tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87449652425789574982009-09-24T14:18:24.950-06:00About Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft CRM and Small BusinessILVintnoreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-38619625712166648602009-05-21T00:25:00.000-06:002009-05-21T00:26:06.018-06:00

Our (so far) modest BI undertakings at Westminster have very much been joint efforts between IT and everyone else. I’ve helped to define the overall project while individual departments have partnered with an IT person to implement what they need. I have personally handled some of the dashboard development as well, but again, this is in partnership with others. As the CIO, I do have a very

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-31828719045217218722009-05-20T00:21:00.000-06:002009-05-21T00:25:16.700-06:00

It seems you can’t pick up an IT magazine, read a technical or business blog or attend a business intelligence (BI) conference without hearing about software as a service (SaaS) and the new model of software delivery. SaaS was used initially by small to medium businesses, but it is now being adopted more and more by large multinational corporations. Today we have a plethora of examples of SaaS

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-13412920713102439032009-05-15T04:49:00.000-06:002009-05-19T04:50:22.275-06:00

Great collaboration. It means eliminating boundaries of time, place and technology so that people can work together effortlessly.Today's business environment demands that people are able to communicate and share information effectively in any situation. That means eliminating the typical constraints of location and technology so employees can remain productive in or out of the office.Microsoft

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-74682319225461055282009-05-14T13:40:00.002-06:002009-05-14T13:45:43.308-06:00

You don't need new tools to gain insight into your business -- here are eight ways to make the most of what you've got.That adage from the Great Depression is making a comeback these days among corporations that are digging deep to maintain profitability using business tools they already have in-house.One of those companies is Creativity Inc., which found itself two years ago facing a serious

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-42771761764606138222009-05-11T07:15:00.000-06:002009-05-12T07:19:10.866-06:00

When I sat down with Bill McDermott, president of SAP (NYSE: SAP)'s Global Field Operations, all I wanted to talk about was whether software-as-a-service is upending traditional self-hosted software. So it almost went by me when he mentioned that SAP would soon have some Business Intelligence news. We also discussed mobile apps, plus Bill had some tough words for competitor Oracle. Click on to

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-8040324282834199572009-05-06T04:03:00.000-06:002009-05-07T04:05:11.829-06:00

By Phil WainewrightPW: Well Rand, of course, we've been having these conversations for more than ten years, since back to the dark old days of SaaS — when it was called ASP, and no one really believed that you could run software and applications in the cloud.RS: That's right. Well certainly, all of our heads were sort of in the cloud, all the early guys' heads were in the clouds back then. And

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-58916124345550125482009-05-05T09:48:00.000-06:002009-05-05T09:49:05.022-06:00

by Alex WoodieQuadrant Software last week unveiled a new release of its flagship IntelliChief document management and workflow product at the COMMON conference in Reno, Nevada. IntelliChief 2.5 brings a smattering of relatively minor enhancements, such as automatic document matching and performance metrics, which demonstrate that customers are using the product and giving Quadrant feedback on how

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-5360732480980226092009-05-05T09:34:00.000-06:002009-05-05T09:44:41.106-06:00

Canadians attend college or university not only to learn about a certain subject, but also to prepare for the workforce. So why are companies developing in-house training programs for their employees? And why are employees eagerly taking them?Because as valuable as post-secondary education is, it can never be geared entirely to training individuals for a specific job within a particular

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-18251513305613319392009-04-28T06:00:00.000-06:002009-04-29T06:01:58.923-06:00

NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW) will run on Teradata databases, a move that analysts say is great news for SAP NetWeaver BW customers.The move shores up SAP NetWeaver BW's deficiencies, which include a reputation for slow query responses, limited data volume scalability, and limited visibility into non-SAP data, according to Philip Russom, senior manager of research at The Data Warehousing

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-50216809217027218512009-04-27T05:53:00.000-06:002009-04-29T05:59:49.192-06:00

With Oracle ready to annex Sun Microsystems, there may finally exist a true, full and global counterweight to IBM's hegemony. Who else loses? Microsoft, SAP and Cisco -- and maybe even Amazon. If HP plays along and aligns with Sun and Oracle, together they could create a full-service IT powerhouse.The reported acquisition of Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) More about Sun Microsystems by Oracle (

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-53582870966677561992009-04-23T05:03:00.000-06:002009-04-29T05:04:27.347-06:00

As analysts predicted it might, Microsoft on Thursday reported the company's first ever year-over-year sales decline for the quarter ended March 31.The software maker said fiscal third-quarter sales totaled $13.65 billion, down 6 percent compared with $14.45 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Its per-share earnings were 33 cents per share, although that included severance and investment

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-86805757932929341032009-04-21T05:50:00.000-06:002009-04-29T05:51:10.469-06:00

Oracle's corporate org chart is starting to look like one of those maps of the Roman Empire or of Alexander the Great's conquests or something. It already covers great swaths of the technology industry, and it just keeps spreading in every direction.Consider for a second this paragraph, courtesy of Bloomberg: "Oracle is entering new markets as it seeks to reach $50 billion in revenue by 2012.

