For those with an interest in online accounting and personal finance - please feel free to head over here and contribute to both the naming and the content of the panel I’m moderating at the Office 2.0 conference in a couple of weeks.
Cheers.
Archive for the 'Web x.0' Category
![[Bloglines]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[BlogMarks]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/blogmarks.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[Reddit]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Slashdot]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/slashdot.png)
![[Sphere]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/sphere.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://diversity.net.nz/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Just in case my post yesterday made people think that I’m a fan of manufacturing only I thought I’d post today about why the weightless economy is so attractive. I heard from Danish helpdesk software vendor Zendesk yesterday with the following image that shows the global spread of their custom base.
All of these sales require no shipping, create no environmental impact (beyond the small impact of data centres) and can be created, managed and maintained by a few people sitting in an office somewhere in Denmark.
Smart production - be it weighty or weightless, is the way of the future.
So the title of this post was a little tongue in cheek. It’s easy to get excited about things like collaboration and conferencing delivered as SaaS - but what about more humble use cases?
Enter TenderLink. TenderLink is a product that takes the jaw droppingly exciting world of tendering/quoting/RFI and RFP (all now termed ERFx notices) work and deliverers it as a SaaS product.
TenderLink provides a customisable web portal where organisations can list their ERFx notices that can be linked from their own website and provides all the requisite security that a system like this should.
TenderLink can be used as a private ERFx noticeboard (organisations advertise upcoming proposals to their own preferred suppliers) or as a public facing service. Given the concerns customers have about security with web based solutions, it’s good to see that TenderLink have had their solution independently audited by Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Features
Key features of TenderLink’s solution include;
- The ability to attach documents to an ERFx (for example specifications or blueprints
- The ability to create templates that ERFx responders can fill-in - allowing for a time saving through automated pre-qualification
- The ability to rate different suppliers skills and attributes and thus target specific ERFx notices to particular competencies
- The ability to create forums where suppliers can ask questions and gain further information
Benefits
TenderLink lists the main benefits of using their product to be;
- Increased efficiency
- Decreased costs
- Increased professional image
Costs
TenderLink has a $7500 set-up fee to crate the e-tender portal. Thereafter users are charged per ERFx notice with a minimum fee of $500/month
Summary
Given the cost structure, TenderLink isn’t a solution for the small fry. For an organisation however that is putting out a large number of ERFx notices, TenderLink should create sufficient efficiencies that it pays for itself quickly. The heightened level of audit, the ability to automate key parts of the process and the efficiencies gained by tagging specific supplier are all valuable features.
Apparently Dell has previewed a new feature on their top end notebooks that allows users to carry out basic tasks without booting the main OS.
The feature, names Dell Latitude ON, allows users pretty much instantaneous access to a Linux environment with a web browser. Now if you think about a user who utilises cloud based applications for all his/her day to day operations, it’s not easy to imagine a scenario where the only reason to boot the full OS is to perhaps print a document, or run some other peripheral.
If this is the situation it seems somewhat strange to have the hassle and bulk of the main operating system at all - why not just roll the lite version through to the total user experience.
All of which remind me of a previous post of mine a year or so ago where I suggested that the future would be OS-less. Dell’s move is yet another validation of that concept.
So it’s going to be interesting taking part in the Office 2.0 conference in a couple of weeks where a installed apps rule is one of the touchstones of the entire conference - bring it on!
