Management Business Wisdom

Microsoft Business Contact Manager 2007 for Outlook is the Newest Version

A Built In Add-in For Outlook

Microsoft Business Contact Manager 2007 for Outlook is the newest version of the old standby Microsoft Contact Manager. The Business Contact Manager 2007 is a built in addition to Outlook which means no having to find it someplace and add it into Outlook as with past versions.

The Difference from Contact Manager

As opposed to the old Contact Manager, the new Business Contact Manager 2007 with the enhanced features of Office Outlook 2007 you can now do a variety of functions. Combining customer and financial data is now easier in conjunction with Office Accounting 2008. Business Contact Manager 2007 now allows you to compile mailing lists, distribute materials, and manage direct marketing campaigns so that you can track the results.

In Office Outlook 2007, Business Contact Manager 2007 allows you to consolidate, manage, delegate and follow up on tasks with projects. There is a new information dashboard with Business Contact Manager 2007 as well. Also available now with Business Contact Manager 2007, are new reporting features which allow for filtering and export capabilities to the latest version of Excel. Working offline while on your laptop or Pocket PC is easy with Business Contact Manager 2007 and allows you to synchronize the data when you get back to the office.

What Business Contact Manager 2007 does with Outlook

Office Outlook 2007, along with Business Contact Manager 2007, helps you to do many different tasks to aid with sales productivity. You can organize your contact, prospect and customer information in one place. Business Contact Manager 2007 gives you the ability to manage sales leads and opportunities throughout your sales cycle within Outlook. Business Contact Manager 2007 allows you to personalize and create direct marketing campaigns in-house with the ability to track your campaign.

The Benefits Of A Tool Connected To Outlook

When most Customer Relationship Management products have similar features it becomes difficult to distinguish between them and the effectiveness they have with Business Contact Manager 2007 within Outlook. The main concern arises when you need separate applications and databases to make a CRM product work in conjunction with Business Contact Manager 2007 and Outlook.

Since most people open up Outlook when they first get to work, and then have Outlook being the last program they close for the night, it would make since to have a tool directly connected to Business Contact Manager 2007 and Outlook. A product such as Avidian’s Prophet Contact Manager works very well in this regard as it is a direct add-in to Outlook and works alongside Business Contact Manager 2007 right in the same pane. This saves the salesperson the task of having to toggle between different applications and Business Contact Manager 2007 in the first place.

Prophet Vs. Other CRM In Use With Business Contact Manager 2007

When Prophet was developed, the people at Avidian acknowledged one major flaw of most CRM’s which was that they all operate outside of Outlook. There is even an online hosted version such as Salesforce.com which states that it is better to have a hosted solution rather than use a direct solution in line with Business Contact Manager 2007 and Outlook.

While Business Contact Manager 2007 provides a good tool for single user interface with Outlook, it is clear that other add-ins or options with CRM tools need to be available for multiple users and teams. The goal here is to increase sales and market value. With this goal in mind, many options, both online and on-site, are readily available. Business Contact Manager 2007 can provide a good start, but to effectively use Outlook you need something to use right there along side of the Business Contact Manager 2007. It is up to you how complex or how many features you wish to get.

What are the benefits to using a tool connected to Outlook (like Avidian’s Prophet) when hosted CRM solutions are available?

What are the benefits of using Prophet over a dedicated CRM software tool (ACT!, GoldMine, Maximizer, etc)?

Truthfully, most CRM products have very similar features. It is difficult to distinguish between CRM tools simply by comparing their lists of features. To be a serious player in the CRM space, vendors must master the basics of managing contacts and opportunities, sharing capabilities and running reports. Prophet and other CRM vendors offer these features and provide the capabilities businesses need.

The real differentiator is how well these solutions fit into the normal work routine or how easily individuals can adopt them. The benefit of using Prophet is that it works the way people work, right inside Outlook. If you maintain your list of contacts in Outlook, do you want to create another contact database in a separate application? If you use the Outlook calendar, do you want to maintain another calendar elsewhere? Employees are already using Outlook to manage more than half their CRM activities, so why not leverage a user interface they are already familiar with. When implementing a new system, employee adoption rates suffer the more they deviate from current practices.