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-55537464805346829442009-03-13T07:24:00.000-06:002009-04-27T07:25:19.186-06:00

Good day, good morn and a good eve to one and all, and when's the last time we had two months in a row with a Friday the 13th, huh? To the astrology charts, everyone, and stay off the roads today. Yes, this is Radio CBM 98.6, all Coleman Hawkins all the time, your nose for Nooz.EGain Communications has introduced a new offering called Solution-as-a-Service (SLaaS), which company officials believe

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-41623525285525785332009-03-09T07:24:00.000-06:002009-04-27T07:24:37.590-06:00

New Delhi, March 9' 09: B.L. Kashyap, one of India’s most respected construction and infra- structure development company’s engaged All-e Technologies (Alletec)- a leader in providing Enterprise Business Solutions, as their technology partners to implement Microsoft (MS) Dynamics NAV (ERP solution from Microsoft) across their offices & project sites. The solution is based on the Alletec vertical

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-58062783354588317132009-03-03T07:05:00.000-07:002009-04-27T07:06:48.084-06:00

Financial analysts attending the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference on Tuesday questioned Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's Business Division, on Microsoft's various business plans. Elop oversees Microsoft's Business Solutions and Unified Communications Groups, which include such products as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Dynamics.The Business Division has been particularly profitable for

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-71206472597599632842009-03-02T07:04:00.000-07:002009-04-27T07:05:40.751-06:00

New, affordable UI control set offers business intelligence and rich data visualization capabilities to the massesPRINCETON, N.J. and ELSTREE, England, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Infragistics, the world leader in user interface development tools and experts in the User Experience (UX) market, today announced the immediate availability of NetAdvantage for Silverlight Data Visualization 2009 Volume 1.

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-57674027217276939102009-02-27T06:52:00.001-07:002009-04-26T06:59:18.532-06:00

It takes a lot to get different parts of Microsoft to really work together. But the current economic turmoil might just be the thing to do it.At least that's the working theory for Stephen Elop, the former Macromedia CEO who joined Microsoft a year ago to take Jeff Raikes' place running the software maker's business unit, which includes Office."It's remarkable how some of those hairiest issues or

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-42851074655786362682009-02-23T06:48:00.000-07:002009-04-26T06:52:10.256-06:00

As one of the most widely used document collaboration tools, it is no wonder organizations want to understand how to build better business processes in SharePoint. Of course, not all documents are electronic. Organizations still deal with a vast amount of paper-based information. So you look for document imaging software to help you get those documents into SharePoint easily. But once they are

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-47322508043249638902009-02-18T06:45:00.000-07:002009-04-26T06:48:18.788-06:00

Not long ago, the words "BlackBerry" and "software" didn't belong in the same sentence. Sure, your BlackBerry smartphone was capable of running software; it even came with a few applications installed. But if you were looking for a wide selection of third-party productivity apps, you were out of luck.Fortunately, things have changed. Today, people want more out of their smartphones, and phone

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-33112870539660479682009-02-17T01:34:00.000-07:002009-02-17T01:36:05.624-07:00

Leading business intelligence and analysis software company QlikView signed 15 new South African clients in January, its best month since entering the local market in 2004. The new clients include one of South Africa's biggest retailers.“January is typically a slow month, so we're enormously pleased by the number of new clients who have come on board,” says QlikView South Africa MD Davide

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-41654582870902072502009-02-12T01:35:00.000-07:002009-02-13T01:36:14.582-07:00

So we tried a Democrat, we tried a Republican, how about we try a businessman to run the Commerce Department and see what he can do with an $8 billion+ budget to help turn around the business of America.I nominate Bill Gates to be the next Secretary of Commerce and I base my nomination on three things.First, he is a rags to riches, start-up businessman who clearly has an understanding of not only

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-26352926805606762192009-02-11T01:33:00.001-07:002009-02-13T01:34:39.237-07:00

Microsoft has finally laid out its plans for the search technology acquired with the $1.3bn (£906m) purchase of enterprise search vendor Fast last year, announcing that it will integrate the Fast ESP platform with its highly popular SharePoint offering.The software giant unveiled Fast Search for SharePoint at the annual Fastforward event in Las Vegas. The new search server will add the high-end

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-36249836417445763792009-02-06T00:13:00.000-07:002009-02-12T00:14:13.738-07:00

By Michael DortchA single warehouse can be a monstrously massive management challenge, on multiple levels simultaneously. Goods, vehicles, conveyor belts, people, hardware, software - a massive juggling act on a good day.Therefore a great crucible and proving ground for business processes, and a great source of "real-life" business intelligence (BI). Which I'm defining as "knowledge that helps to

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-20599967390725666982009-02-06T00:10:00.000-07:002009-02-12T00:11:11.325-07:00

Microsoft surprised the market by announcing its intention to stop selling PerformancePoint Server (PPS) as a standalone product, just 17 months after its original launch. The fallout from the announcement is immense, marking a withdrawal from the enterprise performance management (EPM) software market and a retreat back to developing business intelligence and analytic tools (rather than

ILVintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8744965242578957498.post-441740053152161142009-02-01T01:48:00.000-07:002009-02-09T08:05:42.461-07:00

To maintain its developer ecosystem and protect its apps business, Microsoft has no choice but to loosen its grip on the Windows source code and drive down costs.Suggest that Microsoft's Windows operating system will one day become open source, and knowledgeable observers will give you a baleful look--maybe even laugh in your face. "I had to chuckle," says Forrester Research analyst John Rymer,

ILVintnoreply@blogger.com