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>> HOT NEWS: Intergen goes West Due to business growth and client demand in Australia, Intergen now has an office in Perth, reinforcing our position as the number one EPiServer partner in Australasia. See page 6 for more details. Intergen wins Microsoft Partnering Award
With the ever increasing complexity of doing business, partnerships are becoming more important. Intergen has enjoyed a very strong partnership with Microsoft for more than 10 years and that partnership has been the critical factor to our success and our continued growth.
c360 and Bamboo Solutions so we can give our clients confidence that they are not only getting the maximum functionality but also the assurance of reliable ongoing support. These business level offerings from Microsoft are not only driving more partnering at the technical product level. We are also developing increasingly deep partnerships with our clients. As these products become a core part of the DNA of an organisation and as business solutions become more integrated, the need for us to work alongside our clients on an ongoing basis increases.
From our beginnings as an organisation with a
Microsoft’s CRM and MOSS products are becoming
singular focus on delivering Microsoft Access based
part of the infrastructure, making it harder and harder
solutions we have grown with Microsoft to a position
to isolate business applications from the infrastructure.
today where we offer a very broad range of enterprise
Business applications are being replaced with
solutions to a wide range of clients.
implementations of process and workflows which
As Microsoft has grown as a partner, offering an ever
consist mostly of configuration and small fragments
growing range of solutions for us to implement, so has
of code. This leads to less separation between the
our need to partner with a wider range of organisations
application solution providers, the infrastructure solution providers and internal staff.
in order to supplement their offerings. With Microsoft’s introduction of more business level products, such as Dynamics
Intergen’s Auckland Office
CRM and Office SharePoint Server, they have created a whole ecosystem of businesses that develop and sell add-ons and enhancements. Many of these organisations deliver huge value in specialised areas that Microsoft simply cannot cover. In our quest to deliver our clients the best possible value, it is
Further evidence of the increasing importance of partnering is our recent win of the Microsoft Partnering Award with Maclean Computing.
Our Auckland team partnered with Maclean Computing to deliver a MOSS solution to long-time Maclean Computing client, accounting firm Hayes Knight.
incredibly important that we develop relationships with these organisations to ensure
Since this will be the last SMARTS for 2007, I would like to wish you and your
that we leverage their investments in our solutions. We have been working hard to
family a happy and safe Christmas and New Year. We look forward to working in
develop relationships with best of breed solution providers such as K2,
partnership with you in 2008.
[email protected] < Copyright 2007 Intergen Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of Intergen Limited >
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At Microsoft’s inaugural Partner Awards in September, Intergen and Maclean Computing won the Partnering Award in recognition of our strengths in working collaboratively to offer clients the best possible solutions. See pages 3 and 4 for some of our partnerships.
INTERGENITE NEWS >>
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REL ATIONSHIPS >>
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT >> OFFICE
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LEARNING MANAGEMENT >>
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ACTIONTHIS >>
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What’s been happening?
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place, and Rocktober culminated in a spectacularly musical evening of rocking entertainment – outlandish rock costumes, superlative karaoke performances and then there were the stellar rock efforts of Intergen’s very own band, The Golden Axes.
Joe Newton What do you do? I am the Auckland Development & Integration Manager. In this role I am responsible for providing technical and process leadership.
How do you make a difference? I have been with Intergen since October last year. In that time I have introduced Agile software development techniques to the Auckland office. This includes things like Continuous Integration, Test Driven Development and much more rigour around our deployment processes.
First things first, Intergen was the recipient of the Partnering award at the Microsoft Partner Awards in September in recognition of work we have done with one of our partners, Maclean Computing. This award is significant for Intergen, as forming strong partnerships is a very big part of what we do (see page 4 for more on
Around about the time this goes to print the winners of the annual Intergen photo competition will have been announced. The only criterion for entries? You guessed it… yellow, yellow, yellow. We have some pretty impressive photographers on staff, and thought it’d be a great way to get people’s take on our corporate colour. August’s Tech Ed now seems like a distant memory, but at the time we were glorious in our yellow camoflauge gear – a contradiction in terms that only the Intergen army could pull off with aplomb. In mid October the Intergen weekend away took place for staff and their families and Masterton didn’t quite know what hit it. There was something for everyone, whether it was rafting, horse riding or just good old fashioned socialising.
