Copyright GUICorporation 2003 - 2008
Point Blank - "We will never propose any technological solution simply
because it's the newest thing on the market; it must meet the needs of your
organization both now and in the future."
We will review your business goals and objectives, identify key personnel, processes and procedures and establish a framework to ensure your projects success.
Feel free to review our host of services, case studies, completed and pending internal projects and other links. Give us a call anytime to discuss your current or upcoming project. We're here to help you achieve success!
From time to time we may highlight a product or service that we feel may be of interest to our readers and addresses a particular need within IT, your industry or simply highlight a clients success story. This can take the form of either a write up here or a link to another site. GUICorporation does not accept any type of remuneration or fees for company endorsements and is funded only by actual client engagements. We do not track "hits" to links nor do we engage in affiliation programs. All information is provided as a free service to our readers.
#1) No Plan:
Projects need a comprehensive plan. This includes, but not limited to, solid
requirement definitions, valid timelines, resource allocations and verified risk
assessments. These are basic to all plans.
#2) No Metrics:
You must define, (upfront) how you will define a successful project plan.
Examples include "20% reduction in inventory carrying costs" or "15% reduction
in international long-distance", etc.
#3) No Buy-In:
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How we determine "ROI" (or simply
return) is largely dependent upon your role within the organization. The
VP of Sales and Marketing would use very different criteria and metrics as
opposed to that of the Chief Financial Officer. Information Technology is
capital-intensive and normally follows the lead of the CFO but can offer a
slightly different perspective. Some of the more common questions (that
can dramatically affect your return if not addressed) should include:
(top)
Hardware:
"What is the total cost of the
capital equipment being proposed? Does this include initial configuration
and assistance during the software installation that will follow?
What is the warranty and SLA (Service Level Agreement) and what remedies
will be provided should the hardware fail to meet expectations? Does the
equipment provider require "cash-up-front" or "50% deposit" arrangements or do
they offer "incremental draws" as hardware/software installation progresses with final
payment upon completion and signoff? Is it scalable (internally
upgradeable) to leverage my initial investment or do I need to (as my company
grows) replace everything?
(top)
Software: "Does the provider include an itemized list of each SW component by quantity, revision and build? Who owns the licenses? Do I have access to the source code? Do I purchase support from the reseller or directly from the original author (example: Microsoft "Software Assurance")? Are updates for "firmware" (software embedded on chips - example: Cisco IOS on routers) included in the licensing agreement or is this another subscription I need to purchase for an annual fee? Can I, later, transfer the software to more powerful desktops or servers without incurring additional licensing fees? On the subject of SLA's what is my remedy should the software not perform as advertised and who is ultimately responsible for the fix?" (top)
Announcement: GUICorporation is now a Referral Partner for "QlikView"... GUIC is pleased to enter into an agreement with QlikTech to assist in marketing the "QlikView" Business Intelligence and Analysis Suite of products! Since its introduction in 1993 QlikView has received several industry accolades as well as being recognized as one of the fastest growing BI software companies. QlikView has more than 265,000 users in 74 countries, over 6000 customers, and continues to add an average of 12 customers every day! This is possible because QlikView provides for:
#1) Fast "Concept" to "Production": Complete BI applications in hours or days vs. WEEKS and MONTHS! Proof-of-Concepts (using your companies data) can be completed in as little as 1 day!(more)
# 2) User Empowerment/Changes: Users can develop their own BI applications and (with minimal assistance from IT) publish and make available highly polished apps available company-wide! This eliminates the "IT backlog" usually associated standard BI implementations!
# 3) Associative "In-Memory" Model: With QlikTech your data is compressed (up to 90%) and uses all available physical memory to store and make available any data required for analysis. You can be assured response time will be split second regardless of whether your working with 1,000 records or 1,000,000 records!
Ok...we know it is a little "forward looking" to offer t-shirts, golf shirts, mugs, mouse pads, etc. with our logo but we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to set up a little store front on Cafepress. As is policy, we take no commissions (there is no markup) and only hope you like our services enough to pick up a Sunday golf shirt to pass on the word to others! You can check it out at:
If your an SMB looking for a one-stop shop for your marketing group to purchase "hand-outs" this is a good place to start.