New Release ERP vulnerability testing suite “first version works with SAP business platforms”

Leading information security company, Onapsis, will soon release a tool that will allow companies to test their ERP (enterprise resource planning) software for security threats.

"The first version of X1 works with SAP business platforms," said Mariano Nuñez Di Croce, director of research and development for Onapsis. "The company eventually plans to add modules for Siebel, Oracle and PeopleSoft ERP applications," he said.

Nuñez Di Croce said Onapsis hopes X1 will prove to be a cheaper option for companies wanting to do security testing without hiring expensive outside consultants. Also, many of the tools used to analyse ERP applications are focused more on segregation of duties issues rather than the security of the technological components.

X1 can perform several types of security tests, Nuñez Di Croce said. It can scan applications for vulnerabilities and then show how those vulnerabilities could reveal critical business information.

Current exploits are included in X1, and it's possible to drag and drop exploits to illustrate existing risks "so people are aware of what the vulnerability really means for their business," Nuñez Di Croce said.

If a patch or workaround is available, X1 will show it, and it has a reporting engine that can show detailed vulnerability reports and draw up a mitigation plan, Nuñez Di Croce said.

X1 is capable of checking for violations in SAP platforms of the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of guidelines for protecting payment card data. The tool can also compare to how the current ERP system's configuration compares with an organisation's internal security standards.

“Pricing will be based on the size of a company's ERP implementation that a company wants to evaluate”, Nuñez Di Croce said. “Onapsis can build a personalised demonstration of X1 for company if they're interested,” he said.

Original Article: Infoworld.com, Jeremy Kirk

Measuring Your Social Media Efforts

So the experimentation with social media has begun; well it’s begun for us and more broadly a lot of businesses are beginning to test the waters, that is, if they are not already fully submerged!

Social Media Marketing is a key strategy to employ when trying to enhance the your websites landing page SEO. At Intelligent Information Systems the experimentation has begun in correspondence with the overall of our website in an effort to improve our overall web presence and to conjointly improve the SEO of our site.

Social Media is a way to get high quality back links to your website.

The key tools for measurement which shouldn’t be overlooked are:

Google Analytics

Google analytics will not help you understand the viral nature of various social media completely. But when using the combination of Google analytics and conversion tracker, you can learn an awful lot about where traffic is coming from and map it to your social media campaign to see what is working; at least directionally.
You should look at sources of traffic and see if it is broadening to include the elements of your social media campaign. You can also look at key variables like:

•Time spent
•Bounce rate
•Page views

Looking at and considering these variables will all help you make inference-based decisions on the quality of the traffic you are driving to your website.

Emerging Social Media Measurement Tools

Many new tools are emerging for measuring social media effectiveness. Most are limited in scope to one channel or type of social media experience.
One promising new tool, that will measure the viral effects of social media, is the popular ShareThis platform. ShareThis reaches over 400 million people a month though the social media share buttons you can add to your content that they provide as part of their service. This service is simple to implement on your site. If you don’t already have sharing functionality, you should consider implementing ShareThis or something like it.

ShareThis is about to add the ability to analyse social media by business category, which will be very useful for niche businesses. The company recently shared some interesting stats regarding social media with TechCrunch. According to the company, Facebook accounts for 45 percent of all shared content across its network. E-mail followed with 34 percent and Twitter with 12 percent.

The key here is thinking about social media as a coordinated piece of your overall marketing mix and measuring it as such. While measurement tools are not perfect, you can get enough data today to make solid decisions to help you optimise your social media campaigns.

Original Article: All Business.com

SAP has deployed 1,000 iPads to their employees!

SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann tweeted yesterday that the enterprise software vendor has already rolled out iPads to 1,000 employees.

And this isn’t just a superficial show of support for SAP’s new-found embrace of mobility: according to Bussmann, every iPad comes with e-mail, Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to server-based applications through Citrix software and Business Intelligence tools via BusinessObjects.

iPad-wielding SAP employees are also piloting the Mobile Sales for SAP CRM app built by Sybase for our then-partner, now-parent company.

According to Bussmann, the 1,000 iPads are spread among SAP’s 48,000 employees worldwide, not concentrated in either its home country of Germany or within its US operations.