Intergen’s partners). And for the second year in a row, Intergen appeared on the
Intergen’s blog is now in full swing, with a number of varied and passionate
MIS Strategic 100 in the New Zealand 25 category.
arguments just waiting for your comment. Whether you’re a self-confessed geek
We’ve had staff members speaking all over the globe – from South Africa Tech Ed to a Microsoft conference in Copenhagen to Queenstown to Singapore… you get
or a luddite, and whether old or young, there’s something there for everyone with an opinion. www.intergen.co.nz/blog
the picture! We’ve even designed a DVD on the latest .NET developments which made
With only a month to go until Christmas it’s hard to know quite where the year
I am an Agile convert with about six years’ experience as first an Agile developer, then consultant and for the last two years as an Agile project leader. I fundamentally believe that Agile methods are best and love coaching people in all the different aspects of developing software from an Agile perspective.
its way into the goodie bags at the Europe Tech Ed. We’ve taken Microsoft Silverlight
has gone. Next up will be the Intergen Christmas do, and then a hard-earned
to places it’s never been before and had a lot of fun in the process. See the DIY movie
break. And if we don’t see you before the festivities kick in, all the best for the rest
maker on www.vorb.org.nz for just one example of the cool things Silverlight can do
of the year from everyone at Intergen and many happy
A bit about yourself…
a number of shaggy looking faces about the
What do you love about your job?
I have lived in the four corners of the North Island but now live in Auckland after returning from seven years overseas. I still consider myself a Hurricanes supporter and will always support Hawkes Bay. Most of my time is now spent teaching my two sons to catch and throw a ball, build Lego things and not swallow marbles. My wife Kirsten, Spacies, Foos-ball and The Smashing Pumpkins occupy the rest of my time.
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There have been plenty of yellow hi jinx happening over the past months, and a few successes on the board as well. We thought we’d share with you some of the highlights – and some photographs while we’re at it.
to spice up your web applications (see page 7). As for some of the more yellow happenings around
returns. See you refreshed and full of New Year’s resolutions in 2008!
the traps, where to start? Movember is seeing
Rafting on the Intergen Weekend Away
Intergenites at Tech Ed
Wayne and Tony accept Microsoft Partnering Award
Rocktober
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IT partnership helps business fly Having grown from a single retail outlet to a nationwide brand name, and celebrating 20 years of operation, House of Travel wanted to bring their IT solutions up to speed. The growth of the company necessitated the continual addition of services, products,
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consultant. There was no electronic link between the customer profile stored in the
Intergen has approached the partnership and the
process was slow and open to human error.
capability they have added to the team.”
To offer real value to their web savvy clients, Orbit needed to provide additional features
Stephen Canning, GM Business Solutions,
to the existing web based tool. These included providing travel administrators with
House of Travel
the ability to add new travellers and maintain traveller details and preferences. This
And the end result? House of Travel now has an
information could then be shared with travel suppliers. The agreed solution involved
integrated, highly tailored IT system that keeps
moving all traveller and company profile information into a customer database and
one step ahead of business needs, with an
developing a web front end. This means that travel coordinators can now perform the
extensible and dependable platform that puts
functions they require immediately while still providing the BDMs and outlet consultants
them in good stead for the future.
the control for additional administration.
decided to get on board with a partner that could back up this growth with robust
Implementing the new functionality was a real combined effort, with Intergen and
business solutions. Enter Intergen.
House of Travel working collaboratively, both on and off-site. Through teamwork all
The Orbit Online system allowed travel administrators to make and manage bookings
objectives were met and the solution deployed, through a seamless roll-out to all Orbit
online, but when it came to adding details for a new traveller, updating a seat or meal
outlets nationwide, without impacting upon business as usual.
preference or entering a passport number, the travel administrator had to contact an Orbit
A partnership in every sense of the word As the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) entered a new era, driven by a new funding
As an organisation we don’t have the capacity
model and a more holistic set of objectives and performance measures for the tertiary
to hold and retain best personnel, but Intergen
sector, it required ‘almost a reinvention’ of IT services to support policy reforms.
can ensure those people are core to our
strategic IT roadmap, with Intergen as its technology partner. The proposed solution
partnership. They are a better home for the depth and breadth of skills we need long term.”
involves migrating to a Microsoft technology stack that encompasses Microsoft Customer
Six months of intensive design and
Relationship Manager (CRM) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), with an
development now sees Microsoft CRM,
Agile methodology that allows short and frequent iterations and rapid implementation.
