Forrester Points out Trends Related to ECM with content-centric technologies

In today’s corporate scenario, organizations develop enterprise content management strategies for implementing specific content-related applications. The usage of content related applications span invoice processing and quality assurance too. Application-specific strategy is one of the main reasons why vendors still focus on a suite approach.

Microsoft SharePoint’s strategy of providing enterprise content management for the masses has actually presented stiff competition to the top ECM vendors who are now becoming content-centric in their approach. CIOs will be hesitant to source additional ECM technology and spend a fortune if SharePoint as an ECM can suffice their business requirements. All ECM vendors are now interested in supporting specific content sets in order to differentiate themselves from Microsoft and other heavy hitters.
According to Forrester, content-centric technologies are of four types in ECM solutions: foundational, business, transactional, and persuasive

• Foundational ECM includes basic content management functionality and delivers a core set of technologies including basic workflows, search, and records management.
• Business ECM boosts the overall workplace experience and provides the capabilities that help out workers for day-to-day tasks and collaboration with the rest of the employees. These technologies include document management and team collaboration.
• Transactional ECM supports the processes which include imaging, document output management, and management of business processes.
• Persuasive ECM affects external audience behavior and delivers content supporting multichannel marketing and lead generation. Web content management and document collaboration also form an integral part of persuasive enterprise content management.

Here are some of the enterprise-class solution features selected by Forrester that display certain characteristics that demarcate them from the rest. Microsoft is part of the list too.

1. Functionality breadth: ECM offerings are measured and compared against their functionalities including business, persuasive, transactional, and/or foundational. Microsoft has been impressive in various such functionalities including document and records management, content management, and digital asset management.
2. Leadership in information management: Selected vendors are leading providers of information management technology and database systems. They also provide business intelligence (BI) features and interesting characteristics of portal and collaboration. Strategic road maps have been chalked out by ECM providers to address investments related to information management in ECM solutions.
3. Enterprise-level track record: Selected vendors have a huge consumer base with proven scalability. The vendors score more than $25 million in revenue through their sales in enterprise companies who have a turnover of more than a $1 billion.
4. Interest from clients: Clients continue to ask about products for evaluation related to ECM products. These solutions have managed to help the clients out with their organizational information management agenda.

Microsoft ranks highly in the business and foundational areas of ECM and sits pretty well in the cusp of actually being a Strong Performer and Leader in ECM solutions. The company is a contender in the transactional segment. SharePoint 2010 is popular enough for enterprise users due to its immense collaboration and content management support. The business management solution’s ECM capabilities have drastically improved since the 2007 release since the company was ready to deliver an enterprise ready solution. The user interface is consistent and user-friendly and ECM functionalities are delivered through various components of SharePoint. Though SharePoint is known to be a weak player in the transactional segment, the solution requires integration with a third party solution which delivers ECM functions for support.

Course Bidding Mechanism in Universities: How to Go About It

Summary: Most universities today have opted for the course bidding system since it is known to be a transparent and flexible system to allocate courses to students.

Diverse mechanisms that rely on course bidding are extensively used at business schools for seat allocation at oversubscribed courses. Bids play on the student preferences and determine who has the better claim to the seats. The bidding strategy might conflict personal preferences induced from bids and may actually differ from true preferences. One can use a mechanism where students will be asked for their preferences other than the bidding process.

Allocation of course seats is one of the top priorities of the registrar’s offices at most universities. Mostly, demand exceeds supply in terms of course priorities. It is difficult to distribute seats equitably and efficiently in this regard. Course bidding strategies differ from university to university and each of them have their own set of rules. Here is the typical course bidding strategy used by most universities:

• Each student is allocated some bid credits which they can allocate across their preferred courses.
• All bids for all courses and the students are placed and processed one at a time according to the highest bid made. Every bid and is honored unless the student has not completed the schedule and the course has filled up its seats.
• With process termination, every student obtains a schedule and simultaneously a market clearing “price” is obtained for every course which refers to the lowest bid.

This is applicable in every scenario unless and until the course has empty seats; or the price is zero.

