Intergen's newsletter, Smarts, now available for online reading.
Intergen provides information technology solutions across Australia, New Zealand and the world based exclusively on Microsoft’s tools and technologies.
1. I S S U E N I N E T E E N>> T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E
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There is no chance you have missed the fact that
the world is in a recession. There is a lot of discussion
in the media about who is doing okay, who is
hurting and what strategies companies might be
employing to survive.
So I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know
about some of the things that have been changing at
Intergen lately. Many of the changes have been
planned for some time but certainly there is a
feeling that we need to increase the intensity of
our evolution. We are always striving to do things
better and now it is even more important than ever.
We have made some changes to the way we organise ourselves. These
changes continue on from the strategy work we undertook at the beginning of
last year and are designed to improve the way we do business.
We have moved to become more sales focused and to revitalise our sales culture.
We have introduced a new role of General Manager, Sales, and Bruce Smith has
been appointed to that role.
Wayne Forgesson, previously responsible for both Sales and Marketing as Director,
Business Development, takes on a new role of Director, Marketing. Wayne is
charged with ensuring our sales team has the best possible environment in
which to engage with our customers. One of the first initiatives from Wayne’s
team is the new Rapid Results suite of products. These are product and service
offerings that allow clients to engage with us to receive a predetermined solution
that provides value for a fixed price (see page 3 for more information).
We have also changed our project delivery teams. We now have four practices:
Enterprise Applications, Portals Content and Collaboration,
Microsoft Dynamics Solutions and Management Consulting.
These practices focus on solutions rather than
disciplines, which allows us to be more focused
on efficient delivery of solutions and repeatability
of results, in turn reducing risk and increasing value.
Our strong local focus remains, with each of our offices
having its own practice leadership, but we have also improved
communications and consistency nationally with the introduction
of national practice principals for each practice area.
We understand that in these tough times your budgets are being squeezed.
We are working hard to make sure we are well placed to offer you solutions that
continue to deliver you real business value. The people you have been dealing
with will not change but the organisation behind them will be sharper and have
a clear focus on delivering high quality, cost effective and innovative solutions.
tony.stewart@intergen.co.nz
ACCESSIBILITY &
SILVERLIGHT
Check out our free upcoming events – register
now at www.intergen.co.nz/events
Cloud Computing
A guide to the various online platforms and
what cloud computing could mean for your
business.
Rapid Results Roadshows
– CRM and SharePoint
Customer and information management with
bigger bang, fewer bucks, faster results.
Including events in Hamilton.
New Technologies
Check out what’s on the horizon with the latest
– and future – Microsoft technologies and learn
what these innovations can do for you.
Intergen holds regular, free informational
seminars. Sign up to go on our invitation
list, or check our site regularly for updates.
< Copyright 2009 Intergen Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of Intergen Limited >
2. The pictures say it all, really. We’re a quarter of the
way through 2009, and we’ve had a few yellow
triumphs so far, as you might expect. You can read
all about our Microsoft exploits and ventures in
New Zealand and around the globe on the following
pages. It’s hard to keep track of them all at the
moment, but here’s the latest, for now at least.
This year Intergen is excited to be a strategic partner of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, “the
world’s premiere student software design competition.” Graduate recruitment has
always been really important to us, and fostering young IT talent is a big part of our
driving force – so Imagine Cup is a great way for us to get involved and spot new
talent. And it just so happens we’re fortunate to have one of last year’s Imagine Cup
NewZealandwinners,YuganYugaraja,onstaff.
And our esteemed Managing Director, Tony
Stewart, and Auckland developer Hamish Hill
are also on the judging panel.
Every year in the dragonboating season the Wellington Harbour is ablaze with
yellow and this year was no exception. Once again, the Intergen Raptors outdid
themselves, coming third overall in the B finals in the New Zealand Dragon Boat
Nationals in Rotorua this year, beating even NZ Army, who pipped them at the post
in the regional finals.
The surf was up at Webstock this year, with Intergen putting on a surf shack complete
with smoothies and a ride-on surfboard which provided much amusement (and
prizes) for the punters. It’s great for us to get involved in the interactive web space,
and Webstock is an event much anticipated each year by our interactive designers.