SharePoint and Office 2007 being rolled
TEC’s CIO, Greg Smith refers to the partnership as an investment:
out to select users.
“We have both taken the approach where we actively want to invest in the relationship. We wanted to secure a partner who would work with us in a truly collaborative space. We have encouraged Intergen to retain a higher level of expertise than they would normally on a client’s behalf.
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“House of Travel has been impressed by the way
customer management system and the booking process for the travel coordinators. The
outlets and the significant Orbit corporate travel division. House of Travel took stock and
Severely limited by an existing bespoke development platform, TEC decided on a
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Members of the Intergen and TEC team
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Getting the most out of technology with partnerships Business partnerships are a very important part of what we do here at Intergen. Just as we like to form lasting relationships as trusted advisors to our clients, we also strive to form strong ties with experts who can complement and extend what we do. This enables us to offer a breadth and depth of service to our clients and a level of expertise that would not be possible
Microsoft Here’s one partner you’ll have heard us talk a lot about. Everything we
K2 is one of Intergen’s newest partners and we are very excited
do is based on Microsoft technology. We’re a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. We
about the relationship and looking forward to introducing K2 to
have three Microsoft MVPs on board out of 28 in New Zealand, one Microsoft
our clients. Intergen has partnered with K2 to help maximise the
Regional Director out of five in Australasia and 160 worldwide, and we’re also
power and diversify the offerings of Microsoft Office SharePoint
involved in an advisory capacity in determining future versions of Microsoft
Server (MOSS) 2007, delivering solutions that involve people and
technologies. We’re early adopters – meaning that we like to get in there and roll
processes. The K2 platform is for technical and business users.
our sleeves up before the dust has settled on even the beta version of a product.
With K2 you can build an application or a process and then let
We also have five Microsoft competencies: Custom Development Solutions, Business
your people reshape it when something changes. K2 puts tools in
Process and Integration, Microsoft Business Solutions (Microsoft Dynamics NAV
the hands of business people, allowing them to create streamlined
and CRM), Data Management Solutions and Mobility Solutions.
business processes, enabling what we at Intergen like to call Intelligent Business. www.k2.com
Our exclusive commitment to Microsoft technologies ensures that we leverage the maximum business value from your investment in Microsoft tools and technology,
c360 Intergen has teamed with c360 in order to take Microsoft
minimising financial and technical risk. We’re proud to have the biggest pool of
Dynamics CRM to its logical extreme with the development,
exclusive Microsoft specialists in the country who are extremely passionate about
marketing and support of Microsoft CRM add-on products,
what they do. www.microsoft.com
enhancements and development tools, such as mail merge and email marketing. www.c360.com
EPiServer In 2004 Intergen was the first EPiServer partner in the southern hemisphere, and EPiServer has been a popular, easy to use CMS option with
Bamboo Solutions is the most recent addition to our fold of
New Zealand and Australian organisations ever since. We have a long history in
technology partners. So to get the most out of SharePoint, Intergen
Winning the Microsoft Partnering Award
the design, development, implementation and hosting of content managed internet
has partnered with Bamboo Solutions for their portfolio of web
this year was a great endorsement of the
solutions and recognising the need to complement our other Microsoft offerings
parts that help extend the functionality of SharePoint in key areas
bonds and allegiances we have formed
in this space we engaged EPiServer, a Swedish-based web publishing tool for simple
– project and task management, document and content
with other reputable organisations, but
and swift handling of information in intranets, extranets and public websites, all
management and group collaboration.
wouldn’t have been possible if we didn’t
founded on the Microsoft .NET platform. www.episerver.com
ERMLive Capitalising on the successful Microsoft Client Relationship
without working collaboratively.
have the utmost confidence in all our partners’ strengths and abilities.