Read more »

Mastering Task Management to Bolster Project Management

Do project managers truly, in all essence, manage projects? This is a rather tricky discussion as, ultimately, all project managers really do is manage a collection of simple to complex tasks. When you really analyze the matter, though, this is not something to simply be taken for granted, because it is in these tasks that all the vital actions take place and transpire.
Managing Tasks on a Project
The function of scoping, planning, controlling, managing risks, and more is all about figuring out what tasks are to be done and making sure they get done (at the right time and in the right order). But without the execution of those tasks, any upstream job function, such as the planning and so forth, are a waste of time. Getting the tasks done is what it is all about; and anyone aspiring to get into project management needs to know how to get tasks done — and how to lead others to do so.
Managing Tasks in a Department
Keeping a department going on a day to day basis involves spending time “at the edge”, or on the exception. It involves being both reactive, as processes are monitored and adjustments are needed, and it involves being proactive, as projects are undertaken to improve and advance the processes that exist within the department. Being good at managing change is being a good planner; but sound task management, at the end of the day, is where all the action that matters takes place. If the task does not require action, then there really is no need for management.
Managing Tasks in an Organization
Action in an organization is a collection of executable tasks within the organization. Making that action take place where it counts the most is the job of upper management. Understanding how to get things done, as well as what, why, when, where, and who, is what leadership is all about. All executives must be good at task management in order to perform effectively.
The Knowledge Economy and Task Management
The knowledge economy has a close relationship with task management; but, unfortunately, people often lose sight of the relationship. In the distant past, it used to be that an individual would be responsible for many tasks, and that is still true in many small businesses. For example, even today, a small proprietor of an auto body shop is usually intimately familiar with every detail of operations, from estimating and business development, to repairing auto bodies, to administration and finance. Much of the high-level-knowledge management work, because it is in one head, is simply executed.
In larger organizations, by contrast, a great deal of collective effort might be put into the process of just turning a bolt. For example, on a manufacturing production line, a worker may need to place a panel and connect it using a couple of bolts. The action of performing this task ends up being a small fraction of the total cost of completion. Behind the task, we will likely find work studies, statistical analysis, much planning and coordination, product design scenarios, and more – all culminating in someone tightening a couple of bolts. Without the tightening of those bolts by hand, all of the upstream work is for naught. Everyone working in “knowledge management” needs to recognize the ultimate goal of their efforts — maintain perspective on the main objective.
Personal Time Management and Task
It is easy to become frustrated with personal time management and, sometimes, even more frustrated with much more complex challenges. It always comes back to task management, no matter what level is being worked. For example, managing a project is simply an umbrella over a more complex set of tasks, and the only thing that really moves the project forward is the completion of those tasks. A similar statement can be made about department management or organization management.
A more complex situation, such as building a system, or building a building, proves the point. In the end, after all the planning, meeting, discussion, and thinking, what is left is a set of tasks that, if completed on time and within budget to proper quality standards, brings about a successful project. So it is simply a collection of everybody’s task lists, alignment with the strategy, and properly prioritizing and sequencing what ties together time and task management. And, in the end, it’s all about task management.

Read more »

With the Help of a Management Training Course Could You Become a Manager?

Think about the managers you’ve admired in your life. It could be some one you have had the pleasure of working with or may be some one you have admired from afar. It may be some one you met on a management training course or it could even be the trainer of the management training course as they explained real life situations they had been involved in.

It is likely that this person you are thinking of displayed certain characteristics as a manager, probably the characteristics were a mixture of getting the result they need, but also at the same time being good at managing people.

It is likely that the manager showed ability in training and developing others and was passionate about improving the team and individuals skill level by providing ongoing training courses. Perhaps they were excellent and keeping focused on the vision and being able to communicate this to the team. One attitude that most successful managers have is that of enthusiasm, it is often said in management training courses if the manager can not get enthusiastic about the team and the objectives nothing will happen.

The word approachability is also a term often used in management training courses. Today’s managers have to be approachable, and there is more to being approachable than just leaving the office door open. Integrity and keeping calm under pressure is also a characteristic of todays successful managers.

Words like creative open and honest are also used when describing successful managers. The ability to understand and show empathy to the team and individuals, as well as listen also need to be part of the ingredients needed for managers and management training courses.

