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MCI Consultants today announced its Unified Threat Management solution to combat the rapidly increasing threat from the Internet for enterprises.
Viruses, worms, trojans, malware, spam, intrusion, spyware, bandwidth abuse, data leakage, phishing and pharming are just some of the threats facing both large and small enterprises, and there’s no escaping them.
While external threats are taking a targeted, blended form of attack, internal threats are creating security loopholes that leave the enterprise vulnerable to attacks. Faced with such a rapidly evolving threat environment, enterprises require multiple security features to ensure comprehensive network protection.
Enterprises that have deployed multiple security solutions face the daunting task of managing and upgrading these solutions constantly; whilst at the same time adding to their capital and operating expenses.
The complexity involved in managing multiple security solutions has led to unified security with multiple security features over a single platform, i.e. Unified Threat Management (UTM), which is far more effective from both a maintenance and cost point of view.
The benefits of MCI’s Unified Threat Management solution include:
For further information, please contact Gawie Van Rensburg, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: gawie@mci.co.za
Nov 23
MCI Consultants, the top IT supplier in the recruitment industry and the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa, today highlighted that an overwhelming number of the winners of Career Junction’s sixth annual awards were companies that had implemented the Bond Adapt software.
“In each of the three categories: large agency, medium agency and small agency; there was a winner and two runner ups,” commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. “The winners in the large and medium categories and the two runner ups in the small category are all users of Bond’s Adapt Software. Kelly, who won the large agency award, has now won this prize for the last three consecutive years and have been utilizing the Adapt software for some 10 years.”
“We firmly believe that the companies running the Adapt software were in a significantly better-placed position to compete for these awards,” continued Droussiotis, “and I would argue that the results bear this out, especially when one analyses the other statistics that have become available from a number of reputable sources such as APSO.”
The following are a sample of the statistics that have now become available:
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Oct 21
MCI Consultants has been involved in developing mobile solutions for some of the largest financial and personnel institutions in South Africa. Through this development, MCI have emerged with a cross-platform development layer, which enables them to quickly deliver user-friendly mobile applications and mobi sites for a multitude of data sets and uses. Today, MCI has consolidated these offerings with a full mobile services capability that complements the networking and other product-related services that are already well established in the market.
Within this framework, MCI have already developed applications specifically designed for today’s mobile users who demand instant data delivery to their handheld device, irrespective of the form factor, operating system, or wireless network. These products include the following:
In addition, MCI have developed an Advert Management System which fully integrates into all of its mobile products and provides an environment for targeted advertising, which can then form the basis of a mobile revenue stream.
“Connectivity is critical for interacting efficiently in today’s constantly evolving business environment. It is now commonplace for your email to find its way down to your mobile phone,” commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI. “Not having access to critical data in order to respond, or make decisions on-the-go, may be more critical than you think. Consider the recent volatility on the world financial markets, where one can easily count the cost of being unable to react to those conditions. “
MCI develops mobile solutions across all the major platforms including Java, Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone and Blackberry (RIM). MCI is a certified BlackBerry developer partner and an official Apple iPhone developer. MCI also specialises in building WAP/mobi sites as well as WAP applications
“MCI has the skills, resources and experience to develop mobile solutions for business that work,” concluded Droussiotis, “and can deliver customised solutions to enhance a business’ operations, boost their efficiencies, thereby increasing their revenues.”
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Oct 07
MCI Consultants, a leading distributor for the IBM Cognos TM1 product in South Africa, today announced the availability of IBM Cognos Express, an integrated reporting, analysis and planning solution for mid-size companies.
"Every organisation recognises the importance of trusted, accurate information; however having the data is not enough," commented Filip Vanden Houte , Business Partner at MCI. "Companies need the ability to leverage information effectively and generate the insights required to better serve customers, to transform their business processes, and to make better decisions faster."
"Mid-size companies face the same business challenges as large enterprises, but typically don't have the budget, IT resources or expertise to undertake a large business performance management initiative," continued Vanden Houte.
IBM Cognos Express delivers the essential reporting, analysis and planning facilities in one complete, integrated solution from a single vendor.
IBM Cognos Express can easily be managed and operated by business users themselves, enabling users to work independently to quickly access information and create and modify their own reports and analysis, without having to rely on constrained IT resources for assistance.
The IBM Cognos Express product consists of three modules to address key performance management needs:
• IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator for Microsoft® Excel® based planning and business analysis
• IBM Cognos Express Reporter for reporting and ad hoc query
• IBM Cognos Express Advisor for freeform analysis and visualisation
These modules can be purchased all at once, or separately, with a smooth upgrade path to additional modules as the company's needs evolve.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Aug 31
MCI Consultants, a leading provider of software solutions to the financial services and recruitment industries, today announced that it had appointed Habari Media, the media sales house division of the Habari Group, as the sales agent for its cnectd mobile services.
Cnectd, a mobile application developed by MCI, is a free sms service which enables users to send sms's, via all networks, anywhere in South Africa. Each sms is appended with an advertisement, which is targeted by age, location and gender. The cnectd user base currently totals 30 000 users, and is growing at a steady pace.
"cnectd is unique in that the ad offering features both a clickable and saveable splash screen while the user is sending the message," commented Garth Rhoda, National Manager for Mobile at Habari Media. "In addition, the sent message screen has a text link advert. When the contact receives the message, it too is tagged with a text link advert. cnectd users are urban-based youth, 51% of whom fall between the ages of 16 to 23. They are millennium movers, brand conscious and completely adept at mobile technology."
"This initiative is a direct consequence of the success we have achieved with our other mobile applications," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "It takes cognisance of the needs of today's younger generations and satisfies them utilising the technologies associated with the social media market."
Habari Media is Africa's leading digital sales house offering internet and mobile advertisers access to Africa's largest portfolio of leading web properties and mobile advertising platforms. With offices in major African centres, such as Cape Town, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Maputo, Habari Media not only represents a market leading stable, but is able to provide representation in leading African online centres.
It provides its partners which, for example, include BBC, CareerJunction, MSN and Vodacom Mobile, with a local presence and market knowledge, whilst providing advertisers who wish to reap the rewards of mobile and internet advertising, the best service, knowledge and support.
The Habari Group is a company made up of culturally diverse individuals who, through a total commitment to innovation and customer service, come together to provide clients with the best service, solutions, and return on investment.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Mar 06
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in Africa, today launched 'Adapt on Demand', a customised version of Adapt, provided on an affordable monthly rental basis.
The features of Adapt on Demand include:
"By implementing Adapt on Demand on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis, recruitment agencies can now enjoy the benefits of using the world's leading recruitment software at an affordable price." commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "As a comprehensive operational solution, Adapt can improve efficiencies through workflow management, fast and accurate candidate selection tools, customer relationship management and effective consultant management with activity reporting."
In South Africa, Adapt software is utilised by many staffing organisations, including The Kelly Group, Impact Human Resources and Express Employment Professionals. Our most recent clients who are implementing Adapt on Demand include GP Management Solutions, Top Talent and TSN Recruitment.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Feb 26
MCI Consultants today announced that it had launched Xchnge, a revolutionary mobile and web-based system.
Xchnge not only streams real-time JSE feeds to your mobile phone, but also enables users to monitor their equity portfolio in real-time. This is particularly prevalent for investors during this period of extreme market turbulence and volatility. "This exciting new concept empowers users as it pushes market data directly to their phones" commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Providing users with real-time data whilst on the go, enables them to act quickly when the market moves."
Xchnge users have access to configurable portfolios, watch lists, SMS share alerts, graphs, Indices & JSE share information, plus much more! Initially two versions of Xchnge will be available: Xchnge STD, which includes all the Xchnge features but with 15-minute delayed data, and Xchnge PRO, which comes with live streaming JSE data.
