Insights success microsoft solution provider companies 2016 usa

Emerging Technologies from Microsoft: Remove The Limits on Your Business

Business Applications for Virtual and Mixed Reality

Can Analytics Change the Way Companies Collaborate and Consume Technology?

Kris Nanda V.L.S Systems Inc.

Adam Sheppard 8ninths

Stephanie Carhee UC Interlink

www.insightssuccess.com

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

April 2016

The way of business solutions Editor’s Pick Dominance of Microsoft in Corporate World

Tech Facts Accessible Technology: Redefining the Workplace

Highlights BITCOIN is Acquiring Market in One Fell Swoop

Enterprise Concern Hybrid BI Solutions Help in Tackling Data Gravity

Business Spotlight Microsoft Acquisitions: Present and Future

Heine Krog Iversen Founder

TimeXtender

The World’s Largest Provider of Data Warehouse Automation Democratizing Access to Corporate Data

commercial freedom

WE DESIGN AND BUILD

Beautiful retail technologies

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Hello Tomorrow

Dubai inspires a whole new look

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Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Ariana Lawrence Managing Editor Archana Ghule Co-Editors David Smith Mary D’Souza Stephanie Andrews Sonal Burghate Sugandha Sharma Prasad Wadodkar Charlie Gupta Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Vaibhav Singh Co-designer Alex Noel Picture Editor Rashmi Borkar Art Editor Amol Kamble Business Development Manager Nick Adams Marketing Manager Mike Thomas Business Development Executive Chris, Marry, David, Robort, John, Vishlesha Research Analyst Jennifer Circulation Manager Robert Database Management Steve Technology Consultant Vishal More sales@insightssuccess.com

April, 2016 Corporate Ofce: Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Ofce No. 513, 5th Floor, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune , Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: 020-69400110 | USA: 302-319-9947 Email: info@insightssuccess.com

A Lot to Expect from Microsoft in the Coming Days…

L

ast year, Microsoft launched some of its big new products like, Windows Server 2016, System Center 2016 and SQL Server 2016, etc., and there are hopes to be some more new to come soon. Since the beginning of this year, the time has been spent in unfolding the features of the existing hardware, software and services.

Being productivity, software and services company, Microsoft has bought several productivity-focused rms and has delivered a bunch of new productivity-focused experimental apps for all platforms. In the near future, Microsoft is expected to make its personal assistant Cortana more of a productivity aid across more services.

Other advancement of Microsoft will be in the context of IoT which is growing faster than anything else. With the mesmerizing speed IoT is growing, it has raised the expectations and demands of the next-generation solutions and also, will open a whole new market for integrations, upgrades, and migrations to trusted next-level solutions like Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM. With the introduction of Power BI, previous year, Microsoft had entered the BI user interface space.

So, SQL Server 2016, Ofce 365, Excel 2016, Power BI and SharePoint all will play very important part in the business analytics of the companies. Microsoft has magnied business opportunities while partnering with other companies. Companies are progressing on the basis of their partnership with Microsoft, impacting the future of the industry.

For Subscription: Visit www.insightssuccess.com 6

,

Archana Ghule

Content Page

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Heine Krog Iversen Founder TimeXtender

30 Tech Facts

14

Accessible Technology: Redening the Workplace

10 Concern

Enterprise Hybrid BI Solutions Help in Tackling Data Gravity

42 Highlights BITCOIN is Acquiring Market in One Fell Swoop

72 Editor’s

Pick

Dominance of Microsoft in Corporate World

64 Business

Spotlight Microsoft Acquisitions: Present and Future

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

58

48

CXO Standpoint Adam Sheppard 8ninths

CXO Standpoint Kris Nanda V.L.S Systems Inc.

78 CXO Standpoint Stephanie Carhee UC Interlink

36 Expert Opinion Andy Tabisz WorkSmart

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Impact Business Technology

TransVault

53 70

Ultimate Technologies LLC

69 35

Help4Access

CloudFirst Technology Solutions

46 54

Interactive Edge

First Line Software

Aureus Tech Systems

Aatrix

45

28

26

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

29

BASE Solutions

51

Idea Dudes

38

Colorado Technology Consultants

44

34

40

63

52

illustrate inc

DataSelf Analytics

68

TranSigma

CTSI-Global

CallTower

Team Technology

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

80

Weston Technology Solutions LitĂŠra

62

39

Invenias

56

Singletree Technologies

27 76

60

Altaro

61

Managed Solution

VOX Network Solutions

ConnectSolutions

77

WalkMe™

KOPIS

57

Enterprise Concern

Hybrid BI Solutions Help in Tackling Data Gravity

A

s the industry is inclining towards apps and then to the Cloud with less downtime, BI is also heading towards Cloud, Data Warehouses and various other data sources that might still live on-premises for a longer time. Hence, the need for BI apps to query across both realms will increase too. Data gravity proposes compelling industry challenges while BI has initially lived on-premises only with a small percentage of BI applications living in the cloud.

Data gravity is an undeniable market force that can be seen in mid-life crisis of BI industry. Compared to on premises, more data is generated in Cloud for the mobile and cloud’s first world of bazillion apps. The center of data gravity is shifting day by day as more apps are being delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud and Mobile.

It’s Impacting on BI The value of data in Cloud cannot be ignored by BI and analytics pros. Typically, the gorgeous dashboards created by them are not at the dead end of a one way street. Many projects of analytics are very iterative in nature. These dashboards send action items for adjustment which further enlightens a decision maker. At various points from various data sources, business process is monitored by dashboard which is simultaneously tuned for optimal performance.

Regardless of where they live, for delivering iterative 10 | April 2016

intelligence effectively, added context and data is flowing back to forth between the analytical assets, data sources and apps rapidly.

Nowadays, more and more business apps in Cloud such as Marketo, Dynamics and Workday are lining. Because of growing volume of cloud data, copying and moving cloud data for analytical purposes is getting a bit more challenging. Today in a variety of use cases, specifically if data center managers are migrating workloads to Cloud, copying or moving data from the cloud to on-premises database servers make no sense. It matters how much value you get from your data and not the place its lives. That is why capabilities of hybrid BI is becoming essential for BI pros.

Hybrid BI Data Source Patterns Since so many years, Salesforce that has been in the cloud game and BI pros are struggling in downloading Salesforce history of each company into a local data warehouse.

Pulling excess amount of data with the default Salesforce bulk, APIs turned into a nightmare. Initially it seems as if it would work but surely will run into timeout issues. DBAmp proved to be the best solution for this issue as it created a SQL Server linked server connection with richer capabilities to the Salesforce bulk API. It helped Salesforce tables look like local SQL Server tables to make easier

Enterprise Concern Concern Enterprise

Power BI Query

Results

Azure Blob storage

query with BI apps. As hybrid BI technologies and Cloud develops gradually, linked server pattern is seen intrinsically in few places ranging from data virtualization to remote distributed queries.

Another potent technology, Elastic queries allow users to query multiple databases with T-SQL and perform crossdatabase queries too for scaling out queries residing in the cloud to BI apps on-premises. Another hybrid BI Microsoft

technology, Azure Data Factory is wrapped in the Cortana Analytics Suite that coordinates bigger data movement activities between cloud-to-cloud data sources. It connects wide variety of data sources. Next pattern is Power BI Data Management Gateway which is fairly unique to Microsoft.

It enables centralized registration of on-premises data sources. Today, most Cloud BI solutions don’t require Power BI instead they copy data to cloud. Power BI helps in copying data from the cloud.

Future of Hybrid BI The upcoming highlighted area of hybrid BI seems to be iterative and actionable as it includes R, Azure ML, new Power Apps integration with Power BI and Office.

Embedding of predictive analytics capabilities in cloud applications will be enabled by Azure, ML and R. Regardless of deployment location choice, rapid deployment of intelligent analytics will be enabled by a catalog of predefined analytics solution templates.

Moreover, with millions of users already using Office 365 in the cloud, still Office is the world’s most popular productivity tool. Between Office apps and Power BI, there are many synergies like group collaboration and awesome data storytelling with Sway. New Power Apps will allow business users in designing, building and deploying business process apps from templates. And for making Power BI an iterative and actionable decision making solution, no code should be used, technical users should not create forms instead of applying business logic and add workflows too.

11 | April 2016

50 Most Valuable Microsoft

Solution Provider Companies Microsoft: A Persistent & Resilient Partner of Companies Solving crucial business problems of clients while tackling the business challenges with Microsoft solutions, the Microsoft Solution Provider Companies are helping variety of clients to progress in their businesses. These companies are focused towards their process driven approach which is dedicated to support their clients in the complex projects that require substantial creativity, strategic vision and stellar technology expertise.

Here in this issue of our magazine, we are showcasing the 50 Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies, who are helping the customers in making investment decisions through meticulous economic analysis that presents the value of Microsoft solutions. These companies are providing hands-on IT expertise to plan, design, deploy, customize and extend, manage and support clients Microsoft solutions.

These Microsoft solution provider companies are offering the clients a maximum ROI by delivering them customized user adoption and learning solutions for business users and IT professionals. These Microsoft solution providers are leveraging the clients with Office 365, Azure, Enterprise Mobility Suite, Dynamics CRM Online, Skype for Business, Exchange, SharePoint, System Center, Intune, Yammer, Windows Server, Hyper-V, Active Directory, Microsoft Identity Manager, SQL Server, Windows Desktop, and Office.

Our cover story of this issue TimeXtender Software, is having a successful track record in helping companies with data warehouse and business intelligence. TimeXtender Software, who is helping companies with data warehouse and business intelligence has spread across the globe, who has become the leader in the Data Warehouse Automation (DWA) for the Microsoft SQL Server market with more than 2,600 customers and various partners worldwide. TimeXtender's Data Warehousing Automation platform simplifies the data warehouse process and minimizes the time spent on turning complex data into valuable information.

The companies who have Microsoft IT expertise and offering and implementing Microsoft technologies and solutions, are the keynote of this issue of our Magazine.

I

In a world where the volume, velocity, and variety of data is growing exponentially, more companies need data warehouse technology, than ever before. This is because the modern data warehouse plays a critical role in data discovery. TimeXtender enables that discovery, democratizing access to corporate data, faster and more affordably than ever before.

Heine Krog Iversen, Founder and CEO of TimeXtender, has over two decades experience in Enterprise IT. He started out by working in the Dynamics AX space, was customer number two in the world on Axapta, and moved on to everything data in 2006.

That’s when the story of TimeXtender and the mission of democratizing corporate data began.

Their agship product, TX DWA is a data warehouse automation platform that allows companies to build and maintain a modern data warehouse, also known as data discovery hub. A place where data quality and consistency is maintained. A place that acts as a central repository so the right person can access the right data at the right time.

Since then, he has worked tirelessly to manage TimeXtender’s hyper growth which has averaged 70 percent annually. “From the get go, we developed and have operated on the company motto: “Failure is not an option.” You need to have a strong belief in what you are doing and have the skill to pivot the business as needed,” describes Iversen. “Data is the new oil,” says Iversen. “And what do you need to extract oil?

You need a platform.”

The overall purpose of a data warehouse is to integrate large amounts of corporate data from various sources in a governed and secure fashion.

Implementing a data warehouse has traditionally been a long, costly and risky process. Largely because traditional data warehouses were never designed to handle the speed and volume from today’s data-centric applications.

Through dedication and perseverance, TimeXtender has transformed from the small startup to become the world’s largest provider of data warehouse automation (DWA) software for the Microsoft® SQL Server® with over 2,600 customers in more than 60 countries.

Recently, the company celebrated its North American

“

TX DWA enables companies to get the right data to the right person at the right time by automating the processes involved in building a data warehouse TimeXtender’s approach is different. It allows for both speed and agility by automating everything that can be automated in the data warehouse lifecycle.

It’s an approach that goes far beyond just the automation of ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) development. It encompasses the entire data warehousing lifecycle from the planning, analysis, design, and development, to operations, maintenance, and change management.

TX DWA helps companies tap into multiple data sources, extract relevant information, and place that information in a structured discovery hub. This allows users to access information quickly and easily, and get one version of the truth. It also saves time and money by automating tedious and repetitive tasks. This translates into a substantial cost savings, greater efciency, and quicker access to useful data and business intelligence.

“

grand opening with a gala celebration at its new Bellevue, WA headquarters.

‘We Add More Value Than They Expected’ While talking about customer relationships Iversen states proudly, “The ideal customer relationship is one in which we add more value than they expected – where we delivered results faster and cheaper than they ever dreamt was possible.”

According to Iversen, when the client has an understanding and appreciation for the inherent capability of data warehouse automation, the relationship becomes even stronger. He says, businesses that embrace the concept - rather than simply adhering to the classical approach to data warehousing because its status quo - see greater success than those who don’t.

Simply put, a company can build a data warehouse with manual coding, an extensive consulting team, and hours of development and iterations - or they can leverage the power of DWA to minimize costs, reduce

time, and simplify deployment, operations, and up- When Belgian steel manufacturer Intersig N.V. keep, while improving ease of use and performance. wanted to create a customer centric reporting platform guaranteeing quality and service at a competiLiberating Time for Focused Work . tive price, they needed a visual front end, supported Large corporations aren’t the only companies ben- by a robust discovery hub. etting. Every two weeks, analysts at POSSIBLE, a Seattle based creative agency faced the herculean “At rst, we tried nding a new IT service provider task of reporting campaign results based on 10 differ- capable of helping us on both fronts, but that proved ent data sources, applying 20 different measures on impossible,” says Luc Van Dessel, IT manager at In70+ products delivered by 100+ media partners. tersig. “Some providers may have some technologiThey would spend on average 35 hours just cal knowledge, but they lacked feeling for our line of processing data before they could begin analysis. business, or vice versa.”

A free demo introduced them to a data warehouse automation tool from TimeXtender. After a surprisingly fast implementation period, the “data munging” performed by POSSIBLE’s analysts was reduced 68%. “This has really turned out to be a big win for us. The fact that we can now get actionable data to analysts so much faster allows us to spend more time providing valuable insights to clients,” says Harmony Crawford, POSSIBLE’s Associate Director of Marketing Sciences.

TX DWA, Bridging the Business-IT Gap By giving business users quick and easy access to the data they need when they need it in a secure and governed fashion, and by liberating IT from the laborious and time consuming tasks of hand coding, TimeXtender is helping to bridge the business – IT gap.

Then, they discovered the combination of TimeXtender and Qlik “Time to result has been spectacular!

TimeXtender simply helped us automate the technical process, just like Qlik has helped us deliver striking visuals.”

TimeXtender’s Data Warehousing Automation platform simplies the data warehouse process and minimizes the time spent on turning complex data into valuable information. Also, the platform offers the ability to make changes “on the y” and supports changes at the speed of the business. According to Thomas Truyens, Change Manager, Intersig, it’s the agility factor that sets TimeXtender apart. “It is reassuring to know that whatever future change may hold, our team will be ready to handle it.”

Good for Partners Too! bWise is one of Qliks largest and most successful partners. The founders have been in the BI space since 2002 Over the years they’ve built a large number of data warehouses using traditional methods.

“For business users, getting access to corporate data is always an issue and building a data warehouse is always the solution. But building a data warehouse traditionally takes time.” Says Per Anders Waaler, CTO and Partner of bWise. By adding TimeXtender to their portfolio, Waaler says his team is not only selling more solutions, they’re closing deals faster.

“With a tool like this we can close large deals faster because we have solutions to both sides of the data warehouse challenge.”

In addition, Waaler says TimeXtender helped them address a challenge they were experiencing with their own business. “We were doing a lot of different scripting from a lot of different data sources - and when those sources moved or changed, we needed to do more scripting.“ But wait. Isn’t that good for business? Doesn’t it mean more billable hours?

“Our business is not about placing consultants on site and collecting an hourly rate. Our success is grounded in delivering business value and growing the long term relationship with our clients. TimeXtender helps us do that,“ Waaler continues. With TimeXtender and Qlik, bWise is setting itself apart from the competition by delivering business value faster, and more affordably than ever before.

Experimenting Machine Learning Into TX DWA Listening to their customers, and understanding market trends are key components of the TimeXtender research and development efforts.

Recently, the company incorporated machine learning into TX DWA. The goal is to remain out in front, leading the industry with solutions that are either needed or perhaps needed but not yet known.

Visit: www.timeXtender.com to learn more Company Name: TimeXtender Management: Heine Krog Iversen, Founder Description: TimeXtender® is a world’s leading Data Warehouse Automation (DWA) vendor dedicated to Microsoft® SQL Server®

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50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Company Name

Management

Brief

Aatrix Software Inc. aatrix.com

Steve Lunseth President & CEO

Aatrix Software is a leader in payroll tax forms, providing Electronic Payroll Reports, and eFiling (Windows and Macintosh) to accounting software.

AIMS Innovation aimsinnovation.com

Ivar Sagemo CEO

AIMS Innovation is a hi-tech software company, delivering enterprise solutions based on advanced patent-pending technology for pattern recognition, enabling proactivity for the customers.

Altaro altaro.com

David Vella Co-Founder & CEO

Altaro is a fast-growing developer of easy to use and affordable backup solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses, specializing in backup for virtualized environments.

Alvaka Networks alvaka.net

Oli Thordarson CEO

Alvaka Networks provide network design, implementation, monitoring and managed support services.

Aureus Tech Systems aureustechsystems.com

Sujata Bhattarai CEO & President

Based in Colorado, Aureus Tech Systems providing a consolidated enterprise platform for Content Management, Business Intelligence and publishing line of Business Applications.

BASE SOLUTIONS LLC. basesolutionsllc.com

Atul Bhagat Founder & President

BASE Solutions is the complete technology solutions partner to small and medium-sized businesses, providing full-service technology consulting including network, web design and IT management consulting.

Binary Tree binarytree.com

Steven Pivnik CEO

Binary Tree provides software and solutions to meet the unique requirements of enterprise migrations.

CallTower Inc. calltower.com

Bret England President & CEO

CallTower Inc. is delivering the world’s most advanced unified communications solutions and collaboration services.

CloudFirst Technology Solutions Inc. cloudfirstinc.com

Dennis Gentles Founder & CEO

CloudFirst Technology Solutions Inc., is a US-based Information Technology Cloud Service Provider, and is a leader in designing, implementing and managing cloud-based solutions and technologies.

Colorado Technology Consultants Inc. coloradotc.com

David & Julie Yack Founders

Colorado Technology Consultants, Inc. offers technology and business consulting and training; with a strong background of working in Dynamics CRM integrations and custom line of business software.

ConnectSolutions connectsolutions.com

Glen D. Vondrick CEO

ConnectSolutions (CoSo) is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Certified Cloud Partner, specializing in Microsoft Skype for Business enterprise deployments.

CoreMedia Systems coremedia-systems.com

Glenn DeKraker CEO

CoreMedia Systems delivers media software solutions to media agencies and marketers that include a call to action in their advertising and want to measure their marketing performance and ROI.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Company Name

Management

Brief

CTSI-Global ctsi-global.com

J. Kenneth Hazen President & CEO

CTSI-Global provides logistics efficiencies and savings, being a very significant global supply chain solutions provider.

