Wanted: trainee computer specialists with autism

DutchNews, December 31, 2015

A number of large Dutch companies, including Philips, ASML and DAF, have set up a joint project to train young people with autism to become IT engineers, according to broadcaster Nos. 

The project stems from a general shortage of skilled IT staff and people with hacking skills. They are not found in job centres but behind their computers at home, the broadcaster says. 

Swanet Woldhuis, of the Dutch autism association, said the rise in demand for people with autism comes as employers discover ‘they make excellent employees’. 

Some 20,000 youngsters with autism are currently unemployed and thousands more drop out of education, Nos says.

Related Articles:

Germany's SAP speeds up recruitment of autistic persons

Boy genius diagnosed with autism has IQ higher than Einstein

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)

(Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio .. ): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it. New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/Religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.)


Human Evolution –  27 Sep 2008 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“.. What do you think the Human brain can really do? What do you think it's built to do? Let me give you an example of what your society has come to accept as an "unbalanced person." Some of you think it's a "sick person." Let me talk about the autistic one. Let us talk about autism in what you call the most severe case.

Blessed is the autistic one who has come to this earth to show you what future Human evolvement looks like! They spend a lifetime trying to figure out linearity and it frustrates them. Blessed is the savant who the earth looks at and calls unbalanced. For the Humans who do this cannot see what they don't understand. The autistic one is able to get up off the paper and be in color! Many of the autistic ones can do what your calculators can do on your desks, did you know that? And they don't need a calculator! Give them a problem - two digits multiplied by three digits. Now watch how fast they give you the answer. Because they're not linear! Ask them what weekday the 13th of August will be in 2012, and they'll tell you, and they don't need a calendar. You might say, "What kind of a mind can do that?" I'll tell you - a nonlinear one without the walls in the brain that you have.

Have you ever thought about that? The autistic have a nonlinear mind. The barriers are dropped. Can you imagine the frustration of this Human? Here he is in a world of black and white while he is in color. Not only that, you want him to go in a straight line when he is used to all directions at once. This also explains why the only energies that will work to calm him are interdimensional ones - music, art, and love. Does this start to make sense to you? (see below)

What is taking place, dear ones, for all to know and see and understand, is that very, very slowly you have the linearity of the Human brain starting to be reduced. Unlike the autistic, it will be in ways that will still be balanced and make sense. In other words, you will be able to move in and out of quantum thought any time you wish in order to live in a linear, 3D existence, but have quantum consciousness. It will be a return to a form of consciousness that Lemurians had, but with the wisdom of the ages that you have collected. This will not be fast, but the forerunners of that are already here.

I'm going to give you some attributes of Human evolution in a moment, but let's return to the autistic ones. Many reading this are very concerned about autism. You wish to know why there are so many autistics being born. You say it's beyond coincidence that there are suddenly so many! There's more autistic children being born today than there ever have been on this planet. Humans are scurrying around wanting to know what's wrong. Is it the chemistry of the food? Perhaps it must be vaccinations! Some are saying, without any proof, "Yes, that's it - vaccinations must be it." You are grasping at almost anything to solve the puzzle of why so many autistics are arriving.

Yet very few Humans, if any, have looked at the puzzle and said, "Perhaps we're evolving, and this is the first wave of what we're going to see?" Not mentally unbalanced, but nonlinear thinking! This is, indeed, the case. You are seeing a form of evolution and you are calling it odd and unusual. It's simply those who are coming in early with activated quantum DNA. This early forerunner has DNA activated in an uncontrolled way, and so learning is needed to know how to make sense of it all. This is what they are doing, and each generation of savant will have a better time of it, figuring out what is linear and what is not.

Watch the autistic child go through what they must do (autism in its most severe form). They are so nonlinear that there is incredible frustration in trying to linearize even the Human voice as you speak to them. They will do the same actions over and over and over, trying to linearize the nonlinear. The linear walls are gone in their brain, and they have to learn to build the ones that they need. Humans then see them as a problem, and it's not a problem. It's a form of gifted children who are helping this planet to grow. Blessed are those who come into Earth as the new wave of consciousness to show you where it's going. They are setting the stage for a new kind of Human. For this quantumness will develop in a balanced way where many will have the autistic talents where they want them, and the linear when they want that. That's what the Human mind is capable of - being quantum when they wish to be. That's a return to the way it was given to you.  ‘’

You are Multidimensional - Celebrate Your Life! -  6 April 2008 (a message from Goddess of Creation channeled by Shelly Dressel)

Question: Why are so many new humans developing autism at this time?  Is there a purpose? Is there something we can do to assist them?  And then in addition to that, is there a correlation between autism and Alzheimer's?