And the 1,000 employee figure - a statistic which already comprises more than 2% of SAP’s workforce despite the iPad only being available for 4 months - is set to grow, promised Bussmann, who tweeted “More to come..”

We’ve seen reports of companies starting to deploy the iPad, such as Mercedes-Benz, Wells-Fargo, Bausch & Lomb, Kaiser Permanente, and others. And there is Apple’s statistic that half of the Fortune 100 are testing it.

But SAP’s rollout has got to be the single largest in the world. I doubt that Apple (34,000 employees) has anywhere near the same number of employees using an iPad today.

The usefulness of iPads and other tablets will only grow. Sybase is working with SAP to deliver a mobile SDK for SAP and other enterprise apps, as well as directly helping SAP mobilize its vaunted lineup of enterprise software.

Original Source: ZD Net, Eric Lai

Keep eye contact with your customers!

“A word is a word, but a word expressed upon the sincerity of the eyes will allow the words spoken to reach the minds of those they are spoken to.”

Jan Castagnaro

How can you provide that sincerity that the eyes bring even when you don’t see your customers face to face?
You need to make your customers feel good about the service you are providing them, keep them informed, respond to their needs and requests and endeavour to better meet them surpassing any expectations they may have.

Figuratively “Eye contact” can and needs to be maintained even if you are communicating with your customers via a phone line or computer screen.

Consider the following:

Response Time

At IIS we endeavour to answer all phone calls, never letting the phone ring out and rather than leaving customers on hold we make note of their call and reassure them that we call them back if the query can’t be answered or the support can’t be provided at the particular time.

Follow Up

If you make a promise to respond make sure you do! And if you can’t respond straight away keep them updated and let them know you haven’t forgotten about them. We do our best at IIS to make sure our customers or anyone who calls with a query or an interest is kept informed at all times.

“When I call IIS I feel that I am not just another number, another customer. I deal with people whom I have got to know and who have an in depth knowledge of SAP B1. They are interested in our business and work with us to ensure that SAP B1 works well for us as an enterprise management system meeting our specific requirements.”

Richard Gaughan, General Manager

Medea International

Intelligent Email Free to IIS Customers this September!

Want email functionality within SAP Business One?

Intelligent Email is what you need and Intelligent Email Release One is now available to existing IIS customers for free!*

The key features of Intelligent Email include:

Simplifies the sending out of PDF emails for all Marketing Documents
With the click of a button send out Statements

Intelligent Email will support you and your business in driving down the cost of sending out statements, allowing you to quickly send out copy statements and invoices, as well as facilitating batch advance delivery notification and various other documents to improve customer service.

Check out our Intelligent Email Release One demo video on our youtube channel, Intelligent B1.

Intelligent Email Release 2 will be arriving in Q4 which supports the batch sending of marketing documents and statements via email and preset times. We shall keep you updated!

For further information contact sales@iisystems.net or to request a brochure email michelle.hunt@iisystems.net

*Terms and Conditions -Offer available to existing IIS customers on SAP Business One 8.8 if you if you sign up in September. Order an upgrade now and get Intelligent Email free of charge.

ERP for small businesses, “get more work done with fewer people”

"Companies are cutting back on people and need to get more work done with fewer people, so they are looking to technology like ERP, that can help them do that," said Scavo, president of Computer Economics Inc. in Irvine, Calif., which studies how businesses use information technology. "You can never replace good business judgment, but you can use technology to make the business more effective. That would help any size business."

With advent of ERP systems designed specifically to meet the needs of the SME market systems are now well within the reach of small to medium sized businesses.

Employees that have come from larger corporations that are now involved in smaller businesses are driving the purchase of ERP systems in the sector as they have firsthand experience of the benefits they can bestow.

Increasingly complex issues that emanate from a rise in global commerce and operations such as multi-currency issues, import/exports, foreign language and supply chain management and compliance with local tax regulations are also a key driving factor for smaller companies considering the implementation of an ERP system.

ERP helps any size business centralise information, which saves time in finding and accessing that data to generate reports, and make certain tasks routine. Though put off in the past the change in the precedence of implementing an ERP solution appears to be now.

Small businesses constitute a major segment of overall business productivity. Adopting ERP is the best step that SME’s can take in order to increase their productivity and ROI.

