Posts Tagged ‘Experts’
lunedì, novembre 14th, 2011
With Siri, Apple has introduced speech recognition for the smartphone. (Image: Apple)
Four million sold in one month – not a bad start for the new iPhone 4S. Admittedly, the latest version’s external features are nearly indistinguishable from those of its predecessor: a glass casing and a 3.5-inch Retina display offering 960 x 640 resolution. Under the hood, however, the iPhone 4S is sporting a number of new features, including a dual-core A5 processor capable of starting programs and loading graphics even faster. And that’s good news for more than just the gamers among us: The souped-up A5 also promises benefits in dealing with animations and complex image content.
In addition, the iPhone 4S comes with an integrated eight-pixel camera that can also shoot HD (1080p) video. The device’s exposure sensor has also been optimized to help produce quality images even in poor lighting conditions, and its face detection function should result in better portrait photos.
Siri recognizes speech
These are certainly welcome updates, but the groundbreaking innovation in the iPhone 4S goes by the name Siri. This speech recognition program interfaces with Web services to enable you to select and utilize virtually any of the device’s functions while driving to your next customer appointment, for example – using just your voice.
Speech recognition and control is nothing new. For years, many sat-nav manufacturers have been fine-tuning their devices to respond to voice commands. It may sound simple, but the technical processes involved are actually highly complex. A device truly capable of understanding everything and even recognizing dialects has yet to be invented. In Siri – for which Apple acquired the software’s inventor, SRI International – the company has brought speech recognition to a smartphone for the first time.
The iPhone functions Siri supports include phone calls, FaceTime, music, e-mail, news, reminders, notes, contacts, weather information, stock reports, online searches, a friend locator, and the device’s clock and calendar. Upon receiving the command “Call Peter Miller,” the software searches through your contacts and dials the appropriate number. Writing e-mails is also a breeze for Siri: In response to “Write an e-mail to Peter Miller,” she asks what the subject and content should be. After you dictate the message, Siri confirms receipt by returning, “Here’s your e-mail to Peter Miller.” Simply stating “send” is then enough to dispatch the message.
In this process, Siri draws on the e-mail addresses saved in your contacts. This is also where a major disadvantage rears its head: If you have Siri set to the German language, for example, she won’t recognize any English names from your address book.
Your virtual personal assistant is, however, able to group contacts. In other words, if you tell Siri the name of your boss, she will memorize it and call the right number the next time you simply say, “Call my boss.”
Tags: Business, Content, device, display, end, English, example, Experts, glass, inch, iPhone, keyboard, Message, month, Name, news, number, predecessor, program, recognition, response, Retina, security, Siri, Software, speech, start, time, Version, weather, Web
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
venerdì, novembre 4th, 2011
The AQM program for SAP partners defines standards for quality (image: Fotolia)
SAP partners looking for a way to differentiate themselves from the competition now have an additional means to show customers that they hold the key to success for their upcoming IT projects. That key is top-notch quality management and dedicated resources direct from SAP.
The SAP-supported Active Quality Management (AQM) partner accreditation program puts the spotlight on quality to help partners improve customer satisfaction, drive success, and minimize risks. And it’s getting customers’ attention, too – resulting in more bid wins for partners. “Since we work with the AQM framework, our bids are different from the competitors, especially since we offer more value to increase our customers’ satisfaction. This means higher sales,” says Sebastian Bamonde, SAP director at Tecnocom, an SAP partner in Spain that has been in the AQM program since 2010.
Quality Built In
The AQM partner quality program, part of SAP Partner Service Delivery, is designed to support SAP partners in providing more predictable, profitable implementations through unified quality standards and procedures. Participating partners receive an SAP global accreditation for the active management of their sales processes and delivery methodologies based on their fulfillment of an annual quality plan and quarterly quality reviews. Begun in 2010, the program is part of SAP’s efforts to further deepen its collaborative relationships with partners and customers and to raise awareness for quality principles.
To achieve accreditation, partners must develop a quality plan that aligns with SAP’s quality principles, fully participate in the AQM program for at least six months, complete a minimum of two sales or delivery cycles, and demonstrate lessons learned from past projects.