DataSelf Corporation dataself.com

Joni Girardi Founder & CEO

DataSelf Analytics is an enterprise-level BI and analytics platform designed for every business intelligence user at midsized companies from the CEO down.

DSA Inc. dsainc.com

Fran Pierce President & CEO & Chairman of the Board

Data Systems Analysts, Inc. (DSA) provides Defense and Federal Government customers’ business-driven Information Technology and consulting solutions and services.

First Line Software firstlinesoftware.com

Nick Puntikov Co-founder & CEO

First Line Software offers highly-specialized custom software solutions for businesses with a focus on Web Content Management, Digital Marketing, Digitalization, Cloud Computing, Data Management, Online Media and IoT.

Help4Access help4access.com

Sasha Froyland Founder

Help4Access provide support, custom software development and migration services for customers with large and complex Microsoft Access database applications.

Idea Dudes LLC ideadudes.biz

Michael W. Krout CEO & President

Idea Dudes provides education, consulting, design, implementation and troubleshooting for companies that need it.

illustrate inc. illustrateinc.com

Zahir Dhalla Founder & Chairman, Kevin Netterfield President

illustrate inc is a Sales Technology solutions provider company which meets the software needs of the financial services industry.

Impact Business Technology impactbt.com

Neil Holme Founder

Impact professional service offerings encompass a full range of Management Consulting, Business Process, and Technology Services.

Interactive Edge interactiveedge.com

Zel Bianco President, CEO & Co-founder

Interactive Edge helping sales and marketing organizations improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and achieve brand consistency since 1995.

Interwork Technologies Inc. interwork.com

Richard Earle Chairman & CEO

Interwork Technologies is a North American value-added specialty distributor of IT Security, Information Management, and Network Solutions.

Invenias Limited invenias.com

David Grundy Co-founder

Invenias is the world’s leading cloud-based platform for executive and strategic hiring.

Jenzabar Inc. jenzabar.com

Robert A. Maginn Chairman & CEO

KOPIS kopisusa.com

Andrew Kurtz Founder & CEO

Exclusively serving higher education, Jenzabar software and services are designed to drive higher performance in every department at your institution. Jenzabar collaborates with clients to make higher education amazing.

Kopis is a consulting firm delivering Application Development, Share Point custom services, Mobile App Development, .NET and SQL Managed Services, Business Intelligence, and Data Analytics Solutions.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Company Name

Management

Brief

Litéra Corp. litera.com

Paul Domnick President

Litéra®, the innovative leader in content lifecycle management, provides services in Document Creation and Automation, Document Collaboration, Metadata Removal on Desktop and Server, PDF Control and Management, Document Comparison, Spreadsheet Comparison, Presentation Comparison, Collaborative Authoring.

Managed Solution managedsolution.com

Sean Ferrel Founder & CEO

MEDHOST Inc. medhost.com

Bill Anderson Chairman & CEO

Meridium meridium.com

Bonz Hart President & CEO

Meridium offers Asset Performance Management software and services which reduce clients enterprise operating risk and improve asset reliability by predicting and preventing failures.

Merit Solutions meritsolutions.com

Bill Burke CEO

Merit Solutions is a global business process consultant and systems integrator with offices in North America and Europe.

Singletree Technologies singletreetech.com

Shane Walters Founder

Singletree Technologies is a software solutions and consulting company, experts at providing the right technology solution that provides real business value.

Synergex synergex.com

Michele Wong CEO

Synergex specialises in cross-platform application development tools.

Sysdoc sysdocgroup.com

Katherine Corich Founder & Director

Sysdoc is an innovative specialist consultancy that works with clients to deliver successful and sustainable business transformation and change.

Tallan, Inc. tallan.com

Craig Branning CEO

Tallan provides technology and business process consulting services to enterprise and mid-sized companies throughout the United States with a focus on Portals and Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Application Integration, Mobile Platforms, User Experience, Ecommerce, Web Development, and Cloud Services.

Team Technology teamt.com

Steve Olp President & CEO

Team Technology provides a full suite of IT consulting and staffing services, while specializing in the small and midmarket companies.

TechAlliance techalliance.com

Philip J Carrier CEO

TechAlliance is a leading consulting firm specializing in management and information technology solutions, outsourcing and healthcare services.

Tensing tensing.com

Martin Knook CEO

Tensing offers industry-specific, service-based solutions and product-based solutions for businesses around the globe, including the fields of Emergency Management, Technical Services, Logistics, and Utilities.

TimeXtender timextender.com

Heine Krog Iversen Founder

TimeXtender® is a world’s leading Data Warehouse Automation (DWA) vendor dedicated to Microsoft® SQL Server®

Managed Solution is a full-service technology firm that empowers businesses by delivering, maintaining and forecasting the technologies they’ll need to stay competitive in their market place.

With a full portfolio of enterprise and departmental solutions, MEDHOST provides software and services to about 1,000 healthcare facilities nationwide, from large multi-facility hospital systems to independent community facilities and IDNs

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Company Name

Management

Brief

TranSigma Partners transigma.com

Kevin Hanrahan Chairman of Board of Directors & CEO, Michael Cohen Founder & President

Since 2005, TranSigma Partners has been transforming businesses with world-class process improvement, governance, enterprise data and program management services.

TransVault Software transvault.com

Barney Haye Co-founder & CEO

TransVault Software is an independent software vendor headquartered in the UK and is dedicated to helping organizations protect the viability and integrity of their email archives as they move between different platforms and technologies.

TriCore Solutions tricoresolutions.com

Mark Clayman President & CEO

TriCore Solutions provides a full suite of scalable and reliable managed application, cloud, infrastructure hosting, and consulting services to reduce costs, raise service levels, improve the customer experience, increase business agility, and accelerate innovation.

Trintech trintech.com

Teresa Mackintosh CEO

Trintech offers Cloud software to automate and manage the entire financial close process - including balance sheet reconciliations, journal entries, close tasks, compliance, and financial reporting.

Ultimate Technologies ultimatetechnologies.in

Noushad Mohammed Founder & CEO

Ultimate Technologies is qualified to provide all IT services & solutions providers, customized to the requirements of the clients.

Vault Solutions LLC vault-solutions.com

David Ouellette Founder & President

Vault provides best software and services to enhance clients Veritas Enterprise Vault and unstructured content experience.

Veeam veeam.com

Ratmir Timashev President & CEO

Veeam® Software, is the innovative provider of solutions that deliver Availability for the Always-On Enterprise™.

VOX Network Solutions, Inc. voxns.com

Mr. Scott Landis Chairman, President & CEO

VOX Network Solutions is a leading provider of converged voice and data solutions and services.

WalkMe walkme.com

Dan Adika Co-founder & CEO

WalkMe is a game-changing platform that instantly simplifies Microsoft environments, providing a guidance & engagement platform transforming the world’s online user experience into one that is simple, effortless and efficient.

Weston Technology Solutions weston-tech.com

Brock McFarlane Founder & CEO

Weston offers managed technology services and consulting to small and medium businesses with a focus on regulated (HIPAA, SoX, etc.) environments.

Winshuttle, LLC winshuttle.com

Lewis Carpenter CEO

Winshuttle, LLC is simplifying SAP data collection, validation, and movement.

Zunesis zunesis.com

Steve Shaffer Founder, CEO & Chairman of The Board

Whether you are looking at Cloud, Big Data, Virtualization, other IT services or just want to better understand your current environment, Zunesis can provide the expertise to help client build a strategy that is right for the clients.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Aatrix: An Innovative Solution for e-Filing of All Payroll Reports and Payments

Steve Lunseth President & CEO

Steve Lunseth, President & CEO of Aatrix, has a degree in Manufacturing Technology and a minor in Sales from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The logical skills and training acquired for his Industrial Technology degree focused Steve on efficiency. Steve started his career creating an advertising agency. Programmers were hired to create media buying, pagination and financial software to improve efficiency. Aatrix, was created to offer this software to the public.

E

lectronic filing of payroll reports and payments is no longer a trend, it is a business essential. Virtually all federal and state agencies are moving to 100% electronic communication.

Unfortunately, agencies are not working together towards a single file format, process, or management system to facilitate the move to 100% electronic communications. Businesses are faced with different processes, file formats, multiple id numbers, login credentials, and regulations.

Aatrix offers Electronic Payroll Reporting and Payments forms as well

26 | April 2016

as eFiling of these reports and payments to 200 Federal, State and local agencies. Aatrix supports over 1800 electronic forms that are created/maintained to exacting government standards. Most forms must be created with a 1 pixel tolerance to gain Gov’t approval. The data is automatically filled in from the host payroll data. The user has a familiar government form interface to review or edit the data reported to the Gov’t agency. The Aatrix Single Point eFile Center simplifies eFiling by eliminating filing data on multiple websites, with multiple logins, multiple file formats and multiple confirmation procedures.

Now concentrating on Electronic Payroll Reporting, Steve has lead the company in creating tools to replace manual operations. These efficient tools allow Aatrix to rapidly create and maintain Electronic Payroll Forms and deploy an efficient Single Point eFile Center concentrating on volume filing of Payroll Reporting and Payments.

The Aatrix technologies were issued multiple patents.

Aatrix’s Comprehensive Solutions Aatrix initial growth was slowed by lack of capital. The company grew, but when funds were lacking, Aatrix had to scale back. They never quit, even when they were down to 3 employees. Today, Aatrix has 55 staff. Aatrix created a number of different software solutions that didn’t take off. They kept going until they found a solution that the marketplace desperately needed.

Focusing a top priority on customer service, Aatrix prefers to maintain control of all their services (support, programming, sales) to ensure the best

possible customer experience. Focused on ease of use, the company strives to have the best possible user experience.

“Software functionality is important, but equal consideration is given to ensure that even the most novice user can operate Aatrix’s solutions,” says Steve.

“Aatrix provides one process for everything. No matter what form or payment, agency being led to, format required, or compliance requirements involved ” The Aatrix Electronic Forms and eFiling services allow Aatrix’s 335,000 active users to improve efficiency by up to 1000% over manual entry of data. As per survey, 97% of the Aatrix users would recommend the Aatrix solution for others.

Aatrix continues to expand the products and services they provide.

The advent of the paperless office continues to open opportunities.

Government agencies are moving toward 100% electronic communication, reporting, and payment at every level. With their patented technology Aatrix has a significant advantage in the ability to bring new products to the marketplace quickly to meet the expanding needs of businesses in the US and Canada.

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Altaro: Inimitable Virtual Backup For Your Business

David Vella Co-Founder & CEO

David Vella, Co-Founder & CEO of Altaro Software has led the company since its foundation in 2009. Prior to Altaro, David spent 11 years at GFI Software as a Director of Product Management.

Altaro’s three other co-founders, Julian Pace Ross, Simon Attard and Stephen Chetcuti Bonavita, also have extensive experience in the software industry.

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aving a network of 4,800 resellers worldwide while working hard to build strong relationships with partners, Altaro is heavily focused on developing a user friendly product which would represent good value for money.

Specialized in backup for virtualized environments, Altaro aims at delivering a full-featured yet affordable backup solution to SMBs. Altaro is equipped with an outstanding, personal support team, determined to help the clients succeed in protecting their environment.

Altaro: Meticulous Backup For Virtualized Environments Founded with an observation of the growing, basic need for good backup and recovery software for the home PC user. Having this market in mind, Altaro developed its first product, which made it simple for users to automatically recover any lost files. In 2011, Altaro pivoted from consumers to small and medium sized businesses and released their first solution for backing up virtual servers and this is when things took off.

Altaro VM Backup was developed due to a gap in the market, for an easy to use and affordable virtual backup solution for SMBs. Altaro VM Backup is an easy to use backup software solution which caters for the two main types of hypervisors, Hyper-V and VMware. It’s built specifically for SMBs with up to 50 host servers and is trusted by over 30,000 customers to back up and restore their virtual machines. Altaro VM Backup is reliable, intuitive and feature-rich, with outstanding support as part of the package.

Altaro pride themselves with a world class support team who engage customers by phone, email and live chat quickly and effectively.

While giving credit to the team for the success of Altaro, and moving forward towards the goal to become the No.1 Virtual Backup solution for SMBs, David adds, “When building our team our aim is always to get people on board who are better than us in their areas, to continually help us grow and improve together as a company.”

Altaro’s clients benefit from an easy to use product which takes under 15 minutes to install, with a very user friendly product interface, at unbeatable value and with outstanding support. David says, “Our competitors offer bloated, expensive solutions

“We believe in solid backup software that does what it says it will, is intuitive and easy to use, well priced and most of all offers outstanding support as part of the package” which are designed for the enterprise customer, we’re designed and priced for the SMB customer and SMB IT Reseller in mind.”

Altaro’s hard work has earned them a worldwide network of 4,800 partners and over 30,000 satisfied customers, 35% of them from the US and Canada and most of the rest being in Western and Central Europe.

Reflecting on the future of Altaro David says, “We have some great product additions coming out catering to different audiences like our MSP platform which has been high on the request list. Also, we’re expanding quickly, we are currently in the process of opening our first office in the UK and another office in the US.” 27 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Aureus Tech Systems: Streamlining Business Workows And Business Intelligence

B Sujata Bhattarai CEO & President

Sujata Bhattarai, CEO & President of Aureus Tech Systems, has identified a need in the marketplace around SharePoint in 2008, and started Aureus in the SharePoint technology consulting space. Just over the span of five years, she grew the company at an average of 20% revenue growth.

Sujata graduated from the University of Central Missouri in 2006 and worked at the National Research Center for College and University as a Software Developer churning out solutions in the area of Business Intelligence and Reporting Systems.

With a great leadership and human resource management skills, Sujata was recognized as the ‘Professional Woman of the Year 2014’ by the National Association of Professional Women.

At Aureus, Sujata is responsible for handling everything from project management, resource acquisition to payroll and human resource functions, and managing the finance and resource allocation of the company.

ased in Colorado, Aureus Tech Systems has been established with the goal of providing a consolidated enterprise platform for Content Management, Business Intelligence and publishing line of Business Applications, and acts as a “one stop shop” for enterprise users to log in and do all their activities without having to log into multiple systems, which helps in increasing adoption and driving efficiencies.

Aureus’ is primarily focused on Enterprise Content Management and Workflow Solutions using SharePoint, Responsive Design And Mobility Solutions using HTML5 and Angular JS, Business Intelligence and Predictive Analytics.

Aureus’ Bottom Up Approach in Design and Implementation Aureus has a repeatable blueprint used in engaging with the users and key stakeholders in the initial consulting and design phase, and has achieved great adoption results at various companies.

Additionally, Aureus look at any needs in the enterprise around video based knowledge management/ training videos, Aureus accelerators help the client to implement these features in the enterprise SharePoint platform.

Another key aspect around adoption is reviewing any external/internal communication using emails and creating a personalized portal for external or internal stakeholders, Aureus has a base plug-in in this space that enables efficient and streamlined client/ stakeholder communication.

Finally, Aureus looks at any collaboration and/or social networking needs in an enterprise and incorporate that aspect within the enterprise SharePoint platform.

Customer Centricity and investing in human capital (employees) have been key values of Aureus to build trusted client relationships through the years.

Aureus clients (like Jamba Juice) have The process starts with identifying benefited from a centralized platform complex manual/semi-automated for Content Management, business workflows within an organization, workflow tools, line of business identifying the most efficient ways to applications, Interactive reporting, automate and optimize the workflows using SharePoint workflow capabilities BI/predictive dashboards and social networking. as an enabler.

The next step involves identifying all critical line of business applications, then Aureus evaluates the feasibility of hosting those applications in SharePoint; this becomes a key driver around increasing adoption.

The next critical step in the process is identifying the reporting echo-system of the enterprise. Aureus’ Interactive

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Reporting/ BI dashboard accelerators enables consolidation of clients’ reporting needs within SharePoint.

Aureus is excited about the significant technology R&D investments that they are making towards building predictive models and re-usable UI/UX controls, and leading with the goal to enhance the user experience of their workflow solutions and introduce statistics based decision making in the user-workflows and reporting.

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

BASE Solutions: Technology Consulting Expertise to Achieve Competitive Advantage

Atul Bhagat Founder & President

Atul Bhagat, Founder and President, BASE Solutions, is an MBA, and has held multiple technology related management positions. He has over 15 years of experience in managing and implementing technologies, and his expertise in consulting services ensures each firm will utilize its skill-set to secure a successful future in today’s competitive market.

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roviding the best services with the greatest pleasure!’ BASE Solutions, the complete technology solutions partner, is offering a wide array of services related to Managed Services, IT Management Consulting, and Web Design & Marketing. Clients need guidance in these technologies to deliver results, and assistance in implementing these technologies. By working with BASE, client can be assured they are moving in the right direction!

Customer-centric Solutions for Advancements in Technology As organizations are expanding and strengthening their IT infrastructures, Cloud Technologies such as Microsoft’s Office365 can prove to be

essential for reduced costs with a system capable of quick and easy expandability. Acknowledging specific needs and concerns of the customers, they provide cost-effective technology solutions while making their clients’ business more productive and competitive. BASE Solutions, has partnered with the leading Cloud Technology providers and has successfully deployed custom cloud solutions to a variety of clients.

IT management consulting service is provided by consultants at BASE having real-world experience as business leaders and management executives, who provide insight on the most effective ways to run a business.

Technologies ranging from Disaster Recovery to Virtualization, BASE helps its clients to determine what solutions are best for expansion of business demands.

They have implemented their expertise as well as technology and strategic management solutions in a variety of industries; including accounting firm, law firm, insurance agency, financial institution, and numerous other businesses with computer needs.

Discreet Leadership for BASE Solutions Atul says, “The biggest benefit our clients get when working with BASE Solutions is truly personal and customized experiences based on the needs of their business”. In an example, he mentions a client (law firm) who reached a point where their growth was impeded. BASE, quickly assessing the situation, implemented a series of systematic upgrades over the course of 5 years including a

Document Management System, increased storage, and a case management system. This resulted in drastic improvement in client’s technologies and processes, enabling them to grow and hiring five times the employees than earlier and pinning next location in the map to open the next office. And this was the first herculean task BASE executed when they came into consulting.

“Every business has its own unique challenges, and it is our goal to provide a customized technology solution that will address these obstacles.”

Interaction with potential clients made people at BASE realize that there were consistent complaints of the lack of responsiveness from other service providers. With this feedback, professionals at BASE decided to make every client feel like their concerns, no matter how small, are a priority for BASE, and with committed superior 24/7 Technology Support, clients meet their needs in a timely fashion.

In coming days, what excites Atul is the Partnership of BASE with Intronis and Office 365; and the possibilities of helping existing and future clients of BASE to grow their businesses with these.

