Microsoft Acquires Yammer to Develop Social Business Features for SharePoint
July 20, 2012
Byron Acohido discusses Microsoft’s recent Yammer acquisition in his USAToday.com article, “Microsoft’s Yammer Deal May Cost Too Much, Come Too Late.”
The author comments on the development:
Microsoft has been trying futilely for years to popularize social networking within SharePoint, its collaboration server that comes bundled with versions of its Office productivity suite sold to large businesses. By acquiring Yammer, the software giant is attempting to ‘fill a gap,’ says Wesley Miller, analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. Similar to Facebook, Yammer connects users and claims more than 200,000 corporate customers, including Ford, Orbitz Worldwide and 7-Eleven.
Yammer will come onto Microsoft as a new division and David Sacks, a former PayPal exec and Yammer founder, will stay on as CEO. Social business is no doubt becoming a ubiquitous topic in the enterprise search world. To tap into new SharePoint possibilities, consider a third party solution to complete your enterprise search system.
We like Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Managing director Michael Hadrian explains the Mindbreeze solution:
Fabasoft Folio Cloud enables quick, secure and mobile collaboration both internally and between international companies. Business processes with customers and partners cannot be realized any quicker or more cost effectively…This enables worldwide connected collaboration and secure data exchange in protected team rooms.
For a complete search solution with the power of information pairing, check out the full suite of solutions at Fabasoft Mindbreeze.
Philip West, July 20, 2012
Sponsored by Polyspot
China Leads in PLM Market
July 20, 2012
Across the world companies in all industries are realizing the power of data management solutions. The manufacturing industry, in particular, is seeing a huge increase in the adoption of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. According to a recent Business Wire article, “PTC Named a Top Solution Provider in China’s Rapidly Growing PLM Market by Leading Industry Analyst Firm CIMdata”, China’s demand for PLM is the fastest growing in the world.
Peter Bilello, President of CIMdata, was quoted as saying,
“PTC continues to experience success in the China market due to the strength of its PLM offerings and its ongoing investment in the rapidly growing Chinese market. The China mainstream PLM market has repeatedly outpaced the growth of the global PLM market as Chinese manufacturers are paying more and more attention to product innovation and are fast improving their own R&D capabilities and processes by deploying PLM. PTC has established itself as a strong presence in the market and is well positioned to take advantage of market opportunities.”
While Chinese manufacturers may be an untapped market for PLM the United States has its fair share of equally underserved industries desperately needing PLM solutions. Small and midsized businesses (SMB) are the latest to gain access to PLM thanks to lowered costs, primarily due to cloud technology. As more American companies realize that PLM solutions virtually pay for themselves by streamlining processes, ending waste and stopping duplication we expect to see growth equal to that of China.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 20, 2012
Developing a Framework for SharePoint Success
July 19, 2012
In “The Art of SharePoint Success: Epilogue – The Call to Action,” Symon Garfield writes his 20th and final installments of the Art of SharePoint Success series. The series explains a framework which aims to ensure long term, measurable return on your SharePoint investment with four elements: governance, strategy, architecture, and transition.
Garfield explains his consulting approach:
Broadly the aim of these engagements is to align SharePoint investments with strategic objectives and deliver a high-level medium term SharePoint roadmap. Depending on the client and their particular strategic lens I call the engagement something along the lines of, ‘Knowledge & Information Management Roadmap,’ ‘Collaboration Strategy,’ ‘SharePoint Roadmap.’…Regardless of the size of the organization, the numbers of people involved, or the size of the budgets, I aim to deliver the engagement in five days of work.
Garfield’s in-depth article may be worth bookmarking if you are in any stage of a SharePoint deployment. And we know budgets are tight and the economy has been shaky for a while. Everyone is taking a close look at dollars coming in and out of the business. The series may be worth a read to help you develop a roadmap for measuring ROI. Consider adding a comprehensive and cost-effective solution to your system for maximum ROI. Mindbreeze snaps seamlessly into the SharePoint system to give your users an enhanced search and navigation experience with secure, reliable, and efficient action. Read more about the solutions at http://www.mindbreeze.com/.
Philip West, July 19, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New Report Declares 2011 Set New PLM Records
July 19, 2012
Not so long ago the manufacturing industry was the primary user of product lifecycle management (PLM). All that has changed, however, thanks largely to advances in technology like the introduction of the cloud. Now, PLM solutions span across all industries and companies of all sizes. That has led to record breaking profits as described in the Ten Links article, “CIMdata Publishes PLM Trends Report”.