Upon achieving AQM accreditation, partners receive the AQM Partner Kit, which contains tools and templates to help them build up a robust quality management system in their organization. They also receive access to premium services in the form of regular, collaborative discussions with dedicated Partner Quality Advisors. These advisors underscore the value of the AQM program. With visibility of over 450 projects, they provide qualified guidance and advice to partners throughout their implementation projects. This direct and immediate collaboration with experienced SAP experts helps partners to maximize benefits and mitigate potential project risks – thus avoiding costly escalations that can damage credibility. Experts are further available to accredited partners through e-training opportunities in the form of remote, collaborative quality workshops designed to help partners grow their SAP business.
Tags: accreditation, approach, AQM, Business, confidence, customer, delivery, Director, Experts, Fenosa, Form, gas, group, Implementation, key, Kit, Management, part, partner, Plan, program, project, quality, satisfaction, Software, success, Tecnocom, Union, value
Posted in ERP, Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
venerdì, ottobre 14th, 2011
Spread the word: UK & Ireland SAP User Group conference is almost here. (screenshot: YouTube)
With hundreds of SAP professionals and business users in attendance, the annual UK & Ireland SAP User Group conference is the largest SAP-related event in the region. This year the conference will take place in Birmingham, England from November 20-22.
At the start of the event, SAP staff will provide attendees with insights into the latest product road maps and innovations for both industries – Utilities, Retail, Public Sector, and Manufacturing – and lines of business – Finance, Payroll, HR, Procurement, and New & Emerging Technologies (such as SAP HANA).
This year, there will also be a series of Demo Jams where conference-goers can see the latest solutions developed by SAP partners. In addition, SAP business users will be presenting their experiences and sharing best practices in over 80 workshop sessions.
Also new this year is a specific stream on mobility, highlighting the latest developments in mobility at SAP and featuring sessions such as “SAP on a BlackBerry” and “Mobilising SAP CRM for Field Service.” In one of the most highly-anticipated keynote addresses of the event, SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann, the man behind the deployment of over 1,000 iPads to SAP employees, will further illuminate the topic.
Next page: SAP BusinessObjects BI
Tags: addition, Attendance, Business, conference, Event, Experts, group, Information, Intelligence, iPad, Ireland, keynote, Manufacturing, Mobility, product, region, Road Map, SAP HANA, SAP UK & Ireland User Group, session, staff, user, Utilities
Posted in Business intelligence, Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
lunedì, ottobre 3rd, 2011
Diego Dzodan discusses the booming market in Mexico (Foto: Fotolia)
Q: It’s now been 7 months since you’ve taken over as managing director of SAP Mexico and Central America. What have been the important milestones so far?
Diego Dzodan:
The first milestones were setting up and executing the 100-day action plan, which allowed us to build our core processes. There were four major priorities in the plan: making the short-term numbers; solving critical customer issues; building a governance system; and finally, building a three-year strategic plan. The management team did a very good job in fulfilling the expectations of this plan. As a result, we started building a midterm plan, called the 1.3.3., which has the goal of turning our subsidiary into one of the top ten subsidiaries worldwide, by tripling our software business in three years. On a regional level, the plan is called 1.5.5., meaning that we also want to become a leading subsidiary, multiplying our software business by five in five years – which is a little more aggressive.
The other framework for evaluating our milestones consists of short-term results. During the first quarter of 2011, we grew very nicely in the software business by 63%, and in Q2 we grew 76%. Each of those milestones shows very strong results.
Q: What’s the situation in your local markets today? What are “hot topics” in the industry there right now?
The situation in general in our markets is very positive. In Mexico the economy is very healthy right now. We are having growth rates of around 4- 4.5% of the GDP, so that is a fairly optimistic scenario for our industry in general. In Central America the situation is very similar or even more positive, with economies like Panama growing 8% over the last seven years and Costa Rica growing a little less than that but on a sustained basis. We are living in a very healthy economic environment.
The other thing that is very positive in the region is a strong drive for innovation. We see a lot of customers looking for projects that lead to greater competitive advantage, more productivity, and higher margins. We also see the willingness to invest, innovate, and take some calculated risks. So, when you compare good economics with a good investment attitude towards our solutions or innovation in general, it turns out to be a very positive scenario for SAP.
Q: What challenges do customers in the region face? How does that affect SAP?
