INTERGENITES OUT & ABOUT >> 2

THE FUTURE OF DYNAMICS ERP >>

6WINDOWS PHONE 7 >>

7INFRASTRUCTUREMANAGEMENT SERVICES

8WEB STRATEGY: USER TESTING

9SPOTLIGHT ON RETAIL >>

10SHAREPOINT 2010 IN ACTION >>

11PROJECT MANAGEMENT >>

12

>> HOT NEWS:

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT >> 3MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM 2011 >> 4

>> T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E I S S U E 2 4

>>

RECORDS MANAGEMENT >>

5

< Copyright 2010 Intergen Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of Intergen Limited >

After a slower than usual start to the year, I can’t believe the

amount of activity we’re seeing now. All areas of our business

are growing and we’re setting new records every month.

The economy is still clearly depressed but I think what we

are seeing is that people are a bit “over it” and keen to get

on with things. We are seeing good quality opportunities

turning into great projects. It’s not a return to the “good old

days”; it’s different. Business and government alike are much

more discerning and projects, now more so than ever, have to

show a positive return on investment. And that’s the way we

like it. Projects with real business needs are more successful

and more gratifying to work on. We hope this continues.

You may have noticed some renewed emphasis from us on the web. Delivering

websites and web applications has always been a key part of our business

but perhaps has been a bit overshadowed of late by our activities with the

Microsoft Dynamics product set. We put emphasis on a good user experience

with everything we do and have a very long track record of delivering some

signifi cant websites. Everyone is on the web now but that doesn’t mean that

everyone is getting the best from it. We recognise the importance of a good

web strategy, and with Giles Brown on board, we can now offer that all-

important link between strategy and execution (see page 8 for some thoughts

from Giles). We can now work with you right from the very

beginning, when you’re fi rst considering your strategy, right

through design and development to support and hosting.

October saw the long-awaited launch of Microsoft’s new

Windows Phone 7. It was certainly worth waiting for. I have

been a Microsoft Phone user since 2002 and the technology

has certainly come a long way. WP7 is a great device with

a good mix of business and personal features – certainly a

worthy challenger to the iPhone. We already have experience

in developing applications for the Windows Phone 7 and you’ll

see more on that over the coming months.

In 2010 Microsoft launched their latest version of Offi ce and

SharePoint. SharePoint 2010 is a big step forward with many

new features we’d been waiting for. Next year the big thing

for us will be CRM 2011. We have been working with pre-

release versions for almost a year now and can’t wait to begin to deliver new

solutions and upgrades to our clients. CRM 2011 represents another quantum

leap forward for Microsoft’s CRM offering.

Unbelievably we are nearing the end of another year. Intergen will be

celebrating its 10th year in business in 2011 and we look forward to sharing our

celebrations with you. Until then, from everyone at Intergen, we wish you and

your families a very Merry Christmas, safe holidays and a Happy New Year.

Sliding into 2011

>>

tony.stewart@intergen.co.nz

Intergen is “all in” the Cloud

Earlier this year Steve Ballmer said of Microsoft’s commitment to the Cloud: “For the cloud, we’re all in.” And Intergen is following suit. We’ve just moved all our 240 mailboxes to the Cloud. Look out for the full story in the next issue of SMARTS.

>>2 >> I N T E R G E N I T E S O U T & A B O U T < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >

What's been happening?From Pit Crews to parties, from nerd appreciation days to lots of hard work (and not necessarily in that order), it's been a busy second half of the year. Here's a story in pictures...

1. Need a nerd? The Auckland Intergenites put their inner geeks on display. 2. Everyone’s a winner. Intergenites take part in a celebratory lucky dip, with each and every

Intergenite winning a prize. 3. GM of Sales, Bruce Smith sparkles before putting an abundance of hot air to good use.4. Christchurch Intergenites chill out in yellow.5 & 6. The Intergen Pit Crew at this year's TechEd.7. Dressed up like Teletubbies, the Christchurch team goes go-karting.

1

3

5 6

4

2

7

>>3>> E M E R G E N C Y M A N A G E M E N T < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >

Technology in times of turmoil – how our Christchurch offi ce got through the earthquake

cell phones and texting utilising our Emergency Management eSponder tool.

We got hold of all our staff by phone to make sure everyone was okay, and

information was communicated back to the organisation nationally on a daily

basis. We considered using Facebook and Twitter as a way of our people staying

connected with each other throughout a really unsettling time, but found with

remote access available and a communications plan in play, we didn’t need to.

Intermittent power outages did threaten our connectivity, and because of

this, on Wednesday following the quake, we made the decision to ship all of

our services to our Wellington environment to ensure business continuity was

maximised. We were fortunate to have a strong and robust infrastructure, and

an Information Systems team who were committed to putting in the hard yards

and minimising disruption to our remote IT services. By Wednesday night the IS

team had completed the transition.

We were lucky in that the extent of damage we suffered was some cracked and

broken windows, and we were all back in the offi ce the following Monday.

