Next Gen Managed Services Providers

The need to adapt to public cloud-based platforms, big data, and the need to provide services that support compliance continue to drive change in the managed services space. This evolution requires that managed services providers shift the number and types of services they offer. The depth of these offerings include the ability to manage public cloud services, the ability to provide specialized security services, the ability to provide high performance computing services to account for special applications and critical response time, and the ability to provide advanced high performance networking.

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10 Tips For A Successful ERP Implementation

Technological innovation usually leads to increases in efficiency when computer-controlled processes, machines and equipment are concerned. Changes to business processes call for employees to demonstrate great flexibility and agility.

Larry Korak, Industry & Solution Strategy Director for Infor, presents ten tips to ensure that your organization has a successful ERP implementation: (For in-depth explanation of each tip, view full article via link below)

  1. Scope is key
  2. Align teams early on
  3. Get specialized treatment
  4. Think long-term
  5. Think out-of-the-box
  6. Be efficient
  7. User experience reigns supreme
  8. Training is paramount
  9. Set realistic expectations
  10. Communicate, collaborate and document

Korak concludes, “Whether it’s developing a product for a highly-demanding market, adding high-value services, or specializing in made-to-order quality products, a flexible ERP solution allows organizations to focus on the details that matter most to customers.”

 

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Infor Adds Missing CRM Piece With Saleslogix Purchase

Infor announced plans to buy Saleslogix a CRM vendor from Swiftpage, who also own Act!. R Ray Wang, founder and principal at Constellation Research, says Saleslogix is a “decent product, but it’s been shuffled about from company to company over the years.” However, Saleslogix just might be the missing CRM piece in the Infor sales and marketing product group. “Infor provides the size, scale and resources that can help position Saleslogix as a leading product in the global marketplace,” says John Oechsle, CEO and President of Swiftpage. Infor has a Salesforce CRM integration tool called Inforce, but that not all of their customers want to use Salesforce. Wang believes the two products can live together and it gives Infor a more complete set of CRM product offerings.

 

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How Technology Changed Customer Relation Management Systems

Technology has almost perfected Customer Relation Management (CRM). Any interaction with the customer is considered customer relationship management, this includes marketing, sales, or the overall customer experience with a business. Technology has made these tools easier to use, more efficient, and often times working in real time.

A soft option and one of the most popular cloud-based Internet platform is Salesforce. Their tools make the entire sales and marketing process more efficient with features like decentralized storage, universal data retrieval, and comprehensive data retrieval. A hardware option when it come to CRM are tablets and mobile devices. Businesses that equip employees with tablets or other mobile devices are able to obtain customer demographics and their contact information for later marketing efforts.

Prior to starting your venture into technology advances in CRM, be sure your employees are well-prepared and your business obtains the required resources to make the best of technology tailored solutions in CRM.

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Business application performance issues are becoming an increasing strain on IT departments

SolarWinds surveyed over 300 business application end-users across various sized UK companies finding that IT departments are feeling under pressure when it comes to maintaining app performance and availability. Ninety four percent of respondents said that application performance and availability affect their ability to do their job, 44 per cent claiming that these are “critical” factors. Additionally, one in five indicated that slow or unavailable applications meant a “significant” loss in financial terms for their organization.

Dependence on business applications is key, but end-user expectations are vital. When a performance issue occurs, users expect quick solutions.

Suaad Sait, executive vice president, products and markets, SolarWinds, observes that “it’s no longer just about if an application is working; it’s about that application working to end-user expectations. These survey results should be a wakeup call for IT Pros everywhere.”

 

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The Benefits of Multi-Tiered ERP Strategies

Companies that have rapidly expanded their international operations by replicating their culture and systems around the world have not proven this to be a successful model. Often times this has a profoundly negative effect on the creativity of local management as well as the ERP software that subsidiaries and departments use. Businesses are beginning to adopt multi-tier ERP strategies which can offer flexibility for local needs, cut costs, and increase implementation speed. This multi-tier approach keeps the corporate and administration ERP system at the Headquarters level and rolls out other ERP systems at local and operational levels. The net effect is companies can keep subsidiaries and their customers happy with a powerful, local ERP and integrate with Headquarters so the global board can see the big picture.
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Three Ways The Cloud Can Help Your Business Thrive

Cloud computing has become a household name for many companies. Using Cloud computing flexible, controllable, and efficient. It is able to accommodate business and IT structure needs. Cloud computing is especially beneficial for music entertainment applications, for example Music Mastermind. Each of Music Mastermind center’s cloud can create 160 virtual instances and support an estimated 400,000 active users. French Managed Services Provider (MSP) Zetark, offers a self-service private-cloud option for its customers with the ability to perform granular billing on exact usage of memory.

 

Can Business Infrastructure Support the Growth of the Internet of Things?

Devices, systems and services continue to fuel the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is estimated to reach $7.3 trillion in revenue by 2016 and over 50 billion connected devices by 2020. The inherent benefit of the IoT is convenience and speed of access to data, but this rapid and continuous growth raises questions about how well-prepared business infrastructures are for the increased influx of big data, which will apply more pressures on businesses and squeeze the supply of data center and cloud resources.  Due to the endless potential and priceless value of big data and in an effort to address supply ahead of demand, it is critical that CIOs consider latency issues and plan for where data will be housed and how data will be managed.

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Managed Services Market to Reach $256 Billion by 2018

MarketsandMarkets forecasts the managed services market to reach $256.05 billion in 2018, at a compound annual growth rate of 12.4%. The North America region is expected to have the largest revenue contribution.

Evolved managed services solutions and aggressive pricing have resulted in increased revenues for MSPs in recent years. With the expansion of cloud computing, big data, and mobility opportunities, MSPs are increasingly considered as a business essential rather than a business choice. It has been observed that customers who employ MSPs achieve their ROI in a shorter period of time than in-house managed service processes.

 

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Microsoft is Building a CRM cloud for U.S. Government Users

Microsoft plans on releasing a new version of the cloud in 2015, Dynamics CRM Online for Government, specifically for U.S. government customers. It will share similarities to Microsoft’s Azure Government Cloud and Office 365 Government Cloud. Microsoft’s Azure Government Cloud and Office 365 Government Cloud are operated by pre-screened U.S. citizens. Microsoft has not released the exact date for when the new Government CRM database will be released for private or public testing. It will support integration with Microsoft’s Azure and Office 365 government cloud offerings.

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