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Tech Facts

A c c e s s i b l e Te c h n o l o g y : Redening T h e Wo r k p l a c e

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very organization has its unique requirements, for developing a good accessible technology plan. As experts say, it requires a few major steps which has to be followed such as defining the accessible technology strategy, identifying requirements, designing, developing, buying technology, implementing and training, maintaining technology and continue learning.

Effective strategy and requirements will minimize costs and increase efficiency. And this will be a good start for ensuring compatibility with available technology, and addressing accurately your unique business needs.

30 | April 2016

Employees and customers need to be able to customize the things by changing font size, color, type of text on screen, adjustment in text and background colors. They can make adjustments in sound options with an ability to get audio information visually such as closed captioning / audio descriptions for multi-media as well as aurally, adjustment in timings, eliminating or modifying the rate of flashing or blinking, alternatives availability for the touch screen applications, customize toolbars with easily accessible buttons, sharing of computer while training sessions, adjusting keyboard settings to compensate for impairments like hand tremors. For those who use select fingers, one hand, or no hands there is a need of an operating system

Tech Facts

with the keyboard instead of using a mouse. They can improve the visibility of the cursor and addition of assistive technology products for particular disabilities. Also, they can use an alternative kind of mouse because of mobility impairments.

Arranging Business Processes & Procedures, and Technology The technology needs to offer ways for employees such as easy access to websites, use of email and instant messaging to collaborate and communicate. Also, it is required to use a word processing system to collaborate, share documents, manage large amount of data, and for sorting and managing files and folders.

Need of The Latest Technology to Align with the Organization’s Overall Technology Plan Employees need to be able to determine the accessibility settings and features with the use of an existing operating system, and with the same settings for multiple use. Again with regards to the access needs of employees it should prioritize. For example, if employees are finding issues with an existing product then replace the existing technology with a new one. This change will help you to determine how best to carry out your strategy which gives a positive impact on employees.

Technology Assessment Strategy Preparing for an accessible technology plan, it is a requirement of the existence of the current technology, where you can easily find out the required changes in current one.

What are the basic things you need to do? First, evaluate the current hardware, software and in-house applications and systems. Also, it requires to improve options that fulfill business needs while keeping in mind whether it lies within the budget, and provides more access to the number of employees and clients.

There are some good alternatives to avoid the further cost upgradation. In case of Server Operating Systems, which is particularly for administrators. We can use custom in-house applications for less number of employees or the needed 31 | April 2016

Tech Facts

one. Assessing this kind of situation will help you to find out the risk if that software is not upgraded.

Increased use of accessible technology proves that it fulfills the requirements of all users.

Here is an another way, first frame the questions which will help you to analyze the risk of your organization’s technology assessment. Then try to answer all the questions to determine the extent of the of impact on your employees and clients that is that software is still inaccessible?

Furthermore, you can compare the extent of the bad impact and possible repercussions from the same impact to determine the risk incurred by not replacing or updating the inaccessible software. That risk can further be compared with the software accessible making cost. This will help you to determine the comparison of which software is in high priority for replacing or updating and which is at the low priority based on low risks and high costs of replacement.

Growing number of businesses and organizations from government agencies and universities to utilities, and financial organizations are searching for the ways to engage customers, recruitment, employee empowerment, keeping hold on their valuable employees at the same time they are looking for their organizational improved efficiency and increased productivity.

By evaluating operating system for employees desktops, servers, office productivity software and industry specific applications, you can determine whether your used technology is accessible or not.

Legacy And Proprietary We need to check whether your Legacy and Proprietary systems are accessible or not? In case of ordering and billing systems software used for shipping packages, and for legacy system mainframe business applications are used such as a legacy sales application.

From the last three decades, innovations like personal computers, the Internet, mobile devices, and cloud computing have revolutionized the way how people work, communicate, and get information. These advancements, in turn, have desperately changed the way we do business.

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In today’s digitized world, technology is the core element in all these initiatives. And to fulfill these goals, organizations need to make such technology, which will be advantageous to the biggest possible number of users without concerning the age or ability.

Accessible Technology is the way which makes it easy for any person to see, hear, and use a computer. It allows people with an array of abilities such as for persons with disabilities, age-related impairments, or limited period issues.

Additionally, for novice computer or web users it requires to adjust technology as per their individual visual, capability, hearing, understanding, language requirements and preferences or to adjust their personal technology experience.

The leader in all Accessible Technologies, Microsoft always comes up with its new innovations and products which are user friendly and safe such as Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010. Also, it is providing other companies a platform for developing their accessible technologies and unique products. Altogether, Accessible technology is redefining the workplace by improving the functional capabilities and productivity of the organizations.

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

CallTower: Improving your Connections with One Simple User Interface Anka Behavioral Health uses Cisco for telephony, Microsoft Skype for Business for collaboration and XO for a nationwide MPLS network are two examples of the satisfied customers that have selected CallTower to provide choices in hosted unified communication solutions.

Bret England President & CEO

Bret England, President and Chief Executive Officer of CallTower has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Weber State University, has a Master of Science from Golden Gate University and has completed Stanford Business School’s Executive Education program. Bret leads the team of the company in delivering integrated bestof-breed communication solutions, having more than 25 years of experience as a senior financial and operational executive and investor.

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reating clarity of strategy and vision for the employees and customers is the focal point of CallTower since the foundation of the company in 2002. Standing tall on the core values: Dedicated, Action Oriented, Smart and Inquisitive and strategic anchors: Customer Intimacy, Reliability and Industry Leading Technologies, CallTower reaffirms its strategy and vision clarity on the quarterly basis.

Administering best-of-breed solutions and choices, CallTower brings the best to the customers. For an instance, Girl Scouts of USA is able to use Microsoft Skype for Business for telephony and Adobe Connect for conferencing and

34 | April 2016

solution provides growing companies with enterprise-class reliability on a global basis, a single point of support, productivity-enhancing features and 24/7 service for a fixed monthly fee.

Additionally, CallTower’s Unified Communications Solution allows businesses to create virtual teams and

Prior to CallTower, Bret worked in “Our mission has senior, domestic and international, consistently remained financial and operational roles at the same - we exist to Symantec, Informix, Alta Vista, Portal Software, NetManage and JDA enable people to easily Software. Bret has also assisted several connect and get work technology companies in various CXO and board positions and as an investor done” through England Consulting and work together, empower mobile Capital Group. workforce, reduce capital and operating costs, monthly conferencing Bret started his career as a Certified Public Accountant working for KPMG charges and phone bills, focus on revenue-impacting initiatives and and Deloitte & Touche. Bret has significant experience with all aspects simplify vendor management. of mergers and acquisitions and has With the convergence of been involved in over 50 transactions Telecommunications and Internet in excess of two billion dollars.

Technologies a revolutionary new While talking about the company, Bret industry has emerged; changing the way people communicate and do says, “Here at CallTower our business around the world. customers matter most! Their support CallTower’s entire unified and patronage is what gets us out of communications offering is easily bed in the morning and inspires us to provisioned and maintained on a exceed customer’s expectations.” desktop or mobile device via CallTower Connect portal.

Service based on “the best-of-breed technologies” Since its inception in 2002, CallTower While talking about CallTower’s future has built its service based on the best- perspective Bret says, “We will of-breed technologies from the leading continue to provide, integrate and support industry-leading, cloud based, providers in the communications unified communications and industry, including Cisco® (Cisco collaboration services. We provide our Unified Communications Manager) customers best-of-breed choices in and Microsoft® (Skype for Business communications with one common (Lync) Office 365), Adobe Connect platform to administrate. We are web conferencing and audio excited to be able to offer choices to conferencing services. more SMBs and Enterprises on an CallTower’s Unified Communications international basis.”

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

CloudFirst Technology Solutions: One of The Trusted Microsoft Cloud Technology Providers

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Dennis Gentles Founder & CEO

Dennis Gentles, Founder & CEO of CloudFirst, a visionary technology leader and a serial entrepreneur, having over two decades of IT experience, has a strong specialization in cloud infrastructure planning, execution, and management.

Prior to CloudFirst, Dennis founded Klegg Electronics, a global boutique consumer electronics manufacturer. As CEO, he was a visionary, leading the development of convergence products that incorporated advanced information technology features into PC integrated televisions and network attached video recording devices.

Dennis is an expert in enterprise technology, cloud infrastructure, ERP, MRP, SAAS, consumer electronics, and the end-to-end delivery of both services and products in a global marketplace.

Dennis was passionate about software programming, started writing programs at the age of 8, and today leading a specialized Microsoft Partner, CloudFirst, with a strong specialization in cloud infrastructure planning, execution, and management.

hriving on a strong partnership with Microsoft to enable companies to deploy applications in the most security conscious environments in a systemized manner, CloudFirst, is a perfect solution for today’s emerging high-risk cyber security requirements, who’s able to align with any company goals to leverage the benefits of cloud options without compromising privacy, and able to execute complex delivery both in B2B and B2C channels.

Specializes in providing Microsoft Cloud Technologies CloudFirst implements solutions based on platforms such as Office 365, Windows Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online.

CloudFirst’s expert team look to improve business processes by recommending scalable, reliable and secure cloud technologies.

With Microsoft Office 365, CloudFirst help its clients to easily access their data, automate their processes, and to become truly mobile - providing virtual access from anywhere on any device. Also, the company is skillful in cloud-based security monitoring, designing business intelligence dashboards, and deploying hybrid cloud solutions.

CloudFirst’s Cloud Roadmap 360 CloudFirst, through its experience and acumen in implementing cloud solutions for multi-users, distributed offices and global teams has created a unique service Cloud Roadmap 360, which help companies to fully document their current IT infrastructure and environment, and also analyzes their ongoing IT processes to steer them towards their business goals. Also, it creates an online access for users to manage workflows efficiently by introducing a

mobile application through electronically enhance productivity.

CloudFirst provides valuable solutions tailored to the client’s unique needs that are delivered with reliable customer service.

“CloudFirst deliver cloud solutions, that help customers improve business processes, increase productivity and exceed their competition”

CloudFirst was traditionally an Enterprise on-premise company focused on large scale infrastructure projects. Though CloudFirst had a steady flow of business, they felt the future was cloud, transitioning their business model was one of the biggest challenges for them.

Various organizations have chosen CloudFirst to augment the efficiency to their workflows from a collaboration standpoint. In one instance CloudFirst assisted a financial services company to implement a solution using Office 365, Skype for Business, and Sharepoint Online, to drive down communication costs and increase revenue by providing a self-help portal for their customers to see their individual account status.

In the coming years, CloudFirst is looking to provide the global market with ground breaking solutions to drive an increasingly demanding workforce across organizations. With the goal to expand its products and services internationally, CloudFirst seeks to develop industry specific solutions and plugins for Office 365 and Azure.

35 | April 2016

Expert Opinion

Predictions for Q3 & Q4, 2016

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s a leader in the corporate RAD (Rapid Application Development) field, I wanted to share some trends that companies should be considering. RAD is a programming specialty in which database and app developers focus on building applications much quicker using tools like Microsoft’s Access, Excel, SharePoint and Azure and other platforms such as Alpha Software.

RAD still utilizes strong security and automation methods, but allows us to build databases in ½ to ¼ of the time as other development platforms. My company (WorkSmart Database Masters) has consultants in 7 states across the U.S. and more than 60% of our clients are mid-sized corporations.

But, these trends are useful to both smaller and larger businesses as well.

The Power of BI Business Intelligence (BI) has been gaining momentum in small and midsized businesses. For a number of years, understanding “Big Data” was mostly utilized in large and technologically-savvy companies.

Businesses like Google, Amazon and Facebook have teams of statisticians to understand this mass amount of data (and their customers) to predict trends based on many criteria gathered from your profiles and buying habits. I’m sure you’ve even spotted ads in sites which appear to be watching what you’re buying or viewing on sites and offering up complementary products or 36 | April 2016

services that fit your particular demographic. These large companies have had the tools to drill deep into this information to understand what it all means for them. But, what about the rest of us?

Enter Microsoft’s Power BI, released less than a year ago. Power BI is a powerful business analytics tool which enables users to visualize, analyze and slice data just about any way you'd want. By connecting this tool with systems throughout your organization including accounting, manufacturing, service, HR, sales/marketing and many other systems, smaller companies can now begin to better understand their own, internal sources of information and make better decisions. Better still, users can connect to different data sources at the same time, allowing you to make comparisons on how decisions from one data source (sales) affect the outcome on a different data area (production). With Power BI, you can even pull information from online sources such as Wikipedia, SalesForce, MailChimp, QuickBooks and Facebook.

Visualizations are no longer limited to bar charts and pie charts. There are dozens of custom visuals from bubble charts, gauges, maps, sand visuals and even a fish bowl, all of which are interactive and allow you to drill down into your data by any criteria you select. And, you can create your own

dashboards which allow you to see your business at a glance, in real time.

Power BI includes both a desktop and web version. And, dashboards work on any device, from smart phones to tablets to laptops. What’s the cost?

FREE. Of course, you can purchase a premium version to get additional functionality, but the free product is sufficient for many.

Cloud-based, Remote Access to…

Access The second trend is focused on those millions of users that have existing Access databases. In some cases, companies are using older versions of Access which they cannot upgrade.

Or, they have users that want to connect to their database while they are working remotely. For those situations, companies are turning to Microsoft’s Azure RemoteApp. As a quick background, you may have heard of Remote Desktop (RDP) or standard Remote App. These are software that allows one user to remotely connect to a desktop interface on the company’s server. The difference between the two, is that Remote Desktop provides an entire user desktop, so a user can run any program like Word, Excel, etc…, and RemoteApp puts the user directly into a single program, without seeing the desktop icons. Either way, this software must be installed by someone familiar with servers.

Expert Opinion

Azure RemoteApp is similar to RemoteApp, but the Access database application is stored in the cloud. This means that you don’t need an IT rep to install it onto a server. It is available to anyone (with user rights) to connect to the database and use it anywhere they have an internet connection. It is also scalable, so you can have several remote users in the same database at the same time. The other huge plus is that if you have other software like Power BI described above, you can create a connection to an Access database that is hosted in Azure RemoteApp. This was much more difficult if the database was hosted on an internal server. Also, you can run earlier (aka legacy) versions of Access through RemoteApp and this allows you to keep Office 365 on your local desktop for the rest of your work and run your legacy Access databases through RemoteApp. Now, keep in mind that the typical Access forms and reports are designed for PCs and laptops, so if you are viewing a database on a smartphone, there is a lot of scrolling involved. So, what WorkSmart Database Masters has started doing for clients is creating smartphone-friendly forms for users on these devices. This provides less information on a form, but reduces the amount of scrolling necessary.

Andy Tabisz Microsoft MVP

WorkSmart

Author: Andy Tabisz is a Microsoft MVP and owner of WorkSmart Database Masters, LLC, a Michigan-based custom database & app development company with consultants across the U.S.

just send a text or email. But you will be seeing business users utilizing these Voice-Controlled Systems software apps to open a client within Products like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s your CRM or accounting software, Cortana and Amazon’s Echo will dictate a letter, open Power BI become more and more utilized in the dashboards, ask how a particular sector business space. The simpler functions of the company is performing today are currently used to check out traffic (e.g. sales made) and ask what service and weather conditions, pull up a issues have occurred (delivery delays). website, add a task to your tasks list, Additionally, this will integrate into the add an appointment to your calendar or Internet of Things (IoT) where sensors

will measure everything from temperature, electricity used, movement (e.g. what part of a store customers are spending time in) and system uptime and downtime.

Cost: Starting at $0, since some software apps are integrated into devices you currently use.

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Colorado Technology Consultants: Leveraging Businesses Technology to Reach a Sustained Competitive Advantage understand their business needs, ‘not just help them read a technical reference manual’.

Technology & Business Consulting and Training CTC offers technology and business consulting and training; with a strong background of working in Dynamics CRM integrations and custom line of business software.

Julie Yack Founder

CTC was founded in 2002, by David and Julie Yack, both of the founders are recognized for their involvement with the professional community and named as Microsoft MVPs. Dave is a Microsoft Regional Director as well.

Dave has been a technology consultant for more than 20 years. Julie got involved in CTC via a business background and became an accidental technologist.

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minently specialized in helping medium to large businesses leverage technology to reach a sustained competitive advantage, Colorado Technology Consultants (CTC) is a global provider of IT Consulting and Training services.

Concentrated on emerging technologies, while working with the clients on advanced solutions, CTC focuses primarily on Microsoft .NET solutions.

Having its main office in Colorado Springs, but serving its clients located just about anywhere, CTC has a vision to be a partner with their clients to

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While talking about the services provided by CTC Julie says, “Sometimes we are starting the project from the ground up. But often we come in and help where others find roadblocks, or knowledge limitations and then we help get a project back on track and toward a successful completion. We take that practical inthe-trenches work and author training curriculum for teams that wish to further their knowledge in a similar way. We believe that our experience in the field gives us much more credibility as trainers. We offer practical and focused training, not simply an academic theory and book learning. Most of our client engagements include training the IT team and the end users of the software.”

People at CTC are frequent trainers, speakers and often write about Microsoft technologies. Julie gives all the credit to the CTC’s staff saying, “We are fortunate to have staff that is also recognized by Microsoft as Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) and a Microsoft Regional Director.”

For CTC the client is the prime focus.

Julie says, “We feel it is necessary to

look beyond the simple nuts and bolts of the technology used to truly understand the application requirements. We pride ourselves in our ability to actively contribute to our clients’ bottom line by helping to develop innovative applications that truly provide a sustained competitive advantage for our clients. We believe our relationship with our clients must be seen as a partnership, an extension of their internal capabilities.”

“We can augment your own IT staff and train them up on the technologies they may need help with.”

CTC emphasizes the idea of giving back to the community. That is a reason the staff at CTC is always encouraged to participate in local, national and worldwide opportunities “to help better the world around us”.

As an example, CTC has been active in the local and regional education community, offering curriculum guidance to help prepare students for the employment opportunities they will face.

CTC specializes in providing customized consulting services to medium to Fortune 500 companies.

With the swift movement of technology, they are focused on an early adoption of new technology, in the future.

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Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

ConnectSolutions: Cloud and Professional Services for Microsoft Skype for Business Unified Communications deployments by allowing organizations to build their Microsoft Skype for Business solutions from the ground up with care, customization and reliability to best support their needs.

Glen D. Vondrick CEO

Glen D. Vondrick, CEO of ConnectSolutions. Previously, Glen served as CEO at Sendmail Inc., where Glen transformed the company into a leading email infrastructure security provider before it was acquired. Prior to this, as CEO, Glen turned FaceTime Communications (now Actiance) into the leading provider of IM security and management solutions. Glen has also held executive sales positions at Autodesk, Inference, Prime Computer, and Ithaca Software. He holds a B.A. in business and public administration from the University of Arizona.

With more than 1 million user sessions, 50 million minutes and 225,000 meetings delivered per month, companies count on Connect Solutions to deliver the most secure, reliable, and proven private-cloud solutions for business-critical real-time communications.