This year we were fortunate enough to sponsor online community gurus, Heather
Champ (of Flickr fame) and Derek Powazek. We even had them along to chat to
our staff – which could have gone on for hours if there wasn’t work to be done!
Watch this space for the next Intergen photo gallery.
Intergen’s Yellow Raptors battle their way to third place in the National Dragon Boating B Finals.
Intergen hangs 10 at Webstock.
>> INTERGENITE:
Bruce Smith
What do you do?
I am General Manager National Sales
(before that I was a Wellington Business
Development Manager with Intergen
since 2004). I’m responsible for revenue
generation and developing Intergen’s
sales culture.
How do you make a difference?
My main goal in life is to make sure we’re
establishing value for our clients and doing
everything we can to become their partner
of preference. Internally, I’m here to coach,
mentor and encourage high performance.
What do you love about your job?
Everything! You could say I have sales in
my blood... I’m really passionate about
Intergen and everything Intergen stands
for and will do anything I can to make us
second to none in the industry.
A bit about yourself...
I was born in Christchurch, the middle
child with an older brother and younger
sister. I’ve been in professional sales all
my working life (25 years and counting).
I live on a lifestyle block half an hour out
of Wellington and indulge in a bit of
weekend farming. I have two lovely
daughters, aged six and nine, and in my
spare time enjoy a spot of skiing, football,
hunting and shooting.
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >>> I N T E R G E N I T E N E W S>>2
Raptorous
3. Give your systems
a check-up
Take advantage of new opportunities –
faster than before
>>3>> N E W P A C K A G E S < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >
Despite the media’s negative preoccupation
with the economy, tough times can also create
opportunities. As the needs of our customers,
partners and competitors evolve, opportunities
to create new relationships will inevitably arise,
and the smart organisations are those that
are ready to take advantage of them.
Intergen has created a set of packaged consulting offerings to help
organisations capitalise on opportunities in the marketplace. Introduced
in the last issue of SMARTS, our Rapid Results offerings are now available,
delivering a fixed cost service that gets organisations up and running
quickly in a variety of solutions.
Our philosophy behind Rapid Results? We believe customers want
predictability – of outcome and of cost – while not sacrificing future
opportunities for growth. Rapid Results allows us to provide a core set of
functionality across a number of offerings, and while we have standardised
these as much as possible, they all give our customers a foundation upon
which further customisation can be added in the future.
Intergen’s Rapid Results for CRM delivers a core set of sales and marketing
capabilities that utilise Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Primarily targeted at
smaller companies – those with five to15
employees – this offering is also ideal for
larger organisations wanting to implement
CRM within a department, or wanting a solid
foundation for a proof of concept project. We
work with you to quickly get the project up
and running, using software installed on-
premise or in the cloud, and work with you to
configure it to meet your needs.
A similar approach is used for our other initial
offering, Rapid Results for SharePoint. This
package is designed for organisations utilising
Microsoft SharePoint as the basis of an
intranet solution. Once again, we work with
you to configure a SharePoint solution across
a number of key functional areas, giving you
a solution that can be rolled out to your users.
Want to move quickly to get an edge on your
competitors? Talk to an Intergen salesperson
now,orgoto www.intergen.co.nz/rapidresults.
The medical industry has long recommended that
we all get regular check-ups.
Our IT systems are no different
– we regularly need to see how
they perform with new
technologies, or how well they
work as the needs of our organisations evolve. Sometimes we may know what’s wrong,
through poor performance or glitches in appearance. At other times, we may be trying
to determine the impact of new technology, without yet having access to it.
At Intergen we are cognisant of these challenges, and of an increasing desire by
many organisations to get more out of their existing investments.
Bundled together under the HealthCheck brand, these offerings provide a low cost,
quick review, and a series of recommendations, if required, as to how any issues
could be addressed. Currently we have two HealthCheck offerings available.
Our Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 HealthCheck is designed to help organisations
understand how the latest version of Microsoft’s web browser will render pages on
their website or in their applications. Priced at only $750, an Intergen consultant
will test nominated pages or templates on your site, and then provide a report
detailing findings – using the most recently available version of IE8, and comparing
it to how IE7 renders the site. This is ideal for anyone who has invested in a website,
and who’s not aware of the issues that IE8 could expose.