Goddess: Autism is very much on people's mind at this time upon the earth.  It is a term that has been given to many children.  It is a definition that people give to a child as a means of trying to understand their behavior or how they think or how they are within their life.  Autism as you know it right now is but a fraction of what it truly is going to indicate in the future.  Many of the individuals that are being termed autistic are not necessarily autistic.  Autism in and of itself is a disconnection within.  Or you could say it's that these people have a different way of being able to communicate from others around them.  So when we say disconnect, it's not that they have fully disconnected with the other individuals; it's just that they are vibrating and living and experiencing life on a different level or a different plane.

Many have said that those who are autistic have their feet in two different dimensions or in multiple dimensions; yes, that is true.  Many have said that those children who are autistic have a short in their wiring as if there are aspects that are not working in this individual and this I would like to disagree with.  What's happening is, you are getting children especially who are of very high vibrations that are incorporating more of the crystalline vibration and less of the dense energies that have been upon the earth for the last several thousand years.

Therefore the electrical impulses that move through a crystal as opposed to the electrical impulses that move through a regular individual we shall just say or someone with regular wiring, there's going to be much less resistance, therefore their whole metabolism, everything about them is functioning on a completely different basis.

This journey tonight was to assist each one of you in recognizing just how much you are moving between dimensions.  These children that come in with these special gifts are used to moving (between dimensions) and they do it unconsciously.  To them, their sense of awareness, their sense of reality is very different from your own.  They may live in other realities while their physical body is here upon the earth.  Provide them with the structure that they may need to be able to function in society but also recognize that these are highly evolved individuals and respect that about them.

There may be crystals, there may be colors, there may be vibrations, things that emanate a vibration that assist the children in feeling more comfortable in their skin, in their reality.  If you are one of the individuals that would like to work with them or you find yourself perhaps having a child with these symptoms, go and open your senses and communicate from that of an expanded consciousness from the fifth, sixth or even seventh dimension.  Communicate from your heart, communicate without words, communicate through feelings and energies and you will find there's a great deal of information they are sharing with you.  These children are extremely sensitive so be aware of that and what is in their environment.

When it comes to Alzheimer's, there are some parallel pathways that one could point out.  Alzheimer's is a means of an individual beginning to cross over, beginning that journey back to this side of the veil but they have not yet fully chosen to return so they move at their own pace, experiencing whatever it is that they seek to experience.  And that is one reason why Alzheimer's seems to affect people for years at a time.  So while there are some similarities, that's as far as that goes.  Alzheimer's is a time to love and nurture an individual and again accept that this is their choice and this is their path.

Towards the end they are spending more and more of their reality in this other dimension.  For some it's a means of allowing them to feel comfortable with where they are going before they transition.  What you can do with them is also communicate from the heart, communicate without words. Assist them in being comfortable in other vibrations and assist them in being comfortable with the light and they will transition when the time is right for them.

I knew that this was something that was affecting many, many people and that is why I chose to give it a little bit more time and connection, and I thank you all for your patience. 

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

German software giant boosts Palestinian IT sector

It’s easy to assume that nothing much goes on in the Palestinian territories other than war and violence. But the German enterprise software giant SAP has spotted an opportunity there.

Deutsche Welle, 23 June 2015

Murad Tahboub is the first to admit that the year 2000 was not a good time to start his IT services business in Palestine.

"It was just before the second intifada, so it took us a long time to get going, and it wasn't until 2005 that we started landing some serious export business," said Tahboub.

"Even now, it's a challenge overcoming the stereotypes about Palestine. But our company ASAL Technologies has been growing healthily for the last ten years. We started with 10 employees, and today it's more than 150."

Tahboub's business is not an isolated example. Despite periodic outbreaks of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians (the most recent being Israel's offensive against Gaza last year) there is a flourishing IT software industry in Palestine, and its universities turn out more than 2,000 graduates in IT-related subjects every year.

Strong startup scene

The industry's strengths lie in software development in all areas, and there's a lively startup sector of small businesses with bright ideas looking for investors to take them to the next stage of growth.

