Inatech runner up in corporate cricket tournament

Inatech’s team finished second in the Kingfisher Corporate Cricket Tournament earlier this month.

Inatech’s Suresh Nagraj was awarded Man of the Match in the final game for bowling three overs, six runsa nd six wickets.

Inatech players were especially pleased to find that both the winning team, HP Bangalore, and the runners up won a full crate of Kingfisher beer!

Final Day at the SharePoint Conference

Final day and many individuals arrive with fatigue for a very technical day of sessions and education. The key for me today is the focus on Search and Apply technology which is primarily been the domain of third party product providers as SharePoint has lacked greatly in this area. The tools are very varied from the simple ‘replicate and secure’ to Knowledge-Based surfacing of critical information.

A great aspect of the new 2010 product is the Document Stores. In the past SharePoint has had document stores but the library is a more intimate and detailed presentation showing the library summary, who owns the library, how many documents posted, the categories for documents and the search criteria available. A key aspect of improved search is the ‘tagging’ and simplified metadata areas of SharePoint – this has been a poor feature of 2007 which is now an enterprise strength function available out-of-the-box.

I attended a special event (by invitation) with Colligo – desktop tooling for SharePoint Portals. This is another poor functional area which they addressed with their own tool kit. The lunch included three guest speakers: two from companies that have implemented and one partner (Quest Software). Although a little contrived on how the tool has delivered but the screen grabs and examples left me feeling this is still too basic.

My Summary: overall the showcase had many good ‘add-on-supplier’ products but I did not see any business solutions being offered. This is an opportunity for Calsoft. Las Vegas as a venue is a crazy but interesting place. The venue served everyone well and the food and entertainment has been first class. That’s it for another year.

David Gardiner

Day 3: The SharePoint Fairy to the rescue

After a couple of days looking at the new SharePoint technology it was time to turn to the question ‘how do we become better partners and win more business?’. The day started with an excellent presentation on using Story Telling to convey our strength and capability and to resonate with our prospects and clients. Bob McDowell, VP of Information Worker at Microsoft delivered a very passionate session with very good story telling examples. These will come in handy!

A great aspect of today was the continuous switch from selling technology to engaging with prospects and clients. Knowing more about your intended customers is a key to quick and positive engagement. It is no longer sensible or feasible just to be technology specialist but you must be able to talk the talk. Bob gave a great rendition of being asked ‘so what keeps you up at night?’ question – one which he loathes as it is still ‘sales speak’. He followed by suggesting ‘tell me about your current objectives and the challenges you are facing Mr Customer in reaching those objectives so I can determine how or if we can help you overcome them’; I know which would work best.

As it is a key requirement within our client base the ‘Proven Principles and Best Practices for Intranets’ session doubled a consultancy approach to the actual delivery for DelMonte foods (co-hosted by the Portal Manager involved from DelMonte). Much as what you would expect but sometimes the obvious is missed. This was followed by the ‘Building an enterprise knowledge management solution with SharePoint and Solving Information Chaos. The former was focused on 2010 and the road Microsoft themselves have been treading on building a better KM service. A key part of the information was how under 2007 they have over 350 different SharePoint sites all supposed to be providing knowledge. Under 2010 they will have a one-site-one-style environment which learns about the users and delivers the right information through tagging and meta data extraction – very cool and very powerful.

Having wandered the Showcase I must admit my surprise that there are NO application vendors on any stand. Everyone is selling a ‘SharePoint add-on or booster’. This must be an opportunity for Calsoft.

During my tour of the Showcase arena I came across the SharePoint Fairy – see picture. Believe it or not she is the Marketing Director for a sizable SharePoint services partner in the US – nice marketing tactics!

Dave Gardiner

Benefits of hosted Microsoft GP

Calsoft Group yesterday announced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics as a hosted service to customers and businesses. To shed a little more light on the service we have opened the License Agreement to get a closer look at what this truly means for businesses.