A client's account can be accessed online and via the Xchnge mobile application, ensuring that everything is kept in sync. Xchnge supports BlackBerry®, Windows Mobile® and Java-enabled devices from most manufactures including, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. The Xchnge iPhone® application is also available directly from Apple's Application Store.
To obtain a free 14-day Xchnge PRO trial account, sign up by going to www.xchnge.co.za
and experience the revolution for yourself. Corporate accounts are available on request.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Jan
MCI Consultants has announced that it has extended the networking and communications services it has been offering to the Sentula Mining Group, formerly known as Scharrig Mining, to other companies within the group, such as Benicon Opencast Mining, Sentula Coal, Scharrighuisen Opencast Mining, and JEF Drill and Blast. MCI has been an IT partner to Sentula, formerly Scharrig Mining, since the early 90s.
"We have been very impressed with the historical services from MCI and have confidence in their ability to provide the outsourcing of IT services to the group in the future," commented Marthinus de Jager, CFO of Sentula Mining Services. "As a direct result of this and the strong and positive relationship that has been created between the two organisations, we have extended our service contracts with MCI and also extended their reach into other parts of the group."
"We are delighted that we have been able to extend our relationship with Sentula Mining," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Our latest activities include linking all the branches onto the same network using VPNs and WANs, so that everyone can use one information system; setting up a centralised mail server at a remote hosting site and the setting up of a domain for each site in order to enforce IT policies."
Sentula Mining is a holding company for the group that consists of six major operating subsidiaries involved in mining contractual services. The provision of mining services remains the core of Sentulas business, although the group also holds a number of coal mining investments.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
Tel: 011 454-3420, Fax: 011 454-3417, E-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
Jan
MCI Consultants has announced that it had upgraded and released a new version of NetCIS, its Web-based trading platform that offers secure access for a broker's clients to trade. NetCIS integrates with TradeCIS and PortCIS to offer up-to-date market information as well as personal portfolio valuations and performance calculations. It can be tailored to suit specific requirements users may have.
The objectives of the new release were to increase the security of the product; to increase the resilience of the product; and to increase its scalability through the exploitation of the features associated with Version 7 of Domino.
"This upgraded version, which has already been adopted by Absa, Dynamic Wealth and Sasfin, also fits in with our mobile strategy, since it is much more of a generic product," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Our mobile capability provides an anytime, anywhere access and connectivity facility that can change the way a company does business. This and the NetCIS upgrade are classic examples of us being able to incorporate and take advantage of new technologies as and when they become available."
Apart from meeting the objectives outlined above, the latest version of NetCIS is also faster, more flexible and easier to manage.
PortCIS is an innovative portfolio management system developed by MCI to assist portfolio managers in managing their accounts; while TradeCIS is a trading system that facilitates trading on SETS. Designed according to the JSE/LSE specifications, TradeCIS facilitates trading, routing and management of orders, incorporating the relevant JSE rules and legislation. Both PortCIS and TradeCIS can be tailored to suit your specific requirements.
For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI
tel: 011 454-3420, fax: 011 454-3417, e-mail: aliki@mci.co.za
[Johannesburg, 15 September 2008] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for the IBM Cognos TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that Banco Commercial Angolano in Angola had embraced TM1 as its management reporting tool. Angola is the latest in a string of the other African Barclays operations that are using the TM1 tool.
"Once we have defined our specific requirements, the building of the business intelligence cubes that we need are created and fully validated in South Africa before being installed on our own systems," commented Tony DE Gouveia of Banco Commercial Angolano. "This process is a more economic, efficient and effective way for us to generate the applications we require, as for instance, it prevents needless travelling between the two countries."
"The bilingual capabilities of TM1 through the use of 'aliases' are an added bonus for us as they allow us to report in both English and Portuguese," added De Gouveia. "In addition, not only does MCI have excellent TM1 skills but also a Portuguese speaking TM1 consultant as a member of their team. This helps to minimise any potential language misunderstandings that could arise."
"We are delighted that TM1 has now been adopted by Banco Commercial Angolano in Angola as this further enhances our significant presence within the Barclays and Absa Group of companies on the African continent," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "In addition, we have also recently implemented TM1 at the National Bank of Commerce in Tanzania."
Sep 9
[Johannesburg, 9 September 2008] MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Cognos/Applix's TM1 product in Africa, today announced that Absa, one of South Africa's largest commercial banking groups had embraced TM1 to assist with its group budgeting activities.
"As with any modern organisation, financial performance management is a critical success factor within our group, which consists of a diverse set of business activities and divisions," commented Eric Wasserman of Absa. "Not surprisingly then, our budgeting and forecasting processes are cumbersome and time-consuming to coordinate and consolidate; and thus it was an issue that we urgently needed to address."
"We needed a solution that could be implemented quickly to assist in the coordination of the budgeting process, and automate a number of aspects of the budgeting calculations and consolidations," continued Eric Wasserman." The proposed TM1 tool with Planning Manager met this requirement and within two months we had the functionality needed to allow us to complete our 3-year forecast."
The system was implemented and utilised by over 100 users across as many business units. In addition to basic key performance indicators, some of the calculations which TM1 was called on to provide included transfer pricing, matched funds transfer pricing calculations, funding and capital allocations. In addition, by automating these calculations which involved inter-divisional transactions, the need for a time-consuming reconciliation of individual budgets was also eliminated. As a result, TM1 was able to produce accurately consolidated and calculated reports instantly, a capability which previously took several days.
"We have been involved with both Barclays and Absa for some time and the above is another example of the flexibility, ease of use and rapid implementations that users of TM1 continue to experience," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "As a direct result of the acquisition of Applix by Cognos and now the latter by IBM, we are now in a very strong position of being able to offer a wider and improved portfolio of solutions for our clients."
Sep 5
[Johannesburg, 5 September 2008] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for the IBM Cognos TM1 product in Africa, has announced that Barclays Bank has embarked upon further exploitation of the capabilities of TM1 within its African operations.
Up until now, Barclays had used TM1 for its daily financial reporting and Central Bank reporting for its various African country operations. Financial data is then transmitted to Dubai for consolidation on a monthly basis.
These management reports include many complex calculations including cost allocations, currency conversions and funds transfer pricing, which are all automated utilising TM1's rules engine. While these reports were previously spreadsheet-based, taking several days to produce, they are now created in minutes.
The current activities are part of the bank's new global information strategy and involve utilising TM1 to adapt the current in-country information into the alternative, standardise view that is required for this initiative. These include, for example, aligning product and sector views with a global standard. This information is then transmitted to London and on a monthly basis where it is consolidated for reporting purposes.
The process has been successfully piloted in Barclays Zambia, and implementations in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania are currently under way, with more countries to follow. "We are delighted that the benefits of TM1 to Barclays Bank in Africa have been recognised and that the decision to further exploit the product within their operations has been made," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are confident that the bank will continue to reap major benefits as this process continues across its various African operations."
Aug 11
[Johannesburg, 11 August 2008] - MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that it had added two additional clients to its community of AdaptRecruitment users, Mashilo Matsetela Consulting and Praxley Human Capital (Praxley).
"The availability of the AdaptRecruitment Small Business Edition has allowed us to offer the smaller to medium sized staffing companies the benefits of an enterprise software solution," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Mashilo Matsetela Consulting and Praxley are just two of a host of similar organisations who have seen the advantages of moving to and utilising a worldclass solution."
Mashilo Matsetela Consulting is based in Polokwane, with branches in Braamfontein and Pretoria; and is a company specialising in the placement of temporary and permanent staff. Praxley Human Capital is a division of Praxley Corporate Solutions. It was established in 2005 and provides an executive search and recruitment service to key local and international clients. Praxley conducts executive search assignments across a range of industries and functions and work with a wide range of clients, including multi-national corporations, entrepreneurial businesses, private equity firms, family owned companies and non-profit organisations.