It was great to see in action the role technology can play in times of our greatest

need, and it was humbling to be a part of such a strong and connected network.

Tim Mole (far right, below) is Intergen’s General Manager – Southern.

timm@intergen.co.nz

>> INTERGENITE:

Tim Rowe

What do you do?I’m one of two account managers based in the Christchurch offi ce. My role is primarily to maintain the relationship between our clients and us so that we continually understand what’s happening around our clients’ organisations.

How do you make a difference?I like to get to know the people, because it’s the people that truly make the difference. I like talking with clients to understand what their pain points are, what keeps them up at night and then ultimately providing solutions that remove that pain, so they can focus on the areas that really matter to them.

What do you love about your job?Again, getting out and talking with our clients, understanding them, their business, understanding what really makes their organisation successful. Having a chat over a coffee and working through a shared vision to bring value – that’s what I enjoy the most.

A bit about yourself?I’m a very family focused person, married with two children. I love the outdoors and can’t wait until my kids are old enough to look after the boat while I’m down having a dive. We have just recently returned to Christchurch from Wellington where we were for seven years. Great times up there, but it’s good to be home!

Tim Mole (far right, below) is Intergen’s General Manager – Southern.

timm@intergen.co.nz

When your IT systems are running well, you want to be able to forget about them. You want to be able to trust that they’re in good hands and doing what they need to be doing in the background so you can get on with your core business. And, when an emergency hits, you realise just how much you rely on technology to get you through, and it becomes more critical than ever.

As an IT company, we look at companies’ systems for a living, and it’s not often

we stop and talk publicly about our own. But it was technology to the rescue

for Intergen’s Christchurch offi ce in the week following the quake. Although the

offi ce itself was offi cially off-limits, along with most of the Christchurch CBD, all

our staff were connected and able to work remotely from the Monday morning.

Amazingly, when we looked back on the week and surveyed the impact on

business, we found we’d only lost 20% utilisation out of the Christchurch offi ce.

How did we manage it? Well, technology played a huge part. But technology

is of course nothing without the people who use and drive it, and we had a

fantastic support network nationally, from our leaders, our Information Systems

team and our Emergency Management practice.

On the Sunday after Saturday’s earthquake, I was able to get into the offi ce

and get our servers back up and running after they’d shut down with the

power outage. We then set up communication channels through our Intranet,

The Christchurch team post-quake:shaken but not stirred.

>>4 >> M I C R O S O F T D Y N A M I C S C R M 2 0 11 < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >

CRM 2011 – the latest and greatest

The long-awaited release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is just around the corner. While the beta has been released, Intergen has had exposure to CRM 2011 for quite some time and we’re very excited about the new features. These are some of the best things on offer – in our opinion, anyway!

New look and feel

The fi rst thing you’ll notice when you open up CRM 2011 from either Outlook

or the Web interface is that it looks a little different. There is now a ribbon

across the top that matches the latest Offi ce look and feel. From within

Outlook there is now a preview pane for CRM! You can also personalise your

preview pane by pinning tabbed views and moving sections around, allowing

you to arrange information to suit your work style. All grid views within the

system can be fi ltered using Excel-like fi ltering mechanisms.

New features

CRM 2011 is jam-packed with new features which are set to provide vast

improvements for the day-to-day operation of the system as well as how the

user interacts with it.

Here are some of the highlights...

An interactive point-and-click interface will enable users to create and format

their own custom dashboards throughout the system. This allows for intuitive

performance management and visualisation of information ensuring that

tracking performance is a breeze. CRM’s security framework is now even more

granular, effortlessly allowing you to determine which users are allowed

to view information down to attribute level. In addition to this, system

customisers can now create multiple forms per entity. These can be confi gured

to meet role specifi c requirements, enabling users to view information

personalised to their role. Out of the box fi eld auditing has also been

introduced, allowing you to track changes to important fi elds in your system. Not only

can users look forward to some fantastic changes, system customisers and developers

can also make use of an exciting array of new features including global picklists, inline

grid views and drag and drop form editing. This is in addition to Silverlight support,

native SharePoint and Dynamics NAV integration and Azure linkages to extend the

scope of Microsoft CRM and make it easier to integrate and manage.

Improved functionality

If you think the evolution of CRM from version 3 to 4 was impressive, you will be

blown away by the next wave of improvements in CRM 2011. One we are particularly

excited about is the fact that records can now be owned by a team and not just a

user, a common requirement amongst our customers.

The integration with Microsoft Outlook has also been improved with new navigation

features as well as utilising core CRM functionality such as email templates and

sales literature from within an Outlook email.

If you work with Marketing Lists in CRM you will be pleased to know that in

addition to the standard static marketing lists, you can now have dynamic

marketing lists based on a result of a query. You no longer have to

re-evaluate your marketing list members manually. You can also run

advanced fi nd queries based on just the members of the marketing list.

Through workfl ows you can create wizard-based dialogs that can be

branched based on user response. This creates a natural user experience

when users are required to capture information as it fl ows through your

business processes.