We mentioned that by Calsoft hosting the Microsoft group of products means companies do not have to shell out for their own licenses, nor do they have to host them. Therefore the responsibility is firmly planted on the shoulders of an outsourced company; this offers confidence, security and someone to hold to account if something goes wrong. It will also mean a reduction in costs for licensing the products for many businesses.

Microsoft GP is an ERP software for small and mid size companies. It offers most of the functionality compared to other ERP software at a lesser cost. Integration with other Microsoft applications that are mostly used across offices globally (outlook, ms office, browser etc.) is at the click of a button. So small businesses can now grow confidently and not get muddled with confusing IT systems.

Updates - the frequent updates made to these types of technology can cause a massive hindrance for many businesses; where to find the time? The resources? The expertise? With utilising a hosted service this can all go to the back of the mind - because you will have the most up-to-date version than your competitors - for sure.

What's your experience?

Calsoft completes Microsoft Services License Agreement

The Calsoft Group has recently signed the Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement that allows Calsoft to provide the Microsoft Dynamics group of products as hosted services. Calsoft can provide this service to its customers across the globe. This hosting model can be provided as Per Processor License or Subscriber Access License (SAL). The immediate benefits to the customers who avail of this service model get access to the required product on a hosted instance without paying the total cost of the license price of the product.

Calsoft feels this is a better approach for many businesses struggling to manage their own licenses. Every year businesses face daily challenges to understand the usage agreements of the products they use. By purchasing direct from a managed services and systems integration company, organisations are offered greater flexibility and the security in knowing they have the right licenses.

Onam Celebrations at Calsoft Chennai

Aug 31st 2009, Calsoft Celebrated Onam festival - another key event in the company's calendar.

The team worked together to create a series of activities through out the day. There was “Pookalam Competition” and ‘Tug of War Competition” where the team came up with wonderful Pookalam designs making the occasion of Onam more special.

The competition between the employees was full of enthusiasm and it was a lot of fun watching the Pookalam.

Winners were announced at the end of the day, concluding with the distribution of Payasam & Sweets as is Indian tradition at these festivals.

From the BI trail: Inatech on tour with Oracle in Cairo

As Oracle makes its way through the Middle East, presenting on Business Intelligence, Inatech has made its mark on the conference trail.

Last week, Srinivasan Mohandas gave a presentation in Cairo as part of Oracle’s conference tour. The presentation, entitled “Migration to Oracle BI EE from Discoverer - Helping you navigate”, introduced Oracle Discoverer users interested in exploring Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition to the newer software product.

The presentation gave potential Oracle BI EE users a taste of the software, highlighting its basis on modern web services oriented architecture. Its comprehensive suite of BI capabilities from interactive dashboards to disconnected analytics, and its emphasis on streamlining and efficiency.

The presentation also argued the benefits of migrating from Discoverer to BI EE. Mohandas pointed out to the audience that with BI EE, users have support for multiple, simultaneous heterogeneous data sources, all presented in a semantic business view; a powerful metadata design tool; and a full-feature ad hoc query tool, all topped off with a built-in integrated dashboard for the speedy publishing and sharing of reports.

Finally, the presentation covered Inatech’s award-winning four-stage process for assisting clients in migrating from their old system to BI EE.

The presentation was met with interest and enthusiasm from the audience.

Tamil Nadu pauses as election fever hits

As a centre for ancient culture and literature, it follows that Tamil Nadu is also a prominent player in national politics. Fittingly, then, thousands are expected to vote in the general elections there tomorrow (13th May).

33 candidates in a number of constituencies are in the running to represent their public, and to mark the occasion, the region will have a bank holiday to ensure that all of the electorate have plenty of opportunity to cast their vote.

Inatech’s Chennai offices, which are within the Tamil Nadu region, will remain closed for the duration of the day. Inatech’s managed services team, however, will be up and running throughout the day; businesses must go on despite the importance of this year’s elections.