SAP Business One is a solution designed specifically to meet the needs of small to midsize businesses. To find out more visit: www.beabetterbusiness.net

General dos and don'ts for using social media

Do put a communications strategy in place. What are you trying to achieve, what do you want to say, where, how and to whom. This will make it much easier to keep control

Do develop a style. Tone of voice will need to be different for each audience and situation, but make sure that your brand personality comes through in everything you do. If relevant, incorporate your brand values and where appropriate, use first person language to humanise the conversation.

Do strike the right balance between conversation and sales. Nobody wants to receive an overt sales pitch via social media, but be honest about why you are talking to consumers. Ignoring the fact that you have something to offer will make you seem disingenuous and untrustworthy.

Do set limits for what you will and won't tolerate in any channel. Just because you want to seem approachable and conversational doesn't mean you have to put up with abusive comments from consumers.

Don't be afraid to vary your strategy per channel. Don't just assume all social media channels work in the same way. Different networks have different user profiles, so the tone and content used for one will not necessarily work for another.

However, do be consistent. Make sure you use the same URL naming convention across all channels, to avoid confusion. Make it easy for people to find you. Also brand the different platforms with your company logo and colour theme to fit where applicable. You want the essence of the brand to be immediately conceived on visiting on the page.

Don't forget to update your content. There is nothing worse than starting a Twitter feed which is active and updated for the first three weeks but then goes silent, or a Facebook page which still has reference to an event which occurred three months ago on a landing page tab. Social media needs to be a constant consistent investment and can be a full-time job, so make sure you have the resources to keep your channels manned and your information up to date.

Read the full article at: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/marketing-pr/social-media-etiquette-dos-and-dont/29932

SAP recognises need for “measurable IT return”

"We believe that customers' continued success depends on obtaining measurable return from IT investments," SAP spokesman Andy Kendzie said in an e-mail.

SAP recently rolled out a number of Value Engineering tools and services, some of which are available at no cost, for benchmarking system performance and developing business cases for new projects.

While the total cost of ERP ownership is important to monitor and optimise, focusing solely on TCO is no longer sufficient. Organisations must not consider ROI of ERP projects in order to justify continued investment and maximum benefits.
With the downturn in the economy, an imprudent reaction may and has in some cases been to stop any discretionary spending on ERP projects just when their cost-saving, operation improving potential is needed more than ever.

According to research carried out by the Aberdeen Group, many companies now feel compelled to make an investment in ERP as a necessary infrastructure to support their business. However, best practices for maximising the benefits from such a solution involve the measurement of the reduction in costs, improvement in schedule performance and customer satisfaction, and the ability to redeploy employees to add more value to the organisation.

The most regularly cited reason for not measuring ROI of ERP projects is that it is too difficult to measure. The most successful ERP implementations have clear objectives which should be easily quantified and measured so that full gains can be realised.
24% of SMEs point to a lack of tools to measure ROI, however, most if not all of the tools are available within the application for which the ROI is being measured.

The pressure to remain competitive in the dynamic, global economy forces organisations to consider the results-based approach where the question 'Will we see a return on investment (ROI)?' is central.

Smartphone safer than your PC!

Despite the growing catalogue of official third-party apps available on app stores like the iOS App Store and Android Market and apps that are available as sideloaded content, a recent study finds that smartphones, for the time being, are still safer than PC against malicious codes and threats.

There are two main reasons for why mobile phones are remaining safe. The first is that most mobile OS environments use a sandbox to keep third party apps isolated and require explicit permission to be granted from the user for these apps to exchange information. The second is that developers must sign up and there is a code signing process before apps can be sold in these app stores.

Because smartphone environments are different than their PC counterparts, security firm Symantec is instead focusing on developing mobile management tools for users instead of anti-malware software.

Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner's informed consent.
Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software.

Mobile Management increases IT efficiency with over-the-air deployment of applications and updates, improves end user productivity by managing mobile device health, and integrates with Symantec mobile security products to manage and secure mobile devices throughout their lifecycle.

To read the full article visit: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/mobile-security-your-smartphone-safer-your-pc-now-570

Integrated BI solution for SAP Business One

SAP Business One Sales Analysis Dashboard
Developed in Partnership with Visual Metrics

Recognising the tactical advantage an investment into Business Intelligence solutions brings is just as applicable to an aspiring SME company, as it is to an Enterprise giant.
IIS have been working with Visualmetrics to develop a streamlined and affordable Business Intelligence solution that integrates directly with the SAP Business One application.

