcomes are mistaken for issues with governance, delivery or project reducing chances of success. What is required is a training program tailored to the design, delivery, content, outcomes, and cultural organization of your enterprise. Download this white paper to learn more now.
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The Toyota production system has been on one of the most important schools of thought in operations, and has spawned several spin-offs. All these approaches are based on similar principles that are collectively referred to as “lean” ideas. While a lean approach to manufacturing and services is straightforward, applying lean to knowledge work can be challenging. Find out why, and what you can do about it.
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The OutStart product TrainingEdge.com is now TEC Certified for online evaluation of learning management systems in the Human Capital Management (HCM) Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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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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When you know that a new content management system (CMS) is needed for your organization, how do you decide which one to implement? Do you decide based on size, price, ease of use, or something else? Finding the best CMS for your needs can be a challenging task. In this white paper, you'll get an inside look into the CMS selection process, including an overview of the CMS landscape, the proper approach to selecting a CMS, how to narrow and define your selection process, and additional CMS features to consider.
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Blackboard Learn 9.1 is now TEC Certified for online evaluation of learning management systems in the Human Capital Management Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that address the needs of service industries such as advertising agencies represent a growing market. Although there are exceptions, business software vendors still approach the industry with a generalized set of functionality. This report aims to establish the areas of product functionality that this industry requires and identify a strategy vendors might take to improve the fit of their solutions to this market.
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Companies spend millions each year conducting mandatory training. Whether triggered by an audit, the risk of non-compliance, bad PR, or internal training requirements, achieving compliance can be difficult and costly. One of the biggest challenges that organizations face today is reducing costs from fines
and lawsuits. Download this white paper to find out how a learning management compliance solution can help manage your compliance requirements.
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Mobile learning is extending the reach of how organizations deliver training, and providing the benefits of e-learning to users who were previously "out of reach." By expanding the access of e-learning, mobile learning enables organizations to provide knowledge and training to employees, partners, and customers in new ways. This field guide explores five critical steps to ensure that you get the most out of your mobile learning investment.
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While e-learning content creation used to be a very expensive and complicated endeavor, new rapid development tools are making the process much simpler and less costly. How? Essentially, these new tools provide easy-to-use templates that allow you to create content without programming skills or a high level of technical knowledge. Learn more. Download this white paper now.
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In this white paper, you’ll learn the ten most important things to consider before you embark on organizational alignment project, how to position HR in the process and what role HR professionals should play and best practices for avoiding common pitfalls, such as planning a multi-tiered rollout to help goals work their way down an organization.
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It would be a mistake to think that Web 2.0 is all about technology—and similarly so for Enterprise 2.0. But it would also be a mistake to dismiss the technology altogether. The selection and implementation of enterprise social software solutions and real-time collaboration solutions requires careful thought, consideration, and planning. Find out more, in this IBM white paper. Download now.
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BÖWE BELL + HOWELL utilized SumTotal’s integrated talent management platform to implement a holistic talent management strategy, enable real-time human resources (HR) data processing, and analysis, and eliminate inefficient, time-consuming manual processes. The company chose four SumTotal suites to support its enterprise strategy, including compensation, performance, succession, and analytics. Read about the benefits.
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Customer experience is now a competitive differentiator. As customers become more informed and more demanding, companies need to step outside of their comfort zone and explore non-traditional customer relationship management (CRM) areas. This paper explores a sampling of CRM improvements that allow companies to deliver a consistent customer experience to gain a competitive advantage.
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Promoting band image, improving overall business performance, and keeping customers happy is a main concern of many businesses. This paper demonstrates how the Extended Enterprise platform can help specific verticals to promote and sell their products to external audiences. Know the value of the Extended Enterprise solution in financial services, insurance, government, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and associations.
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Computing infrastructure today though versatile must be used wisely. Intelligent workload management (IWM) allows for efficient consumption of computing resources while ensuring business tasks are supported by all needed resources—and that this is all done securely. IWM tools support the building, management, monitoring, and securing of workloads. See how to run your cloud computing system with leading-edge technology.
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To effectively transform succession planning from a manual, paper-based process to one that is systematic and technology-enabled, CEOs must focus on laying a solid foundation supported by strong executive leadership. Read this CEO guide to get five key tips to jump-start your succession planning efforts to better manage risk and ensure business continuity and to know how a strong succession strategy can impact your company.
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This report focuses on how cloud infrastructures are being used by sales and marketing, finance, and operations in professional service organizations (PSOs). It outlines the benefits of using a cloud infrastructure to manage enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other enterprise systems. With the right solutions in place, globally dispersed project teams have unlimited accessibility to secure and reliable information.
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Successful enterprise resource planning (ERP) deployment demands a focused examination of the professional services provided by your organization, and the most efficient infrastructure required to support them. You must provide your most important asset—your people—with effective tools that can be accessed remotely, securely, and immediately. Professional service organizations that understand this will be in a strong position to determine the best cloud-based solution for their needs.
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To achieve global transparency of all customer relationships, SAP AG upgraded to the latest release of the SAP customer relationship management (CRM) application. This upgrade is part of its CRM Clear Vision Program. Learn how the upgrade to a single global solution helped SAP AG achieve effective collaboration, better visibility, improved productivity, and stronger customer relationships.