Increased fl exibility

When it comes to super users and administrators, CRM 2011 doesn’t hold

back, either. New features simplify these users’ task by providing more fl exibility.

You can now create new activity entities. This is great as you no longer have

to rename an existing activity entity and can create as many custom activity

types as needed, all grouped within the ‘Activities’ area.

Form confi guration is a lot simpler as you can use drag and drop to move

fi elds around and also create global picklists that are available to multiple

entities.

avigation

es and

in

c

.

ve

vity

e

If you are in a multi-organisation

environment, you can have your CRM

Outlook client pointing to multiple

environments! You won’t have to reconfi gure

your CRM Outlook client every time you want

to connect to another CRM organisation.

What’s not to like? If you’d like to know

more about what’s in store, email

rexw@intergen.co.nz, sophiec@intergen.

co.nz or maryseb@intergen.co.nz – we

always like talking CRM with people!

Some of our resident CRM gurus: Sophie Khun, Rex Wessels and Maryse Botros.

< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R > >>5>> T H E F U T U R E O F D Y N A M I C S E R P

What lies ahead in the world of Dynamics ERP?

In terms of product updates, it’s been quiet on the Dynamics ERP front since the release of Dynamics GP 2011 earlier this year, but things are about to get a lot busier!

Intergen is lucky enough to be involved in the Microsoft Technology Adoption

Programmes (TAP) for NAV 7 and AX 6 – due out in 2011 – which lets us see

the improved functionality behind the scenes and provide qualifi ed feedback.

While we’re only allowed to chat one-on-one with customers about developments

here (so by all means get in touch for a chat!), there are a number of key

advancements we’re allowed to shout from the rooftops about:

Dynamics NAV 2009 R2

The release date for this is imminent. What will be in it? In short: the features

that were on the agenda for NAV ‘7’ but are already completely fi nished.

What’s new?

Integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. On-premise and online, this supports

CRM 4.0 and 2011, and includes a long-awaited standard connector from Microsoft

(free), giving out-of-the-box integration between Dynamics NAV and CRM.

Online Payment Service for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This enables payment

from the NAV interface across multiple channels, including e-commerce, point

of sale and call centre, working with leading payment processing services and

all major credit cards. (This feature is not available in the fi rst release of R2 in

New Zealand.)

Role-tailored interface access for remote or roaming users. This reduces

complexity and overhead, allowing remote users to take advantage of the role-

tailored interface and the many integration features connected to local resources.

Microsoft Application Virtualization support. The role-tailored interface can

be deployed using Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology,

which cuts costs through centrally managed installations and provides a

better experience for the end user.

Windows 7 user experience improvements. Numerous features for increased

business productivity and effi ciency, like jump lists for recently accessed

customers and vendors and streamlined icon overlay functionality.

Treemap visualisation. Richer business data visualisation, comparison and

end-user scenario modelling.

And there’s plenty more where that came from in the development layer, all

paving the way for slicker modifi cation and easier implementation.

What’s new with Microsoft Dynamics AX?

AX caters for very specifi c business needs by acquiring a number of industry

vertical solutions for customers in manufacturing, professional services and retail.

A Process Manufacturing solution provides tight integration of business

processes across discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing.

A Professional Services solution delivers a single system to manage projects

and resources, execute fi nancial transactions and customer billing and match

resources with client assignments.

The most recent addition is the Retail solution providing an end-to-end

solution which includes store management with point of sale, merchandising

and other ERP capabilities.

The other signifi cant product release for AX this year is a new two-tier ERP

connector which allows information process integration between headquarters

and subsidiary locations, and integration to their administrative SAP Business

Suite for:

Financial consolidation for better visibility

of fi nancial performance across the

organisation

Inter-company supply chain integration

helps automate supply chain and order

processing locally and regionally

Plant automation for more accurate and

responsive manufacturing planning across

the organisation

Standardisation for better effi ciency and

an end to disparate ERP solutions across

your subsidiaries

Not a lot of detail has been released for

AX 6, there is specifi c functionality relating

to Public Sector needs, including:

>> Integration with Microsoft Dynamics

CRM

>> Offi ce integration with Tailored Role

Center Portals with performance

dashboards

>> Fund accounting, budgetary control,

encumbrance and pre-encumbrance

accounting with workfl ow

>> Travel expense management

>> Environmental sustainability dashboard

If you’d like to talk more about what’s

available now, and what’s in store for 2011,

drop me a line! nickj@intergen.co.nz

Nick Johnson is Intergen’sMicrosoft Dynamics Practice Lead.

N T Y F O U R >

NM

>>6 < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >>> W I N D O W S P H O N E 7

During October Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7, its latest foray into the smartphone operating system market. Microsoft has been developing mobile operating systems for many years, although its recent efforts have been widely described as lacking. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s highly anticipated effort into making up this lost ground, and initial reactions have been universally positive.

