Archivo mensual: enero 2013

Customer experience, Customer Relationship Management, Marketing, Mobile

Total Communicator Solutions Launches Mobile Marketing Communication Platform

Total Communicator Solutions has launched its Mobile Marketing Communication Platform, a cloud-based platform which enables a company to communicate with their clients who download the company’s mobile app via a simple web based dashboard interface.  The solution includes a mobile app that can be dynamically changed and controlled by the CRM system.

“We have created a business solution by combining cutting edge mobile technologies such as an Augmented Reality (AR) solution with a powerful cloud based CRM system. With this we have developed a simple to use Mobile Marketing Communication Platform,” explained TCS Founder and CEO Erik Bjontegard .  “The CRM system serves as the central nervous system. The app can be used to gather information such as activity, location and more – the system then can deliver content that is relevant to the app user’s context and behavior. We have gone from context awareness to what I like to call contextual intelligence.”

The platform is targeted for use by a company’s marketing department. It enables automatic delivery of messages, content and offers based on a variety of parameters. These include location, activity and past behavior within the app. The solution can also reward those that use the app to share with others through their social networks.

The first company to use the application is the cutting edge restaurant group Enlightened Hospitality Group of San Diego. They are active users of social and digital marketing and have their own in house digital ad agency. Partner and CEO, James Brennan states, “When we first saw the TCS solution, we knew we wanted this, and wanted to be the first to use it.  This fits perfectly in our marketing plans where we promote our restaurant group as well as our celebrity Chef, Brian Malarkey .”

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Deploying the Cloud? Make 2013 the Year to Do It Right

It’s no secret that the cloud is growing at an exponential rate. By 2016, two-thirds of the world’s server workloads will exist in the cloud. But according to Cisco’s 2012 Cloud Index, less than half of server workloads currently run in the cloud. Closing the gap between current capabilities and future requirements is a mission-critical priority for businesses across a range of industries. Without adequate planning and preparation, the race to the cloud can easily become a long slog through a minefield of missed opportunities, user failures and IT nightmares. As more and more workloads make their way to the cloud each year, enterprises have a vested interest in expanding network capabilities and evolving critical data center infrastructure to accommodate an ever-increasing array of cloud-based applications and data storage requirements.

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Business Intelligence, Business Processes, FreshBooks, FreshBooks Automatic Expense Import, Small business

FreshBooks Launches Automatic Expense Import, Connecting Customer Accounts Directly to Their Bank

FreshBooks today rolled out Automatic Expense Import which automatically draws expenses in from bank accounts and gives users an easy way to track spending and to see their profit and loss at a glance.

This latest addition to the FreshBooks cloud allows small business owners to connect their financial institutions (including bank accounts and credit cards) directly to FreshBooks and have their expenses imported automatically into their account every day.

“Small business owners want to focus on serving their customers and on doing what they love, not on accounting,” said Mike McDerment, FreshBooks co-founder and CEO. “The ability to automatically import expenses from your bank enables small business owners to effortlessly manage their expenses, which helps them know exactly how much they’re spending and frees up times to work on more important things than paperwork. This is the promise of the cloud – a better way to work.”

Automatic Expense Import includes:

  • Quick one-time setup to connect financial institutions to your FreshBooks account
  • Automatically brings in new expenses daily, on an ongoing basis until disconnected
  • Accommodates multiple accounts including checking, credit card and PayPal
  • Imports the last 30-90 days of expenses data (depending on the bank)
  • Flags duplications and makes editing painless

FreshBooks Automatic Expense Import, which has been in use with over 3000 customers since October 2012, is now broadly available in North America with support for more than 9,000 US financial institutions and 61 Canadian financial institutions. Customers outside of the US and Canada can identify which banks they would like supported by completing a form request found on the FreshBooks blog. Going forward, Automatic Expense Import is included with all FreshBooks paid packages, and for a limited time it is also available to existing, free FreshBooks accounts as well.

FreshBooks supports a wide range of service-based small business types: designers, lawyers, marketing and IT professionals, plumbers, interior decorators – any business with 1-10 employees that serves clients with their time and expertise. Whether logging expenses at the coffee shop, on the way from a client meeting or at the airport lounge, FreshBooks Automatic Expense Imports will help small business owners to save even more time managing the money they spend.