Calsoft receives BI Competency

Calsoft Enterprise Solutions has been awarded Microsoft Business Intelligence Competency. The status is awarded for Calsoft’s work based on Microsoft’s BI Platform, which includes work using SQL Server, Performance Point Manager and Reporting Services.

Calsoft is already a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and holds existing competencies in SOA and Business Process and ISV Software Solutions.

The new competency highlights Calsoft’s use of Analysis Services, Reporting Services and Integration Services on SQL, as part of the realization of its vision of “Harnessing Information, Discovering Insights, Transforming Business.”

Calsoft’s Global Sales and Marketing Director Chris Baker highlighted the need for BI as a tool to cut costs and drive up efficiency: "We have been delivering business intelligence solutions for the last six years and in today's economy it's more relevant than ever. Organisations need to increase revenue, cut costs, track competition and deliver operational efficiency. Intelligence is vital across the organization and we're committed to delivering every time.”

Baker went on to illustrate Calsoft’s versatility as a factor in the new competency: “This announcement formalizes our position as a worldwide source for business intelligence regardless of the platform our customers use, their location, or their business. We continue to invest in our teams in order to deliver high-value business consulting services that augment technical delivery on any BI platform.

“We are confident that our expertise in Microsoft technologies will enable us to go above and beyond and help our customers reach their full business potential."

Calsoft is the parent company of Inatech which is also an Oracle Certified Partner.

Inatech presents eBS Supply Chain & Manufacturing

As this year’s OBUG Benelux Connect conference looms, Inatech’s Simon Ellis, Director of Custom and Product Development, prepares to speak on eBS Supply Chain and Manufacturing.

Ellis will present a session from 11.30am-12.15pm on 31st March, in Room 12 of the Metropolis Cinema Complex in Atwerpt, Belgium.

The session will provide insight to Real World Experiences of Oracle Release 12 Supply Chain and Manufacturing. During the session, entitled "Living (again) in the Material World", which will assess how far the Oracle Supply Chain and Manufacturing products have progressed since Release 10.6.

As well as a large exhibit area in the Hollywood Lounge, at which delegates can meet, network and showcase the achievements of their organisations, there will be several other mini-lessons from the Oracle University. Marc de Kam of KPN and Balt Leenman of CapGemini will present a seminar on improving financial transaction processing and consolidation with Financial Services Accounting Hub and Oracle DRM at KPN. Gerard Stam of Public Works Rotterdam, and Eric Vennix of Deloitte will present “From Redactive To Proactive Governance”.

There will be an opening keynote speech from Jose Lazares, Vice President of Oracle's Applications Development and Applications Integration Architecture, whilst the closing keynote will come from Andrew Sutherland, vice president of technology for Oracle EMEA.

Microsoft cashes in on green initiatives

Microsoft has launched its offer of a free dashboard that captures energy consumption data to its Dynamics AX 2009 enterprise resource planning customers.

The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard can be used to track progress on environmental performance indicators. Microsoft says that the free software will allow companies without the resources for consultancy to further their green efforts. The ESD is expected to be adopted by many, as green technology climbs higher and higher on business agendas, but, as Calsoft’s David Gardiner says, only if it does not involve too much spending in a recession.

Gardiner said: “With the current economic climate there is definitely a growing number of companies who are taking the stance that ‘if it does not need to be spent, do not spend it’.

“I think the environmental agenda is already quite aggressive and has been embraced by many organisations as mandatory. Those companies who have started initiatives will probably continue with them if they do not involve excessive spend beyond capability.

“I think the shrewd move to link a tool like this which will help focus their ‘green’ spend is a nice ploy but will it just result in more spending on Microsoft technology and licenses.” During the tightened economy it is worth checking your licenses to ensure you are not paying above and beyond for the organisation and make sure they are valid. Any cost-reduction, is a good reduction.

Calsoft CEO Educates the Next Generation of Developers

The CEO of Calsoft attended IIT Madras to give more of an insight to the opportunities to new computing enthusiasts, developers and inventors.

