The effects recession are felt by businesses in all industries but none moreso than the mortgage industry, especially since a major cause of the recession was down to unsustainable increase of house prices just prior to the recession. With 67,300 houses repossessed over the five quarters between 2008 and 2009 the government had to act and act they did.
The government ploughed millions of pounds to rescue struggling mortgage providers and in turn mortgage providers had to be "sensitive" when dealing with customers who were in the red- this combined with low interest rates had crippled some of the most well known and established companies.
While the external factors were very difficult to control (in most cases impossible), many mortgage providers sought ways to cut costs internally. Many organisations opting to cut the number of staff and re-structure the organisations to achieve these goals. While cutting the number of staff cut costs it also had a negative effect on the service provided.
A well established Dutch company decided to take a different approach rather then concentrating on re-structuring the emphasis was on improving efficiency and flexibility to meet the ever changing market needs. The organisation sought the help of the Aquima developers to improve their current system.
The challenge was to provide and automated process to deal with the large number of registrations, guarantees, backlogs, foreclosures and losses (more than 120,000 forms per year). Process integration and STP were essential in this. Due to the nature of the business a high requirement was set for the automation with respect to safety, access authorisation, availability, connectivity, user numbers and the transferability of the application maintenance.
Our rule was to design, develop and maintain a mid and back-office system, to support the business process. A web-based mid and back office system RADAR was developed. the system was used to register, manage guarantees and process foreclosure losses. The system was fully automated providing the business a secure electronic communication system. The realised system was composed of various parts to support every phase of the process.
The finished system was a very efficient process support system. The Dutch company yield benefits almost instantly, The company was able to deal with a considerable increase of registration with with a very limited increase of the workforce. The system was very dynamic and flexible providing a platform for easy and safe data transfer.Employees where able to update policy changes instantly protecting the company and company reputation.
Guest post for 25th January 2010.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Showing posts with label BPM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BPM. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Monday, 24 January 2011
Aquima: Full of Energy!
Energy prices are constantly on the rise and with the promise of lowest prices from all energy providers customers are very confused and unsure which companies to trust. The new trend has made it very difficult energy providers to have a loyal customer base and are consistently competing for customers.
Government legislation, giving the customer the right to switch between providers at any given time leaves companies very vulnerable. Most customers are just one bad bill away from seeking another company that would promise a lower price.
All these problems are amplified by the current economic situation, most customers are feeling the pressure and the high level of unemployment is causing mass panic. While most companies are spending millions in advertisement to gain new customers, while very little is done in keeping existing ones.
We here at Aquima have come up with very innovative solutions to all of the above. Our fully automated energy meter gives the customer the ability to change the energy source that they are using instantly and at any given time, for example if a customer wishes to use solar energy in summer and be provided electricity in the winter.
With Aquima's energy meter each customer is treated as an individual, giving each customer the feeling that they are important and that his/her energy provider cares about their individual needs, this should provide a much needed customer loyalty.
Guest post for 24th January 2011.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Government legislation, giving the customer the right to switch between providers at any given time leaves companies very vulnerable. Most customers are just one bad bill away from seeking another company that would promise a lower price.
All these problems are amplified by the current economic situation, most customers are feeling the pressure and the high level of unemployment is causing mass panic. While most companies are spending millions in advertisement to gain new customers, while very little is done in keeping existing ones.
We here at Aquima have come up with very innovative solutions to all of the above. Our fully automated energy meter gives the customer the ability to change the energy source that they are using instantly and at any given time, for example if a customer wishes to use solar energy in summer and be provided electricity in the winter.
With Aquima's energy meter each customer is treated as an individual, giving each customer the feeling that they are important and that his/her energy provider cares about their individual needs, this should provide a much needed customer loyalty.
Guest post for 24th January 2011.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Webinar: Intelligent Strategies for Tackling Financial Crime
Carkean Solutions will be hosting a webinar on anti-money laundering and fraud on the 24th February 2011, at 2:30pm, which will be hosted by the Digital Systems Knowledge Transfer Network.
The webinar will be covering key topics to do with the impact and causes of financial crime, how much is lost each year as a result of it and how we can work to solve these problems. It is a brief yet concise overview of the industry and how we can work to improve the level of response in fraudelent cases.
We will also be looking at our revolutionary BPM system and highlighting how that can help to create a dynamic and quick-to-react solution for fraud.
It will provide for an invigorating and thought-provoking look at a problem which has become ever-apparent in recent years.
We will be providing more information on how to connect to this exciting event nearer the date of the webinar. If you're interested in this unique opportunity send an e-mail to info@carkeansolutions.co.uk.
Thank you for reading- we'd love to see you!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
The webinar will be covering key topics to do with the impact and causes of financial crime, how much is lost each year as a result of it and how we can work to solve these problems. It is a brief yet concise overview of the industry and how we can work to improve the level of response in fraudelent cases.
We will also be looking at our revolutionary BPM system and highlighting how that can help to create a dynamic and quick-to-react solution for fraud.
It will provide for an invigorating and thought-provoking look at a problem which has become ever-apparent in recent years.
We will be providing more information on how to connect to this exciting event nearer the date of the webinar. If you're interested in this unique opportunity send an e-mail to info@carkeansolutions.co.uk.
Thank you for reading- we'd love to see you!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Aquima: Providing Financial Solutions
Financial regulation has been a rather active talking point in recent months since the global recession; this can prove to be a problem with traditional IT systems. Where changes are often expensive and time consuming. And where you could be waiting several weeks to see the changes put in place across all of your systems.
Aquima is different in that you can update your systems in real time and it costs nothing but a small amount of time to do so. There are no extensive lead-on implementation times and changes can be made the same day if you wish. Equally, if you wish to implement them at a later date you can set them up and let Aquima do that for you automatically.
This even applies to documentation and forms as through Aquima’s document creator you are able to access, edit and update these important papers as easily as you can the system.
As you know, combating fraud and identity theft is a time-sensitive matter and requires accuracy to quickly isolate and solve the problem. Aquima provides a dynamic solution that responds as quickly as you do, while providing an unbelievable level of accuracy which helps track problems as they occur.
No longer will you have to sift through layers of data to find what is required for this incident- you can easily comb the entire system in minutes tracking down the possible causes and stop them before they develop further. Which is critical as it allows you to update, reassure and respond to customers in real time and provide answers where needed.
Aquima is not an ‘off the shelf’ solution but a bespoke system which can be tailored to your needs and can be developed to combat the problems you encounter most frequently.
In recent years more systems have become more computerized than ever before, this often leads to the question of security and how well a system protects information. There is also a growing concern of when information can be accessed and from where. These are all things that Aquima takes into account, and delivers on, while storing your confidential information.
Cloud computing allows you to access your information quickly and easily when and where you need it without it being at risk. Our high level of protection and encryption ensure only those who need it, can use it or you allow to use it can access it. Allowing you to continue your day to day operations knowing your information is just a click away.
Incidents with finance usually require a great deal of human input as the situations tend to be unique, while requiring expertise and knowledge from all levels. It is easily possible to make models which many employees can access or limit the access to the select few- allowing Aquima to tackle cases of any size. As, like you know, these cases often start small before escalating rapidly.
Also, were we to look at the worst case scenario, such as several incidents at once, we can once again be reassured that Aquima can handle these as it can support hundreds of models/cases at once. These allow you to have a new-found confidence in the face of what would be, and still is, a very large problem and something that traditional IT systems would not be able to handle.
Thank you for reading as always!
If you have anything to add, any questions or queries, feel free to comment below or on any of our social media sites.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Aquima is different in that you can update your systems in real time and it costs nothing but a small amount of time to do so. There are no extensive lead-on implementation times and changes can be made the same day if you wish. Equally, if you wish to implement them at a later date you can set them up and let Aquima do that for you automatically.
This even applies to documentation and forms as through Aquima’s document creator you are able to access, edit and update these important papers as easily as you can the system.
As you know, combating fraud and identity theft is a time-sensitive matter and requires accuracy to quickly isolate and solve the problem. Aquima provides a dynamic solution that responds as quickly as you do, while providing an unbelievable level of accuracy which helps track problems as they occur.
No longer will you have to sift through layers of data to find what is required for this incident- you can easily comb the entire system in minutes tracking down the possible causes and stop them before they develop further. Which is critical as it allows you to update, reassure and respond to customers in real time and provide answers where needed.
Aquima is not an ‘off the shelf’ solution but a bespoke system which can be tailored to your needs and can be developed to combat the problems you encounter most frequently.
In recent years more systems have become more computerized than ever before, this often leads to the question of security and how well a system protects information. There is also a growing concern of when information can be accessed and from where. These are all things that Aquima takes into account, and delivers on, while storing your confidential information.
Cloud computing allows you to access your information quickly and easily when and where you need it without it being at risk. Our high level of protection and encryption ensure only those who need it, can use it or you allow to use it can access it. Allowing you to continue your day to day operations knowing your information is just a click away.
Incidents with finance usually require a great deal of human input as the situations tend to be unique, while requiring expertise and knowledge from all levels. It is easily possible to make models which many employees can access or limit the access to the select few- allowing Aquima to tackle cases of any size. As, like you know, these cases often start small before escalating rapidly.
Also, were we to look at the worst case scenario, such as several incidents at once, we can once again be reassured that Aquima can handle these as it can support hundreds of models/cases at once. These allow you to have a new-found confidence in the face of what would be, and still is, a very large problem and something that traditional IT systems would not be able to handle.