Make no mistake: Microsoft has got its work cut out for it. Windows Phone

7 is entering a competitive marketplace, dominated by Apple’s iPhone and,

increasingly, the Android platform from Google. Industry commentators have

doubted Microsoft’s ability to develop a compelling smartphone experience for

several years; it has lost valuable ground – and mindshare – when compared

to its competitors. Even Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer has admitted that the

company missed “an entire development cycle” with its mobile platform.

With the evolution of the smartphone came an evolution in expectations:

consumers and business users alike now expect their smartphones to feature

multi-touch displays, a wide range of software applications, and a seamless

experience when it comes to fi nding and purchasing software.

With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has retained its traditional “software

platform” approach to attacking this market. Unlike Apple, for example,

which controls both the hardware and software experiences, Microsoft is

working with multiple hardware providers. Companies such as Dell, Samsung,

HTC and LG are all releasing Windows Phone 7 devices. This is a familiar

approach for Microsoft, who has shied away – aside from the failed Kin – from

creating the smartphone hardware itself. The company tries to specify robust

guidelines for the devices and their behaviour in order to create consistency

across its partners’ hardware designs. For users, this should provide the best

of both worlds: a consistent and familiar experience across devices, while

Windows Phone 7: Microsoft’s new mobile operating system.giving hardware providers the opportunity to innovate. This mix has worked

successfully for Microsoft in the past, and is essentially the same approach

Google is taking with Android; the assumption being that more devices will

result in more customers and greater market share.

Where Microsoft has innovated is in its core software. The fl uid user interface,

the “tiled” approach to accessing applications and receiving notifi cations

and updates, and the linkages to other parts of the Microsoft ecosystem –

including Offi ce, Zune and Xbox – are genuinely innovative and represent

alternative ways of accessing applications and media. Indications are that

there will be several thousand applications available in the coming months,

and by leveraging the large development community, recognised development

tools and familiar programming languages, Microsoft is almost guaranteed to

get support from developers and software companies alike.

A marathon, not a sprint

In several years’ time we could look upon the release of Windows Phone 7 as a

watershed moment in the history of Microsoft – and the wider industry.

With Gartner estimating mobile phones will overtake PCs as the dominant

web access device worldwide by 2013, there is a signifi cant opportunity for

Microsoft, Apple, Google, RIM (makers of the Blackberry) and others to grow

the market and carve out their own spaces; unlike the operating system space,

this is unlikely to be a “winner takes all” model.

There is also an acknowledgement that people are used to computing on the

go – these powerful devices provide capabilities unheard of a few years ago,

and allow people to work and play whenever and wherever they are. Rather

than use a PC or laptop, people are going to use their mobile device to access

email, social networks and software applications.

For Microsoft, this creates both challenges and opportunities. On the one

hand, the success of mobile devices could impact its traditional operating

system business. On the other, with the arrival of Windows Phone 7, it appears

well-placed to secure a respectable part of the mobility space. At the end of

the day, success will come down to software –

the experience of using the operating system,

and the applications that will be available for

it, both in terms of their quality and quantity.

With a strong development story, and an

enthusiastic partner network, Microsoft is well

positioned to drive results. And with a variety

of hardware partners in place already, the

signs are good that there will be a range of

interesting and innovative devices on offer –

now and in the future.

timh@intergen.co.nz

Tim Howell is Intergen’s Marketing Manager

U R >

>>7< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >> > I N F R A S T R U C T U R E M A N AG E M E N T S E R V I C E S

How well is your IT infrastructure managed? Do you know the current status of your physical and virtual environments, client computers and devices?

Could your organisation benefi t from self-managing, integrated and dynamic

systems where your IT professionals can optimise IT structures to reduce costs,

improve application availability, and enhance service delivery?

These questions are often at the forefront of every CIO’s mind. However, all too

often addressing these questions requires a matrix of complex multi-product

architectures that would daunt even the most experienced IT professionals.

How can Intergen help your organisation?

Intergen and Microsoft have partnered with a common goal

to invigorate the take-up of the Microsoft System Center

products within New Zealand. With Intergen’s recent

recruitment of Andrew Kosmadakis and Mark Fenwick,

along with existing Intergenite Harry Barton, Intergen

is committed to developing a new Infrastructure

Management service offering, solely dedicated to helping

your organisation manage its IT infrastructure with

increased control and staggering cost savings.

The Microsoft System Center product suite is an array of

powerful and integrated products that helps IT professionals

manage their physical and virtual environments throughout

their data centres, client computers, and devices. Microsoft

System Center provides a platform for managing your entire IT

environment end-to-end. Using these integrated and automated

management solutions, IT organisations can be more productive

service providers to their businesses.

Intergen has found that there are many organisations and

Government departments already partly or fully licensed to use the

System Center products, yet either they don’t realise, don’t know about the

power of System Center, or simply don’t have the expertise to implement the

System Center product suite.

In some cases we have found that organisations not only have the right to use

System Center, but have also purchased additional, more complicated products

that do not provide the same level of integration, consistency and extensibility.

What are the key benefi ts of Intergen’s Infrastructure

Management Service?