“Science is the key and scientific thinking is a must. It [science] may not come naturally, but has to be developed,” said Mr Sam Santhosh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Calsoft.

Read more here.

Focus on managing your business, not your applications!

Technology is integral to the efficient execution of your business game plan. To get maximum value from your applications, you need to ensure that they are running at optimum levels at all times, without any wasted resources.

Calsoft ES has taken a major step forward in its Managed Services offering by introducing a 24X7 Managed Application Center (MAC) at its Chennai facility. Equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, MAC will monitor and administer applications and databases 'round-the-clock'. With strengthened call-handling facilities, customers can dial in through 'toll-free' numbers at any time for a seamless user experience.

The center provides Application and Database monitoring using Oracle Grid Control and similar monitoring tools for Microsoft. The center’s technical team who will monitor customer applications & databases will have dual monitor systems - one used to monitor and the other for taking corrective actions.

“Businesses should be looking to ensure their IT operations are optimised using the latest tools and techniques which will ensure that the systems are up and running all the time,” says Bob Dunsby, Head of Managed Services. “In a highly secured environment with site to site VPN. It is important for mission critical systems that there is minimal or zero production downtime.”

In 2009 as the credit crunch bites, IT directors need to ensure budgets are well spent with a strict cashflow to identify financial forecasts. Choosing services that give you flexibility will keep you agile and maximise your IT expenses.

Christmas in Copenhagen

Having made innumerable trips to Copenhagen over the last three years, it is high time for me to know this place quite well. And being in Copenhagen just before Christmas and the fact that you know the place and its people quite well really makes an excellent opportunity to comment on it.

Since most of the inhabited part of the world falls in the northern hemisphere, one tends to associate Christmas with winter. Something that amazes me is the Danish obsession with the weather. To find people who have probably seen more than 50 similar winters in their lifetime keep discussing about the rain and the snow is intriguing. I feel that a large part of this is due to the fact the FCK, the largest football team in Denmark, has never made it past the initial group stages of the Champions league. If it had, probably people would have something to discuss.

Karin and a few others in AP Moller Maersk clearly remember Paul, Shyam when they visited them for the first time during winter. The clothing they had on them would have been good enough to go on a Ski to Greenland.

The effects of the economic slowdown are showing in the Christmas celebrations. Kongens Nytorv, one of the most decorated places in Copenhagen during Christmas has much fewer lights this year. One not so reliable source puts the savings due to the reduced lights at about 22 Mn Danish Kroners. The ability of taxi drivers across the world to exaggerate things is well known, but this I think has stretched it a bit too far.

Companies in Copenhagen, like most across the western world have a tradition of presenting Christmas gifts to its employees. Most employees in AP Moller Maersk have been given a pretty large red box containing cookies and candies. I have been closely working with two different persons at Maersk Oil Trading. One happens to be a Bachelor and the other has three kids. We wondered how the same gift could have the same value for these two distinctly different individuals with certainly very different needs. It is high time the HR departments customized their gifts. Having spent most of the time discussion ways to optimize bunker procurement for vessels, one wonders whether we could build a model to optimize the collective value derived by the employees from such gifts.

Karin and her group of soccer friends have found a way out of this. Every Christmas they contribute all the Christmas present and play a game where the winner is the one who is the most unlucky. The winner gets to take home the worst of the Christmas Gifts.

Tivoli, one of Copenhagen's largest tourist attractions is all lit up. Some photographs are attached. Karin tells me that Tivoli has a lot of special attractions around Christmas. Someone who is accustomed to temperatures of 35-40 degrees on the Celsius scale has not been able to find enough courage to go in with temperatures around the same number but in the Fahrenheit scale.

Arindam, Copenhagen

Microsoft targets small businesses

Small businesses have been Microsoft’s focus in the past few weeks, with new research into their use of IT complementing new research from the IT giant about the perception of IT by smaller organisations.