Thank you for reading as always!
If you have anything to add, any questions or queries, feel free to comment below or on any of our social media sites.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Aquima: Solutions for Petroleum Pt. 2
As promised earlier this month we are re-visting the topic of solutions provided by Aquima for petroleum companies. We discussed many of the problems that petroleum companies faced and their solutions, today we are going to take a different approach where instead of providing solutions for existing problems we are going to look at the innovation aspect of Aquima.
One of the most innovative and useful tools offered by the Aquima system for the petroleum industry is the oil search engine. This is truly an amazing feature, with the ability to predict oil rigs with a very high level of accuracy. The process is a very simple one, data is collected from all previous successful (and unsuccessful) oil searches and through the powerful AI (artificial intelligence) of Aquima a number of highly plausible oil fields locations are drawn up.
The high level of accuracy associated with the application can instantly reduce the cost connected with the initial stage of searching for oil. While the application does not claim that major saving will be made in the testing phase, the savings are made in the initial stages where most companies would rely on costly methods of searching for oil from geologists. Using of powerful computers and data based on endless research a where the smallest mistake would lead to millions of dollars being wasted.
Many companies suffer more than the cost of the investment when drilling into an empty well, it is often that the after effects that are far greater and more costly. The damage to company reputation would certainly lead to share price deflation, hindering the business's ability to secure new investors and keep existing ones. As seen recently a British based company's share price fell by 60% overnight after discovering that a promising oil well was empty.
While the oil search engine application does not save costs after the intial stage there are many tools in the Aquima BPM system that do, these will be discussed in greater detail in the coming weeks.
Guest post for January 11th 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
One of the most innovative and useful tools offered by the Aquima system for the petroleum industry is the oil search engine. This is truly an amazing feature, with the ability to predict oil rigs with a very high level of accuracy. The process is a very simple one, data is collected from all previous successful (and unsuccessful) oil searches and through the powerful AI (artificial intelligence) of Aquima a number of highly plausible oil fields locations are drawn up.
The high level of accuracy associated with the application can instantly reduce the cost connected with the initial stage of searching for oil. While the application does not claim that major saving will be made in the testing phase, the savings are made in the initial stages where most companies would rely on costly methods of searching for oil from geologists. Using of powerful computers and data based on endless research a where the smallest mistake would lead to millions of dollars being wasted.
Many companies suffer more than the cost of the investment when drilling into an empty well, it is often that the after effects that are far greater and more costly. The damage to company reputation would certainly lead to share price deflation, hindering the business's ability to secure new investors and keep existing ones. As seen recently a British based company's share price fell by 60% overnight after discovering that a promising oil well was empty.
While the oil search engine application does not save costs after the intial stage there are many tools in the Aquima BPM system that do, these will be discussed in greater detail in the coming weeks.
Guest post for January 11th 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Monday, 10 January 2011
Carkean Solutions: Pushing Innovation in Finance
We at Carkean Solutions are passionate about innovation and we're always exploring new ways to provide long-lasting, competitive and exceptional growth to our clients. One way we do this is to provide new technology wherever possible.
For instance, we're working closely with financial organisations to provide systems that are highly transparent and dynamic.
Not only to meet the needs these companies have today but tomorrow, as well.
Transparency in fiancial systems is needed now more than ever. Following the global recession there was an outcry that we see more where our money is going, to who and for what as we were concerned about our money.
But the truth is that many traditional IT systems don't provide this level of transparency.
While it is equally true that many organisations have long lead-on times to sort problems when they occur due to restricted systems.
The last thing we want to imagine is problems with our money.
Identity theft and credit card fraud have become a serious problem as most of our transactions have switched to "new" systems. Whereas, once was the case, signatures were required- all that is now required is a PIN number.
With a card that is none too often checked before being slotted into the reader ready to pay for the purchases.
Which makes this a frightening new truth we have to deal with and one that technological innovation could curb. We are confident that, in the future, in several years time, we could effectively cut down these happenings to a small percentage.
But for now we are looking to cut the possibilities and provide more opportunities to come back, without loss, from these unfortunate situations.
Which is why we feel that technological innovation is the future- as many things are handled by technology these days.
As a management consultancy we get the pleasure to work with many organisations and this takes us to many industries. We see and do a lot. Working with a number of clients and constantly adapting our solutions, and software, to match the new problems which arise from the industry over time.
That's all for now- thank you for reading as always!
If you have anything you'd like to add (comments, questions, inquiries or feedback) just leave a comment and we'll get back to you.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
For instance, we're working closely with financial organisations to provide systems that are highly transparent and dynamic.
Not only to meet the needs these companies have today but tomorrow, as well.
Transparency in fiancial systems is needed now more than ever. Following the global recession there was an outcry that we see more where our money is going, to who and for what as we were concerned about our money.
But the truth is that many traditional IT systems don't provide this level of transparency.
While it is equally true that many organisations have long lead-on times to sort problems when they occur due to restricted systems.
The last thing we want to imagine is problems with our money.
Identity theft and credit card fraud have become a serious problem as most of our transactions have switched to "new" systems. Whereas, once was the case, signatures were required- all that is now required is a PIN number.
With a card that is none too often checked before being slotted into the reader ready to pay for the purchases.
Which makes this a frightening new truth we have to deal with and one that technological innovation could curb. We are confident that, in the future, in several years time, we could effectively cut down these happenings to a small percentage.
But for now we are looking to cut the possibilities and provide more opportunities to come back, without loss, from these unfortunate situations.
Which is why we feel that technological innovation is the future- as many things are handled by technology these days.
As a management consultancy we get the pleasure to work with many organisations and this takes us to many industries. We see and do a lot. Working with a number of clients and constantly adapting our solutions, and software, to match the new problems which arise from the industry over time.
That's all for now- thank you for reading as always!
If you have anything you'd like to add (comments, questions, inquiries or feedback) just leave a comment and we'll get back to you.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Aquima: Solutions for Petroleum.
Petroleum companies are often multinational organisations sharing similar resources; this can include data, staff and even assets. The problem is that many companies do not use the same IT system, thereby data transfer is difficult and time consuming.
There are many reasons for the lack of integration between different branches of an oil company trading in different countries.
Many IT systems are made specifically for a branch operating in a specific country, as most of the software is tailored to their needs and requirements.
Which may not apply to other branches of the company, as most software used relies on heavy coding it is not possible to create a system that would meet the needs of the different branches, making effective and flexible data sharing virtually impossible.
Another problem faced by companies trading in different countries is that data is collected in several languages and would need to be translated before it is useful, which limits the speed of which a company can react to change in the market or government rules and legislation. Thereby having a negative effect on profits and company image.
The Aquima BPM system is equipped with the tools necessary to solve all of the above problems and more. Aquima software is able to run in any language providing the continuity and integration that is required. One of the main advantages of Aquima is that it is platform independent enabling the business to collect data from any source possible.
Aquima's instant translation tool is a feature that is very desirable for all multinational companies, as it allows communication and data transfer between two or more people with no common language to be realised in real time saving the cost of hiring translators and the time it takes for the translation to take place.
The Aquima systems has many more features that are of great benefit to companies operating in the petroleum industry that would be discussed in detail at a later time.
Guest post for 4th January 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
There are many reasons for the lack of integration between different branches of an oil company trading in different countries.
Many IT systems are made specifically for a branch operating in a specific country, as most of the software is tailored to their needs and requirements.
Which may not apply to other branches of the company, as most software used relies on heavy coding it is not possible to create a system that would meet the needs of the different branches, making effective and flexible data sharing virtually impossible.
Another problem faced by companies trading in different countries is that data is collected in several languages and would need to be translated before it is useful, which limits the speed of which a company can react to change in the market or government rules and legislation. Thereby having a negative effect on profits and company image.
The Aquima BPM system is equipped with the tools necessary to solve all of the above problems and more. Aquima software is able to run in any language providing the continuity and integration that is required. One of the main advantages of Aquima is that it is platform independent enabling the business to collect data from any source possible.
Aquima's instant translation tool is a feature that is very desirable for all multinational companies, as it allows communication and data transfer between two or more people with no common language to be realised in real time saving the cost of hiring translators and the time it takes for the translation to take place.
The Aquima systems has many more features that are of great benefit to companies operating in the petroleum industry that would be discussed in detail at a later time.
Guest post for 4th January 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Aquima: Using the Right Tools.
Aquima BPM systems have been successfully utilised in a variety of industries; today we're talking about Aquima in the retail industry and how the system was used to improve the services provided by a leading DIY outlet in the Netherlands and Belgium.
In an attempt to differentiate the services provided and gain a competitive edge, the DIY outlet introduced a new marketing campaign. The theme of the campaign was "inspiration and advice". Part of this new marketing campaign was a web based service focusing on home designers and decorative individuals. The challenge for the DIY outlet was to provide an online customised odd-job advice.
This turned out to be a very difficult task, as the website had to cater for a large number of people, meet the needs of each individual and still be very user friendly.
After numerous failed attempts, the the management team decided to seek help in the form of Aquima.
Aquima consultants conducted interviews to investigate what information and advice was considered to be important and collected knowledge from the organisation. The knowledge was used to create web-based applications with the aid of Aquima, leading to the realisation of customised advice by means of clever dialogue. This resulted in various odd-job manuals that can be expanded easily and quickly.
The web applications are extremely flexible, user friendly and easy to expand. As well as style-independent. Meaning that the layout is made separately, allowing the application to change automatically when a new design is implemented.
