Custom Software Development

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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:14:00 +0000

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.

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.
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.
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.
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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:20:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:17:00 +0000

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 SharePointimplies 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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 05:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:22:00 +0000

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.

Webinar: Be Agile with Mobile BI

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:52:00 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail Industry

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:22:00 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Industry is known as a single application for multiple user scenarios. The main reason behind addressing it like this way is the application uses the same model based incorporated architecture. Business data and information automatically passes through all relevant user scenarios starting from the Point Of Sale (POS) to order management, financials to reporting and even to the supply chain. There are various cost benefits associated with this type of model compared to some of the well-known or modular approaches that has been the alternatives for retailers till now:

Following are some key advantages of the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Industry

Single application for multiple user scenarios helps reducing initial scheduling time, any additional integration costs, and time to deploy the application at several departments, which enables retailers to start new locations quicker and reach payback faster
Ongoing support costs and other operating expenses are low as there is no or limited need to deploy support resources at various locations. Everything can be managed from one master location
Modifications and upgrades needs fewer integration rebuilds, less revised testing, or recoding, which allows retailers to make modifications that could help gaining competitive advantage rapidly and swiftly

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail Industry

The main aim of the application is to help retail consumers that are already using traditional ERP application at their business headquarters for all types of back-office tasks but looking for some agile and less dependent or resource-intensive application to manage all types of retail operations.

Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail Industry application offers many advantages and flexibilities to the administrator which includes drag-and-drop fields, customize POS interface for any individual environment. For employees or group of employees, role enabled views can be defined.

Retail is a wide industry. It is a big challenge in this industry to bring in all the employees up to speed rapidly, allowing them to resolve explicit customer issues quickly and swiftly, and holding high performers on a continual basis. Dynamics AX for Retail Industry application implementation helps overcoming these obstacles easily. It offers retail employees a perspective user interface which suits the best with the tasks they are performing, which ultimately lower down training requirement and helps quick customer service, as well as retaining the employees.

Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail Industry offers additional enhancements where the application allows employees with certain rights to generate and manage particular orders at the POS. It also facilitates them to view relevant data like inventory and promotions through customized dashboards.

An Introduction to Dynamics AX 2012, the leader of the ERP Magic Quadrant!

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:52:00 +0000

The Gartner Group, an independent research firm has formally recognized Dynamics AX as the leader in the Magic Quadrant for ERP. The report was announced recently in terms of ERP services for product-centric midmarket companies for the 2011. With the latest entrant in the form AX 2012, specific modules for manufacturing, wholesale and retail have been presented as a converged solution. This gives an added boost to its already strong standing in the ERP market.

Forrester Research, Inc. cited Microsoft Dynamics AX as the order management hub solutions leader in recent years. It still goes strong because it provides able support for end-to-end management processes and foresighted strategies.

Here is the value proposition that Microsoft Dynamics AX is known for

It is a global solution and supports over 36 countries and languages
The AX codebase is highly customizable and extendable
Extensible with partner vertical solutions
Designed for midsize businesses ( 150 - 1500 employees), scalable to 3,000+ employees

Even if any other major ERP is used at corporate level or in the headquarters, Dynamics AX can serve well at the branch level. Dynamics AX helps in driving customers’ business success to the pedestal and functions as a complete and comprehensive business solution.

Introducing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

AX 2012 is in itself, a great enterprise product since in a general view, it has loads of features that can function independently without the need for drastic customizations. It is also a generational shift in field of software development and implementation with its offerings and capabilities. The ERP boasts of unmatched agility, and a compelling interface which leverages the overall user experience. At the same time, AX 2012 has been particularly attached to the core value of simplicity. It has not diverted itself from the path of simplicity, whether it is in terms of design, implementation, maintenance as well as use.

Dynamics AX 2012 also features rich capabilities along with some pre-built domain-specific functionalities and industry-specific features especially for manufacturing (process, discrete, and lean), distribution, and other sectors such as retail, public sector, and service industries.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 works like a global solution which offers immense business scalability features. It is simple enough in its deployment and can be tailored depending on the unique requirements posed by businesses in more than 36 countries. Dynamics AX has also helped in providing strong insights that help decision-makers to make better decisions. The heart of AX includes unified, natural models and a RoleTailored interface which can let you see, assess and change your business.

Enterprise Dashboards: The Ideal Platform for Mobile BI implementations

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Time-poor executives and managers need continued and real-time access to KPIs. Most of them prefer the trendiest of smartphones and tablet PCs for using Mobile BI implementations. With the advancement in technology, analytics and reporting are displayed for better insight. As field executives begin to use smartphones, rich web content on mobile supported sites provide extensive access to corporate data.