According to a new report from Microsoft, a significant minority of small businesses are failing to see the benefit of more IT services to their organisations. Whilst 83% of respondents on a global basis said that IT was of importance or of critical importance to their smooth running and success, only 47% of businesses said that they would be better off with more IT services available to them. The research also looked specifically at the UK, where 39% of small businesses believed that they could benefit from more IT services.

Perhaps fuelling that perception is an unawareness of the options open to small businesses of how to obtain and pay for IT services; only 37% of UK respondents were aware that they were able to rent IT services from a telecommunications company or hosting services provider. Following on from reports last week of the ignorance amongst small businesses around software asset management, it would appear that the small business world is still behind in terms of maximising IT resources.

In keeping with this trend, Microsoft last week launched two new services for businesses. The company unveiled its new Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Server 2008, known collectively as Windows Small. The new products are an attempt to help small and midsized businesses “save money and compete in a global marketplace.” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

According the Microsoft, the new server platforms will help organisations reduce the set-up and ongoing management of their IT services, as well as enabling new end-user productivity and save companies’ money in license costs.

Costs, of course, are at the forefront of every business mind given the state of the global economy, and new analysis from IDC suggests that IT spending will suffer cuts in 2009. The analyst predicts that worldwide IT spending will grow by 2.6% next year, rather than by 5.9% as was forecast before the credit crisis hit. In the US, IT spending is expected to drop from 4.2%, as predicted before the credit crunch, down to a meere 0.9%.

In Western Europe, the pattern is expected to continue, with spending predicted to reach lows of around 1%. Spending in the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America is expected to perform slightly better, with the IT industry truly beginning to take off in these areas, but even this healthy growth will drop to slightly lower levels than the pre-credit crunch estimates predicted.

Here at Calsoft, we understand small businesses, and especially how the financial downturn may affect them. Good IT systems are a key part of success, and that is why we are dedicated to simplifying and streamlining customers’ IT resources, saving money in the long run and generating better profits for everyone.

There is a bigger need today to provide cost containment initiatives, it is essential businesses are provded with value-based services to ensure the needs of the company are met by service suppliers so the organisation remains flexible in their market/industry.

Inatech was established as a value-based company that has grown to international proportions to assist small and large enterprises with global systems to compete in worldwide markets. This approach hasn’t changed since 2002.

Security meltdown: London hospitals highlight the need to protect systems

This week, security threats have dominated the digital headlines. The need for digital security was made particularly apparent by a “major incident” at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the London NHS Trust caused by a particularly effective virus. On Monday afternoon, the virus was discovered, after it caused a large volume of messages to be sent through the trust’s system and overloading its system.

For two days, the virus went on wreaking havoc at St Bart’s, home of London’s air ambulance and England’s largest heart attack care centre, as well as affecting the Royal London and London Chest hospitals. A spokesman from St Bart’s said that the source of the virus was as of yet unknown, and that the system was being brought back up speed gradually. While MRSA is causing the health service grief it seems the digital virus has taken over as the most debilitating factor for the health service.

The news of St Bart’s viral meltdown comes after a study by security firm Webroot, which highlights some alarming attitudes to internet security amongst companies in the UK. According to the study, 25% of companies participating had experienced a web-based threat in 2007, which caused server outage, compromise sensitive information or threatened online transactions. Despite these problems, 25% of companies still underestimated the risk from hackers and viruses. As with software licenses, reported on this blog last week, it would appear that there is a lack of awareness about online security amongst the UK’s businesses and other organisations.

Perhaps appropriately, the computing security market has been rather active in the past few weeks. The biggest deal announced this week was McAfee’s acquisition of Secure Computing. The new deal, worth $462 million, will bring to McAfee Secure Computing’s 22,000 customers from 106 countries, furthering and deepening the global reach of its services. The acquisition will bring together two of the best-placed companies to tackle online security threats.