Very few people will disagree that a manager must be effective and able to make decisions and I suppose if you look at the core skills of management, making decisions must be number 1 or thereabouts. However good managers are those who can listen understand question and then make the decision even if it is unpopular. Teams and individuals generally do not mind unpopular decisions as long as they feel they have been treated fairly.

The modern manager is also willing to take risks and if things don’t work out as planned they do not beat themselves up, but rather learn from the mistakes. Recognising positive behaviour is a must in management and dealing with negative behaviour in a timely manner is also important. When dealing with negative behaviour management must remember to be clear and specific and work on factual incidents. There are numerous books and management training courses that talk about the importance of feedback and it is a vital component that every successful manager must work on.

So when you look at some of the words above and relate them to the manager you admire you should see that there will be certain characteristics that the person you admire possesses. You should also see that you probably possess a certain number of these characteristics as well.

When people ask me the question what would I be like as a manager? It is difficult to answer but if you display most of the characteristics above, you are on the right track. If you could then harness them characteristics and attend successful management training courses and develop the necessary management skills to display these characteristics to achieve getting results through your team, you could be on a winner.

Read more »

Resource Management Software to Enhance Output

Project management software are used to make large complicated project tasks easier, including scheduling, cost and budget control, management, and communication. It may have several small modules to manage various component of a project and one of them is resource management software. The others can be collaboration software, quality management and documentation or administration systems software. Project Management Software programs apply knowledge, techniques, skills, and tools and thereby aid organizations in planning and controlling resources, schedules, costs, and specific requirements of a project. Resource management is the efficient and effective allocation of an organization’s resources. Such resources include financial resources, human skills, inventory, production resources, and information technology (IT).

Project Management software includes incorporated functions or graphical representation such as charts, calendars, tracking of people and budgets, scheduling, and generating of reports. Desktop applications, web-based application, personal application, single user system, collaborative system, integrated system, etc., are few common approaches to project management software. Depending upon the complexities of projects, project management tools are designed. The tool one intends to use to monitor a project must be sufficient for the complexity and size of the project.

In the arena of project management software techniques, methods, processes, and philosophies have been developed to determine the best approach for allocating resources. One aspect of this is the discussions on cross-functional versus functional resource allocation. Resource estimating and human resource management are both key elements of resource management software. Resource and comprehensive project management software are needed in order to execute and monitor a project successfully. Like all other project management software, resource management software also has tools that enable automatic functions and thereby assist the function of resource allocation to projects. As a result portfolio resource visibility including supply and demand of resources increases. Human resource management is the science of recruiting knowledgeable human beings for various projects.

There are various resource management techniques, one such being resource leveling. This technique aims to smooth the stock of resources in hand and to reduce both excess inventories and shortcomings. The various demands for different resources should be forecasted before a certain time period. Also, foreseeing the supply of the resources in the future is important. The principle is to attain 100 % utilization, which is difficult to reach and invest in resources that have stored capabilities and then unleash the capabilities as, demanded. Resource management software may significantly reduce the overall project cost and time.

Aspects of resource development and conservation are included in resource management software. Investment in resources should be retained by small additional investment so that a new capability develops that is in demand and all this at a lower investment than disposing of the current resource and replacing it with another having the demanded capability. Conservation refers to an aspect of resource management that is a set of practices in order to maintain nature’s system integrity. These kinds of resource management systems are applied on air resource management, soil conservation, forestry, wildlife management, and water resource management. This kind of resource management is called natural resource management or NRM.

Read more »

