implementation and packaged services

ZDNet Resources

• sort by:
• Relevance
• Date
• Popularity

Reducing Consulting Costs with Productized Content

High-priced, open-ended consulting deals often fuel enterprise software implementation failures. As a result, a trend has developed among consulting companies and software vendors to package services into pre-defined, discrete units, decreasing risk and lowering costs for the customer. As examples, see here (pre-configured content shipping with software), here packaged services,...

Tags: Packaged Services, Implementation

Blog posts 2006-10-13

Reducing Services Costs

Vinnie Mirchandani posts on IBMs strategy to productize services. Almost a year ago, Vinnie posed this challenge: IBMs SI/outsourcing groups do not think like its software group. They want to sell more bodies, not automation. If they allowed the same software team which is working on self-healing systems management to...

Tags: Packaged Services, Implementation

Blog posts 2006-10-02

Productized Consulting Services

Hourly billing arrangements are typical on IT projects. However, open-ended billing can create an incentive for consultants to work lots of hours, potentially increasing project duration and cost beyond what may strictly be required. In fact, unbounded billing arrangements are often a real contributor to the failures described in this...

Tags: Packaged Services, Implementation, Consulting

Blog posts 2006-09-27

Additional Resources

IBM signs up new client for sustainability consulting

A financial investment firm from Boston, Jantz Morgan, is turning to IBM's green consulting services arm (aka IBM's business strategy consulting practice) to help it integrate the idea of sustainability into its corporate operations. The focus will go beyond the company's impact on the environment; it will...

Tags: Sustainability, Consulting Service, Consulting, IBM Corp., Outsourcing, It Operations, Business Operations, Outsourcing & Subcontracting, Heather Clancy

Blog posts 2008-10-11

Print this: Actually, please don't, but DO think about why printers should get more airtime in green tech discussions

I was talking to someone within the past couple of months (I honestly can't remember who right now, sorry) who made a pretty profound statement that seems pertinent in the context of this post. I had just admitted, somewhat shamefacedly, to my ongoing addiction to printing out my notes, presentations...

Tags: Green Technology, Printing, Printers, Document Management, Hardware, Peripherals, Enterprise Software, Software, Finance, Managerial Accounting, Heather Clancy

Blog posts 2008-10-10

Live Services as Microsoft's consumer Web platform

It's been tricky keeping separate all of the "layers" in the Microsoft cloud strata. One of those layers, Live Services, has been especially amorphous. But now Live Services is a little clearer, thanks to a new Web site detailing an upcoming series of Microsoft events. by Mary Jo Foley

Tags: Web, Microsoft Corp., Live Platform, Channel Management, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

Blog posts 2008-10-10

My three cents: Verizon's text fee could cripple SMS services

Verizon Wireless dropped a bomb today on companies that send content over SMS text messaging systems. Techmeme Effective Nov. 1, companies that send messages and other notifications to Verizon Wireless customers via SMS text message - that's everyone from Google to Twitter to startups like alerts.com - could be forced...

Tags: Fee, Verizon Communications Inc., Text Messaging, Messaging, SMS, Verizon Wireless, Twitter, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Networking, Sam Diaz

Blog posts 2008-10-10

Microsoft's 'conceptual touch designs'

I've written from time to time about Apple and their rumoured tablet devices, applications for tablet PC's, multi-touch and Surface, and all those touchy-feely concepts we've been hearing about, but when do we get to actually see them? Microsoft has recently kicked forward their Software+Services, which for...

Tags: Tablet PC, Microsoft Corp., Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Zack Whittaker

Blog posts 2008-10-10

NSA and phone sex: Eavesdroppers listened to intimate conversations

Military linguists have come forward to say that the intelligence services routinely listened in on Americans overseas calling home and on the communications of non-suspect groups like the Red Cross. And, they say, they listened in and even transcribed couples' phone sex, The New York Times reports. ...

Tags: Phone, Phone Sex, Telecom & Utilities, Richard Koman

Blog posts 2008-10-10

The elephant in the room: SOA and the economy

We've all been distracted by events in the economy over the past few weeks, and let's face it, it makes for a very large elephant in the room when we talk about SOA. All debates about REST, SOAP, Java, .NET, JSON, ESBs, WOA won't mean a thing...

