Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform, SugarCRM system

Hardware: Dell servers

Benefits: Student information is available with realtime access, faster reports help increase returns on sales and marketing activities, prevented vendor lock-in, increased visibility of systems, increased efficiency, and decreased human errors

“With JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform and Red Hat Enterprise Linux supporting our SugarCRM system, we have gained added visibility into our business and increased returns from sales and marketing activities.”
–Richard Pany, group CIO, INTI Education Group

Download the full case study: rht_cs_inti_izeno_ap_web.pdf

About Astidian Systems
Astidian Systems is one of Africa's premier providers of open source solutions including Red Hat operating systems, Red Hat JBoss, SugarCRM and Compiere ERP platforms.
For more information please contact us at info @ astidian.com

Top 10 OS Enterprise Applications

Company celebrates the fifth birthday of the founding of SugarForge, SugarCRM's open source development community at SugarCon

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - April 13, 2010- SugarCRM, the world's leading provider of open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, today announced the beta release of Sugar 6, a landmark release for SugarCRM's flagship products. Sugar 6 introduces a new user interface that places a premium on speed, simplicity, and interoperability with other web applications and mobile devices. The company also announced it has made the primary source code repository for Sugar Community Edition publicly accessible as it celebrates the fifth birthday of SugarForge, the world's largest open source CRM community. The announcements were made at SugarCon, the company's user and developer conference being held at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

"Over the last 10 years, technology innovation has moved ahead at an amazing clip while the design and usability of CRM applications has stagnated. Until now." said Larry Augustin, CEO of SugarCRM. "Sugar 6 delivers a look, feel and user experience that consumers of popular social networking and other collaboration tools will appreciate."

SPEED - Fast Setup, Faster Performance
Sugar 6 is designed for speed. Upon entering the application, users are initially welcomed with a revamped guided User Setup wizard. When setup is complete, users will find a CRM application designed for speed and simplicity. The Sugar Shortcut Bar is a persistent toolbar throughout the application that allows users to perform common tasks in one click, including creating an account, contact, sales opportunity, document, note, task or logging a meeting or call. Usability tests show that Sugar 6 requires 20 percent fewer clicks to navigate than in previous versions.

Included in the Shortcut Bar, users will also see a context-aware Global Search field which filters search results based on the module in use (e.g., Contacts, Opportunities and Accounts) and produces results without leaving the page.

"We love it. Additions like global search and the shortcut bar are the kinds of productivity enhancements our users have been asking for in the system. And Sugar has done an incredible job creating the most modern look and feel for a CRM system, while also significantly increasing usability," said Chad Hutchins, Business Development Web Specialist at Milsoft Utility Solutions, a leading provider of smart grid technology solutions.

SIMPLICITY - Clean, Bold User Interface that is simple to learn and navigate
Sugar 6 delivers a clean, bold look with new buttons and icons that allow users to perform tasks more easily while increasing the information density of each screen. Simplified default views, inline filtering and one-click actions conform to the multitasking environment common to busy sales people. For example, users can use the Shortcut Bar to quickly log an incoming call or assign a task without ever leaving the existing screen.

In each view, users will see module menus that show where the user is in the application as well as providing information about previously viewed pages, filtered results based on user permissions, and convenient tab naming that allows users to more easily navigate Sugar across multiple browser tabs.

"I'm a veteran CRM user, and I was blown away by Sugar's new approach in Sugar 6," said Martin Umed, Regional Sales Manager at Control Technology Corporation, a leading provider of programmable automation controllers based in Hopkington, MA. "They obviously focused on the single biggest challenge in adopting/using a CRM package, the user experience - and they read the room perfectly. Sugar 6.0 amounts to a towering home run - the new interface, with its new efficiency and speed, blurs the distinction between a client and browser applications, and will have an immediate impact on your bottom line sales productivity."

ACCESSIBILITY - Beautiful on Mobile, Embracing the Cloud
In addition to the new user interface and simple set-up and navigations, Sugar 6 also includes native application support for leading smart phone operating systems, including for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry smart phones. SugarCRM is also one of the first to market with a native application for the Apple iPad.

Sugar 6 offers SugarCRM's popular Cloud Connectors to third-party data service providers such as JigSaw, Hoover's, and LinkedIn by default, allowing users to obtain the most up-to-date account and lead information directly within SugarCRM. In addition Sugar Plug-Ins for Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel are built into the application, allowing users to instantly access and integrate the popular productivity programs from with SugarCRM.