>> Solutions that integrate from desktop to data

centre

>> Products that manage your physical and

virtual IT environments

>> Solutions that provide knowledge-driven

management

>> Solid partnerships with Microsoft

>> Rapid results by capturing value out of

the box

With System Center Confi guration Manager

Intergen can help you benefi t from a

centralised management tool that is optimised

for Windows and extensible beyond, it is the

best choice for gaining enhanced insight into,

and control over, your IT systems. It empowers IT

professionals with functionality such as:

>> Operating System deployment (server and

desktop)

>> Application and Security update Deployment

>> Hardware and Software Inventory

>> Asset Management

>> Desired Confi guration Management

>> Power Management

With increased complexity in our data centres

as we transition from physical to virtual

environments, we fi nd IT infrastructures

housing multi-vendor virtualisation platforms,

each with their own management tools

and workfl ows. Intergen can offer you

comprehensive consulting and deployment

experience in System Center Virtual Machine

Manager, a centralised management point

for your virtual environment with the

ability to increase server utilisation, and

dynamically optimise resources across multiple

virtualisation platforms.

With over 300 management packs available

for different applications, operating systems

and devices ranging from servers to switches,

System Center Operations Manager is pivotal

to managing your IT infrastructure end-to-end.

Imagine being able to monitor, alert and

provide action according to the health,

performance and availability of your

systems across multiple hardware and

software platforms from one single product.

Talk to us about how we can help you realise

the power of centralised infrastructure

management.

markf@intergen.co.nz

andrewk@intergen.co.nz.

However, all too

multi-product

professionals.

oal

IT

ted

ctive

use the

What are the key be

Management S

>> Solutions t

centre

>> Prod

virtua

>> S

man

>> S

>> R

the b

With

Interg

centrali

for Windo

best choic

and contr

profession

>> Oper

deskto

>> Applic

>> Hardw

Introducing an exciting new service offering from Intergen– Infrastructure Management Services

Introducing Mark Fenwick and Andrew Kosmadakis

>>8 >> W E B S T R A T E G Y : U S E R T E S T I N G < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >

The truth about User Testing and other tales from the trenches.

What is it?

User Testing is testing a website or application to see if it meets your business

objectives and the needs of your users.

In industry speak, User Testing (also UAT: User Acceptance Testing) can take

on a number of guises. Formal and informal. Qualitative and quantitative.

Face-to-face and remote. Or a combination of these. It always depends on

your project, your time constraints and, of course, your users.

Many big brands or big sites are testing on a daily basis. They will run what’s

known as ‘A/B Testing’ to rapidly test pages, paths, buttons, links, navigation,

headline copy etc. to make ongoing, incremental enhancements to their

website. This can be as granular as any User Interface element (e.g. a ‘Buy

Now’ button) and include: colour, size, location, feedback and so on. Or it can

be as large as a complete redesign.

There are also a bunch of ‘lab tools’ out there including things like retina

tracking (where users look), heat maps (aggregated behaviours), click paths

(where individuals actually click) and so on – many of these have been used

for decades. But as we begin to interact more via touch and gesture (as

opposed to point and click) these tools will continue to evolve.

Why do you do it?

We are all too close to our projects. All of us. Without exception. It doesn’t

matter if you are client-side or design/development-side or an independent

‘UX champion’. User Testing is the moment of truth when you realise that no

matter how great your project is, it can always be better. Always.

Users are brutally honest. They have no reason lie. If people love something,

they’ll tell you. Likewise, if they are confused or frustrated, they’ll let you

know. And you should be thankful. Now you have a chance to lick your

wounds, repair your ego and make things better.

“I’m sorry, they just didn’t get it.”Who should be involved?

If you’re running face-to-face testing, it’s good to get at least four people to

facilitate and run the testing. Ideally, they should be from across the business

(and if they haven’t been involved in the project, that’s good too). Essentially,

this provides balance to the process and removes the human nuances and

elements of bias that we all bring to any project.

How many users do you need?

If you’re doing face-to-face testing, you need at least 12 users (for statistical

signifi cance). Preferably 20. And 30 would be even better. Face-to-face testing

is more expensive, and more time consuming than using many of the online

tools that are readily available today – and even if you don’t do it all of the

time, you should do face-to-face testing at least some of the time.

If you’re running remote testing (using software), you can test a lot more

people and be really specifi c with what you test. Ideally, you should run a mix

of qualitative and quantitative analysis because what people say and what

they do are usually quite different. Also, you should try and collect anonymous

data (again, people will score and rate experiences very differently ‘on paper’

to how they do in person).

How often do you do it?

Do it as frequently as possible. Don’t disappear into a project for two years

and proudly emerge with a prototype that ‘just needs user validation’. Run

small, informal sessions with users throughout a project’s lifecycle. And make

sure the users are actually from your target audience and be really clear about

what you’re testing. It’s absolutely fundamental for the success of any project

to test while you design and while you develop.