Tags: SOA, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Web Services, Middleware, Enterprise Software, Software, Joe McKendrick

Blog posts 2008-10-10

ISP snoops slink away: Adzilla quits US market

The bottom is falling out of the market for spying on Internet users. Adzilla says it is leaving the North American market to focus on a part of the world with a seemingly limitless appetite for snooping – Asia. Adzilla's home page says: ...

Tags: Privacy, Internet Service Provider, Adzilla, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Government, Security, Internet, Richard Koman

Blog posts 2008-10-10

Is Google working on the synchronization problem?

ReadWriteWeb has a post up about the fact that Zoho has added offline access to Zoho Mail using Gears. Zoho continues to do a really good job of innovating when it comes to Ajax-based RIAs. They were very early to the game in creating offline support for Zoho Docs before...

Tags: Google Inc., Rich Internet Application, Microsoft Corp., ReadWriteWeb, Zoho Mail, Ryan Stewart

Blog posts 2008-10-10

Wall Street: MSFT should buy Yahoo, consider RIM

A Wall Street investor has suggested that the stars may be aligned just right for Microsoft to make another run at Yahoo, this time for $22 per share. Investment fund Mithras Capital, which owns more than 1.9 million shares, or 0.14 percent, of Yahoo, said Microsoft has a window of...

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corp., MSFT, Financial Accounting, Search, Advertising & Promotion, Handhelds, Finance, Marketing, Hardware, Sam Diaz

Blog posts 2008-10-10

Netbook returns blamed on Linux 'teething problems'

Higher return rates for Linux-based netbooks don't necessarily reflect badly on the open-source operating system, according to Ubuntu backer Canonical. The return rate on Linux-powered netbooks may be higher than that for Windows netbooks, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing for Linux, according to Canonical. ...

Tags: Ubuntu, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Open Source, Software, Matthew Broersma ZDNet.co.uk, netbook, Windows XP, MSI Wind, Asus Eeee

News items 2008-10-10

Forrester: Credit crunch may freeze tech services projects

Forrester Research in a report is confirming that the credit crunch is beginning to hit technology services firms. The extent of the damage is unclear, but IBM's lower-than-expected third quarter revenue its earnings are stronger than expected may indicate something worse is afoot. Forrester's...

Tags: Service Provider, IBM Corp., Forrester Research Inc., Business Services, Financial Accounting, Finance, Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2008-10-10

TraceIt (exe)

TraceIt is a template makes the debug, implementation, and support of Clarion for Windows applications easy and better, allowing to easily find the conflict points with excellent results without the use of the complex debuger or the arcaic, poor and dangerous technique of the use of the message or setclipboard...

Tags: Software, Use, TraceIt, Tools & Techniques, Productivity, Management

Software downloads 2008-10-10

Facebook: Revenue plan by 2011; Growth is key for now.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he's more focused on growing the social networking site than he is in finding a way to monetize it - at least for now. In a Q&A interview with German blog Netzökonom, Zuckerberg has basically given himself and the company three years to come up...

Tags: Revenue, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Networking, Operational Accounting, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Finance, Sam Diaz

Blog posts 2008-10-09

Where open source will be sucked into the downdraft

Where open source will be sucked into the downdraftPure play open source is not going away ...... bad business models are.I've run a pure play open source company for seven years and expect to be around for many more. We have a unique business model called "spend less than you...

Tags: Pure-play open source, open source, downdraft, economic downturn

Discussion threads 2008-10-09

H-1B visas rife with fraud, worker mistreatment

H-1B visas rife with fraud, worker mistreatmentWell, Duh.....Anyone working in the tech field can provide many examples of this activity. The financial services company where I work is almost completely outsourced to Indian vendor company workers, over here on H-1B's. Additionally, many of us here have trained the very people...

Tags: Recruitment & Selection, Litigation, Outsourcing, H-1B, worker mistreatment, mistreatment, job, worker, fraud

Discussion threads 2008-10-09

Apple's $800 notebook - Winners and losers

Apple's $800 notebook - Winners and losersYou left out Apple as a choiceI think this will appeal more to the people who where allready going to purchase an Apple laptop then a less expensive Dell or HP.It may hurt Apple a bit in that the margins I would imagine, will...

Tags: Notebooks, Apple Mac OS X, Operating systems, Apple Inc., notebook, OEM, Microsoft Corp., Apple Macintosh

Discussion threads 2008-10-09