Secure Computing president and CEO Dan Ryan will now lead McAfee’s Network Security product business unit, reporting to McAfee’s CEO and president Dave DeWalt. Mr DeWalt said: "McAfee's goal is to provide intelligent security that protects from every angle, including the endpoint, the network and all points in between." He added that the takeover will enable McAfee to combine its end-point security and network intrusion prevention technology with Secure Computing's web and email security capabilities.

Here at Calsoft, we know that poor software management, lack of awareness of software licensing and a ineffective communications within IT systems can leave businesses and organisations open to security threats. Good SOA, coupled with anti-virus software can help protect your system from hackers, theft and viruses.

Competition drives standards up for communication and integration

Over the past few weeks we have seen both Microsoft and Google introduce various new products or updates of existing products in the bid to provide the best integrated communications features for their users. The competition has driven standards sky high.

This week, Google launched a new video and voice mail feature to its popular Gmail programme. Users will now be able to switch between email, instant messaging and visual and audio communication with relative ease. This new development comes after Microsoft introduced its updated Windows Live product. The new programme integrated email inboxes with instant messaging, contacts lists and links to social networking sites.

The competition between the two giants has led to many positive developments, as well as an exciting display of sharp marketing on both sides. Microsoft, in an effort to tighten up services, fixed four Windows bugs this week, in a move that has prompted sighs of relief from Windows Office users. The company has also signed a new distribution deal with Sun Microsystems, where Sun users will be able to download Microsoft’s toolbar when using Sun’s JRE, giving them instant access to Live Search, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. Added to that, Microsoft is reportedly near to signing another distribution deal to Verizon Wireless to become the default search provider on Verizon’s mobile phones. Rumours report that Microsoft is also looking to negotiate a separate deal to provide search tools for Verizon’s other devices, but little is known about this as of yet.

Back in the world of business intelligence and service oriented architecture (SOA), similar levels of market competition between SAP and Oracle have provided plenty of hot news for the industry. The rivalry between Oracle and it’s German counterpart SAP is well-known, which is why former Oracle vice president John Wookey’s move to SAP has caused some surprise in the IT business community. Mr Wookey left Oracle in October, and has now been hired as SAP’s new executive vice president.

Oracle has signed deals with new clients as the drive to conquer the market goes on. The issue of today is how SOA can be implemented to make green technology more viable, and Oracle is getting onboard. Yesterday, Oracle announced that it will be working together with ESS, a leading provider in Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) and Crisis Management Software. The two organisations hope to deliver a cohesive solution for environmental sustainability information management. They aim to help organisations reduce the risk, cost and complexity of sustainability management.

Meanwhile, new research from Aberdeen Group released this week shows that 58% of small to medium sized businesses can reduce their time-to-information to a real- or near real-time basis using business intelligence. Hot on the heels of this, SAP-owned company Business Objects has launched Business Objects XI 3.1, a unified business intelligence platform. The platform promises to integrate various data sources, including the internet and Microsoft, Oracle and Netezza products.

Here at Calsoft, all of this is good news to us. The two buzz words of this week have been “competition” and “integration”, and we are ready to tackle both, for the good of both businesses and our professional services.

Inatech Exhibits at Oracle Fusion Middleware Forum – London

We are exhibiting at Oracle Fusion Middleware Forum in London where attendees will learn how to maximise operational efficiency and successfully address business expansion and flexibility. Join application infrastructure thought leaders and your peers for a pragmatic discussion on how IT preparation and execution can have a profound impact on the success of your corporate strategy. Key topics, based on today’s business realities and Oracle’s experience with more than 80,000 organisations, include:

• Patterns for business and IT efficiency - plan, design, and execute projects and strategies in less time at lower cost
• Keys for growth and expansion initiatives - prepare for success through a flexible framework for rapid and sustained expansion
• and application investments - learn how enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and industry-specific applications can be extended to achieve business goals
• Technical execution - define and execute your blueprint for business strategies

Attendees will benefit from:

• Customer experiences and case studies - examine how Oracle customers successfully managed their business in times of change
• Product strategy information - gain a greater understanding of BEA products as part of Oracle Fusion Middleware
• Peer-to-peer networking- discuss common challenges and experiences across business and IT

Thursday, 06 November, 2008 

Vinopolis
 No. 1 Bank End,
London, SE1 9BU

IT’s Priorities Change WorldWide

Innovation and development is no longer reliant on regional skills, instead change is being led by economics. While Dubai maybe one of the richest destinations its IT skills have rarely been centre of attention, however with its significant growth and drive to be a capital for world innovation IT will play a major part.