The second initiative is our CRM HealthCheck, designed for existing Microsoft Dynamics
CRM implementations. Working to a fixed cost and timeframe, we will come in and
analyse your system across a range of areas and provide a report of findings, within
a two day period. This is ideal for any organisation that has implemented CRM and
is either finding it’s not being adopted widely, or has certain technical issues.
Both these solutions are designed to help your organisation get more out of its
existing technology investments. Over the next few months we’ll be introducing more
of these. For more information, go to www.intergen.co.nz/healthchecks.
4. Chris Auld is Intergen’s Director
of Strategy and Innovation.
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >>>4 >> I N T E R G E N & M I C R O S O F T
then I encourage you to watch the video of my session at
http:/sessions.visitmix.com/MIX09/C20F to learn just how easy it is to get a
great looking SharePoint site. Our Intergen designers have been hard at work
designing a set of ten SharePoint themes for Microsoft, now openly available to
SharePoint designers and developers worldwide (see opposite page).
I also used this session to announce a new version of a key development tool
for SharePoint (see opposite page).
If you’d like to discuss how Silverlight can boost the accessibility of your website,
please contact Intergen’s Lead Solution Architect, Andrew Tokeley
andrewt@intergen.co.nz. If you’d like some help theming your SharePoint site
then please get in touch with Portals, Content and Collaboration Practice
Principal, Mark Orange marko@intergen.co.nz.
“ButtercupReader shows us a future where web applications can rival the interactivity
and usability of desktop applications and still be accessible to a wide audience.”
Andrew Tokeley, Lead Solution Architect and Buttercup Team Lead.
Working with Microsoft
At Intergen we’re unashamedly ‘mad about Microsoft.’ They’re our biggest business
partner and we work with Microsoft people both here in New Zealand and around
the globe each and every day to deliver fantastic solutions to our clients. Microsoft
is also one of our largest customers – it’s really an extension of the whole concept
of partnership: working together for mutual benefit.
We’re proud of the breadth of our Microsoft practice at Intergen and that breadth really
shines through in the work we do with Microsoft themselves. We obviously can’t talk
I started writing this at 30,000 feet, somewhere out over the Pacific Ocean on
my way back from the fourth Microsoft MIX Conference.
MIX09
This event is held yearly in Las Vegas, the
city synonymous with conspicuous
consumption, although it’s fair to say the
city has been humbled by recent economic
events around the world. For the second year
running, Intergen spent the past few months
building up a great sample application to
launch at MIX. Last year it was TextGlow, our
Word document renderer for Silverlight. This
year we announced ButtercupReader, a fully
featured talking book reader for people with
visual disabilities. We’ve written Buttercup
using Microsoft Silverlight as a showcase of
how to do truly accessible applications on
the web. We officially launched Buttercup
during a breakout session at MIX09 (see
page 6 for more information).
I also presented a one-hour session this year
on building SharePoint themes.
If you’re still using one of the out-of-the-box
SharePoint themes on your intranet or extranet,
What we’ve been
doing with Microsoft
about all the work we do publicly – for many of our projects strict ‘Chinese walls’ limit
awareness even within Intergen. But, we’ve put together a sample of some of the things
we’ve done over the past few months to give you an idea of what we’ve been up to.
Training the World
The Intergen team has been travelling the world training other partners in Microsoft
technologies. The focus for the first few months of 2009 has been the new Azure
Services platform and the more established Dynamics CRM platform. In both cases
Intergen has been delivering events from Bangalore to Beijing and every latitude
in between. We’ve delivered content not only in English
but also Mandarin Chinese.
“It’s a fascinating opportunity and experience to travel
to my home country and share our expertise of the Dynamics
CRM platform with my fellow country men and women.”
Jian Sun Dynamics CRM Developer and Trainer.
Be sure to come along to my upcoming Twilight session
on Cloud Computing Platforms and Mark Orange’s session
covering the latest Microsoft Technologies. See
www.intergen.co.nz/twilights.
Conjuring CRM Content
For the past few months our Dynamics Practice has been working
hard on a new two-day training course on Dynamics CRM. Designed
toshowcasethepowerofDynamicsCRMasanapplicationdevelopment
platform, this intensive two-day course, including presentations and labs,
is presented in cities around the world from April to June.