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onnectSolutions is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in cloud and professional services for Skype for Business. The company transforms the Microsoft Skype for Business experience to support its customers’ business-critical use cases. With 8+ billion minutes of cloud collaboration already delivered, ConnectSolutions is uniquely positioned to transform

ConnectSolutions distinguishes itself by delivering unrivaled subject-matter expertise combined with a history of driving Unified Communications customer success for the most demanding businesses and US government agencies. Its technology exceeds the security, reliability and quality requirements of typical deployments and meets the most stringent requirements of government agencies.

ConnectSolutions has always focused on Added Security for online meetings, Increased Reliability for virtual training, Reduced Complexity for web conferencing, Lower Cost of telephony infrastructure, and High Availability for critical crisis communications.

ConnectSolutions is also unmatched when it comes to the combination of skills and experience housed within the company’s Skype for Business/Lync team, whose seasoned IT and telephony experts have spent years delivering solutions for the entire Microsoft stack.

Customization, Control and Reliability The CoSo Private Cloud for Skype for Business is specially engineered to deliver hosted Unified Communications tailored to the customer’s specific organizational needs and unique workplace dynamics.

Highly customizable, the CoSo Cloud is compatible with any PBX and other legacy systems, custom integrations, and third party tools and applications, with advanced analytics and technical integration with SSO, LMS, and

telephony systems.

The CoSo Cloud’s always-on, global, redundant infrastructure ensures absolute reliability that’s proven: ‘Every month CoSo delivers over 1 million user sessions, 50 million minutes of collaboration, and 225,000 meetings’.

CoSo caters to Microsoft IT management in mid-market and major enterprises and US government agencies. Customers include Bayer, Citibank, General Motors, Kaplan, KPMG, Learning Tree International, Raytheon, Wharton University, and Young & Rubicam as well as such government organizations as the General Services Administration, FEMA, Food Protection and Defense Institute, and the Transportation Security Administration.

Expert Managed and Professional Services The ConnectSolutions team has unparalleled expertise and domain knowledge in the Unified Communication space, managing complex deployments and security levels that meet government agencies’ strictest requirements. Their professional services team and engineers manage all the details, enabling organizations to focus on their work, not on technology.

When security and reliability are of utmost importance, its private managed cloud offers clients added security, reliability, and the ability to customize the client’s Skype for Business deployment.

Supported Products & Solutions: For Microsoft Skype for Business, ConnectSolutions delivers expert managed and professional services with custom integration support on the trusted CoSo Cloud private platform, for customer on-premise deployments, or with hybrid implementations.

39 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

CTSI-Global: Leading Supply Chain Management Expertise and Technology Providers efficiency. Enterprises that take advantage of the knowledge and experience of efficient end-to-end supply chain solution providers, are enabled by best-in class technologies, stand to free up working capital & cash, and prosper as the business acceleratestowards growth.

J. Kenneth Hazen President & CEO

J. Kenneth Hazen, President and CEO of CTSI-Global, graduated from the University of Memphis. After a successful career in industrial sales, Hazen purchased Continental Traffic Service, Inc. in 1982. The company went from a handful of employees processing everything manually to hundreds of employees in offices around the world processing millions of transactions electronically each year. Hazen is the co-author of The Role of Transportation in the Supply Chain. Ken has also been active in the community, having served as Chairman of Catholic Charities of West TN and President of the University of Memphis Board of Visitors. He has been a fundraising leader for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, among others.

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n the current economic scenario, organizations are focusing on sustaining their business while positioning themselves for future growth. An organization’s supply chain represents numerous untapped opportunities to realize increased short and long-term benefits, such as cost savings, time saving and improved

40 | April 2016

CTSI-Global also provides scalable systems that are suited to 3PLs that manage many clients. These systems have additional features such as customer invoicing.

Some providers can only provide either TMS or freight audit and payment services. Others provide general Supply Chain Solutions Catering to software but lack the supply chain Client Needs industry expertise. CTSI-Global has CTSI-Global provides shippers and developed in-house software to third-party logistics providers (3PLs) anticipate the needs of clients. with end-to-end supply chain solutions: Furthermore, they are the only supply Transportation Management System chain solutions provider with robust, (TMS), Business Intelligence, Freight flexible, scalable TMS and business Audit and Payment Services, and intelligence solutions alongside Consulting. Their end-to-end supply industry-leading freight audit and chain solutions empower shippers and payment services.

3PLs to plan and execute shipments, audit and pay their freight bills, and CTSI-Global’s mission is to provide measure the results for continuous industry-leading global supply chain improvement of their supply chain and solutions through quality service and transportation networks. innovative technology. They take pride in core values of loyalty, integrity, and CTSI-Global’s TMS is a SaaS-based service. system of applications to plan and execute shipments across all modes.

Ten years ago, they started expansion Their clients use this TMS to manage by opening offices abroad. Since then, orders, optimize loads, select carriers, they have continued to expand not only execute and automate shipments, track their global presence but also their and trace deliveries, and manage global capabilities, with the strongest overage/shortage/damage claims. Their global processing features of any Business Intelligence Solutions freight audit and pay and TMS include KPI dashboards that drill provider. down to analyze various key performance indicators. Other CTSI-Global’s clients receive solutions include Supply Chain increased visibility, an integrated Modeling and Online Reporting, such global system, and a strong RoI. They as the carrier report card. are recognized by both clients and carriers for service quality, and have a In addition to technology solutions, satisfied and happy clientele including CTSI-Global offers expert supply American Electric Power, Harleychain services including Freight Audit Davidson, Molex, and Technicolor. and Payment, Rate Negotiation, and Consulting.

Highlights

BITCOIN Is Acquiring Market in One Fell Swoop

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iving a surprise to the world with a bang on, Microsoft announced that they have become an active member of the Chamber of Digital Commerce which is a trade association that focuses in promoting distributed ledger technology known as blockchain.

Enthusiasts of crypto currency will have an idea about this name as they are the major trading organization focusing on how it can be used, and which possibilities are on the horizon.

By offering a secure and transparent way for completing financial transactions and digitally tracking the assets of ownership, blockchain is modernizing legacy financial processes. Before being verified through cryptography, every recorded online transaction is tied with the previous one. This helps in enabling stocks and bonds trade to be finalized within minutes as well as eliminating the need for clearing houses, cutting costs and also reducing the risk of fraud. At present, Bitcoin a virtual currency is one the famous example of blockchain technology.

Microsoft joins Digital Chamber with the aim to develop the necessary regulatory frameworks of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies that 42 | April 2016

can be widely used. Various software giants also approve its efforts in establishing training and selfregulatory schemes for assisting new entrants and grow innovation across the industry.

Marley Gray, Microsoft’s director of BizDev & Strategy - Cloud and Enterprise stated that Virtual currency is already the focus of regulatory interest at both the state and Federal level in the US, as well as in other markets around the world.

All over the world these days, blockchain technology is acquiring

focus in identifying critical use cases.

Although every business model will not have the same need for specific blockchain platforms, yet its flexibility allows developers and engineers to scale the solution according to their needs. On the Azure platform, Microsoft with their blockchain-as-aservice business model has ventured into the world of distributed ledgers.

This doesn’t only provide fast and easy access to blockchain technology for developers, but they can also get benefited from other tools like multifactor authentication offered by Azure.

Last year in November, Microsoft

Highlights

C H A M B E R O F

D I G I TA L C O M M E R C E

launched Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) initiative and since then has added over 40 partners. Recently, the R3 consortium of over 40 major banks chose Microsoft’s BaaS as their favorite platform for experimenting and developing new offerings that are related with blockchain. In the last few months, when the blockchain was undergone through scrutiny by politicians, various questions were raised related to the need of specific regulatory requirements.

Explaining the situation, Marley Gray said that Microsoft is thrilled to join the Chamber of Digital Commerce. We firmly believe, industry collaborations are critical to bringing distributed ledger technology to market. The work of the Chamber will advance distributed ledger technology in a thoughtful, pragmatic way.”

However, the difference between embracing blockchain innovation and

hindering growth in the sector is like walking in a fine line. Recently in Europe, during meeting at the European Parliament, it was declared that no further action will be taken in the blockchain regulatory space.

Instead of that the same lenient approach will be taken in the rest of the world for making the involvement of Microsoft more valuable in the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

When companies like Microsoft that are involved in blockchain technology come together then the Chamber of Digital Commerce is a significant player for distributed ledger enthusiasts. It also focuses on training and educating newcomers in the world of this technology.

According to recent scenario, companies that are leading today’s market are entering into an ecosystem of blockchain with an unprecedented

pace. They are further underlining the potential and importance of blockchain technology which is transformative in nature and are quickly realizing that efforts of education and advocacy are proving as critical mission for the success of this industry's future.

Moreover, Microsoft is also welcoming several new BaaS partners, including Jumbucks, Bitswift, Storj, Vcash, Shadow, Blocknet, Blitz, Gamecredits and Okcash. In addition to this, for developing Solidity contracts, “Ether.Camp Ethereum Studio IDE”, a web-based integrated development environment (IDE) for Ethereum developers, on Azure is also available as well. The IDE permits developers to write and compile Solidity smart contracts, play with them in Sandbox, and then send the contracts to the real net.

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50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

DataSelf Analytics: Powerful, Flexible Enterprise-Level BI and Analytics Platform 5,000 reports, dashboards and KPIs. DataSelf dramatically cuts down the time and effort for mid-sized companies to get value from their data

Joni Girardi Founder & CEO

Joni Girardi, Founder & CEO is a results-driven professional with extensive experience with technological innovations and their commercial applications. His major strengths stem from a solid technical and entrepreneurial background with successful experience in marketing, sales, business development, strategic alliances, professional services and programming.

D

ataSelf Analytics empowers every data user from the CEO down. It’s the most empowering and easy-to-use, anytime and anywhere BI solution designed for mid-sized companies.

From its beginning 16 years ago, DataSelf has built its solution on the Microsoft BI stack. Then five years ago, DataSelf veered from competitors to incorporate Tableau as the main analytics interface. DataSelf founder and CEO Joni Girardi said, “Since then, our customer base has become much more satisfied with this easier-touse yet more empowering tool.”

DataSelf Analytics delivers a comprehensive platform that connects a data warehouse, connectors and over 44 | April 2016

DataSelf has a deep understanding of what small- and medium-sized businesses need, the issues they face, and the kinds of data challenges they

“Now we are very excited with the “Who says that medium-sized new Power BI version,” said Girardi. businesses have simple Power BI plugs right into DataSelf’s needs? Their needs are often data warehouse and connectors. Clients complex, and they have no who prefer Power BI over Tableau will less need for speed. And be pleased to benefit from DataSelf’s many organizations nd that data warehouse and extensive library their need for self-service BI is of out-of-the-box connectors and even greater.” templates. have. In fact, the product the client can DataSelf’s solution offers three main use today grew out of their early benefits: consulting, and they just kept 1. Solid, best-of-breed BI technology. improving it.

Their integration of the renowned visualization and data discovery tool About DataSelf’s future, Joni says, Tableau with the solid backend of the “The move to the cloud opens several Microsoft BI server and the DataSelf BI opportunities for small-and data warehouse and ETL. BI and medium-sized businesses.

It should analytics never ran so well. become easier, faster and less expensive for them to benefit from 2. Productivity right out of the box. cloud technology.”

Users choose from dozens of connectors to popular ERP/CRM DataSelf’s many satisfied customers go systems as well as more than 5,000 starter templates to create dashboards, even further.

KPIs, and reports. Use and modify at will. Self-service BI for every user.

“I love DataSelf Analytics. I started right up making my own reports. It made my old report writer look like a DataSelf Analytics comes with out of the box connectors and templates for a dinosaur!” wide range of data sources. These include Everest Software, Infor CRM - Heather Welsch, Senior Accountant (SalesLogix), Microsoft Dynamics AX, at Pyramid Time Systems Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics “DataSelf BI provides an exceptional NAV, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage ROI through reduced overhead plus the 100 (MAS 90 / MAS 200), Sage 300 ability of our sales force to quickly and (Accpac), Sage 500 (MAS 500), Sage easily identify under-performing CRM, Sage Pro, Sage X3, and accounts!”

Salesforce.

3. Expertise and experience with SMB.

-David Fulmer, VP and Co-founder at SawStop.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

First Line Software: Empowering Companies by Accelerating & Achieving Competitive Digitalization

Nick Puntikov Co-founder & CEO

Nick Puntikov, Co-founder & CEO of First Line Software is an entrepreneur and executive with proven success in building global technology organizations. In 1991, Nick founded his first private software engineering firm - StarSoft. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, the company developed into a premier software service provider to clients in North America and Europe and employed 700 engineers.

After its merger with Exigen Services in 2007, Nick continued on as the CEO, running a 1,500 person operation in six countries across Europe, the Baltics and China. Today, Nick is running First Line Software with 400+ technology professionals in multiple countries.

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chiever of two MS Gold Competencies - one in Application Development and the other in Digital Marketing, First Line Software uses their knowledge and expertise, in applying Agile methodologies to optimize and accelerate client Digitalization initiatives.

First Line has established strategic partnerships with industry-specific IT companies where they can add tremendous value - by utilizing a combination of the depth of their technology stack and breadth of industry-specific expertise and exceptional engineering skills to conceptualize and build solutions that solve complex business challenges.

Which First Line calls “Intellectual Integration”.

With 20+ years of Agile/Scrum experience of the core team of First Line enables them to apply the Agile methodology to projects with any level of complexity and provide their customers with the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits afforded to them by this methodology.

First Line is active in the industry organizations such as the Object Management Group and the Industrial Internet Consortium, which clears that they are not only constantly in-the-know about emerging trends; but also participating in defining and actualizing those trends.

Highly-specialized Custom Software Solutions First Line Software is the first and foremost IT services company that develops highly-specialized custom software solutions for businesses with a focus on Web Content Management, Digital Marketing, Digitalization, Cloud Computing, Data Management, Online Media and Internet of Things.

Development Software Engineering Centers (DSEC) provide clients with a skilled and stable team of software developers, project managers, architects, technical leads and test engineers to augment their development team.

First Line Software is an Episerver Premium Partner with 24 Episervercertified developers in a team of more than 75 offshore engineers representing 350 person years of experience in implementing Episerver solutions worldwide. First Line Software works exclusively with other Episerver partners - primarily on implementations - focusing on backend development and any customizations required by clients, including .NET platform extensions.

With a long list of clients like, Bonnier, Dell, InnerWorkings, RW3, Tupperware, GeoTraq, Zeb, ClickSquared, Web2Print, Change Anything, Timera, Liebherr, Hyundai, First Line is moving forward to its future.

Nick says, “Our customers get the benefit of aligning themselves with an experienced technology partner that has working knowledge of a number of industries and is exceptional at using Agile methodologies.”

Instead of operating in isolation within a specific industry or technology, the First Line team taps into, and incorporates, their knowledge and expertise across industries and technologies to create innovative solutions for their clients.

First Line always had a vision for building an IT services company that utilizes a vast amount of cross-industry experience, depth of knowledge, and experience with a significant number of technologies. Which resulted in their belief in the vision and tenacity in educating and influencing potential clients to adopt this approach was instrumental in overcoming any roadblocks and challenges.

45 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Help4Access: Designing Custom Database Applications to the Clients Specications thought leaders to realize their vision, leveraging the power of the world’s most popular database application platform, Microsoft Access.

Help4Access’s services insure that their client’s thought leaders can continue to innovate increasing revenue or optimize their back office operations reducing costs.

Sasha Froyland Founder

Sasha Froyland, Founder of Help4Access is a certified Enterprise Architect and Project Manager in San Francisco, California, having more than 22 years of experience in technology building world-class organizations.

Mr. Froyland’s inspiration to develop this unique software development company came from his first-hand knowledge of working for these highly successful companies; Time Warner Telecommunications, Level 3 Communications and StubHub. As startups, these companies recognized the advantage of leveraging MS Access’s flexibility to develop their core business systems. This key decision point was pivotal to their future success.

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pecialized in developing custom database applications designed to the client’s specifications, Help4Access has helped hundreds of companies with their custom MS Access database applications.

Help4Access is a U.S. based company, headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Help4Access provides world-class service to SMB clients, enabling the

46 | April 2016

Help4Access, Development to the Clients Core Application Help4Access extends their client’s IT services by providing development for their core application. Their client’s MS Access system supports 50,000 users with three call centers and the application runs 24x7x365.

Help4Access support a single technology, and that is Microsoft Access. They provide services: Application Support Services: Help4Access provides service delivery options that fit your needs, such as onsite programmers and remote support (non-tiered approach). Help4Access offers a full range of application maintenance and support services to ensure business continuity and longterm value.

Application Development Service: Help4Access’s team approach is governed by their Application Development Methodology (ADM) adopted from The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).

Help4Access is a leader in helping organizations achieve business efficiency and agility by developing robust applications that are scalable, secure and easily maintainable.

Migration Services: With their team’s extensive Access Migration experience, Help4Access has

developed a 5-step proven approach to migrating any Access application, First, Discovery, where they gather your data, what applications you have, who uses them, how often, when they were written and in what language, which results in a detailed view of your portfolio. Second, Assessment, helps to target deployment, service, and technical vendor platform per application. Third, Migration Planning, their Microsoft Access certified professionals will create a practical roadmap based on the application assessment focusing on achieving value early and gaining momentum. Fourth, Migration and Testing, help in validated and migrated applications in target environments.

Finally, Deployment, helps your next generation hybrid environment, giving your organization strategic agility.

According to Mr. Froyland, “The team at Help4Access enhances the application to support features which marketing and sales need to beat the competition. MS Access is the fastest rapid application development platform ever created and when paired with our senior MS Access consultants, the result is often product updates which allow our clients to get ahead of their competition and dominate their industry.”

While talking about the future of Help4Access, Mr. Froyland says, “I’m excited about the collective knowledge and experience, we are gaining as a company fueled by hiring and retaining the best MS Access consultants on the planet. This in turn further insures our client’s core business functions will continue to return high value without the risk of a lack of qualified support.”

CXO Standpoint

Emerging Technologies from Microsoft: Remove the Limits on Your Business

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emaining on top of technology trends is a critical concern for entrepreneurs and professionals. Skill sets come and work at a breakneck tempo, and it’s important to remain in front of the curve in an effort to predict the next hot spots of technology to keep ourselves relevant in our alwaysshifting universe.

IoT is about devices that are connected to the internet to perform the processes and services that support our basic needs, economics, health and environment. Cloud computing acts as a front end to access IoTs. Cloud computing has now been a more popular service that arrives with more characteristics and advantages. In reality, cloud computing is based on users who perform the computer tasks using services delivered entirely through the Internet.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more. For businesses today, It is believed that the Internet of Things (IoT) represents not only the next major wave of computing, but also the next competitive advantage.

Harnessing signals and untapped data from existing and new devices unlocks powerful insights.