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While companies are investing heavily in e-commerce and e-service deployments, the customer is in the driver’s seat. Customers are influenced by the quality of the Web sites they visit, and their perceptions are increasingly shaped by their experiences with social networking sites. Learn how companies are working with software vendors to incorporate advanced technologies into its e-commerce and e-service platforms.
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This white paper looks at the value of email availability and how it can be improved. It examines the key characteristics and capabilities of each type of solution. And it looks in detail at an option that meets key requirements whenever an email availability strategy has to be planned, implemented and managed to time and to budget. IT professionals looking to improve their existing IT security should read this paper.
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This paper compares on-premise versus SaaS, hosted solutions for email security. You can see that there is research that proves hosted services is a better choice for compliance, security, and costs, especially when it comes to email. If you’re an IT managers who is undecided about the SaaS model, this is a must-read.
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As you evaluate conferencing solutions for your organization, an important selection consideration should be the overall cost of the solution; both initial and on-going. It is necessary to evaluate the cost of your current conferencing solution as well as whether an on-premise alternative will pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Find out how.
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Some of the best experts in the business are your long-time employees, top performers, and innovators. Unlock their expertise and the impact could be dramatic. That’s why so many organizations are learning how to use social media tools to create a workforce supported by networking and collaboration. The challenge is to translate the concept of leveraging in-house talent into real-world practices and systems. Find out how.
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Hartman Rauta Oy (Hartman) had been using IBM Lotus Notes V7 software as its legacy e-mail and messaging platform. Although satisfied with the existing system, the company wanted to take advantage of updates and improvements available in the latest version. Hartman also wanted to implement a virtual group working environment to support improved communication and collaboration. Learn how Hartmann managed the update.
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The printing environment is now an integral part of the IT infrastructure. Organizations that use managed print services (MPSs) are seeing reduced cost and increased efficiencies. Using MPSs optimizes the way in which networked printers, copiers, and multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are managed to minimize the wastage of paper and toner. Find out how effective MPSs offer cost transparency and reliable service levels.
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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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Information is one of your greatest assets—helping your organization stay on top of regulatory requirements, close to customers, and ahead of the competition. But managing that information isn’t easy when it is scattered across many isolated silos. A good information management strategy can help you get a complete view of your data, reduce the risk of inaccurate reporting, and keep costs under control. Find out more.
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Critical business processes in biotech and pharmaceutical companies involve highly confidential documents that need to be safely accessed by external partners and potential licensees. Poor security measures, based on a traditional view of data security, have led to high-profile security breaches. Discover new ways for life sciences companies to conduct important business securely without being impeded by IT complexity.
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For many companies, collaborating with outside partners involves sharing confidential information. Unfortunately, in order to work quickly and efficiently, project team members must sometimes share information without using a safe collaboration platform—putting companies at risk of security breaches. Learn how IT leaders can mitigate that risk by creating highly secure online work spaces for document sharing.
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Because e-mail is a source of vital information, users are reluctant to delete old messages. To get around typical storage limits imposed by IT administrators, they often rely on Microsoft Outlook PST files that are stored on individual work stations instead of on a central server—a solution that carries serious risks. Find out what those risks are, and learn about e-mail archiving solutions that can help you avoid them.
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SharePoint has been well adopted in manufacturing companies as a backbone for Office applications, mainly for document sharing and management. Windchill ProductPoint can enable SharePoint to understand and store complex computer-aided design (CAD) data, and extend SharePoint’s reach into product development. Learn more about the capabilities of the Windchill ProductPoint product lifecycle management (PLM) system.
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Formally defining, effectively retaining, and successfully archiving e-mail and other electronic business records is one of the most important tasks facing many organizations today. Learn how to quickly and cost-effectively preserve, protect, and produce legally compliant e-mail and other electronically stored information (ESI) in anticipation of litigation and regulatory audits, with an e-discovery compliance program.
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Identifying, evaluating, and outlining your information management needs is already a tough task—but conducting a complete vendor review can stretch the project further. To reduce the time spent learning about the information management solution landscape—and vendor tendencies—arm yourself with the questions that your search vendors don’t want to answer. The first question: Can I request a proof of concept? Learn more.
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Many companies have begun to appreciate the value of their information assets and have taken a strategic view of information management, including the interoperability of their intranets. A core functionality of any intranet—especially with a large number of Microsoft Office documents—is search. Find out more about the issues surrounding search, to find out whether SharePoint or another search application is best for you.
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When Lockheed Martin sells technology such as aircraft to its customers, it also provides training systems for both pilots and maintenance personnel. The training system must handle student and instructor registration, and training records and certifications—with scheduling for students and resources. Find out about the learning management system with simulator training functionality that the company chose.
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KLA-Tencor Corporation, leading supplier to the microelectronics industry, provides an employee training program that focuses on grooming its personnel to be the most competent in the industry with the ability to optimize the performance of its systems. To accommodate the company’s training program—with personalized, classroom computer-based training—KLA-Tencor adopted an enterprise learning management system (LMS).