“At Intergen we’re keen proponents of XRM, the idea that CRM can be used
to build Line of Business applications. The course we’ve developed is really an
embodiment of that vision.” Rex Wessels, CRM Developer and Project Lead.
5. The 10 SharePoint themes designed by Intergen. If you would like
to download these or learn more, contact marko@intergen.co.nz.
>>5>> I N T E R G E N & M I C R O S O F T < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >
Inspiring Community
Faced with a difficult challenge or an unknown problem, most developers will
turn to the web for answers. Often answers can be found in online community
sites but what is the catalyst that helps drive those sites? Over the
past few months, Intergen has been working to build and support
the community of expertise around the Office Open XML file
formats. This has involved not only building out interesting
content and samples that demonstrate the use of the
technology but also dealing with the softer side of
managing a community of thousands of developers from
around the world.
“I’m excited about taking what we’ve learnt from running the Office
Open XML communities and sharing it with our customers around
the country who are looking to run their own community sites.”
Jennifer Wray, Consultant, Management Consulting Practice
and site Community Manager.
For developers building applications for Microsoft SharePoint, a tool
called the Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services
(VSeWSS) is an invaluable aid. Late last year we began working with
Microsoft to build a new version of this tool, incorporating feedback
from developers around the world. While the final release will not be
available for another month or so, the Community Technical Preview has
been released.
“It’s pretty exciting to work on building a tool that you know will be
used by thousands of your fellow developers around the world.” Clive
Vermeulen, VSeWSS v1.3 Lead Developer.
chrisa@intergen.co.nz
6. Accessibility is a pretty hot topic in the world of
website creation, and ButtercupReader, developed
by Intergen for Microsoft, is a living example of the
way in which innovative technologies can enable
breakthroughs and remove barriers.
ButtercupReader is a Silverlight application that allows visually impaired people to
read DAISY (digital accessible information system) “talking books” and better access
the information contained within Word documents. No special hardware required, and
no cost to the user. The only thing needed is Microsoft Silverlight, which is free and
just takes a few minutes to download. There are a number of readers on the market,
but none so accessible or easy to obtain. All you need to do is open your browser.
Intergen was commissioned by Microsoft to develop the reader, based on our extensive
experience developing TextGlow. Intergen enlisted the expertise of the Royal New
Zealand Foundation of the Blind to provide valuable consultancy on the project.
Kevin Prince, the Foundation’s Adaptive Technology Services Manager, comments,
“Buttercup’s design is exciting and intuitive to use. Intergen has done really clever
things with all the interactive design interfaces and the result is a really sharp, well-
designed experience. The key to it all is that it’s absolutely accessible – it can be there,
ready to go on a web browser, with no special applications or expense required."
ButtercupReader is proof that rich internet applications such as Silverlight can
truly deliver a compelling and engaging experience within a web browser, rich
in interactivity, usability and simple to run. Some of ButtercupReader’s innovations
include the concept of self-voicing (in Internet Explorer), touch screen actions,
keyboard shortcut keys, word search, resizing and contrast capabilities. Silverlight’s
rich visual elements make for seamless “zoomability.”
Making accessibility a
reality: introducing
ButtercupReader
Tony Stewart presents a donation at Braille House to Leanne Thompson at
Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind.
Chris Auld says, “ButtercupReader shows that not only can we build an application
that is accessible, we can build an application whose sole purpose in life is to
be accessible – and that’s very much where the future is heading.”
Try the application yourself at http://www.buttercupreader.net
ButtercupReader in action.
>> INTERGENITE:
Naomi Lind
What do you do?
I’m the Delivery Manager for the Northern
region. I’m responsible for ensuring quality
of project delivery for our clients with the
most efficient use of our great team here
in Auckland.
How do you make a difference?
It’s really about optimising our people and
processes. I work closely with the project
managers, practice leads and sales team
to gain a broad view of a customer’s
business and the project. This is critical in
the current climate as our projects are
tightly linked to quicker ROI and also
allows us to make sure the right people
are on the project team.
What do you love about my job?
It’s all about the people. We have a great
team who are the best at what they do,
and are focused on delivering the best
solutions for our clients.
A bit about yourself...
