FEATURE: The Wisdom Of Integral Management Vs. Corporate Narcissism

Meetings: Corporate Narcissism? (Photo credit: lhl)

by Mats Eriksson

You have probably already heard this ancient wisdom tale: There was once a king who wanted to marry off his daughter. Naturally he wanted to find a smart and wise son-in-law. So he arranged a test for all her suitors. They had to go into a dark room and determine what was in it.

Finance reports ‘out of date’ and ‘inaccurate’ – survey

Stack ’em high (Photo credit: ant.photos)

46 per cent of finance departments believe reports they produce are never used

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Nearly half of managers and directors view reports produced by someone else no more than once per week. An alarming 46 per cent of finance professionals believe that they produce reports that are never used and 63 per cent believe that senior managers should make more use of financial information.

Smart grids at risk from cyber security in intelligent buildings

Intelligent building system – diagram.

Cyber attacks render smart grids intrinsically unsafe

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Building owners and designers, and particularly members of the building services industry, are racing to implement intelligent buildings and smart grids, aaccording to new research from a London academic institution.

LATEST FEATURE: Morale versus execution – the great debate

Esprit de corps or hive-minded automata? Picture: justified sinner

BY JOHN TREACE

Morale-the esprit de corps or “spirit of the body”-is the capacity of a group of people to hold a common spirit of loyalty and comradeship.

We think of morale as being deep-seated in the psych of the individual or group. Execution, on the other hand, is the process of reaching an objective as the result of performance. A team’s ability to execute is more of a surface measurement that’s easily evaluated by an outside observer.

Testing times as MTI proffers EMC cloud virtualization tools

Virtualization

MTI adds EMC VNX to its Solutions Centres

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ A new European cloud virtualisation platform has been launched for enterprise ‘proof-of-concept’.

Cloud infrastructure consultancy MTI has just revealed details of its plans to add EMC VNX capabilities, enabling testing of performance and functionality within a fully-integrated virtualisation architecture within a three-location cloud environment.

Content monetization set for long tail of COMET

Wipro's floating, learning centre in India

Wipro launches digital content monetization COMET for media and telecommunications providers

BY PAUL QUIGLEY

ECM Plus – Wipro Technologies has launched a new system dubbed as COMET, a digital content monetization system which claims to help media and telecommunications companies to implement novel content offerings,

According to the Indian company, COMET is targetted at publishers as well as telcos, and entertainment studios, music labels, and TV and cable networks.

FEATURE: Key considerations for ‘cloudsourcing’ contracts – CAMM

Cloud computing sample architecture

BY JOHN WALKER

Economics dictates that the CEO, and CFO have a balancing act delivering security, and quality operational services, whilst at the same time, attempting to reduce the organisational and operational costs of delivering the business’ mission.

One opportunity in focus is that of ‘CloudSourcing’, where, depending on the size and type of business, they may be considering engaging in a contract in which part, or all, of their operations are placed into the hands of a Cloud Provider, be this SaaS, PaaS, IaaS or any other such ‘Anything-as-a-Service’ that may accommodate the operational model.

Cloud goes into interstellar overdrive with C12G’s partner programme

Diagram showing scale of cloud computing

Partners can build, promote and sell cloud offerings in cahoots with C12G Labs

BY PAUL QUIGLEY

ECM Plus – OpenNebula open-source toolkit specialist C12G Labs has just unveiled a new partner programme to help develop strong business alliances with partners that understand cloud technology and its applications.

According to C12G Labs, it willprovide its partners with a customisable and flexible cloud management technology and the professional services to create novel cloud offerings and speed up their delivery to users.

The company said that the main objective of its partner programne would be to align developments and technologies to meet customer’s needs as well as to bolster support for the design and development of joint cloud products and services.

Three types of partnerships are offered, including ‘channel partners’ authorised to sell solutions and products that use OpenNebulaPro; ‘service partners’ are authorised to offer integration and consulting services around OpenNebulaPro as well as utility services based on OpenNebulaPro; as well as ‘technology partners’ who can provide a technology, product or service that complements OpenNebula and are also uthorised to advertise their compatibility.

C12G Labs added that the partner programme would combine deep software and service discounts with training, technical, integration and certification support to help partners create value.

