Increasing productivity

Working smarter rather than harder is the key to increasing productivity. In the first of our Business Buyer's Guides, Kay Ewbank explains how computer software can help.

There is no doubt that computers have transformed our working environment beyond recognition and enabled us to carry out tasks that we could not have imagined a few decades ago. However computer technology does not automatically bring greater productivity – just consider the time taken up by email, social networking and casual browsing, which may well be of dubious value to the business. That said, with the right software, there are many ways in which computers can enhance the productivity of your organisation.

Collaboration

There are few business projects that are the work of just one person, so we collaborate in some way most of our working lives. Many people struggle by using ad-hoc techniques – emailing a document to your colleagues for revision and review, for example. However such practices have their drawbacks – the emailed document inevitably ends up in three or four versions, confusion as to which is the one to use.

Collaboration systems provide a more structured alternative by establishing a central location where documents are stored. This makes it easier to share documents and manage revisions, so allowing projects to be completed more quickly and efficiently.

You should look for software that makes it easy to share documents and information, with transparent management of revisions so there’s no doubt as to which copy is the final authorised version. You should be able to retrieve older versions where necessary, and maintain an audit trail for compliance purposes. The key to a successful collaboration system is that it is easy to learn and intuitive to use: if there are barriers to learning it, people will slip back to emailing their changes.

Both Oracle and Microsoft offer collaboration solutions that are worth examining. Oracle Collaboration Suite is based on the Oracle database while Microsoft Office SharePoint Server integrates with the Office suite. There is also Microsoft Office Groove which can be integrated with SharePoint.

Brainstorming

If more formal problem solving techniques fail to suggest a solution, a brainstorming session can provide the breakthrough you need. Traditionally, you might have brainstormed with nothing more than pen and paper to scribble down notes, starting with an initial idea and adding related ideas to form an ‘ideas map’.

MindJet MindManager Pro is a great way to map your ideas, and integrates well with
Microsoft Office 2007.Good brainstorming software retains the ability to rapidly gather ideas but brings all the advantages of using a computer. It’s easier to make changes and to move related ideas around without the entire map becoming incomprehensible. A group can share ideas even when they’re not all in the same location, and when all the ideas have been gathered, the final output can be edited into a more organised format for presentation.

The key to choosing good brainstorming software is to look for flexibility along with the ability to capture complex ideas in a simple way. Electronic brainstorming may be carried out long distance, so the ability to use the software from several locations should be another consideration. Look at how ideas are entered in the brainstorming software and how people can add connections or split a complex topic if it becomes apparent that there is a separate idea.

Mindjet MindManager is one of the best known products for brainstorming, with a simple graphical interface for capturing ideas as maps. MatchWare OpenMind also lets you create ideas maps quickly.

Workflow automation

A workflow is a way of showing a sequence of operations that need to be followed in a particular order. The actions might be designed for one person, or for a group. Workflow automation allows you to create a model that you can assess for efficiency and completeness. The model can then be used as the basis on which the tasks are carried out.

Workflow automation software improves business efficiency by making it easier to create, edit and manage workflows. Changes can be more easily incorporated and management tasks such as reporting and forecasting carried out without re-entering data.

Creating a workflow should be quick and easy – if you have to spend days entering the tasks, workers will decide it’s quicker to just get on with the job. Ideally, you want a way to see how the overall job is progressing, with feedback from the individual activities so you can see whether a particular task is completed, and whether there are any problems to be solved. A good reporting module is also important so that you can provide managers with details of progress.

Nintex Workflow 2007 lets you create workflow processes in a Web browser and integrates with SharePoint. Tasks can be delegated or escalated, and stakeholders notified of progress by email, Instant Messenger or SMS text message.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

It’s important to treat your customers well as those who feel neglected are likely to go elsewhere. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can help improve business efficiency by holding data centrally in a structured way so that everyone who deals with a customer can quickly access the relevant information, allowing them to communicate more effectively.

Maximizer Software's CRM Software

Maximizer Software's CRM solution gives your staff access to all the information
they need to make best use of your customer information.The basic requirement of CRM software is the ability to store details of your customers in a way that your employees can access. The information that is available needs to be relevant to the department or position of the employee. A salesperson needs to know different details to someone from the accounts department, for example.

A CRM system should also let you use such information in creative ways, targeting particular types of customer or helping you work out ways to increase sales in a particular sector. For example, you should be able to contact customers with renewal offers when their licences are close to expiry. You should also look for the ability to track the success of marketing and see whether you met your intended goals. Another potential use of CRM is in seeing how well you meet the needs of your customers, and working out what to change if problems occur.

Maximizer CRM is particularly popular in the small and medium business market, as is Terrasoft CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has strong integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook in particular, and strong support for mobile workers.

Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence (BI) software lets you extract information from the data gathered by your business so that you can make better business decisions. Good BI software gives you an easy way to use data that has been gathered from your corporate databases, perhaps through a data warehouse or perhaps directly from the original data.

The key to improving productivity through BI software is the ease with which the data can be analysed. Traditionally, BI software required experts to formulate the queries and create the reports, but the current trend is towards software that is more usable by everyday users, often allowing them to work in familiar office software. In addition to the ease with which it allows you to formulate questions, look for more active analysis options such as alerts if certain conditions occur and predictions on what will happen if current trends continue.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 includes BI features that are strongly integrated with Microsoft Office, while Oracle Business Intelligence Suite is part of Oracle’s Fusion range. BusinessObjects Edge is independent of any particular database.

Remote working

The notion that everyone needs to go to the office every working day is outmoded as many tasks could equally well be carried out elsewhere, whether from home, on a train or in a hotel. However anyone who’s struggled to pick up their emails from their laptop, or cursed because they forgot that vital presentation, knows that without the right software in place, remote working can be very inefficient. For successful remote working, you need to be sure that remote workers find it easy to connect to corporate resources such as email, document stores and Web portals.