Field service personnel need real-time access to do their job effectively. Pro-active alerts and quick access to the database which details current customer needs and other info helps in enhancing overall efficiency and productivity. Mobile BI dashboards also help in risk management and workforce cohesiveness.

Different dashboards convey different information lucidly. Portfolio dashboards make a lot of sense if different portfolios are involved. One of the better ways for showing measurement of improvement is by linking the graph to a business metric. The challenge here is to bring out the business objective credibly to an IT metric through the mobile BI implementation.

Service dashboards can be focused on organizing and presenting metrics which can impact the service issues. It facilitates measurement of throughput with respect to business transactions and their peak times. Quality can be measured by assessment of the number of bug fix requests. Customer satisfaction can be very clearly measured by taking into account the average time with which helpdesk tickets were closed.

The IT dashboard usually consists of lots of metrics of all types and hence most of these dashboards lack focus and direction. The primary reason why one can implement this mobile BI dashboard is to attend to specific improvement goals. Improvement dashboards even have some particular benchmarks related to the quality of projects, processes and other aspects of IT.

To strike a balance between different types of dashboards is challenging and expensive. In this regard, the dashboards can be segregated into three different types of mobile BI dashboards which indicate the different needs of an organization:

Operational Dashboards are useful for monitoring routine business processes and are assessed on a real-time basis. Managers can be alerted if the operations seem to cross over the thresholds or if there is a major exception in the graphical data

Tactical Dashboards reflect the working of a particular department and its performance while focusing on different areas of concern which would exhort the manager to take up measures for an optimal performance

Strategic Dashboards provide important and pivotal points of insight related to an organization’s performance in comparison to its predefined strategic goals. These dashboards are based on data warehouses or data marts which consist of time-stamped snapshots of information

Use of Mobile Apps Integration with Dynamics AX in Different Scenarios

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:02:00 +0000

The Need

Customers often feel the need to use mobile apps for placing orders or for tracking them. Managers and Executives need real-time information, which makes sense and rely on key performance indicators, dashboards, financial quarter performance results, and government regulations for understanding compliance requirements.

Mobility is needed during order processing, inventory assessment and price verification. Customer relationship management can also be better and efficient if smart mobility is considered. Inventory tracking, order packing and management of the supply chain can be done efficiently by the plant management using mobile apps which are integrated into your Dynamics AX system.

The Field Service team relies on information for its service execution and also requires contract reference and route planning ideas for better service.

Prioritization

Your organization must concentrate on the following prioritization criteria for better service provision:

Determine which processes need the perfect flow of critical information

Choose which app can actually lead you to save substantially

Determine which will reduce process cycles and boost revenue

Select apps which are well aligned with your organization’s business goals

The high impact areas must be determined transparently by assigning priorities and the planning of implementation should be done immediately to get more clarity. There are two options for mobile app deployment through Microsoft Dynamics AX which is in the form of Mobile Web Apps and Rich Mobile Apps.

Mobile Web Apps are specially created so that users can access them from their own Smartphones with the help of a browser while Rich mobile apps are installed on smartphones and might be specific to operating systems or can run on multi-platform.

The right deployment option varies as per organization to organization and also depends on the overall cost savings, simplicity and maintenance requirements. Rich mobile apps are rated quite highly in terms of usability. On the other hand, mobile web apps are rated quite highly in terms of scalability and architecture flexibility. Rich mobile apps are extremely difficult to maintain and the time to market is usually time-consuming. Development cost is quite high for rich mobile apps too.

One should decide on the relevant parameters and then choose the right deployment option depending on your organizational attributes. Furthermore, there is the question of whether you should buy a mobile app or build it. If one can afford to build it, you can set it to your requirements. Additionally the extent of customizations is increasingly high since you control the code. The time to market is extremely high if you build an app compared to the app purchased off the shelf.

Internal and External Factors Driving Mobile BI

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:07:00 +0000

Internal Factors

Driving employee productivity is one of the prime reasons for delivering BI to mobile devices. Inability to access information on a real-time basis affects the mobile worker productivity. No matter what their location or mobile device is, they should be able to access information for better results especially sales personnel depend in this regard. Delivery of the right data when required helps people to execute their jobs effectively without having search for it.

Improved data delivery is one of the prime motivations for implementing Mobile BI too. For mobile workers, it is critical for them to access organizational data assets any time and anywhere.

