Genesys, a provider of customer experience and contact center solutions, has entered into an agreement with Zendesk, a software development company, to integrate Genesys cloud contact center solution with Zendesk customer service platform.The partnership will help both companies to deliver a powerful cloud-based customer experience solution and will help to expand market opportunities globally.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.infotechlead.com/2014/05/13/genesys-integrates-cloud-contact-center-zendesk-platform-22652

In an article by journalist Kat Greene, we get to know that the city council of Washington, D.C. imposed a tax on all health insurers. The plan was submitted by the city's DC Health Link insurance exchange. It empowers the districts to impose tax on all health-insurance carriers for exchange funding. 

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.law360.com/articles/535633/dc-council-approves-tax-to-aid-health-exchange

In an article we get to know about Multi-Channel contact center. Many of the contact centers are faced with situations in which single-channel communicators aren’t able to effectively communicate with their customers because they aren’t using the customers’ channel of choice. In order to overcome this situation, multi- channel communication is used. Here are some other ways a company can use multichannel contact to improve contact center: 1. Define the right customer experience, 2. Plan for proper resource utilization, 3. Identify measurable gains, 4. Manage service agent morale. 

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/4-ways-win-multi-channel-contact-center-0888012#!QCOE3

Inability to take decisions is one of the principal reasons for the failure of any project. Good project managers need to have proper understanding of various effective tools to manage triple constraints of any project i.e. time, cost and scope. In this article tools like SWOT Analysis, Maslow's Pyramid, Pareto Principle, Monte Carlo Simulation and Decision Tree Analysis are discussed. In the field of project management, these are regarded as highly effective tools for decision making. Please go through the link for more details: http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/decision-making-models-in-project-management.html

The normal reaction towards any kind of change is always negative. To change such a scenario one must be very careful. Firstly we must explain the reason as to why the change is imminent and things which are associated with it. Secondly providing adequate support helps to accept the changes more easily and smoothly. Thus proper measures and support can help to make changes happen.  Please go through the link for more details: http://www.pmhut.com/5-tips-to-help-make-changes-happen

Moustafa Alzuabi (IT Manager at the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and a certified project management professional), talks about some of the common misconceptions in project management. The focus of the article is mainly on uniqueness of results, project constrains, project plan and project schedule. For more details please follow this link: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140428203280

To complete a project successfully a project leader must have the details and nitty-gritty’s of the project i.e. the constraints, requirements, demands clear in his or her mind. Documentation of the details is very important for any project and so is the ability to utilize and make the most of the team members for successful completion of the project within the stipulated time. To know more about the basics of project management, please visit Olga Sa's article at: http://www.pmhut.com/10-basics-of-project-management

According to a research done by Gallup Organization's State of the American Workplace, it was found that tapping the strengths of team members can create wonders and if utilized properly and efficiently can provide highly productive results. They also found that when employees become aware of their strengths, they become 7.8% more productive. Team members should be allocated jobs based on their area of expertise which will not only be beneficial for the company but also for employees and this will give them more job satisfaction and hence will bring better results. To know about how to build the strengths of your employees, please visit Tim Clark (partner and senior analyst with The FactPoint Group, a market research and consulting firm)'s article link at: http://www.pmhut.com/11-ways-to-build-on-the-strengths-of-your-team-members

A project is not complete until it starts delivering benefits or profits to the owner of the project.
Following best techniques and using best resources while development of the project is of no use unless and until the project starts giving returns.
To know more kindly refer to the below mentioned link:-
 http://www.pmhut.com/is-a-project-complete-without-benefits-realization

Bond International Software, the global provider of recruitment and human capital management software and services, had acquired FMP Global, which provides managed payroll solutions in over 65 countries around the world, for a sum in excess of £8.5million. This acquisition of FMP Global will support Bond in broadening its customer base to multi-national companies, both in the UK and internationally. The managed payroll solutions from FMP Global are designed to fit the requirement for a centralised single payroll process that provides coordination of all aspects of setting up employees in a foreign country, without the need for a complex group of legal entities.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/news/fmp-global-acquired-by-bond-international-software/5174

Design for Six Sigma is a design methodology. It works if properly instituted and executed. Wrongly designing and forcefully applying can cause more harm than help. If we need to implement Design for Six Sigma we should do it at the primary levels and not during the mid or operating level. To know more about this topic, go through Alan Nicol (Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions)'s article link: http://www.manufacturing.net/articles/2012/04/wrongly-doing-design-for-six-sigma

In an article by Alyx Kaczuwka (manager of Zipwire Product Marketing), we get to know that why a company may invest in a cloud-based contact center solution. There are 5 signs which help us to take the right decision:  1. If your contact center environment is constantly changing, 2. If you’d like to help your IT department better respond to issues, 3. If you’re looking to reduce costs, 4. If you’d like to eliminate the hassles that come with hardware and software, 5. If you need to get a new solution up and running quickly. 