Aug 5
[Johannesburg, 5 August 2008] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for the IBM Cognos TM1 product in Africa, today announced that Barclays Bank has embarked upon further exploitation of the capabilities of TM1 within its African operations.
Up until now, Barclays has used TM1 for their daily financial reporting and Central Bank reporting in their various African country operations. Financial data is then transmitted to Dubai for consolidation on a monthly basis. These management reports include many complex calculations, including cost allocations, currency conversions and funds transfer pricing which are all automated utilizing TM1's rules engine. While these reports were previously spreadsheet-based, taking several days to produce, they are now created in minutes.
The current activities are part of the Bank's new global information strategy and involve utilising TM1 to adapt the current in-country information into an alternative, standardised view that is required for this initiative. This includes, for example, aligning product and sector views with a global standard. This information is then transmitted to London on a monthly basis where it is consolidated for reporting purposes.
The process has been successfully piloted in Barclays Zambia, and implementations in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania are currently underway, with more countries to follow. "We are delighted that the benefits of TM1 to Barclays Bank in Africa have been recognised and that the decision to further exploit the product within their operations has been made," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are confident that the bank will continue to reap major benefits as this process continues across its various African operations."
Aug 4
[Johannesburg, 4 August 2008] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for the IBM Cognos TM1 product in South Africa, today announced that Banco Commercial Angolano in Angola had embraced TM1 as its management reporting tool. Angola is the latest in a string of the other African Barclays operations that are using the TM1 tool.
"Once we have defined our specific requirements, the building of the business intelligence cubes that we need are created and fully validated in South Africa before being installed on our own systems," commented Tony DE Gouveia of Banco Commercial Angolano. "This process is a more economic, efficient and effective way for us to generate the applications we require, as for instance, it prevents needless travelling between the two countries."
"The bilingual capabilities of TM1 through the use of 'aliases' are an added bonus for us as they allow us to report in both English and Portuguese," added De Gouveia. "In addition, not only does MCI have excellent TM1 skills but also a Portuguese speaking TM1 consultant as a member of their team. This helps to minimise any potential language misunderstandings that could arise."
"We are delighted that TM1 has now been adopted by Banco Commercial Angolano in Angola as this further enhances our significant presence within the Barclays and Absa Group of companies on the African continent," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "In addition, we have also recently implemented TM1 at the National Bank of Commerce in Tanzania."
Jul 31
[Johannesburg, 31 July 2008] - MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that the latter's AdaptRecruitment System is one of the only solutions available to cope with the complexities and time constraints required by response handling, a phenomena that is regularly manifesting itself in the South African environment.
Typically organisations, such as government, will outsource their response handling functions when recruiting for a very large number of positions e.g. teachers and nurses, where maybe 1 500 vacancies need to be filled. The response handling process begins with the placement of an advertisement or series of advertisements carried, for instance, in national newspapers.
The responses, which may be submitted in various ways, need to be captured and stored and 'screened' at a high level so that short lists can be created; for instance, ten CVs per position. Information also needs to be gleaned for the statistics that need to be compiled and the various reports that are needed, based on the criteria set down by the client. Examples typically include the total number of applicants per position, the number of applicants that have applied more than once and an analysis by age group and gender. In addition all hard copies of CVs must be retained.
Response handling for job applications in South Africa requires a software capability that can handle the large volumes of responses timeously; has a powerful search facility; can be customised appropriately, particularly re the data application screens and the reports required by the client. AdaptRecruitment is able to handle the volumes involved; the customisation needed and easily incorporate the rules regarding selection. Thus, it is able to automate some of the selection criteria and the reporting that is required during the overall process.
"The above is a process where speed and ability to customise the software for each specific project are key to the success of any response activity," added Aliki Droussiotis, director of MCI Consultants. "Not only does AdaptRecruitment 'fit the bill' extremely well but we also have a rental option available for the use of the software for those organisations that cannot justify purchasing the software on a permanent basis. The key is being able to deliver the solution very quickly."
Jan 31
MCI Consultants today announced that Tsala Financial Services, a broker and administrator, had chosen the former's locally-developed CommCIS application, a comprehensive web-based insurance broker commission management system that provides income protection for brokerages, agencies and individual agents.
"We were looking for an established web-based and scalable system for our needs," commented Willem Pitel of Tsala Financial Services. "CommCIS not only met these simple criteria but also offered a capability for customising our commission calculations together with the capability of running the system on our behalf. We have been delighted with the result and look forward to an on-going and mutable beneficial relationship with MCI."
"We are providing the CommCIS application for Tsala on a 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) basis," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. Hosting solutions for our clients is just one of services that we offer and providing a SaaS capability is one of the growing trends that we see becoming very acceptable within the local marketplace."
Tsala Financial Services Pty Ltd was set up by its founder shareholders during May 2003, with the vision to render a service in the financial markets, in particular, to markets in the previously disadvantaged market segments.
Tsala Financial Services is a broker and administrator with a particular focus on pensioner funeral schemes and group scheme life business with innovative products.
Tsala presently assists the funeral pensioner administrators of Channel Life on the Rentmeester pensioner scheme in KwaZulu Natal with:
• product development;
• marketing;
• administration support;
• strategic planning;
• management development;
• training; and,
• P.R.O. support
The current funeral pensioner portfolio consist of approximately 200 000 policyholders and was created and initiated by Mr. Bolsens, the current CEO, during 1995. Tsala has marketed the Tsala Umbrella Funeral Plan since July 2004, mainly to undertaker and society groups and has extensive experience in this market.
Jan 31
MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Cognos/Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced that Barclays Bank Mozambique, a member of the Absa Group, and the bank with the second largest footprint in Mozambique, had embraced TM1 as its reporting tool.
Barclays Bank Mozambique has 52 branches spread across Mozambique and boasts the second largest ATM network in the country.
"We needed to streamline our finance department's reporting processes that included not only our internal and group reporting, but that required by Bank of Mozambique," commented Fernando Madeira, Head of Finance at Barclays Bank Mozambique. "TM1's OLAP engine, which provided the capability to have several different account roll-ups, facilitated the production of the relevant financial reports to suit these different audiences."
"In addition, as we are part of the ABSA Group, but based in Mozambique, the capability to have multi-lingual reporting in Portuguese or English was also desirable," added Madeira. "TM1 provided this functionality through the use of aliases."
TM1 is updated daily with management information in multiple currencies, by branch and in addition to key performance indicators, TM1's rules calculation engine performs automated cost-driver-based allocation of support function charges to business as well as funds transfer pricing.
"We are delighted that TM1 has been adopted by Barclays Bank Mozambique, as this further enhances our presence within the Barclays and Absa Group of companies, particularly on the African continent," concluded Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are also very fortunate to have a Portuguese speaking TM1 consultant as a member of our staff team as this helps to minimise any potential language misunderstandings that could arise.
I am sure most of you know by now that Cognos recently acquired Applix to create the second largest independent Business Intelligence company, a situation that lasted only a few days, since IBM in turn has now acquired Cognos for about $5bn, in a move that is the largest ever undertaken by IBM.
This latest acquisition escalates IBM into the business intelligence space big time and is in line with IBM's Information on Demand strategy, a cross-company initiative announced in February 2006 that combines IBM's strength in information integration, content and data management and business consulting services to unlock the business value of information. Integrating Cognos will enable new business insights to be delivered to a broader set of people across an organisation, beyond the traditional users of business intelligence.
Together, IBM and Cognos will become the leading provider of technology and services for Business Intelligence (BI) and Performance Management, delivering the industry's most complete, open standards-based platform with the broadest range of expertise to help companies expand the value of their information, optimise their business processes and maximise performance across their enterprises.
This purchase of Applix allows Cognos access to the flagship TM1 product, an in-memory multidimensional (OLAP) server that is well suited for the rigors of complex financial analytics and is a favourite among finance departments because of its Excel-based interface.