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The school of business at one of Canada’s largest universities realized its old system for online registration, customer relationship management (CRM), and e-mail lacked needed functionality. The school wanted better reporting capabilities, automated waitlist maintenance, the ability to locate and change multiple profiles, and more. The learning management system (LMS) finally chosen allows easy modifications. Learn more.
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Learning management systems (LMSs) have evolved over their short history in many ways. From the first classroom-based “training management systems” to today’s e-learning solutions, here’s a look at the future of learning technologies and current industry trends. Discover more about how performance management, informal learning, social media, and Web 2.0 are affecting the development of learning technologies.
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Standards can play an important part in enterprise learning, from the development of learning content to how it interacts with database management applications—specifically learning management systems (LMSs) and learning content management systems (LCMs). This document provides an overview of the standards that affect learning technologies and advice on how to work with vendors of standards-affected technologies.
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Companies dealing with industry or government regulations are often required to meet specific standards for system security, audit trails, and verification of electronic documents. With electronic data increasingly replacing printed documentation, new strategies are needed for dealing with regulatory compliance. Discover how these regulations can affect the use of learning management systems (LMSs) for employee training.
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To reduce time to market and realize the full value of its intellectual property, Cadbury plc needed to ensure compliance with government regulations. The company launched a long-term data management strategy, which included storing all data in a central repository—a product lifecycle management (PLM) system. Find out how Cadbury not only ensured compliance but also improved its response to consumer and customer queries.
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Today’s fiscal awareness is putting pressure on companies to cut costs to maximize profitability by shortening order-to-cash cycles, while increasing business process efficiency. One area commonly overlooked is the manual delivery (via e-mail or fax) of created documents. Find out about common document delivery challenges in the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system—and solutions you can use to solve them.
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Small and medium businesses are especially vulnerable to disruptions caused by e-mail loss, compliance demands, and the threat of e-discovery. Yet these companies may not have adequate resources to deal with these risks on their own. Learn how your business can benefit from e-mail archiving, and in particular a hosted e-mail archiving service, to combat data loss, and realize greater productivity and competitiveness.
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As more corporations adopt instant messaging (IM), chief information officers (CIOs) and IT managers are learning that it can be a serious source of liability and security exposure. Users, it seems, simply don’t understand the losses and exposures that can result from incautious IM use. Find out how security software solutions can help you reap the benefits of IM without exposing your company to unnecessary risk.
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The increasing use of virtualization allowed managed hosting providers to reduce costs by sharing infrastructure between customers, creating the earliest versions of what is now known as cloud computing. Platforms managed by specialists provide higher service levels, greater ease of secure access, and more manageable costs than many companies can achieve internally. Discover more about Europe’s managed hosting market.
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Teamwork requires data to be shared, but security must be maintained. Folder encryption is an essential part of corporate security and protecting intellectual property. Secure Folder can provide a secure electronic workstation. Files and folders can be secured for users’ personal use, or configured so they are available for the shared, exclusive use of a selective group. Find out more about a desktop encryption solution.
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Secure Mail is a plug-in that integrates into Microsoft Outlook. The main functions of Secure Mail are provided in the toolbar or the menu. It’s possible to pre-assign various setup options before the software is rolled out, which can be locked so that the user can no longer change the default settings. Learn more about the main properties of Secure Mail and get an overview of the possible configurations the product offers.
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Sadly, a division exists between business analysts and IT—they often perform separate data-related duties. There are benefits for companies that unite business analytics with business intelligence. But the adaptive information cycle—a model linking the center-out approach of traditional data warehousing to the emergent prototyping typifying today’s analytic environment—is not as complex as it may sound. Learn more.
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Knowledge management requires a platform that identifies all data associated with business processes—and the people that participate in or have responsibility for them. A true enterprise information management platform helps capture knowledge: it captures tacit knowledge as workers perform daily tasks and converts it to actionable knowledge items. Learn how knowledge management is vital to the nuclear industry.
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To do their jobs, knowledge workers use the gamut of media and technologies. However, although the proliferation of new means to locate and access data has multiplied the amount of information available to these workers, it’s also made the efficient dissemination, management, and processing of data more burdensome. Find out more about how collaborative tools are—and aren’t—being used in the information-sharing workplace.
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Survey data shows that companies want to improve their strategic business partnerships. Reflecting on lessons learned from past business relationships, 60 percent of respondents say that in future they’ll place more emphasis on developing personal relationships and setting expectations with business partners. Find out how these companies are creating collaborative networks that include business partners and consumers.
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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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The current global economic instability means firms have to quickly adapt to business conditions. This uncertainty may increase companies’ reliance on business alliances to provide as-needed skills, services, and products. To optimize these alliances, finance should enter the discussion as early as possible. Find out where finance’s true value lies when realigning strategic objectives to include business collaboration.
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Electronic product code information services (EPCIS) is a standard mechanism for inter-company collaboration and data sharing, which can enable health care partners to deploy solutions that meet short-term mandates driven by patient safety, as well as lay the foundation for long-term business value. Learn more about the impact of EPCIS in a study concerning data management and data sharing in the health care supply chain.