So although a recent initiative by SAP may have raised eyebrows elsewhere, in Palestine it's seen as due recognition for their growing IT muscle. In 2005, information and communications technology (ICT) was worth $112 million (98.6 million euros) in added value to the economy; by 2013, it was $453 million at constant prices, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. ICT accounts for about six per cent of GDP.

The SAP deal is this: in the last few weeks, eight Palestinian universities have joined SAP's University Alliances program to develop graduates with critical IT skills. Palestinian graduates will also be recruited into SAP's Young Professional Program, where they'll receive training in SAP solutions and tools.

Although there is no guarantee of jobs with SAP, the graduates will effectively be part of the software giant's push into the whole of the Middle East. It has around 1,350 customers there already and the region is one of SAP's fastest-growing markets.

Unknown to many, Palestine's economy is more than just vegetable growing

So it was a hard-headed business decision, but Senior Vice President for Strategic Investments Marita Mitschein prefers to emphasise the social benefits. "SAP believes in the importance of IT to shape people's lives in the Middle East and we are proud to play a part in doing that in Palestine," she said.

On the ground in Palestine, they don't disguise their pleasure at SAP's move. "It's significant for the training of our graduates, but the connections that SAP partners will make with each other are more important," said Yahya Al-Salqan, chairman of the 150-strong Palestinian IT Association.

"It will be a network that will help us build a strong industry in the region, and we need that to hold on to our brightest graduates. They often have to go abroad to get a job. We have lots of bright people, a reputation for quality and great value because our costs are about half the costs in Europe and the US."

Outside help

SAP and Palestinian IT didn't just fall into each other's arms. The marriage broker was the Office of the Quartet Representative (OQR), which has a brief to promote economic development. Tony Blair is currently the Representative and the Quartet was set up by the EU, the UN, the USA and Russia. The OQR brought in David Dick, an IT industry executive, to attract the world's big IT players to the region – the likes of Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft and SAP.

"I've had a whole career in IT, so I've been engaging with senior IT execs to persuade them about the opportunities in Palestine. SAP were quick to offer their support and they put me in touch with their Middle East business and their worldwide university training team," said David Dick.

"The key to drawing in the big global businesses is to get Palestine onto their radar. They already place much of their support work in low-cost locations anyway, so it's not difficult for them to add Palestine to the mix. SAP is just the first, and we hope to make another announcement soon."

Back in Ramallah, Murad Tahboub is brimming with optimism. "The SAP initiative is a wakeup call to all multinationals to take a look at the valuable resource we have here. Things are looking rosy for the IT sector here, and despite all the obstacles, I believe that the generation of jobs is the key element for peace and prosperity in the region."

Germany's SAP speeds up recruitment of autistic persons

Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2013

German software giant SAP has announced it will recruit more autistic people over the next couple of years. The company claimed having such people on board would give it a competitive edge.

Walldorf-based software firm SAP announced Tuesday it would employ 100 autistic people globally over the next seven years. The German DAX-listed company said those people would be able to do a great job in programming and quality checks.

The World trade Organization defines autism as a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

But SAP said it believed autistic people could help the company to explore different lines of thinking. "SAP thinks that employing people with autism can give us a competitive edge and can help such colleagues pursue a meaningful way of earning a living," the firm said in a statement.

Part of a larger drive

"The recruitment scheme is a chance to find extremely specialized people," said SAP's Anke Wittenberg who's responsible for integration matters.

In 2011, SAP started a pilot project in its development laboratory in India where autistic people have been found to be very successful. More people with the disorder are to be employed this year in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Germany with a view of enhancing the teams' productivity as well as customer satisfaction.

SAP said it was cooperating with a Danish initiative called Specialisterne which has been aiming to get at least one million autistic persons employed worldwide.

hg/hc (Reuters, dpa)

More:

• Virtual boy teaches autistic children social skills

Related Articles:

Boy genius diagnosed with autism has IQ higher than Einstein


"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)

(Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio .. ): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it. New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/Religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.)

Human Evolution –  27 Sep 2008 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“.. What do you think the Human brain can really do? What do you think it's built to do? Let me give you an example of what your society has come to accept as an "unbalanced person." Some of you think it's a "sick person." Let me talk about the autistic one. Let us talk about autism in what you call the most severe case.