Cognos CEO Rob Ashe called this acquisition 'a terrific strategic fit for Cognos' as it gives the company a new in-memory, read-write OLAP analytics architecture capability for its other CPM products. TM1 would provide Cognos' CPM users with finance self-service capabilities such as business rules management and entry into new areas like profitability analysis and planning optimisation.
Following completion of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM's Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management. IBM also will appoint current Cognos President and CEO, Rob Ashe, to lead this group.
"As a direct result of this deal, MCI Consultants, already a strategic partner of IBM in South Africa, joins just a handful of other local organisations that have a similar role, although none have the TM1 knowledge," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are very positive re this double acquisition, since we are now able to offer a wider and improved portfolio of solutions for our clients as the areas of overlap between Applix, Cognos and IBM are minimal."
Nov 23
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that Manpower, a leading recruiter of specialist, flexible and contract workforces, had chosen AdaptRecruitment to handle its staff recruitment needs.
"We needed a system that would consolidate our information on a national basis and would integrate with our payroll and accounting systems," commented Jan Coetzee, Managing Director of Manpower South Africa. "Previously each of our branches were using their own systems, which made the sharing of information very difficult. In addition, many of our processes such as activity tracking, and the handling of files, permanent staff invoicing and timesheets were done manually."
"The installation of AdaptRecruitment and its integration to our other key systems has enabled us to become more efficient and our staff to become more effective. We now have a common national system, which means that updates of data need to be done only once and much of the manual processing that we previously undertook has been eliminated," continued Coetzee. "Manpower is yet another staffing company that has joined numerous others that have adopted this software on a worldwide basis," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants.
By being associated with the world's largest staffing, recruiting and human capital management software vendor we are able to satisfy most, if not all, of the needs that our local recruitment market requires. With our software development capabilities, we also have the ability to customise any solutions to the needs of our clients, should that be necessary."
Manpower, the local unit of which was established in South Africa in 1999, is a leading recruiter of specialist, flexible and contract workforces and a respected authority in employment. It employs over two million people each year, through a network of over 72 countries, making it easy for candidates to find career developing and flexible employment opportunities and for companies to recruit staff with the skills and experience they need. Its expertise is available to employers throughout South Africa, around the world and on the web.
Manpower's determination to understand their clients' specific staffing requirements as well as their company culture forms the core of their focus to improve workforce optimization, and to drive productivity improvement and cost reduction. The implementation of AdaptRecruitment will further improve Manpower's capability to deliver the expert and specialist service that they are known for.
Oct 18
[Johannesburg, 18 October 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that Quest Flexible Staffing Solns (QFSS), part of the Adcorp group of companies and a leading provider of flexible staffing solutions in South Africa, migrated its budgeting process to TM1 back in 2005 and has been reaping the benefits of that decision since then.
"As part of our ongoing efforts to manage to manage our business more efficiently," commented Julie Boshoff, Finance General Manager at QFSS, "we had set up a broad-based bottom-up budgeting process using Excel templates and manual consolidation."
"This process, conducted in the last quarter of each fiscal year, involved forecasting for the remainder of the year and budgeting for the following fiscal year," continued Boshoff, "and was an unwieldy process that could not support further enhancements to the budgeting process, including driver-based budgeting at a client level."
"By migrating the budgeting process to TM1, we were able to budget more accurately and with more detail while still shortening the overall process and eliminating errors in the manual consolidation," concluded Boshoff. "Historical headcount, hours, margin and billing information are dynamically provided by client, enabling the user to easily predict performance through to the end of the following year by client."
"TM1's calculation rules automatically extrapolated billings, salaries, benefits and other cost information from the input of headcount and margin. Other income and cost lines on the template also displayed key actual results-to-date, facilitating more accurate forecasting. Additional calculation rules enabled the automated calculation of certain cost and income line items based on cost drivers determined centrally, reducing the amount of manual input each contributor to the process would need to do."
"The above is one of a number of clients that are experiencing increases in business effectiveness and efficiencies through the exploitation of the capabilities of Applix's TM1," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "The ease of use of TM1, a characteristic that has been highlighted by several independent surveys over several years, once again played an important role in the implementation at QFSS."
Oct 15
[Johannesburg, 15 October 2007] - MCI Consultants has announced that Noah Financial Innovation had gone live with its BlackBerry-based mobile application that was specifically branded to meet Noah's specific requirements.
"Our requirements were for a 'Noah'-branded equity information system on the BlackBerry platform that would allow us to keep in touch with what was going on in the office and in the market, while out of the office," commentedKevin Swart, COO of Noah. "We chose MCI to provide this as we were very impressed with it."
"We see mobile applications becoming increasingly important to the financial institutions, and the specific one we implemented for Noah is but one of many that will manifest themselves over the coming months," addedAlikiDroussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We have now expanded the platform support for our mobile trading system to include Microsoft Windows Mobile and Symbian."
Noah is a niche South African-based stock broking and financial services company with an enviable track record of innovative, tailored execution and independent research services to institutional investors.
Noah's business model is specifically designed to cater for 'unbundled' execution and independent research services in anticipation of global market trend. It is 57.07% owned by black investors, which includes management and staff.
MCI Consultants is a well-established developer of software for the financial services market and was the first South African development partner to be appointed by BlackBerry.
Oct 9
[Johannesburg, 9 October 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in Africa, today announced that Minproc South Africa recently implemented Applix TM1 to provide reporting and analytics capabilities.
"Initially, we used TM1 to address the issue of management reporting," commented Andrew Sweeney, CFO of Minproc SA. "With TM1, we achieved some significant savings at month-end in producing these reports for the company, which could now be done on a per-project basis."
"In addition, TM1 has also assisted our project managers and cost accountants responsible for managing our various projects that are in progress."
"We found that the detailed reporting on capital commitments and spend, as well as detailed analysis of labour time spent that was now available, gave us faster and a more accurate measurement of performance against budget and forecasting to completion," continued Sweeney.
"The analysis of labour time facilitated reporting on productive and non-productive time; the management of labour brokers; and the detection of timecard errors and fraud prevention.
"We selected TM1 for its rapid implementation times, ease of use and flexibility in reporting; and the product has delivered on these promises," concluded Sweeney.
GRD Minproc is a leading independent engineering construction business providing high value services and specialising in the design, procurement and construction of mineral resource and waste-to-resources projects. The company has honed its technical and project management skills at the cutting-edge of the international resource industry.
The company's process engineering and project record are internationally recognised, with extensive experience gained in copper, gold and nickel, developing practical and innovative solutions to ensure clients a maximum project rate of return. GRD Minproc's clients include BHP Billiton, Newcrest, Anglo American, CVRD, and Gold Fields Limited.
GRD Minproc undertakes projects worldwide from its head office in Perth, Western Australia and its regional growth hubs in Johannesburg, South Africa and Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
Oct 2
[Johannesburg, 2 October 2007] - MCI Consultants, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that the Tower Group had implemented Bond International's AdaptRecruitment System application as a way to handle its data more effectively, improve its processing efficiency through integration with its payroll and invoicing systems, and increase the capabilities and competencies of its company by centralising the company's data on a single server.
"We believe AdaptRecruitment is the best system of its kind globally and has been handled professionally in SA for many years by MCI," commented Lynn Frost, MD of Tower Group. "Thus, the choice was a natural one for us to make and we have not been disappointed."
The Tower Group, which operates on a national basis, was originally formed in 1980 as a specialist staffing services consultancy. While it is able to place staff at most levels, the Tower Group has particular expertise in a number of specialist areas, including credit and risk; retail; call centre; office support; finance and accounting; executive and management appointments.