Sugar 6 is available for review and testing at http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/OnlinePreview.

Celebrating SugarForge
SugarCRM also announced that is has made the primary source code repository for Sugar Community Edition publicly accessible at SugarForge, SugarCRM's open source development community. Since 2005, SugarForge has grown from a single project and three developers to over 22,000 developers, 800 projects and close to eight million downloads of SugarCRM and its related components.
The Sugar Community souce code repository is available at http://www.sugarforge.org/content/community/participate/svn.php

About SugarCRM
SugarCRM is the world's leading provider of open source customer relationship management (CRM) software. Over 6,000 customers and more than half a million users rely on SugarCRM to execute marketing programs, grow sales, retain customers and create custom business applications. Leading publications such as CRM Magazine, InfoWorld and eWeek praise SugarCRM for its ease-of-use, flexibility and open design. SugarCRM runs on the leading cloud computing platforms, including Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Sugar On-Demand and Private Clouds, offering customers unparalleled choice and control of their data and deployments.

For more information, call (011)-796-5205 or email info @ astidian.com

In Indonesia a Proof of Concept was done by the IT ministry - here is a 2006 (!!) presentation:

http://www.slideshare.net/flatburger/pasir-10-final-report-sp202

Gartner analysts said that lessons learned from previous downturns indicate that 40% of companies will use the current economic slump as an opportunity to generate post-recovery growth via effective use of CRM strategies.
"Just because times are tough and budgets are being cut, companies should not think that means no CRM investment," says Scott Nelson, managing vice-president at Gartner. "Companies need to think in terms of spending smarter, not spending less. There are zero, or low-cost strategies that can be implemented now that can make all the difference, generate competitive differentiation and not draw the attention of the CFO."
Nelson says, in reality, there is no such thing as true "zero cost strategy" - as money has often already been spent on CRM systems and there are ongoing care and maintenance expenses CRM success can be secured without spending more money on technology.
Many organisations have large investments in call centres, websites, marketing systems and sales-force automation. With these pieces in place, companies can wrap effective strategies around these tools and generate real success from a customer standpoint.
"CRM is a journey, not just a one-time and done strategy," says Nelson. "If the right strategies are employed now, then companies will get a 'sling shot' effect going into the eventual recovery, putting them well ahead of the rivals who chose to wait and who equate CRM success with spending more money on technology."
Gartner has identified five strategies that companies can undertake now that cost very little or nothing, but which will generate positive results from a CRM strategy point of view.
* Customer communities - Gartner predicts that CRM of the future will be about creating online communities of customers via emerging social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and similar websites. The economic downturn provides a great opportunity to begin experimenting in this area, and Gartner advises companies to set up accounts on the various websites and learn what they do and don¹t do, and how users interact.
* Analytics - Once bought and installed, analytic tools can be put to good use during economic downturns. Many companies have more information than they know what to do with, and now they have the opportunity to put this to good use studying attrition models, looking at the next most likely to buy models, and figuring out channel usage patterns. While doing so, companies should bear in mind that customer behaviour may change when the economy improves.
* Segmentation - Many segmentation schemes are based on psycho-demographics, profitability or account attributes. However, a down economy provides companies with the opportunity to review their segmentation strategy and see if it really is the very best one that they could have.
* Process redesign - Process is often an overlooked part of CRM and in many cases all that CRM technologies have done is taken out old, broken processes and made them run more efficiently. Now is an excellent time to study customer processes with a view to redesigning them and creating a win/win situation for both the company - which gets greater efficiency and the customer - who gets a "partner" that interacts with them in a meaningful way.
* Organisational redesign - Organisational change is one of the most difficult areas of CRM strategy, but many companies need to make the move from product-centric to
customer-centric. In a down economy, with fewer distractions, many companies will find that this is the perfect time to start to address some of the organisational issues that get in the way of serving the customer.
"At the end of the day, CRM is all about change. Changing from product to customers, changing age-old processes, changing enterprise mindsets, and changing how companies relate to customers," says Nelson. "All of this can be done without new systems, and the challenging economic environment may give companies just the chance they have been waiting for."