Real-time reporting and analytics helps field sales workers and service teams to achieve their goals and objectives by making sense of raw data as and when needed. Even queries can be addressed immediately if the right resources are available. The field delivery team cannot waste time in sales especially if the inventory stocks suggest that there is a shortage or if the money involved has been updated.

The fourth pivotal driver is closed loop reporting. One needs to close the loop of reporting so that it results in clear operations and managers are able to take better-informed business decisions.

Mobile Business Intelligence

External Drivers

One of the most influential external factors for Mobile BI is the constant evolution and reinvention of smartphones. Mobile BI has reached a level of maturity due to fantastic mobile platforms in the form of Android and iOS. There is an emerging fleet of phones which support the integration of analytics and reporting. Such convergence of applications is expected in the long run too.

The device-savvy digital generation has an affinity to stay “online” and “connected” which was not expected previously. Furthermore they are device independent nowadays. Today’s business professionals too expect that the enterprise data delivery mechanism needs to be constantly updated and that enterprise content connectivity is a must.

Organizations are increasingly forced to be connected to the online world since the current generation is always on the run and have very short attention span. Previously, the field service executives stayed offline if they were not in office. Nowadays this trend is unacceptable for companies since they are expected to be connected anywhere and anytime in this competitive market.

Even the cost of establishing a BI solution for the mobile workforce is now increasingly affordable. Even the security issues have now lessened to a great extent and remote data access is now a preferred way to stay connected to the main system. The price of inaction has become extremely costly since competition has grown tremendously over the years.

SharePoint – FIS, FAST Search and the Overall Value to Customers

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

The SharePoint 2010 For Internet Sites has two versions — SharePoint FIS Standard. There could be some organizations which need web content management capabilities and some basic functionality and not all the features. So there’s a simpler entry point to internet solutions called SharePoint FIS Standard edition and has support for a single domain website. For advanced features like Business Intelligence, insights into your website, electronic forms, or enterprise-wide searches then opt for SharePoint FIS Enterprise version.

Then there is FAST Search Server, which consists of FAST Search Designer, interaction Management Services and content transformation services. Then you have support for a variety of languages.

It is important to bring in a different level of experience to your customers; how do you get them engaged with your organization on your website and actually present information pertinent to them.

SharePoint products work big time for its customers. In the Media and Online retail industry for example, there are many sites like Yellow Pages and PriceGrabber.com which have enterprise search at their core. If you have an organizational setup with a call center, it makes sense to have a website with good search features which will help visitors to find what they are looking for which would indirectly affect call center costs. FAST Search for Internet Sites can thus deliver a great user experience and also save on costs! Social media is an important component for the Education vertical. Ease of publishing and managing web content are ways education sector can benefit from using SP FIS. Powerful search, digital media assets and social media are very important for Industries such as CPG, Food and other retail sectors (not just online retail).

SharePoint For Internet Sites & Fast Search Features

Capabilities such as SharePoint workflows and the approval process helps in improved quality content publishing. Social computing elements can be incorporated while posting content on websites. For example, you can let a community rate the content of a website which will help you to get quality content for the site.

In regards to customer service, SharePoint-FIS for Enterprises is recommended since we are looking at business intelligence attributes. We might have to look for data visualization capabilities that can aid in decision-making too.

For extranets, obviously you can use the whole Microsoft SharePoint platform for creating forms, for business processes, and even for having complete interaction with partners about your own products. You might even have to take the experience beyond SharePoint boundaries to provide offline experiences with tools like SharePoint WorkSpace and SharePoint Workspace on a Windows Mobile smartphone.

The Elements of the Modern Website and SharePoint 2010

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:39:00 +0000

With the advent of social media and new strategies implemented within search engine optimization, the target market and the overall website strategy have changed drastically. Here are some of the new elements and parameters of the modern website which can boost success of your company too.

The core tenets of the website primarily include user browsing experience and the overall site navigation along with the content. The brand boosters of the site include the mobile apps and company blogs which are useful media for publicizing one’s products and services. One can avail customer feedback with the help of surveys. Social media channels on the site include the various plugins integrated within the website redirecting to relevant pages on Facebook and Twitter along with other social media channels.

The embedded photos and videos in the site improve communication and collaboration with prospective customers. Forums and associations bring in dynamic content to the site which greatly enhances the site rankings and also helps in content collaboration on relevant topics.

Search engine optimization strategies like the use of meta tags go a long way in enhancing the search engine rankings and keyword specific boost in the web page searches. Google, Bing and Yahoo rule the search world and their search results are prime indicators of the popularity of a site. Targeted advertising on the other hand, relies on specific domain ads which appeal to the intended audience only.