Blessed is the autistic one who has come to this earth to show you what future Human evolvement looks like! They spend a lifetime trying to figure out linearity and it frustrates them. Blessed is the savant who the earth looks at and calls unbalanced. For the Humans who do this cannot see what they don't understand. The autistic one is able to get up off the paper and be in color! Many of the autistic ones can do what your calculators can do on your desks, did you know that? And they don't need a calculator! Give them a problem - two digits multiplied by three digits. Now watch how fast they give you the answer. Because they're not linear! Ask them what weekday the 13th of August will be in 2012, and they'll tell you, and they don't need a calendar. You might say, "What kind of a mind can do that?" I'll tell you - a nonlinear one without the walls in the brain that you have.

Have you ever thought about that? The autistic have a nonlinear mind. The barriers are dropped. Can you imagine the frustration of this Human? Here he is in a world of black and white while he is in color. Not only that, you want him to go in a straight line when he is used to all directions at once. This also explains why the only energies that will work to calm him are interdimensional ones - music, art, and love. Does this start to make sense to you? (see below)

What is taking place, dear ones, for all to know and see and understand, is that very, very slowly you have the linearity of the Human brain starting to be reduced. Unlike the autistic, it will be in ways that will still be balanced and make sense. In other words, you will be able to move in and out of quantum thought any time you wish in order to live in a linear, 3D existence, but have quantum consciousness. It will be a return to a form of consciousness that Lemurians had, but with the wisdom of the ages that you have collected. This will not be fast, but the forerunners of that are already here.

I'm going to give you some attributes of Human evolution in a moment, but let's return to the autistic ones. Many reading this are very concerned about autism. You wish to know why there are so many autistics being born. You say it's beyond coincidence that there are suddenly so many! There's more autistic children being born today than there ever have been on this planet. Humans are scurrying around wanting to know what's wrong. Is it the chemistry of the food? Perhaps it must be vaccinations! Some are saying, without any proof, "Yes, that's it - vaccinations must be it." You are grasping at almost anything to solve the puzzle of why so many autistics are arriving.

Yet very few Humans, if any, have looked at the puzzle and said, "Perhaps we're evolving, and this is the first wave of what we're going to see?" Not mentally unbalanced, but nonlinear thinking! This is, indeed, the case. You are seeing a form of evolution and you are calling it odd and unusual. It's simply those who are coming in early with activated quantum DNA. This early forerunner has DNA activated in an uncontrolled way, and so learning is needed to know how to make sense of it all. This is what they are doing, and each generation of savant will have a better time of it, figuring out what is linear and what is not.

Watch the autistic child go through what they must do (autism in its most severe form). They are so nonlinear that there is incredible frustration in trying to linearize even the Human voice as you speak to them. They will do the same actions over and over and over, trying to linearize the nonlinear. The linear walls are gone in their brain, and they have to learn to build the ones that they need. Humans then see them as a problem, and it's not a problem. It's a form of gifted children who are helping this planet to grow. Blessed are those who come into Earth as the new wave of consciousness to show you where it's going. They are setting the stage for a new kind of Human. For this quantumness will develop in a balanced way where many will have the autistic talents where they want them, and the linear when they want that. That's what the Human mind is capable of - being quantum when they wish to be. That's a return to the way it was given to you.  ‘’

You are Multidimensional - Celebrate Your Life! -  6 April 2008 (a message from Goddess of Creation channeled by Shelly Dressel)

Question: Why are so many new humans developing autism at this time?  Is there a purpose? Is there something we can do to assist them?  And then in addition to that, is there a correlation between autism and Alzheimer's?

Goddess: Autism is very much on people's mind at this time upon the earth.  It is a term that has been given to many children.  It is a definition that people give to a child as a means of trying to understand their behavior or how they think or how they are within their life.  Autism as you know it right now is but a fraction of what it truly is going to indicate in the future.  Many of the individuals that are being termed autistic are not necessarily autistic.  Autism in and of itself is a disconnection within.  Or you could say it's that these people have a different way of being able to communicate from others around them.  So when we say disconnect, it's not that they have fully disconnected with the other individuals; it's just that they are vibrating and living and experiencing life on a different level or a different plane.

Many have said that those who are autistic have their feet in two different dimensions or in multiple dimensions; yes, that is true.  Many have said that those children who are autistic have a short in their wiring as if there are aspects that are not working in this individual and this I would like to disagree with.  What's happening is, you are getting children especially who are of very high vibrations that are incorporating more of the crystalline vibration and less of the dense energies that have been upon the earth for the last several thousand years.