Becoming a More Effective Manager

Management has a lot to do with the desire to make things better. Since the manager’s job description is to make the company that he or she works for more efficient and successful, it is a constant strive for perfection — or the closest that you can get to perfection. For anyone who wants to become a manager, or a better manager than they already are, it’s important to recognize that management goes way beyond the confines of one’s job and title. The skills and knowledge that one uses as the manager of a company or department will help in managing one’s own life, time, and talents. To learn more about management responsibilities and how to become a better manager, read on.Get to know and understand management.One of the first steps towards becoming a better manager is to learn as much as possible about management. While taking up management in college would be a great benefit for those looking to become managers, it is not a requirement. There are many people out there who do not have a college education, but are great managers none-the-less. Their success comes from a hunger to learn about management and apply the knowledge they learn to their jobs and their lives. In truth, schools do not hold all of the knowledge about management; schools are basically just organized institutions that dispense the knowledge and seek to add to the knowledge that freely flows throughout the world.Getting to know and understand management starts with people’s willingness to seek that knowledge and understanding. Reading this article is actually a great first step to getting to know about management. The Internet has a wealth of information on almost any topic, especially those about self-improvement. Local libraries and bookstores have thousands of pages of material on management. Lectures and seminars on management are held all around the country and the world. All of these sources for management information can provide helpful and insightful pointers on how to become a manager and how to improve management skills.Know the role and responsibilities of managers.Those who take the time and effort to understand management will have an easier time getting their job as a manager done, because they understand the role of the manager and how they can maximize their efficiency. Before managers can apply their knowledge though, it is important to learn about the company, industry, or management title that they are working in or plan on working in.Managers are not required to be the perfect employee, but they are required to have a deep comprehension of every aspect of the business or department that they manage. It is only by knowing the operations, employees, schedules, plans, objectives, rules, regulations, clients, and customers of the company that a manager can begin to maximize the company’s potential. By knowing one’s roles and responsibilities as a manager, it is easier to focus one’s energy towards the job at hand.Take action and be a better manager today.Knowledge without action is practically useless. After spending the time to learn about being a better manager, it is important to put the knowledge to use. When drawing-up plans, directing people, organizing operations, or monitoring the business, managers should put to action the knowledge that they have. Part of putting one’s knowledge to action also means spending time to learn more and come up with new knowledge that can be used to be even more efficient in the role of manager. Finally, it is important for a manager to share his or her knowledge with others, in an attempt to make them better at what they do. One of the best ways of putting knowledge to use is by sharing it with others.

Read more »