Mondosoft Realising that our clients want to measure the value and efficacy of their CMS investment, in conjunction with our current content management solution
Management tool, ERMLive delivers a sophisticated and cost effective software solution to meet the needs of the relationship between the employer and the employee. www.ermlive.com
Here’s a list of some of our partners, some
offerings, we also supply and implement Mondosoft’s enterprise search and
insight into just how they partner with us,
behaviour analytics solution. This allows organisations to determine what their
Ultilearn is a learning management system that allows the easy
and the value they add in combination
website visitors are looking for, and works with both Microsoft Office SharePoint
creation and management of learning content for a wide audience
with our services.
Server and EPiServer- based solutions. www.mondosoft.com
of staff or clients (see page 6 for more information). www.ultilearn.co.uk
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Ensuring success every time: Intergen establishes Project Management Office There have been a number of changes afoot in the Project Management team in the last four months and we’re excited to be introducing an all new Project Management Office (PMO) to Intergen’s clients.
the flexibility to support projects of all sizes and complexities, whatever the delivery approach. We have been careful to only include process where it will
Tony Sinclair
deliver value. We don’t want to over-complicate our projects or add unnecessary
What do you do?
overhead. We’re looking for a balance where we can continue to enable
I joined Intergen as a Solutions Architect which has a pretty broad remit. Apart from designing and scoping solutions from the ground up, I am out there helping the sales team with technical questions and presenting to customers.
We’ve experienced rapid growth over the last few years, we’re developing more
to ensure projects are successful, with great communication and a positive
solutions than ever and the scope and complexity of our projects continues to
outcome for everyone involved.
grow. While all these things are very positive, they bring with them a demand for We’re very excited about bringing our honed skills to Intergen’s projects across all offices and we’re looking forward to your feedback. Historically we have relied on the individual ability and experience of our project managers and project teams to ensure the success of a project. We’ve got a lot
If you’d like to know more about the new Intergen PMO and what it means
of great people, so this has worked well, but we recognised that to ensure a
for your project, please email
[email protected]
successful outcome every time we needed to approach things differently in our engagement with our clients and management of our projects.
Youssef Mourra, Cheryl Kelly, Emma Barrett
How do you make a difference? By thinking outside the dodecahedron to come up with great solutions! I'd like to think a dose of technology with a pinch of common sense and a dash of reality will go a long way.
What do you love about your job?
they handle projects, particularly across an enterprise. PIPC has helped us streamline
The fact that there is something different to think about as customers change and a constant learning requirement. Being customer facing is also fun and challenges you to think on your feet and know your stuff.
our methodology and have reviewed our existing projects with a view to helping
A bit about yourself...
improve the way we deliver projects to our clients.
I just spent the last six years in the UK working on enterprise solutions and have recently returned to start a family. Love playing soccer, squash, badminton... anything really! Attempting to learn golf but that certainly needs work! Very happily married to Angelina who either understands or puts up with my very dry sense of humour.
That’s why we engaged the services of PIPC to establish our PMO and develop our Project Management capabilities. PIPC is a New Zealand based project management consultancy firm that has worked with a number of our clients to improve the way
Youssef Mourra and Cheryl Kelly, PIPC’s lead consultants on this assignment, spend three days a week between them mobilising and reviewing projects and providing coaching and mentoring to Intergen’s project management team. The PMO will be managed by Emma Barrett at the completion of the assignment in December, with PIPC providing ongoing support to assist continued development.
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Our project governance framework is based on PMBOK and PRINCE2 and has
creativity and innovation while ensuring that just enough governance is applied
increased professionalism and consistency in our project governance approach.
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Ben Bishop What do you do? I am the Development and Integration Services Team Lead, primarily focused on EPiServer and based in Perth, Western Australia.
How do you make a difference? I bring two years’ experience delivering EPiServer projects to Intergen, having spent seven years working on Enterprise Content Management projects in the UK.
What do you love about your job? I work with EPiServer full time. I enjoy not only developing new sites but also providing new business demonstrations and support. I am glad to have joined such a great company that shares common goals with the product.
A bit about yourself… I love to laugh and I am obsessed with music technology. I am married to Natasha and have two beautiful children, Indianna and Harry. I started life as a music promoter in London, looking after the Rolling Stones, U2, Jamiroquai, Kylie Minogue and many more. During this time I took part in TV and radio shows, including ‘An Audience with Jerry Springer’. After two years hanging out with the stars I got bored and took an evening course in Macromedia products, and I have been working in CMS development ever since. We moved to Perth three years ago.