Therefore the electrical impulses that move through a crystal as opposed to the electrical impulses that move through a regular individual we shall just say or someone with regular wiring, there's going to be much less resistance, therefore their whole metabolism, everything about them is functioning on a completely different basis.

This journey tonight was to assist each one of you in recognizing just how much you are moving between dimensions.  These children that come in with these special gifts are used to moving (between dimensions) and they do it unconsciously.  To them, their sense of awareness, their sense of reality is very different from your own.  They may live in other realities while their physical body is here upon the earth.  Provide them with the structure that they may need to be able to function in society but also recognize that these are highly evolved individuals and respect that about them.

There may be crystals, there may be colors, there may be vibrations, things that emanate a vibration that assist the children in feeling more comfortable in their skin, in their reality.  If you are one of the individuals that would like to work with them or you find yourself perhaps having a child with these symptoms, go and open your senses and communicate from that of an expanded consciousness from the fifth, sixth or even seventh dimension.  Communicate from your heart, communicate without words, communicate through feelings and energies and you will find there's a great deal of information they are sharing with you.  These children are extremely sensitive so be aware of that and what is in their environment.

When it comes to Alzheimer's, there are some parallel pathways that one could point out.  Alzheimer's is a means of an individual beginning to cross over, beginning that journey back to this side of the veil but they have not yet fully chosen to return so they move at their own pace, experiencing whatever it is that they seek to experience.  And that is one reason why Alzheimer's seems to affect people for years at a time.  So while there are some similarities, that's as far as that goes.  Alzheimer's is a time to love and nurture an individual and again accept that this is their choice and this is their path.

Towards the end they are spending more and more of their reality in this other dimension.  For some it's a means of allowing them to feel comfortable with where they are going before they transition.  What you can do with them is also communicate from the heart, communicate without words. Assist them in being comfortable in other vibrations and assist them in being comfortable with the light and they will transition when the time is right for them.

I knew that this was something that was affecting many, many people and that is why I chose to give it a little bit more time and connection, and I thank you all for your patience. 

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death)

Unilever saves almost £1bn through IT supplier management

New team drives best value while maintaining long-term flexibility

Computerworlduk, By Leo King

Unilever has instituted a new supplier management team to accelerate the pace of its tough IT cost reduction programme.

The household goods manufacturer, which makes products including Marmite, Dove soap and Domestos bleach, is attempting to cut 40 percent from IT operational expenditure from2007 to 2011, and it has so far carved £960 million from costs.

It s new team was established at the start of the year in order to drive the most value from suppliers and projects. It also wanted to improve relationships with suppliers and understand their needs better.

Unilever has completed an SAP ERP system rollout with supplier Accenture in western Europe, and is now concentrating on other markets, under the One Unilever programme.

Mike Royle, enterprise services director at Unilever, told delegates at today’s Forrester Services and Sourcing Forum in London that the supplier management team, called Unilever Global Sourcing, was crucial because “over 50 percent of what we spend on IT is on outsourcing”.

The team is comprised of around 25 people and is focused on supplier management, sourcing strategy, handling contractual issues, and implementing best practice. It also works with IBM for extra assistance on supplier management issues.

“We used to have a really fragmented approach to technology, with many suppliers. You could say we were oversupplied,” he said. This was owing to the company’s many acquisitions, as well as its organic growth.

“The challenge is cutting costs while getting the most long term value and quality from services, especially as there’s no slowdown in our acquisitions or our new business launches,” he said. “The team creates end-to-end sourcing design, with account plans for tier one, tier two and tier three suppliers, to help with this.”

The company also sets and regularly reports on key service metrics with each supplier, and promotes good relationships and a cultural fit. “The key theme is making our multi-supplier ecosystem work, and we need to understand them and what drives them.”

Unilever has moved to cut suppliers “dramatically”, after at one point using 160 vendors for 1,200 applications. Its main focus is now working on one platform, SAP, as the base for a smaller portfolio of standardised applications.

It has cut 20 percent from application costs by moving to “one or two” key related service suppliers, Royle said, and has cut 30 percent from testing and upgrade costs by moving from 10 suppliers to one in this area.

Its main service providers include BT for networks; and HP, Dell and Unisys for servers. Its enterprise services and applications are delivered by a mixture of HP personnel and its own in-house staff, and it is working with VMware on server virtualisation. Unilever is also in discussions with Microsoft for a potential move to some cloud services.