SharePoint 2010 has delivered as a comprehensive business management solution and a collaborative platform. But with its product SharePoint – For Internet Sites, the solution can now be used to create a public-facing site too!

SharePoint 2010 & website elements implementation

Speaking about the core tenets of the website, SharePoint 2010 implementation services consist of out of box features which are perfect for managing user roles, permissions, page level views and item display. Components for a website like blogs, discussions, contacts, social module integration etc. are readily available in SharePoint and can be included on any site.

SharePoint 2010 development facilitates mobile views, i.e. the lists and views within SharePoint are easily compatible with a plethora of mobile devices and thereby ease the development of a world-class website as a worthy brand booster too.

Out of the box integration with SharePoint forms allows creation of simple forms and even collection of regular customer feedback.

Out-of-the-box social networking web parts that will help link users and permissions from specific social modules help in fulfilling in parameters related to social networking. Specific web parts related to social media also play a major role for amplifying the features of the site as well as the site owner’s services.

Photos and video sharing is easily done and configured using SharePoint since the Microsoft solution consists of ready-to-use controls for both photo and video upload. Content collaboration can be set up easily with SharePoint. The content admins can manage and regulate content without any hassle and even publish pages simultaneously.

With respect to targeted advertising, Microsoft SharePoint can help create sub sites for different user groups and allow them to share relevant content of their preferences.

A Strong Digital Marketing Future with SharePoint and its Products

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:47:00 +0000

Digital marketing is a solid form of viral marketing where you promote your business by getting other people to do the talking for you and adapting to the core. With digital marketing, advertising, branding, contextual marketing, social media marketing, and transactional marketing all find a common platform.

What we now want is to create this vision for tomorrow where it is a single unified platform that basically has things like content management, search, digital asset management, and a whole series of other functions built into this simple platform, that’s easy to use, that everybody is very familiar with. And that’s essentially what the digital marketing platform is.

The website as you know encapsulates several mediums of digital marketing. With digital marketing, chances are that one might get lost in the maze of several marketing platforms and options. It is important to prioritize and visualize which options are feasible, which ones are important and which ones should be prioritized.

A handy digital marketing tool - SharePoint 2010

SharePoint 2010 and its products can serve as a great tool for digital marketing for your company. SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites has two versions. There could be some organizations that do not need all the components of SP but may want to have the web content management capabilities and some basic functionality. So there’s a simpler, reduced cost entry point to internet solutions called SharePoint FIS Standard edition. This basically gives you all the web content management capabilities, the workflow collaboration elements as well as social computing and site search. SPFIS Standard will only support a single domain website. If you want to introduce other elements such as Business intelligence, insights into your website, electronic forms, or enterprise-wide searches then you would need to have the Enterprise version.

Microsoft SharePoint has the ability to fulfill 3 different goals:

Connect: It can federate offsite content. So it can do a search in real time. It can also provide Search generated topic pages, interactive product experiences and blended user generated content.

Adaptability: SharePoint 2010 can do recommendations. If there are two things that need to be sold together based on the behavior of users, then they can be automatically presented together. It can personalize it for you and provide dynamic visual navigation in addition to location-based, mobile search and social ranking and tagging.

Guide: It can guide in your online promotions and cross selling, for targeted lead generation, one stop account servicing and interactive customer support.

SharePoint 2010 products can surely serve as one of the best digital marketing tool. It can make digital marketing activities way too easy and flexible.

MS Dynamics AX — Extending Mobile Deployment with Mobile Apps

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:39:00 +0000

The Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for ERP in the mid-market places Microsoft Dynamics AX at the top spot which is testimony to the growth of the ERP solution. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is basically a graphical representation of how selected ERP vendors measure a given ERP solution in terms of functionality, usability, and technology for a marketplace.

In terms of the trends we see for new initiatives for existing AX customers, most tend to fall into a small set of categories. These include extending AX functionality through the use of mobile apps or implementing real time integration to other applications in the business. Additionally, the creation of BI dashboards and adding new business features through AX customization are also receiving attention and funding. Finally, with the rapidly impending release of AX 2012, many existing AX customers include an upgrade in their IT plans.

You can transform the business through mobility on the Customer Side by identifying new intelligent products and on the Employee side through process innovation and new styles of collaborative work. Mobile apps help grow business by providing new channels and communities to Customers and by supplying role specific applications to Employees.

