Protected: Is SharePoint the Best Web Content Management Platform?
January 17, 2012
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of SharePoint Hosting Options
January 17, 2012
A SharePoint installation is a grand undertaking, with two basic options: on-site installation or the cloud. Both options have pros and cons, and Gina Montgomery weighs them all in, “SharePoint Decisions: To Host or Not to Host?”
Montgomery sums up the issue:
Have you been scratching your head over the potential infrastructure investment that you’ll incur with your upcoming SharePoint Farm deployment? Are you feeling a sense of bewilderment over how you’ll have full control of your SharePoint environment if it’s not on premise? Or, perhaps you’ve been perplexed with how you’ll manage the around-the-clock IT support and overhead costs that come with the 24/7 monitoring and the recapitulation of OS upgrades and patches in your on premise environment. Well, the good news is that you’re not alone.
Montgomery does a good job of sizing up both options. While an on-site hosting for one organization might be best, another organization might choose to go with the cloud. She urges that each organization’s decision will be unique, based upon what suits their needs most effectively. However, we would like to throw out another option. There are third-party vendors that can meet an organization’s enterprise needs while also simplifying their hosting needs.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers different scalable options depending on an organization’s size and needs. Read more in, “Three Configurations for Dynamic Scalability and Deployment.”
In enterprise search, quality, usability and style are as important as relevancy of results and performance to engage your users right from the start. Let’s take a look at typical scale-out scenarios that become relevant when implementing enterprise environments with Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
The entry goes on to describe the customization options available via Fabasoft Mindbreeze depending upon the scale and scope of the client. Ranging from an installation that utilizes one single Fabasoft Mindbreeze Appliance, all the way up to a cloud installation, every organization will be able to have their storage needs met. The most useful part of this type of third-party installation is that Fabasoft will work with you to ensure that your bases are covered, while also planning for the future.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Europe Sees Growth in Advanced Managment Solutions
January 17, 2012
Economic growth is few and far between these days, but management technology is one of the bright spots. As discussed in “PAM and PLM Emerge as Indispensable Advanced Management Solutions in Highly Competitive European Industrial Markets, Finds Frost & Sullivan” management technology is no longer a luxury, it is now a necessity.
Successful companies rely on PAM to ensure “the safety and process reliability of an enterprise,” while PLM “helps in accelerating new product design and development.” Together, theses advanced management solutions are essential to European manufacturers to “achieve a sustainable enterprise framework for the 21st century.”
European Advanced Management Solutions Market, finds that the market earned revenues of €300.9 million and €2640.7 million for PAM and PLM, respectively, in 2010. It is estimated that the market value of PAM and PLM will reach €506.6 and €4331.4 million, respectively, in 2017.
PAM and PLM growth “in Europe will depend on the standards and definitions of future enterprise software.”
A few outstanding technology companies are reaching worldwide success. Inforbix is one of them. They have revolutionized the way the global manufacturing industry finds, re-uses, and shares product data. Companies like Inforbix are the reason for such lofty predictions and such a bright future for advanced management technologies.
Jennifer Wensink, January 17, 2011
Protected: Make SQL Better than Ever for SharePoint
January 16, 2012
Playing King of the Hill with ERP and PLM
January 16, 2012
Lately with all the talk in regards to big data and different types of data some misconceptions have been popping up with frequency. One issue which troubled the Arena blogger, Alyssa Sittig, is the misuse of PLM and ERP software as discussed in the article, Cutting Corners 101: Forcing ERP to do PLM’s job.
To make sense of the article a basic understanding of PLM and ERP is due. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) refers to the managing of all design functions and data whereas Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) manages business functions. These two obviously overlap making the integration of the two necessary to a good data management system. Some PLM and ERP systems, independently, claim to handle both functions with one software program.
It is tempting, explains the article, to fall into the trap of cutting corners to maximize savings and use a PLM or ERP program expecting it to do both, but the article reminds the business owner, make sure it is done right. As the article summarizes,
“ERP and PLM systems provide the highest level of efficiency when integrated together. Because PLM is intended to manage the development of your product and ERP is intended to manage the resource planning of your finalized design, it makes sense to start with a PLM system. After all, it’s a waste to plan out the resources for a product design that is still undergoing revisions.”
This article gets at the root of an even deeper problem afflicting companies – competition between departments (and software) for reasons other than the betterment of the company and definitely not in the spirit of cooperation. To compete in today’s market companies need new data management solutions that eliminate redundancy and waste.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 16, 2012
Quick Fixes for the Daily SharePoint Environment
January 16, 2012
Shortcomings in the SharePoint environment are plentiful, comprising a large portion of the enterprise internet chatter. We are always on the lookout for good tips and tools, hoping that it will improve the quality of life for many a user. CMS Wire devotes some attention to the topic in, “Lowering the Bar: 5 Information Management Quick Fixes to Improve Your SharePoint Environment.”
The author describes how he hopes his simple tips might improve the usability of SharePoint and limit wasted search time:
Let’s dive in to what I’ve found to be the most effective ways to improve a SharePoint environment through changing how end-users work with documents on a daily basis. These are not technically complex, but . . . they require a commitment from end-users to spend an additional 15-30 seconds during the document creation, upload or check-in process. And although we all know that users are notoriously reluctant to spend any extra time at all during these activities, if you frame these in terms of the time folks waste looking for documents they can’t find . . . you stand half a chance of getting folks on board for at least one of these — and doing even just one of these consistently will have a huge impact on the overall quality of your SharePoint environment.