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It’s still a must-have to manage faxes and e-mail across your trading partners. You need a simple way to automate these transactions into a single system, speed up cash cycle times, reduce errors—and save time. Learn about the value-added network (VAN) from Inovis, and discover how it can help you convert inbound e-mail and fax transactions and convert outbound transactions to fax, with transaction visibility.
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The Internet allows us to access information from anywhere in the world. However, access to documents is a barrier to many remote workers and travelers who rely on people in the office to retrieve files from cabinets and fax or e-mail those documents. Learn how document management systems (DMSs) can help create, manage, audit, and retain documents in a company-wide, controlled, and remotely accessible filing structure.
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Electronic document management systems (EDMSs) are used by companies to organize and streamline their document processes to increase productivity and efficiency. Integration between the EDMS and the customized software results in desirable improved efficiencies and savings. This integration can be accomplished using an application program interface (API) that comes along with the EDMS application. Find out how.
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The global economic downturn is impacting the way we do business. Many companies are looking to optimize costs. The best way to ensure your company’s survival is through strategic planning. High-level managers face many challenges that can be overcome by managing risks and tracking project progress and budgets. Find out why the key to success involves having the right information at the right level at the right time.
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A new set of business practices is creeping into the way companies sell to customers. Some call this new trend “Sales 2.0,” because many of the tools and methods fueling it are rooted in the Web 2.0 movement. Many companies are trying to harness the forces of Web 2.0 to apply them to their sales and marketing efforts. Discover how using collaborative technologies can help you sell your products and services more easily.
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Monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the financial health of a company is a basic need that requires effective tools and processes to optimize the end result. Underpinning this is the requirement for planning capabilities, using scenario and what-if analysis with simulations and other forward-looking capabilities. The new primary research presented in this report shows that most organizations still have much to do.
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There are two basic approaches available for organizations to offer their team members collaboration, communication, and intranet functionality: the in-house model (also known as “on premise”), and the outsourced model (also known as “on demand”). Learn more about these approaches, with a particular focus on their cost considerations, with a comparison of collaboration tools from HyperOffice and Microsoft Exchange.
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Historically, growing companies have been prevented from leveraging communications and collaboration technologies, as many collaboration solutions were crafted with big business—and big budgets—in mind. Compare HyperOffice with Microsoft Exchange to examine how their functionalities can meet your needs, and which collaboration system will cost you more—both in terms of licensing costs and long-term maintenance.
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Collaboration technology is the new e-mail. But how do you know which collaboration solution will best suit your needs? Compare the comprehensive functionality of Microsoft SharePoint with HyperOffice, including e-mail, collaboration, document management, intranet/extranet, content management, and support. HyperOffice has been designed specifically for Outlook users who want the functionality of Microsoft Exchange.
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As a business development manager, you may see SharePoint as just another development platform for enterprise development. But many businesses have identified SharePoint Server 2007 as one of the most powerful collaboration tools in the world. Microsoft SharePoint Server can do more than just manage your content—SharePoint has the ability to develop faster and smooth deployment across your enterprise. Find out how.
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Companies using traditional means cannot cost-effectively respond to daily threats. Analyzing such threats is cumbersome and time-consuming, involving multiple applications for code analysis, as well as a network of computers. Emerging threats cannot be addressed by the same human resources as in the past. Learn how those expert skills and knowledge have been transferred to a data security system with artificial intelligence.
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Given today’s economic climate, companies are looking to create more value by reducing risk and saving costs. As companies increasingly rely on data networks encompassing an ever-growing range and number of internet protocol (IP)-enabled devices and applications, they need to more effectively administer and manage these assets—they can no longer take the management of their IP networks for granted.
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The new web-borne threats attacking business networks are more intense and sophisticated than ever. Methods using rich media, web 2.0 collaboration tools, and a host of other technologies expose networks to a new breed of web security threats. Find out what the latest web security threats are, including the risks and business impact these threats represent, and understand the advantages of hosted security solutions.
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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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Getting the right content management system (CMS) to fit your needs is essential to the successful delivery of online communications and information management. Sadly, companies often find themselves with a CMS product that fails to meet objectives set for it. Don’t lose your way during the CMS solution procurement process—discover the seven cardinal sins of choosing CMS software and how to avoid committing them.
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The demand for content management systems (CMSs) is undisputed, as businesses wrestle with the exponential growth of data flowing in and out of various storage devices. Swift and easy access to content is essential in nearly every aspect of business today. However, many enterprise content management (ECM) systems are not deployed properly. Find out how to choose an ECM system that your employees will find easy to use.
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How much time do you waste juggling multiple applications or searching for documents instead of focusing on your customers and prospects? Salesforce.com and Google, two software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, have teamed up to bring together Web-based business applications that can streamline communication and collaboration. Find out how to take advantage of the benefits of SaaS to meet more of your business needs.
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E-mail is a prime communication channel for business, so e-mail security has a high priority. But as budgets tighten, it’s more difficult to keep up with new threats to e-mail security. Sustaining and enhancing security while optimizing your budget can be done with a cost-effective solution that optimizes your existing investments in technology, people, and processes. Find out what a network appliance can do for you.
