'Wanneer u online bent kunt u via Outlook zien wie van uw collega's bereikbaar is, en heeft u altijd inzicht in agenda's. Ook kunt u videovergaderen, en uw bureaublad delen op afstand. U heeft bovendien altijd de laatste documenten binnen handbereik - óók als u niet op de zaak bent.'
Dit is de belofte zoals op de nieuwe site voor Microsoft Online diensten staat geschreven. Ricoh Nederland levert al meer dan 10 jaar aan haar klanten. De laatste jaren - als Microsoft Gold Partner - worden oplossingen op basis van SharePoint gebouwd. Deze oplossingen zijn inmiddels door ontwikkeld naar producten als de Document Store van Ricoh. Hiermee wordt een verbinding gelegd tussen de wereld van het papier en de digitale informatie.
Documenten spelen een belangrijke rol als informatiedrager binnen bedrijfsprocessen. Enterprise Information Management, Informatie Engineering en de logistiek die deze informatie op het juiste moment in de juiste vorm op de juiste plek brengt zijn specialismen die in de oplossingen zijn terug te vinden. Specifiek voor een aantal processen zijn hier frameworks voor opgebouwd en geven templates invulling aan de behoeften. Zo kent iedereen de vraag en de daaraan gerelateerde problemen om een factuur van een leverancier efficient door een organisatie heen te begeleiden.
Het besef dat het klassieke Document Management slechts voor een deel de huidige bedrijfsprocessen ondersteund wordt steeds groter. Denk aan de ontwikkelingen waar Microsoft in haar nieuwe SharePoint 2010 release de mogelijkheid biedt om documenten in een set te verzamelen. In de overheid kennen we deze relatie tussen documenten en informatie als ´een zaak´, in de verzekeringswereld of de advocatuur wordt wel gesproken over een dossier of een case. Ricoh heeft deze functionaliteit in haar Frameworks opgenomen en biedt de mogelijkheid om naast het document ook de hele set van gerelateerde documenten als een dossier te behandelen.
Steeds vaker komen documenten in digitale vorm binnen en de integratie met deze digitale stromen worden steeds beter. Feit is dat in de huidige wereld nog steeds erg veel informatie in een ongestructureerde vorm op papier wordt aangeleverd. Postkamers hebben nog steeds een zeerbelangrijke rol in het verzamelen van deze binnenkomende stroom en het voorbewerken en afleveren van deze gegevens op de juiste plek in het bedrijfsproces. Efficiente en effectieve verwerking is de eerste stap in de besparing in het informatielogistieke proces. Door een deze informatie stroom te digitaliseren en te integreren in een digitale postkamer waar verschillende informatie kanalen (digitaal en analoog) samenkomen wordt dit proces in gang gezet.
Lang niet elk bedrijf ziet het beheer van de ondersteunende informatiesystemen als taak. Men ziet op tegen de complexiteit en de kosten die de investering met zich meebrengen. Ontwikkelingen die de laatste tijd beschikbaar komen geven een antwoord op deze behoeften. Al een aantal jaren is het met de grote beschikbaarheid van grote bandbreedte via het internet heel goed mogelijk om (een deel van) een systeem buiten het eigen bedrijf te plaatsen. Een voorbeeld van deze ontwikkeling zijn de online diensten van Microsoft. Ricoh investeerd in deze ontwikkeling en brengt haar oplossingen naar deze online platformen. Naar verwachting zullen in hewt verlengde van de release van het Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform 12 mei 2010 al vrij snel de online varianten beschikbaar komen.
Voor die bedrijven die graag van hun beheer af willen, maar de infrastructuur en de data binnen het eigenbedrijf willen houden is een appliance een oplossing. Een combinatie van server, software matige oplossingen en het beheer in één. Direct beschikbaar.
22 juni 2010 organiseerd Ricoh haar vierde seminar over SharePoint in het auditorium van Microsoft Nederland in Schiphol. Er zijn geen kosten verbonden aan deelname.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Microsoft Excecutive Briefing Center visit about 'Cloud' with a special event at the end: 'the ASHcloud'
The 13th of April me and my collegue took a plane to Seattle. We planned our trip back to The Netherlands on the 18th. Well... The volcano 'Eyjafjallajökull' on Iceland changed the plans of a lot of people depending on the 'Cloud'. It took us some extra days to get back to Europe.
Cloud was the theme of the Microsoft Excecutive Briefing. Azure and BPOS. These developments at Microsoft are huge. Major investments in this area. Checkout the -We're All In- statement of Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer at his keynote at the University of Washington.
During this briefing the latest developments were unveiled. We had the opportunity to take a look at the investments in datacenters all over the world. More important is the evolution in the way the datacenters are build, a different level of utilizing 'flexponsive' computing and storage.
This is the layer 'Azure' is build on. Eventualy most of Microsofts products will be ported to this platform in the cloud. At this moment BPOS is not yet build on the Azure platform.
BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) is the name of the suite that includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. This package with this terrible name has been given the code name 'Union' and will be rebranded. Expect this to happen at the WPC10 (Microsoft Worldpartner Conference) in Washington DC July this year.
