In the world of corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, it’s not uncommon for a parent company to sell off divisions or units that have become non-strategic to their future business plans. Divestitures are most common among larger public companies with multiple business units and can include the sale of standalone subsidiaries, product lines, or other company assets. (more…)
We can track an airplane inch by inch on our laptop as it travels from Atlanta to Detroit. Investors can get real-time stock prices from any stock markets world-wide while sunning themselves on the beach in Miami. Walmart can see how many pairs of men’s Wrangler jeans size 36/30 sold in the past hour at any store worldwide. (more…)
Just like sailing the seven seas, in the ever expanding world of computing we can only see to the edge of our own horizon. Whatever is just over the horizon, we don’t know? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? What if it is another ‘game changer’ or possibly some new kind of ‘disruptive technology’, or God forbid what if it is ‘revolutionary’? Whatever is out there, one thing is for certain, we’ll start hearing about it well before it reaches our humble shores. (more…)
Business innovation is one of the truly unexpected side-effects of information technology outsourcing. It is a side-effect that many companies are now seeking when they decide to find a capable IT outsourcing partner.
Innovation is also one of the most popular buzzwords in boardrooms throughout the world, and it has been for many years. Buzzword or not, there is no denying that innovation is real and can differentiate one competitor from the next. Companies large and small have been searching for a magic formula that causes innovation to happen, but the illusiveness of innovation defies management. However, innovation or the ability to innovate does not defy logic. (more…)
It’s a scary thought, moving all of your business’ data from point A to B. It can be costly. Data can be lost. End-user experience can be affected. The implementation process can be painful – I’m sure you’re privy to all the horror stories.
The refreshing news is that as technology evolves, and as the notion of ‘outsourcing’ your IT systems becomes the norm, upgrades, transitions and migrations are becoming more streamlined and less of a headache – as long as you’re working alongside the right vendor.
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We often hear the terms ‘disaster recovery’ and ‘business continuity’ used interchangeably. The truth is they are not the same and it could be a huge mistake to think that protecting a company’s computing assets in the event of a disaster will also provide business continuity. Disaster recovery is ‘data & systems’ centric, while business continuity is ‘business operations’ centric. The thing to remember is that a declared disaster triggers the implementation of a business continuity plan before the implementation of a disaster recovery plan. (more…)
Upgrading from one version of Oracle Hyperion Financial Management to a more recent version is a big job and takes extensive planning as well as in-depth technical knowledge to accomplish. Can one do it oneself? I suppose so, but it will take time and a lot of reading before you should tackle a project like that. It would help if you had previous experience doing Hyperion upgrades. It would also be much easier if you had a team of Hyperion experts working for you. Not part of your budget? Keep reading. (more…)
At the turn of the century, that would be the 21st century, third-party hosting services that handled enterprise-class system like SAP were rare. There was a definite bias against enterprise hosting services because it seemed too risky to hand over mission critical systems to a stranger. It was also very difficult to make a rational business case in support of such a decision. Even more consequential, most people in the U.S. were afraid of the term outsourcing. There were simply too many unknowns and technical hurdles that could not be overcome at that time. (more…)
With talk of the fiscal cliff broadcasting on nearly every news channel these days, everyone seems to focus on the potential financial changes on their lives. For those of us in the information technology business, especially those who work with SAP on a regular basis, we have a cliff of another kind that is looming. (more…)
Everyone has heard the cliché: a picture is worth a thousands words. But when it comes to pictures of Information Technology, most are confusing and require thousands of words to explain. The ‘spaghetti architecture’ diagram below is an example of why IT infrastructures challenge our verbal skills and turn normal vocabulary into a series of obscure acronyms. (more…)