Change Management In Global Project Management

A new SAP system can make a start-up plant a disaster or victory—all depending on the preparation for its implementation. The SAP is the information backbone of new plant business and project manager should approach it with a well structured project team. If implementation scope includes Financials, Sales, Distribution logistics, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Business Warehouse functionalities for multiple production lines at new plant and the majority of the users are new hires or new to the SAP, then including a Change Management team into integration team is the starting point that ensures the implementation success. What is Change Management? Change Management (CM) is an organized, systematic application of the knowledge, tools and resources. CM is responsible for developing and managing the execution of strategies and activities to support successful implementation of the project. Change Management strategies include gaining leadership support, ensuring that the business aligns organization, processes and systems, involving key constituents for understanding and acceptance; preparing, equipping and training the workforce to operate in their new roles; and aligning the workforce to support the initiative. As we can see, CM is a key for the SAP implementation, because the implementation will simplify and standardize business processes, will affect people, will change the way people conduct business and the way they get work done. How Change Management Team Structured?A typical Change Management team includes Site Coordinator, CM manager, CM Partner, Communication Specialist, Training Coordinator, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Specialist, Security Primary Person of Responsible (PPR), and a couple of trainers.  See the illustration below.What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a CM team?CM Manager is a full time role in global SAP implementation and should be on site. The role is responsible for leading CM team, communicating with Project Manager, Site Coordinator/CM partner about communication, training, KPI tracking and Security issues.Site Coordinator can be a part-time role and should be on site. This role is a “go-to” person regarding site issues for core team*, extended team**, business leadership team and site management team. The role is responsible for communicating to all appropriate parties on overall project status, issues, successes, and barriers to keep the members engaged in the project. CM Partner is from site and can be a part-time role. This role is responsible for supporting the CM Lead to execute the CM and training activities on site in local language. S/he is go-to person for extended team. Training Coordinator is a part-time role from site. This role is accountable to site management for effective SAP training, which includes business processes and SAP basics, implementation in order for the overall SAP roll-out to be successful.  Trainers are usually the existing local Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). They will be most effective if they are very familiar with the existing business processes and also have a deep understanding of SAP. They are Extended Team members from the beginning of the project and will become the workgroup Super Users after go-live. Security PPR is a shared resource and is responsible for giving SAP users adequate access to carry out the functions needed to do their job in SAP and make sure that “Sensitive” transaction codes (T-CODES) are comply with SOX control processWhat are the Key Change Management Tasks?As I mentioned earlier, CM is responsible for developing and managing the execution of strategies and activities to prepare the users to successfully utilize SAP in support of the business. To be specific, the following CM tasks need to carry out to support successful implementation of the project.Organizational Impact AssessmentThe goal of the Org Impact Assessment is to indentify personnel for critical job roles and ensure that the right workforce is adequately trained in business processes & SAP. The inputs are work streams/tracks (e.g. OTC), business processes (e.g. maintain pricing data), job functions (e.g. sales support), job roles and responsibilities (e.g. Create and change customer and/or material specific prices), name, training courses that this person needs to participate, etc. The output of the assessment is an assessment matrix.  The matrix will link to staffing plan if applicable and later the training approach.  Communication PlanThe goal of the detailed communication plan is to let all employees know what is happening in the workplace. A detailed communication plan includes communication levels (E.g. Steering Committee), audience, purpose, events and messages, content developer, sender/approver, frequency, etc. It can help to gauge the effectiveness of efforts to communicate information throughout the organization and can ensure the messages about the importance of changes are getting through.User Acceptance EventAfter completion of internal team testing, one month prior to system go-live, the Core Team and Extended Team will work together to define test scenarios that are representative of key business processes. Extended Team members & selected Super Users on will participate in site. As you imagine, how CM team organize the event is critical for core team to conduct UAE successfully, especially when the UAE has to be virtually due to the time or/and budget constraints. CM manager and integration lead should work very closely to come up with a very detailed UAE Schedule which includes names/IDs of the integrated scenarios, time needed, scheduled dates, short and long descriptions, person who conduct scenario/s, etc. The plan needs to be communicated to participants 2-3 weeks in advance and all issues will be recorded & prioritized by CM team. Issues rated as “High” or “Very High” impact will be resolved before go-live. End-user TrainingThe goal of training is to ensure user community is fully trained to operate (and understand) the SAP system for their specific job junction. The SAP training starts 3-4 weeks prior to system go-live.  The Change Management team performs training assessment, comes up with detailed training plan and monitors the quality of the training. If SAP rollout is in an region that English is not users’ mother toque, the CM team will work with local needs to provide training in the appropriate language.End-user training includes business process training to ensure that the end-users are educated on the critical business rules associated with the SAP transactions they will need to perform, and SAP basic training and SAP Delta training to ensure that the end-users are educated how to navigate through the critical transactions for their job roles and responsibilities, how to analyze data and reports generated from SAP and in problem-solving within SAP. Business process training normally is provided by super user/s from business team; SAP basic and Delta training normally is provided by members from Core Team. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) TrackingKPI is a metric that assess the effectiveness of a process. The metric will be determined during final preparation in order to track that is the system working as designed, are the people using the system correctly or bypassing the system. KPI specialist from the CM team leads this activity. Each work stream has a set of KPIs that they have to monitor on an on-going basis. Examples of KPIs are financial (budget, variances), schedule, number of late deliveries, etc. Lessons LearnedThe goal of capturing lessons learned is to identify what went well and some of the major successes, to identify the challenges and future recommendations to prevent the challenge from happening in future projects or stages, and to identify the actions required based on information documented from team. During go-live, CM manager sends out the lessons learned template to track/team leads to solicit answers. Project manager will share the lessons learned at the project closeout meeting. These are a very important set of CM activities that typically need to be done for a global SAP rollout. These activities need to be proactively managed, rather than reactively. If these activities are not done, the global project team will encounter many issues during the implementation, and will face high risk of failure. Experience suggests that it is vital to form an effective Change Management team that is supported fully by the local GM and other directors. A local Leadership Buy-in event needs to be carried out 3-6 months prior to the project kick-off. A well defined roles and responsibilities need to be clearly communicated to site management team so the CM resources from site can be allocated and committed to project.

* Core Team: consists of project team members from IT Application team who are generally full time. Daily activities include system configuration and business process documentation.

** Extended Team: are subject matter experts (SMEs), they provide functional expertise for system design and implementation.

 

Read more »

Why Study Management

You may be wondering why you need to study management. If you are an accounting major, a marketing major, or an major other than management, you may not understand how studying management may help you in your career. We can explain the value of studying management by looking at the universality of the management, the reality of work, and the rewards and challenges of being a manager.