The truth hurts

In my view, User Testing is absolutely the best part of working in this business. It can

be tough. Users do not care about your requirements, your software, how tight your

code is, how many designs you threw away, how many months you sweated and

argued over every detail; they just want to get stuff

done. If your users don’t get it, your website doesn’t

work. End of story. And they will compare your site

to others with far bigger budgets and resources

than you will ever have. That’s just how it is.

Finally … ‘fail fast, fail often’ …

This maxim has been tossed around software

development and entrepreneurial circles for a

while now and it’s still a really valid insight.

User Testing doesn’t have to be over-engineered.

If you are willing to listen, to make changes,

to throw things away and not fall in love with

your design or code, then you’re off to a good

start. Pick up the phone now, call your users and

watch them break your stuff – it’s hard and it

hurts, but it’s the only way to make things better.

gilesb@intergen.co.nz

F O U R >

Giles Brown is Intergen’s Web Strategist

The moral of the story: involve your user.

>>9< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >>> S P O T L I G H T O N R E T A I L

In the last issue of SMARTS I talked about multichannel convergence being one of the top three topics for retailers to address.

Since then I attended 2010 Global Consumer Trends, a seminar arranged by

the New Zealand Retail Association, and my thoughts have been confi rmed:

e-retail, multichannel and convergence channel shopping have become centre

stage for the Retail industry. But what does this means to your business?

Consumers driving the retail agenda

Consumer confi dence is increasing, but according to recent research by

Nielsen Consumer Confi dence 2010, 44% are saving and 39% are paying

off debt. This is signifi cant for retailers who are looking to drive up average

transaction value (ATV). For retailers to reach and maintain engagement with

the consumer, they’re looking outside the conventional bricks and mortar

stores and identifying e-retail opportunities. A recent survey conducted by

McKinsey, 2009, shows consumers are taking a multi-channelled approach

to research and shopping – 48% of consumers shop across more than two

channels, and 24% shop across three channels.

What are these channels, and how do I build engagement with

consumers in the right channel?

Monash University suggests that having visibility of product initiation

and direct design input creates and establishes loyalty with consumers.

Retailers are tailoring product based on actual consumer feedback prior

to manufacturing. Research also suggests that social media sites such as

Facebook are being used to establish reviews on product. Whilst social media

is being used as a new channel for product feedback, it’s not necessarily the

right place to sell product.

According to Nielsen’s 2010 Social Media report there has been a jump

in Facebook usage from 30% in 2007 to 82% in 2010. This has to be an

example of an unavoidable engagement channel for retailers?

Price remains a point of difference for consumers. More interestingly,

the presence of product and price comparison websites is taking off, for

example lasoo.co.nz. Close to two thirds of customers who visit the site and

subsequently purchase an item save approximately $20, while 15% save

between $101-$499.

What does this mean to the traditional bricks and mortar outlet?

I can speculate and fi nd evidence that physical store formats are becoming

showcases for products. The dwell factor in stores could well be on the

increase, as a consumer who visits a physical outlet has made a conscious

decision based on product and price research from other channels. So in

essence they will be looking for a confi rmation of their decision.

The ability to foster a connection between the web channel and the physical

store is becoming a growth strategy for retailers. The concept of ‘click’, buy

online and ‘collect’ in store is yet another customer offer that is present in

European and US markets in all product sectors. This puts the consumer back

in control of how, when and where they want to interact with a brand.

Intergen’s Retail vision

When pulling together our Retail Strategy

and service offer we looked at what was

important to Retailer and Wholesale

businesses. Without doubt, the consumer

remains at the forefront.

Our Retail vision involves looking at end

to end processes, from the view of the

customers, designing experiences around

how you want to serve your end consumer.

For example, it’s not as simple as saying

“I want to capture customer information

online” – that’s only the beginning. It’s

important to think: “Is this the correct place

to capture information? How will I use this

information? How can I use it in all my

channels?”

Working out how you serve your customer

will allow you to identify how staff and

supply chain partners’ processes need to

change. My advice is to start with the end

user experience in mind, road test it and

fi nd the way to deliver it.

Intergen is now an active member of the

New Zealand Retailers Association.

danielm@intergen.co.nz

>> S P O

Spotlight on Retail: The consumer’s in control Daniel Munns is Intergen’sIndustry Lead - Retail Specialist

>>10 < S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >>> S H A R E P O I N T 2 0 1 0 I N A C T I O N

Silver Fern Farms looks to SharePoint for its new intranet and fi nds a place that 800 staff now call home.

As New Zealand’s leading procurer, processor and

marketer of sheep, lamb, beef and venison, and with

more than 800 intranet-using staff in various roles

across the country, the time had come for a new intranet

for Silver Fern Farms.

Staff collaboration, document management and a more

complete and instant view of all areas of the business

was needed, with Business Intelligence and ease of use

and collaboration being key considerations for Silver

Fern Farms in building its intranet, HomeBlock – the

online embodiment of the place on the farm that a

farmer comes home to.

The previous intranet had been custom-developed in-house and

sat within the IT team. While it fulfi lled its intended purpose, it required

several full-time resources to support it, it lacked fl exibility and it couldn’t be

extended without signifi cant effort. It became evident that the business was

outgrowing the existing platform.