During 2004, Tower sold 26% of its shareholding to Jerry and Doreen Vilakazi of Execuprime, a leading black-owned training and HR organisation, in order to pool talent, skills and expertise to create a new force in the field of staffing, training and HR consulting services. Thus, clients dealing with Tower are thus assured that they are dealing with a business that has the financial strength and track record to deliver significant bottom-line value. Its diversity, as well as its rich pool of skills, empowers them to deliver a real value added service to companies.
Sep 28
[Johannesburg, 28 Spetember 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that the latter is providing greater access to data in SAP and SAP BI 7.0. The enhanced interface, developed in conjunction with syskoplan AG, a systems integrator and consultancy headquartered in Gutersloh, Germany, enables Applix customers to access strategic information stored in SAP for more informed business decisions with flexible analytics and reporting.
"Many global companies rely on the combination of Applix and SAP to perform planned and ad hoc analysis as well as report on financial and operational information," commented Ben Plummer, senior vice president of marketing and alliances for Applix. "We have continued to enhance Applix's integration with SAP to support world-class business analytics. For enterprises, this better access to data stored in SAP BI means they can react faster through performance modeling and analysing operational and financial data."
The Applix complete business analytics solution is based upon a single platform of performance management applications that support the full range of business intelligence and business performance management needs from simple static reporting to real-time planning and forecasting. Together, Applix and syskoplan AG achieved SAP Certified Integration by enabling data housed in an SAP BI 7.0 system, part of the SAP NetWeaver platform, to be rapidly accessed from the Applix platform. Since such large amounts of raw, vital data are stored in SAP applications, Applix customers will not only experience significantly improved business analytics capabilities but can also continue to protect their investment in existing infrastructures.
Aug 13
[Johannesburg, 13 August 2007] - MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that Express Personnel Services SA has signed an agreement with the former for the supply of Bond International's Adapt Software to all current and future franchised offices of Express in South Africa.
"The Adapt Software will be integrated with the VIP Payroll and Pastel accounting systems to establish fully integrated front and back-office operating systems," commented Bernadette van den Heever of Express Personnel. "Clients, candidates and temporary associates will benefit from this specialised recruitment industry software, through quicker more efficient and uniform service levels."
The implementation of Adapt as an operational system in the franchises started in April 2006. By September, the implementation of back-office integration commenced, and since February all franchises' temp payrolls have been running through Adapt.
The AdaptRecruit System is the market choice of many of the largest and most well-respected personnel organisations in the world. MCI, local distributor of AdaptRecruitment, has been implementing the software in South Africa since 1999 and its clients include some of the foremost recruitment agencies in the country.
Express Personnel is a franchise organisation started almost 25 years ago in the US, and represented in the US, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Express provides a wide variety of services to enable its franchisees to succeed. Express Personnel Services SA chose AdaptRecruitment as its operational system for branches because of its recognised reputation as a recruitment software solution and ability to provide integration to back-office systems. Express Personnel currently has 14 franchises nationwide.
Jun 1
[Johannesburg, 1 June 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced the latter was ranked sixth on BusinessWeek's 2007 'Hot Growth' Company list.
Applix was the leading software company with 41% total revenue growth and 54% licence growth in 2006 alone. In additional measurements, the company ranked fifth in both profit growth and return on capital, with three-year average annual performance of 247% and 36%, respectively.
"We are very honoured to be named on this list as a result of our exceptionally strong performance in the highly competitive business analytics market," commented the President and CEO of Applix.
"With the recent release of Applix 9.1, its excellent reception by our customers, and rapid expansion of our partner ecosystem, Applix continues to drive growth and leading-edge innovation across its products, customers, and market. This is a testament to Applix's unique analytics solution, which combines a complete platform with the ease of use and speed to empower decision makers across all departments at agile companies."
Applix provides comprehensive business analytics software to enable decision makers to deploy quicker, react faster and reach farther across their business.
In addition to significant product enhancements released earlier this year, Applix has recently expanded in the Asia-Pacific region and opened an office in Hong Kong. The company also continues to grow its customer and partner base.
To identify 'hot growth' companies, BusinessWeek used the Standard and Poor's Compustat database of 10 000 public companies to identify those with revenues of $50 million to $1.5 billion a year. Businesses are ranked by three-year sales and profit growth as well as return on capital. Companies must have also a market cap of $25 million or more and a stock price of at least $5.
May 27
[Johannesburg, 27 May 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, recently announced that revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 was $13.90 million, a 55% increase over revenue of $8.99 million in the first quarter of 2006. License revenue for the first quarter of 2007 was $7.11 million, a 60% increase compared to $4.43 million for the same period in 2006.
Net income for the first quarter of 2007, as reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), was $759,000, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to net income of $97,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the year ago period.
David C. Mahoney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Applix, commented, "These results demonstrate that our market position continues to strengthen and that we are executing well on an aggressive growth strategy as a leader in the converging BI and BPM markets, which we call Business Analytics. Our global presence enabled us to drive new business opportunities and expansions in our installed base in all geographies, as we added more channel partnerships in newer markets. Our investments in sales and marketing programs and R&D in 2006 have already produced results: during the first quarter this year, our sales pipelines steadily increased while we closed 33% more six figure deals than we did a year ago. In addition, the latest version of our flagship product has been very well received by existing customers, new prospects and industry analysts. Applix TM1 V9.1 extends our lead in performance and scalability as well as in critical areas such as ease of use and return on investment. We believe we are off to another great year and we look forward to continuing to build on this momentum."
First Quarter Business Highlights
• Applix ranked at the highest levels in customer satisfaction and speed of implementation in the annual OLAP Survey 6, based upon customer surveys, and had the highest customer satisfaction ratings among BPM core vendors in the BPM Partners' Pulse Survey.
• Applix announced the release of Applix TM1 V9.1, providing enhanced operational visibility and management agility across the enterprise.
Applix expanded its presence in Asia Pacific, through offices in Hong Kong and Japan, and a new partnership with UFIDA, China's largest software company.
Apr 5
[Johannesburg, 5 April 2007] - MCI Consultants today announced its first mobile solution for the financial services market, a trading application that will run on the BlackBerry wireless platform.
This new application provides streaming market data and online trading capabilities and is being launched at the first African Equity Trading Conference that started this morning in Sandton.
"It was very clear to us that mobility applications are becoming extremely important to the financial community and we saw an opportunity to replicate the functionality that we already have with our TradeCIS package into the mobile space," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants.
"We will follow this initial mobile application with others that will include some business intelligence solutions."
The features of this new trading application include:
• Information and share prices on JSE-listed companies
• Access to expertise investment research and recommendations
• Access to relevant information on markets
• Market indices
• Real-time view of bids and offers and full market depth
• Sector and stock activity
• Access to client information
• Placing of orders in the local market with full validation - anywhere, anytime
• Customisable watch-lists
• SMS confirmations
• Monitoring of personal portfolios
• Personalised watch lists
MCI Consultants is already a well established developer of software for the financial services market and now becomes the first South African development partner to be appointed by BlackBerry for the financial services market.
Mar 7
[Johannesburg, 7 March 2007] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced the latter's Applix 9.1, which enhances performance management across the enterprise for improved operational visibility and greater agility in the market.
New features of Applix 9.1 enable businesses to perform reporting from the Web, more easily configure planning applications, and create their own custom dashboards and scorecards - all while taking advantage of Applix's strengths in rapid deployment, ease-of-use and rapid query response benefits.
"Understanding that businesses need to work more nimbly than ever, we assessed the Applix platform over this past year. The Applix 9.1 release adds many features to help a company set a broader, more strategic vision," commented Ben Plummer, vice-president, worldwide marketing, Applix, Inc.
"Now an enterprise can optimise performance of all departments - with a single platform that reaches farther, deploys easier, and reacts faster than any solution in the market today."