"Cloud computing is a broad and diverse phenomenon. Much of the growth represents a transfer of traditional IT services to the new cloud model, but there is also scope for creation of substantial new businesses and revenue streams," says Ben Pring, research vice-president for Gartner. "Cloud computing enables a shift in IT provision from direct purchase and payment for services to provision of services which are free at point of use and where revenue is derived from advertising. Services supported by advertising are currently, and will remain, the largest component of the overall cloud services market through 2013."
Cloud computing is a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are provided "as a service" to external customers using internet technologies.
Business processes delivered as cloud services are the largest segment of the overall cloud services market, accounting for 83% of the overall market in 2008. The segment, consisting of cloud-based advertising, e-commerce, human resources and payments processing, is forecast to grow 19.8% in 2009 to $46.6-billion, up from $38.9-billion in 2008.
The largest component of the overall cloud services market is cloud-based advertising. This component represented 60% of the market in 2008 with revenue of $28-billion and is forecast to reach $33-billion, and make up 58% of the overall market in 2009. This reflects the success of Google in creating a new business and delivery model for IT-based services, which is being emulated by Yahoo, Microsoft and others.
"Advertising as a cloud service is the capability to deliver advertising where the content and the fee charged are determined at the time of end-user access, usually by an auction mechanism that matches bidders with spots as they become available," says Pring. "We expect cloud-based advertising to continue to reshape and redefine the advertising and media markets over the next few years."
While much of the publicity for cloud computing currently centres on systems infrastructure delivered as a service, this is still an early-stage market. In 2008, such services accounted for only 5.5% of the overall cloud services market and are expected to account for 6% of the market in 2009. Infrastructure services revenue was $2.5-billion in 2008 and is forecast to reach $3.2-billion in 2009.
"Cloud-based infrastructure services are expected to see significant adoption through 2013," says Pring. "This segment probably has the largest range of possible outcomes, depending on how aggressively cloud computing is embraced by the major outsourcing vendors and their customers."
Cloud application services, evolving from software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, were almost twice as large as the market for systems infrastructure and will continue to show strong growth. Not all current SaaS offerings qualify as cloud services based on scaling constraints and lack of true multi-tenancy capability. Over the next five years, an increasing array of application functionality will become available as cloud services to supplement those from current cloud application vendors.
"The IT market trends for the next couple of years remain highly uncertain. While short-term growth is expected to be inhibited, the potentially lower cost of cloud services is attractive to customers and will drive growth for these offerings," says Pring. "While that growth for many of these cloud services will be relatively modest through the next two years, we expect it to accelerate as these approaches prove themselves and then benefit from increased spending levels as macroeconomic conditions improve."

The combination of Compiere Cloud Edition and Amazon EC2 provides a convenient virtual computing environment that reduces the cost of ERP deployment by eliminating up-front capital costs for hardware and software, while also reducing ongoing IT infrastructure support costs. Based on internal estimates, Compiere Cloud Edition can save companies up to 80 percent in the total cost of ownership of ERP software.

"We are pleased that Compiere is leveraging Amazon EC2 to offer their customers more options in deploying cost-effective, flexible and dependable ERP solutions," said Steve Rabuchin, director of developer relations and business development for Amazon Web Services.

According to Geoffrey Mobisson, managing director of Levementum, a Compiere system integration partner, "The Cloud Edition provides broad-scale access to comprehensive ERP technology that previously was available only to large companies with extensive budgets. With our experience successfully implementing customers on Amazon EC2, we are convinced this offering meets the market demand for more cost-effective business solutions, and significantly raises the bar for other ERP vendors."

With Compiere Cloud Edition, customers can leverage the advantages of cloud computing technology to instantly scale the application up or down, depending on their particular needs. Cloud computing allows IT departments to increase capacity or add capabilities "on the fly" without investing in new hardware, personnel or software by accessing virtual servers available over the Internet to handle computing needs. Compiere is deployed in a secure, private environment, giving customers total control of their application and computing resources.

Don Klaiss, president and CEO, Compiere said, "We are excited to be first to offer ERP users the convenience of utility computing, the lower operating costs of cloud computing, and far more flexibility than other available SaaS alternatives. Cloud Edition users, operating in their own secure environment, can quickly and easily customize their Compiere system without programming. Compiere Cloud Edition is the logical next step in our commitment to making ERP easier and more affordable to own, implement and use."

Compiere Cloud Edition subscriptions include application support, service packs and access to Compiere automated upgrade tools. In addition, Compiere or its partners can provide additional services including implementation, customization, integration and customer-specific cloud images.

Compiere Cloud Edition is available immediately through Compiere and its authorised partners. Please contact info@astidian.com or Sandy on +1 281 844 0504.