Explore The Possibilities of 48 | April 2016

Microsoft Cloud Platform IT today is under more pressure than ever before to deliver resources faster, support new business initiatives, and maintain pace with the challenger. To handle these demands, commercial enterprises need a pliant and resilient infrastructure that is easy to handle and easy to scale.

With Windows Server, Microsoft System Center, and Microsoft Azure, you can transform the datacenter. You can get advantage of innovation across the datacenter and the cloud to simplify your infrastructure and rapid delivery of services to the business. Enterpriseclass virtualization and unified management give you a foundation in your data center, while hybrid options provide you admission to the boundless capacity of the swarm. Hold open your business competitive with the Microsoft cloud platform.

Microsoft Data Warehousing and Big Data The traditional data warehouse is under pressure from the growing weight of increasing volumes of data, the expansive variety of data types, and the real-time processing velocity of how information is being used to develop and operate the line. Data warehousing has made the most important tipping point since its origin. The biggest, possibly most elaborate information

management system in IT is shifting.

The traditional data warehouse was designed specifically to be a central repository for all data in a troupe.

Disparate data from transactional systems, ERP, CRM, and LOB applications could be cleansed-that is, extracted, transformed, and loaded (ETL) -into the warehouse inside an overall relational schema. The predictable data structure and quality optimized processing and reporting.

Nevertheless, preparing queries was largely IT-supported and based on schedule batch processing.

The Microsoft data warehouse is built on symmetric multi-processing (SMP) technology. With SMP, adding more capacity involved more powerful hardware and then fork lifting the prior data warehouse into it. This was necessary because as the warehouse approached capacity, its architecture experienced performance issues along with a scale where there was no room to add incremental processor power or enable synchronization of the cache between processors.

Nevertheless, data volume is expanding tenfold every five years. A lot of this new information is driven by devices from the more than 1.2 billion people who are linked to the Internet worldwide, with an average of 4.3

CXO Standpoint

connected devices per person. Devices including smart phone also offer documentation for remote monitoring sensors, RFID, location-based data, transactions and more.

Microsoft Upgrades a New Standard for Wearables Only lately, Microsoft filed a patent for a wearable smart bracelet, but it’s unlikely the patent was lodged for this updated device. In the patent, the company explains the device is comprised of “interactive smart beads” attached to a connecting element, and spreads out the possibility for interaction with toys-to-life franchises.

Microsoft Band offers an impressive set of characteristics, including built-in GPS, call-screening, the ability to scan incoming e-mails and texts, a fullysynced calendar, a heart rate monitor, and more. But the key to getting the most of Microsoft Band is Microsoft, Health, an ambitious and superbly organized wellness app, which

provides a full selection of wellness and fitness tools.

The Microsoft Band has been designed to function with all smart phones.

Whether you’re a disciple of the Windows Phone or not, the Band will sync with Android and IOS devices as well, then no need to worry if you’re not a Microsoft dedicated. Tracking your heart rate, your steps taken, your calories burned and sleep patterns, the Microsoft Band tracks your daily physical activity and allows you to go over your stats with a bare glimpse at your wrist.

With a GPS Run Mapping system, you can map all of the paths that you've run, cycled or hiked and save your most challenging or your preferred roads. Including email previews, calendar alerts, incoming call notifications and text messages, the tracker carry a 48 hour battery.

Kris Nanda President V.L.S Systems Inc.

Microsoft: 2016 Will Be the Year Of AI Microsoft is applying artificial intelligence to create detailed maps illustrating population density and the access to the internet across the world.

This should help Microsoft bring internet to parts of the globe that are without access. Microsoft has analyzed 20 countries and 21.6 million square kilometers amounting to 350TB of data.

Microsoft is also reported to be creating deep learning AI which aims to recover out what matters to Microsoft users. Microsoft is definitely not new to the AI game. In 2010, it introduced facial recognition technology that could distinguish people in photos, and in 2013, Microsoft dedicated a lab to AI research and also recruited deep learning experts to set up the AI headquarters. Microsoft says its design for AI is to personalize what matters to each user, populating timelines with things they genuinely care about rather than people and places they’d opt not to look.

Microsoft has determined to leverage Artificial Intelligence in order to enable better offline translation for the Translator app to be changing the way we communicate with the machines and also the way machines learn from our slipway. Cortana has been a fine piece of example when it comes to artificial intelligence, making things more comfortable for us and now Microsoft has leveraged the technology to bring about some worthwhile improvements in the Translator App. The best piece of the new AI inclusion is the very fact that it will bring in a much more potent and reliable offline 49 | April 2016

CXO Standpoint

translation, the caliber of which can be compared with the online translation.

The new AI feature will be the world’s first Deep Neural Network powered offline engine for Android. All you need to do is download language packs and get near online quality of interpretation.

A Microsoft Perspective: To Be Successful, Organizations Must Be Strategically Aware Today’s organizations have to deal with dynamic and uncertain environments. To be successful, organizations must be strategically aware. They must see how alterations in their competitive environments are opening. They should actively look for chances to exploit their strategic abilities, adapt and seek improvements in every area of the business, building on awareness and understanding of 50 | April 2016

current strategies and successes.

Directors who made long-range plans generally assumed that better times put down in front. Future plans were simply extensions of where the organization had been in the yesteryear. But a bit of environmental shocks undermined this approach to strategic planning: rapid technological developments, the maturing or stagnation of certain grocery stores, increased international competition.

By now, you will see that Microsoft was making a rather unique resource.

Its approach to software “componentization” allowed the firm to leverage intellectual property across multiple product lines. And it likewise made it attractive for third-party firms to leverage Microsoft’s platform, equally opposed to others.

But how did this allow the firm to react effectively to technical change?

Foremost, it received an established foundation of knowledge that could be brought to bear on new emerging opportunities. Second, it possessed a well-defined process through which new intellectual property could be codified and integrated into this knowledge base in a manner that ensured compatibility with its living elements. And third, its established processes evolve this knowledge home to ensure it reflected changes in the broader technological context.

All in all, Microsoft believes that the pursuit of an effective entrepreneurial strategy is mainly through information.

Keying out the competitive advantages has to be represented through the aggregation and analysis of data from existing experiences.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Idea Dudes: Proffering Cutting-Edge, High-Value Technical Training for Businesses

Michael W. Krout CEO/President

Michael & Ellina Krout are entrepreneurs who are passionate about creating solutions for businesses.

Michael CEO/President brings to this enterprise over 31 years of architecture, analysis, development of information processing systems and training. Michael’s expertise centers on developing business solutions and training. He started his career in the United States Airforce (USAF).

Michael has worked with Microsoft products from the beginning. He has done consulting for different organizations including U.S. Pentagon, Social Security Administration, and other companies around the world. He currently holds several different certifications in Microsoft including MCT. Ellina, COO holds a Bachelor’s degree in education from both the US and Russia. She has been in the education industry for 22 years. She takes care of the European side of the business and also the sales management of the organization.

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oday, the demand for IT services is driven by rapid technological advances

resulting in IT based certifications.

They have long been a mainstay of IT education and professional credentials.

These certifications are quick and readily recognized benchmark mapped to a specific skill set based on standardized testing. Likewise, most importantly, they provide framework by which technical people can learn and gain a level of proficiency in a specific IT-related topic. Secondly, it provides the recipient with a credential showing they have a defined body of knowledge in a specific area that increases the number of opportunities to move further in their career.

Based in Florida, Idea Dudes is one of those training and consulting company that is passionately committed in enhancing the technical knowledge of students, corporate professionals by providing cutting-edge and high-value technical training that allows them to brilliantly serve their organizations.

Idea Dudes provides business solutions for small, medium and large enterprises. They basically focus on technologies that are presented by Microsoft. These include the new cloud services, specifically Office 365 and Azure. They provide training in both customized and MOC (Microsoft Office Curriculum). They also provide instructor-led training both virtually and on premise.

Idea Dudes had been in this business for over 16 years now, and are engaged in the development of hi-tech solutions, which include Web Design, Networking, Application Development, Training, Business Consulting, and Entertainment Packages. Idea Dudes brings to the arena vast years of IT experience with new outlooks for

solutions to common problems. The purpose of Idea Dudes is to provide comprehensive solutions to business problems, not just providing solutions but also training to the client on how to develop solutions on their own.

“We want to be the word on everyone’s mouth when it comes to business solutions and training” Combined with honesty, integrity and creativity, Idea Dudes is a think tank that combines business knowledge and technical prowess to assist businesses coming up with solutions that are thorough and cost-effective.

Over the last few years they have helped various companies to Migrate from Novell GroupWise to Exchange Server 2010,Implement Exchange Server 2013, Redesign Active Directory, Exchange Server 2010 infrastructures, SQL Server 2008 R2 clusters, Implement RDS Farms, Implement SQL Server 2012/2014 clusters, educate them on Office 365 and Azure and so on.

Idea Dudes foresees itself as a company that provides high quality business solutions that allow the company to continue to make money. www.ideadudestraining.com Ph No.: 1-888-512-3450.

51 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

illustrate inc: Remarkable Sales Technology Solutions

Kevin Nettereld President

Kevin Netterfield, President of illustrate brings experience and perspectives from the life insurance and financial services industry to illustrate. Twice during prior senior field leadership role, Kevin has worked with illustrate inc, as the vendor of choice for end to end sales solutions.

Now, along with his team he helps other senior sales executives to create and deploy power and effective platforms to get results and achieve efficiencies.

T

echnology is revolutionizing workflow and processes in the financial services industry.

“Calculation engine”, a well-known term in the industry, typically means a base module of software source code where some percentage of the base is standard from one company’s illustration system to the next. But, customized source code could give rise to some inconveniences (like code variations within each calculation engine). Hence, for each company’s unique set of calculation engines, there is a need for performance upgrades and conversions to new technologies.

52 | April 2016

The engine in True Engine ArchitectureTM (by illustrate inc) is isolated from any company specific code. All business rules, unique calculations, product rules, rates, etc. are maintained outside the engine code base using SmartFileTM technology by illustrate. This is a unique architecture which offers a number of benefits enabling their clients to build the industry’s best insurance products. And due to this, OPUS, with True Engine ArchitectureTM, is proving beneficial to numerous clients.

Illustrating Solutions OPUS is a configurable product that lets you create custom illustrations and point-of-service solutions for producers, providing them the tools to build fruitful relationships.

are built for insurance business and product experts. With different levels of expertise built into each of the tools components, clients can segment the work to different resources with the product knowledge and skills necessary to complete the tasks.

Vision to Lead as a Sales Technology Solutions Provider illustrate is recognized by clients as a strategic partner with passion, integrity, and commitment that encompass everything they do to build strong lasting relationships with clients, employees and business partners.

“Advisors and carriers will be able to streamline their sales processes, increase efciencies and ignite new possibilities in Omni channel offerings.”

OPUS Connect utilizes the base framework of illustrate’s OPUS technology to provide the industry’s only true Software as a Service (SaaS) model for deploying and maintaining cost-effective Web-based life insurance illustrations and point-of-sale solutions.

Zahir Dhalla, Founder and Chairman of illustrate has served in OPUS Mobile provides fast, easy various leading roles in the actuarial, access to life insurance quotes via policyholder taxation, system today’s smartphone technology. architecture, and system development Producers can quickly capture their areas. In 1989 the company was client’s basic information and their founded to meet the life insurance attention with the sharp looking OPUS software needs of the insurance Mobile application. Providing both on- industry in Canada, the United States screen premium as well as e-mailed and abroad. Prior to founding illustrate, quotes as per the clients’ comfort, he accumulated more than a decade of OPUS Mobile can help capture the knowledge and enriching, varied prospects attention and close more experience working for a number of sales. major Canadian life insurers for Life, Health, and Wealth product lines. A OPUS Studio Tools is the unique set Mathematics graduate from the of development tools for building and University of Waterloo, Canada, he is maintaining illustration and electronic also an Associate of the Society of forms solutions. OPUS Studio Tools Actuaries.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Impact Business Technology: Strategic IT Partner for Today’s Business & Tomorrow’s Achievements perfect partner to small and medium businesses demanding access to technology innovation. Their technology solutions help to shrink technology costs and put their client’s companies in a position to prosper.

Neil Holme Founder

The company was founded in 2001, by Neil Holme, a specialist at resolving technology challenges. After working for several years in the industry, he recognized an exigency for small businesses that could benefit from the same enterprise-level systems and services delivered to larger customers.

Using a combination of automation and leveraging emerging technologies from Microsoft and other industry giants, he was able to provide secure, reliable and functional IT systems to companies either large or small. Neil started out as an electrical engineer traveling across the globe to implement small-scale power generation in developing countries throughout Africa and Asia. Finding solutions to problems where there were few resources helped Neil develop problem-solving skills that are profitable for his customers today.

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he companies possess growing expectations to create business value with limited resources.

Increasingly, IT organizations are looking to trusted IT services providers to help reduce cost, manage complexity, maintain leading-edge skills and adopt technology innovation.

Impact Business Technology is the

Impact BT at a Glance Impact Business Technology is a Systems Integrator and Managed Services Provider, offering fully Managed IT services to the small and medium business market. The company is a Certified Microsoft Partner, Dell Gold Partner, and partners with many other best of breed technologies which dictate their trustworthiness.

Comprehensive Services with a Focused Approach The Impact BT is dedicated to helping business leverage today’s technology, tools and proven practices to streamline processes, and maximize profits. The company’s wide breadth of services includes Outsourced IT Services, encompassing complete maintenance and monitoring of network infrastructure. Help Desk Support, solving customer problems in efficient, effective and costconscious manner. It includes On-site support, Remote support, and 24-hour call-out. Data Backup & Disaster Recovery, providing unparalleled security against disasters with a complete plan for data backup, computer hard drive backup and hardware and system recovery for business. Cloud Computing Services, custom tailor solutions to company’s Cloud IT needs. Networking Services, helping businesses to design costeffective network infrastructure and securing the clients’ networks against network vulnerabilities.

Success with Divergent approach Neil has built Impact BT on a single promise, “an unwavering commitment to delivering excellence in customer service.” This is evidenced by the fact that Impact BT has not invested in marketing and have no sales staff. The entire success and growth (average 22% year on year for the last decade) of Impact BT is achieved through referrals from existing customers or vendor relationships.

“A customer who is merely ‘satised’ with our service isn’t the one who will sing from the rooftops about us. Our clients must be entirely happy with us, or we don't rest until they are.”

Impact BT Leading to Excellence When the company started in 2001, Neil had a 10-year plan to grow their business, make it an attractive target for acquisition and then move on to other ventures. After the completion of 15 years into the business, company is still marching on to reach new heights.

After emerging from the recession, Impact BT has accelerated their growth due to the model of growth through referral. As their customer base grows, so does the rate at which they are introduced to new customers.

On current scenario of IT service industry, Neil says, “The long-term plans have changed. The managed services industry remains a fastmoving place where innovation can create enormous opportunity. Moving on to new ventures is an almost daily occurrence while remaining a frontrunner in the IT services space.”

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50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Interactive Edge: XP3 Platform Empowering Category Management, Shopper Insights, Sales and Marketing with Microsoft Office. It provides sales, category management, shopper insights and analysts the ability to efficiently and effectively leverage virtually any data source to create, distribute and apply best practice analytics dynamically in PowerPoint and Excel.

Zel Bianco President, CEO & Co-founder

In the CPG industry, data is dynamic, changing on a daily, monthly, quarterly or annual basis.“It is challenging for those end-users who may not be data experts to make the appropriate selections so we created an interface for users downstream to create presentations and reports from raw data in minutes instead of days and weeks. Data can be easily updated and the presentations using multiple data sources can be iterated across hundreds of retailers, markets, and categories, with one click,” remarks Zel Bianco President, CEO and Cofounder of Interactive Edge. XP3 is completely integrated on the front end with MS-Office and to the most commonly used back-end, SQL Server/MSAS.

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n industry leader in data analysis and presentation software for Consumer Goods and related industries, Interactive Edge has been helping sales and marketing organizations improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and achieve brand consistency since 1995.

Interactive Edge’s award-winning XP3 platform is a set of business intelligence tools that are integrated 54 | April 2016

to generate three different presentations for one retailer after they developed the finished presentation.

They then needed to generate the same

“XP3 provides an easyto-use, Microsoft Ofce integrated interface to analyze and present multidimensional data in a format that everyone can share and understand.”

Time is of the essence in the fast-paced CPG sector. A library of best practice analytics, presentations and reports can become a widely accessible center of excellence. Business users can create the reports once and then easily modify them to address the next account or customer. “Our solution includes intelligent text built into each presentation. The headlines, comments, charts and graphs get updated presentations for 96 retailers which automatically to reflect the specific took a total of 896 hours. With XP3, data points needed,” says Bianco. the same process was reduced to 20 hours, saving 804 hours or 105 days.

Throughout its history, Interactive Edges’ purpose remains the same Acosta’s 52 page presentation for effective tools to turn data into insights Campbell’s would take Acosta 3 hours that are easy to present and understand. to customize for one retailer, and the IE has a long-standing relationship process would then be repeated for with the world’s leading consumer each of their retailers. With XP3, the goods companies including Dr. Pepper, same report took only 2 minutes to Frito-Lay, Hormel, Nestle’ and many customize per retailer, which was a more.

99% savings. While reporting for Starbucks, achieved 97% of efficiency, XP3 for Actionable Insights and i.e. from 5 hours to 8 minutes. Clorox Recommendations, Reduces Analysis also returned dramatic results, Time originally it took 3 to 5 hours to Acosta Sales & Marketing is one of the customize a report for one retailer. largest brokers in North America and After XP3, the same presentation took uses XP3 as a core solution to deliver only 5 minutes to customize for each BI Analytics across their hundreds of of the other retailers which was a 98% manufacturer and retail customers. savings.

Acosta used PowerPoint and Excel as their final output, but the manual Interactive Edge is partnering with process was eating up a huge amount some of the most dynamic data of man hours to complete data driven companies in the world including reporting. To give you just one global companies like Nielsen, Acosta example, it would take Acosta 9 hours Sales and Marketing, JDA, and many more.

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Invenias: An Innovative Cloud-Based Platform For Executive And Strategic Hiring identify a product that users would really want to use and therefore achieve full adoption by the team. He observed most of the executive search and recruitment market was underserved by technology, perhaps later than some sectors at embracing how technology was central to the way businesses could be run.

David Grundy Co-founder

David Grundy, Co-founder of Invenias, started his career as a graduate at FTSE 100-listed engineering giant IMI, which took him into the technology arena. He worked for Oracle, StorageNetworks and eCal, before co-founding technology executive search firm Erevena, and then Invenias.

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n today’s talent acquisition world, every business needs highperforming executives to move their business to the next horizon.

Invenias is a fast growth software provider, specializing in cloud-based technology for executive search and strategic recruitment firms, in-house executive recruitment teams, and executive talent organizations within Private Equity and Venture Capital firms. Based in Reading, United Kingdom, Invenias operates throughout the US, Asia, EMEA with 65 employees. Invenias has over 750 customers worldwide, with users in 60 different countries.