Lastly, mobile apps help you run the business by providing light weight communication options to your Customer and also provide basic productivity tools such as mobile e-mail and connectivity to your Employees. Managers and Executives typically desire mobile apps on their smart phones that deliver information, including key performance indicators, dashboards, financial data & results, and compliance requirements.

Mobile App Integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX

When it comes to the sales force, the mobile imperative lies in order processing, inventory and price verification, customer profiling and customer relationship management. For Plant personnel, mobile apps may be used for order picking, inventory tracking, supplier relationship management and goods receipts. The Field Service team can use mobile apps for work recording, service execution, contract reference and route and travel planning.

Selecting the right platform for a smart phone depends on a variety of parameters ranging from library of apps available to native features and functionality. Additionally, you will want to consider ease of communication, design and performance factors, and security and reliability issues. As you determine your mobile app requirements, inevitably you must consider the question of whether you should buy a mobile app or build it. On the benefits side, you need to account for both tangible and intangible returns.Tangible returns include incremental revenue, repeat business, improved productivity, faster inventory turns, a reduced sales cycle and targeted promotions. Intangible returns typically include improved customer satisfaction, competitive advantage over your competition, improved reporting, and improved employee utilization, quality of life, satisfaction, and retention.

SharePoint 2010 and Enterprise Content Management — Solutions Matter!

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:22:00 +0000

Enterprise Content Management has emerged with the advent of diverse technologies and the potent combination of their services. Enterprises create diverse content every day; intentionally and unintentionally as part of their business processes. For effective management of content, one needs to manage their data more effectively. It is important to focus upon the connections and collaboration between people and content. The system should also detect patterns related to behavioral barriers in the workplace.

Additionally, ECM’s promise of integrated tools required to capture, manage and deliver critical data has yet to be realized.

Defining an ECM roadmap

Identification of both organizational and user requirements and needs.

Engagement of users throughout the ECM implementation.

Relevant adoption plan related to organizational ECM strategies and tool sets to train users.

SharePoint compared to other ECM platforms

SharePoint empowers users and this fact remains a differentiating part compared to ECM platforms. It is tightly integrated with Microsoft tool sets like Windows and Office and hence users find it easy to get engaged with the platform. In addition, SharePoint is cost-effective since it is time for tight budgets in enterprises. As an enterprise platform, it offers solutions other than ECM too. Lastly, its seamless integration with different tools related to social computing, business intelligence and enterprise search makes it a compelling offering for enterprises to invest.

Demarcating Features of SharePoint 2010 as an ECM solution

Document ID: This new feature generates a unique id for every uploaded document even after it is moved.

Metadata: SharePoint utilizes metadata in organizing information which is different from the traditional hierarchical file/ folder structure.

Document Sets: Documents can be grouped together in different sets and worked around as a unit in SharePoint 2010 which comes in handy in project environments.

Search: Enterprise search is now in its enhanced version and the queries and results are quite streamlined. Query-less searches are available which helps in searching out photos and videos.

Records Management: This module is well streamlined and every document can be part of a record. It also features including author, hold, expiry details etc. are available.

Social Computing: SharePoint 2010 enables users to define social connections and impart information with category in MySites which allows them to see the tags made and the jobs that they are working on. One can send messages too.

Integrating External Platforms: Various platforms such as SharePoint Designer, Business Connectivity Services (BCS) can be brought together. External lists can be integrated as external data sources into SharePoint.

Ease of Use: Tight integration with MS Office allows Office document content to interact directly with SharePoint 2010 making it very efficient for users.

Wine and Shine: Be Agile with Mobile BI

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:38:00 +0000

Mobile BI is in constant demand today due to many reasons. Time-poor executives need to access key performance indicators at a glance during meetings, seminars and conferences. With the advent of smartphones and its enhanced features, it is possible for executives to be in touch to the online world constantly. Corporates are increasingly using smartphones, tablets and laptops and the latest devices are even capable of delivering rich Web content which guarantees the managers and decision makers to have extensive access to corporate data.

Not only managers, but sales personnel find mobile access and business analytics to be in constant contact with their group of customers and also assess the inventory or a projection chart with the help of mobile analytics. Field personnel especially need to have sound knowledge of their company’s customer-base for better sales results.

Employee productivity is one of the key reasons for delivering mobile BI. Infrequent accessibility to critical information actually inhibits a mobile worker’s productivity. Better information flow is one of the prime motivations for the use of BI in mobile devices. Analytics are delivered real-time and there is constant access to data. Service and field sales personnel are constantly on the run and mobile BI helps them to achieve their goals and objectives easily and efficiently.