This means new designs are realised quicker without having to take the older designs into account.
There were many benefits to the business including more visitors to the website. The online advice was amongst the top five most viewed pages, which led to an increase of customers visiting the stores and less pressure on staff to provide advice, thereby improving staff motivation and customer service.
Guest post for the 4th January 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
In an attempt to differentiate the services provided and gain a competitive edge, the DIY outlet introduced a new marketing campaign. The theme of the campaign was "inspiration and advice". Part of this new marketing campaign was a web based service focusing on home designers and decorative individuals. The challenge for the DIY outlet was to provide an online customised odd-job advice.
This turned out to be a very difficult task, as the website had to cater for a large number of people, meet the needs of each individual and still be very user friendly.
After numerous failed attempts, the the management team decided to seek help in the form of Aquima.
Aquima consultants conducted interviews to investigate what information and advice was considered to be important and collected knowledge from the organisation. The knowledge was used to create web-based applications with the aid of Aquima, leading to the realisation of customised advice by means of clever dialogue. This resulted in various odd-job manuals that can be expanded easily and quickly.
The web applications are extremely flexible, user friendly and easy to expand. As well as style-independent. Meaning that the layout is made separately, allowing the application to change automatically when a new design is implemented.
This means new designs are realised quicker without having to take the older designs into account.
There were many benefits to the business including more visitors to the website. The online advice was amongst the top five most viewed pages, which led to an increase of customers visiting the stores and less pressure on staff to provide advice, thereby improving staff motivation and customer service.
Guest post for the 4th January 2011
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Aquima: Government Savings
The economy is the most talked about topic over the last two years, elections have been decided based on the state of the economy all over the world.
With the world's leading countries deciding to cut back on public spending in order to cope with the economic crisis, and the growth of debt that each country is facing- we don't have to look far with the new government promising that public cuts of several billion GBP and IT savings would be £95 million.
The proposed cuts to the IT departments can not be realised without major destruction to the services provided which can do more harm than good in the long run. With the help of Aquima software these cuts would be realised with no effect on the services provided. In fact further cuts are possible with improvement on efficiency across all departments. As Aquima uses artificial intelligence only 20% of the IT resources are required.
The problem with the current system is that even within one department many different IT systems are in use meaning that, if there was a change in legislation or regulations required, a lot of IT work is required. Wasting time and money as (for example) a customer would receive different decisions on the same day with different layouts.
Aquima can provide a clear and convenient way of handling documents. Streamlining the creation of documents and giving the flexibility and the speed necessary to respond to large change in legislation and regulations. While providing the platform for quicker responses to customer and eliminating the problem of backlogs and the extra staff required to fix it.
The Dutch Ministry of Education faced a similar problem with a budget of 20bn Euros and 9,000 institutions, where the process distribution has to be highly transparent to avoid criticism. We were able to produce a high-performance document processing and generating system which produces documents in batches and online, alongside a linked system which included an archiving system. Eliminating the need to re-enter the information several times.
The implementation of the Aquima system enabled document adaptation without the need for programming giving the flexibility and speed required for effective management. Documents are produced cheaper and faster through the central registration of knowledge and data.
Aquima enabled the Ministry of Education to have an efficient, flexible and cost effective system in record time with small adaptation. A similar system can be commissioned in the UK that would be more efficient and cost effective than any other system available, and would have a positive impact on all other departments.
Guest post for 22nd December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
With the world's leading countries deciding to cut back on public spending in order to cope with the economic crisis, and the growth of debt that each country is facing- we don't have to look far with the new government promising that public cuts of several billion GBP and IT savings would be £95 million.
The proposed cuts to the IT departments can not be realised without major destruction to the services provided which can do more harm than good in the long run. With the help of Aquima software these cuts would be realised with no effect on the services provided. In fact further cuts are possible with improvement on efficiency across all departments. As Aquima uses artificial intelligence only 20% of the IT resources are required.
The problem with the current system is that even within one department many different IT systems are in use meaning that, if there was a change in legislation or regulations required, a lot of IT work is required. Wasting time and money as (for example) a customer would receive different decisions on the same day with different layouts.
Aquima can provide a clear and convenient way of handling documents. Streamlining the creation of documents and giving the flexibility and the speed necessary to respond to large change in legislation and regulations. While providing the platform for quicker responses to customer and eliminating the problem of backlogs and the extra staff required to fix it.
The Dutch Ministry of Education faced a similar problem with a budget of 20bn Euros and 9,000 institutions, where the process distribution has to be highly transparent to avoid criticism. We were able to produce a high-performance document processing and generating system which produces documents in batches and online, alongside a linked system which included an archiving system. Eliminating the need to re-enter the information several times.
The implementation of the Aquima system enabled document adaptation without the need for programming giving the flexibility and speed required for effective management. Documents are produced cheaper and faster through the central registration of knowledge and data.
Aquima enabled the Ministry of Education to have an efficient, flexible and cost effective system in record time with small adaptation. A similar system can be commissioned in the UK that would be more efficient and cost effective than any other system available, and would have a positive impact on all other departments.
Guest post for 22nd December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Aquima: Insurance in Practice
In recent years we have seen the number of insurance providers increase substantially ranging from banks to specialist insurance services, these are all competing in a very crowded market, and insurance providers are working very hard to cut costs and make savings.
This is to ensure they are providing the best value for money insurance cover possible.
These facts were well known to a multinational Dutch insurance provider. After struggling with regular setbacks and the frustration of an inadequate system, the management team decided it was time for a change.
Facing tightened legislation and regulation problems, which lead to the rise of compliance issues when composing quotes and contracts- the main problem was that contracts were drawn up manually.
Due to the specialist nature of these quotes and contracts it meant that they had to employ a large number of specialized personnel- and this proved very costly. Drawing up contracts manually had another major problem in that mistakes were made on a regular basis, which meant that customers where over or under charged which was not in the interest of the business. The solution was that all documents had to be standardised in a way that it is easy to understand and update.
In order to proceed effectively we had to analyse the business and produce a standardised document system model, which was implemented and maintained using Aquima. Having all the complex documents such as contracts, rules and regulations standardised meant that the business was able to realise instant success.
Aquima's flexible software enabled the business to apply legislative changes immediately allowing for a more transparent process for all the parties concerned from the client to official regulators. The new system was incredibly efficient leading to fewer mistakes being made. The automation of the process meant that updates to all documents can be made in real time and from single point of entry ending the business heavy reliance on specialised insurance brokers saving time and money.
The standardising of documents and how they were recorded meant that company risk decreased significantly because the knowledge was no longer monopolised by a small number of the workforce. The information can be accessed by all employees with the authorisation now that it is recorded in Aquima.
Guest post for 21st December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
This is to ensure they are providing the best value for money insurance cover possible.
These facts were well known to a multinational Dutch insurance provider. After struggling with regular setbacks and the frustration of an inadequate system, the management team decided it was time for a change.
Facing tightened legislation and regulation problems, which lead to the rise of compliance issues when composing quotes and contracts- the main problem was that contracts were drawn up manually.
Due to the specialist nature of these quotes and contracts it meant that they had to employ a large number of specialized personnel- and this proved very costly. Drawing up contracts manually had another major problem in that mistakes were made on a regular basis, which meant that customers where over or under charged which was not in the interest of the business. The solution was that all documents had to be standardised in a way that it is easy to understand and update.
In order to proceed effectively we had to analyse the business and produce a standardised document system model, which was implemented and maintained using Aquima. Having all the complex documents such as contracts, rules and regulations standardised meant that the business was able to realise instant success.
Aquima's flexible software enabled the business to apply legislative changes immediately allowing for a more transparent process for all the parties concerned from the client to official regulators. The new system was incredibly efficient leading to fewer mistakes being made. The automation of the process meant that updates to all documents can be made in real time and from single point of entry ending the business heavy reliance on specialised insurance brokers saving time and money.
The standardising of documents and how they were recorded meant that company risk decreased significantly because the knowledge was no longer monopolised by a small number of the workforce. The information can be accessed by all employees with the authorisation now that it is recorded in Aquima.
Guest post for 21st December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Aquima: Putting it Plainly...
One common stereotype that comes up a lot when you look at business process management is that it lacks explanation. For this reason (amongst others) it is hard to show organisations how useful it can be.
The general consensus of opinion is that there is little specific industry information.
While there are many case studies and the like about generic topics (such as cashflow) these can be increasingly difficult to relate, or adjust, to another organisation or to their specific problems.
Which makes it hard to define: "These are the key advantages to your organisation..."
Equally when it comes to implementing the system there is a certain mysticism about how it is implemented. Or if it cost-effective or easy to do.
Without any information about how the system handles their specific problems or their implementation process it then becomes more science than marketing, or more marketing than science, which ultimately makes this something of a mystery and the lack of information leads to two situations.
One is that you comb through the internet searching for topics and could or couldn't come up with something worthwhile.
Two is that you start to take a long hard look at the different BPM packages and try to discern which is better, which is for you and which you want to buy (via price comparison).
The latter is a better approach than the former, but the problem is, quite frankly, when it comes down to systems like Aquima you can't see the benefits on paper. While ARIS, for instance, is easy to think that it will be a great package but you overlook the necessity of coding.
So how does Aquima fit into this?
As you can see from this blog- we have so much information on offer about this exciting BPM package and, were you to contact us, we have case studies and demonstrations (including webinars) that help dispel the mystery.
This is because we believe the best policy is an informative one.
