Insight Report: Unified communications – merging separate worlds
The integration of computers and telephony has been debated
for years but the actual application of the idea is still developing.
By combining voice and data systems, companies can cut costs and
provide flexible communications to their increasingly far-flung
and mobile workforce. Yet, according to our latest research (page
4), only 5% of organisations have implemented a unified communications
environment. This Insight Report looks at the market from the perspective
of two organisations who have already stepped up to the plate –
the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW)
and accountancy firm Gambitsis Partners, profiled on pages 14 and
18. Their experiences clarify the business benefits and issues around
unified communications. Meanwhile, our own research and the expert
advice of Butler Group’s Mark Blowers (page 8) add further insight
to this largely untapped opportunity.
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Unica: The Use of Web Analytics Software
Web analytics is the process of analysing the behaviour of
visitors to a website. The aim is to help organisations maximise
the value of their internet marketing and improve the design of
their website. By understanding visitor behaviour, organisations
can tailor their marketing initiatives to attract, retain and grow
the value of customers. To see how companies are progressing in
using this relatively new marketing tool PMP research has surveyed
a cross section of leading organisations for their opinions on the
use of web analytics software. To download a copy of the results
click below:
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Insight Report: Maximising Business Performance through Application
Integration
These days, application integration has become practically
synonymous with SOA (service oriented architecture). The SOA approach
has become so dominant that almost all current data integration
projects revolve around it. That at least provides continuity and
consistency, and offers those undertaking new SOA-based integration
implementations the chance to learn from the mistakes of previous
projects. That’s a theme pursued by Butler Group’s Rob Hailstone
is his article on page 22. The experience of Barts and The London,
a major hospital trust, is also described on page 18. Elsewhere
in this special integration report, our own research confirms the
importance of data integration among UK corporations but also identifies
the areas most in need of improvement (see page 4). In addition,
expert authors Clive Longbottom (page 8) and Tom Welsh (page 14)
examine the importance of SOA and how best to run these projects.
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Insight Report: The importance of getting paper into your compliance
process
Almost everyone has first-hand experience of how compliance
and regulation continues to add a lot of overhead to companies,
in terms of extra records and document keeping, maintenance of information
audit trails and the like. But what is the scale of the burden and
how have companies typically responded – what steps have they taken
to improve their corporate information management? We set out to
answer these questions with a market survey for this issue of Insight
Report. Cliff Mills summarises the results. Elsewhere, we focus
on the management strategies behind the new drive for information
management, the latest technologies available to support this trend,
as well as two case studies of organisations who have taken significant
steps along this road.
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IBM System z9 - cost effective and SOA
Remember all those calculations showing how much more cost
effective distributed systems were compared to the expensive, lumbering
old mainframe. Well, times change, requirements alter and IT evolves
and nothing has evolved more in recent years than the mainframe.
Various industry analysts have been re-doing their sums and yes,
much to some people's surprise, the total cost of ownership (TCO)
can work out cheaper and in some cases much cheaper - yes cheaper!
But cost isn't necessarily everything and we're now moving to service
orientated architecture (SOA), surely that doesn't suit the mainframe?
Well the answer is 'why not'? The mainframe can offer a viable,
flexible and cost effective platform for SOA system deployment,
especially for mission-critical applications that demand high performance.
To justify these claims, PMP has reviewed reports from five independent
analyst firms. This white paper gives a synopsis of their views,
with the full text of their reports available by selecting the links.
To read their views and download the paper click below:
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Insight Report: Telephony for the mobile workforce
The growth in home, mobile and flexible working means companies
have to work harder to ensure all their employees are kept in contact
with both their customers and colleagues. One key action in achieving
this is the company’s telephone ‘call handling’ strategy. New telephony
systems are now available that keep employees working from home,
or on the road, in full contact. Staff can field incoming calls
as if they were in the office; and customer calls that are not answered
can be intelligently re-routed. The positive impact on sales and
customer satisfaction is clear. This Insight Report looks
at the feasibility of such a strategy – with a mix of market research;
independent advice on how companies should approach the problem;
details of TeleWare’s products in this area; and case studies of
the Nationwide Building Society’s and BDO Stoy Hayward’s use of
such software.
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Industry Reports: The Impact of the New Companies Act 2006 on Performance
Reporting
The UK’s new Companies Act 2006 is reputedly the biggest piece
of legislation to go through any Parliament, anywhere in the world.
Ironically, this weighty document is designed to cut red tape for
business. So what is the impact for UK corporations? This issue
of Industry Reports brings you detailed analysis of the Act as it
relates to company performance reporting – how it aims to provide
an enhanced business review with key performance indicators becoming
a requirement for environmental and employee matters as well as
social and community issues. Our contributors include two leading
independent industry watchers, Simon Thomas of TruCost and Martin
Webster of lawyers Pinsent Masons, specially commissioned research
from PMP, and an interview about the Act’s implications with senior
executives at one major UK organisation, media conglomerate Pearson.
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Data Governance Rapid Survey
This independent survey conducted by the National Computing
Centre and sponsored by IBM, found that most organisations now recognise
the importance of good data governance. However, few are actually
implementing policies, and when policies are implemented, it is
the IT department who is responsible for delivery.
Report looks at:
• Data governance within the organisation
• The perception of data governance within the organisation
• The elements of data governance
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Industry Reports: The changing world of the data centre
The drive towards centralisation in IT has shone a spotlight
on the efficiency of data centre operations. The increased pressures
on data centre managers include the need to provide higher levels
of computing power, service and efficiency, combined with lower
costs and more environmentally friendly operation. It's no surprise
that managers are struggling to reconcile these conflicting demands.
In this report, we highlight two case studies of organisations that
have grasped the nettle and started addressing their data centre
problems, together with new research into what data centre managers
think as a group - charting how far UK centres have got in introducing
technology improvements like server virtualisation and consolidation.
There is also advice from Butler Group's Mike Thompson on improving
the 'green' credentials of your organisation's data centre without
escalating costs.
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