Construction in Middle East is taking centre stage, an industry that is suffering in the UK and America as a recession hits the economy.

As a result of Gitex Inatech has made contact with more key construction companies in the Middle East to further enhance our reputation as an ERP solution supplier to this sector. October was a big month in Dubai, it was announced that two of the world’s largest buildings posed at in excess of 1km tall – tipping the current largest building Burj Dubai at a mere 800m – will commence construction.

Saudi Prince, Al-Waleed bin Talal says he will build the world's tallest building, the tower will be built in the Saudi town of Jeddah and will be part of a larger project that will cost $26.7 billion. The project, entitled Kingdom City, will span 23 million square meters (248 million square feet) and will include luxury homes, hotels and offices. While the ever-growing Burj Dubai is already the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Nakheel Tower is set to go even higher. Some truly mind-blowing structures are being planned for the Middle East.



Inatech has been working closely with a number of the largest construction companies in the Gulf region. We’ve managed to build a global reputation for working with some of the worlds largest construction companies in the provision of specially tailored ERP solutions. Which includes Finacials, Human Resources, Procurement, projects and CRM.

Construction companies in the UK need to fight the recession and ensure projects are continually in operation with management streamlined to maximise expenditure. The CIS Compliant APPS & CERTS – a plug-in solution for the construction and real-estate industry – allows for compliance with HM Revenue and Customers CIS Scheme. It supplies project billing processes in accordance to industry standards and automatic sub-contractor payments with full calculation and accounting for payables.

The growth of industries worldwide could have an impact on local and regional businesses – if Middle Eastern construction companies go from strength to strength European, British and American organisations could lose out on large contracts and projects.

Best of Breed needs to lead integration

Oracle is leading industry change as it announces some of its final purchases for technology integration to expand its existing product portfolio to represent the ‘Best of Breed’ following a lengthy period of development and acquisition.

The move by Oracle to integrated the industry’s leading project management tool, Primavera, is of no surprise, instead a well calculated move as the IT industry is shaken by the slowdown in the global economy. The database provider has for sometime been developing a new model for business which will see it make the most of applications it has to ensure synergy with the industry.

This consolidation of ‘Best of Breed’ embraces the concept of niche player partnership rather than pour money into bespoke development. Oracle has identified its customer’s requirements and addressed the need for standardisation across the industry following a bout of continuous growth. IT suppliers are working with processes which have a standard functionality however many applications need to be standardised to maximise productivity and integration with broader systems.

We will soon see significant change in the technology industry as we enter another cycle; IT professionals are aware of the current financial conditions affecting all industries therefore ‘best practice’ will begin evolve and alter the approach to systems maintenance and development. The existence of bespoke IT systems and applications specific to an organisation are becoming extinct as costs of ownership and skills required for maintenance increase.

During this time financial institutions will continue to struggle if they persevere in bucking the trend opting to develop their own unique systems which involve increased skills costs. With this the industry is being compromised by the specialist nature of these financial systems. The integration of Primavera into Oracle’s product portfolio follows PeopleSoft and Siebel’s acquisition with mutual benefits to all parties including customer-base expansion and quality offering.

The integration of these products gives independent systems integrators like Calsoft and Inatech, greater choice and opportunity to implement IT projects seamlessly due to the consolidation of the Oracle applications.

Vedante Srihari, Head of Calsoft Enterprise Solutions and Managing Director of Inatech solutions