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Because business processes are often communicated in an ad hoc and unregulated manner, it can be difficult to standardize processes across organizations, particularly larger ones. TEC analyst PJ Jakovljevic takes you on a guided tour through workflow automation—or business process management (BPM)—and shows how these solutions can help ensure standardized adoption of processes, with highlights on several key BPM vendors.
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A new, connected way of working is breaking down the old, functional silos of activity that kept workers isolated in their desktop cubicles. Rippling across the modern, web-enabled workplace, it links people wherever they work and collaborate—in workplaces, virtual spaces, meeting rooms, and mobile devices. Learn how on-demand applications can combine to create productive, adaptable information sharing and workflow.
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Before you commit to a web conferencing solution, you should answer several questions about what your organization wants to accomplish with an online collaboration tool. It’s equally important to understand your company’s requirements—from features and functions, to pricing, deployment, and support. Following the steps on this checklist can help you choose the web conferencing solution that delivers the greatest value.
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Organizations are dealing with a new organizational model. Employees often work remotely, and they interact with teammates, peers, and customers through the phone, Internet, and instant messaging. Their managers may be in other cities. Learn how talent management and social networking technology can help align your company, and allow employees to collaborate efficiently, without a traditional top-down management model.
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Contact center managers are expected to provide high levels of customer satisfaction while increasing revenues and controlling costs. How can you reconcile these seemingly opposing goals? One solution is to implement a performance management process using a technology-enabled closed-loop coaching framework. Find out how they can result in a powerful return on investment for your company and improve agent productivity.
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SchoolKidz provides an approach to fulfilling the school supply needs of students, parents, and educators. In 2007, Staples acquired the company, with plans to grow SchoolKidz’s annual revenue. To support the forecasted growth, SchoolKidz upgraded its business management solution. The new solution allows the company to create reports, place orders, and share information with an online collaboration tool. Find out how.
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To address the needs of customers as well as emerging workplace trends, Microsoft focused the design of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 around four key goals. They are: working more efficiently with better results, collaborating with others across boundaries, making better use of information, and streamlining processes and controlling content. These goals correspond to long-term investment areas that Microsoft began with Microsoft Office 2003 and continues to focus on today.
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This white paper highlights the key challenges facing the manufacturing industry, and discusses how the 2007 Microsoft® Office system can help maximize employee contributions and enhance business performance with innovative and powerful enterprise capabilities.
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Unsurprisingly, research shows that the majority of companies see their future predicated on how well they can innovate. However, just throwing IT technology at issues in the hope that innovation will happen is not viable. Ideas are ephemeral and easily crushed within the wrong environment. Creating a suitable culture, allied with a well implemented idea management approach combined with strong leadership, is required.
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To meet the challenges of our global, information-based economy, employees and teams must work more efficiently and effectively with information. Solving these challenges requires tools and technology to manage vast amounts of data, facilitate information flow, and simplify the ways people work together. The technologies that comprise the 2007 Microsoft® Office system can help your company achieve these goals. Learn how.
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Operating as a provider of dairy products to consumers and of agricultural services products to farmers and ranchers, Land O’Lakes had two challenges. One was to educate the people selling the agricultural services products so they would know what to recommend to farmers. The other was to retain those people. Learn how Land O’Lakes used a learning management solution as part of its expert seller strategy.
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Web 2.0 technologies are gaining greater acceptance in the workplace, as they promote intra- and inter-organizational collaboration and productivity. The marriage of these technologies with three-dimensional (3-D) virtual world technology will bring even greater opportunities. Find out how these technologies have potential not just for collaboration and productivity, but also for learning and innovation.
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If there's one constant in any business today, it's pressure. And dealing with pressure can lead managers toward the temptation of taking complete control. However, this often stifles the one element that enables companies to break away from the pack: employee-driven innovation. Learn why empowering your customer-facing employees is the new path to achieving extraordinary, sustainable results—and find out how to do it.
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For businesses of all sizes, especially those lacking the IT resources and budget for an in-house e-mail archiving solution, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution may offer a feasible and effective alternative. SaaS e-mail archiving can be implemented in days rather than months, eliminate upfront hardware and software costs, and get transparent, continuous upgrades. Discover the other benefits of SaaS e-mail solutions.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) issues can often be traced to ineffective processes involving human communication. But you can overcome the limitations of marketing, sales, and service processes. With communication-enabled business processes—powered by communications systems integrated with business applications—you can have more visibility into interactions and improve your end-to-end performance. Learn more.
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To better support mobile employees, Lifetime Products deployed a unified messaging solution focused on the flexibility of wireless devices. Using features in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Lifetime replaced its voice mail system with a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution, and streamlined access to e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages. Learn how this solution helped the company boost productivity and reduce costs.
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Craft brewery New Belgium found it challenging to integrate its old networking and e-mail system with its applications from other vendors. The company decided to implement a new Microsoft® IT infrastructure, including Exchange Server 2007. Among other benefits, the company expects a big reduction in IT administration time, and an improved ability to use its wealth of business information to help drive its operations forward.
