Tonight, it's 'back to basics'.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce's monthly 'Business After 5' (BA5) is being hosted by The Technology Centre on 4th Avenue.
I rented my first office in Tauranga three years ago in the Technology Centre. Life then was a lot less complicated. We were designing and developing Smart Analytics and Stay in the Bay. The focus was on design, not at that point on commercialisation. How times change.
It will be good to support Werner, Steve and the great team that now work at the Centre tonight.
Tomorrow, it is a trip to Auckland and a call to Shane at the House of Travel to book a flight to the UK. That's 'back to normal'.
Showing posts with label Smart Aanlytics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smart Aanlytics. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Friday, 21 September 2007
Updating Smart Analytics
Overnight, I received an email from Girish Kulkarni, Head of Content at HBI Software in Bangalore.
It contained the latest quarterly financial updates for nine mobile companies which Smart Analytics track for competitive intelligence. Over the next few weeks, Girish and the team at HBI Software will update further Competitive Intelligence reports to companies in both the electronic document and print, and the software company sectors.
We started building Smart Analytics over three years ago. It can now be accessed via Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 by downloading a web services utility from the Smart Analytics page on Microsoft Office Marketplaces.
All that changes when Microsoft launch Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2007 Suite in the next quarter. Microsoft are then integrating Smart Analytics into the core Research ribbon in Microsoft Office 2007 Suite. All Office users will then be able to access Smart Analytic's research and analytics sources directly from within their Office applications.
It's been three years in the making. The end game is just a few weeks away.
From a New Zealand perspective, our relationship with Microsoft globally follows pretty much the same path as described in one of Rod Drury's blogs yesterday. A Microsoft partnership is a valuable technology tool as well as being a great potential route to market. It needs working at though. Microsoft have their own route map and it is important that partners understand that and align part of their own development and marketing strategy to map that. Then the potential can be realised.
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Partnering with Microsoft NZ
I am keen to work more closely with Microsoft NZ.
Smart Analytics is already a Partner with Microsoft UK. In fact we have several partnership accreditations. 'Certified Partner', 'Partner of the Future' and most recently, 'Cross Border Partner'.
Microsoft NZ does not support all these partner models. The focus in Auckland is to provide partner support to assist develop growth within the NZ market. I guess this generates more sales of Microsoft product locally and enables Microsoft NZ hit its sales and revenue targets.
For the majority of partners, this focus is probably justified. For partners looking at developing markets offshore, it is probably less so. That is why both Smart Analytics and Pingar will continue to focus on the Microsoft UK relationship.
We need to be able to leverage Microsoft's global network. Our product is not geographically focused and therefore the partner accreditations offered by Microsft UK benefit our marketing strategy. Long term, Microsoft also benefits.
By introducing our technology to global Microsoft networks, Microsoft can generate more global sales. This might not be reflected in Microsoft UK's revenue model, but will certainly benefit Microsoft Corp. It's a global 'win-win'.
Despite this focus, partnering with Microsoft NZ remains high on the agenda. Our product already features on global 'Office Live" portals. (Check out the 'Office Live' link). We just need to figure out a way of developing a 'win-win' scenario using Microsoft NZ's more geographically-focused model.
Smart Analytics is already a Partner with Microsoft UK. In fact we have several partnership accreditations. 'Certified Partner', 'Partner of the Future' and most recently, 'Cross Border Partner'.
Microsoft NZ does not support all these partner models. The focus in Auckland is to provide partner support to assist develop growth within the NZ market. I guess this generates more sales of Microsoft product locally and enables Microsoft NZ hit its sales and revenue targets.
For the majority of partners, this focus is probably justified. For partners looking at developing markets offshore, it is probably less so. That is why both Smart Analytics and Pingar will continue to focus on the Microsoft UK relationship.
We need to be able to leverage Microsoft's global network. Our product is not geographically focused and therefore the partner accreditations offered by Microsft UK benefit our marketing strategy. Long term, Microsoft also benefits.
By introducing our technology to global Microsoft networks, Microsoft can generate more global sales. This might not be reflected in Microsoft UK's revenue model, but will certainly benefit Microsoft Corp. It's a global 'win-win'.
Despite this focus, partnering with Microsoft NZ remains high on the agenda. Our product already features on global 'Office Live" portals. (Check out the 'Office Live' link). We just need to figure out a way of developing a 'win-win' scenario using Microsoft NZ's more geographically-focused model.
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Introducing Smart Analytics
About two years ago, I set up the Smart Analytics (SA) research portal. Check it out here at www.smart-analytics.com
Targeting Competitive Intelligence (CI) in the ICT space, the SA portal provides profiles on different companies in different ICT sectors. The portal design and build was and is outsourced to HBI Software Pvt Ltd in Bangalore. The actual research, analysis and content was and is outsourced to HBI Sales Pvt Ltd, also based in Bangalore.
The reports themselves are smart-tagged using smart tags and Microsoft Office web services. This means that users can automatically update downloaded reports once content has been updated. Microsoft liked this so back in 2005, the Smart Analytics portal was made available through Microsoft Office Marketplaces.
In 2006, Microsoft selected a small number of core research data sources to be integrated into the hard copy and OEM versions of Microsoft Office 2007 Suite. Smart Analytics was one of the core data sources selected, so today, users of Microsoft Office 2007 Suite can search Smart Analytics from within the Research ribbon / pane. SA is also available as a core research source in Internet Explorer 7.0.
The relevance of all this today is that we are about to publish a series of reports published by OTR onto the SA portal. It is e-commerce enabled so we can add third-party reports to the portal shop.
One of my own personal targets for 2007 is to encourage content providers based in NZ who create CI related reports in the ICT space to make their content available on the SA portal. Microsoft Office 2007 will provide them with a great route to market and raise their profile in the global market.
Today is not all work however. Tonight there will be a toast to Blackpool FC who managed a 2 - 0 win over Huddersfield in the Easter Monday game. That puts Blackpool into 4th place in the First Division and re-inforces their Play-Off credentials. With just 4 games to go, a trip to Cardiff in May is now well on the cards!
Targeting Competitive Intelligence (CI) in the ICT space, the SA portal provides profiles on different companies in different ICT sectors. The portal design and build was and is outsourced to HBI Software Pvt Ltd in Bangalore. The actual research, analysis and content was and is outsourced to HBI Sales Pvt Ltd, also based in Bangalore.
The reports themselves are smart-tagged using smart tags and Microsoft Office web services. This means that users can automatically update downloaded reports once content has been updated. Microsoft liked this so back in 2005, the Smart Analytics portal was made available through Microsoft Office Marketplaces.
In 2006, Microsoft selected a small number of core research data sources to be integrated into the hard copy and OEM versions of Microsoft Office 2007 Suite. Smart Analytics was one of the core data sources selected, so today, users of Microsoft Office 2007 Suite can search Smart Analytics from within the Research ribbon / pane. SA is also available as a core research source in Internet Explorer 7.0.
The relevance of all this today is that we are about to publish a series of reports published by OTR onto the SA portal. It is e-commerce enabled so we can add third-party reports to the portal shop.
One of my own personal targets for 2007 is to encourage content providers based in NZ who create CI related reports in the ICT space to make their content available on the SA portal. Microsoft Office 2007 will provide them with a great route to market and raise their profile in the global market.
Today is not all work however. Tonight there will be a toast to Blackpool FC who managed a 2 - 0 win over Huddersfield in the Easter Monday game. That puts Blackpool into 4th place in the First Division and re-inforces their Play-Off credentials. With just 4 games to go, a trip to Cardiff in May is now well on the cards!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