We all know that Mexico and most of Central America went through a difficult time. Now customers are leaving the crisis behind, and have a big lineup of projects that were not funded during the crisis and now need to be prioritized and executed. So, that is the first challenge for many of our customers.
The second challenge is driving productivity. Now that they have confirmed that the positive economic environment can justify many projects, these companies face a huge list of pending projects and they do not necessarily have all the time or resources to implement them.
The third challenge is the clear bottleneck in the SAP ecosystem given the strong growth rates we are experiencing. This means there might not be enough consultants and implementation specialists now that the market is growing so fast. It takes time to react to that increasing demand with capacity.
Tags: area, attachment, Business, BusinessObjects, challenge, crisis, customer, day, Director, environment, Experts, growth, half, industry, innovation, Intelligence, lot, market, Plan, portfolio, productivity, region, role, scenario, Situation, SME, Software, subsidiary, System, time, year
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
venerdì, settembre 30th, 2011
Interview: SAP Executive Board Member Vishal Sikka and SCN SVP Mark Yolton (screenshot: SAP SCN)
SAP TechEd 2011 kicked off in Las Vegas in mid-September; next up is Bangalore in October, followed by Madrid and Beijing in November. If you can’t wait, however, for TechEd to come to you, why not experience the Las Vegas keynotes, Demo Jams, lectures, and interviews again (or for the first time) on SAP TechEd Online?
The site provides you with numerous video replays of the event and exclusive interviews with SAP and industry experts. We had a glance at the offerings and compiled a must-watch list. Keep an eye out for new content added after each SAP TechEd event.
This five minute video gives a great overview of the main points in Vishal Sikka’s keynote speech on SAP HANA without the 75 minute investment. To find out where SAP is on its in-memory road map, see SAP.info’s article, “HANA Takes Over TechEd.”
Listen to Oliver Bussmann’s take on the difficulty of being CIO in a technology company where every employee is an expert.
Check out this cool collaboration tool that ultimately made Marek Kowalkiewicz the Demo Jam winner.
This session gives you an overview of the various paths you can take toward unwiring your enterprise without going into the nitty gritty developer details.
This session tells you where the Sybase solution portfolio integrates into the SAP portfolio and what you can expect to see down the road. For more information on Sybase and SAP collaboration projects, see SAP.info’s article, “5 Mobile Apps from SAP Partners.”
Tags: attachment, board, executive, Experts, Interview, member, SCN, Screenshot, SVP
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
mercoledì, agosto 17th, 2011
Jose Duarte, President of SAP Global Services (photo: SAP)
Q: SAP helps companies by delivering business transformation and innovation. How do SAP solutions bridge the gap between strategy and execution?
José Duarte: Over the past year we’ve been articulating our strategy – what our co-CEOs call our game changers – which is based on on-premise, on-device, on-demand, and orchestration. The market response has been tremendous, and customers are highly interested. For instance, many are exploring what we can offer in terms of delivering mobility capabilities and analytical components.
Q: Based on SAP’s key technology trends, what can customers expect to see from SAP Global Services in the future?
I meet with customers all the time, and without exception they want to experience tangible value with our solutions, and they want it fast. This is also reflected by the response we’re seeing with rapid deployment solutions. We’re balancing that with other aspects of our portfolio to lower costs and speed projects, while simultaneously reducing risk. You’ll also see SAP Global Services putting an emphasis on providing services that deliver high value to customers in the mid- and long-term, helping them gain more from their SAP investments.
We will also continue expanding our role as market maker, introducing SAP innovation to help gain early customer success with new solutions such as our HANA offering and in-memory computing, as well as helping customers utilize the cloud. SAP Global Services will remain in a critical role with these innovations.
Q: What’s the most important factor for ensuring that our customers are successful and see results from their implementations?
I can say that one of the fundamental elements is expectation setting. This has to happen in the earliest stage – as early as during bid discussions. Everyone involved needs to be on the same page – SAP, the customer, a partner if they’re part of it – to understand what can be accomplished, how it’ll be done…to be clear. If the customer thinks the solution is going to do something altogether different from what it can really do, the project will have problems.
That doesn’t mean other things aren’t critical, but without the correct expectations in place, it makes success on any level difficult. And for me, success isn’t just about completing a project on time and budget. I want the customer to feel the power of what SAP offers in their business, so when I ask them how things are going with their SAP system, they can respond with specifics – what they like, what needs improvement, where they are seeing gains they’ve never experienced before. Those are the fun conversations to have.