Predominantly driven by a suite of high-powered Xcelsius B1 dashboards, the combined offering gives customers a pedigree B1 Business Intelligence solution at a cost that ensures a strong ROI.

To find out more visit: http://www.visualmetrics.co.uk/iis

Achieve your ERP goals with these key considerations

There really isn’t a short list of factors which need to be considered when implementing an ERP solution but there are key factors which should be reflected upon at the very least.

Treat ERP as a major business investment. Rather than view it as a purely technical project, even though ERP relies on technology, the primary function of any ERP system is delivering business value. Remember this during every aspect of the ERP process, from vendor selection through implementation and go-live. Always ask, “What are the business benefits of this investment?” Without defining concrete and specific business benefits, any investment in ERP is a waste of money and time. More than anything else, ERP is about improving your business.

Business fit is paramount during software selection. It’s easy to get caught up in the technical aspects of software selection, but pay close attention to the business results you hope to achieve. Discuss this at length with the software vendor and any consultants you have engaged to help with the selection process. Put them on the spot and make sure they help identify concrete areas in which the software will make your company more efficient, profitable, and so on. At IIS we have experience across almost every business sector; our customer testimony’s and case studies depict our knowledge and expertise, as well as highlighting the benefits that SAP Business One and Intelligent Essentials can specifically provide you based upon your industry sector.

Prepare for transformation. One of the great benefits of ERP is the opportunity to improve how your business operates. Although change is hard, automating old, inefficient processes generally makes little sense. It’s far better to use the implementation as a vehicle to streamline processes and simplify, or improve, workflows.

Embrace change management. ERP is all about transformation and improvement, making change management one of the most important determinants of implementation success. Communicate project goals and status frequently out to the organization. And don’t forget training and documentation, which receive insufficient attention on many projects. Going back to point one in this list, communication should focus on business goals and concrete benefits, rather than just reciting schedule dates.

See related blog posts:
ERP and Change Management
Cultural Change an upshot of SAP technical prowess

Source: Focus Article

New approach to decision making means Business Intelligence is needed

Based on a survey of 225 business leaders worldwide, carried out by IBM, it was found that enterprises are operating with bigger blind spots and they are making important decisions without access to the right information.
There is wide recognition and appreciation for new analytics coupled with advanced business management capabilities in terms of being an opportunity to close gaps and create new business advantage.

The challenge for a substantial number of businesses now appears to be information. Information is needed in hours, minutes and seconds as opposed to years, months and days, and decision making is now largely fact driven rather than based on intuition and instinct.

More than one-third of business leaders say they have significant challenges in extracting relevant information and using it to quantify risk and predict possible outcomes.

Business leaders, having identified significant information gaps, are poised for change.
Nearly three in four say more predictive information will drive better decision making to a great extent.

Only those businesses that can skillfully adopt, integrate and deploy the benefits of enterprise wide analytics and optimisation will be prepared to shape their own futures. They will be aware and precise, supporting their businesses through questioning, anticipating and empowering their employees to make more informative decisions which can be checked against facts rather than gut feelings. Business intelligence provides an organisation with the opportunity to become more efficient, achieve higher growth as a result of more insightful relationships with customers, prospects and their market as well being more proactive in terms of risk management.

Business environments are in constant flux as are information needs and organisations of all sizes should seek to gain support in managing data and interpreting and structuring it so that it becomes a source of knowledge and valuable utilisable information.

The SAP Business One application together with the Crystal Reports offering from the SAP Business Objects portfolio, delivers compelling reporting functionality and information access to small businesses. With these offerings small businesses can get up to date intelligence to drive decision making.

To find out more visit: http://www.sap.com/solutions/sap-crystal-solutions/index.epx

Intelligent Information Systems are an SAP Gold Partner, delivering SAP Business One and Crystal Solutions. To find out more visit: www.beabetterbusiness.net

ERP & Change Management – Get your people on board!

Implementing and ERP solution typically involves substantial change and as such the management of the change should not only be considered from a technical perspective but also from an internal H.R viewpoint.

Change is an environmental constant and as such change management is something which organisations of all sizes need to consider in order to ensure that they achieve an effective fit which is the basic premise upon which strategy is formulated.