However by definition the remote worker is outside organisation boundaries, both physical and electronic, so connecting should not compromise security. This means strong security on the remote computer, ideally through a combination of a physical token such as a smartcard and authentication software. It’s important that you have a way to check the security and compliance of the remote computer before it gains access to your corporate LAN, and that you can put right any problems such as out-of-date anti-virus software. Also, you need a way to lock down remote computers if they are lost or stolen.

Symantec Mobile VPN allows remote workers using Windows Mobile to connect securely and integrates with Symantec Mobile Security Suite. Alladin eToken is a USB-based smartcard device that securely stores passwords and certificates for remote connection, while DigitalPersona fingerprint readers provide biometric authentication. BeCrypt Trusted Client provides a bootable environment on an encrypted USB memory stick. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 allows remote users to communicate securely without requiring a VPN connection.

Instant Messaging

Any business that wants to be efficient needs its workers to share information effectively. Instant Messaging (IM) may have started as a way for friends to chat online, but it has evolved into a useful business tool that can facilitate communication between colleagues.

However corporate instant messaging needs to offer more than purely social contact. Ideally, your it should be part of a unified communications system, so the same details are used for phone, instant messaging and email communications, and there are ways to swap from one method to another where appropriate.

Standard instant messaging software lets you set status settings such as ‘in a meeting’, ‘busy’ or ‘be right back’. Ideally your communications software will provide the means to show ‘presence’ so that entering your status once will enable colleagues to see where you’re working, what you’re working on and potentially your skills and areas of expertise. Colleagues wanting to talk to you can then see whether it’s an appropriate time or not, and what is the best way for them to communicate with you.

Ipswitch Instant Messaging provides secure instant messaging on a message server running within the corporate firewall. Gordano GMS Instant Messenger is part of the GMS Messaging Suite, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 also includes corporate Instant Messaging.

IP telephony

IP telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) refers to the technique of using your computer and the Internet rather than traditional phone lines when making a phone call. The main benefit of this is the ability to make long distance or international phone calls for little or no cost over and above the standard cost of your Internet connection.

You need to be sure the line quality is suitable for making business calls, and that the software lets external customers make phone calls to individuals within the company, which is called Direct Inward Dialling (DID). You should also look for the ability to make conference calls, and to set up voice mail and call forwarding.

Microsoft Office Groove 2007 uses both client-server and peer-to-peer
technologies to allow secure collaboration both inside and outside the
company firewall.One benefit is that, as long as the call is VoIP to VoIP, you can ensure security by encrypting the data stream. Other benefits to look for come from the potential to integrate your phone system with other communications methods. Many VoIP systems support video as well as voice, and it is easy to have online address books, swap between instant messaging and voice, and to include and make use of presence information.

Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold VoIP Monitor is an add-on for the WhatsUp Gold network monitor and can be used to check the quality of VoIP ‘lines’. SolarWinds Orion network management software also has a VoIP module, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 includes VoIP capability.

Virtualisation

System virtualisation involves the packaging together of an operating system and applications to form a virtual machine. One or more virtual machines can be hosted on a physical server running a host operating system or Hypervisor. This is a thin layer of software that provides the basic interface with the hardware. Each virtual machine is as isolated and secure as if it were running on a separate computer.

Virtualisation makes your hardware more productive. On average only 15 per cent of the processing power of a server is used, and IT departments avoid adding extra applications to a server because of the problems of co-habitation. If you have multiple virtual machines running on a single server then their applications don’t need to interact, and you make better use of the machine.

When choosing a virtualisation solution, you want software that is easy to install and manage. Check out how easy it is to take existing configurations and migrate them to a virtual environment. A good virtualisation system will also give you the means to optimise the use of your physical computer resources.

VMWare is probably the best established provider of virtualisation software with versions available for Windows, Linux and Mac, while the VMware ESX Server runs as a server without needing a pre-installed operating system. Also worth noting is Microsoft Hyper-V, a virtualisation system that comes as part of 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 which has virtualisation support built in.

Anti-spam and Web blocking

An inbox full of spam means time wasted working through the spam in order to find valid business emails. It is much better if the spam never reaches your inbox, so a good anti-spam package can be one of the best ways to improve business productivity.

Key points to look for in an anti-spam software product start with the ability to block spam using a number of measures – black lists of known spammers, IP address blocking, and key word blocking among others. A good update service is important – spammers change their tactics regularly, and your anti-spam software needs to be updated to block the latest techniques. The ability to configure your anti-spam rules locally is another important consideration.

Another way the Web can harm business productivity is through social and private Web browsing when employees should be working. There is also the prospect of staff innocently visiting Web sites that contain spyware or viruses. Web blocking software can guard against such problems by preventing staff visiting unapproved or blocked sites.

An alternative way of managing the problem is to produce a report listing which users visited which sites. Managers can then take the appropriate action, although you need to be careful about which sites are blocked and how the information is managed. Staff must be made aware that you are using Web monitoring software and receive clear guidelines about what sites are considered inappropriate. If you intend relying on Web blocking software to avoid sites with malicious software such as spyware and viruses, the software needs to be regularly updated – many thousands of new malicious sites are launched each day.

Popular solutions include McAfee Anti-Spam 2008, CA AntiSpam for Business and Symantec Brightmail AntiSpam. Proventia Web and Mail Filter blocks both spam and inappropriate Web browsing. Sophos Web Security and Control also provides Web blocking.

KAY EWBANK

Kay is a database consultant specialising in EIS, financial analysis and GIS systems. While much of her work is based in London, being a consultant gives her the freedom to sail, travel and help out as a part-time sheep farmer

kaye@hardcopymag.com

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