SharePoint 2010 helps everyone access the business information required to make good decisions. With powerful features like business-specific interactive dashboards and scorecards along with the ability to make sense of Key Performance Indicators, people can use the data which can be found in databases, reports, and other sources to address specific needs.

In SharePoint 2010, the BI tools are Microsoft Excel, the PowerPivot Add-in for Excel, Excel Services, Visio Services, PerformancePoint Services, SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services), SSIS for Integration Services, and SSAS for Analytical services. SharePoint 2010's BI capabilities are easily more cohesive than those offered by other solutions.

INDUSA has scheduled a wine tasting event for those interested in how SharePoint 2010 can be leveraged for creating a robust Mobile BI environment.The audience will primarily consist of senior management and executives, sales managers and field service personnel.

The company is also conducting a session on the key factors which are driving the need for Mobile BI, and will focus on the overall benefits derived from embracing mobile BI in an agile environment.

The event will be held on the 23rd of February 2012 at the AON Center in Chicago from 6:00 AM onwards. Click here to register for the event.

Social Media Assessment with Microsoft SharePoint 2010

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:52:00 +0000

Do you want to know one of the worst questions dealing with the digital world right now? It is: How revenue can be generated through Social Media.

Social media has been the rising star of the new internet decade of the 21st century, and it's constantly evolving and complex content has been a great challenge for many businesses.

A social media assessment will help you quickly and efficiently develop a game plan on how to use the internet to help build your business.

You need to find the right arenas

Match the shared interest with your own

Understand how to contribute

Ideally, find the actual people who are most enthusiastic

We are taking in account the NCP model which involves networks, contribution and participation. Additionally, the social media assessment follows the Four Quadrant methodology of brand, customer, partner, and competitor assessment. There should also be a proper measurement plan. Creating a measurement plan prior to launch avoids pitfalls down the road.

Role of SharePoint in Digital Marketing

Microsoft defines its collaboration tool for the enterprise in these words, “Using SharePoint 2010, your people can set up Web sites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports to help everyone make better decisions.”

The Microsoft SharePoint bee-hive displays six major categories containing several features addressing the needs of a digital marketing initiative. The six categories are:

Collaboration

Portal

Enterprise Search

Content Management

Business Processes

Insights

Keeping in line with the growing need for well-structured taxonomy on a web site, SharePoint 2010 now supports Managed Meta Data Services that allows creating & managing the Meta tags across multiple sites.

Audience objects will allow us to target specific content to the target visitor segment thereby making their experience on your site more effective. We believe this is a great feature for content repurposing as the content you render will resonate with the needs of the visitor.

Microsoft SharePoint also provides inbuilt web analytics to understand your website performance. It demonstrates the standard KPIs (key performance indicators) for web site monitoring - like count of unique visitors to your website, total traffic on the site, top destinations on website, and top referrals etc.

The new Microsoft SharePoint 2010 seems to provide every single feature that a web content management (WCM) platform or a digital assets platform or even an enterprise search solution needs to support to deal with a public facing website.

Salient Features of SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:40:00 +0000

SharePoint for Internet Sites (SP-FIS) is available in two different versions: SharePoint FIS Standard Edition & SharePoint FIS Enterprise Edition.The enterprise edition includes all the features offered in the standard edition and a preferable choice for organizations willing to utilize SharePoint as a platform for their online presence.

There are many companies that might need limited features of SharePoint-FIS including web content management capabilities and other primary features & functionalities. For such companies rest of the components might not be feasible to them. SharePoint FIS Standard Edition, with limited features, could be the best solution for these companies as it also helps saving a lot on the costing part. It could also act as a good starting point for using SharePoint for Internet Sites.

SP-FIS standard edition is a basic version of the product and offers users the entire web content management (WMS) features, the workflow collaboration components as well as social computing and site search features. It is important to note that standard edition does not support multiple domains and can be used only for a single domain website.

If you need higher usability and better functionalities and other business components such as Business Intelligence (BI), insights into your websites, online or e-forms, or enterprise-wide search functionality then it is advisable for you to go for the Enterprise version of SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites. Some of the features include:

- Interaction management: It includes an important Interaction Management feature which essentiallyenvisages the method in which you interact with the site.

- Content Transformation – a kind of interface which not only helps you searching internal information, but some additional data or information can be pulled in from external resources and both can be merged and represented as a single result.

- Multiple language support: SP-FIS supports multiple languages, so multilingual website can be developed easily and swiftly.

- Connectors: This product also comprises of Connectors for databases, XML and others.