To achieve effective long-term cuts, the team worked with executives to set a strategy, as well as defining critical services and reducing investment in non-key areas or where there was a low risk.

It also forecasts requirements in areas such as storage, a high-growth area, to make better-calculated investments. It is offshoring increasing amounts of “level two” support, while keeping higher level skills in-house.

Unilever chose a stealthy, digital campaign to generate buzz, establish the product's credibility and encourage Chinese women to give Pond's Age Miracle a try.

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SAP, Sybase plan iPhone, Windows Mobile software

By Jim Finkle , Reuters, Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:30am EDT  

 BOSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Software makers SAP AG (SAPG.DE) and Sybase Inc (SY.N) have teamed up to make it easier for businesses to run SAP's business management software on mobile devices including Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone.

SAP (SAP.N), the world's biggest maker of business management software, is already working with Research in MotionLtd (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) to develop programs for its BlackBerry devices. 

This is the first time the German software company has announced plans to customize its software for other devices.

Sybase, which already sells programs that let businesses "shrink" applications so they can more easily run on mobile devices, will customize its software to better work with SAP's complex business management programs.

The two companies, which announced the move on Wednesday, will initially focus on the iPhone and on smart phones that runon Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Windows Mobile operating system.

"SAP wants to provide customers a broad choice of mobile solutions," said company spokesman Saswato Das. "Ourpartnerships with Sybase and RIM will accelerate the transformation to a fully mobile workforce."

The SAP/Sybase products will be available in the second half of 2009, Das said.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, editing by Matthew Lewis)

Unilever credits SAP for boosting growth

Ian Grant, Computerweekly.com,  Oct 2008

Unilever chairman Patrick Cescau has credited last year's shift to a global SAP enterprise management system with helping to boost sales for the first nine months by a total of 7.4% to £23.7bn. 

"Growth in the third quarter was 8.2%, boosted by the effect of the IT systems change last year which had reduced growth last quarter," he said this morning, as the grocery manufacturer reported its third quarter results. 

"The implementation of a harmonised IT system continues (in Europe) with 80% of all locations already live." he said. 

Unilever has rolled out its SAP-based strategy through the Asia division. The company is also centralising the supply chain in Singapore as part of its "One Unilever" programme, Cescau revealed. The change would be completed by January 2009, he said. 

The One Unilever Programme aims to help Unilever simplify its organisation and management structure and to improve capabilities in marketing, customer management, and research and development. It has led to better allocation of resources, faster decision-making and a lower cost level, the company said. 

Unilever is rolling out One Unilever in every major country. The company is using the project to share services including IT, HR and Finance across countries. The changes were part of an accelerated programme of restructuring announced in 2006.

 

Open-source ERP grows up

Open source is picking up momentum in the ERP market because of its flexibility and relatively low cost

Infoworld.com, By Robert Lemos, CIO.com, April 22, 2008 

Can open-source software find a home in mission-critical systems? Based on momentum in the open-source ERP (enterprise resource planning ) market, it's starting to look that way, particularly for IT leaders at midmarket and smaller enterprises.

While ERP systems are the heart and soul of the modern business, they've also been an IT bogeyman for the past decade. The software requires long and expensive customizations to fit the business processes of specific industries and companies. Tales of late, costly rollouts haunt IT managers looking to upgrade the way their companies currently do business. Recently, garbage-hauling giant Waste Management filed a lawsuit against enterprise-software maker SAP for $100 million to cover the cost of its failed ERP implementation.

The problem has lingered since the 1990s: In 1997, Nestle USA embarked on an ERP project that took more than six years and $200 million; the company originally intended to spend the same amount on rolling out the system to all offices internationally.

Even when rollouts are done, enterprises find themselves locked into costly licensing and maintenance agreements in a market without much price pressure dominated by two main vendors, Oracle and SAP.

Enter open-source software. Popularized by the growth of the Linux operating system, open-source software allows anyone to view and audit the source code and customize the software. ERP systems require a great deal of customization, making open source a seemingly ideal approach. Companies also appreciate the ability to audit the code that runs their critical systems.

In 2007, former CIO of Capital One Gregor Bailar told attendees at CIO's CIO-08 The Year Ahead conference that he was excited by the potential of open-source ERP systems: "I'd love to have an open-source ERP system that would just wail on what we have," Bailar said.