The Universality of Management:

Just how universal is the need of management in organizations? We can say with certainty that management is needed in all types and sizes of organizations, at all organizational levels and in all organizational work areas, and in all organizations, no matter what country they are located in. This is known as the universality of management. Managers in all these settings will plan, organize, lead, and control. However this is not to say that management is done the same way. The differences in what a supervisor in a software applications testing facility at Microsoft does versus what the CEO of Microsoft does are a matter of degree and emphasis, not of function. Because both are managers, both will plan, organize, lead, and control, but how they do so will differ.

Since management is universally needed in all organizations, we have a vested interest in improving the way organizations are managed. Why? we interact with organizations every single day of our lives. Does it frustrate you when you have to spend three hours in department of motor vehicles office to get your driver\’s license renewed? Are you irritated when non of the sales persons in a department store seems interested to help you? Do you get annoyed when you call an airline three times and their sales representatives quote you three different prices for the same trip? Theses are all examples of problems created by poor management. Organizations that are well managed develop a loyal customer base, grow, and prosper. Those that are poorly managed find themselves with a declining customer base and reduced revenues. By studying management, you shall be able to recognize poor management and work to get it corrected. In addition, you shall be able to recognize good management and encourage it, whether it is in an organization with which you are simply interacting or whether it is in an organization in which you are employed.

The Reality of Work:

Another reason for studying management is the reality that for most of you, once you graduate from college and being you career, you will either manage or be managed. For those who plan on management careers, an understanding of the management process forms the foundation upon which to build your management skills. For those of you who don\’t see your self in a management position, you are still likely to have work with managers. Assuming that you will have to work for a living and recognizing that you are very likely to work in an organization, you shall probably have some managerial responsibilities even if you are not a manager. Our experience tells us that you can gain a great deal of insight into the way your boss behaves and the internal workings of organizations by studying management. Our point is that you don\’t have to aspire to be a manager to gain something valuable from a course in management.

Rewards and Challenges of Being a Manger:

We cannot leave our discussion of the value of studying management without looking at the rewards and challenges of being a manager. What does it mean to be a manager? Being a manager in today\’s dynamic work place provides many challenge. It can be a tough and often thankless job. You may have to deal with a variety of personalities and many times have to make do with limited resources. It can be a challenge to motivate works in the face of uncertainty and chaos. And managers may find it difficult to effectively blend the knowledge, skills, ambitions, and experience of a divers group of employees. Finally, as a manager, you are not in full control of your destiny. Your success typically is dependant upon others, work performance.

Despite these challenges, being a manager can be very rewarding. You are responsible for creating a work environment in which organizational members can do their work to the best of their ability and help the organization achieve its goals. In addition, as a manager, you often have the opportunity to think creatively and use your imagination. You help gather find meaning and fulfillment in their work. You get to support, coach, and nurture others and help them make good decisions. You shall get to meet and work with a variety of people-both inside and outside the organizations. Other rewards of being a manger may include receiving recognition and status in the organization and in the community. Playing a role in influencing organizational out comes, and receiving attractive compensation in the form of salaries, bonus, and stock options. Finally, organizations need good managers. Nothing greater ever happens by it self! its through the combined efforts of motivated and passionate people that organizations accomplish their goals. As a manager, you can get satisfaction from knowing that your efforts, skills and abilities are needed. Author of this article also writes articles about cost and management accounting.

Read more »

Where’S The Fit? Itil And Project Management Skill

It is always good for professionals to combine the right sets of expertise. For someone involved with IT infrastructure projects, ITIL is a great complementary certification. What I find is that often the specialty knowledge drives the PRODUCT of efforts, but the project management skills drives the PROJECT that produces the PRODUCT. On solid technical teams, that second mindset is often missing.

BackgroundWhen you get any level experience in the workplace, you realize that the world is a collection of operations and projects. We are always seeking to systematize where possible, to streamline operations, and to improve results. We are always trying to create a “business as usual”, “runs by itself” environment, although in reality the full achievement of this is elusive. For more detail go to www.positive-idea.com We are always cognizant of change in external conditions, and of the need to be proactive in changing our operations when necessary. This intersection of operations and project management, is, I believe, where ITIL and project management come together.

The IT Infrastructure Library® (ITIL®) describes a set of best practices processes for stable, high quality IT services. Project management, as a discipline, provides the capability to implement a defined change in a controlled way, so that cost, schedule, and quality of deliverable are as expected. It would seem that awareness of ITIL in an environment where it is embedded would be an input to project management. Likewise, project management is a great skill to use in implementing and continuously improving the best practices provided by ITIL.

