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May 19, 2010

Is In Silico Simulation the next big thing for Pharma?

by Ramesh J Chougule

While we know that discovering a drug costs 900 MSUD and takes approximately 15 years for a pharmaceutical company, there are technological advances like in silico simulations which are helping to improve effectiveness and reduce timelines in the early stages of the drug discovery life cycle. This technology is able to model the interactions and relationships among proteins, enzymes, receptors and chaperones. This gives a representation of various cellular processes, biochemical pathways and the associated cell signals.

Continue reading " Is In Silico Simulation the next big thing for Pharma? " »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 9:44 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 15, 2010

How efficient Forecasting and Replenishment can increase margins

by Mark Everson

One of the most difficult aspects of high street retailing is managing in store availability in order to minimize lost sales while reducing overall inventory, especially where regular or in season replenishment occurs.

As a retailer, we would always want to satisfy the customer and also ensure that we do not have inventory taking up valuable shelf space and tying up working capital. Therefore we have a delicate balancing act to do between these different demands to always get the sale without having stock rooms the size of the store itself!

Continue reading " How efficient Forecasting and Replenishment can increase margins " »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 2:46 PM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 14, 2010

How would SAP Retail affect my business?

by Mark Everson

The set of SAP Retail solutions are out of the box solutions aimed specifically at all Retailers in the market. Over the last 5 years, SAP has invested in the core ERP Retail solutions along with building solutions that can integrate with the core or stand by themselves. These are Merchandise and Assortment Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment, POS Data Mart, EPOS point of sales systems, Workforce Management, Price Optimization and Customer Loyalty solutions which overall make up a strong package to cover all retail scenarios.

So SAP has the processes covered but what does this mean for a retailer who is looking to implement these solutions?

Continue reading " How would SAP Retail affect my business? " »

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:24 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 12, 2010

Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part III

In Part I and II of this blog we discussed about how package applications provide solution for an integrated Customer Care & Billing system. But with extensive package customization the benefits are overshadowed. However, with a pre-configured package solution, much of the customization can be pre-built and adopted as a hyper package thus reducing the realization period. Part III of this blog will provide insight into the pre-configured package solution available from Infosys for Utility Billing and Customer Care functions. Also suggested is to read fellow Infoscion Parmarth's blog on CIS modernization and the need for an integrated customer care & billing system here.

Continue reading " Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part III " »

Posted by Sathyanarayana Krishnamurthy at 11:28 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 11, 2010

Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part II

In Part I of this blog we discussed about how package applications revolutionized Information Technology consumption. But with time even package implementations are beginning to see extensive customization and delayed realization. Part II of this blog will provide insight into how can a customer adopt a package that requires least amount of customization in terms of development and accelerate realization.

Continue reading " Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part II " »

Posted by Sathyanarayana Krishnamurthy at 9:35 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 10, 2010

Contextual search and exploration: BO Explorer Accelerated

All of us use search in our personal lives, and more often than not we come to the conclusion, searching for information on the internet is far easier than looking for information in the corporate data warehouse. Why do we reach such a conclusion and why can't the corporate data warehouse be more searchable and not tied to cryptic data dictionaries? Well, the way corporate data warehouses stores information today is more optimized for read, write and update than actual information analytics. The row based information storage is optimal for a transaction system, but not so much when it comes to information analytics, also "ability to search" a key element of contextual exploration is missing from our data warehouses.

Continue reading " Contextual search and exploration: BO Explorer Accelerated " »

Posted by Varun Kumar at 9:00 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Don't rely on software alone to drive process transformation

Using package software solutions for Enterprise Resource Planning Solutions (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for enterprise business transformation is very appealing. The reasons are many, not the least of which are:

•          Speed: Accelerated implementation

•          Knowledge: Built on industry best practices

•          Simplicity: Pre-integrated application suite or "stack"

 

Companies often speak of "vanilla" implementations where there is a strong reliance on "out-of-the-Box" functionality to drive process and organizational change.  However, it is a mistake to rely on software alone. Although fast implementation to achieve a target ROI is desirable, there are some risks that must be addressed. 

Continue reading " Don't rely on software alone to drive process transformation " »

Posted by Brandon Bichler at 3:07 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

CIS Modernization and the Need for an Integrated Customer Care & Billing System: Part II

In Part I of this blog we saw why there is a need for an Integrated Customer Care and Billing System. In Part II we will see how package applications today offer a modern IT platform to Utilities.

Package applications unleash a flexible and scalable platform where a utility can build and meet its requirements of the modern and changing era. These packages were created and are being continuously upgraded with the industry specific requirements in mind. For Utility Customer Care and Billing requirements, these packages in addition to focusing on the core utility retail functionality are also future ready to take on initiatives like AMI/Smart Metering.

Continue reading " CIS Modernization and the Need for an Integrated Customer Care & Billing System: Part II " »

Posted by Parmarth Naswa at 10:00 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

SAP BW and Business Objects Integration : Part 1

SAP acquired Business Objects in 2008 to provide customers with a full suite of business intelligence and information management solutions on a single platform with deep integration to SAP Business Suite and NetWeaver. The intent was to offer SAP customers with a market leading suite of reporting, analytics and dashboard capabilities. We have come a long way since then - on the ground SAP Business Intelligence (BI) customers are faced with multiple challenges like widening stack of products, evolving roadmaps, and frequently changing product names. In the below sections, we evaluate some essential steps of this evolution from a technical as well as business perspective.