Business schools that rely on this typical university course bidding mechanism include the Columbia Business School, Princeton University, Indian Institute of Management and the Yale School of Management.

Rationing method

There can be serious rationing which can be done here, especially when the classes are scarce or the faculty is not substitutable. One could even ration with money which would mean that some students in the same program will have to shell out different amounts for their degree. That would mean that some would pay a flat fee and an additional course fee depending on the scarcity of that course.

There can be rationing by means of lottery. But the administration is forced to answer in these scenarios since students who did not win would obviously complain about their loss. They would argue that they would be denied the chance to take up the course through sheer luck which is unfair to them.

Here is a university course bidding method proposed by one of my friends. All students are allocated a budget of points. A small number of classes will always be oversubscribed here as many of them would bid all their points for those classes. Then they are rationed and separated by lottery. In this scenario, the number of complaints drops considerably. Now the student could not get the class because they did not bid enough so it is partly their responsibility because they did not bid enough.

Is it Easy to Traverse the Road to a Social Enterprise?

Summary: There is no doubt that the world of social networking has been heating up. But social networking in the corporate world still has to find a firm footing.

With the rise of Facebook as a social networking medium, the consumer world has been active to use it for shopping and chatting simultaneously. To use the social networking medium within a business context has been a big challenge since promotions of any sort do not get much leverage in a personal and casual setup. There is a lot of noise in similar sites and the social media vendors have are insistent and focused on features and functions rather than real and tangible business outcomes.

Social media has always been about putting people at the core of the activity, and that is relevant even in a business scenario. People interact with other people in an organization and try to collaborate through different media. 

Customers can speak about the things that they buy from you and speak about it and even get their questions answered through social media. Partners are constantly updated about the activities and get in their advice once in a while. Employees take help from other employees to complete their tasks. Being social, helps since it is never in a single individual to make it big; it is always a collaborative effort.

Social media can make a huge business impact with internal social networks in companies so that all those involved have a connected experience and a connected social platform.

The “connected” experience of being social

Being social unifies a business and saves it from fragmentation. With the rise of social networks, we have tools that are woven into the fabric of familiar tools that people are cognizant with. 

A recent study of 1000 employees revealed why companies prefer enterprise social networking solutions and the value behind it. The results showed 67% of decision makers required instant messaging as part of social media, 64% preferred email, while 62% opted for video conferencing as a must-have social tool.

The “social” enterprise

By bringing all of social features together, one can boost collaboration and leverage the existing infrastructure. For example, I usually share my status if I going to some place for a meeting. My status would attract someone I know who would approach me for a meeting if he is at the same place. If I hadn’t shared that update, I never would have connected. There is real value here!

According to the Harris research, more than 90% of the decision makers have said that security is a major issue in going social while 66% of the respondents cited integration with third-party systems as a major hitch. Compliance was also listed as one of the main problems for going social. A “connected” social network can help in addressing all similar concerns, as well as ensures that there is a strong system for all.

Early Days for Social Media

Nearly 30% of decision makers are reported to have implemented a social solution across their organizations while 48% of the companies are trying to get a hang of “getting social” by implementing a pilot project. A solid approach is critical for broad adoption across the organization. Enterprise social networks deliver a connected experience and infuse a social feel where people already work thus adding direction to the interaction. Many Fortune 500 companies have managed to make the right impression by fostering a social online community within their organizational setup.

Collaboration Market Trends and Key Challenges Faced by CIOs

SharePoint has been projected as the best collaboration platform in the market by many research reports. But is it easy to achieve success in the current market trends and is this a perfect solution for meeting key challenges faced by CIOs?

 

Social networking has continued to remain the top spending category for all enterprises. Some have ventured to create enterprise social networks for internal collaboration while some companies have used social networking platforms for attending to niche interests. External-use spending is expected to grow faster over the years compared to internal-use spending. Some of the existing trends include:

• Knowledge Management is treated with importance as an integral part of customer relationship management.
• According to Gartner predictions, the enterprise social software market is expected to spike up its revenue drastically every year.
• Content, Communications and Collaboration are the highest selling SaaS solutions while corporates are heavily interested in using Gmail for its email services.