Reaching further
A key component of this release, Applix's self-service Executive Viewer now provides enhanced support for accessing Applix databases as well as other data sources for faster, more comprehensive views into business performance. When designing their own Web-based reports, Executive Viewer users have one-click access to dynamic sets of data, such as 'Top 10 products' or 'non-profit organisations,' as well as links from reports to related SQL data sources.
This version also introduces new features that permit organisations to extend the value of Applix's applications to their custom applications and portals. Users can plug and play Applix documents such as planning templates, reports, and charts within corporate portals such as Microsoft's SharePoint or custom Web applications. Applix's Websheets, dashboards, PDFs, and Microsoft Office documents can all be integrated into Applix 9.1 Web applications. For even greater flexibility, IT departments can easily configure complete Web applications for business analytics using the new robust .NET interface.
Deploying easier
Applix 9.1 also boosts the capabilities of Applix Web applications to new heights. With wizards, users can rapidly design and deploy Web applications as well as set up personalised home pages with navigation to reports and templates for planning and analytical applications.
Applix 9.1 Guided Web Applications navigate occasional users through personalised templates, forms, and reports required to complete their performance management tasks. This version now empowers end users to perform data maintenance activities, such as adding a new project or creating new 'sandbox' planning scenarios, with buttons that draw context from current worksheets.
Reacting faster
Designed to service enterprise-grade applications, this release offers features that improve stability and scalability as well support levels for greater numbers and kinds of users. Version 9.1 provides both IT and Applix administrators with improved transparency into the performance and health of server operations. Applix 9.1 technology also enables high levels of concurrent activity for both read-write and read-only users, which translates to a greater number of different users tapping the solution simultaneously, with faster response times - critical to businesses focused upon nimbleness in their markets.
Mar 6
[Johannesburg, 6 March 2007] - MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, today announced that the latter has acquired Strictly Education Limited - a specialist service provider to the education sector - for a consideration of £2.68 million.
Strictly Education is a wholly owned subsidiary of Esos Group Limited, a sister company of recruitment business Pertemps Limited.
Based in Milton Keynes, Strictly Education employs 35 people and provides its HR, finance, property support and payroll services to over 500 schools across the UK.
The unaudited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2006 show revenue of £1.9 million, a profit before tax of £0.3 million and net assets at 31 December 2006 of £0.2 million.
Following the January 2007 acquisition of GOWI Group, Bond now operates from six locations around the UK and has offices in the United States, Australasia, South Africa and Hong Kong, with a global team of over 350 employees and turnover in excess of £20 million.
The acquisition of Strictly Education fits in very well with Bond's clearly stated strategy of acquiring businesses in similar and related industries within the field of human capital management. It continues to grow in its market both organically and through a number of targeted acquisitions.
In addition to its market leading recruitment software, Adapt, Bond delivers a focused and dedicated range of solutions that are market leaders within the field of HR and payroll - with a particular emphasis in the public, education and publishing sectors.
Steve Russell, Chief Executive of Bond, comments: "We see the education sector as a tremendous growth opportunity. Strictly Education adds a range of services offerings that are complemented by our existing product line and they have established a solid business in the UK dealing with 500 schools in a market of some 30 000."
Russell adds: "They have a team of highly skilled employees in a vertical market which we see as key to our future activities. More and more schools are taking control of their own administration and outsourcing the fundamentals of HR, finance, property support and payroll."
"Our market leading product range fits neatly into what is an established recurring revenue business and there are significant cross-selling opportunities between the existing businesses for both products and services," concludes Russell.
Tracey Bovingdon, Managing Director of Strictly Education, who joins Bond as Divisional Director, adds: "By combining our respective skills and products, this merger creates a tremendous platform for not only new business but also the ability to provide additional products and services to our loyal customer base."
Bond combines people, skills, solutions and infrastructure to deliver excellence at every level in human capital management.
Feb 6
MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that the latter has achieved the highest customer satisfaction rating among the nine core vendors ranked, in early results from the BPM Partners' 2007 BPM Pulse Survey. The preliminary results of the survey were announced during a Webinar presented by the report's author, Craig Schiff, CEO, BPM Partners. The survey noted that Applix received the highest marks of any of the core BPM vendors, outranking significantly larger vendors such as Business Objects, Cognos, and Hyperion.
"Customer satisfaction has long been a key determinant of whether or not customers have achieved their business goals and found value in the products they use," commented Ben Plummer, vice president, worldwide marketing, Applix, Inc. "The results of this survey again prove that Applix's customers are able to see significant business results, generating a rapid return on their investments."
"Customers have again ranked Applix the highest in overall satisfaction among the core BPM vendors, which reflects their leadership in the performance management category," added BPM Partners CEO Craig Schiff. "This year users gave Applix its highest ratings in performance and product quality, which are important considerations for a successful performance management implementation."
This marks the second time in three months that Applix has taken top customer satisfaction honours in an independent study of the industry. Late last year, in the OLAP Survey 6, Applix placed in the top three in two important markers of customer satisfaction: customer loyalty and the Business Benefits Index (BBI), which measures numerous aspects of successful deployment. In that same survey, Applix also took the top honour for winning competitive product evaluations, beating a formidable list of companies including Cognos, Hyperion, SAP, and Microsoft.
The BPM Pulse survey was led by Craig Schiff, a 20-year veteran of the analytic applications, BI and BPM. This is the fifth year his team has conducted this survey that ranks customer satisfaction among BPM providers. In all, 20 vendors were evaluated in the survey across a range of categories including product functionality, performance, ease of use and ease of implementation.
Jan 24
MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that according to one of the industry's most comprehensive independent studies, the OLAP Survey 6, Applix once again achieved high ratings among the leading business intelligence vendors.
The company took top spots in key categories such as goals achieved and fewest deterrents to wider deployment, and rated among the top three vendors in performance - shown by the survey to be increasingly important in the achievement of business benefits, speed of deployment and customer satisfaction.
"Those who discover Applix often prefer it, based on performance and ease of use," commented Nigel Pendse, the survey's author. "Furthermore, Applix's customers, as fanatically loyal as ever, continue to rate it one of the highest solutions for goals achieved and better business decisions."
The company placed in the top three in two important markers of customer satisfaction: customer loyalty and the Business Benefits Index (BBI), which measures numerous aspects of successful deployment. Applix also took the top honour for winning competitive product evaluations, besting a formidable list of companies/products including Cognos, Hyperion, Microsoft AS and SAP BW.
"Vendors make claims, but the OLAP Survey provides facts," added Ben Plummer, vice-president, worldwide marketing, Applix, Inc. "Year after year, Applix has consistently ranked at the top of the OLAP Survey in four critical areas: speed of response, ease of use, speed of implementation and customer satisfaction. These recurring indicators of our success prove that we build business performance management software that truly is agile and makes a significant difference to our customers."
The OLAP Survey provides a detailed quantitative analysis of why customers buy OLAP tools, what they use them for, and how successful they are. It is based on the analysis of the real-world experience of thousands of user sites around the world. As such, it is the largest, most thorough fact-based analysis of the growing OLAP market.
Businesscard.co.za, a subsidiary of MCI Consultants, has announced that it has been appointed as one of Cell C's preferred suppliers for corporate stationery.
"It was a combination of businesscard.co.za being able to 'colour match' our corporate colours, combined with the quality and price scenarios that were offered that determined our partner for these very important items of business stationery," commented Hendrick Scheepers of Cell C.
"The colour matching is extremely important to us and it was pleasing to find a company that took this issue very seriously and could provide a suitable answer."
"It is always gratifying to add a user with such a visible public profile to the client list of businesscard.co.za," added Aliki Droussiotis, director of MCI Consultants. "We believe we understand the critical issues re corporate stationery and are thus able to respond in an appropriate way."
Businesscard.co.za was originally established to develop the synergistic opportunities between e-commerce and conventional printing needs. It is the e-commerce pioneer in supplying corporate stationery and business cards to major South African corporations and many small to medium companies.