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Learning on the job: Growing the knowledge of the knowledge worker The productivity tools which proliferate on the desktops of the modern day office worker are designed to support the “knowledge worker”. It has been estimated that knowledge workers outnumber all other workers by a margin of four to one. And, with the rise of the knowledge worker, business organisations have had to change accordingly. Hence the evolution of the learning organisation. One of the more significant challenges for the business leaders of today is creating and sustaining an effective organisation that is comprised primarily of knowledge workers. Organisations where: • Data is absorbed and products of workers’ labour are largely intangible • Decision making is devolved to the workforce rather than concentrated in the hands of a few managers • The work force is geographically dispersed rather than in a single location • Getting products in the hands of customers involves collaboration between multiple organisations in a “value or supply chain”
These learning organisations rely on collaborative behaviours, clarity of communications, consistency of execution and a commonly held view and understanding of quality. It’s hardly surprisingly that many organisations invest heavily in analysis, design and redesign of business processes and the development and training of their community of knowledge workers. Like the artisans of old, the knowledge worker relies on specialised skills and techniques to ply their trade. But, unlike the artisans of old, the knowledge worker seldom has the luxury of a prolonged apprenticeship in which to acquire the requisite skills. The face of Intergen’s Australia operations:
The acquisition and maintenance of skills is an important element of a modern organisation, and an essential element in the makeup of the knowledge worker. In many respects the evolution of the personal computer parallels the evolution of the knowledge worker. The personal computer and, more recently, the related technologies of the internet, have been instrumental in empowering the knowledge worker and thus fuelling their growth. They have also changed not just what we need to learn but the way in which we learn. Distance leaning and virtual classrooms have become a reality. Online learning is now a viable and preferred method of delivering training and addressing the needs for compliance. As a delivery channel, online learning offers some compelling benefits, such as: • The ability to avoid the inconvenience and cost of travel • The convenience of anywhere, any time learning and learning while doing • The ability to rapidly maintain and distribute up to date learning materials • Consistency and reliability in the delivery of learning materials Once the domain of large corporations or specialised institutions, online learning is now a mainstream business application, and one that we are experiencing increasing demand for. In response to this demand, Intergen now offers the Ultilearn product: a powerful, flexible and effective computer-based learning system based on the EPiServer platform. Ultilearn is extremely economical and can be easily tailored to your organisation’s unique requirements. If you’d like to talk about your organisation’s training requirements and discover what options are available to you, please email me at
[email protected] Ben Bishop (Perth) and Martin Johnston (Sydney)
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Pushing the envelope with rich interactive applications
In partnership with and on behalf of Microsoft, our projects to date include:
Nas Khan
The iLabs launcher for Tech Ed 2007
What do you do?
out with a slick new skin. The application was the first of its kind at Tech Ed
I am an Interactive Developer with Intergen Interactive, specialising in WPF and Silverlight front-end development.
worldwide.
How do you make a difference?
Historically a WinForms application, this year it was rebuilt in WPF, and rolled
Vorb video editor Another world first for Intergen Interactive was the creation of the Vorb video As Microsoft furthers the development of their interactive technologies,
editor. Built in partnership with Microsoft New Zealand, an online mountain
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Silverlight, and their corresponding
biking magazine, Vorb, the ‘top banana’ based application allows users to edit
‘Expression’ suite of tools, Intergen is at the cutting edge of this new domain.
videos to create their own trailer for the recently released DVD, “How about it?”
We’re among the first on board, embracing these new technologies and developing a new creative workflow to utilise them to their full potential. This enables a tighter integration with the Agile processes being used by our developers while still retaining the high-touch involvement and expertise of the Interactive team. It is critical that the design’s integrity is maintained throughout the development process and that the solutions we imagine are accurately reflected in the product we deliver.
What do you love about your job?
Microsoft commissioned Intergen for the design
The people have been great! I’ve made so many friends and had so many awesome opportunities. Working in the industry community has added a whole new dimension to my job. It has been both challenging and very rewarding.
and development of a DVD containing its .NET 3.5 training materials. The design gives a fresh look to the Microsoft training materials, and uses features that demonstrate the power of WPF.
and produced with tools still in their testing stages, so we’re really breaking new ground; and as problems have arisen the development team at Microsoft has been a great help in getting quick resolution. Going forward, we have recently acquired the talent of Nas Khan, founder of the xaml designers group, ZamDes, to strengthen our RIA (rich interactive applications) focused team and champion the progression of the design-led development process that these new technologies make possible.