He goes on to advise beginning document names with the file type, organizing top-level folders, and using comment fields for checking in documents, as well as a few others. Let’s bring some attention to the main idea proposed by the author. In order to avoid wasting time in SharePoint, the user must be trained to spend a bit of additional time on the front end. This is understandable, but it comes across as a workaround. We like solutions that are intuitive and timesaving all on their own. One we particularly like for this reason is Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Read more about their intuitive approach:
Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise finds every scrap of information within a very short time, whether document, contract, note, e-mail or calendar entry, in intranet or internet, person- or text-related. The software solution finds all required information, regardless of source, for its users. Get a comprehensive overview of corporate knowledge in seconds without redundancy or loss of data.
More and more organizations are turning to third-party solutions for a better enterprise experience. Check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze and see if it might meet your organization’s information storage and retrieval needs.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 16, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Kenesto – A New Approach to PLM
January 16, 2012
There are numerous startup companies attempting PLM technology these days. Design News recently turned its focus on Kenesto, a new process automation system, in its report “PLM Startup Targets Efficiency.” Kenesto is not a replacement for PLM, but “a different approach for solving the process automation piece of facilitating engineering workflow.”
This cloud-based software looks a like an email system by sending and receiving attachments. However, it goes beyond the product development design chain:
“[T]he system lets participants in any department within the company or at an external supplier create and automate processes on-the-fly in a graphical way. It does not require the behind-the-scenes programming of most enterprise business process automation platforms”
The Kenesto developers are not sure how their software will fit with an established PLM, but they are contacting manufacturers to try out their beta test program.
Kenesto is not the only company focusing on efficiency. Take a look at Inforbix. Their software is a collection of integrated applications that help you find, re-use, and share product data. Their efficient solutions liberate the value of product data without wasting time and money. Keep an eye on the companies that take PLM to the next step. Innovation and efficiency go hand-in-hand.
Jennifer Wensink, January 16, 2012
Data Management is the Foundation of Any Company
January 15, 2012
The problem with master data management (MDM) is that it is so big. In order to gain some control within a company certain organizational skills must be utilized. That seems simple enough but as the article, The 5 Pillars of Master Data Management, on TechNewsWorld, explains it isn’t being done nearly enough. The article suggests some rudimentary steps any organization should implement to begin fixing MDM problems.
Yes, everyone can agree that MDM is a big problem, especially when it’s not done right, but we’d surmise that an institution suffering from poor master data management suffers from poor data management across the board. As the author summarizes his advice,
“A single trusted view of information provides the clear insight and transparency that organizations need to have effective business processes and interactions with customers and partners. Particularly at a time when social media and new information platforms are becoming pervasive, organizations now have access to new resources offering rich customer insights. However, businesses and governments must recognize that governance has to be part of this information gold rush.”
We couldn’t have said it better. With massive amounts of new data emerging in large part from social media and mobile technology companies must address systems quickly extinct with urgency. New data management solutions must be rolled out from master data management all the way to applications and software. In this world of data which is constantly evolving staying ahead of the eight-ball is the only way to survive.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 15, 2012
Accounting Irregularities Corrected Through Proper Data Management
January 14, 2012
Large companies have long had trouble marrying their books to the true costs associated with production of items. This has led to a laissez-faire approach to accounting which basically allows for incorrect data as long as it passes an audit. The article, Explanation of the Topic – Manufacturing Overhead, on Accounting Coach, explains how diligence in accounting methods is more crucial than many believe.
When an item is produced many items go into determining the final price. To be able to accurately understand the true cost of an item from start to finish data from the conception of the item on through the manufacturing and all the way through sales and marketing must be factored into the equation. There are several ways that numbers can match in the end but do not portray an accurate cost to produce.
As the article explains,
“In short, the financial statements can be considered as accurate even with improper allocation to individual products, but management’s needs dictate that (1) the allocations of manufacturing overhead be truly accurate and (2) that the nonmanufacturing costs be accurately assigned to individual products and customers.”
We think that this problem can be completely eradicated by companies adopting new data management solutions that allow high-value product design and manufacturing information to be integrated, thus eliminating expensive inefficiencies in the critical design engineering stages of product design and production.
Catherine Lamsfuss, January 14, 2012
SharePoint Lags in Innovation, Development Cycle
January 13, 2012
In terms of web content management, SharePoint still lags behind despite its 2010 update. While there were notable improvements in many of the large areas of complaint: metadata management, multi-language, taxonomy, and basic web analytics to name a few, many shortcomings are still evident. Darren Guarnaccia tackles the issue for ZDNet in, “SharePoint 2010: a sheep in wolf’s clothing?”
While much of the piece is spent dissecting the major problem areas, here the author gives some grounding or basis for why SharePoint still falls behind:
Microsoft has gained some ground with this release, but it is still some way off the pace being set by the best-of-breed vendors in this market. If you believe the benefit of having a single integrated suite outweighs its various shortcomings, or if your requirements are relatively simple, then SharePoint may be a good fit. Something else to consider is the typical SharePoint development cycle of three years. While three-year product release cycles are normal for large enterprise content management projects, three years is a long time on the web. Entire new markets and trends can arise in the span of six months to a year.
Two concepts in the above statement are worth some attention. First, there is SharePoint’s position as a single integrated solution. It is worth pointing out that there are now outstanding third party solutions that work seamlessly with SharePoint, allowing the user to achieve the feel of a single solution while compensating for all of the shortcomings of SharePoint. We like the Fabasoft Mindbreeze solution and its SharePoint Connector.
Secondly, we agree that SharePoint’s long development cycle is one of its weak points. Again, referring to Fabasoft Mindbreeze, new products releases and updates are made quarterly for on-site installations and monthly for the cloud.
Continuous quality assurance and performance optimization ensure extremely short release cycles. We release a new Mindbreeze Cloud update every month.
Frequent updates (that are easy to install) ensure that usability and functionality remain high for all users. Perhaps SharePoint will start taking queues from some of its successful competitors and shorten its development cycle.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 13, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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