Whilst at Erevena, David looked at the existing software serving the search market and was uninspired, unable to

56 | April 2016

This led to the specification of a bespoke solution that was fully integrated with Outlook, with the server based in the cloud, and Invenias was launched in 2005, to offer this solution to the wider market. In 2013, Invenias took institutional investment from MMC Ventures to fund international expansion and development. Today, the Invenias platform offers a suite of desktop and mobile apps which allow search professionals to digitally engage with their candidates and clients, at the same time having the capability to access their data whilst on the move.

data, both in terms of access and quality. The productivity of search teams working seamlessly within the familiar environment of Outlook is increased dramatically. It means they can carry out more searches, in quicker

“Invenias...Discover...

Better delivery..Better relationships..Better results” time, ultimately increasing the profitability of the company.

Invenias’ satisfied clients’ views: “Invenias enhanced significantly the productivity of our search process, while optimizing our efforts bringing further and faster results.”- Stephen Stott, CEO, Stott and May

“We have confidence that the Invenias platform, and the Invenias team will Invenias’ Simple, Intuitive and Easy ensure that we can continue to adapt to to Use Products the constantly changing world around Invenias’ products are elegantly us.”Magnus Tegborg, CEO, Harvey simple, intuitive and easy to use - and Nash Executive Search/Alumni change the way search professionals do business. The company prides itself on “It is important to us that we work with constant innovation, with regular updates and support all included in the a vendor that has good market traction and an impressive install base”- Seth monthly license cost. Invenias’ Harris, Partner, ON Partners customers love the easy to use desktop and mobile apps, and the cloud-based Invenias is rapidly expanding in the platform which reduces complexity US, with the team growing by 50% in and cost. The Invenias platform has 2016. The market for in-house been chosen by leading global search firms such as Amrop UK, Harvey Nash executive search is also expanding and will become an increasingly large part Executive Search, ON Partners and of the customer base, with executive Sheffield Haworth. search teams at companies such as Royal Bank of Canada, Weetabix, TUI Invenias’ clients benefits from real Travel and Tesla Motors all using insights and timely access to their data, Invenias to run their business. with efficiencies derived from better

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

KOPIS: Sword For Cutting Complicated Problems

Andrew Kurtz Founder & CEO

Andrew Kurtz, Founder & CEO of Kopis, had a desire to start his own business. At the age of 23, he started his first business in which he was a partner in a process control integration firm. While working there, he started providing PC-based software solutions.

In 1999, he sold out that company and started ProActive Technology (Kopis) with 2 employees.

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OPIS, as it is in their name, they cut through complex problems. Based in South Carolina, Kopis is a consultative custom software development firm, specialized in helping companies cut through their complex problems using software. They are the perfect example of a company that constantly challenges the status quo and seeks to expand its skill set. Their agile methodologies help them create customized solutions for advanced industries. Today, Kopis is one of the top most promising .NET development solution providers in the nation, recently the recipient of several national awards.

Andrew Kurtz graduated in accounting from Furman University. He received his CPA certificate and worked for Price Waterhouse. Later in 1996, he joined Vigilix technology and from there, it has evolved into a platform for creating solutions for remote management, including monitoring, remote control, off site backup and more. His focus has never been the technology, but instead, the problem to be solved and the simplest way to solve it.

Kopis is dedicated to helping transform processes and systems, providing efficient one-of-a-kind solutions that solve current needs and anticipates future ones. Kopis’ focus is on solving right problem, and not doing whatever it takes to “make the sale”. For Kopis, “Do the right thing” has always been one of their primary core values.

Facilitating Proficient Services Kopis services include: Custom Application Development, Business Intelligence, Power BI, Mobile Application Development, Big Data Solutions, SharePoint Development & Administration, SQL & SharePoint Managed Services, Strategic Corporate Technology Consulting, Database Administration Services, and many more.

into their data to make better, quicker decisions.

Kopis is experiencing the growth that enables them to work with more clients on more exciting and complex problems. Despite having the best talent in the industry, they are

“We cut to the heart of complex challenges with custom software solutions” continuing to maintain their commitment of being accessible and easy to work with. Kopis’ most satisfied customers include -DEEL Media, Metromont, Lucas Systems, naming a few.

Leaning Towards Future Kopis is expanding into additional markets and their disruptive technology will become accessible to more businesses that challenges the way they think about solving problems.

Kopis provides services for clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to successful start-ups, and for every project, they assemble the most talented Business Analysts, Project Managers, Senior Software Engineers, Developers, and Quality Assurance Analysts available anywhere.

They believe that for an organization, Committed to provide a better quality software can be the most important of life for their team including offering strategic asset. They help clients, a significantly higher per employee figuring out how and where their wage, Kopis has attracted and retained business can scale, and help them re some of the region’s best talent by imagine various ways to leverage software to meet objectives. To remove encouraging a balanced lifestyle, and providing a rewarding and familythe obstacles in front of their greatest friendly work environment in the heart goals, they provide greater efficiency and profitability with greater visibility of downtown Greenville, SC. 57 | April 2016

CXO Standpoint

Business Applications for Virtual and Mixed Reality

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irtual and Mixed Reality technologies are stirring up quite a bit of excitement these days. Many investment firms and analysts say that Virtual Reality is the next big tech revolution after mobile, and predictions for the industry’s growth ranges from $70B to $150B by 2020.

Virtual Reality (VR) refers to a completely immersed experience where you can’t see or interact with the world around you. It typically doesn’t let you interact with others, though some social experiences are now being developed for VR. Mixed Reality (MR) are experiences that let you place virtual content on top of the real world and interact with it as though it were a tangible object, creating a blend of the physical and digital world.

Traditionally, the development of these technologies has been driven by military and training applications.

More recently, VR and MR is gaining attention from various industries and it is an exciting time for companies and organizations that are looking for an opportunity to translate business solutions into an immersive media format. New applications are surfacing across an array of verticals: • Healthcare: Today, doctors often carry paperwork and consult charts in order to assess their patients. With MR, 58 | April 2016

William Lai Co-founder & President 8ninths

physicians and nurses could access this information digitally and hands-free, allowing them to share it with fellow staff or even consult doctors across the country.

• Education: With VR, complex systems could be visualized in three dimensions. Teachers can use virtual displays to show students how blood flows through the heart or take students on a field trip to a South American rainforest. VR could also allow realistic, complex training simulations that take minimal resources to create.

• Engineering: There are numerous potential applications for MR and VR in engineering, especially with remote collaboration. Oil rigs, for example, require constant monitoring, but it’s

not always possible to assign expert technicians to every location. Equipped with an MR headset, a maintenance worker could be instructed by someone on the other side of the world to conduct repairs properly. Architectural and design projects could also benefit from MR where multiple people could manipulate and shape objects within a shared environment.

As new technologies, VR and MR require a different approach. For any company who wishes to incorporate these new technologies into their processes, the following considerations are important to keep in mind:

CXO Standpoint

Comfort and Safety Most VR platforms require you to wear something on your face. This is a very intimate way to connect to technology compared to what most people are used to, which is a screen they can keep at a distance. Thus, ensuring a comfortable, enjoyable VR experience is important for your comfort and safety.

VR and MR Do Not Replace Existing Workflows It can be tempting to consider VR a quick solution to problem solving.

However, it’s important to remember that VR and MR are not about replacing existing workflows, but enhancing them. Companies should carefully consider their workflows and identify where MR or VR can be added as a discrete, important part of the workflow.

Choosing the Right Agency to Work With Designing for VR and MR is not a simple task. It's unlike any other popular software design from the last 20-30 years and requires an unusual skillset. Designers must think about the logistics of creating a 3D object; adding different behaviors and interactions to it that match people’s expectations of how the object would behave in the real world; and finally adding in digital properties such as the ability to resize, annotate, and transform it. In this environment, drawing on a combination of skills in gaming and cinema are key in conjunction with the ability to apply these skillsets to enterprise business problem solving.

Right now people are focused on

moving from web to mobile, but the big question is whether VR technology will become as commonplace as smartphones. Broader adoption will probably come in the next three to five years, driven primarily by the entertainment and media landscape.

This means that finding ways to effectively integrate VR and AR into a business and operations context will require creativity to design solutions and a willingness to experiment.

VR represents a real opportunity to improve the quality of human experience in two ways. First, integrating it into highly visual and hands-on remote collaboration processes can be a multiplier for human productivity. It can remove the need to be physically present, but offers more direct interactivity than teleconferencing or email. By improving the efficiency of communicating information, it can reduce time spent on extraneous workflow and processes.

Second, VR and MR can be used to help people understand complex data in an intuitive way. Imagine if FedEx could visualize all of its operations around the world, and how quickly they could identify areas for improvement for transportation and logistics.

Adam Sheppard Co-founder & CEO 8ninths

This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as Virtual and Mixed Reality is concerned. Over the next few years, VR and MR will continue to evolve, changing the landscape of digital media as it finds its way into the hands of more and more users. To remain innovative and relevant to their consumers, companies should pay close attention to this space and begin exploring its potential to benefit their business today.

59 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Litéra: Groundbreaking Solutions in Content Lifecycle Management

Paul Domnick President

Paul Domnick joined the Litéra® board in 2013. In 2014, he became the President of Litéra Corp. Domnick has special knowledge about the utility of Litéra® software products in managing risks in law firms and in financial services.

Deepak Massand (1951- 2015) founded Litéra® in 2001. Pursuing his vision of solving the business productivity problem via collaboration, he led the company to its current status as the global leader in content lifecycle and risk management with solutions for secure document creation, collaboration, comparison, control and cleaning. Under Massand, Litéra® gained 15 patents in the content lifecycle space.

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t the core of every business lies document creation, collaboration, review and production. Documents are the currency of business; content defines such currency and gives it its value.

However, content is subject to artificial barriers affecting the document creation, sharing, collaboration, mobility and security. For a business to prosper, these barriers must be overcome.

60 | April 2016

For this a better way exists, and it is pioneered by Litéra®, the innovative leader in content lifecycle management. They offer a comprehensive solution set that document control businesses want, without sacrificing the mobility and productivity they need, and their employees demand. In the process, content creation and production becomes more efficient, saving an organization time and money.

Litéra® has won many awards in the content risk and productivity management space, including: a Gartner Cool Vendor Award, being named a Top 100 Microsoft Solution Provider, and an ILTA Vendor Thought Leader Award winner, among others. Of the AmLaw 200 law firms, 65% use Litéra® solutions.

ensuring that there are no additional steps for users to complete to get full protection.

Litéra Secure File Transfer® works by allowing attachments of any size to be sent from Microsoft Outlook and encrypts them to ensure secure delivery. Hitting “Send” does it all.

“We help you get the job done, on any device, anywhere”

EFSS (Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing) platform Litéra SYNC® allows organizations to share files internally and with 3rd parties, without Content Confidence® is the goal, any reliance on a cloud provider. For ambition and passion of Litéra®; those comfortable with cloud file through the Litéra Anywhere™ Suite, sharing, Litéra EKTA™ - their cloud they provide tools to protect reputation, broker application - provides audited manage risk and increase productivity, integrated access to over a dozen cloud helping you get the job done, on any repositories and DMS’s. Both of these device, anywhere. Litéra® helps to products work on any device, secure your documents throughout the anywhere. creative process without compromising mobility or productivity.

Litéra IDS® allows simultaneous document co-authoring, while The Innova™ application by Litéra®, Change-Pro® - one of the unique offers convenient templates and applications of its kind in the automation for document creation and marketplace - features patented consistency, allowing for the reuse of document comparison technology. best content. Content Hub™ allows the simple extraction, approval, storage Since professionals everywhere are and reuse of the best content in an working with tablets and smart phones, organization. mobility without security is not a viable solution. Litéra® products Server-based Metadact®e cleans provide users with the same tools they metadata from all Microsoft Office, use in the office wherever they may be PDF, images and ZIP files on regardless of device.

Microsoft® Outlook, webmail and mobile data devices. It integrates seamlessly into Microsoft Outlook,

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Managed Solution: The Services Provider that ‘manages’ Microsoft Problems Expertly!

Sean Ferrel Founder & CEO

Recognizing the need for consultative IT services and with little funds, Sean Ferrel, Founder and CEO of Managed Solution, and his loyal band of merry men founded the company in 2002 right after Sean had graduated from the University of San Diego.

Sean’s ‘magic’ was evident from the very beginning as in 3 years the company was showered in accolades!

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anaged Solution was established in 2002, emerging as San Diego’s 40 fastest growing companies and ranked 27th as fastest growing IT company in the Southern California region. It is recognized as the top 10 National Cloud Service Providers. Optimizing their existing resources, clients can put more focus on strategic IT projects while, simultaneously, Managed Solution can provide quality support through an award winning US based, Southern California Help Desk. It is a versatile player, having a manpower that holds Microsoft Gold competencies in Server Platform, Communications, Devices and Deployment, Management and

retain and drive great culture in our Virtualization, Midmarket Solution business.” The firm believes in Provider and Silver in Messaging, Identity and Access, OEM and hosting. nurturing goodwill by investing both financially and ethically in society. The main thing is organically growing Full Fledged Consulting Assistance solution service offerings and an With experience in TEKsystems, and outstanding client support. The vision an intention of giving consulting of Managed Solution seems to be assistance on an hourly basis, Sean based the services on Unified “Our goal is to be a Communications, Cloud Computing, and Mobile workspace. Some mentions clear industry leader of the company are in ‘San Diego in Hybrid and Total Business Journal’s list of Fastest Growing Private Companies’ for 3 Cloud Business consecutive years and in the ‘2010 Solutions.”

CRN Fast Growth List’. Some partnerships with Microsoft Solution continuous improvement. Sean vendors include Microsoft North explains, “Our mission is simple yet American Service Provider, Microsoft complete, we bring together a large Cloud Service Provider and Microsoft pool of amazing individuals who share Managed Gold Partner, Cisco Silver the same core value internally with our Partner, Riverbed Certified Partner, teams as well as our customers.”

Frontline Partner, and a Fortinet Certified Security Partner. Sean is a Best as a managed service provider featured speaker in many live seminars Since Cloud workload has been more and teleconferences and an active prevalent in the waters of big fish like member of many outside organizations Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, these like Vistage International, American fish will provide a platform for Institute of Technology Professionals, Managed Services providers to thrive.

Just In Time for Foster Youth, and Sean stresses, “The key to success will USD Alumni Board. understand ongoing utility cost models that provide forward thinking strategies “Further than most but better than for businesses of the future. the rest” Sean stresses that the firm is so much We are currently building a channel more than just outsourced IT. He says, partnership with many MSP’s and “No other MSP can come close to the other vendors nationally to provide investments we make in our customers, more of a group purchasing meaning more resources, more organization type look and feel for our productivity and an awesome ROI for customers.” customers when they choose Managed Solution”.

According to Sean, looking towards Hybrid and Total Cloud Business Regarding challenges in the near Solutions, today, Managed Solution future, “The largest threat to our sees the dawn of a very bright Sun business over the next three years will indeed! be resourcing and our ability to hire, 61 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Singletree Technologies: Trailblazing the PLM Domain “We strive for configuration over customization in everything we do.

Intellimas for example, is configured from the ground up, very quickly, for each client.”

Shane Walters Founder & CEO

With professional expertise and ten years of experience in product development IT systems, Shane Walters, Founder & CEO and “Captain of the Ship” inaugurated Singletree Technologies in 2001, after seeing the need and opportunity for add-on functions to existing PDM applications. He started in the apparel industry straight out of college with a Business Administration degree, and an emphasis in Computer Science. His first assignment was to work on a database application for the apparel product development domain of the business.

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arching on with a mission to provide efficient and innovative software products, Singletree Technologies provides high-quality software products and consultancy services to address business challenges, increase value and improve the Product Lifecycle. Their products are helping clients to manage complex, crossfunctional processes, coordinating the efforts of distributed teams to consistently function with efficiency.

62 | April 2016

Singletree realizes that, to outperform the competition, customers must optimize the software development or vendor selection methods that will deliver on their business initiatives and strategic goals. And to accomplish this, enterprises need the right technology and tools which will allow them to improve operations. Keeping that in mind the company has strived to resuscitate PLM implementations with emphasis on usability and flexibility.

Shane further added, “from a software standpoint, we provide solutions that fill the gaps that enterprise systems leave behind. Intellimas is our flagship software and has the look and feel of a spreadsheet, but is a strategic solution, with a back end database and comprehensive configuration engine.”

Singletree solutions are tailored to each customer instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.

corporations are trusting us to deliver our promise.” He adds, “Intellimas’ new single page architecture will be released this summer which will give browser users the same capability and ease-of-use as our Windows client. In

“Provide customers with the best front-end experience possible across many different business processes.” the near future, Intellimas will also connect to more PLM/ERP systems via standard web API’s.”

Customer’s objectives and interests are invariably at the forefront of everything Singletree does. Their clients gain speed to market almost immediately after the implementation because they can input data faster than virtually any other enterprise system.

Shane says, “If Intellimas is replacing spreadsheets, customers receive an The company’s biggest challenge was sales and distribution. In the beginning, application for which they can write endless standard reports, and they can Shane was a one man show. Luckily, now manage the business by exception, he came to work with a larger so they are working smarter. Also, with technology company who started to Intellimas, our customers quickly resell his software. So the core value respond to changing business that he instilled in this business, which requirements without asking for is ingrained in the company to this day, customizations or development from is to always be open to other ideas and us.

The best gauge of how our product new ways of working to grow the is doing at a client site is when they business. ask us to solve more business problems. This happens most of the While throwing some light on the upcoming releases, Shane shares, “the time with our customers.” future looks bright and exciting for us mainly because more clients and large

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Team Technology: A Full Suite of IT Consulting, Business Solutions & Stafng Services for SMB’s High Quality & Value-Added Services offered Team Technology provides a full suite of IT consulting, support and staffing services, specialized for small and midmarket companies.

Steve Olp President & CEO

Steve Olp, President & CEO of Team Technology is a seasoned IT strategist and business leader with a broad background in a variety of business roles ranging across Executive Management, IT, Operations, Customer Service, Quality, Environment and Safety. He has more than 30 years of practical experience, and now assists small and mid-sized businesses to achieve world-class performance by ensuring the right technology is married to the right business plan.

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edicated to the values of Teamwork, Openness, Trust, Transparency, and Collaboration, Team Technology aims to help small and mid-sized businesses capture and leverage the benefits of enterprise-grade tools and capabilities at SMB-friendly prices. TEAM’s services range from developing the right IT strategy that supports the client’s business plan, and extends all the way through implementing and supporting IT solutions, as well as finding the right people to support the client’s needs.

Team Technology has been working with their developers and with Microsoft to better integrate Microsoft products. As a result, TEAM can now deliver business operations platforms which function as a singular package and can provide full ERP, CRM and Office functionality on the world’s most secure cloud platform.

