SharePoint Center of Excellence - Why You Need One #spc12

For the first time, this year’s Microsoft SharePoint Conference had a dedicated “Business” track for non-technical, business decision makers and judging by the 600 plus people that packed in to this session there was a huge demand.

This session was presented by Andrew Woodward, a longstanding SharePoint MVP, the founder of UK based consultancy 21Apps, and this week named as one of the top 25 social influencers for SharePoint.

In his introduction Andrew explained that his background was in agile software development but that he had come to realize that it doesn’t matter how good the code was if the requirements were wrong, and that this had led him to move to this business orientated side of SharePoint.

His aim in this session, he told us, was to redefine the concept of a Center of Excellence (CoE), and that in his definition the CoE was non-technical. He explained that this was an ongoing process, and that there was room to develop the idea further.

Challenges

Andrew described the challenge facing SharePoint projects, “Experience shows that without the right team in place to support the adoption, exploitation and promotion of new ways of working organizations struggle to achieve the expected return on investment.”

Andrew went on to introduce us to a number of models and approaches that he uses to help define organizational challenges relating to SharePoint. Firstly we were shown the Cynefin framework, which is used to describe problems, situations and systems.

Figure 1: A Cynefin framework diagram

Next Andrew explained the Montgomery Burns test for validating a SharePoint vision statement, and was surprised to find that around 90 percent of the audience didn’t seem to have an explicit vision for SharePoint anyway.

Andrew suggested that we use our stated aim for our SharePoint project to complete the statement, “The Montgomery Burns award for outstanding achievement for …” If your vision fits well into the statement then it probably needs further work. For example, “The Montgomery Burns award for outstanding achievement for improved collaboration,” or, “The Montgomery Burns award for outstanding achievement for excellence in collaboration.”

Finally Andrew showed us the Kapitola Pathway which he uses to align the use of SharePoint with organizational goals. Here’s an example he showed which illustrates why the empire might build the death star.

As the model shows, the basic idea is to map actions and rationale with left and right arrows. Andrew explained that the benefits of this approach are that it provides an end-to-end view of how SharePoint fits into broader organizational strategies, validates broader strategic plans by testing them against projects and initiatives, and that the technique allows the CoE to quickly validate and challenge the business requests.

Figure 2: Example Kapitola Pathway 

SharePoint Center of Excellence

Andrew opened his discussion on the SharePoint CoE by explaining that what they do is be the single point of contact for everything related to SharePoint in the organization. We were advised to brand the SharePoint Center of Excellence and to develop a mission statement.

 

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

TIBCO Shows Off Spotfire 5 Analytics for Big Data Discovery

TIBCO, makers of Spotfire analytics has released version 5 of its simplified system for making data based decisions, building predictive models and perhaps finding that key insight that could be ground breaking.

Spotfire 5 Features

Spotfire 5 has been rebuilt to provide faster data visualization, predictive modeling and scalability.

"These capabilities are exactly what enterprises are looking for to be able to discover the value hidden in their data," Lars Bauerle, TIBCO Spotfire VP of product strategy said in a statement.

Spotfire 5 is meant to capture data from multiple sources and offers custom reports and dashboards, but also do that in a faster, more intuitive way. Because Spotfire integrates with Microsoft, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services cubes, version 5 can take advantage of its in-memory system for faster parsing of large data sets.

All that means is for those systems that are more closely connected to Spotfire (unlike systems that must be accessed remotely, for example), data can be indexed faster and with less compute power than with previous versions. That is good for scalability and speed.

Spotfire 5 interactive analytics is a good fit for the high tech manufacturing, retail, life sciences, and financial services industries.

Additionally, because Spotfire does not require a deep knowledge of business intelligence to know how to use it, companies can set the system up faster and begin using it across departments even faster. 

Data Evolving, Companies Responding; Mostly

This month, CMSWire is focusing on how companies can improve customer experiences using the right data and proper strategies. Because so many analytics packages are only really good at either reporting static information or simply providing complex stats, Spotfire 5 is positioned to battle on both of these fronts. TIBCO promises an analytics platform that is dynamic, and not overly complex to use. 

That means people across enterprises could benefit from any insights found, and those findings could be implemented faster to provide real action. As with any enterprise undertaking, it's wise to think long and hard about taking on a new analytics package, and remember to have some clear goals already set out.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Amazon Joins the Event Party, 6 September for Kindle Fire 2 and, Perhaps, A Smartphone

 It is officially party season for gadget lovers, as Amazon joins all the other major smartphone and tablet makers with an event to announce its latest wares, scheduled for early next month. 

Reorganize Your Diary

Add another date to your burgeoning diary for media phone or tablet events in the next few weeks. Amazon is inviting the press to a major launch on 6 September in Santa Monica, with the likely topic of discussion being the Kindle Fire 2 and, maybe, an Amazon smartphone. 

So, just to refresh your memory, the launch event line up is as follows:

29 August - Samsung Galaxy Note 2

5 September - Microsoft/Nokia Windows Phone 8

6 September - Amazon Kindle Fire 2, possibly a smartphone

12 September - Apple iPhone 5, possibly iPad Mini

Device Frenzy

With all these devices hitting the shelves shortly after their announcements, the stores will be packed with new product, review sites will be screaming the scores out, and the typical consumer might feel rather put upon by all the pressure to upgrade to a new phone. 

We also have HTC possibly launching a 5inch-screen One X model, then there's the Windows 8 tablet launch in October, making it a very busy selling period. What it does mean is that the older generations of devices will be being sold for great bargain prices come the Black Friday holiday sales, as stores try to clear old stock.  

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com