And we feel that Aquima has so much use it's almost criminal not to tell people about how it works and what it could help you with in your organisation.
But we also appreciate that you're a business user and your interests lie not in riddles and jargon- but in the results.
So we try our best to say "These are the things that can help your organisation" alongside "And these are things that have helped organisations like yours" using case studies and information packs.
Just another reason that Aquima bridges the gap between business and IT!
Thank you for reading as always!
We hope this has explained how Aquima can provide another unique feature amongst the sea of BPM packages.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
The general consensus of opinion is that there is little specific industry information.
While there are many case studies and the like about generic topics (such as cashflow) these can be increasingly difficult to relate, or adjust, to another organisation or to their specific problems.
Which makes it hard to define: "These are the key advantages to your organisation..."
Equally when it comes to implementing the system there is a certain mysticism about how it is implemented. Or if it cost-effective or easy to do.
Without any information about how the system handles their specific problems or their implementation process it then becomes more science than marketing, or more marketing than science, which ultimately makes this something of a mystery and the lack of information leads to two situations.
One is that you comb through the internet searching for topics and could or couldn't come up with something worthwhile.
Two is that you start to take a long hard look at the different BPM packages and try to discern which is better, which is for you and which you want to buy (via price comparison).
The latter is a better approach than the former, but the problem is, quite frankly, when it comes down to systems like Aquima you can't see the benefits on paper. While ARIS, for instance, is easy to think that it will be a great package but you overlook the necessity of coding.
So how does Aquima fit into this?
As you can see from this blog- we have so much information on offer about this exciting BPM package and, were you to contact us, we have case studies and demonstrations (including webinars) that help dispel the mystery.
This is because we believe the best policy is an informative one.
And we feel that Aquima has so much use it's almost criminal not to tell people about how it works and what it could help you with in your organisation.
But we also appreciate that you're a business user and your interests lie not in riddles and jargon- but in the results.
So we try our best to say "These are the things that can help your organisation" alongside "And these are things that have helped organisations like yours" using case studies and information packs.
Just another reason that Aquima bridges the gap between business and IT!
Thank you for reading as always!
We hope this has explained how Aquima can provide another unique feature amongst the sea of BPM packages.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Aquima: Out of the Box!
While most BPM software posesses similar qualities, we here at Aquima are proud to differentiate ourselves as leaders in innovative ways in realising the most practical solutions that would yield short and long term benefits to our client. The software is designed to empower a business oriented person to design the entire system and tailor it to meet their individual requirements by specifications rather then programming.
This feature is our strongest USP due to the fact that even our closest competitors are unable to provide a package that can match these features. As most of the BPM software requires a programmer to design the software process a very complicated process requiring an advanced coding knowledge. A very common issue that an organisation faces is the breakdown in communication between the IT specialist and the business oriented person leading leading to time consuming alterations that can be very costly but may still to prove ineffective. Giving the power to the client to design their software can open the door for innovative and practical solutions that can never be realised by an IT specialist.
Most organisations are expanding, whether into different fields or by vertical and horizontal integration, this means that data will need to be re-entered or shared, while it is virtually impossible to share the data effectively using the common BPM software it is simply a click away when using Aquima. For example, if a bank is using CrediCube (Aquima's risk management program) to score their customers and the bank expandeds its business into the insurance industry using CLAIM-IT (Aquima's insurance program) the data can be easily transferred saving time, money and possible mistakes when re-entering the data.
One of the most practical and unsung features of the Aquima software is cloud computing. This feature allows the user to access data from anywhere in the world, thereby eliminating the need to worry about transporting your data physically from office to office risking the data being lost or stolen. Another advantage is that data can be amended and updated easily by anyone authorised to do so at any given time enabling the firm to have relevant and up to date data at all times, giving the company the platform to make informed decisions.
Where as most of the BPM programs in the market are concerned with defining and arranging process on an abstract level Aquima covers every aspect of the modelling process meaning that we have an executable process. What this means to a business is that you are able to model the entire business process this point is truly significant in determining the future position of the company and how it can proceed to achieve its objectives.
Aquima has been described as the most dynamic BPM and at least 7 years ahead of its time by one of the most respected information technology research organisations (the Gartner Group). Due to the features offered by this package, the remarkable flexibility that gives the users limitless potential on improving every aspect of the business and the speed that is unheard of in the world of BPM packaging. Flexibility is one of the main issues contributing towards major companies going out of business, many organisations simply can't react to the rapid change in the market, and, thereby, are providing products and services that are no longer in need. Aquima's agile package gives a business the ability to react to change in real time giving the firm a competitive edge.
Guest post for 15th December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
This feature is our strongest USP due to the fact that even our closest competitors are unable to provide a package that can match these features. As most of the BPM software requires a programmer to design the software process a very complicated process requiring an advanced coding knowledge. A very common issue that an organisation faces is the breakdown in communication between the IT specialist and the business oriented person leading leading to time consuming alterations that can be very costly but may still to prove ineffective. Giving the power to the client to design their software can open the door for innovative and practical solutions that can never be realised by an IT specialist.
Most organisations are expanding, whether into different fields or by vertical and horizontal integration, this means that data will need to be re-entered or shared, while it is virtually impossible to share the data effectively using the common BPM software it is simply a click away when using Aquima. For example, if a bank is using CrediCube (Aquima's risk management program) to score their customers and the bank expandeds its business into the insurance industry using CLAIM-IT (Aquima's insurance program) the data can be easily transferred saving time, money and possible mistakes when re-entering the data.
One of the most practical and unsung features of the Aquima software is cloud computing. This feature allows the user to access data from anywhere in the world, thereby eliminating the need to worry about transporting your data physically from office to office risking the data being lost or stolen. Another advantage is that data can be amended and updated easily by anyone authorised to do so at any given time enabling the firm to have relevant and up to date data at all times, giving the company the platform to make informed decisions.
Where as most of the BPM programs in the market are concerned with defining and arranging process on an abstract level Aquima covers every aspect of the modelling process meaning that we have an executable process. What this means to a business is that you are able to model the entire business process this point is truly significant in determining the future position of the company and how it can proceed to achieve its objectives.
Aquima has been described as the most dynamic BPM and at least 7 years ahead of its time by one of the most respected information technology research organisations (the Gartner Group). Due to the features offered by this package, the remarkable flexibility that gives the users limitless potential on improving every aspect of the business and the speed that is unheard of in the world of BPM packaging. Flexibility is one of the main issues contributing towards major companies going out of business, many organisations simply can't react to the rapid change in the market, and, thereby, are providing products and services that are no longer in need. Aquima's agile package gives a business the ability to react to change in real time giving the firm a competitive edge.
Guest post for 15th December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Aquima: Cost Saving Strategies!
With the ever more volatile economic situation, more and more businesses feel the need to find innovative ways to cut costs while maintaining, or even increasing, productivity to remain competitive. This fact has lead many businesses to abandon the traditional methods of cost cutting which tend to be less productive and may entail high initial cost to restructure the organisation.
Unlike the traditional methods Aquima software is very easy and cheap to set up and even cheaper to run. The software offers easy solutions to complex problems leaving managers time to concentrate on implementing the solutions, saving time and money. One of the many aspects of the software that differentiates it from any other BPM software is that it offers features that can only be found in bespoke programs at only a fraction of the cost.
The program's friendly user interface gives the organisation a whole new dimension in terms of staff flexibility, where most BPM software requires an IT specialist to use the software, Aquima software can be used by any employee at every level saving money on hiring a specialist. Another advantage is that companies are no longer reliant on one employee, solving the reliability problem that companies face especially during the winter season where many employees fall ill, causing the firm to lose money and miss deadlines, thereby damaging company reputation.
The Aquima software requires very little training, making it the ideal program for any business. Many employees tend to resist change especially when it is of technological nature because of the preconceived ideas that all software requires high levels of expertise to use efficiently. Aquima combats this problem by being user friendly software for anyone whether you have an IT background or not, meaning that employees will be happy and motivated, which in turn leads to higher productivity.
The software's remarkable cloud computing feature enables organisations to employ staff that work from home, saving cost on office space while maintaining real time interaction. This feature is very significant in keeping companies very flexible and agile. For example, a company may choose to employ part time staff or free lance staff to reduce the high costs associated with keeping a high number of staff in a downturn and the ability to cope with the pressure of business upturn.
One of the reasons many well-recognised companies go out of business is due to the fact that they lack innovation and have very rigged procedures limiting the company’s flexibility and the ability to react to change in time. The Aquima software encourages innovation by suggesting innovative solutions which can be tailored to suit company needs which in turn gives the company a competitive edge.
Guest post for 14th December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Unlike the traditional methods Aquima software is very easy and cheap to set up and even cheaper to run. The software offers easy solutions to complex problems leaving managers time to concentrate on implementing the solutions, saving time and money. One of the many aspects of the software that differentiates it from any other BPM software is that it offers features that can only be found in bespoke programs at only a fraction of the cost.
The program's friendly user interface gives the organisation a whole new dimension in terms of staff flexibility, where most BPM software requires an IT specialist to use the software, Aquima software can be used by any employee at every level saving money on hiring a specialist. Another advantage is that companies are no longer reliant on one employee, solving the reliability problem that companies face especially during the winter season where many employees fall ill, causing the firm to lose money and miss deadlines, thereby damaging company reputation.