Stewart Cowan, Silver Fern Farms’ Business Intelligence Manager, says:

“We’re a pretty spread out, geographically diverse company, and HomeBlock

– with its dozens of ‘paddocks’ (team collaboration sites) being built within

it – brings people together. And the fact that champions from within each

team can take full control of their own sites just goes to show how user-friendly

SharePoint is”.

All quiet on HomeBlock >> INTERGENITE:

Steph O’Keefe

What do you do?I’ve been with Intergen for just over three years. I used to work in the Project Management Offi ce in Wellington and manage project resourcing but have moved to Auckland to become a Client Services Manager in the Managed Services Team.

How do you make a difference?I work closely with our sales and project teams to ensure that we are providing an effi cient and proactive support service to our customers. I also provide our Auckland offi ce with some great London banter!

What do you love about your job?I love making a difference and working with our clients and other Intergenites to achieve the right results. I thrive on the day-to-day challenges that I come up against, and getting that positive result makes it all the more rewarding.

A bit about yourself…I was born in London and worked in the Financial Services Sector in the big smoke before I moved to New Zealand in 2007. I’m an avid Chelsea fan and love football in general, having played for Chelsea Women’s FC and then really hitting the big time when I got to Wellington and joined North Wellington Ladies’ FC!

Silver Fern Farms was looking to select an industry standard solution, leveraging as much

functionality as they could out of the box and customising the rest. They wanted a solid

platform from which to create “one source of truth” and a go-to place for collaboration,

integration with other line-of-business applications, along with the ability to surface

business-wide information visually through a BI portal and to quickly produce a more

comprehensive and sophisticated suite of reports.

They selected SharePoint 2010 in beta state before the product

had offi cially been released to market because, as Stewart

explains, “The features, ease of use and the integration options

were all so much better than the existing 2007 version of

SharePoint, and on the BI side there was a far more evolved set of

features available to us.”

This decision meant that Silver Fern Farms was one of the fi rst

organisations in New Zealand to have a fully-fl edged SharePoint

2010 intranet. And in addition to being early adopters, the

quality of Silver Fern Farms’ solution was recognised by

Microsoft New Zealand with the accolade of Portals and

Collaboration Solution of the Year.

HomeBlock is now the fi rst thing staff see when they start their computers every day,

and is central to all aspects of business.

Stewart sums up one of HomeBlock’s greatest wins: “It’s all power to the people now – no

more having to go cap-in-hand to IT. One of the benefi ts of SharePoint is that you can

address people’s concerns really quickly and easily – usually we can take on feedback and

turn changes around within a week.”

He says it’s been “quiet” since go-live, explaining: “People only tell you the bad stuff.

Going on that logic, we’ve defi nitely got a lot more happy people now!”

< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >>> P R O J E C T M A N A G E M E N T >>11

>> INTERGENITE:

Steve Sharpe

What do you do?I’m a Senior DBA/Consultant – I deliver quality SQL database solutions and services to Intergen’s clients and provide support on client engagements and guidance to peers. My responsibilities also include designing, installing, confi guring monitoring, testing, tuning and troubleshooting SQL Server solutions.

How do you make a difference?I spent six years in Strategic Outsourcing for IBM Global Services, and have extensive experience with MSSQL. I help to ensure best practice production implementation and supportability, as well as performance, security and data resilience strategies.

What do you love about your job?I love problem solving and dealing with challenges. Delivering solutions that meet and exceed the clients’ expectations while also being cost effective is my idea of job satisfaction!

A bit about yourselfI am a fi lm addict and enjoy watching fi lms in the cinema. My wife and I tend to go every week and usually opt for the low-budget fi lms with a story rather than ones that rely on CGI. My favourite cinemas are the Penthouse in Brooklyn and the Shoreline in Waikanae.

The fi ne art of Project Management

Naomi refl ects on the things she has seen help projects succeed – and those which have contributed to project failure – throughout her career in project

management.

What’s the function of a Project Management Offi ce? What

difference does it make to an organisation?

A Global Project Management Survey in 2004 found that only

27% of the projects surveyed were completed successfully

(on time, within scope and on budget); the remaining 73%

were either cancelled or didn’t meet time, scope or budget

constraints. The difference a PMO makes is in making sure

that your projects aren’t amongst that 73%!

Other noticeable benefi ts of having an established PMO

include:

>> Cost savings through better resource management,

reducing project failures, fi nishing projects on time and budget

and seeing the anticipated project benefi ts actually come to

fruition

>> Customer satisfaction through projects that are successfully

delivered and achieve what they set out to

>> Consistency and professionalism through reusable processes

and tools

>> Increased skills and competencies through dedicated

training, development, coaching and support

>> Visibility of all projects in an organisation

>> Greater effi ciency, control and focus

What common “mistakes” do you see happening on projects?

