SAP users' group picks CIO
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Craig Lathrop, currently CTO of Kaplan Professional, has been tapped to be CIO of the Americas' SAP Users' Group.
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CLEVELAND, Dec. 11  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 6 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Cleveland area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the first quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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Business Objects, an SAP company, unveiled today the next iteration of its business intelligence platform, XI 3.0.Bigger and in some ways better than previous versions, it includes so many features that it may be a bit daunting to some users.Leveraging Business Objects' acquisition of InXight Software in May 2007, XI 3.0 ties together structured information with unstructured information."Now you can read through e-mails, Web pages, and documents to understand text and extract sentiment from text," said Franz Aman, vice president for business intelligence platform, product marketing at Business Objects.Josh Greenbaum, principal at Enterprise Applications Consulting, called the ability to include unstructured data a significant improvement in the platform. "It is an acknowledgement that data comes from all kinds of applications and all kinds of formats," he said.The technology parses and organizes unstructured data so that users can apply more traditional, i.e. more statistically-oriented, methods to the data.Greenbaum said that although it is a "somewhat artificial" structure, it does lend itself to data analysis, and he called that an enormous improvement for businesses that have grown so much more complex over the years. "ERP used to be about one activity, closing the books every quarter," he saidTraceability is another key feature in XI 3.0. The technology can trace back the so-called lineage of data in order to give users better insight into how the data was created, what transformation it might have gone through, and whether or not is was merged with another data set.While knowing the lineage of data is a must-have for regulatory and compliance, it is also essential to good business, said Greenbaum, noting that it is a vast improvement over the old days when executives sat around arguing over the data in a single cell in a spreadsheet.The lineage capability is only available to those who buy the optional Business Objects Data Services that combine Data Integrator and Data Quality components.Another significant improvement in the platform is a technology dubbed Polestar that gives non-technical users the ability to do complex searches and to make natural language queries. "You don't have to be a special user with SQL knowledge to find information," said Aman.??However, Greenbaum said that while XI does a good job in elevating the accessibility and comprehensiveness of BI it is also a "bit of a Swiss Army knife." "What haven't they put into this product?" he wondered.Nevertheless, it should also replace all the departmental one-off solutions that are typically floating around a company, according to Greenbaum.While XI 3.0 was in development long before Business Objects was acquired by SAP in January 2007, there are some unique linkages between XI 3.0 and SAP applications, said Aman. For example, XI is more tightly intertwined with the SAP Business Warehouse and offers faster performance when users tap into data that comes from R3 or the Warehouse than if the data was from a non-SAP source.Also, XI can tap into SAP's use of metadata so that if a user in North America searches for Total Revenue, and a user in France is looking for the same information, despite the fact that the French use a phrase other than Total Revenue, both will get back the same information because of the metadata layer.Business Objects 3.0 will be available later in the first quarter. Later in the year, it will also be available as a SaaS offering.
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(Source: Tibco)  Every day, millions of individuals within large organizations make small, yet important business decisions based on their experience and whatever information happens to be available at the time. With little time to spare, these decisions are often taken with an incomplete view of the situation, as 'good information' is all too often still difficult to find. Faced with a backlog for new enterprise reports, out-of-control 'spreadsheet marts', and a plethora of custom applications all trying to accomplish similar goals, CIOs and business managers alike need to consider a new approach.
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(InfoWorld) - Following through onÂ plans to win more midsize businesses as customers, SAP AG has filled several key positions in its newly formed global SME (small and medium-size enterprise) unit. Under the leadership of Hans-Peter Klaey, the new team aims to extend SAP's position in the SME segment through a greater focus on customers and partners, and through an improved product alignment across the company's internal business operations. Among its other responsibilities, the team will be in charge of delivering theÂ recently announced new version of SAP's All-in-One business software targeted specifically at midsize companies. The new version is a scaled-down version of the company's latest ERP application, mySAP ERP 2005, which includes its road map for enterprise SOA. The team will also oversee the delivery of a suite of hosted and on-demand business applications that SAP is currently developing for the midmarket. Customers will be able to set up and test the software on their own before deciding to make a purchase, using a "try, run, and adapt" model. Terrance Scerri has been appointed senior vice president of SME Indirect Channel, responsible for SAP's PartnerEdge indirect channel program. He succeeds Donna Troy, executive vice president, who will leave the company to pursue other professional interests. SME regional heads include Tom Kindermans, senior vice president SME in EMEA Central, and Stephen Watts, senior vice president SME Asia Pacific. These appointments round out the regional leadership that includes Rodney Seligmann, executive vice president U.S. and North America; Luis Murguia, senior vice president Latin America; and Toshifumi Kobe, vice president Japan. Among the other appointments to the new global SME team are Michael Schmitt, senior vice president SME operations; Bobby Vetter, senior vice president SME Business Development; Emma Morice, senior vice president Midsize Enterprise Go-to-Market; and Niels Stenfeldt, vice president SAP Business One. SAP's PartnerEdge channel business now serves 2,240 partners globally that have helped develop nearly 1,000 add-ons to SAP's All-in-One software applications and its Business One application Currently, SAP serves more than 22,200 SME customers through its partner channel. Â
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Oracle is now OracleSoft, and that means SAP will soon have some real competition on its hands. Oracle&#39;s recent monster user conference, the first that united its technology, database and