The Aquima software requires very little training, making it the ideal program for any business. Many employees tend to resist change especially when it is of technological nature because of the preconceived ideas that all software requires high levels of expertise to use efficiently. Aquima combats this problem by being user friendly software for anyone whether you have an IT background or not, meaning that employees will be happy and motivated, which in turn leads to higher productivity.
The software's remarkable cloud computing feature enables organisations to employ staff that work from home, saving cost on office space while maintaining real time interaction. This feature is very significant in keeping companies very flexible and agile. For example, a company may choose to employ part time staff or free lance staff to reduce the high costs associated with keeping a high number of staff in a downturn and the ability to cope with the pressure of business upturn.
One of the reasons many well-recognised companies go out of business is due to the fact that they lack innovation and have very rigged procedures limiting the company’s flexibility and the ability to react to change in time. The Aquima software encourages innovation by suggesting innovative solutions which can be tailored to suit company needs which in turn gives the company a competitive edge.
Guest post for 14th December 2010
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Monday, 13 December 2010
Aquima: Advancements in Innovation
Technological innovation has been something of a constantly evolving phenomenon in recent years. Every year technology advances beyond previous thought limits to provide, and nurture, new ideas and previously “impossible” ideas.
Artificial intelligence is one of these revolutionary changes as it has allowed computers and software to think for itself. Not to the levels of functional intelligent machines, sentient beings or some such, but to the level where a system can work out some problems by itself without user input.
This can be likened to many of the newer features of the Windows and Mac OS operating systems which provide many tasks without the user specifying. They “just happen” and the systems take care of the rest.
While this does mean that for many they face a lack of control over some of the finer points of the systems they use- the reassurance and convenience of these systems often more than makes up for it.
This has also paved the way for a lot of the other changes which have occurred in recent years as without artificial intelligence, or that ability, these things would never have been possible.
However, thanks to these advancements there are so many things that are now achievable with mobile and computing technology that was not possible before.
Cloud computing is another aspect of constantly evolving technology and innovation which provides a benefit over traditional systems. Through this, we are no longer limited to one platform or the prospect of having to be without information- our information will follow us.
This could possibly mean that it’s harder to disconnect ourselves from that information but, at the same time, the convenience and usability we gain is definitely worth that.
It also shows advancement in internet technology and security that such a system could be, and is, to some quite successful degree, even possible.
So where does all this lead? Back to Aquima!
As these are things, two very important things, that Aquima incorporates which gives it the revolutionary edge over the competition. Artificial intelligence powers the system while cloud computing gives it the accessibility- together they provide a unique system which requires no extra components.
Thanks to it being platform-independent and useful on so many devices there’s no need to upgrade hardware, buy extras or spend needlessly on new components.
Everything that Aquima can do it does straight out of the box and with exceptional results thanks to technological innovation. And, of course, a need to provide a BPM package that is more technology than marketing.
Something that is universally useful to all organisations.
But without the feeling that you’re getting a half-baked cookie cutter system which tries to force you in a preset profile or system.
Whatever you want- whatever you need- innovation and Aquima can deliver every single time.
Thank you for reading as always! If you have anything you would like to add, any questions or just want to give a quick heads up- feel free to comment.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Artificial intelligence is one of these revolutionary changes as it has allowed computers and software to think for itself. Not to the levels of functional intelligent machines, sentient beings or some such, but to the level where a system can work out some problems by itself without user input.
This can be likened to many of the newer features of the Windows and Mac OS operating systems which provide many tasks without the user specifying. They “just happen” and the systems take care of the rest.
While this does mean that for many they face a lack of control over some of the finer points of the systems they use- the reassurance and convenience of these systems often more than makes up for it.
This has also paved the way for a lot of the other changes which have occurred in recent years as without artificial intelligence, or that ability, these things would never have been possible.
However, thanks to these advancements there are so many things that are now achievable with mobile and computing technology that was not possible before.
Cloud computing is another aspect of constantly evolving technology and innovation which provides a benefit over traditional systems. Through this, we are no longer limited to one platform or the prospect of having to be without information- our information will follow us.
This could possibly mean that it’s harder to disconnect ourselves from that information but, at the same time, the convenience and usability we gain is definitely worth that.
It also shows advancement in internet technology and security that such a system could be, and is, to some quite successful degree, even possible.
So where does all this lead? Back to Aquima!
As these are things, two very important things, that Aquima incorporates which gives it the revolutionary edge over the competition. Artificial intelligence powers the system while cloud computing gives it the accessibility- together they provide a unique system which requires no extra components.
Thanks to it being platform-independent and useful on so many devices there’s no need to upgrade hardware, buy extras or spend needlessly on new components.
Everything that Aquima can do it does straight out of the box and with exceptional results thanks to technological innovation. And, of course, a need to provide a BPM package that is more technology than marketing.
Something that is universally useful to all organisations.
But without the feeling that you’re getting a half-baked cookie cutter system which tries to force you in a preset profile or system.
Whatever you want- whatever you need- innovation and Aquima can deliver every single time.
Thank you for reading as always! If you have anything you would like to add, any questions or just want to give a quick heads up- feel free to comment.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Monday, 6 December 2010
Aquima: Software Versioning.
Flexibility is required for you to have dynamic software versioning and while, in traditional software development, there is usually very little need for this- with Aquima it provides one of the unique features.
Software versioning is (traditionally) the process by which a piece of software becomes further developed, or upgraded. Often starting with a low number such as 0.1 or 1.0, as the software develops it will grow to higher numbers such as 4.5 for example.
While some software packages which have had continual development also use a different versioning system to denote new versions.
Finally in the process of developing software a project will go through alpha and beta stages, which feature "fixes", and will use a further different versioning system until the process is complete and the software is released.
In short, and for the purposes of this blog, and Aquima in general, versioning systems allow you to have several versions of the same software running.
This is something for which Aquima is highly regarded as sometimes you need to have different versions of the same model running.
In the case of a sale, for example, it is good practice to have a secondary model.
Unfortunately changing back and forth is manual, right? Wrong. With Aquima you can change from model to model without having to do a thing. The power of artificial intelligence only requires that you specify which dates to activate the secondary, or however many more models, that you require and the system will do the rest.
With this technology you can do anything from set up a summer sale to set up your entire marketing processes for the year.
Never having to worrry about whether or not someone has remembered to put out the new information, or having to painstakingly update each thing- or lack the ability to update them- as Aquima provides you with easy to use tools that do just that.
As a more explanatory example:
Version 1.0.5 Standard Operations
Version 1.0.8 Summer Sale
You work with your standard operations model from January 2011 to June 2011 and between July 2011 and September 2011 you are having a sale.
The artificial intelligence behind Aquima would work as follows, that, on the 1st July 2011 it would upgrade the system to 1.0.8 while leaving the other system intact. Then, on the 1st of September 2011 it would downgrade, much as it did updgrade, to 1.0.5 while leaving 1.0.8 safely locked away.
We hope that this explains a rather difficult to grasp concept, as the idea of having several versions running at once is akin to having several documents open at once- it's hard to see how it works.
Hopefully, with Aquima, you can see how easy a process it is.
Thank you for reading as always! And if you have anything you wish to add, wish to say or just a heads up- feel free to comment.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Software versioning is (traditionally) the process by which a piece of software becomes further developed, or upgraded. Often starting with a low number such as 0.1 or 1.0, as the software develops it will grow to higher numbers such as 4.5 for example.
While some software packages which have had continual development also use a different versioning system to denote new versions.
Finally in the process of developing software a project will go through alpha and beta stages, which feature "fixes", and will use a further different versioning system until the process is complete and the software is released.
In short, and for the purposes of this blog, and Aquima in general, versioning systems allow you to have several versions of the same software running.
This is something for which Aquima is highly regarded as sometimes you need to have different versions of the same model running.
In the case of a sale, for example, it is good practice to have a secondary model.
Unfortunately changing back and forth is manual, right? Wrong. With Aquima you can change from model to model without having to do a thing. The power of artificial intelligence only requires that you specify which dates to activate the secondary, or however many more models, that you require and the system will do the rest.
With this technology you can do anything from set up a summer sale to set up your entire marketing processes for the year.
Never having to worrry about whether or not someone has remembered to put out the new information, or having to painstakingly update each thing- or lack the ability to update them- as Aquima provides you with easy to use tools that do just that.
As a more explanatory example:
Version 1.0.5 Standard Operations
Version 1.0.8 Summer Sale
You work with your standard operations model from January 2011 to June 2011 and between July 2011 and September 2011 you are having a sale.
The artificial intelligence behind Aquima would work as follows, that, on the 1st July 2011 it would upgrade the system to 1.0.8 while leaving the other system intact. Then, on the 1st of September 2011 it would downgrade, much as it did updgrade, to 1.0.5 while leaving 1.0.8 safely locked away.
We hope that this explains a rather difficult to grasp concept, as the idea of having several versions running at once is akin to having several documents open at once- it's hard to see how it works.
Hopefully, with Aquima, you can see how easy a process it is.
Thank you for reading as always! And if you have anything you wish to add, wish to say or just a heads up- feel free to comment.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Information Flows.
Arguably the best looking waterfall is one where the water rushes down into a cascading explosion of foam at the base. Information is quite similar- the best kind of information is the kind that rushes through the organisation!
How do we achieve this?
We need to streamline information!
Streamlining information isn't hard, or expensive, in fact most business process management software packages do it as standard. In short, it is allowing the information to move effectively between layers in the organisation. Those who need it have it, those who want it can access it and those who want more of it can enter it. Simplicity in theory. Efficiency in practicality.