Copies of the C12G Labs partner programme guides can be requested from partners@c12g.com.

consolio enters ECM consultancy market

Image by mimax via Flickr

National enterprise content management practice dedicated ECM team taps expertise, custom application development capabilities for document management

BY PAUL QUIGLEY

ECM Plus – consilium1 has launched its new Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Practice Group to help enterprise clients in the private sector, such as insurance, financial, legal and healthcare – as well as the public sector/government.

The firm hopes to help prospective ECM users manage their information and to comply with new government-driven regulations.

It said the creation of a dedicated ECM group was on account of experience in the implementation of ECM projects. The firm added it would also provide a team of professionals with expertise in a variety of ECM solutions.

“As we continue to help shape the industry with a number of successful and innovative ECM implementations, we feel it’s the perfect time to launch a dedicated national practice group to support our efforts in the ECM space”

Performing complicated consolidations from disparate ECM systems, consilium1 is able to leverage its proven process methodologies and custom tool suites to successfully migrate content for clients, typically ahead of schedule. Based on a client’s individual needs, consilium1 provides custom solutions that greatly increase service levels, eliminate a substantial amount of licensing and operating costs, and generate a significant ROI within the first year.

consilium1 is partners with a number of ECM vendors, such as Alfresco, Documentum, Livelink, SharePoint and FileNet.

It uses a proprietary phased-engagement model that delivers significant operational efficiencies for clients. Providing a range of complete end-to-end services that include design consultation, implementation, application migration and data migration, the consilium1 ECM practice group also develops custom applications to streamline document migration and achieve an easier and more efficient ECM transition.

This experience and expertise allows the consilium1 Enterprise Content Management Group to evaluate an organization’s specific challenges and recommend the best solution for their business.

“As we continue to help shape the industry with a number of successful and innovative ECM implementations, we feel it’s the perfect time to launch a dedicated national practice group to support our efforts in the ECM space,” said Mike Brady, consilium1’s vice president of professional services. “Our proven tools and best practice methodologies allow us to guarantee cost efficiencies for our clients that are not offered anywhere else in the industry.”

Open Data Center Alliance forms for cloud standards

Data centre storage. Picture: Waleed Alzuhair

Cloud and collaboration interest group touts new models for data centres

ECM Plus – by Paul Quigley – The Open Data Center Alliance, a Consortium of Leading Global IT Managers, Launches with Mission to Define Requirements for Next Generation Data Centers and Cloud Infrastructure
With Over $50 Billion in Collective IT Spending, Members are Committed to the Alliance’s
Vendor-Agnostic Roadmap to Help Guide Purchasing Decisions and Data Center Planning

The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA), a new independent consortium of global IT vendors, has just been formed, launching a new version 0.5 vendor-agnostic Usage Model Roadmap comprising19 prioritised usage models to address emerging technical requirements for data centre and cloud infrastructure.

According to the ODCA, the roadmap is based on open, interoperable solutions that can be sourced from multiple vendors and interoperate across data centres.

Inaugural members of the ODCA already boast over $50 billion in aggregate IT expenditure. The firms say they are ‘committed to this Roadmap’ to guide their data centre and cloud investment decisions now and in the future.

The Alliance is led by a steering committee, made up of global IT vendors and banking institutions, including BMW, China Life, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase; Lockheed Martin,  Marriott International, National Australia Bank, Shell, Terremark and UBS. 

This core grouping are also joined with over 70 other members, representing a broad spectrum of industry firms. Chip giant Intel is the Alliance’s current technical advisor.

ODCA stated that it has three levels of membership: steering committee, contributor and adopter membership.

Adopter-level membership is open to anyone building cloud or data centre infrastructure and is unencumbered by vendor interests. Alliance members have the opportunity to review and comment on the Usage Model Roadmap prior to public distribution, and have access to members-only events and Alliance membership networking opportunities.

The Alliance said it also planned to drive extensive vendor engagement to ensure that Alliance Roadmap and usage model requirements reflected the full scope of industry capability.

“With over 70 total members – and that number is expected to grow every day – we believe the Open Data Center Alliance will quickly become a leading voice of the IT community” commented Marvin Wheeler, Chief Strategy Officer, Terremark, and Open Data Center Alliance Chairman and Secretary.

“Lockheed Martin is committed to leveraging partnership and innovation to meet its customer missions from reducing costs to increasing performance and optimizing service delivery. The Open Data Center Alliance will facilitate collaboration and provide a roadmap to industry and government to influence cloud and data center infrastructure and technical requirements” added Curt Aubley, vice president and CTO of Cyber Security & NexGen Innovation at Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions, and Open Data Center Alliance president.