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I’m passionate about creating rich, immersive web and client applications which enhance the user’s experience. In September I set up ZamDes – the first user group for WPF and Silverlight (www.zamdes.com). The group is designed to educate and support designers (and creative developers) working with these technologies - so far it’s been a great success.
Tech Ed Europe training DVD
All of the products have been designed
Find out how Intergen’s User-Centred Design approach can benefit your web or application project. Contact our Creative Director Eamon O’Rourke at
[email protected]
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A bit about yourself I’ve been in Wellington for two years now, and although I love it I’m still not a fan of the wind. I don’t play sport – largely because of my lack of co-ordination, however I did just buy a mountain bike which I should stop admiring and actually start riding (it’s pink)! I dabble in a few things, painting, cooking, the gym… but mostly just shopping!
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ActionThis is available now. There are three ways to get ActionThis:
The late nights are over, the pizza
ActionThis has been designed to solve a real business problem: project execution. Going
boxes and Coke cans have been safely
beyond traditional project and task management applications, ActionThis not only helps
recycled, and the bleary eyes of the
people plan and collaborate on activities, it helps them ensure those activities are completed.
development team are finally clear.
By combining reminders, business intelligence and reporting, ActionThis is designed to
After several months of tireless effort,
drive the completion of tasks and projects, ensuring projects are finished on time. Full
ActionThis has hit the streets and is
reporting provides visibility into the status of tasks and the workload of team members,
now available to anyone who wants to
ensuring task assignment and management decisions can be made using real data.
get stuff done and go home early.
1
New Zealand customers: Contact your Intergen relationship manager to organise a personal demo and take advantage of a special promotional offer only available through Intergen.
2
Worldwide: Sign up on the web for a 30 day free trial – go to www.actionthis.com
3
Questions before you buy? Send an email to
[email protected]
Available on a subscription basis, ActionThis comprises a centralised online service that
Starting as an idea from within Intergen,
users interact with using a state of the art web-based user interface, or through Microsoft
a meeting, and the performance of each task can be tracked and reported on, ensuring nothing
ActionThis has evolved from a concept into a
Outlook. Using the latest Web 2.0 web technologies, ActionThis is not only easy to use,
falls through the cracks.
product and – most recently – into an online
it’s also designed to be fun: responsive web pages mix with sliders and other web-based
service that’s taking on the world. Reaction
controls to allow users to create, manage and report on their tasks and workload. Users
from the web community has been
can also take advantage of seamless access through Microsoft Outlook, enabling action
overwhelmingly positive, with tens-of-
items from ActionThis to be created and managed alongside regular email, using a product
thousands of people visiting the site in the
everyone is familiar with.
weeks before launch. Following its incubation within Intergen, ActionThis has been launched as a new company dedicated to the marketing and selling of the ActionThis product worldwide, with Intergen playing a key role in hosting, ongoing product development, reseller and
Integration with other products is planned for future releases, enabling customers to incorporate ActionThis into their standard systems and business processes. Take customer relationship management, for example: to be useful, CRM systems need to be updated with all interactions that occur with customers, yet the people who have contact with customers often aren’t those same people who can update the CRM. By integrating with ActionThis, the status of action items
ActionThis is like a turbo charger for your tasks, not only managing what needs to be
can be written back to the CRM system, ensuring everyone has a centralised and up-to-date view
done, but driving the completion of these through reminders, reports and constant
of customer-related activity. As a paid subscriber, you’ll get these and every new capability we
feedback. An ideal use is to drive outcomes from meetings: we all meet, discuss topics
introduce at no extra charge.
and generate action items, but more often than not these action items are simply not performed. By using ActionThis, action items can be easily assigned during or following
systems integrator.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INTERGEN:
The ActionThis team
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Auckland: Wellington: Christchurch: Dunedin Sydney: Perth:
+64 09 966 3070 +64 04 472 2021 +64 03 964 0017 +64 03 479 4099 +61 2 996 900 88 +61 434 122 880
[email protected] www.intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.com.au