It also promotes a higher level of productivity.
Think of the time, money and effort that you could save by entering all the information in the organisation at once, only once, and letting everybody use their job-specific sections of it to their fullest.
Not to mention how simple and effective that solution will be over having two-dozen applications all doing the same thing. It's mind boggling!
Although, this isn't all down to the IT systems in place.
A lot of it also comes down to how much collaboration and thought there is in the initial information gathered and entered. While an IT system can make you more efficient and more productive- initial garbage in will only produce end result garbage out. And that's not what we want!
Good example, the organisation I previously worked for had stacks of old information that they wanted on a computerised database. A process that took an insane amount of time, quite simply, and quite frankly, because the original information was practically useless. Multiple choices of abbreviations for the same thing, missing information and sometimes entire pages of deleted information.
In the end it took months just to wade through all of this invaluable information- and make it usable- once more!
But in many cases, most organisations are a bit more organised than this and have their information neatly sorted.
So for you, you lovely people, all your concerns are in whether or not the system will deliver and what streamlining is. Well, it's a buzz word but when not doing that it's also a really good way of saying "makes everything faster, better, more efficient and transparent." So that you can see where the information is going, what the information is and help it to get there yesterday.
As for the delivery? I'd bet you that you could reap the benefits almost immediately as you will feel a lot more organised, far more reassured and like you can finally use this information.
No longer will you be questioning what you have, where it is, how you can use it or what use it really is to your organisation. You'll know.
Not to mention- you just broke the computing and business barrier!
Thank you for reading, as always! I hope this has been informative and again, as is the trend in recent posts, more a casual information post over a particularly themed post.
Feel free to comment if you have something to share!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
How do we achieve this?
We need to streamline information!
Streamlining information isn't hard, or expensive, in fact most business process management software packages do it as standard. In short, it is allowing the information to move effectively between layers in the organisation. Those who need it have it, those who want it can access it and those who want more of it can enter it. Simplicity in theory. Efficiency in practicality.
It also promotes a higher level of productivity.
Think of the time, money and effort that you could save by entering all the information in the organisation at once, only once, and letting everybody use their job-specific sections of it to their fullest.
Not to mention how simple and effective that solution will be over having two-dozen applications all doing the same thing. It's mind boggling!
Although, this isn't all down to the IT systems in place.
A lot of it also comes down to how much collaboration and thought there is in the initial information gathered and entered. While an IT system can make you more efficient and more productive- initial garbage in will only produce end result garbage out. And that's not what we want!
Good example, the organisation I previously worked for had stacks of old information that they wanted on a computerised database. A process that took an insane amount of time, quite simply, and quite frankly, because the original information was practically useless. Multiple choices of abbreviations for the same thing, missing information and sometimes entire pages of deleted information.
In the end it took months just to wade through all of this invaluable information- and make it usable- once more!
But in many cases, most organisations are a bit more organised than this and have their information neatly sorted.
So for you, you lovely people, all your concerns are in whether or not the system will deliver and what streamlining is. Well, it's a buzz word but when not doing that it's also a really good way of saying "makes everything faster, better, more efficient and transparent." So that you can see where the information is going, what the information is and help it to get there yesterday.
As for the delivery? I'd bet you that you could reap the benefits almost immediately as you will feel a lot more organised, far more reassured and like you can finally use this information.
No longer will you be questioning what you have, where it is, how you can use it or what use it really is to your organisation. You'll know.
Not to mention- you just broke the computing and business barrier!
Thank you for reading, as always! I hope this has been informative and again, as is the trend in recent posts, more a casual information post over a particularly themed post.
Feel free to comment if you have something to share!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an idividual not the corporation
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Aquima: Repeated Savings
One of the more unsung features of Aquima is how through its technology and innovation it saves you money at every level. We're not just talking about the purchase cost- but all costs.
Starting from the top you have the initial purchase and implementation costs which are quite pain free. Quick, easy, incredibly priced and returning several-fold value, you've already saved quite a lot.
But wait- there's more!
You need someone to run this system, right? Someone with experience and a long history in IT? Wrong. You could run this system yourself, yes, you- a business person. A managing director, shop floor worker, stock taker etc. Just about anyone and everyone can use Aquima.
So, you've saved costs on implementation and on training- there can't be many more savings, right? Wrong again. Aquima just keeps on giving.
After you've designed your new and quite fantastic model you have to implement it...but that means costs, hassle, fuss and more. Not with Aquima! You can implement the system yourself quickly and easily and for absolutely no cost. What about when I want to change my prices? Change my model? Thanks to Aquima's revolutionary version management system you can run as many versions of the model you want, at once, with no extra cost.
As for changing your model, building a new one, making a new document or application- how much do they cost? Here's a hint: absolutely nothing.
We could continue for hours highlighting just where Aquima saves you money, how much and how much you're going to idolise that intelligent little system.
But for your sake and mine- have some easy to digest bullet points:
There's so much to this system it's incredible- you can create, innovate and deliver to the highest levels and still have time left over to do your corporate work, too.
Thank you for reading, as always!
We hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as we love to talk about the many great things about Aquima that you could take advantage of.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Starting from the top you have the initial purchase and implementation costs which are quite pain free. Quick, easy, incredibly priced and returning several-fold value, you've already saved quite a lot.
But wait- there's more!
You need someone to run this system, right? Someone with experience and a long history in IT? Wrong. You could run this system yourself, yes, you- a business person. A managing director, shop floor worker, stock taker etc. Just about anyone and everyone can use Aquima.
So, you've saved costs on implementation and on training- there can't be many more savings, right? Wrong again. Aquima just keeps on giving.
After you've designed your new and quite fantastic model you have to implement it...but that means costs, hassle, fuss and more. Not with Aquima! You can implement the system yourself quickly and easily and for absolutely no cost. What about when I want to change my prices? Change my model? Thanks to Aquima's revolutionary version management system you can run as many versions of the model you want, at once, with no extra cost.
As for changing your model, building a new one, making a new document or application- how much do they cost? Here's a hint: absolutely nothing.
We could continue for hours highlighting just where Aquima saves you money, how much and how much you're going to idolise that intelligent little system.
But for your sake and mine- have some easy to digest bullet points:
- Multiple implementation and upgrade costs are a thing of the past. Create, recreate, deploy, redeploy, change versions all for no extra charge.
- Need a little more from your BPM system? Aquima comes with a fully-fledged document and report creator saving you the money (and time) of buying a second system.
- Worried about having to transport information from office to office? No need. Aquima is fully conversant in the neat thing we call Cloud Computing. Access information anytime, anywhere and for- you guessed it- no extra cost.
There's so much to this system it's incredible- you can create, innovate and deliver to the highest levels and still have time left over to do your corporate work, too.
Thank you for reading, as always!
We hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as we love to talk about the many great things about Aquima that you could take advantage of.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Aquima: Saving Money on IT.
One of the more attractive qualities of Aquima is that it is so cost effective for all the functionality the package houses, but wait- there's more! Did you know that by using the Aquima Suite as your chosen BPM package you can save yourself even more money? Well, you could!
This is through a series of savings you'll recieve as a result of having this exciting new software package in your hands and surging through your organisation.
Less failure and more success.
With Aquima there will be less project failures once implemented as you can develop and implement in real time to provide fast-responses on your solutions. Thereby, you can avoid long tiresome meetings matching up what the executives thought and what your development team thought.
Aquima also boasts ease of use so highly that you can cut out the need for that specialised developer as well, not to mention the agility inherent in the software, makes it so flexible it can respond as soon as changes in conditions/requirements happen. Which in the end not only saves money but time, resources and a whole lot of hassle!
You also won't have to worry about hiring any middle-men or in-between coders/programmers/distributors as all of these seperate roles can be handled by your staff. Implementation is quick and easy and even distribution is a painless process.
No need for added software!
Aquima is an all-inclusive BPM package and, as such, removes the need for extra software as it doesn't need extra services to provide its functionality. At the same time it drastically removes licencing costs as usually you would be paying for business logic, process management, document tools and dynamic interaction- with Aquima you pay for one- the Aquima Suite!
As a result of the above two points there are also less costs attributed to maintenance. Not only do you not require someone to turn your business logic into process information (as you can do it easily for yourself), you also don't have to worry about several points of specification. Aquima has just one utilising a concept it calls single point specification.
Less software development costs is a given if you look at how little hassle there is in the design process and especially if you look at the multiple version support Aquima has. In this way if you need several versions, for whatever reason, you can easily implement those with Aquima and at the end of the lifecycle there isn't any complex decompiling, either. Aquima will just revert back to the most-recent previous version.
Multiplied benefits.
It can also affect how much consultancy you have to work for and how much you pay for it, as well. Given that when Aquima comes into play it is essentially simplifying four-five tools into one and providing you with an unimaginable amount of transperency.
Less test costs- as in, pretty much none! As you can implement these solutions in real time you aren't forced to run an application for a week to get responses, which costs both time and money. You can view, edit, view, edit and so on until you're happy with the application and then you can make it live.
Which also comes under less adaptation costs as should you need to adapt it you're not going to need to go through all of the processes (and cost) again. It's as easy as using Microsoft Excel.
And to reiterate the points we've been making all through this post- there are next to no training costs as it is so easy to use- which is another cost saved and more money for your organisation to utilise.
(Plus, though it's not really a cost saving point, Aquima also saves a lot of headaches commonly associated to the purchase and implementation of software. But, remember what we said the other day? "Happy workers are productive workers." So make them happy!)