Tags: Business, customer, downtime, ecosystem, Execution, Experts, game-changer, Global, Global Services, innovation, instance, José, Jose Duarte, market, Markets, Nestlé, OnDemand, OnDevice, OnPremise, orchestration, organization, portfolio, project, Rapid Deployment solutions, response, role, solution, speed, strategy, success, transformation, value
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
martedì, agosto 16th, 2011
We’ve put the new social network Google+ through its paces (screenshot: Mashable.com)
It has the feel of an elite club: Any attempt to log in without an invitation from a current member proves futile. Since it went online on June 28, 2011, demand for access to Google+ has been feverish, with the social network having already welcomed some 20 million users into the fold. While this number does pale in comparison to Facebook’s 750 million members, the rapid growth of Google+ and the exclusive features it offers suggest it will soon present a strong challenge to the leading social network, as well as to Twitter and other online media.
Following the foundering of both Orkut and Google Wave, the search giant’s latest endeavor is still in beta; some of its features are not yet fully functional. Google has thus limited membership to avoid overtaxing its test environment. After witnessing a spike in registrations in a very short period of time, the company began compiling a waiting list for those interested in creating an account. As mentioned, those looking for immediate access will need an invitation from a registered user.
In this article, you’ll find more on the following topics:
- Circles, the Google+ method of organizing friends
- Hangouts: video telephony with YouTube integration
- Google+ on your smartphone
- Using add-ons to connect Google+ and Facebook
- Google+ in the world of business
Tags: Access, account, attachment, Circles, club, editing, Experts, Facebook, fact, function, gmail, google, group, Hangouts, Huddle, Integration, invitation, Mashable, network, online, Picasa, Screenshot, Spark, stream, telephony, user, Video, webcam, Youtube
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
giovedì, agosto 11th, 2011
Peter Lorenz shares the next steps for SAP's OnDemand portfolio (Foto: SAP AG)
What does SAP’s on-demand portfolio and roadmap look like?
Peter Lorenz: The roadmap and portfolio come in three basic dimensions. SAP Business ByDesign is a suite offering, and this is a very big part of the on-demand portfolio. Secondly, we are working on line-of-business (LoB) on-demand offerings such as SAP Sales OnDemand and SAP Sourcing OnDemand, and thirdly we are working on the people-oriented and analytical solutions, which include collaboration software like SAP StreamWork or SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand. Over time you will see that they will blend into one another. For example, collaboration services will be used in SAP Sales OnDemand or SAP Business ByDesign.
It’s important for me that we don’t go for 25 different items in the portfolio. We really need to focus on those areas where we can make a difference. This means going after those areas with the greatest business potential and where we have customers making choices today.
For the SAP Business ByDesign suite approach, we have two goals. We will continue to roll it out to the midmarket as an SME offering, but also as a subsidiary solution for large companies.
With the LoB OnDemand portfolio, which is built on the SAP Business ByDesign platform, we have a couple of things going on. We have SAP Sales OnDemand, which is now generally available in key English and German speaking countries. We are working on introducing SAP Travel OnDemand. And for the area of talent management, we are working on SAP Career OnDemand, which should go out in the first half of next year. This is very important, because it addresses two of the hottest markets, HR and sales. There, we also find our biggest competitors, so we need to push heavily this year to bring our products to market.
We also continue to work on SAP Sourcing OnDemand, an existing product that continues to be pretty successful. And we are working on sustainability, so we have SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand as well that we are already selling to our customers.
On the roadmap moving forward you will see six-month shipment cycles for all these solutions, so we will update these products two times per year.
Next Page: SAP Business ByDesign Feature Packs 3.0 and 3.5
Tags: BusinessObjects, ByDesign, carbon impact, collaboration, development, Experts, innovation, Lob, offering, OnDemand, platform, portfolio, roadmap, Sales, Sales OnDemand, SDK, Software, solution, Solutions, Sourcing, Sourcing OnDemand, Speaking, StreamWork, Travel OnDemand
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
lunedì, agosto 8th, 2011
Access SAP ERP and SAP CRM functions with your smartphone (photo: Frank Völkel)
From energy corporations and utility companies to repair shops, service providers specializing in technical service and maintenance can use the mobile applications in NEO Mobile Suite to map processes involving the SAP components for maintenance (PM), customer service (CS), quality management (QM), and utilities (IS-U) and use them while on the go. An interface to SAP Customer Relationship Management has also been available since early 2011.