Team Technology’s flagship product, Business365®, is that complete business platform which provides a comprehensive and secure accounting, resource, inventory, sales, invoicing and operations management system. It is based on key Microsoft products including Office 365, Dynamics NAV (ERP), CRM Online, Power BI and the Enterprise Mobility Suite.

Expert team, specialized in full IT strategy development Experts at Team Technology are specialized in IT strategy development.

TEAM initially takes the time to fully understand clients’ business and their needs. Next they identify improvement opportunities and only then do they recommend the right technology solutions that will catapult a client’s business forward.

TEAM’s experts are able to support virtually every Microsoft product.

Additionally, they provide IT support services all the way from architecture design, to network and server installation, to business software as well as ongoing IT support and

maintenance.

TEAM’s mission is to become the SMB IT Partner of Choice for companies that want to embrace technology and leverage IT to its fullest advantage.

“Our clients frequently tell us that our business solutions demonstrate how well we understand their business and their needs” Steve says, “Our clients have experienced numerous issues with Digital & Cyber Security, PII, PCI, HIPAA, and other technology challenges. We have helped resolve those quickly and efficiently. It is not uncommon for us to identify technology risks and to resolve them prior to our clients experiencing any losses or downtime. We have typically been able to reduce IT costs by 2550%, while at the same time, increasing clients’ capabilities.”

With a strong foundation in Microsoft technologies, coupled with significant real-world experience, TEAM is able to help SMB’s leverage technology in an efficient way that reduces their risk, while at the same time, improves their agility, profitability, and scalability.

Many SMB’s haven’t been able to afford the up-front costs or to take full advantage of what today’s technologies offer, but with TEAM’s new Business365® offering, that up-front cost can be virtually eliminated from the equation, leaving a simple, predictable and affordable monthly cost.

63 | April 2016

Business Spotlight

Microsoft Acquisitions: Present and Future

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ergers and acquisitions help companies for growth and expansion, and to set their footprints in multiple industries and geographies, which in turn ensures that they stay on the top. It is significant to explore multiple functionalities and domain where different kind of calculated risks are involved. According to the definition, to seek effective control over the assets and management of the corporate without any combination of both of them can be termed as an acquisition.

Acquisitions aim at the optimum utilization of all available resources, resulting in achievement of synergies in multiple areas, achieving economies of scale, forming strong talent base, installing an integrated R&D platform and ultimately improving the profitability.

From last 30 years, Microsoft has acquired nearly 200 companies now.

And more than twenty of them are from January 2015. As a matter of fact, many will have to put efforts in improvement of Microsoft’s current Azure and Office 365 cloud offerings. Clearly, Microsoft’s intentions of acquiring these companies are to enhance their own products.

Naturally, the purpose behind each acquisition is different. Here are some notable examples which grabbed the attention of the industry.

VoloMetrix: The VoloMetrix is a well-known company in people analytics for the enterprise. They are influenced by the way businesses operate and drive better results. Their technology will work with Office 365’s Graph and Delve Analytics, appearing on dashboards with the actionable metrics of how people are using time, and analyzing employee behavior with the goal of constant improvement of it.

Equivio: Equivio develops text analysis software for e-discovery. They are the provider of machine learning technologies for e-discovery.

Microsoft's email compliance options need an information governance.

64 | April 2016

Business Spotlight

Hence, when integrated with Exchange Online, Equivio’s tech will help users explore huge and unstructured sets of data to find relevant parts effectively.

helping large enterprises to filter through their hordes and oceans of in-house data. Microsoft has acquired Metanautix to help their customers connect data for business insights.

Adallom: Adallom secures enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) application usage, audits user activities, and protects workforces and digital assets from threats in real time. They offer an access-security broker for other services, like Office 365, Salesforce, Box, and Dropbox. Nowadays each firm is investing heavily to strengthen its reputation and capabilities around security.

TouchType: TouchType Limited, well known in industry as SwiftKey, has developed keyboard applications providing text predictions. It offers SwiftKey, a next-word prediction and auto-correction software based on the context and meaning of user’s sentences on mobile devices.

Secure Islands: Secure Islands Technologies is a company that develops advanced and innovative Information Protection and Control (IPC) solutions, incorporating intelligent and patented data-centric security technology.

They offer an advanced policy-based data classification and information protection, to be used in Azure and Office 365.

Revolution Analytics: Revolution Analytics focuses on R, an internationally popular programming language for statistical computing and predictive analysis. Microsoft plans to build R into SQL Server and Azure, among other uses.

Metanautix: Metanautix is a firm which specializes in

Solair: Solair produces IoT solutions that help enterprises to track their products, capture data to determine maintenance schedules, resupply requirements for consumables, meter for calculating fees, etc. These sensors become part of the product design and Solair works with enterprises during the integration process.

Talko: Talko builds software and services for communications as well as social productivity, while focused on new usage scenarios enabled by cloudconnected mobile devices. They are currently in pre-release product development.

Incent Games : Incent Games’ primary product is, wellknown FantasySalesTeam, which is developed to improve CRM adoption. Microsoft's plans for integration of

65 | April 2016

Business Spotlight

FantasySalesTeam are for its own Dynamics CRM product line. Furthermore, Microsoft plans to look into other areas where it can integrate FantasySalesTeam, and will continue to support non-Microsoft CRM platforms with those offerings.

Microsoft made these acquisitions in the tech-industry in 2015 to pursue their mobile-first, cloud-first strategy. As the industry is reshaping itself with new technologies like IoT, Microsoft is aggressively acquiring companies in the cloud, mobile app, and unified communications spaces to be able to get more options for revenue growth.

followed by Google, which made sixteen transactions in the year 2015. The report on these acquisitions further stated that since 2011, tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter, and Yahoo have made more than twenty three acquisitions that were each more than $1 billion.

Tech players like Microsoft are aggressively looking forward to growth. Even though Amazon uninterruptedly rules the cloud, Microsoft was the one who achieved the highest growth in the cloud space in 2015.

The field of Unified Communications is seeing a rapid According to studies, Microsoft made the most mergers and growth since last few years. Innovations in mobile apps and globally increased connectivity are the factors that are acquisitions in 2015 under the guidance of Satya Nadella, expected to drive growth in the UC space. Startups like CEO. They made 18 acquisitions in 2015, which is considerably a high number as compared to ten acquisitions Talko, which provides real-time messaging, show foresightedness. And focusing on these, Microsoft is in 2014. preparing itself to reach the upcoming milestones.

On the second place comes Google. Microsoft was 66 | April 2016

Mr. Nikhil Desai received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World HRD Congress 2016

Under our Director, Nikhil Desai’s leadership, The Centre For Excellence has been honored in the list of the 50 Most Valuable Consultant Companies.

Nikhil Desai has completed 25 years as an International Speaker, Motivator & Trainer Nikhil has conducted programs in various countries including India, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, U.A.E & U.S.A. For inquiries regarding motivational sessions & 120 in-house training programs conducted by The Centre For Excellence kindly call or email us.

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50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

TranSigma: Transforming Business Process for th the 4 Industrial Revolution optimize complex business processes for clients. The firm’s change management and program management expertise is then utilized to execute those changes. Specialized in-house skills such as IT, finance, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, banking and enterprise data management, are fully integrated into its service delivery teams.

Kevin Hanrahan Chairman of Board of Directors & CEO

Kevin Hanrahan, Chairman of Board of Directors & CEO, having over 30 years leadership experience in management consulting and industry, Kevin leads the strategic and financial areas of the firm. He has specialized in process optimization; particularly in finance departments and information technology.

He is a Master Black Belt, certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Public Accountant (CPA-inactive), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP). Kevin is a member of Financial Executives International (Manhattan Chapter), the Ohio Society of CPA’s, American Institute of CPA’s, Information Systems Audit and Control Association and the Project Management Institute. Kevin graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Accounting and received his Masters in Finance/Tax from Xavier University.

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rocess is the center of TranSigma’s universe. It uses Lean Six Sigma, digitization and domain expertise to re-design and

68 | April 2016

TranSigma has successfully designed and led process transformations across many areas of business including; Information Technology and Digitization, Business Process Management and Workflow, Finance, Capital Markets, Legal, Cybersecurity and Risk, Enterprise Data, Portfolio and Program, Management Office, Manufacturing, Commercialization, Marketing, Product Life Cycle, and Supply Chain.

begins and ends with people: its staff and clients. In the final analysis, it can do nothing better for clients than to hire and develop the most brilliant professionals in its field. The best professionals will yield the best outcomes for its clients, every time.”

TranSigma was founded in 2005 by Michael Cohen, President. He is a quality oriented technology leader with over 20 years of experience. He has held various leadership roles for large matrix organizations such as General Electric, Oracle Corporation, Information Resources, and Black & Decker. Michael achieved Six Sigma Black Belt certification in 2004 from GE. He attended Central Connecticut State University and in 1987 graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems.

TranSigma’s satisfied customers views:

Deep Understanding of Business Problem Their approach starts with a deep understanding of the business problem.

With a thorough understanding of their client’s business, they will customize a program that applies world-class techniques and gets measurable results.

“TranSigma is a thought and people leader that mixes great concepts and a vision with the ability to get things done.” - IT Director, Fortune 100 Company

“TranSigma has been incredibly successful with its cybersecurityThough it serves clients of all sizes and process expertise. What really sets them apart is the change management industries, the lion’s share of the ability to bring the company together.” company’s revenues are from - CIO, Fortune 500 company management consulting services to complex global Fortune 500 “Hands down better than the Big Four companies. Due to its highly in the ability to execute” - Legal experienced engagement teams and Leader, Fortune 500 approach, TranSigma can “hit the ground running”, integrate into a complex environment, re-design a “During the course of data governance process and execute the changes. services, developed an outstanding tool that allowed us to visualize and manage data lineage for BCBS - 239 Kevin Hanrahan diligently shares, purposes.” - Finance Executive, “Even with the sophisticated digital Financial Services. advances that TranSigma has in its toolset, management consulting still

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

TransVault: Proven Email Archive and PST Migration Solutions

Barney Haye Co-founder & CEO

Barney Haye, Co-founder & CEO of TransVault, leads the business with a collaborative spirit, keen focus on partner and customer satisfaction, and a passion for advancing data migration. He was instrumental in establishing the archive migration market, as well as championing the ability to drive channel community opportunity by applying professional services to the migration of legacy email. Today, Haye continues to oversee and participate in sales calls and partner briefings, so his team can frequently call on his demonstrable experience gained from being at the helm for a decade.

T

he most successful enterprises manage data as their strategic asset. They have complete visibility across operations and interactions with business partners, customers, and other stakeholders. But when businesses encounter technological change brought on by a merger or acquisition, a planned shift to the Cloud, or the obsolescence of their archive or storage solution, they turn to TransVault Software to preserve the accessibility of their business records. Since 2007 TransVault has led the market with its highly specialized email archive migration solutions for the enterprise.

Over 1,200 customers from around the world have relied on the TransVault architecture to protect the integrity of their valuable legacy email data, ensuring chain-of-custody, faultless eDiscovery and seamless user accessibility-no matter the complexity of the migration, nor the archive platform. TransVault continues to achieve year-over-year growth and its products have become the preferred archive migration solution for global customers in all verticals, especially those with a heavy dependency on data sanctity and regulatory practices.

Guarding the Availability and Integrity of Email Archives With TransVault, companies can migrate FROM virtually all archiving platforms TO virtually all archiving platforms - Veritas Enterprise Vault (formerly Symantec), Microsoft Exchange or Office 365 are just some of the technologies that TransVault encounters hundreds of times a year.

Upgrading existing archives to the latest version of Enterprise Vault, or from EMC EmailXtender to EMC SourceOne (EMC chose to partner with TransVault when they wanted to conduct service upgrades for their entire customer base) are further examples of projects that TransVault excels at.

Furthermore, with TransVault, companies can manage personal archive content by locating, classifying and capturing distributed PST (Personal Storage Table) files and migrating them, or just relevant/response emails within them, to a central location. These types of files are often overlooked by enterprises, but can represent a

significant proportion of archived data and get out of hand extremely quickly if left unmanaged. TransVault’s products provide the capability to manage PST files “in-place”, or indeed filter them based on various parameters before migrating only what’s actually needed for business continuity.

“Archived or legacy data has to be maintained and managed, ensuring access and availability at a moment’s notice, no matter what archive is used - our solutions allow for this in the swiftest and most efcient manner possible by seamlessly migrating data where it’s required.”

Prior to TransVault, Barney established the European distribution channel for the ZANTAZ EAS email archiving product, and has also worked for a number of UK software houses, moving into technical consulting, product management and then later sales.

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50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Ultimate Technologies LLC: Simplifying IT An ISO 9001: 2008 Certied IT Services & Solutions Provider Servers, Database Servers, Websites, Cloud Solutions, Email Solutions, System Management Servers, Content Management, E-Security. Ultimate Technologies is also a host of other solutions, which includes storage & backup management from one place itself rather than patching up different vendors or integrators.

Noushad Mohammed Founder & CEO

Noushad Mohammed, Founder & CEO of Ultimate Technologies LLC is a seasoned IT professional & result oriented individual with great strengths and capabilities like, passion to work in excellence, strategic and tactical planning, adapt to new situations efficiently, to mention a few.

He is a founder of Ultimate Sports Academy too. Prior to this Noushad has served as an IT Technical Support Supervisor, System Admin, Programmer at Abu Dhabi Police, Technical Manager at RIME Computers and IT Manager at Uruk Engineering & Contracting.

F

ollowing an ideology that is ‘to be a consultant to the customer rather being a mere seller’, Ultimate Technologies LLC is providing solutions to its customers in specking according to the actual requirement, procuring at the best prices, country wide installation, and one of the best after sales support.

Offering best in class solutions for IT Support, Network Infrastructure, 70 | April 2016

Hardware and Software industry, Ultimate Technologies is a Microsoft Silver Partner, along with Dell, HP intel, QNAP, Fortigate, & many other Brands.

An Intelligent & Cost Effective Alternate to an in-house IT Department, Ultimate Technologies has a proven productive method which joins people, process and technology to Pioneers in providing I.T. meet high expectations of their infrastructure & solutions on various platforms, Ultimate Technologies, uses customers. technology to empower customers by providing them user- friendly solutions Noushad affirms, “Our managed that enhance their productivity, within services leverage economies of scale, expertise and automated operations budget. that add value cross organizational Noushad puts forth, “Whether you are functions and provide benefits over and above cost reduction such as higher a small and medium enterprise or a SLAs, reduced deployment times and large corporate customer with better alignment of IT functions with dispersed nationwide networks, we business goals.” understand that you require a high level of support at both pre-sales and post-sales levels which you can access With a vision, ‘to be the customer’s first choice as a provider of high through our certified engineers. You quality, reliable & affordable IT can be assured of getting a good services & solutions’, Ultimate service and support from us.”

Technologies is taking forward its mission, which is, ‘to be the leading Top-notch IT related services provider of IT services & solutions & Ultimate Technologies is qualified to to work for the success of people’. provide all IT related services customized to the requirements of their Noushad mentions, “Ultimate clients. These services include IT Technologies is an enriching Hardware & Software Support, workplace for employees to excel Networking, Data Recovery, Remote Solutions, VPN, Websites, AMC/SLA through innovation and teamwork.”

Support, IT Health Check, Telecom Solutions, Time Attendance & Access Ultimate Technologies differs from its competitors on the basis of their Control Solutions, CCTV & security expertise in customer satisfaction in a Solutions, Virtualization & Backup Solutions, WI-fi Soutions, Firewalls, IT very cost effective manner. Noushad adds, “We never force our clients to Infrastructure, GPS, Employee buy, rather we do consulting and monitoring Solutons, Manager thereby recommend our clients to Services. invest in what suits them the most with the least investment possible.”

Ultimate Technologies deal with a wide range of top players in the

Editor’s Pick

I

n today’s highly advanced world of technology, there is a catalogue of emerging competitive enterprises whose ratio of presence is increasing with their productive features day by day. Exemplifying ongoing advancements and widespread technological elevations, Microsoft is rapidly taking transformation with each passing day. As a matter of fact, it is undeniably true that today, there would be hardly someone being unaware to Microsoft. However, there are some core functionalities of Microsoft and its related products which may be unknown to those users who are unfamiliar to the information sector. Since the time of its establishment, it has dominated its presence such a way that it has become a necessitous part of all levels of

72 | April 2016

education sector and business world.

Today’s nature of high technology, has made every individual market inextricably linked to various other markets through a combination of software standards, training skills and development tools that must be able to work aggregately. Microsoft Corporation, founded in 1975, holds a strong priority in the development and production of software and its related solutions. Headquartered in Washington, Microsoft has broadly availed various operating systems and software for desktop computers.

Evidently, it’s been a long time since Microsoft started

Editor’s Pick

surpassing other companies and listed being the first choice of every business personalities. Since last few years, Microsoft has changed its figure and there is a vast change observed in its capitalization and revenue. It has happened due to the financial strength of Microsoft that allows it to buy startups and other companies. The key to the economics of networked technology of Microsoft lies in products and markets that doesn’t stand alone in today’s soaring technological markets but instead reinforce one path of innovation v/s any alternative path. Any operating system attracts software that is developed around that thereby discouraging new competition since any alternative faces not only the challenge of creating better Operating System but competing against a whole array of existing software application developed around that.

Buying Influence for Future It is matter of no surprise that Microsoft has reached a lofty height within no time of its ground work. It has framed its glorious impact over all other dominating technologies such that it holds the operating system of 94.1% of the personal computers sold on the market today. Along with its strategic stretch to the boundaries of education sector to business workstation, its varied tools like Word and Windows NT has dominated its importance in totality. However Microsoft has steadily expanded the operating systems and software applications that have contributed the business

acumen and it also sells the development tools that are used by majority of programmers involved in the industry.

Though, significance of Microsoft is conspicuous in technology and corporate world, it is playing pivotal role in technical education, forging commercial partnerships with academic as well as commercial training institutions, while expending dollars descending the training costs of computer venders and professionals in order to tie them into the Microsoft framework. Keeping an eye on the burgeoning internet standards and commerce, Microsoft has almost gripped its strong control on both the desktop and its inroads into the server market. Having confederation with banks and financial software, Microsoft is also emerging as a key player in shaping up the online system of future in finance.

Moreover, beyond software and content, Microsoft is strategizing to control the way people connect to the Internet from work and home by speeding up the internet access to anyone in the world. On other aspect, by utilizing Big Data to provide enormous solutions, its dependency has become directly proportional to its offerings. It has been also revealed that Microsoft has partnered with the Federal University of Minas Gerais, one of the largest universities of Brazil, to undertake such research that could help predict traffic jams to an hour in advance. No doubt, it would be a

73 | April 2016

Editor’s Pick

fascinating transformation in the corporate sphere if this Traffic Prediction Project is launched.