Thank you for reading, as always.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
This is through a series of savings you'll recieve as a result of having this exciting new software package in your hands and surging through your organisation.
Less failure and more success.
With Aquima there will be less project failures once implemented as you can develop and implement in real time to provide fast-responses on your solutions. Thereby, you can avoid long tiresome meetings matching up what the executives thought and what your development team thought.
Aquima also boasts ease of use so highly that you can cut out the need for that specialised developer as well, not to mention the agility inherent in the software, makes it so flexible it can respond as soon as changes in conditions/requirements happen. Which in the end not only saves money but time, resources and a whole lot of hassle!
You also won't have to worry about hiring any middle-men or in-between coders/programmers/distributors as all of these seperate roles can be handled by your staff. Implementation is quick and easy and even distribution is a painless process.
No need for added software!
Aquima is an all-inclusive BPM package and, as such, removes the need for extra software as it doesn't need extra services to provide its functionality. At the same time it drastically removes licencing costs as usually you would be paying for business logic, process management, document tools and dynamic interaction- with Aquima you pay for one- the Aquima Suite!
As a result of the above two points there are also less costs attributed to maintenance. Not only do you not require someone to turn your business logic into process information (as you can do it easily for yourself), you also don't have to worry about several points of specification. Aquima has just one utilising a concept it calls single point specification.
Less software development costs is a given if you look at how little hassle there is in the design process and especially if you look at the multiple version support Aquima has. In this way if you need several versions, for whatever reason, you can easily implement those with Aquima and at the end of the lifecycle there isn't any complex decompiling, either. Aquima will just revert back to the most-recent previous version.
Multiplied benefits.
It can also affect how much consultancy you have to work for and how much you pay for it, as well. Given that when Aquima comes into play it is essentially simplifying four-five tools into one and providing you with an unimaginable amount of transperency.
Less test costs- as in, pretty much none! As you can implement these solutions in real time you aren't forced to run an application for a week to get responses, which costs both time and money. You can view, edit, view, edit and so on until you're happy with the application and then you can make it live.
Which also comes under less adaptation costs as should you need to adapt it you're not going to need to go through all of the processes (and cost) again. It's as easy as using Microsoft Excel.
And to reiterate the points we've been making all through this post- there are next to no training costs as it is so easy to use- which is another cost saved and more money for your organisation to utilise.
(Plus, though it's not really a cost saving point, Aquima also saves a lot of headaches commonly associated to the purchase and implementation of software. But, remember what we said the other day? "Happy workers are productive workers." So make them happy!)
Thank you for reading, as always.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
BPM: 10 Reasons for Common BPM Failures.
Business process management software is like any other software- it can be prone to a degree of failure if users are not sure of certain features or if perceived benefits are not made clear. In the case of BPM software suites this is usually because they're seen as overly complicated, drawn-out and slow-running applications that will not meet business needs.
Which, to a certain degree, is true- unless you have a flexible process driven or a dynamic human driven organisation it won't have too much of an effect. But if you do (and it's likely you will) have one of these types of organisations BPM software could be very useful.
Therefore, for your reference, below we have listed ten of the most commonly encountered reasons that BPM software suites fail to meet expectations.
BPM is too much marketing- not enough science!
You wouldn't think that any product could be marketed too much...but in the case of BPM packages this is almost always the case. As BPM packages can have a number of varied connotations (covered below) there is a great amount of confusion over what does what, which will be useful and whether any of them will be useful for you. Often organisations will choose the largest vendor as the safest bet will always be taken, even in the case of more perceived value, which is not always the best choice as many marketeers don't fully represent such diverse software.
Unreasonable goals and unrealistic expectations.
Anyone who has ever designed anything knows how annoying it can be when someone simply takes the idea of producing something as a trivial task. Or asking for something when the person quite evidently has no idea what it is. This is sometimes reflected in BPM packages as it is a common belief that "one size fits all" applies- that each process is the same- and that they will all be treated equally.
Quite the reverse is actually true, every process and specification is a unique aspect of a particular organisation and to make best use of this you must take that into account. Therefore, partially due to hype and also partially due to inexperience- this software is not always the best understood or used.
Lack of undestanding of the process landscape.
The process landscape of every organisation is inherently different and while this is a very valid point. Often vendors can get away with trial-running one process to create the illusion that BPM packages can do it all. Which, in some cases, they can- however, in the case of a highly complicated or dynamically driven process landscape BPM packages will be of more use.
Understanding your needs is an essential part of every purchase, but more so in this case as you could easily disregard a brilliant software package under some really bad advice you were given so someone meets a sales target. The easiest way to solve this problem is undertake a process analysis and then research the software you need/want.
BPM is disruptive as it makes agreements difficult.
The common consensus of opinion is that BPM software suites are bulky in comparison to their CRM and ERP equivelants. While this is true to some degree, as there is a lot of process management involved, it can also be avoided with accurate project planning to begin with.
All too common is the approach of starting with the most complex process first- but remember, all large processes are just culminations of smaller processes which are made from basic processes. To fully understand how transparent your processes can be you have to return to the first step, the very first thing you would do in a given situation and work upwards from there.
Were you to there would be a great deal of agreements as every process would be more transparent, and thereby, to a large degree, easier to understand.
BPM is a boardroom issue.
Introducing change is often like trying to yacht up a waterfall- if it's not downright impossible it's near as can be.
In this case, many organisations (having not seen the perceived benefits) simply disregard BPM packages for the fact they're not proven.
This is an issue that can only be sorted with a great deal of time, effort and use on the BPM side of the argument to show that these software packages can be- and already are- viable options for an organisation to undertake when it is large enough to utilise them.
The tools and processes are still too technical!
This is a given with the nature of processes and can be the dealbreaker more often than not as you will have a group of people to run it, a group to design it and then a whole heap of communication problems in-between. Worse still is that you will be faced with the fact that you need someone to understand the processes in the first place.
Although, while a negative outlook, some positives can come from this in that (much like the process analysis above) if you prepare and work hard on making sure this doesn't happen- it's going to be an incredibly successful and well invested idea.
There's a noticeable gap between process design and execution.
Decorating your lounge and seeing the finished room are two different things. You have an idea of what you want it to look like, what colours you want and what flooring you're going to use...but once it's done, well, you might just reconsider some of it.
BPM packages are no different in that you have an idea of how you want the processes and whatnot to be designed, implemented and used but every second you wait between design and execution is lowering effectiveness. This is mostly because if you design a process and then don't like it- you have to redo it. Re-implement it. And the whole process starts over and over and over again. It becomes tiresome and puts a wedge between you and this nice new software you have just paid for.
The most effective BPM packages are those that operate in real time and allow you to see the changes straight away, or, at the very least, within minutes.
General purpose software suites have missing links.
Most of the time you will find that software packages fail when they are taken out of the hands of the machine, and into the hands of people. This is because almost-every software package has some degree of human interaction. Even if it's just clicking a dialog box to get the software to load a new component or something- there's that human touch.
BPM packages (and general use ones in particular) will always require someone to do something even if it's just to accept or to decline something. This is because you can't automate and code every instance, even the most airtight algorithims and calculations are only guaranteed 99.9% of the time as there is always the possibility for error. For something to be overlooked. While you could just make the entire process entirely automated that just leaves the back door wide open for mistakes, errors and overall more costs to put things right.
Top down approaches are prone to failure.
As processes will naturally exist in many organisations already you have a range of options of where to start using your BPM package. Although, to start by designing or altering processes (and process landscapes) would ultimately doom you to failure. As while these packages are all-inclusive they will always make use of business services (such as SOA-compliant services).
Be wary of these services and try to take them into account as best you can as otherwise you will be wasting your time, resources and effort trying to use a top down approach which won't work. Or, even it does, not as well as it could in other ways.
BPM in combination with SOA results in excessive communication.
When you have SOA-compliant services to create all manner of end-user documents you can find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, you have an incredible amount of utility and functionality as you've exponentially increased your capabilties. On the other, nothing will continue to work as it should as minor changes ripple outwards and make odd things happen later down the line.
There is but two ways to solve this problem; you can either invest your time in only using as many SOA-compliant services as you literally need, or you can purchase a rule-based BPM package (such as Aquima) which would solve the problem nicely.
And there we have it.
Hopefully this post has proved insightful and you've learned something about BPM packages that you didn't know/consider before- in any case, thank you for reading!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Which, to a certain degree, is true- unless you have a flexible process driven or a dynamic human driven organisation it won't have too much of an effect. But if you do (and it's likely you will) have one of these types of organisations BPM software could be very useful.
Therefore, for your reference, below we have listed ten of the most commonly encountered reasons that BPM software suites fail to meet expectations.
BPM is too much marketing- not enough science!
You wouldn't think that any product could be marketed too much...but in the case of BPM packages this is almost always the case. As BPM packages can have a number of varied connotations (covered below) there is a great amount of confusion over what does what, which will be useful and whether any of them will be useful for you. Often organisations will choose the largest vendor as the safest bet will always be taken, even in the case of more perceived value, which is not always the best choice as many marketeers don't fully represent such diverse software.
Unreasonable goals and unrealistic expectations.
Anyone who has ever designed anything knows how annoying it can be when someone simply takes the idea of producing something as a trivial task. Or asking for something when the person quite evidently has no idea what it is. This is sometimes reflected in BPM packages as it is a common belief that "one size fits all" applies- that each process is the same- and that they will all be treated equally.
