Cloud Computing - One of the biggest buzz-words of 2009, this infrastructure as a service allows businesses to use distributed servers to perform computing needs. Cloud computing is ideal for a small to medium size business that has large spikes in infrastructure needs at varying times during the year, rather than a consistent need that in-house servers could sufficiently fulfill. Services include Microsoft Azure and Amazon EC2.
Online Applications- Also known as Software as a Service (SaaS), online applications allow users to access applications via the internet without having to pay through the nose in licensing costs. By acquiring new online licenses instead of renewing purchased software licenses, businesses will be able to decrease future maintenance costs for software applications.
Social Networks and Software - Using the power of human connectivity and new tools to connect with customers, co-workers, and business partners, social networks are a helpful way to engage consumers and find out what interests them. Successful implementation of custom technologies to take advantage of this ever-increasing trend should involve both sales and marketing teams to establish how these social networking tools will be able to bring measurable business results.
Document Management & Collaboration- Organizing documents and data in a central areais essential for every business that seeks to collaborate efficiently and retain important information for simplified reference. The first step when utilizing document management and collaborations such as SharePoint, is deciding whether the purpose is managing content, simplifying everyday business activities, or connecting people with information and expertise.
CRM 2.0 - Get it right this time by fully utilizing CRM capabilities to manage client and business relationships. Customize interactions with customers on their terms and improve customer loyalty. There are multiple customizations that CRM is capable of having that make it a powerful tool that can meet businesses’ needs on a case by case basis.
Unified Communications - Bringing people and information together using software is a core necessity of any business and is the founding principle behind the unified communications trend. Find out how to customize the technology behind unified communications to make a real difference in revenue through improved presence and identity for businesses.
Web 2.0 to 3.0 - The internet is experiencing a continuous evolution of user interaction with technologies, which is the premise behind the Web 2.0 phenomenon. However, “Web 2.0” is no longer sufficient to describe the rising impact that interactions with social networks and other applications are having on the level of data that is being created each minute that could improve business and create new opportunities. Custom tools can be used to engage customers and create relevant reporting on how the user’s interaction can be transformed into an important piece of data to improve business. Web 2.0 to 3.0 also offers new ways of collecting key information on competitors, the marketplace, consumer interests, and other types of data that would be of benefit to businesses.
Business Intelligence (BI) - Improving organizations by providing businesses with insight to employees and data, leading to better, faster, more relevant decisions is why BI is among the top technologies on CIO's minds.
Virtualization / Green IT - Moving physical servers to virtual ones can potentially save money, lower costs for hardware, power, and save space while helping the planet. The first step to evaluating whether virtualization is the right step for a business is to have an ROI analysis.
Enterprise Mobility - To remain competitive, organizations are making enterprise applications accessible from mobile devices. Allowing employees to have access to reports and other critical information from mobile devices increase productivity and produce smoother operations. There are also custom solutions that can allow companies to access the right information at the right time with useful applications and reporting.