PRINCE2 and ITILPRINCE2 and ITIL originate from a single source, the OGC (The Office of Government Commerce) in the UK. While I do not have hard core statistics, ITIL seems to be more strongly on the radar screen in the United States than PRINCE2, probably in part because the PMI PMBOK is more heavily established. But the practice of ITIL does seem to draw on PRINCE2 to an extent due to its common origins, despite the fact that a project management framework such as PMBOK can, in my opinion, be just as effective.

Both ITIL and Prince2 have a mechanism for evaluating the change or project. The Post Project Review in Prince2 is the same as the ITIL Post Implementation Review. A successful review can therefore lead to the end of the project.

Where ITIL and Project Management MeetIT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is all about providing service within the operations of IT in an organization. This includes management of the Service Lifecycle, Service Strategy,Service Design, Service Transition, and Service Operation. It also means continual improvement of the whole set of services that are in place. Management challenges within this realm include Service Desk and Incident Management, Configuration and Release Management, Service Level and Capacity Management, Problem and Change Management, Continuity and Availability Management, and Financial and Security Management.

ITIL itself, as a discipline, addresses the operations within the defined services realm. However, any changes to that services realm can and should be handled by applying a good project management discipline. The difference is that the ongoing operations will be concerned with maintaining and improving services as an in-place, as-is process. The project management discipline will be concerned with defining the beginning of an initiative, delivering the product of that initiative, and turning over the results of that effort to be incorporated into the operation before finally closing out the project.

The two disciplines are substantially different, and using the wrong one can definitely result in lower effectiveness. In the case of ITIL and Project Management, both disciplines will provide inputs the other. For example, ITIL will provide the current situation to a project. It will also provide certain procedures, such as configuration management, that must be followed within the confines of the project. The results, or “product of the project”, will become the key input to changes or improvements to be implemented within the ITIL implementation framework in the organization. The professional that understands both sides in depth will be quite valuable to the organization and will have a leg up in knowledge and credibility.

A Little about ITIL (ITIL certification, that is)ITIL certification has 3 levels: the Foundation Certificate, the Practitioner Certificate, and the Manager’s Certificate. Project Management Training Online offers ITIL training in preparation for the Foundation Certificate.

In a nutshell, here is what these 3 levels are about:

The Foundation Certificate: There are no entry requirements, and the foundation test consists of a one hour long multiple choice examination testing a candidate’s basic understanding of the principles and terminology of the IT Infrastructure Library. It is designed to provide familiarity with the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices for IT Service Management.

The Practitioner Certificates: This is aimed at those who are responsible within their organization for designing specific processes within the IT Service Management discipline, and performing the activities that belong to those processes. The Practitioner’s Certificates focus on the depth of understanding and application of those subjects, treating each subject as a specialty. Prerequisites include the Foundation certificate and mandatory attendance at an accredited training course.

http://www.positive-idea.comhttp://www.change-ur-mind.com

The Manager’s Certificate: Aimed at managers and consultants, 2 – 3 hour examinations test the practical application of the theory of ITIL, and the exam is typically preceded by a 10-day training event other assessments may also be required. Candidates must hold the Foundation certificate and mandatory attendance at an accredited training course is required.

Read more »

Contact Management Is The Most Important Feature Of Customer Relationship Management Software

