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Process Trip 04/02/2008 13:07:03
Why Maritz Travel revamped key business processes — and how business and IT came together to make it workWhen Rich Phillips became COO OF Maritz Travel about two and-a-half years ago, he sat down and took a hard look at the big industry picture - +
Doing Your Sums on . . . Build, Buy or Rent 05/11/2007 13:32:30
You’re trying to build a world-class IT team, but everyone’s going after the same talent pool. What mix works best? Should you grow your own, draft your players or barter your way to the line-up you want to field?CIOs should never forget that while new technologies have a maturity cycle, the maturity cycle for human beings in IT is even longer - +
Ticked Off at Tick the Box Mentality 04/02/2008 13:01:15
Does your executive search firm know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients?Does your executive search firm know its MIS managers from its elbow? Does it even know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients? - +
What Price Innovation? 05/11/2007 13:44:31
CIOs say they want more than the traditional “your mess for less” relationship with their outsourcing providers. And the providers want to market themselves as partners in innovation. So why isn’t it happening?CIOs say they want more than the traditional "your mess for less" relationship with their outsourcing providers. And the providers want to market themselves as partners in innovation. So why isn't it happening? - +
9 Paths to Higher Performance 10/12/2007 14:09:23
When an organization brings together talented people in a creative, collaborative environment it fosters a culture of high performance, which in turn leads to superior business resultsLike high-achieving individuals, some organizations seem to have the Midas touch. Virtually every initiative they touch earns them gold and even those that fail never seem to cost them much of anything at all
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Strategies for Eliminating .PST Files
Optimized Back-up and Recovery for VMWare for VMWare Infrastructure with EMC Avamar
Improving Sales Productivity: An Opportunity for Sales and IT Leadership
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Email Archiving Implementation: Five Costly Mistakes to Avoid
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Taking On Demand CRM Integration to the Next Level
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.Newsletter Subscription
Tasked with completely revamping the company's ERP environment within three months, Dematic Asia Pacific CIO, Allan Davies, made a bold decision. Even with such a tight deadline, Davies decided to ditch the status quo by not sticking with SAP and betting on a new solutions provider.
Fortunately, the bet paid off and the logistics company had a fully operating ERP system within 90 days with minimal disruption to business flow.
"This project was on top of all our other IT and telecommunications infrastructure projects throughout the region, and we didn't want to compromise on quality," Davies said.
"We needed the ERP installation to meet our business needs not the other way around.
"We were looking down the barrel of a 250-day implementation with SAP but Infor had to be able to cut that time by more than 270 percent to just 90 days."
Dematic implemented Infor's ERP SL (SyteLine) and by not sticking with SAP Davies said the company has saved $500,000 a year in licensing costs.
He said the 90-day deadline was the result of acquisition activity. In late 2006, then-Dematic owner Siemens sold the company to Germany-based Triton.
As part of this deal, Dematic was instructed to complete the separation from Siemens, including all business processes and technology infrastructure, in just 90 days. After a review of solutions that included the SAP templates used in the company's European and US offices, Dematic bucked the trend by selecting SL to manage all product planning and production processes in the Asia Pacific.
"In a meeting with the finance team and the board, we decided that Infor had the best business fit for purpose against the other solutions," Davies said.
"The decision came down to better Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and manufacturing expertise." Davies admits there were a few challenges with such a tight timeframe.
For example, the implementation involved extracting data from the previous system.
He said Infor assisted the company to write the databases needed to extract data and upload it into the solution.
SL's data loading facility also contributed to the process, which was completed within two weeks. "SL also has business-specific functionality suited to Dematic's needs; for example, when the company implemented SAP under Siemens, it needed to spend time installing three separate business templates for products, systems and solutions," he said.
"SL already includes a specific framework that caters to our business needs."
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Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
Sound Alliance Group expands with acquisition of Mess+Noise 2008-10-14 08:48:00+10
Sterling Commerce Introduces New Managed File Transfer Capabilities That Cuts Server Change Management Time in Half 2008-10-14 08:41:00+10
Simms Exclusive Distributor of Cygnett MP3 Accessories 2008-10-14 08:10:00+10
Doncaster research software company’s global contribution honoured at tonight’s Victorian Export Awards 2008-10-13 22:30:00+10
Acronis True Image 2009 makes protecting home computers easier than ever 2008-10-13 14:10:00+10
Dude! You Say I Need an Application-Layer Firewall?!
Proxy firewall technologies have proven time and again to be more secure than “stateful” firewalls. They will also prove to be more secure than “deep inspection” firewalls. High-performance proxy firewalls are available today which are easily capable of handling gigabit-level traffic. Discover more by reading on.