Some of the general benefits of SP-FIS include:

- Easy-to-use authoring tools helps SP-FIS keeping content fresh and dynamic

- It is easy to launch new sites and content with the help of custom workflows which are adaptable enough to be customized as per user’s requirements

- With SP-FIS, an appealing online experience is certain due to highly interactive features such as search, rich media and social computing. These features will definitely assist you to get your users captivated!

- It is also easy to develop highly interactive and powerful business applications based on your current systems.

- SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sitesoffers a cohesive infrastructure with a feature like web content management (WMS) system, which is very cost-effective, compliant and easily manageable.

- Easy integration of BI tools like Excel Services and PerformancePoint Services for better decision making support.

Mastering the Revenue Game with the right Digital Marketing Strategy and Microsoft SharePoint

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Digital Media has drastically changed over the years. Traditional marketing meant direct mailers, print ads in magazines/telephone books, radio /TV ads, and even billboards to reach viewers and prospects.

Today, it’s a completely different scenario. Monologs have given way to dialogs, conversations which have bred social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, messengers and chat applications. Individual consumption has given way to group participation.

Today people are quite done with the barrage of marketing messages. They are very good at deleting, trashing, and blocking traditional marketing.People are instead attaching more importance to transparency and authenticity (personal tweet messages from CEOs) which are guaranteed to connect to the mass public.

Clients in most cases find sites difficult to use and navigate, and complain about lack of dynamic content. Many do not like to read content-heavy sites as they find it “boring and tedious.” Chances are that, they find main content irrelevant and relevant content difficult to find, in a site. Some don’t find the site pleasing to the eye, while some do not have the required patience to scour the site and hence abandon it quickly. There are some users who are directed to a site with which they have no direct connection.

As more and more consumers are going digital, marketing methods are becoming more complicated. With digital marketing, chances are that one might get lost in the maze of several marketing platforms and options. It is important to prioritize and visualize which options are feasible, which ones are important and which ones should be prioritized. Digital Marketing is complex since it houses a plethora of mediums including photo sharing sites, video sharing sites, social networks, micro-blogging sites, job boards and technology forums. One needs to identify the best medium for connecting to their prospects depending on type of business.

SharePoint products are widely used for leveraging digital marketing strategies especially social media for the boosting online presence of enterprises. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites has two versions – standard and enterprise. If you want to introduce other elements such as Business intelligence, insights into your website, electronic forms, or enterprise-wide searches then you would need to have the Enterprise version. SharePoint products are different from the base version of SharePoint 2010 which is ideally an ECM solution which is scalable for enterprises.

For more information about how one can master the revenue game with Digital Marketing and Social Media, register for the lunch ‘n learn event here http://www.indusa.com/SPDigitalMktlnl.php. The event will be held at Chicago from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Microsoft Dynamics AX vs. SAP Business All-in-one

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:05:00 +0000

SAP and Microsoft continue to dominate the enterprise resource planning domain. Microsoft who was actually playing second fiddle some years back is back in the reckoning for the top spot with its Dynamics AX solution. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 development and implementation is geared towards more user adoption since it offers better returns in many aspects compared to SAP.

Salient Features of SAP Business All-in-one

SAP Business All-in-One is more of a marketing framework rather than a software solution designed specifically to address the needs of the SMB market segment.

1) Micro-vertical solutions are channel partner and region specific, which make global rollouts challenging.

2) Users report SAP All-in-One has the complexity of SAP’s enterprise solution (R/3) because it is based on R/3.5

3) Most business logic is still based on legacy and proprietary ABAP/4 code. Because the programming language is proprietary, customization and integration with other applications can be challenging. High system overhead has also been reported.

Salient Features of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Microsoft Dynamics AX is designed for mid-sized and multinational organizations, scaling to thousands of users across multiple sites.

1) Placed in the “Visionary” Quadrant by Gartner Research in the Magic Quadrant for the ERP Manufacturing Midmarket, June 2005

2) Designed to meet the individual needs of the customer, rather than forcing a user to accept a solution based on industry best practices.

3) Supported by 1,300+ solution providers on a global scale.

4) Over 5,800 customers worldwide.

Why should one opt for Dynamics AX instead of SAP Business All-in-one?

Microsoft Dynamics AX development and implementation services can boost employee productivity drastically. In a recent analysis that compared the impact of ERP on people's productivity, Microsoft Dynamics AX users scored 18 percent higher than SAP users.

Microsoft Dynamics AX can also scale with your business since one can integrate the ERP solution with Microsoft SQL Server to enjoy enterprise-level reporting, quick decision-making support, and timely, relevant business insight at an affordable cost.