For small- and medium-sized businesses, the lower cost of open-source ERP systems is often the major selling point, initially. This was the case for frozen food maker Cedarlane. Going with an ERP system created by xTuple (formerly OpenMFG) saved the company "a couple of hundred thousands dollars" from the get-go, says IT director Daniel Baroco. To convince the company's owner to move the company to an ERP system, there needed to be little up front cost for the then-$40-million business, he says.

"You couldn't even put on the table that we were going to invest a million dollars in technology," Baroco said. "For emotional reasons, more than anything."

The impact of the system is obvious today, he says. The company has grown its revenues to $600 million, from $40 million, and the amount of paperwork created to fulfill orders has dropped significantly. In 2004, workers typically had to fill out 1,000 invoices per day, sometimes creating three invoices for the same order. Today, the company has reduced that number to 400 and can track food wastage; that's data it didn't have in 2004.

"I was really undereducated in the open-source thing at the time," Baroco said. "I became a fan of open-source because of this."

Small and midmarket businesses, such as Cedarlane, are the best prospects for open-source ERP implementations, says Ned Lilly, CEO of xTuple.

"The sweet spot for us is the $20 million to $50 million company that is hitting their head on the ceiling of trying to work on QuickBooks," Lilly says.

Lilly does not expect to convert many customers of traditional leaders such as SAP and Oracle, but for smaller companies that are worried about cost and the complexity of traditional implementations, open-source solutions are becoming a clear choice, he says.

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Microsoft Partners Wary Of Salesforce-Google CRM

By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

5:05 PM EDT Mon. Apr. 14, 2008

Salesforce.com and Google (NSDQ:GOOG) on Monday unveiled a new offering that marries office productivity apps with CRM and looks like a pre-emptive strike against Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s upcoming Dynamics CRM Live service.

The imaginatively named Salesforce for Google Apps service blends Salesforce CRM with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Talk, and Google Calendar. Salesforce is offering the service to subscribers free of charge, and this summer will introduce a $10-a-month supported version that includes end user phone support, unified billing, enhanced APIs, and wider access to third party applications.

Clarence So, chief marketing officer at Salesforce.com, San Francisco, says the deep integration between Salesforce and Google is the result of the two companies' similar approaches to delivering applications and services over the Internet.

"The real value is that now you can run your entire business in the cloud," said So.

Microsoft by June plans to roll out Dynamics CRM Live, an on-demand version of its Dynamics CRM software that will see the vendor employ its time-tested strategy of pricing competitors out of the market. Microsoft, which raised hackles last year by revealing plans to sell CRM Live directly to end users, will give partners a recurring 10 percent margin on subscription fees for all customers they refer.

Microsoft CRM partners told ChannelWeb they're not overly concerned by Salesforce for Google Apps, but some admitted they plan to keep an eye on the offerings that emerge from the relationship between the two companies.

The prevalence of Outlook and the overall difficulty of CRM implementations give Microsoft a solid position in the CRM space, but solution providers would be wise not to underestimate the Google-Salesforce collboration, says Jerry Weinstock, President and CEO at Internet Business Initiatives, Lenexa, Kans.

"The Google-Salesforce pairing is potentially powerful, and could eventually become a formidable competitor to CRM Live," said Weinstock.

But Mike Ritsema, president of i3 Business Solutions LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based solution provider, says that while the 'Googleization' of various business applications is a logical step, it's not likely to catch on with businesses that require advanced functionality.

"I'm sure that there's a ready market for the Google/SalesForce integration of technology. [But] I also believe that the there is another substantial customer set that will find the rudimentary functionality of Google Apps to be inadequate for their business requirements," said Ritsema.

Yacov Wrocherinsky, CEO of Infinity Solutions, New York, says the announcement helps create more awareness for the CRM industry as a whole, but he doesn't believe the Google-Salesforce partnership will ever threaten Microsoft's position in the market.

"Microsoft still owns the stack, and they're not going away. I don't see a lot of people using Google Apps for business and commercial tasks, and I don't envision that everyone is going to trust Google to do those things."

Daniel Duffy, CEO of Valley Network Solutions, a Microsoft Gold partner in Fresno, Calif., agrees with the idea that some businesses won't feel comfortable entrusting Google with their email, calendar or business documents.

"The industry likes to beat on Microsoft, but honestly, Google has their own challenges with customer privacy and data retention issues," said Duffy. "I believe that as more people embrace these sorts of services, we're setting ourselves up for an eventual nasty surprise when this data is compromised or abused."