ODCA added that it had also set up five technical workgroups focused on Infrastructure, management, security, services and government & ecosystem.

Each workgroup would fully define the requirements of each prioritised usage model toward the future delivery of a detailed technical documentation suite, to be used by vendors and members as guidance for deployment.

Working groups would also be chartered to finalise the current 0.5 Roadmap with a public delivery of the Roadmap and initial usage models in the first quarter of 2011.

Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group at Intel said: “The Open Data Center Alliance has a unique opportunity to take collaboration to a new level, allowing managers of cloud and data center infrastructure to drive a unified voice of technical requirements for the industry. We’re honored to serve as a technical advisor to the organization and are committed to working with Alliance members towards delivery of their mission.”

ODCA’s technical workgroups are hosting a webcast series based on the five Usage Model categories with the first slated for November 17, publicly-available and will cover the Usage Model Roadmap development process.

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Logica cloud doc management leaves Finns contented

Toolbox to plan cloud services - Picture: keepthebyte

Logica enables Fennia to provide advanced document management services in Finland

ECM Plus – Logica is providing Finnish insurance company Fennia Mutual Insurance with a new cloud-based content management service that the company hopes to streamline document transfer to and from its broker network.

According to the company, the new cloud-based document management system has also been integrated with Fennia’s existing on-premise systems.

The service currently covers 14 insurance brokerage firms and Fennia said it plans to offer it to all brokerage firms with which it does business.

“As one of the first cloud services to be rolled out in the Finnish insurance industry, it is groundbreaking in many respects…” commented Leena-Mari Lähteenmaa, Managing Director of Logica’s outsourcing services business in Finland. “IT services are increasingly being leased or obtained on a Software-as-a-Service basis. A cloud service is not only cost-efficient, but it is also quickly deployed and scalable, which delivers business benefits, as Fennia is seeing.”

Going mobile: iCMS app punts wireless ECM market

Image via Wikipedia

CMIS-compliant connector included as ‘featured app’ in iPhone App briefing

ECM Plus – by Paul Quigley – System integrator Flatirons’ iCMS application is being featured in an Apple iPhone App newsletter this month.

iCMS, the free application that enables authorised iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to securely access CMIS-compliant enterprise content management platforms, such as EMC Documentum, Alfresco and others, can view assets and metadata, as well as participate in workflow and can view rich media on mobile devices.

But it’s not all completely free.

In addition to no-cost standard iCMS client and server modules, ‘optional components’ are also deployed as part of so-called ‘paid engagements’ as the company puts it, and are often extended to meet customer-specific requirements.

According to the company, iCMS currently supports the iOS, Android, and Blackberry OS mobile device platforms, whilst no support for Symbian or Windows Mobile is understood to be yet available.

Virgin solicits ECM in anti-fraud drive

Mobile fraud is a major problem

The Content Group rolls out FormScape to slash fraudulent ordering

ECMPlus – by Paul Quigley – Virgin Media has just rolled out Bottomline Technologies’ FormScape in consultation with enterprise content management solutions provider, The Content Group (TCG) to reduce fraudulent mobile phone orders.

Following consultation with The Content Group, Virgin Media implemented a tactical solution to capture and identify potentially fraudulent orders before they were fulfilled by the warehouse and despatched.

FormScape automatically uses Virgin Media’s database to validate purchase details on the ‘pick notes’ through a specific set of criteria, such as ensuring the delivery address is genuine. If the order then fails this criteria test, its progression to the warehouse is stopped and details are sent to the fraud risk team.

Paul Brasset, head of forward logistics at Virgin Media, commented: “By automating our fraud checks, we have achieved better efficiencies and helped reduce fraudulent activity. The Content Group provided us with details as to what the solution should look like, what could be achieved and what technology we should therefore deploy. The result has been a fast and cost-effective solution, which has significantly enhanced our sales order processing. The Content Group’s extensive knowledge and expertise of the solutions available has met all of our requirements perfectly.”

Virgin Media has over three million mobile phone customers and over a thousand outlets in the UK, as well as Virgin Media Stores, outlets within The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Dixons, Phones 4u, Comet, Tesco, John Lewis, Argos and Ryman plus hundreds of independent mobile phones dealers.

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