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As Expedia’s early rapid growth stabilized, the online travel company’s IT department sought ways to help employees become more productive and collaborate more effectively across long distances. Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 was deployed and integrated with Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Services. Discover how Expedia benefits by enabling remote users to access network documents, and more.
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The new world of work is here. Businesses are already feeling the impact of a dispersed workforce, pervasive connectivity, and the watchful eyes of shareholders and government regulators. In such an environment, a more collaborative business is key to greater success. A robust communication and collaboration platform can add value to your workforce and help you turn the new world of work into a new world of opportunity.
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Engineering firm Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon, Inc. needed to collaborate more efficiently across its 11 offices in the eastern United States. The firm chose ProjectWise collaboration software for engineering content management, content publishing, and design review, and integrated it with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, to manage business processes and documents in a distributed environment. Find out more.
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Until recently, St. Vincent Heart Center used an HTML-based intranet to disseminate various types of information to its 470 employees and 200 contract workers. But information on that system wasn’t easy to find. Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 offers the organization easy access to information—and it enhances productivity and supports increased security for confidential information. Read more about the benefits.
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Before any medium-to-large company implements Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, it’s important to become familiar with the process that may occur. Included in this practical scenario, using a fictional company, are typical approach and implementation techniques that may come up when planning, customizing, and deploying Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Learn more about the features and functionality available.
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Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services have created the virtual office, allowing workers to connect and collaborate wherever they are. A VoIP network consolidates audio, video, Web conferencing, and data into one communications server for a flexible, efficient system that enables your employees to share information more easily. Discover the four advantages of VoIP solutions, for a remote—and more productive—office.
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Walk the halls of any business, stand around any water cooler, and you’ll hear it. People are talking about last night’s TV show, what their families are up to, even what the weather will be. But wait, there’s something more. Hear it? They’re talking about work—projects and problems, ideas they have, solutions they’ve found. Welcome to the world of informal learning. Now find out how you can capture its business value.
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Speed and agility are increasingly important elements to success in a wide variety of domains. As a result, the Internet is becoming a more dynamic, user-centric, real-time environment. In this white paper, we explore characteristic technologies of the real-time Internet and how enterprises, governments, service providers, and other organizations can leverage those technologies to build competitive advantage.
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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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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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Microsoft SharePoint products and technologies are server applications that can provide organizations with an integrated solution for collaboration, content management, business processes, business intelligence (BI), enterprise search implementation, and portal development. Find out how SharePoint can meet your intranet, extranet, and Internet needs, and compare offerings for all levels and groups of users.
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PropertyInfo, a provider of real estate information solutions, needed a unified view of its 20 different global customer support centers in order to provide more consistent quality. A customer support solution enables the company to manage incident information, automate service ticket processing, and give end-to-end views of the customer experience. Find out more about the how the company improved customer satisfaction.
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A school district in Missouri sought to optimize the booking and scheduling of its newly modernized conference and meeting spaces. Its old scheduling software was frustrating, as it was difficult to customize and configure. But after installing Meeting Room Manager, the schools are able to set specific room and equipment configurations, and post activities online as well as on a public viewing screen. Learn more.
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Statistics show that nearly one-fifth of IT projects make it to the finish line—so project planners need to be aware of the primary factors that can ruin a project, and how to prevent them from happening. One of the biggest obstacles is poor team communication, even when you have the best talent and a good work environment. Learn about the top three techniques that can help you get your people working together as a team.
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According to a major IT research firm, less than 20 percent of IT projects are completed on time and on budget. Project management (PM) experts agree that internal resistance is one of the factors that can ruin a project. What does it take to get your people to say “yea” instead of “nay”? Find out other common causes of project failure, and how to encourage your team members to embrace change and communicate better.
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The prevalence of Web 2.0 demonstrates that integrating the technology used to manage Web sites is becoming easier. A similar mashup of methods for Web site marketing tools can help you measure how you communicate with customers and help deliver sales opportunities. But before you start cooking, find out how to pick the right ingredients for two simple but effective mashups for Web site subscription and content feedback.
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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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You've made the effort and created a great brand—but how do you ensure it stays intact as you diversify across multiple marketing channels, and product and service lines? Combining Web operations into an integrated marketing tool for acquisition, retention, and cross-sell can provide your company with many benefits. Learn how with 7 tips for centralizing your Web management strategy with a content management system (CMS).
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Some managers have concluded that strategic planning is nothing more than an exercise in futility, to be taken out and dusted off at annual meetings. However, strategic planning can still help direct your company and improve earnings. The trick is strategizing well—which means having all the information you need, when you need it. Find out how to hone your competitive edge with integrated business planning capabilities.
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In the past, training was seen as a preventive action or default activity. Then learning came into the forefront as a proactive initiative that was more strongly linked to enhancing performance. This radical change from training to learning has created a new awareness of measurement that chief executive officers (CEO) need to take note of. Discover the 7 key learning indicators that can get you started on the right path.
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Look at any office around the world and you’ll see how the workplace has changed dramatically in the last decade. Rapidly changing technology coupled with geographical dispersion has meant that organizations need to be more flexible than ever. Workers too have had to face this constant change and need to retool themselves to not only adapt, but survive. Discover how collaborative technology is becoming their saving grace.