 

SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Social Network

 

Here are the 3 Key Challenges faced by CIOs which requires the expertise of SharePoint development providers:

 

• Need of Experts for Implementing Collaboration Solutions: Enterprise collaboration solutions involve external stakeholders with lot of document sharing involved. Hence, there is an intermittent need to plan things out for aligning conversations and document sharing with business goals. Knowledgeable experts are required who are experienced enough to help the CIOs for defining and creating the building blocks.
• Relevant Tools and Processes for Quick Implementation: SharePoint has undergone drastic changes with each of its versions and to meet specific business requirements. An out of the box approach is preferred here or one can make use of third-party tools and processes. The right choice of tools and strategy is crucial to the resultant implementation.
• High Support and Maintenance costs: Successful SharePoint implementations do not necessarily guarantee high end-user adoption and usage. The percentage of usage ranges from 10% to 300% within 9-12 months. Hence the support and maintenance part is integral to the overall implementation strategy of the collaboration solution. Without a perfect support package, the solution will certainly lose on adoption and result in a total disaster. The support model is required to have a bound maintenance regime for making the Enterprise Collaboration initiative a real success.

 

SharePoint 2010 has fast emerged as the prime ‘Enterprise Collaboration platform.’ Most CIOs are interested in implementing SharePoint for reduced TCO and faster ROI. The Microsoft solution features rich functionalities but as mentioned above, the successful rollout poses problems, especially to map different business processes with relevant collaboration needs. Offshore SharePoint development vendors have varied strategies in place for helping out companies for implementation planning, diligent choice of right tools and processes along with an intricate roadmap suitable to the needs of every organization. Alternatively, defining of SLAs and planning of rollouts are crucial for the success of the solution.

SharePoint 2010 Myths Related to its Enterprise Social Platform Capabilities

SharePoint 2010 does have the basic building blocks required for social computing. As many organizations are venturing to make social collaboration one of their top priorities, it’s important to dispel myths and know the truths associated with SharePoint 2010 before planning out a comprehensive enterprise social platform.

Myth #1: It enables you to build social communities

Reality:  Community was a new concept when introduced in the latest version of SharePoint. SharePoint helps in the formation and cultivation of communities along with user-generated content in the form of blogs or wikis. It even helps in generating social feedback for your content. You can add and follow colleagues and even update one’s own status. But for people who liken community to be more about the ability to engage in different conversations and build relationships will not agree to the view that SharePoint will help in making social communities. Communities showcase expertise and engage people with the inclusion of rich digital media.

Myth #2: People Search Helps Find Experts

Reality:  The means for finding experts in SharePoint implies that one can search different user profiles and scour through multiple attributes as defined by an HR system or self-described by the user. The reality is that there are better ways to find out experts because not all users tag themselves accurately. The profiles need to be identified and filtered within a social space.

Myth #3: SharePoint is expensive to deploy.

Reality: “Expensive” and “complex” are relative terms and depends on user to user. The reality is that a technical installation of SharePoint would take time. A comparison needs to be there to prove what SharePoint is best set for social media. The ROI can be assessed about SharePoint as a platform that can fulfill multiple business needs.

Myth #4: Social Capabilities are not built within SharePoint

Reality:  If one needs social capabilities in SharePoint after one has made the investment, one needs an adroit vendor who can actually implement social media features for your site. The building blocks of SharePoint are good enough. One’s organization must be open to change. By adding technological solutions will do you no good. One should rather opt for enhanced social capabilities inside SharePoint with the help of vendors who can allow you to take a customized approach.

