Intranet Management Software Blog

Two weeks ago I was visiting a new customer in Atlanta, and next week we  go back to the USA to train another new Intranet client – this time in San Francisco - ahead of the main launch at a trade show later in the month.

The approach we use in delivering intranet training on these longer visits is becoming standard in the sense that we now completely prioritize a generous amount of flexible agenda. We do this for two main reasons:

1.    We know the staff will be under pressure to deliver their real work while also attending the training.

2.    We know individuals will react to the system at certain times with a real sense of the potential for their role or department – and we need to be able to explore that properly to make sure the business value is identified, and training time is allocated on the fly to make sure the project can react.

But in addition – we frankly know from experience that the first time you go from a proof of concept to a full training workshop we will meet a whole new set of interests and challenges that the initial client specifications did not cover – and we need to reserve time to make sure we can respond.

Overly detailed planning of our intranet training agenda would just prohibit the exploration of these very important aspects which often contain true insights on where the value is for the real users.

Services intranet training, intranet value

Take it to the CVS Pharmacy of course!!!

They stock everything you need to get the CVS back on track

CVS = Concurrent Versions System - it’s the platform that we manage our core developement on

Home america, atlanta, humor, Old - technical

Various companies spend huge amounts of money, time and effort to get the best of breed intranet applications, and end up with the headache of maintaining them. Information is stored in silos, and extra effort (and cost!) has to be spent in order to allow information to be shared between one application and another.

In contrast, a relatively modest investment in the Integrated Claromentis Intranet Platform ensures that disparate business information is stored in a single integrated and extendable data model, which allows common data to be shared by various applications. On top of that, additional bespoke applications to provide specific business need can be built within the same model to ensure a coherent business focus application environment.

Prod-Intranet extranet, integrated data model, intranet, Prod-Intranet

With the release of the Project management application, Claromentis now offers a complete solution for the construction sector to manage their construction intranet and extranet projects.

This includes :

• Document management
• Java based fast searching for large data volumes
• Web based project management
• Document commenting
• Extranet access for construction partners
• Web based project management including Gantt charts

This solution is fully available on Linux and Windows.

Solutions construction sector intranets, extranets, intranet software

Babcock simplifies policy management and improves employee communications with help from Claromentis.

Babcock Case Study

With a client list including the Ministry of Defence and local authorities as well as major private sector companies, Babcock Infrastructure Services (BIS) manages over 15,000 properties across the United Kingdom. Part of Babcock International Group PLC, the Company services nationwide contracts both directly and through subsidiary joint ventures Debut Services (South West) Ltd, Babcock DynCorp Ltd, and mouchelbabcock education.

Reed the full version of Babcock Case Study.

Prod-Quality Babcock, Case Study

Having just returned form a week of training in one of new USA clients, I am again reminded of the difference a single talented project manager from the client side makes to the value the customer receives from Claromentis software.

We have seen this in some of our very largest, as well as our smallest clients. A single, talented individual who has the right skill sets and knows the internal politics and goals for the client can make a fantastic system that really delivers value, as opposed to a deployment of intranet technology that is significantly underused in helping the client to meet their business goals.

It is true that a client project manager needs to devote significant time to the project – and therefore increases significantly the total cost of ownership – but in my view this is the best investment our clients can make in our projects.

Services intranet project manager

As many of our customers know, we are planning to revise our product structure to improve clarity on purchasing options and make sure new customers only purchase what they need in phase one of their projects.

This has been driven by our customers as they seek for real ways to add intranet value over the permissioned and version controlled information layer.

So to be clear – we have 7 products:

Intranet and Extranet Manager - To manage information and distribute accurate and relevant knowledge to various stakeholders.

Process Manager - To transform paper based processes to electronic, reportable eform versions.

Sales Manager - To understand across complex territories where opportunities are in a unique sales pipeline, and to provide relevant collateral for each stage to support conversion rates.

Project Manager - To manage a project efficiently. To provide a project space where all participants can see a summary of the main tasks, deliverables and associated documents and relevant information.

Quality Manager - To ensure policies and procedures are always up to date and accurate. To provide an efficient way to manage audits and to ensure compliance with all relevant legislation.

Content Manager - To provide a system where web content can be created, authorised, and made available to relevant people as requested.

Document Manager - To provide a system where version controlled information within application files can be created, version controlled, authorised and made available to relevant people as requested.

And we also create custom, specific portals for example in marketing - for competitor intelligence - and across the business for environmental sustainability.

All of our web presence and partner channel information is being updated ready for the official release – but as I have been asked so many times I though I would post so you can get an early view and respond with any comments.

