By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music
is - here’s a surprise, something you’ve never seen here on First CoffeeSM
before, better be sitting down – Robert Earl Keen’s What I Really Mean:
Sage Software has been busy with the ol’
publicity mill here recently, trumpeting their Dublin deal a couple days ago
and now announcing that Yocream
International, Inc., a leading producer of frozen yogurt marketed under the
Dannon Yocream Frozen Yogurt brand, has
implemented Sage CRM to “automate sales processes and enable consistent
information sharing for its on-premises and field sales representatives,”
according to Sage officials.
Yocream also uses the Sage Accpac ERP system to manage its
general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory control and
order entry processes.
“Our biggest gain from Sage CRM is the ability to share
customer and prospect databases with all users,” explained Brad Gaylor, information
systems manager for Yocream International, Inc. “We were aiming to better
manage leads and accomplish more sales growth, which is what we are seeing as a
result of implementing Sage CRM.”
Yocream provides frozen yogurt and beverages for food service
distributors who sell to customers at convenience stores, restaurants, schools
and hospitals.
Twenty-four Yocream employees use Sage CRM, including nine
sales team members who are equipped with the Sage CRM Solo client for remote
synchronization. Field representatives use the system on wireless laptops, at
home and during travel by synchronizing prospect and customer data to the
company database whenever convenient to their schedules.
“There has been a significant increase in communication
among our sales team,” Gaylor said. “Our rep in Florida, for example, knows
what our rep in Michigan is doing without having to pick up the phone.”
Demand for front and back office applications continues to
be strong among growth-oriented small and mid-sized businesses, said Bob
Neeser, vice president of CRM sales for Sage Software.
In a related development, according to Datamonitor,
Sage has “bought non-exclusive rights to certain Timeline Inc. software patents
that automate the design of data marts and OLAP cubes, a move that will guard
against possible patent infringement lawsuits down the road.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Datamonitor says, Sage
will be provide integrated data mart capabilities within its ERP, accounting,
CRM and business intelligence products which are aimed at small and
medium-sized firms.
“Timeline, which is based in Irvine, California, is a
curious company to say the least,” the research firm writes. “Its corporate
boilerplate bills the company as a developer and marketer of patented Microsoft
Windows-based financial management reporting software… however it seems the
company also makes a fair living out of defending its patents in court, rather
than selling software.”
In 2004 the company won $1.75 million from Canadian business
intelligence firm Cognos, and has also filed successful suits against Oracle,
Sagent Technology and Clarus.
Hey, why get your hands dirty working? Just send out the
lawyers and cash the checks. In fact, in recent years Timeline’s gotten rid of
most of its actual employees and concentrates on what Datamonitor calls “its
patent portfolio.” Translation: They sue other people for a living.
Sage CEO Ron Verni said a new product, called Sage
Intelligent Reporting, will be launched in March initially to Sage’s Line 50
UK-based customers. “This will deliver true BI capability out-of-the-box for
small businesses.”
...
Municipal networks,
wireless DSL, and mobile VoIP applications are driving a
resurgence of wireless mesh technology as a way to provide low-cost broadband
access services, finds a new report from research service Unstrung Insider.
The report, titled “Wireless Mesh: From Enterprise to Metro,”
analyzes mesh architectures for outdoor citywide and neighborhood-scale
networks, with analysis of the startup and major-name vendors at the forefront
of infrastructure-grade wireless mesh systems.
According to the report, which compares data on 27 separate
wireless mesh products, including U.S. list pricing and street prices, the
infrastructure mesh market is poised for substantial growth as equipment starts
to mature and municipalities step in as “anchor tenants” to drive the business
case.
However, it’s not all upside in the wireless mesh story:
While there is a lot of interest, wireless ISPs and other network operators
interviewed for the report consistently stress the need to set realistic
performance and coverage expectations for these networks.
Among the report’s key findings:
The average list price of 27 mesh nodes surveyed in the
report is $3,750, with an average price per radio of $1,500.
Expect vendors to attack this market with aggressive pricing
in 2006; low cost two-radio nodes will be the real battleground.
A $1,000 two-radio mesh node is a possibility in 2006, as
forward pricing, unit volumes, and large municipal contracts kick in.
…
To help identify and track the whereabouts of trained personnel
responding to disasters and law enforcement emergencies, Intermec Inc., of Everett,
Wash., and Intelli-Check
Inc., of Woodbury, New York, have created an identification and
verification system that meets the
credentialing requirements of Federal Information Processing Standards 201
(FIPS 201), which requires identity verification of federal employees and
contractors.
By June 27, 2006, all those affected by Federal
credentialing requirements must comply with the ID verification process.
Additionally, by January 2008, the U.S. Government has mandated that all first
responders to national emergencies, such as the National Guard, military and
medical personnel, carry common identification cards encoded with vital
information, such as the carrier’s certifications and security clearances.
Intelli-Check software, combined with the Intermec 700, can
read and verify the carrier identity of these and many other types of ID cards.
Intelli-Check’s patented software, used with Intermec 700
mobile computers, allows immediate, on-the-spot personnel identification across
jurisdictional boundaries. The Intermec 700 rugged mobile verification handheld
can read magnetic stripe, bar code and smart card technologies within one
device.
This allows responders to read and verify the data encoded
on U.S. and Canadian driver licenses, state and provincial non-driver IDs and
military IDs.
Intelli-Check Chairman and CEO Frank Mandelbaum said his
software, used with Intermec 700 mobile devices, “ensures that users such as government
and law enforcement agencies can identify, verify and place emergency workers
immediately upon arrival at the site.”
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