Stan Przybylinski, CIMdata’s Director of Research, was quoted as saying,
“While the global economy sputtered, the PLM economy grew faster than in 2010, which was a very good year. Most segments of the market that CIMdata tracks saw high double digit growth, with very strong license sales. Given that new license sales are often precursors to more software and services investment, this is a strong indicator that 2012 could be another solid year for PLM solution and services providers.”
One of the reasons PLM solutions has continues to grow despite economic challenges is the global awareness of data management. Big Data news tops headlines in all industry journals and data analytics providers are reaching out to new audiences at an increasing speed. PLM is simply a practical use of new data management solutions. We agree that 2012 will most likely top records once again proving that PLM is the answer to most production and cost related problems.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 19, 2012
IHS Adds Invention Machine to its Technology Collection
July 19, 2012
In a $40 million deal, Taume announces, “IHS Acquires Trident Capital’s Invention Machine.” The write up also notes IHS’ previously announced purchase of GlobalSpec for $135 million. The company expects the combination of Invention Machine’s Goldfire business intelligence chops and GlobalSpec’s vertical search, product information, and global access point capabilities will combine to:
“. . . transform our existing engineering specifications and standards business to long-term double-digit growth, and accelerate the IHS Product Design business by increasing the value we offer to engineers, researchers and scientists by connecting innovation to knowledge workers,” said Jerre Stead, IHS chairman and chief executive officer. “With Invention Machine’s Goldfire as the front-end, we will bring together all IHS content, insight and tools into an innovative solution that will address many of the unsolved problems facing engineers. This will enable greater productivity, accuracy and design quality, and help customers accelerate innovation and deliver superior products and services.”
Invention Machine makes its home in Boston, with offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, and Minsk, Belarus. They call their Goldfire “the optimal decision engine,” created to help make clients more productive. Trident Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm founded in 1993 that specializes in business service and I.T. investments.
Designed with engineers in mind, GlobalSpec supplies its customers with domain-specific vertical search engines. The firm is headquartered in East Greenbush, N.Y.
Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, IHS operates in over 30 countries and employs over 5,500 workers. This information powerhouse was founded back in 1959 as a provider of product catalog databases on microfilm for aerospace engineers. Wow, who here remembers microfilm? Kudos to IHS for keeping up with the times!
Cynthia Murrell, July 19, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
Community Comments on Need for Expanded SharePoint Blogging Features
July 18, 2012
In “Never Mind Microblogging, SharePoint Needs to Support Plain Old Blogging,” Chris Wright comments on social features in the SharePoint platform. Wright, founder of the Scribble Agency, shares his hope for the upcoming SharePoint 15 release,
With SharePoint 15 right around the corner we can only hope for some improvements from Microsoft. So what would be nice to see? Scheduling of posts would be a good start. Anyone who writes regularly will know it is often best to do it as and when ideas come to you, not necessarily when you want to publish. Scheduling would really help with this. Plus a dedicated stats component, just for blogging, would be good.
Wright also discusses Microsoft’s recent Yammer acquisition and the potential for the microblogging platform to expand SharePoint blogging features.
An out of the box design that keeps users in mind may not be SharePoint’s strongest characteristic. But it doesn’t take much to customize your farm to work for the masses. Instead of bogging down your SharePoint system with third party applications, save time and money on implementations with one lean solution. It seems the experts at Mindbreeze understand the importance of social business and continue to develop solutions to increase customer satisfaction.
Philip West, July 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Manufacturers Want Cost Control First and Foremost
July 18, 2012
Manufacturers have been hit hard by the economical shortcomings of nations around the world. What they are left with is less money to meet higher expectations from their customers. A recent DC Velocity article, “Cost control Remains the Top Supply Chain Goal for Manufacturers”, reveals where manufacturers priorities lay according to a recent survey.
As the article explains,
“In a report titled “Business Strategy: 2012 Supply Chain Survey-Manufacturing Priorities and New Technology Adoption,” IDC found that the number two goal was striving for agility in their supply chains. The third objective was product quality and safety, cited by 52 percent of survey takers. Survey respondents also said that “big data analysis” was the new technology that was most relevant to their business. “Big data analysis” involves the use of sophisticated software to sift through large amounts of disparate information to find connections or patterns.”