I was born in Matamata and grew up on a
dairy farm. Deciding against a dairy farming
career early in my life, I pursued a career in
the IT industry and I have spent most of my
working life in Auckland. Although Auckland
is the place I now call home, I am also a
Waikato girl at heart. During my career I also
went to the UK on my OE, where I operated
as a project director for software development
companies in the United Kingdom.
< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >>> A C C E S S I B I L I T Y & S I L V E R L I G H T>>6
7. We take customer support seriously, and in line
with our strategy implementations and organisation-
wide realignments, we’ve overhauled our incumbent
support system, replacing it with Neocase, a leading
customer service solution based on Microsoft
Dynamics CRM technology.
Our end goal at the end of many months of hard work is ultimately just one thing: to
serve you better. We want to give you the best support possible, and with our CRM and
Neocase systems honed and at the ready, we’re better positioned to do this than ever.
What’s different? If you’re familiar with our support team and systems, you won’t
notice any radical changes right off the bat. We’re hoping the only changes you
notice are good ones – greater responsiveness and timeliness, and – most of all –
faster resolutions to cases. You’ll still be dealing with the same Intergenites, people
who understand your business, but the transmission of information will be a lot
more effective with Neocase in place. There will be several ongoing improvements
over time too, such as a self service portal for customers.
Charged with managing the Neocase implementation, Intergen Service Desk
Manager, Brent Wimmers, says: “Neocase offers some great features and improvements
– increased security, improved SLA management, a client portal and enhanced email
management and tracking.”
As you’ll know, we’re committed to Microsoft technologies, and there is a
wealth of reputable third party providers out there who extend the Microsoft
offering, making your product even more effective and broad-reaching.
Intergen has forged strong relationships with a number of these providers
in recent years, and this allows us to extend our service offering to you
and make sure you’re getting the most out of your investment. Neocase
is just one example of the ways Microsoft products can be successfully
On the case with Neocase
extended, and we’re proud to be the first in
New Zealand to lead with an integration of
this type.
As Intergen is an established software
developer, you may be wondering why we
decided to purchase software rather than
write it ourselves. The answer to this is simple.
We wanted to offer first class, best of breed
customer service, and the best way for us to
do this was to look to the collective wisdom
of other contact centres globally. And the
stand-out choice was Neocase.
We look forward to supporting you, and
supporting you better. For any information on
Neocase or Intergen’s support offering, please
email brent.wimmers@intergen.co.nz .
David Roys co-authored ’Implementing Microsoft
Dynamics 2009.‘ For further information, email
david.roys@intergen.co.nz
>> AUTHOR PROFILE
David Roys
What do I do?
I work in the Dynamics Solutions Practice
and am a developer and consultant for
the Microsoft Dynamics NAV product in
the Christchurch office.
How do I make a difference?
I have worked with Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) systems for many years as
both an application consultant and
developer. My application consulting
experience makes me a better developer
because I understand how people use ERP
and how they carry out their business
processes. My development knowledge
makes me a better consultant because I
understand the application at an extremely
low level and can always look at the source
code to figure things out. I am one of a
few Microsoft Most Valued Professionals
(MVP)fortheDynamicsNAVproductwhich
means I get to chat with the team at
Microsoft that build the product about
upcoming features and I also get
opportunities to see pre-release versions.
What do I love about my job?
I love to solve problems. Working with
businesses and their unique processes
means there are always new challenges to
>> I N T E R G E N S U P P O R T >>7< SMART S - TH E IN TELLIGEN T B U SIN ESS MAG AZIN E . ISSU E N IN ETEE N >
be met. Programming in NAV’s application
language and using the built-in
development environment means I get all
of the fun of programming without the
hard work of making simple things happen
(like making my data appear in a form).
The new NAV 2009 architecture means I
alsogettoplaywith.NETandVisualStudio.
A bit about myself...
I have co-written a book entitled
“Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV
2009.” This was an incredible experience
and took up a lot of my free time in 2008.
I made a great friend in my co-author,
although I have never met or spoken to
him. All communication surrounding the
book was done through emails and a few
instantmessages.Writingabookhashelped
me learn how to take criticism and to not
take my work too seriously. I try to spend
some of my free time helping people in the
NAV community by answering forum
questions and blogging from my
experiences. I like to play music at home
and, between my kids telling me to stop,
I play drums and classical guitar.
