Greg Radcliffe worked for Sysco up until a couple of years ago when he decided to take the plunge and set up his own coffee company, Ristretto, along with with business partner, Mark Anderson.
Read all about how they left the IT industry to follow their dream.
The Whitepaper started by adopting an independent third party working definition from the American National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The IIA Working Group have used the definitions of IaaS, PaaS & SaaS which are from this community.
Yesterday, the Irish Internet Association’s Working Group on Cloud Computing was formally kicked off as we began our task to publish a whitepaper by the end of September. The meeting was well attended with all the major cloud vendors (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, etc.) outnumbered by industry representatives (elan, Kepak, Friend’s First, Merrill Lynch, etc.).
The first hurdle was easily cleared when the NIST definition (http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/index.html) was unanimously adopted.
The second hurdle – the scope of the whitepaper – proved a little more contentious when Google’s figures contradicted Microsoft’s on Ireland’s enterpise adoption of cloud applications. Google’s figures showed Ireland to be well ahead of its European counterparts while Microsoft’s showed Ireland to be lagging.
After much debate, agreement was finally reached that cloud computing needs to be categorised into simple and complex applications since there are obviously many more obstacles to the adoption of complex applications so they need to treated differently.
The fact is real obstacles exist so this is the task we have set ourselves to either resolve the perception of these obstacles or propose recommendations to counter them in the hope that our whitepaper will encourage Irish enterprises to get on the cloud.
For everyone involved in one way or another with Credit Management these are busy and tense times. Credit management is at the centre of interest and many companies have assigned the highest priority to credit management and the role it plays in effective working capital management. The current economic climate also presents us with opportunities; we now have the opportunity to show how vitally important a well managed credit management process is to corporate success.
Many companies, from all sectors and all sizes, are looking for support for their credit management processes; they are looking at credit management software solutions that are well proven. The urgency to invest now seems to be a common trend. The market is telling us: to do nothing is not an option.
Many say that the worst is still to come but the positive spirit with which our industry leaders view the future is very positive. Credit management is at the centre of corporate interest and offers us all many opportunities.
Ask yourself the following:
Do I want to make my company’s credit approval and credit management processes more efficient, more effective and more customer oriented?
Do I want Information from customer relations and credit risk management at hand, helping improve my communication with my customers?
Do I want to be more proactive with my credit management or am I happy to deal with credit management in a reactive way?
Do I want to improve my company’s cash flow?
In today’s business environment managing risk and improving cash flow are more challenging then ever:
In response to these trends we all find that as credit professionals we are unfortunately becoming more reactive as opposed to being proactive.
We ask ourselves “Is Credit Management Software the answer”?
First of all, a well-documented best practice involves leveraging credit management software, often coupled with scoring, to improve cash flow through faster response times and more consistent decisions. Credit Management Software also allows you to better partition your portfolio making it easier to see risk patterns as well as manage your franchise. Again, the common theme is to proactively identify those accounts that need your attention and use software to handle repetitive tasks.
Unfortunately, many credit professionals do not take full advantage of technology. Credit professionals need to create greater system efficiencies to compensate for corporate cost cutting goals. That requires embracing technology in one form or another.
Sidestepping common pitfalls provides a framework for becoming more efficient and increasing cash flow. Once you recognize an opportunity, you then need to assemble the required resources to effectuate a solution. Until you take steps at becoming more efficient, you will in fact be whittling away at your limited resources.
So ask yourself again, “Is Credit Management Software the answer?”
Sysco Software join the Microsoft President’s Club, originally uploaded by Sysco Software.
Sysco Software joins the Microsoft President’s Club again for 2009
This is a great website for finding business related information, from business services and training, to information on jobs and funding – have a look
http://www.dublin.ie/business/home.htm
//
We have partnered with (ISS) to roll out BizPortal, Inspired Software and Services ISS’s web-based collaborative platform and business portal. We have also signed a strategic partnership that will see us offer Bizportal to our customer database.
The Irish Internet Association Cloud Computing Working Group seeks to educate decision makers on the advantages of Cloud Computing while also cognisant of the disadvantages. It aims to support businesses to analyse the issues involved in transitioning their IT infrastructure from on premise to cloud applications and advise businesses on areas of concern such as availability, security and data protection. The group aims to clarify the objective opportunities beyond the hype.
It is intended that membership of the working group be split evenly between expert practitioners and business leaders (e.g. CTOs) from a variety of business sectors, including the finance, public sector, SME, tourism, media, technology and not-for-profit sectors. This will allow input from all stakeholders on issues pertaining to this area.
The Group will meet 2 to 3 times a year and will primarily work using Basecamp – an online collaboration tool. The number of members will be kept to 10 and if required the working group will be split into subgroups to work on specific tasks.
The group will be chaired by Gerry Power, Consultant, Sysco.
If you would like to get involved please contact Roseanne Smith at members@iia.ie or 01 5424154. All enquiries welcome.
<!– –>
Sysco Software's Blog 