The functionality set of Union is much, much more comprehensive than the functionality available now in BPOS. The first step is the launch of all wave14 developments (Exchange2010, Office2010, SharePoint2010 etc). One of the biggest complaints in the market (partners and customers) was the problem that the SharePoint part of BPOS lacked the possibility to be customized. Well you have some possibility's to make changes, but no custom code in the multi tennant BPOS environment. A single tennant environment (dedicated version) is available from 5000 seats. This is all going to change.
The pricing per seat per month has been changed since the introduction about a year ago. In the Netherlands you can have the functionality of a total set for just €8,52 pppm. So you get a Mailserver; a collaboration site where you can store your documents, share information etc; one can setup online conversations and even choose to do so if a person appears to be available (presence). Think of the infrastructure needed to build and maintain this in your own datacenter!
Cloud was the theme of the Microsoft Excecutive Briefing. Azure and BPOS. These developments at Microsoft are huge. Major investments in this area. Checkout the -We're All In- statement of Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer at his keynote at the University of Washington.
During this briefing the latest developments were unveiled. We had the opportunity to take a look at the investments in datacenters all over the world. More important is the evolution in the way the datacenters are build, a different level of utilizing 'flexponsive' computing and storage.
This is the layer 'Azure' is build on. Eventualy most of Microsofts products will be ported to this platform in the cloud. At this moment BPOS is not yet build on the Azure platform.
BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) is the name of the suite that includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. This package with this terrible name has been given the code name 'Union' and will be rebranded. Expect this to happen at the WPC10 (Microsoft Worldpartner Conference) in Washington DC July this year.
The functionality set of Union is much, much more comprehensive than the functionality available now in BPOS. The first step is the launch of all wave14 developments (Exchange2010, Office2010, SharePoint2010 etc). One of the biggest complaints in the market (partners and customers) was the problem that the SharePoint part of BPOS lacked the possibility to be customized. Well you have some possibility's to make changes, but no custom code in the multi tennant BPOS environment. A single tennant environment (dedicated version) is available from 5000 seats. This is all going to change.
The pricing per seat per month has been changed since the introduction about a year ago. In the Netherlands you can have the functionality of a total set for just €8,52 pppm. So you get a Mailserver; a collaboration site where you can store your documents, share information etc; one can setup online conversations and even choose to do so if a person appears to be available (presence). Think of the infrastructure needed to build and maintain this in your own datacenter!
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Collaboration - shifting mind set
Collaboration is the essence of being an organization. Nothing new in having a common goal and working together to achieve that goal. Still in time there has been different mind sets in the way how this could or even should be organized.
Looking at the period that Taylor ruled (he still is in many cases in my opinion), organizations established a strict hierarchy where collaboration was enforced. In this structure there are goals and people are working together. But are these goals common?
Collaboration can't be compared with the definition we handle today. Working together has a broader meaning and a common goal means really share information to the extent of knowledge.
The strict hierarchy and the scientific study of tasks do not fit the purpose of shared goals and shared information. Organizations have to change to make collaboration successful. Move away from the detailed instructions and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task. This demands a collaboration mind shift, a change in how the organization is organized.
This doesn't just mean that the employee of the organization has to get used to share information, but more important management has a very important role in facilitating this change in cultural and social structure.
The biggest mind shift is the change in management style. Other competences are needed. Understand how to facilitate cooperation and how people are encouraged and motivated to contribute in the collaboration, how these people can take control over their work by being and acting responsible. Build trust.
Very often organizations forget this very important mind shift when introducing a new way of work based on collaboration. Often a tool is the first step, where it only should support the way in which the target is reached. Tools do have a purpose; they can lower or overcome barriers. For instance; collaborating between two people that do not work close together or even in another organization. They will not support the change of the organization.
Looking at the period that Taylor ruled (he still is in many cases in my opinion), organizations established a strict hierarchy where collaboration was enforced. In this structure there are goals and people are working together. But are these goals common?
Collaboration can't be compared with the definition we handle today. Working together has a broader meaning and a common goal means really share information to the extent of knowledge.
The strict hierarchy and the scientific study of tasks do not fit the purpose of shared goals and shared information. Organizations have to change to make collaboration successful. Move away from the detailed instructions and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker's discrete task. This demands a collaboration mind shift, a change in how the organization is organized.
This doesn't just mean that the employee of the organization has to get used to share information, but more important management has a very important role in facilitating this change in cultural and social structure.
The biggest mind shift is the change in management style. Other competences are needed. Understand how to facilitate cooperation and how people are encouraged and motivated to contribute in the collaboration, how these people can take control over their work by being and acting responsible. Build trust.
Very often organizations forget this very important mind shift when introducing a new way of work based on collaboration. Often a tool is the first step, where it only should support the way in which the target is reached. Tools do have a purpose; they can lower or overcome barriers. For instance; collaborating between two people that do not work close together or even in another organization. They will not support the change of the organization.
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