Quite the reverse is actually true, every process and specification is a unique aspect of a particular organisation and to make best use of this you must take that into account. Therefore, partially due to hype and also partially due to inexperience- this software is not always the best understood or used.
Lack of undestanding of the process landscape.
The process landscape of every organisation is inherently different and while this is a very valid point. Often vendors can get away with trial-running one process to create the illusion that BPM packages can do it all. Which, in some cases, they can- however, in the case of a highly complicated or dynamically driven process landscape BPM packages will be of more use.
Understanding your needs is an essential part of every purchase, but more so in this case as you could easily disregard a brilliant software package under some really bad advice you were given so someone meets a sales target. The easiest way to solve this problem is undertake a process analysis and then research the software you need/want.
BPM is disruptive as it makes agreements difficult.
The common consensus of opinion is that BPM software suites are bulky in comparison to their CRM and ERP equivelants. While this is true to some degree, as there is a lot of process management involved, it can also be avoided with accurate project planning to begin with.
All too common is the approach of starting with the most complex process first- but remember, all large processes are just culminations of smaller processes which are made from basic processes. To fully understand how transparent your processes can be you have to return to the first step, the very first thing you would do in a given situation and work upwards from there.
Were you to there would be a great deal of agreements as every process would be more transparent, and thereby, to a large degree, easier to understand.
BPM is a boardroom issue.
Introducing change is often like trying to yacht up a waterfall- if it's not downright impossible it's near as can be.
In this case, many organisations (having not seen the perceived benefits) simply disregard BPM packages for the fact they're not proven.
This is an issue that can only be sorted with a great deal of time, effort and use on the BPM side of the argument to show that these software packages can be- and already are- viable options for an organisation to undertake when it is large enough to utilise them.
The tools and processes are still too technical!
This is a given with the nature of processes and can be the dealbreaker more often than not as you will have a group of people to run it, a group to design it and then a whole heap of communication problems in-between. Worse still is that you will be faced with the fact that you need someone to understand the processes in the first place.
Although, while a negative outlook, some positives can come from this in that (much like the process analysis above) if you prepare and work hard on making sure this doesn't happen- it's going to be an incredibly successful and well invested idea.
There's a noticeable gap between process design and execution.
Decorating your lounge and seeing the finished room are two different things. You have an idea of what you want it to look like, what colours you want and what flooring you're going to use...but once it's done, well, you might just reconsider some of it.
BPM packages are no different in that you have an idea of how you want the processes and whatnot to be designed, implemented and used but every second you wait between design and execution is lowering effectiveness. This is mostly because if you design a process and then don't like it- you have to redo it. Re-implement it. And the whole process starts over and over and over again. It becomes tiresome and puts a wedge between you and this nice new software you have just paid for.
The most effective BPM packages are those that operate in real time and allow you to see the changes straight away, or, at the very least, within minutes.
General purpose software suites have missing links.
Most of the time you will find that software packages fail when they are taken out of the hands of the machine, and into the hands of people. This is because almost-every software package has some degree of human interaction. Even if it's just clicking a dialog box to get the software to load a new component or something- there's that human touch.
BPM packages (and general use ones in particular) will always require someone to do something even if it's just to accept or to decline something. This is because you can't automate and code every instance, even the most airtight algorithims and calculations are only guaranteed 99.9% of the time as there is always the possibility for error. For something to be overlooked. While you could just make the entire process entirely automated that just leaves the back door wide open for mistakes, errors and overall more costs to put things right.
Top down approaches are prone to failure.
As processes will naturally exist in many organisations already you have a range of options of where to start using your BPM package. Although, to start by designing or altering processes (and process landscapes) would ultimately doom you to failure. As while these packages are all-inclusive they will always make use of business services (such as SOA-compliant services).
Be wary of these services and try to take them into account as best you can as otherwise you will be wasting your time, resources and effort trying to use a top down approach which won't work. Or, even it does, not as well as it could in other ways.
BPM in combination with SOA results in excessive communication.
When you have SOA-compliant services to create all manner of end-user documents you can find yourself caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, you have an incredible amount of utility and functionality as you've exponentially increased your capabilties. On the other, nothing will continue to work as it should as minor changes ripple outwards and make odd things happen later down the line.
There is but two ways to solve this problem; you can either invest your time in only using as many SOA-compliant services as you literally need, or you can purchase a rule-based BPM package (such as Aquima) which would solve the problem nicely.
And there we have it.
Hopefully this post has proved insightful and you've learned something about BPM packages that you didn't know/consider before- in any case, thank you for reading!
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Monday, 13 September 2010
Aquima: On Level Ground.
The last time we made a comparison like this we were talking about Aquima and ARIS which were quite different in approach. One is coded, the other is rule-based. One has extensive functionality, one has specialised tools. Today we're talking about two systems that couldn't be more similar- Aquima and Pegasystems. Incredibly similar in both functionality and expectations this should provide a unique insight into where Aquima performs best (even in similar markets).
Pegasystems
Pegasystems is a rule-driven business process management (BPM) suite that helps users to build, plan and manage processes throughout their entire lifecycle. SmartBPM blends process and practice rules to rapidly implement (and alter) solutions in response to changing needs or demands. Behind this is the PegaRules system which provides the rule-based functionality that the whole Pegasystems package thrives on, which allows it to optimise everyday business processes for use with the suite.
Similar yet different.
On the surface Pegasystems and Aquima seem to do exactly the same thing as both incorporate a front-end application with a constant running engine, not to mention they both use rule-based functionality and they're both easy to use with no coding whatsoever- but this is where the similarities end.
While, yes, the core of the software is similar, Aquima is better used where you require flexibility and a dynamic approach where human interaction is key. On the other hand Pegasystems is better used when you require a solution for process heavy environments, where a singular variable will change but the rest of the process will stay (for the most part) the same.
Customer base and progress.
Much like with the previous comparison Pegasystems once again out performs Aquima on the customer base and integration fronts. Both are successful, dynamic and fast-growing organisations but Pegasystems has a better front for marketing and promotion. Plus they have more initial users- but at the same time Aquima is arguably a more cost-effective solution.
Both points are more a reflection of how Aquima is still in its infancy and hasn't yet been adopted by the wider range of users, but as a new and exciting product this is only a matter of time.
Functionality, features and versatility.
In terms of their overall functionality and how each is used there are two major differences:
While, as mentioned above, the only real defining factor between the two is whether you have a process heavy or a dynamic organisation. In which case you will choose either Pegasystems or Aquima, respectively. As only then will you be utilising the full potential of either software package.
Pegasystems does have a very useful feature of providing pre-built standardised templates which provide information for how you can develop your own applications. However, in spite of this, the use of SmartBPM requires additional software to be installed before you can model processes.
In conclusion much like the last comparison we can see that each BPM software suite contributes a different set of advantages to users.
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to leave any comments and feedback you may have.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
Pegasystems
Pegasystems is a rule-driven business process management (BPM) suite that helps users to build, plan and manage processes throughout their entire lifecycle. SmartBPM blends process and practice rules to rapidly implement (and alter) solutions in response to changing needs or demands. Behind this is the PegaRules system which provides the rule-based functionality that the whole Pegasystems package thrives on, which allows it to optimise everyday business processes for use with the suite.
Similar yet different.
On the surface Pegasystems and Aquima seem to do exactly the same thing as both incorporate a front-end application with a constant running engine, not to mention they both use rule-based functionality and they're both easy to use with no coding whatsoever- but this is where the similarities end.
While, yes, the core of the software is similar, Aquima is better used where you require flexibility and a dynamic approach where human interaction is key. On the other hand Pegasystems is better used when you require a solution for process heavy environments, where a singular variable will change but the rest of the process will stay (for the most part) the same.
Customer base and progress.
Much like with the previous comparison Pegasystems once again out performs Aquima on the customer base and integration fronts. Both are successful, dynamic and fast-growing organisations but Pegasystems has a better front for marketing and promotion. Plus they have more initial users- but at the same time Aquima is arguably a more cost-effective solution.
Both points are more a reflection of how Aquima is still in its infancy and hasn't yet been adopted by the wider range of users, but as a new and exciting product this is only a matter of time.
Functionality, features and versatility.
In terms of their overall functionality and how each is used there are two major differences:
- Aquima has a unique look and feel with a Microsoft Office-esque layout which means even the most basic users have an idea of where things are. This helps and brings down the learning curve by a large degree which is often a problem, more with new software, in that it can be hard to learn to use and therefore discouraging.
- Pegasystems is still considered a technical piece of software and therefore (sometimes) to have a steep learning curve, however, that said, it does have a different approach to other BPM software suites. It is entirely possible, and likely, seasoned users will be able to approach it and utilise it for maximum effect- while new users have a hill to climb as it were.
While, as mentioned above, the only real defining factor between the two is whether you have a process heavy or a dynamic organisation. In which case you will choose either Pegasystems or Aquima, respectively. As only then will you be utilising the full potential of either software package.
Pegasystems does have a very useful feature of providing pre-built standardised templates which provide information for how you can develop your own applications. However, in spite of this, the use of SmartBPM requires additional software to be installed before you can model processes.
In conclusion much like the last comparison we can see that each BPM software suite contributes a different set of advantages to users.
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to leave any comments and feedback you may have.
All information presented here is © copyright Carkean Solutions Ltd., 2010 - Not to be used without our permission - The views expressed here are the views of an individual not the corporation
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