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A Good Reason to Learn Cloud Computing: 7M Jobs by 2015

Now is a good time to bring your cloud computing skills to the forefront.
Demand for cloud-ready IT workers will grow by 26 percent each year through 2015, according to a new Microsoft-sponsored IDC white paper. If that estimate proves true, there could be as many as 7 million cloud-related jobs in the world.
IT hiring managers, however, report that the biggest reason they failed to fill an existing 1.7 million open cloud-related positions in 2012 was that job seekers lacked the training and certification needed to work in a cloud-enabled world, according to an article on SciTechToday.com
The IT sector is seeing only modest growth of IT jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average growth in IT employment sits between 1.1 percent and 2.7 percent per year through 2020. But within the larger IT sector, cloud jobs are gaining major momentum, and the IDC study suggests an urgent need to retrain existing IT professionals and encourage students to pursue cloud-related IT trainings and certifications.
«Unlike IT skill shortages in the past, solving this skills gap is extremely challenging, given that cloud brings a new set of skills which haven’t been needed in the past,» said Cushing Anderson, program vice-president at IDC. «There is no one-size-fits-all set of criteria for jobs in cloud computing. Therefore, training and certification is essential for preparing prospective job candidates to work in cloud-related jobs.»

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5 cloud server security tips for 2013

If you’re like most, cloud is going to be a big part of your life in 2013. So to help you start the year off right, we’ve prepared the following tips for securing your cloud servers.

Here are your 5 cloud security tips for 2013 (in no particular order):

Tip #1: Lock down the server firewall
Big surprise – a firewall management service provider telling you to lockdown the firewall, but putting aside the brand of our soap box, the firewall is the front-line defence for all security.

In fact, 73% of IT professionals agree, according to the Ponemon Research study on cloud security. But while there’s a general consensus to use the firewall, few know how to do it properly.

So here’s one little tip from the experts: Make sure you only open admin and other service ports when, for whom/what, and for as long …

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Cloud Conversation, Thanks Gartner for Saying What Has Been Said

Thank you Gartner for your statements concurring and endorsing the notion of clouds can be viable, however do your homework, welcome to the club.
Why am I thanking Gartner?
Simple, I appreciate Gartner now saying what has been said for a couple of years hoping it will help to amplify the theme to the Gartner followers and faithful.
Sounds like Gartner has come to the same conclusion on what has been said for several years now in posts, articles, keynotes, presentations, webinars and other venues which is when it comes to IT clouds, do not be scared. However do your homework, be prepared, do your due diligence, proof of concepts.

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Windows Azure Mobile Services Update

It has been less than four months since we introduced the first public preview for Windows Azure Mobile Services and in this short time we have seen continual improvements to the service offering including:
SDKs for Windows Store, Windows Phone 8 and iOS app
Auth using Microsoft Account, Facebook, Google and Twitter
Push Notification support via WNS, MPNS and APNS
Structured storage
Deployments in East and West US datacenters

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SYS-CON Media Launches Big Data Journal and SDN Journal

SYS-CON Media has launched Big Data Journal and SDN Journal Each journal features hundreds of original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries.
Big Data solutions are playing an increasing role in the Enterprise IT mainstream. Big Data Journal focuses on how to use your own enterprise data – processed in the Cloud – most effectively to drive value for your business.
Big Data Journal premier issue authors include Brian McCallion, Greg Ness, Greg Schulz, Kevin Nikkhoo, John Cowan, Adrian Bridgwater, Richard Minney, Patrick Burke, Jim Kaskade, Jnan Dash, Bob Gourley, Kevin Remde, Lori MacVittie, Jason Bloomberg, and Ajay Budhraja.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to networking in which control is decoupled from hardware and given to a software application called a controller. In a software-defined network, a network administrator can shape traffic from a centralized control console without having to touch individual switches.

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Driving lessons

Connected cars represent an exciting evolution for consumers, car manufacturers and mobile operators alike. There are already over one billion cars on the world’s roads today, according to research firm Ward’s Auto, and that number is expected to continue growing as more consumers in emerging markets get onto the roads. Automotive manufacturers have already put plans into action to ensure, that in the coming years, the majority of new cars will be equipped with broadband connectivity.

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Keeping Cloud moving

It’s been a year for serious cloud investments and networking specialist Cisco has closed out 2012 with a $1.2bn outlay on privately held cloud management company Meraki.

Having missed the 3G boat, Cisco is attempting to make an impression in the telco space by using its IP expertise to cash in on the migration to endto- end IP architecture brought in with LTE. At the same time, however, specialist telecom equipment providers are developing their own ‘Cisco killer’ switching infrastructure.