Continue reading " SAP BW and Business Objects Integration : Part 1 " »

Posted by Meyyappan M M at 4:40 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 8, 2010

Outcome and value based pricing engagement models

Thanks largely to the recent global recession, many organizations were forced to take a hard look at their IT spend and find more cost effective ways to invest their reduced IT budgets. Alternate IT service contracts such as value-based or outcome-based pricing became more popular providing clients with greater means for cost control and tying stringent budgets to result driven service contracts.

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Posted by Dirk Leifer at 5:27 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 7, 2010

One size does not fit all: Deliver more shareholder value by embedding "customer value" into your solution design for front-office transformations

Organizations have increasingly sought new, innovative, and (often) expensive ways to get a 360° view of the customer - the reality is that the customer doesn't exist. Customers are many and varied, they have different needs, different motivations, different ways they want to interact with companies and different expectations from the you. Too often companies undergo well-intentioned transformations in pursuit of meeting the customer's needs, only to end the project in frustration having spent millions and never having achieved their goal. The problem is that the companies start out with a goal that is too poorly defined. And when the solution is being developed, it is swamped by trying to solve all the ills the company has let fester for years (or decades).

Continue reading " One size does not fit all: Deliver more shareholder value by embedding "customer value" into your solution design for front-office transformations " »

Posted by Brandon Bichler at 2:48 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 5, 2010

Embracing MDM in SOA and BPM implementation

IT fragmentation is the rule today. Each business function or department in organizations has their own definition of business processes and master data. Like any master data, Customer master data is typically stored in an array of systems, among them sales force automation (SFA); customer relationship management (CRM); and enterprise resources planning (ERP). Every system has its own definition of the business data designed to support its own features and functions. However, cross department processes such as order to cash, supply chain, procure to pay define how an enterprise works to build customer value. These are the processes that are inhibited by current IT fragmentation. These are the processes that break down due to the different definition of the same business data across application boundaries. This heterogeneity means information is inconsistent in different parts of the organization, and leads to complications in exchanging and synchronizing information.

Continue reading " Embracing MDM in SOA and BPM implementation " »

Posted by Ashish Tewary at 4:35 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 4, 2010

Validation in Life Sciences Industry: Part 1

The implementation and change management processes in a validated environment is often viewed as very complex and time consuming one. Sometimes the process is made so complex that people start forgetting the real purpose of validation and start viewing the process as an inevitable evil to meet the compliance.

Continue reading " Validation in Life Sciences Industry: Part 1 " »

Posted by Ravi Sanker R at 3:12 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

May 3, 2010

CIS Modernization and the Need for an Integrated Customer Care & Billing System: Part I

Most utility companies in the world are decades old.  Their CIS and Billing systems still run on old world technology platforms. Undoubtedly these systems, even today, meet the daily customer care and billing operations but one thing that is affecting them is the principle these systems were built from: these systems were built to last but not for change. The current trend in the utility industry is however all about change: in ownership structures, in regulation, in customer service, in reliability, in new technology etc. These changes can only be realized by having a modern and integrated Customer Care and Billing platform.

So what are the challenges of the old world CIS system? The challenges can be summed up in a single phrase: "inflexible and non-scalable".

Continue reading " CIS Modernization and the Need for an Integrated Customer Care & Billing System: Part I " »

Posted by Parmarth Naswa at 11:08 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

April 27, 2010

Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part I

Part I of this 3 part series discusses about why Customer opt for customization in even in a matured package applications and how it can impact your cost of ownership.

When package applications were introduced, they brought about a revolution in the way Information Technology was consumed. Packaged applications redefined how applications were implemented by offering Industry best practices and hence focusing on process rather than on technology. These solutions had reduced the cycle time for implementation and hence the cost associated with it. The risk of going wrong with a packaged solution was very low when compared to the then prevalent custom-built-from-scratch applications. Theoretically, a package could be used by just configuring it.

Continue reading " Minimize your Customization & Accelerate your Realization - Part I " »

Posted by Sathyanarayana Krishnamurthy at 2:25 PM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

April 23, 2010

US Health Care Reforms: What is in it for IT

The  US  House  of  Representatives  passing  the  health  care  reforms  Bill was a top  news recently.  In  many  international  fora  it was received with applause. Although centered in the US, the event is viewed with global implications. Let us look at it with the IT perspective.

Continue reading " US Health Care Reforms: What is in it for IT " »

Posted by Hemant Pathak at 11:27 AM | | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

March 23, 2010

Centralized Procurement through SAP SRM - the next great wave of savings - Part 1

Continually changing turbulent economic environment is forcing organizations to adopt innovative business strategies to stay competitive, efficient in order to achieve highest level of benefits to the stakeholders. Procurement function is playing an ever increasing role in this transformation journey and its importance is becoming increasingly visible.

Continue reading " Centralized Procurement through SAP SRM - the next great wave of savings - Part 1 " »

Posted by Atul Chorbele at 11:49 AM | | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

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