NEO Mobile Suite is designed to enable service technicians working on-site for customers to create and manage orders, changes, and forms right from their smartphones or laptops. Employees’ entries are then immediately synchronized to the corresponding back-end system. The suite also makes it possible to exchange documents, generate PDFs, create digital signatures, and access SAP ERP – to check inventory or account balances, for example.
With NEO Mobile Suite, data is even available when users are offline. Any changes made to documents or master data are promptly synced whenever Internet access is restored. This process runs in the background, which ensures that service technicians always have the latest information and aren’t hindered during their work.
The only middleware: Sybase Unwired Platform
With SAP having bidden farewell to SAP Mobile Infrastructure (SAP MI) following its purchase of Sybase, NEO Mobile Suite now runs on Sybase Unwired Platform, which is to serve as the basis for all of the suite’s applications from now on.
NEO Mobile Suite is the first maintenance software to be based on Sybase Unwired Platform. It runs on any smartphone or PDA classification, and even supports operating systems like Google’s Android. As an additional benefit, Sybase Unwired Platform is the only required middleware for large companies whose employees use multiple devices with their mobile software (smartphones and laptops, for instance). The back-end interfaces and data models are also the same.
Next page: How NEO Mobile Suite works
NEO Mobile Suite’s main menu (screenshot: NEO Business Partners)
Tags: Access, Business, customer, device, Energy, example, Experts, inspection, instance, inventory, maintenance, Management, material, measurement, Middleware, mobile, NEO, Notification, order, partner, platform, recording, Service, Software, Solutions, Suite, Sybase, System, time, Unwired
Posted in ERP, Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »
venerdì, agosto 5th, 2011
SAP Business Communications Management: the software for dialog marketing (image: Fotolia)
Uniorg carries out implementation of SAP Business Communications Management
Alivello has become the first company in the field of dialog marketing to begin using SAP Business Communications Management. This IP-based communication software replaces telecommunications equipment running in parallel with a standardized platform that manages every channel of contact. SAP Business Communications Management also integrates with applications such as SAP ERP and SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) without the need for middleware, thus making phone conversations another component of business processes. The SAP partner Uniorg handled Alivello’s implementation project in just four weeks.
SAPERION survey finds e-archiving on the rise
A survey SAPERION conducted among the attendees of its recent user conference found that 50% already use electronic archiving systems, with another 15% planning to implement a similar form of document management. The survey also indicated that companies are not making the most of their options in this area – particularly with regard to digital personnel files – and that insecurity still exists in complying with provisions of data protection. According to SAPERION product manager Dr. Martin Bartonitz, electronic archiving systems give users detailed access control, especially over said digital files.
OpenText ECM + Microsoft SharePoint = savings and productivity
In the face of ever-increasing legal requirements, the energy industry, insurance companies, and banks have to invest constantly in gaining and keeping their customers’ trust. Now, two IDC studies have shown that companies that combine OpenText Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions with Microsoft SharePoint can meet their obligations while achieving a high ROI. They also determined that one of the keys in doing so is choosing a company-wide platform for process-oriented content management.
This reduces IT costs by an average of 8% every year, while users benefit from an increase in productivity of up to 68%. The studies also found that the corresponding investments can pay for themselves in just eight months (10 months in the field of finance). Both reports are available under the heading “Resources” at OpenText and Microsoft’s joint Web site, www.better-together-central.com. Those interested can also calculate their prospective ROI using the site’s “Benefits Analyst” tool.
Next page: SAP Business ByDesign, client consolidation, mobile stocktaking
Tags: Alivello, app, Business, ByDesign, Communications, Content, customer, dialog, ECM, Experts, field, Implementation, Industries, industry, Lufthansa, Management, marketing, Markets, Microsoft, need, OpenText, platform, productivity, relationship, SAPERION, SharePoint, site, Software, solution, Solutions, survey, Uniorg
Posted in Press Releases, SAP | No Comments »