Myth #5: Technology makes one social and lively

Reality: To create a social platform, it requires much more than technology by itself. One needs to determine what the objectives of the clients are before venturing into the technical perspective. You need commitment and sponsorship from them.  It is important to know that one needs to be focused on change management, TCO and employee engagement. The cultural differences and the overall impact of the social technology need to be taken into consideration. SharePoint is the platform which has the capabilities and a huge partner ecosystem which can help in building tailored solutions to suit the clients’ needs. SharePoint can enter into your core infrastructure and blend with the Microsoft family of products which makes it easier for enterprises.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and its Trends in 2012

It is important to assess SharePoint 2010 implementations in the context of the hot topics of today which include: Social networking, cloud and governance. Here is what analysts say about the trends developing around SharePoint:

 

Social communications is expected to become more pervasive on premises but not expected to be used universally. Pilot adoptions will be the preferred norm rather than enterprise adoptions and many of the tasks will not have the "network effect" since only a few initial members will be involved for self-sustaining social collaboration.

 

SharePoint 2010 has enhanced social networking features but ultimately lacks the maturity of social media like Twitter and Facebook. SharePoint is accepted by some organizations as part of their enterprise collaboration strategy, but due to lack of awareness, they have not utilized the tools for extending the social functions and governance features. This is where the independent software vendors come into the picture.

 

SharePoint 2010 implementations today provide the facility to add relevant social content to a broad range of sites. Hence the demand for Personal Content ("PCM") adoption is on the rise since everyone feels the need to aggregate their personal information.

 

On the other hand, cloud adoption is bound to accelerate with the reintroduction of SharePoint Online as an integral part of Office 365. More cloud adoption in Office 365 is expected. Office 365 is preferable for Microsoft-oriented organizations especially for migration from non-SharePoint sources. Office 365 is touted as the preferred platform for document collaboration with external partners, clients and third parties.

 

Security and authentication skills are in constant demand in SharePoint professionals. With the rise in extranets and cloud deployments, there is a dearth of professionals who have the ability to manage security systems externally. They are extremely valuable in today’s setup.

 

Additionally, governance is a topic doing the rounds amidst SharePoint nowadays. With the drastic growth witnessed by SharePoint 2010 implementation services in the recent years, especially double-digit growth, the new users will require constant scrutiny and security. Care should be taken along with channeling and guidance for management of the new crop of users.

 

Governance is taken mostly in the broad perspective, but essentially it hints at guidance. Governance helps in keeping things on track, and is a perfect response to huge scale adoptions. One needs to have things in place for sustained growth and usage. Governance in this context does not refer to management but to find answers to questions related to how can SharePoint be managed efficiently.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012: Use of Analysis Cubes for BI

Analysis cubes are extremely important tools used for Business Intelligence. An analysis cube is basically a set of measures and dimensions which are interconnected with each other for data analysis purpose. Here a measure stands for facts, and imply the transactional value or measurement used by the user for aggregation. Measures are picked up from columns of more than one tables and grouped too. Additionally, a dimension stands for a group of attributes which represent some connection with the corresponding measures in the cube. The dimensions are basically used to analyze the measures present in the cube.

 

Developers make use of analysis cube data to create reports and for identifying key performance indicators (KPIs). Reports and KPIs can be used by different businesses for data analysis modeled in the analysis cube. Existing trends can be identified with the help of analytical results.

 

The previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX gave access to analysis cubes based on the license keys. If the licensing did not allow data access, then configuration keys had to be customized. The customization was extensive and very challenging in most of the cases.

 

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, analysis cube settings can be easily modified to adjust to different business needs and various security levels. One can make use of the Analysis Services Project Wizard, which makes it easier to create or update SSAS projects. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also has default cubes wherein users can customize them or even create new analysis cubes which can be custom-made again with the help of the provided tools.

 

The analysis cubes feature has boasted of various enhancements in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 version. Alternatively, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has introduced multiple changes to the Analysis Services Project Wizard and the Workflow performance cube section and its reports. The EMS cube has brought in some new features while the Role Center has been re-introduced with some minor modifications related to the accessibility. Cubes and dimensions related to supply chain management feature many tweaks related to their representations. Additionally, one can sense some major OLAP modeling improvements along with the introduction of the Business Overview Web part.

 

The Analysis cube feature is useful primarily for Business Intelligence and helpful for quick decision-making and getting a thorough insight into any of the operational processes. Business decision makers, implementation team members and independent software vendors will find the analysis cube feature particularly useful for making important business decisions.