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Canadian manufacturers are getting squeezed. Challenged by a rising Canadian dollar, forced to hold the line on prices in the US market, pressured by customer demand for lower prices, better quality, and quicker service, these manufacturers need a way to retain their competitive edge and increase bottom-line profitability. Find out why product data management (PDM) is a solution you can turn to in these challenging times.
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If you’re moving toward outsourcing and a dispersed workforce, deploying a centralized knowledge and document repository is going to be one of your biggest challenges. All users, regardless of their location, expect reasonable application response times to actively participate in the knowledge exchange process within your organization. Find out what you can do to overcome this challenge—before it hits your bottom line.
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The first step in any enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation involves bringing together the team that will plan and implement the project—your ERP task force. But who should be a part of this task force and why? Selecting the right people is imperative and can play a major role in determining the success or failure of your ERP effort. Find out about what you should beware of when assembling your team.
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Nearly half of all US companies have serious data quality issues. The problem is that most are not thinking about their business data as being valuable. But in reality data has become—in some cases—just as valuable as inventory. The solution to most organizational data challenges today is to combine a strong data quality program with a master data management (MDM) program, helping businesses leverage data as an asset.
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Some social networking tools, such as e-mail and instant messaging, are already used in the public sector. Emerging tools, such as blogs and wikis, can also be beneficial, allowing more efficient sharing of information, and greater input in decision-making processes. But, there are also headaches involved in managing security issues. Learn about the advantages and how to avoid the disadvantages of new collaboration tools.
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The quantity of business information is doubling at an alarming rate. How can a proactive manager keep on top of it? A tool that merges and unifies information from a variety of sources and formats can help. That tool should also analyze data and identify inputs as indicators of future actions or outcomes, so problems can be solved before they happen. The bottom line: better data analysis means better decision making.
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What’s all this hype about wikis anyway? According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, wikis are descending from the crest of a hype wave and coasting into areas where real business value can be recognized. Why? Because their ability to allow corporate users to collaborate on any number of internal projects in an online environment where everyone is given an equal voice is not only empowering, but speeds the process of innovation.
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In today’s business world, heightened privacy concerns and tightened regulations such as the US Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act have forced organizations to improve their workflow and archival and records management processes. That's why many results-oriented organizations are now using workflow software—bringing together people, processes, and documents to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and meet compliance requirements.
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IT is often characterized as distinct groups pursuing individual agendas and launching disconnected initiatives to increase operational efficiencies. To overcome this, organizations need a set of capabilities that can help improve coordination between IT and the rest of the business while facilitating effective service management. Adopting foundational technologies and a best-practice benchmark is a good place to start.
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Despite all the attention the newest breed of desktop search has received in the press, here’s what the media hasn’t told you: 1) today’s newcomers aren’t ready for the enterprise; 2) desktop search is not new; and 3) you get what you pay for. Find out more—and get a 12-step checklist that will help you determine your needs, and evaluate and select the desktop search tool that’s right for you.
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Improving the content of technical publications is possible with a product development system (PDS). A PDS solution can automate and optimize the technical publishing process and can end publication bottlenecks caused by launch delays due to poor process. A PDS solution allows for concurrent development of products and publications—keeping your engineering and publishing departments in sync.
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Discover the best way to optimize Microsoft Office 2007 SharePoint Server applications and reduce network costs. Learn how download times of commonly accessed documents across a wide area network can be reduced from over four minutes to less than one second. In extreme scenarios (with user response times in excess of 10 minutes), find out how you can reduce the workflow wait down to 15 seconds!
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The increasing necessity of Web-based telecommunications means that businesses are choosing to streamline operations with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). But what’s in it for you? Should you make the switch? Read about the top reasons other businesses are adopting VoIP applications—and see how the integration of voice, data, and video can open up a world of opportunity for enhanced communication.
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Whether you’re a manufacturer, vendor, or customer service company, the increasing pressure to make sales and decrease service costs affects you. The key to its success is to look at your customer experiences as repeatable life cycles. Instead of viewing sales and service as independent challenges—solved by using disconnected software packages—an integrated solution that accelerates the total life cycle may be the answer.
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Knowledge management (KM) can mean different things to an organization depending upon the nature of the initiative. KM is not a technology or set of methodologies, but a practice or discipline that involves people, processes, and technology. If implemented correctly, a KM initiative can improve the productivity and efficiency of an entire organization. With these ten basic principles, your organization can learn how.
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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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For chemical producers Akzo Nobel, managing a complex supply chain producing more than 2,000 chemical products was an extremely complex task. Akzo Nobel decided to implement a multi-user sales and operations planning (S&OP) system that would be available company wide. Increasing its forecast visibility raised awareness of critical issues earlier—thus reducing inventory and increasing productivity on a global scale.
