Improvements in Yahoo search

Yahoo! search blog announced, on the Oct. 22, major improvements to their search engine. I tested and found changes to results for keywords important to QLogitek such as retail supply chain software, SaaS retail supply chain solutions, SaaS EDI, and hosted edi.

According to Yahoo! the major changes are improved search page load time,
improved perceived load time, and inline data URI images.

B2B integration is key to gaining visibility & control of your supply chain

Aberdeen recently published a research report on Five steps to Gaining Visibility and Control that QLogitek was proud to underwrite.
According to the report, Best-in-Class companies took the following five steps to gain visibility and control in their multi-enterprise supply chains viz-a-viz their peer group.

The 5 steps to visibility & control are:

1. B2B integration
2. Data management
3. Process collaboration
4. Network intelligence
5. Look beyond ERP

Here I focus on the first of the above five steps and highlight the importance of using IaaS for B2B Integration.

According to Aberdeen the most important step an organization can undertake is to integrate its B2B processes. They rightly recognize that EDI is probably not the most effective tool for B2B integration given the cost and time commitment needed.

I agree with their assessment and think organizations should consider Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) for their B2B integration instead of experimenting with the traditional integration tools. Compared to traditional approach to B2B integration IaaS has few key benefits such as:

• shorter time
• lower capital investment, especially in this milieu when it is key to maintain cash-flow
• lower operating cost
• greater flexibility

In your experience what B2B process are easiest to integrate with internal systems?

SaaS can mitigate the 5 challages you face in this economy

I believe SaaS is especially pertinent during this tough economic time because SaaS can overcome the five key challenges faced by most companies today. I also believe it is imp for SaaS companies to reach out and apprise their constituents now!

In my opinion the five challenges faced by all companies today are:

1. Shrinking top-line
2. Dwindling and unpredictable cash-flow
3. Expensive capital
4. Customer pressure to reduce cost, and
5. Customer desire for higher performance

Being a SaaS evangelist I applaud the enthusiasm of the folks at Zuora and others who push the SaaS concept. Read a recent post by Zuroa’s K.V Rao outlining benefits of SaaS model here. I agree with his views outlined in the post.

At QLogitek we have been pushing against the grain and promoting SaaS. As I before, I believe the current economic times makes SaaS ever more important and as SaaS companies it is our duty to enlighten our clients and prospective clients to this superior alternative to help overcome the above five challenges.

At QLogitek, we started a cost savings club to reach out to our key constituents interested in leveraging the SaaS model. I think that by outsourcing their supply chain IT solutions they can focus on their competency and top-line. The flexible and predictable pay-as-you-go model offers good control over that dwindling cash flow. Moreover, SaaS does not encumber you with the high cost of capital investment that typical on-premise software calls for.Thus SaaS facilitates firms’ to deliver focus on their core-competency to deliver greater value at lower cost to customers.

All this increases a companies ability to deliver greater value to customers at lower cost.

I would like to hear about outreach initiatives by SaaS companies and evangelist to their constituents.

If you are interested in the state of the Canadian economy check out these three sites Bank of Canada, Statistics Canada, and The Conference Board of Canada.