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ST. LOUIS, Dec. 11  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 14 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the St. Louis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the first quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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Microsoft has tapped a former executive at Walt Disney to fill its CIO position, a move that shows the company continuing to fill top executive positions from outside the company.Tony Scott, who most recently was CIO at Walt Disney, will take over that same role at Microsoft in February, reporting to Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner. Scott, who also will be a corporate vice president at Microsoft, replaces Stuart Scott, who&#160;departed the company in November. The two are not related.Scott will manage Microsoft&#39;s 4,000-person IT organization, which is responsible for all of the technology systems supporting the company&#39;s worldwide sales, marketing, and services operations, as well as the enterprise systems and applications for all corporate processes.At Disney, where he was senior vice president in addition to CIO, Scott was the first CIO to manage the entire company&#39;s IT systems, according to Microsoft. Prior to Disney, Scott was CTO at General Motors and vice president of operations at Bristol-Meyers Squibb.There are a lot of new faces in the ranks of upper management at Microsoft, with a rash of them signing on to the company in the last six months. Just last week Microsoft revealed that company veteran Jeff Raikes, president of its Business Division, will&#160;leave the company in September. The company tapped an outside executive -- former Juniper Networks, Macromedia, and Adobe executive Stephen Elop -- to fill that role.Other new hires to the company since last July include: Dan Reed, Microsoft Research director of scalable and multicore computing in November; Robert Youngjohns, president of North American sales and marketing and corporate vice president in November; Brian McAndrews, senior vice president, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group in August; and Don Mattick, senior vice president, Interactive Entertainment Business in July.There is likely more new blood to come as Microsoft also confirmed last week several other executive departures: Bruce Jaffe, corporate vice president of corporate development; Charles Fitzgerald, Microsoft&#39;s general manager of platform strategy; and&#160;Rob Short, corporate vice president of the Windows Core Technology group.Apart from CEO Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft&#39;s entertainment and devices division, many of the company&#39;s other top executives have joined the company in the past three years. They include the man widely seen as Gates&#39; successor, Chief Architect Ray Ozzie, who joined Microsoft in 2005. Kevin Turner, Microsoft&#39;s chief operating officer, and Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of Microsoft&#39;s Online Services Group, also joined the company that year.
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PHILADELPHIA, June 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 10 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Philadelphia area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the third quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 11  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 6 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Indianapolis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the first quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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New SAP upgrades are stretching talent resources, giving job seekers with advanced, up-to-date skills the upper hand in the employment race.
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Opinions are mixed on whether SAP and its subsidiary will be able to restore customers' trust in the companies.
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German business software firm SAP AG unveiled new enterprise software aimed at information workers during its TechEd developer conference in Las Vegas.  SAP Enterprise Search goes much "deeper" than ordinary text-based search engine, claimed officials at the Waldorf-based firm.
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Ziff Davis - SAP and HP are offering a hosted enterprise resource planning application service to go after midsize companies that are taking their business to competing applications subcription services.
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ST. LOUIS, June 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 10 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the St. Louis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the third quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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(InfoWorld) - SAP AG has brought in outside talent Uwe Herold as its chief information officer (CIO), filling a post vacant since the previous incumbent left the company earlier this year. The business applications vendor confirmed Thursday that Herold joins SAP Oct. 1. He will also hold a position on the company's board of directors in the area of human resources, processes and production and report to Claus Heinrich, one of SAP's executive board members. SAP operates a two-tier board system with a board of directors and an executive board. Herold will be based at SAP's headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. Most recently CIO at German automotive supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co., Herold has 15 years of experience in business process engineering and IT management. While at Brose, he worked on SAP implementations and so can also bring an SAP user perspective to his new employer. Before joining Brose in 1999, Herold headed up process engineering and organizational development efforts at fluid technology company Hydac Filtertechnik GmbH. "Like any other enterprise that places value on developing and harnessing internal talent, SAP always considers internal applicants for vacant roles," an SAP spokeswoman in Germany wrote in response to an e-mail for comment on why the company chose an outsider as the CIO. "At the same time, it is also important for us to bring in fresh ideas and different expertise from time to time. In this case, Herold was the ideal candidate for this role and we are confident that with his wealth of experience he will be an asset to SAP." Herold replaces Carol Wilson who left the company after three years in the job earlier this year. Wilson joined Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. in April as its implementation director charged with the development and delivery of the Indian outsourcing and consulting firm's IT services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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CINCINNATI, June 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 12 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Cincinnati area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the third quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.