Contact Management is the most important feature of Customer Relationship Management Software.The most important aspect of any Customer Relationship Management Software is the contact management feature. With Customer Relationship Management Software that contains good contact management features sales opportunities can be tracked and monitored constantly. This type of Customer Relationship Management Software is tailored to make sure that all members of a sales team stay on the same page. The best Customer Relationship Management Software on the market accomplishes these important goals.Avidian offers the best Customer Relationship Management Software.A company called Avidian offers this system of Customer Relationship Management Software. You can take a look at this Customer Relationship Management Software by going to http://avidian.com/. The system is called Prophet 3.0 and for most businesses it is exactly the type of Customer Relationship Management Software that is needed. With this system of Customer Relationship Management Software customers’ accounts can be easily organized and the information is instantly accessible. Everyone on the sales team can use the Customer Relationship Management Software to help keep up with what needs to be done to close a sale.There are many wonderful features of the Prophet 3.0 system.The Prophet 3.0 system of Customer Relationship Management Software has a number of great features. All of the information on each contact is available instantly with this top quality Customer Relationship Management Software. A sales manager can see all of the contact information and this Customer Relationship Management Software even provides immediate access to all supporting documents such as contracts and correspondence. The appointment schedules are also available so no appointments will be missed with this Customer Relationship Management Software. Tasking is made easier with the Prophet Customer Relationship Management Software.Follow-up is also easy with this unique Customer Relationship Management Software. The Prophet Customer Relationship Management Software system can be set to send automated e-mails to follow-up with contacts. Members of the sales team can also use the Customer Relationship Management Software to make sure that every task related to an opportunity is scheduled and completed. Another feature of the Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software allows the sales manager to instantly keep track of the sales revenue generated.Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software gives you a competitive edge.In this highly competitive world economy everyone is looking for an edge. Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software can provide that competitive edge. This Customer Relationship Management Software is affordable and easy to set up and use. Imagine being able to activate Customer Relationship Management Software that allows you to find your contact management reports in a number of different fields. You can even use the Customer Relationship Management Software to check where the opportunity stands at any given time and look at the likelihood of closing the sale and the probable closing date.The Prophet 3.0 system is an extension of Outlook.The best part about this Customer Relationship Management Software is that it is designed to be used with Outlook and is completely compatible with that system. The Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software is in effect an extension of the Outlook system that many businesses already use. Therefore this Customer Relationship Management Software is among the easiest systems to learn to use. The benefits of this unique Customer Relationship Management Software can be obtained immediately. No other Customer Relationship Management Software is easier.The benefits of the Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software system make it a must buy.Good Customer Relationship Management Software is not just the wave of the future, it is the here and now for growing companies. Prophet 3.0 Customer Relationship Management Software is the top of the line. Companies that are using this powerful Customer Relationship Management Software are already experiencing the many benefits. To join them just go to avidian.com and find out how the Prophet Customer Relationship Management Software can fit your needs.

Read more »

Benefits of Choosing Managed Hosting

One look at Managed Hosting business, and it would be easy to realize that it has been there for a long period. Managed Hosting is a good alternative for SMBs who don’t have the skill, capital or the resources to deal with the technical issues. Either they need to hire a fulltime application expert to carry out server functioning, application upgrades, security patches or can choose to outsource the same responsibilities to a managed hosting provider. Outsourcing their day-to-day server and applications tasks is always a more profitable option as managed hosting makes them the owner of their applications infrastructure, leveraging managed hosting in a cost-effective manner. In simple words, their managed hosting service provider would run the server, manage the operating systems and upgrade all applications on a regular basis.  Enterprises select managed hosting for a variety of reasons which makes managed hosting a profitable entity. If we see a scenario where organizations select managed hosting for their businesses, one thing can be noticed that they would start benefiting from the very beginning as managed hosting brings along well-managed data centers, efficient server configuration, trained professionals, 24×7 customer support and much more. Their frustrating toil ends with managed hosting as things like the network issues, data center, bandwidth, and downtime don’t impact their business applications anymore. What is more, the managed hosting provider takes care of every aspect of server management. Businesses have always been profit-driven entities. But every business needs some resources such as human, IT and logistical ones. Managed hosting lets a business focus on its core business activities as the effective managed hosting frees up the resources from mundane tasks and relocate them for business growth.  Using Managed hosting lets an enterprise avail a fully managed server environment where servers are fully optimized in a professional manner and they would be relieved of headaches concerned with the technical issues like installation, administration, troubleshooting and reporting. The business would be run on reliable and secure technology infrastructure to provide uninterrupted access to data and applications – anywhere, anytime. Another reason that many enterprises find managed hosting to be an attractive option is that their server, applications and data gets protected with managed firewall services; network-based intrusion detection; and security assessments. That enables them to grow without any apprehension of security threats. One of the biggest benefits of managed hosting is its cost-effectiveness. Speedy deployment combined with lower up-front cost make managed hosting a viable alternative for enterprises. There is no need to purchase hardware, software like servers, cables, networking infrastructure etc. The managed hosting provider would provide not only all these things but also ensure 24×7 connectivity, uninterrupted power and space for the equipments. This would save a lot of money and time.

Read more »