8. +64 9 966 3070
+64 4 472 2021
+64 3 964 0017
+64 3 477 5648
+61 2 9969 0088
+61 434 122 880
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INTERGEN:
Auckland:
Wellington:
Christchurch:
Dunedin:
Sydney:
Perth:
info@intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.com.au
Rick Rashid, head of Microsoft
Research, recently commented
in the Financial Times that
about 20 percent of all the
server computers being sold
in the world “are now being
bought by a small handful of
internet companies,” including
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and
Amazon.
Reminiscent of the mainframe era of the past,
there is an increasing – and very active –
movement towards having applications and
infrastructure that resides remotely, accessed
across a network. This movement is being
driven by many of the current technology
leaders, particularly those mentioned above.
Welcome to the age of cloud computing. The
“cloud,” whether it’s talking about ‘cloud services’
or ‘cloud computing’, is the buzzword du jour,
usurping “Web 2.0” as one of the most over-
used terms in the technology industry, but is
an area where most of the larger technology
companies are committing to invest billions
of dollars over the next few years.
Getting ahead in the cloud
Despite its widespread use, the concept of the cloud conveys several meanings
depending on the vendors and technologies involved. Is it web hosting of your
application code? Is it a software platform as an on-demand service? Do Software
as a Service and Software + Services applications count as cloud computing?
The answer to all these questions are a qualified “yes” – the answer revolves
around the outsourcing of computing of any kind – storage, CPU, applications
– using a shared cost, commodity model.
Besides representing yet another bandwagon for technologists to talk and tweet
about, cloud computing is worthy of consideration for organisations of all sizes.
The opportunity to use shared, pre-installed and implemented infrastructure that
is available anywhere, at any time and is charged for on a pay-as-you-use basis
provides numerous benefits to organisations – large and small.
Microsoft and the Cloud
Microsoft is one of the many companies investing in the cloud, on many levels.
Windows Azure is Microsoft’s platform for building and deploying cloud-based
applications, delivering organisations on-demand computing and storage
capabilities, all of which are hosted in Microsoft’s data centres.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the cloud to Microsoft. Despite Google
becoming known for its hosted applications, and the widespread discussion
around the supposed impact they may have on Microsoft’s business, particularly
Office, Microsoft has placed significant investment in cloud services and is
embracing it right across the organisation.
Reportedly, all product groups within Microsoft have been instructed to ensure
cloud computing – utilising Windows Azure – features in their product roadmaps.
Many observers have compared this edict to the one made when Microsoft’s
product groups were instructed to incorporate the internet into their products,
at the time the internet was just emerging – an indication of how significant
the cloud, and Azure in particular, is in Microsoft’s future plans.
Intergen has been closely aligned with Microsoft and its Azure cloud computing platform
since it was originally announced. Confirmed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as being
released late 2009, Intergen’s Chris Auld, Director Strategy and Innovation, has been closely
involved in understanding how Azure works, and training Microsoft partners across the Asia
region – an indication of how Intergen’s experience in this area is being received.
In addition to Windows Azure, the notion of hosted applications has already been
embraced by Microsoft. Now available in New Zealand, Microsoft’s Online Services suite
of applications includes hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Office
Communications Server and Live Meeting.
These applications enable organisations to deploy market-leading solutions without the
need to purchase additional hardware or software – users connect to the applications
over the web, and can also utilise the power of Microsoft’s client software – such as
Microsoft Office – to take advantage of the services offline as well as online. It is
anticipated these applications will also make their way into Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure,
taking advantage of Azure, if they are not already. Office 14, the next release of Microsoft
Office, is purportedly going to be available in a hosted version, likely in a cut-down
form, utilising an underlying Azure platform.
While cloud applications won’t replace on-premise applications for many organisations,
they do represent a further shift in how technology is deployed, accessed and adopted.
To find out more, attend our upcoming Twilight seminar where Chris Auld will provide
an update on Azure and its capabilities and benefits; email events@intergen.co.nz or
go to www.intergen.co.nz/twilights for more information. Alternatively, contact
Intergen to arrange a briefing on these offerings if you would like to discuss how these
services can benefit your organisation.
>> C L O U D C O M P U T I N G < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E N I N E T E E N >