Nov 30
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, has announced that Kelly, South Africa's largest one-stop people specialists, had significantly upgraded its infrastructure as well as the Adapt recruitment product it had been utilising since the late 1990s.
Originally, Kelly installed four regional servers to host the Adapt recruitment software, of which two were based in Johannesburg and the others in Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal.
In the early 2000s, Kelly consolidated its capability onto a single server but still with separate databases. Recently, a three-tier architecture has been adopted, ie a database server, an application server and a server for the client's software.
As part of this hardware restructuring process, Kelly is also upgrading its Adapt Software to version 9.2.2 and moving from the Unix platform previously used to Microsoft Windows. This means the operating environment within the Kelly Group is now standardised on the Windows platform.
"The upgrade of our Adapt software has enabled us to exploit the scalability, increased functionality and integration tools that are inherent within this new release," commented Gayleen Baxter, Chief executive Officer of Kelly. "We have been successfully exploiting the Adapt software for many years and still believe it is the best product available anywhere in the world in satisfying our needs from a recruitment perspective."
"The above enhancements that Kelly has recently undertaken strengthens the Adapt base that we have here in South Africa," added Aliki Droussiotis, a Director of MCI Consultants. "Bond International is the world's leading provider of recruitment software. It's pleasing to see the leading SA recruitment companies continuing to embrace and exploit this software, which we have been selling, implementing and supporting on behalf of Bond International since 1995."
In addition to Kelly, Accountants on Call and PAG, other members of the Kelly Group (Pty) Ltd, also utilise Adapt software.
Nov 22
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, has announced that the latter had been chosen by Manpower to deploy its pioneering Adapt software as the basis for Manpower's global front office system throughout the worldwide network of 4 400 offices in more than 70 countries.
The deal, worth up to $12 million over five years, has been awarded to Bond following an in-depth technical and functional review.
The decision is based on several key criteria; primarily, Adapt's multilingual support allows any number of languages to be embedded within one database and all text can be presented in the native language and character set of the specific user wherever they may be.
In addition, Adapt is fully platform and database independent, scaleable and configurable, with comprehensive self-service features. Thirdly, Bond is the largest and most experienced provider of staffing software solutions worldwide, with 30 years experience, a global support presence and thousands of clients in more than 40 countries.
"These robust and versatile capabilities place the Adapt suite of software at the cornerstone of most of the world's leading staffing companies," explained CEO Steve Russell. "This important responsibility is underpinned by our continuous programme of product and service development."
"We are honoured to partner an organisation that has been at the forefront of managing human resources for over 50 years, and we look forward to the challenge of helping them continue to improve standards through the international employment services industry."
This deal represents the largest ever obtained by Bond International.
Nov 21
MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that the latter is supporting IBM Information Server to empower customers to get more value from complex, heterogeneous information spread throughout the enterprise.
With Applix TM1, the industry's leading in-memory business performance management application, IBM Information Server customers can now perform real-time analytics on critical business information.
Applix's TM1 will access information from IBM Information Server and allow all types of users to view, analyse, report and plan with real-time data from across the enterprise.
With TM1's patented in-memory technology, users in every function - from operations to sales to finance - perform advanced what-if analytics against large, dynamic data sets with complex models faster than any other application.
"Analysis is only as good as the accuracy and timeliness of the data," commented Ed Gromann, vice-president, services and alliances, Applix. "IBM Information Server guarantees the accuracy and reliability of heterogeneous data, which becomes the foundation for business analysis, while Applix TM1 delivers that information in the fastest, most timely manner possible."
IBM Information Server is a ground-breaking new software platform from IBM that provides breakthrough productivity and performance for cleansing, transforming, and delivering this information consistently and securely throughout the enterprise, so it can be accessed and used in new ways to drive innovation, increase operational efficiency, and lower risk. This is vital to critical initiatives such as business performance management and business intelligence, which require consistent, complete and trustworthy information. Together, TM1 and IBM Information Server deliver robust business performance management for dynamic enterprises, providing the right information, at the right time, to the right decision-makers.
"We value the contributions Applix can deliver, helping customers to rapidly leverage the Information Server create unprecedented access to trusted information," added Pete Fiore, vice-president, IBM Information Integration Solutions. "By collaborating with Applix, we can solve some of the most pressing information management challenges faced by organisations today."
Nov 20
MCI Consultants, a value-added reseller of Accpac Software, has announced that it had won several new clients involving the installation of Accpac Software and the services surrounding those implementations.
The new business for Accpac recently secured by MCI includes:
• Bihati Solutions, a telecommunications solution provider, specialising in rapid roll-out turnkey solutions with respect to network infrastructure worldwide. The initial project consisted of providing a project and job costing management system and involved the use of Accpac and Service Manager as an add-on module. The company is currently using QuickBooks and Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet and will convert to Accpac financials early next year.
• The Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta). The accounts for Ceta were originally administered by a bureau running the DOS version of Accpac, but recently a decision was taken to bring this capability in-house following a restructuring of the organisation. In addition, there was a requirement to upgrade the system to a Windows environment. The rationale behind this move included the necessity to provide better controls and authorisation procedures. MCI's role included overseeing the complete process, including the conversion of all the data and the training for the upgraded system, together with the design of the workflow procedures for the required financial reports. According to Ceta, MCI provided the most comprehensive proposal, was economically attractive and the company was perceived as having the best basic understanding of both Ceta and the needs for this project.
• Worldwide Capital, a black-empowered financial services company established in 2000 that specialises in financial market trading, asset management, structured finance and structured products. This project included the upgrading the current Pastel system to Accpac and the provision and installation of Applix's TM1 business intelligence tool for reporting purposes.
"We have been involved with providing Accpac and associated value-added services for many years but it is always gratifying to 'win' new customers, especially when the decisions behind these 'wins' include the recognition of our intentions in providing total solutions that are oriented to the customer's requirements," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants.
Nov 17
MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, has announced that it had won the tender to supply and support the TM1 business intelligence and reporting software solutions for use at Kenya Airways. The first phase of this ongoing project is now complete.
Phase one consisted of enabling the airline to be able to make better decisions from the improved access to the information used by the financial department for its weekly and monthly flash reports that deal with Kenya Airways' network profitability; better analysis capabilities of ticket sales generated from the sales network reporting; and improved and more timely aircraft operating statistics.
"We chose MCI Consultants and the TM1 product solution after an extensive evaluation process that included an on-site, 'on-the-fly', 'prototyping' exercise performed during the final presentations. We believe we have chosen the best solution and have every confidence in the support capability provided by MCI Consultants. Additionally, the proposal also came with an attractive financial scenario," commented Thomas Omondi of Kenya Airways.
"We intend to use TM1 for such activities as route profitability; sudden increases and drops in passenger loads; fuel price changes; foreign currency exposure; labour disputes or work stoppages; pricing promotions due to competitive behaviour; and seasonal travel adjustments," continued Omondi.
"These issues drive demand for a real time ability to interact with data and use 'what-if' analyses to understand trends and their impact, which can then be used to create new plans or reshape existing ones," concluded Omondi. "In practice, we are already experiencing significant benefits from the completion of the first phase of this project."
"Kenya Airways joins a growing list of airlines utilising the TM1 product," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are delighted to be working with Kenya Airways during this exciting phase of their development and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with them over the coming months and years."
Applix's TM1 product is already being used with other airlines such as EasyJet, Lufthansa, Maersk Air (now known as Sterling Airlines A/S) and Virgin Atlantic.
Nov 2
MCI Consultants has announced its procurement system, eBuy, which it has evolved from its businesscard.co.za business.
This business was originally established to develop the synergistic opportunities between e-commerce and conventional printing needs.
Businesscard.co.za was an e-commerce pioneer that supplied corporate stationery and business cards to major South African corporations and many small to medium-sized companies.
eBuy is a capability that is hosted by MCI, thus creating a 'software as a service' opportunity that can be exploited by clients as and when required.