There are defi nitely common pitfalls to be avoided. These are probably the

ones I see the most often:

>> Poorly defi ned scope, scope management and lack of change control

>> Poorly defi ned requirements

>> Not understanding the reason for the project – what’s the business trying

to achieve?

>> Inadequate communication

>> Poor stakeholder buy in – lack of consultation with key project

stakeholders

>> Lack of project governance during project execution

>> Project risks not being actively managed

>> Unrealistic project estimates

>> Poor team engagement

What would your Top 10 Project Management tips be?

>> Know and understand the purpose of your project

>> Invest in planning your project – if you don’t start projects well, they never

fi nish well

>> Communicate, communicate, communicate!

>> Operate your project with complete transparency and visibility

>> Make sure your team is engaged and knows what’s required of them,

making sure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defi ned

>> Spend time on project scheduling and tracking

>> Remember that an investment in project governance management isn’t a

fi re extinguisher

>> Focus on active project governance, paying special attention to risks,

issues, schedule and budget management

>> Engage a strong and active project sponsor

>> Learn from your mistakes and take the lessons learnt with you – a mistake

is only a mistake if you make it twice

naomil@intergen.co.nzNaomi Lind is Intergen’s Chief Projects Offi cer, responsible for Intergen’s Project Management Offi ce and the delivery of successful and consistently high quality projects to our clients.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INTERGEN:

Auckland: +64 9 966 3070 info@intergen.co.nzWellington: +64 4 472 2021 www.intergen.co.nzChristchurch: +64 3 964 0017Dunedin: +64 3 477 5648Sydney: +61 2 8211 0639 www.intergen.com.au Perth: +61 8 9228 9990

< S M A R T S - T H E I N T E L L I G E N T B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E . I S S U E T W E N T Y F O U R >>> R E C O R D S M A N A G E M E N T

SharePoint has changed the game regarding document and content management. You no longer require a separate, traditional document management system. You can achieve the “holy grail” of good document and records management without end users needing to do anything more than their usual “save as” from Offi ce or Outlook.

Imagine a colleague named

“Steve”. He creates a new report,

works on it with others, saves it

regularly, releases it for formal review

and approval, and publishes

the document for the wider

audience – in a library or to a

website. This is all pretty simple

and straightforward. Happy Steve.

Behind the scenes, SharePoint automatically assigns attributes to the

document. These include document type, location (in the library taxonomy

hierarchy), business classifi cation, subject keywords, access rights and

permission levels, unique record ID, retention and disposal rules, version

control and the workfl ow to be used for the review and approval. This

rich metadata provides much improved “fi ndability” and all round

better management of enterprise content.

“Katy” (another colleague) is looking for information to

support her project. She doesn’t know that Steve recently

created a report, so she doesn’t know to look for it. In the

past, she would have needed to know where to look or be

presented with hundreds of results from the search tool. This

time, she quickly narrows the search to a handful of likely

documents to fi nd what she wants. Happy Katy.

Meanwhile, “Alex” the Records Manager has his own

views of all stored content, the ability to adjust any record

classifi cations, review and sentence records and generally

report a high rating for good recordkeeping. Happy Alex.

Last, but not least – “Tony” the Managing Director sees

everyone working more effectively, quickly and easily, fi nding

the right stuff that they need for their work, plus knowing that

the enterprise information store is well managed. Happy Tony.

Now all this is possible.

SharePoint takes care of Steve’s and Katy’s needs without them

knowing about the RecordPoint extension working “under the

covers”. Alex of course wants to ensure that good recordkeeping

practices are adhered to by staff, and he is very happy that this is

achieved as a by-product of Steve’s and Katy’s normal activities.

Records Management made easy with SharePoint and RecordPoint

Tony sees it working well. Result: high adoption by end-users, greater volume and

quality of documents available and under good information management practices.

Happy everyone.

Intergen has partnered with RecordPoint and OnePlaceMail to provide full records

management solutions and services. RecordPoint is built on SharePoint extending

SharePoint’s document management strengths and simplicity with a rules engine that

automatically assigns business classifi cation metadata and records policies to documents,

emails and scanned images.

Whether you are looking for improved operational performance through better

management of your documents or recordkeeping compliance, we can help you. With

Intergen’s “soup to nuts” services, you can ensure that your implemented solution

delivers your desired business outcomes.

If this strikes a chord with you and you want to fi nd out more, either contact your

Intergen representative or contact me at steve.lapwood@intergen.co.nz.

nged g tent no parate, nt m. e d

nt

n

d

eport,

es it

mal review

s

o a

mple

y Steve.

Behind the scenes, SharePo

document. These includ

hierarchy), business c

permission levels, un

control and the work

rich metadata p

better man

“Katy”

suppo

create

past, s

presen

time, s

docum

Mean

views

classifi

report a

Last, but n

everyone wo

the right stuf

the enterprise i

Now all this is

SharePoint takes

knowing about t

covers”. Alex of c

practices are adhe

achieved as a by-p

Steve Lapwood is a Senior Management Consultant in Intergen’s Consulting and Architecture Services team.