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.business2community.com/cloud-computing/5-signs-invest-cloud-based-contact-center-0874565#!PN6LH

Dialogic Inc. (the Network Fuel company), announced that CreaLog (a telecom platform provider), is using its PowerMedia™ XMS media server software. This software allows customers to have face-to-face conversations with agents through its call center. The WebRTC capabilities of the PowerMedia XMS let CreaLog add real-time web conferencing over an Internet browser, accessed through a PC, tablet, or smartphone.

To read more, visit the following link:http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/05/prweb11869403.htm

The market is becoming more competitive nowadays. Companies like General Electric, Honeywell, Raytheon and IBM have managed to save billions of dollars in cost savings by process and quality improvement through Six Sigma. The majority of companies like to implement DMAIC methodology because they have existing processes. The remaining minority of Six Sigma practitioners is using a Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach to design a new product. DMAIC mainly focuses to improve the existing processes in such a way that final products can be produced with extremely low defects i.e. 3.4 defects in 1 million opportunities. Design for Six Sigma on the other hand, is about the design, development and commercialization of new products and processes for Six Sigma quality. To know more about DMAIC and DFSS, please go through the link: www.isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/design-for-six-sigma-dfss/design-six-sigma-dfss-versus-dmaic/

Ceridian announced Dayforce Recruiting- real-time SaaS based application, which includes payroll, workforce management, benefits and HR. This application provides recruiters and hiring managers with the intuitive means to identify staffing needs, create job requisitions, attract candidates, and hire best-fit job candidates.

To read more, visit the following link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/award-winning-ceridian-dayforce-human-capital-management-extends-industrys-only-single-hcm-application-with-dayforce-recruiting-2014-05-21-917340?reflink=MW_news_stmp 

Dyn, internet performance service provider, announced that it has acquired Renesys, a company that specializes in monitoring the Internet to provide data about cloud services, connectivity and potential performance issues. Renesys runs a real-time network of monitors that analyze Internet routing and performance data to help businesses get a deeper insight into the network and Dyn will combine the data gathered from this network with its own telemetry. Using this data, Dyn will be able to offers its customers better data about how to optimize their CDNs, clouds and data centers.

To read more, visit the following link: http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/21/dyn-acquires-internet-intelligence-service-renesys/

Lean Six Sigma, a globally accepted set of tools, techniques and project management practices is applied across various types of industries. It is also applied to the industry which supports our lives – the pharmaceutical industry.

Going by a process oriented approach, maintaining quality and regulatory standards are vital for pharma industries. Different parameters like value (service and cost), customers (internal customers, patients, doctors, regulators, health care providers, etc.) and quality (patient safety, fit for use) must be taken into account in the process flow. And all these will result into maximum effectiveness of the plant realizing the maximum ROI.

To learn in details how Lean and Six Sigma is applied in the pharma industry, read at http://www.ijqr.net/journal/v6-n1/3.pdf .

Recently Amazon Web Services (AWS) is in the news for reducing its cloud services prices by up to forty percent and turning into a strong competitor overnight against Google and Microsoft offering similar services. The cost reduction has resulted in an intensive price war where the price has touched a rock bottom level.

The price reduction is in line with reducing waste at every opportunity as mastered by Andy Jassy, senior VP of AWS. The price reduction policy has made public cloud space very much competitive, but the other side of the coin is that the place has become jam packed too.

So, how can AWS afford to cut its prices and offer a stiff competition? Brett Winterford and Steven Kiernan from CRN write about them here: http://www.crn.com.au/News/382683,four-secrets-of-awss-low-prices.aspx .

Today, every company is talking about Big Data, but there is also an important thing to consider - that is organizational culture. As high technology companies are embracing Big Data, the direct beneficiaries will be their IT professionals – who will have the opportunity to outshine themselves. Companies need to look for new generation talents who can handle latest challenges keeping in tune with the advancement of Big Data technologies.  With bright futures ahead, big data can make a scope in every aspect – be it scientific research, medical science, or any data driven industry, companies and their IT professionals can see a silver line. To see increased productivity and boost profitability, what is required is the right mix of big data tools, vendor support and IT talent team.

To know how organizations can earn the feather cap by using big data analytics tools, taking alongside the cultural change, read at http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/big-data-analytics-success-through-cult .

Datastax has updated its Apache Cassandra-based NoSQL database. An in-memory computing feature is added to increase the performance of online applications. DataStax Enterprise 4.0 includes improved search, an updated version of the OpsCenter visual monitoring tool, and certified Cassandra 2.0. Performance benchmarks conducted by DataStax on the in-memory feature show significant improvements in speed. To know more on this topic go through the article by Toby Wolpe, senior reporter at ZDNet in London:

http://www.zdnet.com/apache-cassandra-gets-in-memory-option-with-datastax-enterprise-4-0-7000026757/