These results are not atypical from what product lifecycle management (PLM) solution providers report. Through a well-constructed PLM solution manufacturers are able to streamline processes, keep quality high while lowering costs and integrate data management solutions. One of our favorite PLM providers is Inforbix because they understand that at the heart of any PLM solution is data management. Their offerings focus on new data management solutions which pave the way for PLM victory.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 18, 2012
Blekko Evolves Search by Spreading the News
July 18, 2012
The voice of news and internet search is evolving and Blekko’s new social news site ROCKZi confirms why. The new website makes watching or reading the news a pleasure with their friendly, easy to use search platform. Not only that, but they are utilizing the information.
Blekko recently announced the arrival of Rockzi on their website, so this gosling checked it out.
What I found was a very user friendly design with visual appeal. Finding topics was simply done by clicking the subject, which brought up targeted subject tiles of articles or clips. Users can than vote, share or add content using the “submit” button on the board, or the convenient browser bookmarklet. Karma is earned via posting, commenting and voting. This raises the ‘knowledge’ status of the user, increasing social statuses in the community while also adding to the database.
ROCKZi opens the door to an interesting future for search content. Blekko wisely plans to use subject popularity as a new method of developing search content. They declared:
“As the number of news boards expands and we introduce more customizable Boards, this has the very powerful potential to revolutionize the way we discover good content on the increasingly cluttered Web.”
“Social signals generated by the ROCKZi user base will eventually translate into search signals that Blekko can use to identify the highest quality content and curate search results while pushing spam to the bottom.”
Blekko is dreaming big and could easily evolve search to the next level by harnessing the power of websites like ROCKZi. Overall, ROCKZi offers an interesting way to spread the news and collect targeted search data for the future.
Jennifer Shockley, July 18, 2012
Tips for SharePoint Integration from EPC Group Leader
July 17, 2012
Errin O’Connor, Founder and CEO for the SharePoint consultant firm EPC Group, focuses on implementing Microsoft technologies in organizations throughout the United States. In a recent Q & A article, “SharePoint Integration Considerations for Every Exchange Organization,” O’Connor provides some insight into taking full advantage of the SharePoint system, as well as Exchange and Outlook, in your organization.
O’Connor explains some lesser-known ways to use Exchange and Outlook with SharePoint,
SharePoint 2010 supports two-way synchronization. With that comes the ability to email-enable SharePoint lists like calendars, tasks, document libraries, discussion boards and contacts. Of course, you can also create custom alerts for actions taken on said lists. A lot of users don’t always take advantage of the option to manage SharePoint contacts from Outlook and don’t add SharePoint tasks or calendars into Outlook. Of course, we also want users to minimize the number of passwords or applications they interface with on a daily basis.
O’Connor also discusses SharePoint in large versus small companies, and that no matter the organization size, the IT team needs a passionate advocate for SharePoint and improved collaboration. The brief Q & A may be worth the read if you are embarking on increased SharePoint integration.
To increase user adoption, look to save employees’ time by connecting them to the right information via a user-friendly interface. We like the good reviews for the Fabasoft Mindbreeze suite of solutions. With clear navigation and a self-explanatory interface, Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise facilitates findability.
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.
Navigate to http://www.mindbreeze.com/ to read more.
Philip West, July 17, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Make Easy to Use Solutions and They Will Come
July 17, 2012
One of the largest issues facing enterprises optimizing product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions is that they are often too complex for individual employees to use. When all employees along the production chain are not able to easily make the most of a solution they will return to tried and true methods making expensive PLM solutions a giant waste of money. The Design News article, “Kenesto Takes an Un-PLM Approach to PLM”, explores how one provider’s goal is to change all that.
Kenesto is a young PLM provider dedicated to creating solutions that don’t require an IT team for every task. As the article explains,
“Kenesto 2012, now generally available, aims to blend simplicity with a cloud-based approach to circumvent some of those familiar road blocks. Via use of familiar metaphors like attachments and email-like conventions, the platform allows engineering teams to route drawings and documents, create and circulate RFQs (request for quotes), interact with external suppliers, and populate bills of materials, all without any behind-the-scenes programming. The system is particularly compelling for organizations that have been chained to paper-based processes because they didn’t see the appeal of existing, often hard-to-implement PLM platforms…”
The problems Kenesto addresses are seen across industries and, in general, are the reasons PLM leaves a bad taste in many enterprises’ mouths. Kenesto is not alone in their desire to help companies take full advantage of PLM solutions. Other providers like Inforbix is dedicated to providing their clients with new data management solutions that enable all employees to find, reuse and share data effortlessly. Combine their technology with some of the best ongoing customer support in the industry and one can easily see why their reputation precedes them.
Catherine Lamsfuss, July 17, 2012
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