Products claromentis development, marketing portals

Car

A software solution can cost from virtually free to millions of pounds. How do you find the right product with this immense price-range?

Let’s use an example other than software… say a car. These days you can buy a second hand car from £50 or a Bugatti Veyron for £1million.

A friend of mine asked if I could recommend him a car. Applying a typical IT consultancy to car selling, I asked him if he has budget in mind and what he is going to use it for.

He came up with these two simple requirements:

“Weekly shopping, travel to work, As cheapest possible!”

“Oh well, on that case £50 car will do just fine mate! I can find a good £50 car that does the job”,

After a few days, he said to me, “it’s noisy and uncomfortable”. Bottom line he doesn’t like it at all. Using typical IT consultant defence I said, “Well you didn’t say that before, it wasn’t on the specification.”

He asked me to get him a better car and it has to be quiet and comfortable.

I came up with another second hand car with £800 price-tag which isn’t too bad in my opinion.

A few weeks had gone past with no complain, but then he said to me “it’s ok, but it’s ugly, and it has no AC”.

“I have a new girlfriend and I want a nice looking car”.

“How about this cool looking second hand 4×4 at £5000”

“I take it!”

He is happy for a while now but after a few months he is start complaining “It’s cost a fortune on petrol and I hate taking it for MOT!” can you find me a brand new one?

“OK on that case, How about this, a brand new car for £10,000? It’s quiet, economical, comfortable, stylish and you don’t have to worry about MOT for 3 years!”.

He is thinking for a while and said this to me.

“Every time I am complaining, you always came up with a better car with higher price. Can you just get me the most expensive car I can possibly get? My dad said money is no object and he will buy me any car! I am sick and tired of this process.”

OK here it is a £1million car!

You know what, the car is noisy, uncomfortable and cost a fortune on petrol, but he is never complaining to me. He doesn’t even want to discuss it with anyone knowing he had spent lots of money on it. When people ask how’s the car? He always said “It is the best car in the world!”.

Does it sound familiar?

Software alone cheap or expensive is not going to solve the problem; It never be a simple formula, you need the right software, for the right problem, with the right people behind it.

“It’s not about the car or software, it’s about intricate network of people with talent and skills that matter.”

Solutions cartoon, humor, software

Google Talkabout Logo

You can do lot of interesting stuff with Google Talk like get alert notifications, save bookmarks to delicious, manage web calendars, set reminders, write blogs, and so much more. Such features can be easily integrated into Google Talk through ‘bots’ which, in simple English, are like virtual friends who are online 24×7 and will always respond with a smile to your questions or requests

Here are some of the most useful ‘bots’ that transform Google Talk into a more useful program:

1. imfeeds@gmail.com – Add this IM Feeds bot as your Google Talk buddy and you’ll be able to read any blog or website that syndicates content via RSS feeds.

To subscribe to a website in GTalk, simply send a new IM message that says “sub abc.com” where abc.com is the address of the website / blog you want to read inside Google Talk.

2. friendfeed@imified.com – This secret bot lets you post to FriendFeed from Google Talk. You may submit either hyperlinks or text messages.

3. imified@imified.com – This imified bot turns Google Talk into a real powerhouse.

You can post bookmarks to delicious, send messages to Twitter, submit blog entries to WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger, manage events in Google Calendar, shorten long URLs, run whois and so on.

4. inezhabot@gmail.com – Like IM Feeds, iNezha bot helps you read feeds inside Google Talk but this is slightly more versatile. For instance, you can simply say “digg” and it will show a list of all feeds that match that search term so you don’t have to type (or copy-paste) feed addresses.

5. Translation – This is a free service from Google that helps you translate words from a foreign language into your native language. Just add the relevant bot (e.g. hi2en@bot.talk.google.com for Hindi to English or en2hi@bot.talk.google.com for English to Hindi) as your buddy, send him a message and it will get translated instantly.

6. Set Task Reminders – If you need to remember something important, Google Talk can send you reminders for that event.

Just add timer to your Twitter friend’s list and then add twitter@twitter.com to your buddy list in Gtalk. Now if you want to get a reminder after 50 minutes, send a direct message to twitter like “d timer 50 pick kids from school” and a reminder will automatically pop up in your Google Talk after 50 minutes.

7. Transliteration – If you want to chat in your mother tongue (like Hindi or Tamil) but feel more comfortable using the English keyboard, Google Transliteration bot will come in handy.

For instance, add en2hi.translit@bot.talk.google.com to you friend’s list in GTalk and all messages you type in English will get transliterated in the language of your choice. Available only for a few Indian languages.

Source: macsimumnews.com

Resources-Technical Bot, Google, Google Talk