Archive

Archive for March, 2010

Why are so many new intranet projects creating bespoke applications?

March 28th, 2010

Over the years we have seen many changes in the requirements of our new customers as we deploy Claromentis in a hugely varying client base.

These changes have been gradual and material, driven both by the significant increase in capabilities of web based frameworks, and by the changing nature of modern collaboration.

In just the last couple of years I have noticed the increasing importance of bespoke applications – customers looking for assistance from Claromentis are more and more focused on software to meet their particular needs – rather than anything that would normally fit under the increasingly flexible definition of “an intranet”.

We experienced this first with Process Manager which allows any customer to implement form based processes, and this interest continues to grow significantly, but now we have implementations of much more complex bespoke software within the Claromentis framework implemented by means of the API.

These projects are extremely varied in their nature –  recent examples include managing specific sales inquiries, retail store inspections, sustainability, donations, job scheduling, desk bookings and corporate audit management. It would be difficult to find any common ground between them – except that they are all web based, manage information for staff and require a strong permission system.

I have been asking myself why, and I think the answer is simply ‘ because we can’. By this I mean that when companies come to us asking if some new idea is possible, our answer is almost always ‘yes’. We have the experience, framework, code base and API – but more importantly the  consultative people that can listen to ideas and not only show how they can be implemented, but with a clarity on at what cost, with what alternatives and with what implications for our client.

For those clients that require it we are becoming more and more a true technology partner – the latest significant step in our 10 year history of providing web based software.

Custom Development, Intranet-Extranet, Prod-Intranet ,

Intranet 2.0 for The United Bible Societies (UBS)

March 20th, 2010
Old and New Intranet

Old and New Intranet

About UBS

The United Bible Societies (UBS), a collective name for 145 Bible Societies working in over 200 countries and territories is launching a new Intranet using Claromentis Intranet Manager.

New Intranet

After sending out questionnaire and running a focus group to improve Intranet, Claromentis and UBS Communication team working together to make the new intranet richer but easier to use and faster to find the information.

UBS also introduced several new application built within their Intranet such as contact directory for all members, document management and multimedia such as online videos.

The new intranet is also multi-lingual, The system is designed to detect user’s language preference and display the right information and interface in their native language.

User’s Feedback

User’s feedback so far has been really positive.

“I love the new look website. God bless you for the good job. Its much easier to navigate and its also easy to find the past stories. Absolutely love it. Will definately send more stories this year. God bless you all.”

“A big thank you to you and your team for their work so far on the UBS intranet site.”

“I’ve just given a detailed presentation to our global senior management team and it went down extremely well. They were particularly impressed by the design (‘clean, easy to use, familiar for people using sites such as Facebook’) and by the layers of permissions that are now possible and will enable us to do so much more with the site.”

Hamish Bruce – Communication Manager at UBS.

Intranet-Extranet, Partners, Prod-Intranet, Prod-Project, Products , , , , , ,

Your Intranet – “Remake!”

March 7th, 2010
alice_in_wonderland

Image Credit: Disney & Wikipedia

I’ve just got back from watching Tim Burton’s remake Alice in Wonderland in 3D. What a visual masterpiece with amazing attention to details. It feels like immersing into an art form created by 20th century design technology.  I couldn’t believe that original animation, which I watched in my childhood, was created in 1951; even more amazing the story was first published in 1865!

You might be asking, what this movie has to do with Intranet Blog?

Before the Internet

Well the idea of internal communication is not new, since the beginning of civilization people are gathering and exchange knowledge, ideas and collaborate in many forms.  Remember pen and papers?

Your first Intranet

Your first intranet might be old fashioned by today’s standard, you might hate it, It is slow, looks ugly and doesn’t do what you wanted to do. Updating information is painful and there are many more.
But hey, this is a milestone just like the first Alice movie for the first time words comes to live, we may not have 3D technology just yet but hand drawn animation does the job!

Your Intranet – “Remake!”

Fast forward today the Internet is now teaming with real time collaboration, social networking, web application to do almost anything you can think of, computing power, cheaper storage, faster broadband, multi-touch and portable devices, which blur the boundaries between PC, laptop, & phone.

Claromentis is currently developing cool new communication tools with codename “innovate”.  We will be launching this application with an exciting release of Claromentis 6, leveraging what’s possible in web technologies.

Just like the visual masterpiece of Alice in Wonderland, perhaps it’s time to make your Intranet a communication art form.

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