The Google-Saleforce partnership is likely to continue to raise the level of competition in the CRM market, but is less of a near term threat to Microsoft, says Frank Lee, president of Microsoft CRM specialist Workopia, San Francisco.

"Salesforce and Google haven't reached critical mass yet, and they've got a long way to go," said Lee.

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Unilever achieves €1bn in savings, IT plays major part

SAP consolidation programme on course and cuts fat from food maker expenditure

Mark Chillingworth, CIO

Restructuring plans centred on the ‘One Unilever’ business transformation programme are reaping benefits, the Anglo-Dutch food and household goods maker Unilever. In its fourth quarter and annual results for 2007, Unilever stated that the ‘One Unilever’ strategy of IT and manufacturing streamlining, and other cost reduction programmes had delivered €1bn in savings.

Unilever said it achieved underlying sales growth of 5.5 per cent in 2007, with an underlying sales growth of 6.1 per cent in the fourth quarter. “The fourth quarter was a strong finish to a good year,” said Patrick Cescau, group chief executive. “2007 marks the third successive year of accelerating sales growth and came with an underlying improvement in margin.

“The reshaping of the business and the acceleration of our change programme are bringing real benefit,” Cescau said of the ‘One Unilever’ programme. Highlighting its benefits, the annual report states that in Europe the roll out of a single SAP enterprise resource management (ERP) system continues and that two-thirds of Europe is on the platform, and full implementation will be completed by the end of 2008.

‘One Unilever’ aims to make Unilever a simplified organisation to work within, with a single converged IT platform. It will also standardise business processes across the three operating regions of Unilever: Asia/AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey), Europe and Americas. It is hoped ‘One Unilever’ will increase revenue growth and operational abilities.

In the Americas ‘One Unilever’ saw Argentina, Brazil and Mexico consolidate operations into a single head office in 2007, a move that will be followed this year in the US. In 2007 the US went over to a single SAP system, following in the wake of the Latin American countries. Four of the countries in the Asia/AMET region have also adopted the SAP platform.

The restructuring of Unilever cost €875 million (£655 million) in 2007, with ‘One Unilever’ consuming £405 million. A further £130 million was invested in restructuring the European supply chain. “In 2008 we expect to see a further underlying improvement in operating margin,” Cescau said.

In May 2007 Unilever signed a Global Enterprise Agreement with SAP, which gives the maker of Dove Soap and Knorr soups greater access to SAP technology, as well the opportunity to collaborate on best practices. “This agreement enables us not only to accelerate business transformation, but also drive significant IT simplification as we move toward our destination IT architecture,” Neil Cameron, Unilever CIO told IDG reporters in May.

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SAP brings hosted ERP to Asia

By Victoria Ho, ZDNet Asia, Tuesday, January 29 2008 07:30 PM

SINGAPORE--SAP has brought its hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite to the region.

Announced Tuesday, the company is releasing its Business ByDesign product to Singapore--the sixth country globally to receive it. The product is currently available in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China.

Hans-Peter Klaey, president of SAP's SME division, said at the launch event that Singapore was chosen because many regional offices are headquartered in the country.

SAP is targeting the suite at SMBs (small to medium sized businesses) employing between 100 to 500 staff.

Klaey said that a hosted solution "makes the most sense" for an SMB, because it takes the burden of building expensive infrastructure off the shoulders of the companies that may not have the capital freely available.

Historically, SAP has been in favor of on-premise installations. However, it launched a hosted CRM service in 2006, in a bid to capture the growing hosted CRM market.

Similarly, the company is eyeing the growing SMB SaaS market, which it estimates to be worth some US$15 billion.

According to Klaey, 74 percent of SAP's customers are SMBs, with this proportion expected to go up in the years to come. Having offered only on-premise ERP products till this, Klaey said that he expects this to fill the void in the market for a hosted ERP service that is "end-to-end".

Eric MacDonald, SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan president and CEO of South East Asia, said: "[Business ByDesign] addresses the 'testing out' market--the users who don't have the bandwidth to take on huge IT projects but are interested in trying out a product which gives them improved control."

Klaey did not comment on whether SAP's acquisition of Business Objects would see business intelligence functionality added to the product.

Presently, users' data on the system is hosted in Waldorf, Germany with prices beginning at US$149 per user, per month, for a minimum of 25 users.