Microsoft Dynamics AX also provides a low cost of ownership and is adroitly engineered to cost-effectively support the changing requirements. Additionally, recent research reports suggest that it offers a higher return on investment (ROI) than many other offerings. Microsoft Dynamics AX licensing is also designed to be reasonable enough since it can be tailored as per requirements. Finally, Microsoft offers a fantastic vertical partner ecosystem which helps the company to deliver vertical solutions to hundreds of different industries. The Microsoft Dynamics AX program offers solutions which are designed to meet the needs of multiple domains as well as professional services.

For the right Microsoft Dynamics AX development and implementation services, one needs to pick rich portfolio of tested solutions developed by ISVs that match Microsoft’s effective organizational certification standards.

An Introduction to FAST Search for SharePoint 2010

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:30:00 +0000

Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint is an innovative search solution that provides users with unique search features offered by FAST with the TCO options of Microsoft. FAST Search Server for SharePoint 2010 offers the best general productivity search features provides a cost-effective way to build new search-related applications. SharePoint Server 2010 FAST Search is a vital improvement to the existing search feature for SharePoint and offers great flexibility to users. In addition to that, FAST technology offers FAST Search for SharePoint 2010, which is entirely new offering for SharePoint platform. It is considered to be an improved version of SharePoint 2010 Search irrespective of the product you use at the enterprise level.

FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 provides highly advanced search facilities which can be considered. There are many eye-catchy and noticeable improvements that draw a clear line between both these search capabilities.

Features of Enterprise Search Platform have been integrated into FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 which made its deployment and accessibility easier through SharePoint management tools. Another noticeable change in FAST ESP is the advanced content processing and enhanced linguistic features.

Another noticeable advancement with FAST Search is in the Structured Data Search. Though both of them have this feature but FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 can perform data search based on numbers, dates and some other structured data. For developers, this can be achieved using FAST Query Language (FQL).

Flexibility of Visual Search based on document thumbnails and previews is one of the other advanced features in FAST Search for SharePoint 2010. Visual document thumbnails and previewer of Web Parts assist in finding out relevant data from the search results quickly.

Advanced level Custom Relevancy is a pivotal feature in FAST Search for SharePoint 2010. Take, for example, two separate level executives / users, entering the same search query might have different search “contexts” and different search experiences based on their account profile and roles.

Visual best bet is another advanced feature in existing “best bets”feature which adds to the search capability for searching images as well as videos.

FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 is built on highly advanced and all-inclusive development framework of SharePoint 2010. It has extensive capabilities for search which are unequalled in the industry.

Many more features and enhancements are expected to be added to the existing FAST Search features. Moreover the product has proved to be very useful for digital marketing via SharePoint.

Third Party Mobile App Integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX

noreply@blogger.com (INDUSA Technical Corp.) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:30:00 +0000

In this fast paced world, it is extremely critical to have access to consistent line-of-business apps even while you are on the field. Dealing efficiently with on field scenarios is very important for organizations that have heavy field sales work involved. But innovation in Mobile technology has played a crucial role in making this happen. Implementing mobile applications based on Microsoft Dynamics AX as well as the Windows Mobile Platform helps boost work efficiency. Mobile apps integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX solution assists indriving augmented output, and most importantly, reduces overall costs involved.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is gaining attention as the premier ERP application for the mid-sizedorganization, as demonstrated by the fact that AX currently maintains the Top Spot in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for ERP in the mid-market.There is a basic need to have an integrated mobile application with Dynamics AX.

There are many companies who use AX as its ERP solution. But the problem is that field service executives are unable to get real-time access to the ERP when on the move.

Integration between Mobile apps with Microsoft Dynamics AX

1) Maximize Dynamics AX investment and productivity by extending the solution to the smart phone through mobile apps
2) Organizations can transform the business through mobility on the Customer side by identifying new intelligent products and on the Employee side through process innovation and new styles of collaborative work
3) The application help grow the business by providing new channels and communities to Customers and by supplying role specific applications to Employees
4) The integrated Mobile app help you run the business by providing light weight communication options to your Customer and also provide basic productivity tools such as mobile e-mail and connectivity to your Employees
5) The Mobile appintegrated with AX can help customers to place orders, track existing orders, make payments or view promotions

Who can be benefited?

- Executives working from home
- Your outside Sales Force staff
- Service & Field personnel
- Plant personnel
- Warehouse users and executives at several level of hierarchy

Integration between Dynamics AX and Mobile Apps has opened new doors for organizations, where a constant and reliable connection between executives and company data is must, even if the information is located at remote location.