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For thermosetting resins producer Hexion Specialty Chemicals, a portfolio of over 50,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) created unique supply chain efficiency challenges. Hexion needed better supply chain management—the key to sustaining growth and profits. In adopting Zemeter solutions, Hexion reduced inventory by more than 20 percent and increased margins—exactly what Hexion needed to stay competitive on a global scale
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For dried fruit producer Sunsweet, a spreadsheet-based planning system just wasn’t working. After reviewing several solutions, Sunsweet selected the Zemeter supply chain planning suite to eliminate the repetitive work involved in spreadsheet management. Zemeter’s accurate forecasting and planning process ended up saving Sunsweet money by increasing production line efficiency and reducing overruns by 18 percent.
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Customers, employees, and partners are an integral part of any business—each playing an important role in its success. But how is it possible to share vital information between them? In order to access information, understand trends, and build better processes, a system that enables multi-user collaborative technologies is required. Without these collaboration tools, business process management (BPM) cannot be successful.
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To play any popular online computer game, all a user needs is a computer and an Internet connection. But there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes than this gamer may realize. In order to interact in a shared virtual environment, the system the user connects to requires technology capable of creating, operating, and modifying persistent, distributed, three-dimensional virtual worlds.
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One person’s freedom to pirate is another person’s loss of royalty revenue. Every day, millions of Internet users are downloading copyrighted materials—music, movies, TV shows, and more. Although this is illegal under most countries’ copyright laws, it doesn’t stop them. What’s worse is they don’t even see themselves as criminals. Piracy isn’t going away, and content owners and governments need to regain control.
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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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In 2004, Microsoft offered a midwestern-US-based financial services corporation a range of options to renew and replace its existing enterprise agreement. But without the right negotiating skills, how could it be certain Microsoft’s offer was the most cost-saving approach? The company engaged an independent consulting firm, and in less than three weeks recognized savings of 28 percent on a $3 million (USD) agreement.
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The clock is ticking for Canadian manufacturers to come up with a solution to the ongoing loss of knowledge capital. Natural employee attrition, such as departures or layoffs, inevitable retirement, and the brain drain are contributing to an exodus of knowledge. That’s why the best hope for Canadian manufacturers lies in introducing knowledge management strategies across the enterprise—before it’s too late.
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Small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) encounter many of the same challenges as larger companies in unlocking information from the data they collect, yet they lack cost-effective solutions. Many must choose between expensive business intelligence solutions or complicated homegrown solutions. With many hosted reporting solutions now available, SMBs have an option that may meet their requirements—at a fraction of the cost.
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Information management, which includes both data and content management, is an essential element of service-oriented architecture (SOA). Taking a service-oriented approach to information data can thus help you achieve greater value from your information assets. Implementing master data management (MDM) services can provide a multiplier effect, by delivering high-value business services over and above information integration services.
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While it’s great to find ways to keep up with mountains of e-mail, organizations must remember that e-mail is not a lightweight communication tool anymore. For people and organizations swamped by critical information, throwing messages away is just not an answer. Increasingly, knowledge workers are turning to searching to manage the volume and value of information sitting in their in-boxes.
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Knowledge workers by the millions are leveraging desktop search (DTS) tools. However, with change comes risk, and failing to proactively establish policies and lock down a centrally managed DTS solution can result in significant civil and criminal liabilities. But by following a few basic principles, companies can realize the full benefits of this new technology, while enhancing their information security.
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Today’s $12 billion (USD) knowledge management (KM) market provides comprehensive solutions to large organizations. However, implementing such solutions requires significant resources and depends on behavioral changes by employees. As a result, KM efforts often fall short of their goals. Shifting focus to end user features offers significant benefits to government organizations and their employees—and improves the odds of success.
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Although short message service (SMS) messaging is a cheap and efficient communication channel, many enterprises are still reluctant to deploy it as a corporate tool. At issue is its lack of reliability and security while transmitting information. The enterprise SMS market thus has to evolve from the person-to-person infrastructure into a model that supplies businesses with secure and scalable messaging.
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Implementing technology without the proper people and processes in place only means bad service is delivered faster. Indeed, the employee brain trust is critical to succeeding in today’s knowledge economy and customer-centric environment. Yet according to numerous industry analysts, a staggering 55 to 70 percent of customer relationship management (CRM) and contact center projects fail to meet their objectives. Why?
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Quality data in the supply chain is essential in when information is automated and shared with internal and external customers. Dirty data is a huge impediment to businesses. In this article, learn about the four critical success factors to clean data: 1- scope, 2- team, 3- process, and 4- technology.
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There are compelling reasons to transform into an on-line corporation; more are surfacing daily. The common reason is the need to run the entire business under total, on-line, unified, synchronized operational and functional control. Learn how to monitor live action, and correlate and unify operations and finance to ensure the availability of instantaneous financial and operational performance insights.
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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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QlikTech develops and provides a complete suite of powerful business intelligence and data analysis software called QlikView (pronounced click-view). QlikView’s powerful business intelligence and analytics engine is utilizing patented AQL technology to build a non-relational, highly space-efficient associative database residing in RAM. This results in interactive, easy-to-use business analytics applications that are considerably more flexible and faster to deploy compared with traditional business intelligence and OLAP solutions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the QlikView user interface and descriptions of the various features that set QlikView apart from other database interfaces.
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