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