While there are number of tools and online services including Google Maps that enable drivers to track the crunch of traffic jams by the time, to accurately predict jams before it is yet to happen has yet to bear much fruit as several companies have been working on this solution from many years. Additionally, Microsoft will be embedding its Azure cloud computing platform to the test for the project, which will be mandatory for the immense processing power needed to crunch multiple terabytes of data. The success factor of Microsoft is that when it fails to create viable competitive software, its financial resources act as a pillar of support and it emerges with a vow to buy out other companies to maintain its stranglehold on the industry.

Microsoft is using its financial clout over the last few years to acquire companies, software and human assets such that its statistical data shows a vast growth in market share and capitalization in past five years. Even there is a vast change observed in their revenue since the time where it has an increment of 45% and employment of over 95,000 employees.

Microsoft has multiple tools and products through which businesses and academicians are progressing on their defined paths. For business purposes, by launching Skype in market, Microsoft acted as a distant thinker and helped businesses turn their meeting rooms into video conferencing without spending a whole of greenback. How easy it could be, was a question years ago, but after the introduction of Skype, entrepreneurs found it to be the most dominating feature of Microsoft to compact their business structure by saving precious time and acting enthusiastically in investing that for fertile productivity.

It is crystal clear that Microsoft has not remained the same Microsoft as it was supposed to be decades ago. When technology and Software had been awaiting a revolutionary change, Windows 8 stepped into the globe. After its launch, market warmly welcomed the operating system with a yawn, declining P.C. sales and general apathy. Unlike any other tool of Microsoft, MS Word has become an indispensible tool for any individual in today’s digital age.

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Either it’s about working professionals, students or an active retiree, proficiency in MS Word is supposed to be a vital skill essential in both complex business and day to day purposes. On the other hand, MS Excel serves business the tools they need to make the most of their data. Basically, Excel spreadsheets are commonly used for displaying financial information and other relevant data.

Future of Microsoft by 2020 When Microsoft had missed the boat on mobile at the time, various other companies including Apple dominated its grip in smartphones, music players and tablets with a vision to replace it. With this background of Microsoft where it was only centered to innovate in PC, there was a giant change in their work structure after the introduction of Windows. In fact, Microsoft has now become more comprehensive and inclusive towards embracing the diversity driving the next wave of personal computing. Fixing the sins of Windows 8, there have been several amendments in Windows 10 that is a value addition to the Windows world. Consequently, due to the great hammering of mobile technology, it is estimated that there will be a gradual shift in Microsoft’s foothold where its next move will define its future as a dominating business. If such transformation of Microsoft and its aim to surpass the other companies excels in the same vein, Microsoft’s future is going to rest on the Windows and its success in mobile area. So one thing is clear, Microsoft is not going to fade away, rather its future is glimmering with the brightness to overpass other technologies by 2020.

SourceEdge is an authorized Microsoft Dynamics Partner for extending Microsoft ERP and CRM solutions to meet the needs of business. SourceEdge is headquartered in Bangalore, India. We offer Product licenses and Implementation services on Microsoft Dynamics AX, NAV and CRM. TEAM ATTRIBUTES 7+ Years' Experience – Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, CRM Multi Country Implementation Experience Team of around 30+ experienced consultants on Technical and Functional Stream 100% certified on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, CRM Handled Rapid & Large Implementations Experiences in Vertical Solution Development , add-on Development

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Microsoft Dynamics AX Microsoft Dynamics NAV Microsoft Dynamics CRM The team with their past experiences on previous organizations fully managed Microsoft Dynamics Practice and done successful implementations including Successful implementation & support on Microsoft Dynamics NAV & AX to over 30+ customers in past 4-5 years Done successful implementations on the following verticals and has good knowledge on the following domain‌

keep your business going and growing with the tools you need to manage your financials, inventory, and operations

Retail Manufacturing Supply ChainOil & Gas FMCG Hospitality Food & Bewarages Achieved Positive ROI for most of the customers by ensuring business benefits out of the ERP Implementation

Upgrades of existing versions to NAV 2016 Upgrades of existing versions to AX 2012 R3 Upgrades of existing versions to CRM 2016 RTC, RDLC Custom Functionality Development on AX , NAV and CRM Online NAV & AX Integration with 3rd Party applications and CMS like Magento, Drupal Web Services Share Point BizTalk, ADCS Dot net Interoperability SSRS and SSAS Reports Education Vertical Development on NAV 2013

SourceEdge Software Technologies Pvt Ltd #3, Sahakari Vasathi Bhavan, S. Kariyappa Road, Basavanagudi, Bangalore - 560 004. INDIA. Ph: +91 08040720500, contact@sourceedge.com, www.sourceedge.com

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

VOX Network Solutions: Paramount Provider of Converged Voice & Data Solutions and Services

Mr. Scott Landis Chairman, President & CEO

Mr. Scott Landis, Chairman, President & CEO of VOX Network Solutions, has completed a B.S in business administration and marketing from San Diego State University. Prior to founding VOX, Mr. Landis worked for six years in sales and sales management at Nortel Communications Systems. In 1997, Mr. Landis co-founded United Telecom.

From 2000 to 2005, he served as the President of Telephony for NetVersant.

G

iving their best shot to help companies prosper by planning and implementing innovative technologies that accelerate business growth while protecting the bottom line, VOX Network Solutions works with the customers to increase revenue, cut costs, improve efficiencies and help them improve customer experiences.

With the values that promote empowerment, teamwork, integrity, respect and accountability, employees at VOX Network Solutions embrace the culture and values which enable them to work together to overcome roadblocks and challenges.

Perfect Blend of the Cloud, On 76 | April 2016

Premise or a Hybrid Combination A leading provider of converged voice and data solutions and services, VOX Network Solutions provide these services in the cloud, on premise or a hybrid combination. The company’s extensive knowledge and expertise uniquely positions VOX Network Solutions as a sole-source provider of advanced communication networks to businesses across a wide range of industries.

Future Mapping VOX Network Solutions is focused on becoming the most unique, progressive, customer driven company of the industry. Named one of the INC 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for six years in a row, VOX Network Solutions’ goal is to continue the hyper growth. They are excited about the growth opportunities with cloud, security, customer experience applications and managed services.

VOX Network Solutions has partnered with leading technology providers, Microsoft, Avaya and Cisco to deliver complete solutions for IP telephony, unified communications, contact centers, data networking, security, wireless and mobility.

“Our culture puts our employees rst and is based on the model of intrinsic motivation”

VOX is a Gold Communications Microsoft partner and in the short term, planning to add Gold Cloud Productivity and Silver Messaging to their portfolio.

The unique approach followed by VOX Network Solutions, helps their clients prosper by aligning technology with their business strategy. With a prescriptive process that enables VOX Network Solutions to fully understand their clients’ business objectives, they are able to help clients achieve their objectives and KPI’s by providing business process consulting, financial analysis, audits, assessments, managed services, education and adoption services.

With the vision to be the leader in communication technologies, VOX Network Solutions desires to retain the happiest employees and customers through continuous improvement driven by the integrity, passion and teamwork of their people. Their mission is to provide the highest quality and the most innovative voice and data solutions to support their customers’ business objectives by building a team of people with the integrity, intelligence and spirit capable of achieving this mission. VOX Network Solutions, is customer-driven, focusing on employee satisfaction and enhancing productivity through innovation and continuous improvement of their processes.

VOX Network Solutions’ unique value proposition to their customers, is strengthened by their strong culture and values. Employees at VOX Network Solutions have the autonomy to make a difference and to continuously improve.

Scott reflects on the future of the company saying, “VOX Network Solutions plans to grow aggressively both organically and through expansion while helping our customers prosper through a captivating and sustainable culture.”

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

WalkMe™: Microsoft Dynamics Made Easy

Dan Adika Co-founder & CEO

Dan Adika, CEO of WalkMe, cofounded WalkMe in 2011. Dan leads the WalkMe team, which currently numbers over 250 people and growing rapidly. The people who make up WalkMe come from all over the world, and bring their rich experience to make WalkMe a dynamic, exciting place to work.

WalkMe is a paradigm shift in the way that users use websites and applications successfully. While some companies do offer guided digital tours, it is only one segment of WalkMe’s comprehensive solution to use engagement and guidance. Over the years, WalkMe has been noticed by over 800 enterprises, many of them Fortune 500 companies.

Why did we choose WalkMe™ (www.walkme.com) as one of the 50 most valuable Microsoft Solution Provider companies?

Well to put it simply, WalkMe is a game-changing platform that instantly simplifies Microsoft environments, headquartered in San Francisco.

WalkMe basically invented a new standard for user experience, and its vision is to transform the world’s online user experience into one that simple, effortless, and efficient. The WalkMe Platform proactively guides users, step-by-step, to complete any online goal. Guidance is specific to each user’s preferences, including their preferred language. The platform’s value proposition is to increase onboarding and adoption rates, boost UX, reduce support costs, and improve employee productivity.

WalkMe’s context-intelligent technology increases user adoption of software like Microsoft Dynamics by providing an effortless and personalized user experience. This technology is used by customers from a wide range of industries, including leading financial institutions, retail services, travel and leading software providers. The guidance and engagement platform supports all popular browsers and does not require any download. WalkMe customers report 30%-70% reduction in support requests, 15%-51% faster training time, and double-digit increase in user satisfaction.

What is WalkMe’s mission?

Since its launch in 2012, WalkMe consistently stepped up its game to fulfill the very ambitious mission it set out to do - to transform online user experience into one that was instantly simple, effortless, and efficient.

Insights Success that: “Our customers typically report double-digit increases (even triple-digit) in Free-to-Paid conversions, double-digit increases in customer happiness and NPS (Net Promoter Score), as well as a significant growth in customer retention and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).”

Where is WalkMe going? What excites you about the future?

There are many surprises in store.

Recently WalkMe has also made a strong entry into the mobile space by enabling enterprise clients to improve customer engagement in mobile web activities. WalkMe Apps™ (www.walkmeapps.com/2016.), is a new solution solving some of the toughest challenges that independent mobile app developers face. It enables app developers to focus their attention on the development of core software while providing them with the necessary user and customer engagement tools - “applets” - to drive premium upgrades, monetization, boost user experience, reduce uninstalls, and improve app ratings.

Applets are standalone onboarding, user engagement, and monetization components that can be codelessly integrated into any app instantly.

Applets accelerate the release cycle by negating the need to code new features and then re-submit the app to the App Store or Google Play Store.

“WalkMe quickened the Microsoft Dynamics onboarding process - we no longer need someone to physically sit with the trainee for six months to make sure they learn the necessary skills for the job. WalkMe helped us create a faster training program, which provides real-time, in-work training over the course of a week.” CRM Administrator at True Blue

WalkMe’s CEO Dan Adika told 77 | April 2016

CXO Standpoint

Can Analytics Change the Way Companies Collaborate and Consume Technology?

C

an we honestly say that our professional day starts with a morning clearly with intentions as to what we should be doing, how we should be working, whom we should be working with and when should we get things done by? There is an option for all of us that is Analytics. Now, can Analytics combined with smartlyenabled collaboration tools make a difference in how we choose to spend our time?

Top teams and organizations make decisions every day on how best to achieve their goals, but do we have all of the information required to make the right decisions at the right moment? Will Big data, predictive modeling with connected devices that provide real-time insight be the next new trend to change the way we work?

Stephanie Carhee President UC Interlink

78 | April 2016

But to while it comes to save time, I honestly do not think we have mastered the art of collaboration because we still seem to be working harder and not smarter. It seems as though the technology we use works us, more than we work the technology. Why is it that we still find ourselves completing work task the same way we did back in history?

In our personal lives, we definitely have new levels of multitasking and time runs by, but in business have we really gained the most with our utmost precious valued commodity called time?

We exist in a time where information is accessible at the tap of a button. With the rise of new gadgets, apps on our iPhone and portable devices comes the influx of new “techies.” But, why then we are still stuck with unproductive tasks which no more than a waste of time? In today's world, we have Instant Messaging at our workstations and even video endpoints to connect us with anyone in the world. Still, we find people spend 50% of their time in the wasteful, ineffec-tual and uninspiring meetings, ruining their fifteen to twenty hours a week.

With all the advancements in technology, can’t this illfavored corporate pastime be executed better?

Technology Collaboration and Consumption The goal has always been to collaborate better. Access to basic information across multiple data sources coupled just in time could enable us to have insights on who we should invite to the meeting, selection of collaboration tools that yield the fastest results and meeting spaces that will generate the best outcome and highest output of participation from key team members during collaboration. For this new level of collaboration to be the most effective should the information come before you book the meeting or afterwards. At UC Interlink, we think about everyday how to enable IT services engine to yield recommendations with the right outcome, when you're ready to consume it and way before it turns into another wasteful meeting.

CXO Standpoint

With the right data sources and business intelligence, the options are prescriptive and predictive, and limitless. Imagine improving your time to market for a new product launch, having absolute focus and team alignment, via tracking behaviors of the team, while getting recommended efficiencies to keep the team working at its best.

With this platform of intelligence, the Business Leaders can target key performance metrics that enable them to devise strategies, because if you are in such a place, then results matter, gaining time matters and the behaviors of the workforce matter. Regardless of the industry or application, incorporating the use of data and analytics provides the organization the ability to move from a defensive to an offensive posture. Currently, we are working on algorithms that can think and recognize patterns, predictions and choices based on the collective knowledge.

Amazon’s Model The list of technology giants that have figured out how to solve the problem of what is best to consume when you need it is a short list with one name at the top of it; Amazon.

Amazon, attributes 40% of its revenue to recommendations the e-commerce giant makes to its customers, based on their search histories and previous purchases. For example, last week when I wanted to add lighting to my walk-in closet, I searched Amazon, not only did my Amazon search, locate the best reviewed product, it also recommended the right size Amazon batteries. This is a simple idea, but has limitless potential that can be applied to how users can consume valued IT resources within the enterprise.

used to optimize IT service delivery.

By tracking and mapping work patterns, preferences, daily activities, past beha-viors, technology usages, connected devices and networked systems; we can recommend the right tool based on the role of the worker, key performance goals, and business outcomes or even based on defined user experience strategy. This is what I call the Internet of Things (IoT) personified.

Companies have to think about how they want to spend their time and investments in software applications.

Purchasing collaboration software tools in isolation is not a silver bullet, but when combined with technology adoption expertise, user analytics and smartly-enabled devices and software, the possibilities are endless. At their core, big data solutions are designed to provide the right information, to the right person, at the right time.

The Road to Business Analytic Adoption Services My personal advice to companies is to stop wasting time and resources, stop making the same mistakes and actually challenge your technology partners to think differently about the outcomes you want. This can be achieved by creating and defining a Collaboration Strategy that will optimize how you do things and empower the best people to deliver their best work.

• Let the user experience drive your technology decisions and not the other way around.

• Understand the behaviors of every user within your workforce to identify what is working well and what can be improved to obtain a workforce transformation.

• Don’t set out on this journey using only instinct to answer tough questions; rather let the data drive your decisions coupled with experts that know your environment and how to interpret the data to achieve your key goals.

• Use the Internet of Things (IoT) as a strategy to tie unlikely data sources together to make better decision and improvements in the way you work.

• Devise a game plan based on your company’s trends, and vulnerabilities (not obvious by the naked eye) to enable your teams to work smarter and be better prepared than the competition.

• Hold your technology partners accountable to not selling you another technology service or product, rather “incentify” them to deliver an outcome that you can track and measure.

Here are some Collaboration Strategy best practices • Have intention behind every software tool, work station and conference room than can be enabled by your cloud and network capabilities.

Collaboration at Its Best This kind of business insight will change the game, reduce loss of revenue and take technology investments in collaboration software tools to new levels of value. Let’s face it, our top assets are the people with whom we work.

• Understand how all of your dipartite software collaboration tools and devices can be seamlessly connected to each other.

In the end, technologies are designed to help you work better and get things done in time or we should say save your time and compete to win!

Let’s examine how this concept can be 79 | April 2016

50

Most Valuable Microsoft Solution Provider Companies

Weston Technology Solutions: Strategically Optimizing and Protecting Your Network Infrastructure documented HIPAA-training, they are certified resellers and partners for many other products as well.

Brock McFarlane Founder & CEO

Brock McFarlane, Founder & CEO of Weston Technology Solutions, has a degree in Management Information Systems and started a career with a large engineering firm as an IT resource. While Brock enjoyed the experience and learned a lot of good lessons, he was drawn toward how he could make a bigger impact for smaller businesses that don’t have the same level of IT resources that an enterpriselevel organization does.

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ounded on the cornerstones of honesty, integrity and doing what is right for both the customer and its employees, Weston Technology Solutions has been serving the Pacific Northwest since 1994 with the core purpose of bettering the lives of others. With the offices in Anchorage, Alaska, Bend, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, Weston Technology Solutions is providing IT Support such as managed IT services, technical helpdesk support, and technology consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Weston Technology Solutions is a certified Microsoft Silver partner and they have Microsoft, Sonicwall and Cisco-certified technicians. With 80 | April 2016

their clients’ success. They make their team better in motivating, developing and empowering them. They make their community better through impactful actions and contributions.

Weston’s team of experts responds quickly to issues, covering everything from your servers and network Their clients are no longer losing sleep infrastructure to your computers and about their technology like they did workstations. Weston also provide end- before they came on board. to-end solutions for all of your “We strive to eliminate IT technology needs with Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance with the issues before they cause goal of preventing problems to expensive downtime, so minimize downtime. If problems do you the client can occur, they are ready to jump into continue to drive their action to get you back up and running business forward” as quickly as possible.

Brock put together a plan with his wife. They quit their jobs, packed what they owned in an old van and ventured to Alaska to start Weston Technology Solutions. They have been focused on providing proactive and preventative solutions and support for small and medium businesses since then.

‘Fully in charge of the Environment’ “We’re not a reactive company, and we won’t work with clients who want to work that way,” says Brock. The company wants to be fully in charge of the environment so they know about problems before their clients do, fixing them before they become an issue.

Weston is always looking back to why they are in business in the first place: To help people. By being focused around making sure they make lives better around them, it provides clarity when they hit challenges.

To Better the Lives of Others The company’s core purpose is to better the lives of others, and they take that seriously. They make their clients better by strategically leveraging resources, systems and technology for

Some of their happiest clients’ views on Weston: “We will continue to rely on Weston for our daily IT needs and when software and hardware needs to be replaced and upgraded” -James Easton (CFO, Watterson Construction Anchorage, Alaska) “We have seen a significant reduction in our downtime, giving us the ability to focus on our core business instead of our technology”- Johnita Callan (Owner, Callan Accounting Services, Bend, Oregon) “We are living in a more and more regulated society, and business owners feel that more than anybody,” says Brock. Businesses are moving more towards cloud-based solutions and are part of a more connected society.

Weston Technology Solutions is preparing themselves for that, going through requisite training and gaining more certifications including HIPAA, Microsoft, and Dell/Sonicwall training and certifications, and its team is excited for the challenges their clients may bring them.