“Change management is the coordination of a structured period of transition from situation A to situation B in order to achieve lasting change within an organisation”.

BNET Business Dictionary

Change is an ever-present component of small business ownership. The ability for small business owners to effectively manage change lays the groundwork for growth and helps build the foundation for the development of a positive corporate culture.
Change is not just another business event, it is a mental, emotional and physical process within which you need to consider and pay attention to the needs of individuals and the organisation as a whole.

Successful implementation of change management calls for proper planning, special leadership, and communication skills.

A huge aspect of integrating ERP is human based. Implementing an ERP will bring in changes to the way people work within the organisation, processes will change and there may be rationalisation of responsibilities within departments. All this will may evoke resistance from the employees and this has to be managed effectively before, during and after the implementation of the ERP package. Top management has to lead the way in propagating the reasons for the implementation and the business benefits that can be expected by implementing a new ERP package.

If the employees are not educated and informed about the benefits of the ERP system and assured about the security of their jobs by the top management, they will start believing in the rumours that float around and will either resist or sabotage the ERP implementation.

Don't underestimate the importance of people working in cross-functional teams to the success of the project. ERP implementation failures are attributed more often to people than to technology.

SMEs save with Group Purchasing- Why pay more when you can pay less!

“United we stand, divided we fall”

This may be the inspiration behind group purchasing which gives small businesses the collective buying power to compete against their larger counterparts as they can take advantage of the economies of scale which they can so readily exploit. Keeping costs low is essential for small businesses, so any strategy that reduces operations costs should be explored and group purchasing is one such option.

Small businesses use a wide variety of products and services in the course of their operations, everything from office supplies and equipment to information technology, payroll processing, and employee benefits administration. Unfortunately small firms often pay more for such goods and services than large companies because of a lack of volume or scale. But there is a way small business owners can enjoy the same kinds of cost savings their big brethren do on essential goods and services: by participating in group purchasing.

Group purchasing is the collective participation of many different individuals or small businesses in the purchase of products or services, thus enabling participants to benefit from discounted or group rates. While it isn’t new, group purchasing has generally been under utilised by small businesses in the United States.

This may be starting to change, however, with the emergence of a number of different online consumer-group buying services, such as GroupOn and LivingSocial. These services primarily offer localised deals and discounts on items such as restaurant meals, retail store purchases, and event tickets.

If you don’t want to commit to group purchasing co-ops or membership-based associations, you can still apply the principles of collective buying by bartering with other businesses. Through a bartering agreement, your business can offer its products and services at a discount, or in exchange for, the goods or services offered by another local business.

There are many group purchasing groups within the UK developed to meet the needs of particular industries including Spiral, Beacon, Aliaxis and PPG Premier Purchasing Group.

Innovation the key to sustainable competitive advantage

Innovation can be described as the utilisation to new skills and knowledge to create a new product or service which will be of use within the marketplace.
Another way of looking at it is as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

Innovation is seen to be the lifeblood of any organisation, ensuring that continual change underpins activities and that competitive advantage can be sustained. Always striving to improve, creating something new to better meet customers’ needs beyond how your competitors are meeting them.

An innovation is something new, it must be better than what exists, it must be economically viable and there must be widespread appeal.

Maintaining the status quo has for some been the principal focus during the economic downturn but those who have continued to invest in continual and even small changes are likely to emerge ahead of their competitors as the economy rebounds.

"Business is about balance," says Jerry Gauche, Senior Vice President at National Oilwell Varco (NOV). "You have to invest for the future, as well as create a cash flow that sustains the business in the short term."

You should always create options for what the future may bring.

Innovation is something which should resound throughout your organisation rather than it merely being the focus of a small group of people that are known to be creative.
It comes down to your organisation being customer orientated and being truly focused on meeting customers’ needs. If this forms the base of your organisational culture than innovation will be constant driver without you having to even think about it; it should be a natural outcome!

At Intelligent Information Systems we are constantly driven by our need to continually meet customer needs and support them in making their businesses even better. Our development team are focused on developing innovative solutions to build upon SAP Business One to make it enhance existing functionalities.

Related Blog Post: Creativity the key to innovation

http://intelligentinformationsystems.blogspot.com/2010/08/boost-creativity-key-to-innovation.html