Last week, the Cabinet Office announced a mandate called ‘Cloud First’ which makes it compulsory for all central government ICT procurement departments to consider and fully evaluate cloud solutions before considering alternative ‘on-premise’ options.

Although government departments and agencies are free to choose non-cloud based solutions, they will need to demonstrate that they represent better value for money. A Cabinet spokesperson has also stated that other public sector bodies will be ‘strongly recommended’ to adopt the ‘cloud first’ policy too.

The announcement was made on the same day that the Cabinet Office confirmed that the third version of its CloudStore IT buying catalogue had gone live under the banner of ‘G-Cloud iii’, the most recent iteration of the G-Cloud supplier framework.

The announcement underlines the government’s commitment to reducing IT spend through the widespread adoption of cost-effective cloud-based alternatives to on premise software implementations.

Government Minister, Francis Maude said last week:

“G-Cloud brings a step change in the way government buys IT. It’s quicker, cheaper and more competitive, open to a wider range of companies, including a majority of SMEs, and offers more choice and innovation.”

Says Maude: “Many government departments already use G-Cloud, but IT costs are still too high. One way we can reduce them is to accelerate the adoption of Cloud across the public sector to maximise its benefits. The Cloud First policy will embed the skills a modern civil service needs to meet the demands of 21st-century digital government and help us get ahead in the global race.”

Since G-Cloud launched in 2012, government departments have spent over £18 million pounds with private sector suppliers – two thirds of this with SMBs as opposed to the ‘oligopoly’ of large companies who have hitherto dominated the supply of software, hardware and IT services to the government.

The G-Cloud iii framework features more than 700 suppliers – 80% of which are SMBs – offering over 5,000 cloud related products and services. According to G-Cloud program director Denise McDonagh, the framework will only enhance the cost and innovation benefits of a more competitive marketplace.

Advanced 365  has been awarded a place onto the G-Cloud iii framework, further cementing its position as a leading supplier of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (Saas) products and a highly experienced supplier to public sector organisations.

At its recent annual Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft Business Solutions President, Kirill Tatarinov, recently announced the acquisition of Netbreeze – a Swiss vendor of social media analytics software which is to be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Netbreeze provides organisations with a means of listening in on what is being said about them, their products and their brand on a number of social media channels including Facebook, You Tube and Twitter in addition to 6,000 online news websites, 18 million blogs and 500,000 message boards. Read the rest of this entry »

Once a month I get together with a number of fellow marketers from several local companies in order to compare notes about our recent activities and campaigns. It’s always an interesting evening  as we all work for different types of companies and the tactics we use to target our respective markets are incredibly varied.

Last week we revisited the subject of CRM software and the extent to which this helps or hinders our campaigning. There were some passionate differences of opinions that served as a stark reminder that despite the maturity of the CRM software market, there are still people who have yet to be convinced of its value. Meanwhile there are others (me included) who can’t imagine marketing life without CRM software. Read the rest of this entry »

Reporting  from the Microsoft Convergence summit in New Orleans, Leonard Kile from CRM magazine has recently written an article about Microsoft’s statement of commitment to Dynamics CRM and in particular, its online version of the application. Read the rest of this entry »

Unified Communications tools like Microsoft Lync 2013 can help ensure that home-workers are every bit as productive as their office based colleagues.

Home working has had a bad press recently – Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer has effectively banned it as an option for members of her workforce and there seems to be no shortage of people who agree with her decision. In the build-up to the 2012 Olympics, London Mayor, Boris Johnson famously described home working as a potential “skiver’s paradise” that is: “…basically sitting wondering whether to go down to the fridge to hack off that bit of cheese before checking your emails again.” Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, members of Advanced 365’s sales, marketing and engineering teams pitched camp in the Microsoft village at UC Expo 2013 – a two-day exhibition dedicated to communicating the business benefits of unified communications (UC). Microsoft invited us to talk about Lync 2013 and show delegates exactly why this application is currently taking the world by storm, and fast becoming one of Microsoft’s most popular offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the beginning of the New Year, the marketing team at Advanced 365 has been busy with preparations for exhibiting at the first of the many industry trade-shows we attend each year. Most recently, we’ve been concentrating on readying ourselves for exhibiting and speaking at UC Expo 2013, which is taking place on the 5^th and 6^th March at Olympia in London.

With the last of the items on our to-do list about to be ticked off (branded cup-cakes – testing for quality control purposes), it struck me how much we have relied on the unified communications technologies we’re promoting in order to work together and prepare for the exhibition – and how these have helped keep departmental stress levels to a minimum. Read the rest of this entry »

SaaS – Now the early adopters have gone, transforming software business for the majority

Thursday 24th January, 2013 at 5.00pm

What should you consider if you are moving to a Cloud and SaaS strategy?

Many ISVs are still in the education phase, most are confused by the large amount of conflicting strategies, information, vendors, technology and advice being offered on Cloud and SaaS. Read the rest of this entry »

Location: Microsoft Offices, Cardinal Place, Victoria Street, London, SW1E 5JL

Date: Friday 26^th October 2012
Time 9.00 – 11.30am
Cost: Complimentary

Reserve your space for this exclusive event at Microsoft’s Cardinal Place to see first-hand how Advanced 365’s Microsoft BI technologies can deliver quantifiable results. We will examine: Cloud or on-premise; the differences, the benefits and the costs, building the business case, as well as the wider benefits to the Microsoft B.I. stack with SharePoint, Lync and CRM integration. Key considerations and risks for managing a successful BI project will be explored with the morning concluded with a customer case study.

Agenda:

09.00 – Registration & Breakfast

09.25 – Welcome

09.30 – Microsoft B.I. Stack overview & building the Business Case
Nathaniel Suda, Advanced 365, Head of Solutions

10.15 – Microsoft Roadmap for SQL 2012: the differences, the benefits and the costs
Jessica Meats, Microsoft, Partner Technology Advisor

10.45 – Managing a successful Microsoft B.I. project: hard ROI, soft benefits, and key risks
Nick Poole, Advanced 365, Director of Solutions

11.00 – Mitsubishi Electric Europe BI Case Study
John Kellet. General Manager – Heating, Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Living Environmental Systems

11.30 – Close

To register to attend the seminar, please click here.

Do you have a single view of your customer information & interaction across one technology infrastructure?
Is your organisation prepared for up and coming legislation?
Are you leveraging your Microsoft infrastructure?

This event will show you how you can:
- gain a 360 view of your clients
- increase customer satisfaction and create long-lasting relationships
- gain Business Intelligence insights that help you maximize up-selling and cross-selling.
- automate processes to simplify administrative tasks and give you more time with clients.
- develop new strategies based on real-time information about client interactions
- provide upcoming FSA insights and be ready for on-going regulatory change
- make the most out of your Microsoft licensing