"We wanted to exploit the success that we have had with our businesscard.co.za initiative," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "Feedback from our client base, particularly in respect of the improvements in business process efficiency that they are seeking, coupled with the predictions by Gartner that 25% of new business software will be delivered as 'software as a service' by 2011, prompted us to develop eBuy as a natural evolutionary output from our businesscard.co.za initiative."
"Briefly the system works as follows," continued Droussiotis:
• Negotiated contracts with preferred suppliers are captured onto the system.
• Purchasers are able to log into the online system by simply clicking on an icon on their desktops.
• Purchasers can then create requisitions, with the relevant approval parties being notified via e-mail of a new item to be authorised.
• Once through the approval process, a purchase order (PO) is automatically created and the supplier is automatically notified via e-mail that a new PO has been created.
• Once the supplier accepts the order, the PO's status is updated to 'delivery pending'.
• On delivery of the goods, the purchaser changes the status of the PO to 'goods received'.
• The final step comes when the supplier submits an invoice which is captured onto the system and after being matched to the goods received and PO, can be integrated into the company's financial system.
"The benefits of exploiting eBuy are many," concluded Droussiotis. "For instance, by implementing the eBuy system a company can track its affirmative procurement and better control the company's total procurement spend, since eBuy provides a strategic supplier sourcing and powerful e-procurement platform that can revolutionise purchasing within a company."
Sep 14
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa and the largest distributor of staffing software in South Africa, has announced the latter's results for the six months ended 30 June 2006. A summary of these results follow:
• Turnover up 27% to £7.4 million from £5.8 million in 2005.
• Operating profit up 21% to £1.5 million before interest and goodwill amortisation, from £1.25 million in 2005.
• A bottom line profit of £0.892 million, up 17% from 2005.
• A basic EPS of 3.45p, up 14% from 2005.
Bond International Software has consolidated its position as the market leader in the UK and is making major inroads into the European, North American and Asia Pacific markets with its multilingual Adapt product.
Its client base in the UK now includes such prestigious names as BA Connect, easyJet, Matalan, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water.
Sep 13
MCI, the exclusive distributor for Bond International Software in South Africa, has announced that Professional Assignments Group (PAG), a member of the Kelly Group
(Pty) Ltd, has installed Adapt as its recruitment software, thus joining other members of the group, such as Kelly and Accountants On Call, which have also adopted the same system.
"Originally we were utilising a home-grown software system for our recruitment activities but found that it had major shortcomings in terms of our current and projected future requirements," commented Lawrence Wordon, MD of PAG. "The Adapt system overcomes these issues and, as with the other members of the group, we are delighted at the facilities and capabilities of the system as well as its ease of use. Additionally, the support we have received from MCI has been top-class."
"We are delighted that PAG has at long last joined our elite list of Adapt users, especially as one of their sister companies, Kelly, has been exploiting the software since 1998," commented Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "By being associated with the world's largest staffing, recruiting and human capital management software vendor we are able to satisfy most, if not all, of the needs that our local recruitment market requires."
PAG is a wholly owned division of LogicalOptions Staffing (Pty) Ltd, the largest human capital organisation in South Africa. The group companies offer a comprehensive range of cutting-edge HR-related services including payroll outsourcing, industrial relations and remuneration consulting.
The Kelly Group (Pty) Ltd is jointly owned by senior management, private funds held by Brait SA and Safika Holdings and with its BEE ownership of 30.51% has been audited by EmpowerDEX and received an AA rating.
Jul 14
Extends its operational performance management leadership position
[Johannesburg, 14 July 2006] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced that the latter has acquired Temtec International B.V., a privately held Netherlands company that is a leading provider of self-service analytic software that empowers non-technical business users to analyse and report on business-critical information in real-time. The total purchase price for the acquisition is $14.5 million, consisting of $12 million in cash and $2.5 million in Applix common stock.
The acquisition of Temtec enables Applix to provide companies with a more powerful solution set for creating, managing and delivering compelling operational performance management applications throughout the enterprise. Temtec Executive Viewer is an intuitive, self-service solution that makes sophisticated analysis and reporting dramatically easier and more broadly available.
Executive Viewer also integrates with popular backend solutions - including Hyperion Essbase, Microsoft Analysis Services and SAP - enabling Applix to offer businesses a single interface to performance management applications that is visually interactive and simple for users to learn and use. Together, Executive Viewer and Applix TM1's patented technology allow for real-time, in memory manipulation of massive, volatile data sets using low cost hardware, enabling affordable, widespread deployment of highly sophisticated analytic applications throughout all areas of operations.
"Customers are calling for unified performance management solutions that can be easily and broadly deployed - not just in finance but throughout operations. This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to respond to this market demand and to bring more complete operational performance management solutions to the enterprise," commented David Mahoney, president and CEO, Applix, Inc. "We expect that this acquisition will immediately benefit our combined customers, which now number almost 2 800, by allowing them to accelerate the deployment and operational effectiveness of their performance management investments."
"Temtec pioneered self-service analytics, building a large, satisfied customer base while receiving important industry recognition in the process," added Alan Parker, managing director, Temtec. "Because Applix shares our strong company values, including a commitment to technical excellence and a real passion for customer success, our customers, partners and employees will benefit greatly from the complementary technology and world-class support offered by Applix."
"Hubert Heijkers, a Temtec managing director and founder, and the rest of the Temtec team have spent years incorporating customer feedback into the product and delivering a solution that appeals to every type and level of business user," continued Mahoney. "Since Temtec and Applix joined together as alliance partners, our development and marketing teams worked to marry the real-time strengths and flexibility of TM1 with the easy to use and visually appealing strengths of Executive Viewer. We believe today's business combination will revolutionise how individuals at all levels throughout the organisation gain access to and utilise business critical analysis." Heijkers is joining Applix as vice-president and chief architect.
Over the past 13 years, Executive Viewer has been broadly deployed as a self-service analytic solution to access data stored in Applix TM1, Hyperion Essbase, Microsoft Analysis Services and SAP Business Warehouse. These Executive Viewer solutions have been successfully adopted throughout the finance and operations areas of hundreds of global organisations, including Hewlett-Packard, EMC, Hoffman LaRoche and BMW. A key to this success is Executive Viewer's ability to leverage existing data and existing software investments to integrate disparate functions into a common platform with an intuitive user interface. This acquisition allows Applix to build upon this unifying multi-platform approach to the market and to increase the level of investment in support for back-end platforms critical to an enterprise-wide performance management strategy.
"Performance management, in its truest form, is about tying execution to strategy," concluded Craig Schiff, president and CEO, BPM Partners. "In a more detailed view, it is pulling together all of the company's data and determining how it performed on its strategic goals. As companies strive to achieve this vision of performance management across the enterprise, they must look to complement spreadsheet-based applications with comprehensive performance management suites that offer a variety of user interface options and back-end interoperability."
May 15
[Johannesburg, 15 May 2006] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced that the latter has been named to the Intelligent Enterprise Editor's Choice Awards, 'Companies to Watch' list for the second year in a row.
This recognition from an influential trade magazine comes on the heels of several other high rankings from important industry influencers, including BPM Partners and Nigel Pendse in The OLAP Survey 5.
In this year's listing, included in the May 1 issue of Intelligent Enterprise, Applix TM1 is cited for its in-memory capability and 'thoughtful understanding of the challenges get customers over the (scalability) wall'. Applix TM1's unique ability to calculate and recalculate data up to one million times faster than conventional BPM technology, it enables companies to rapidly ask all levels of 'what-if' questions about their business against highly variable layers of information.
"Given the global economy, businesses cannot wait hours for their performance management system to respond to their toughest, most complicated business questions. What ground could they lose to competitors or what event could overtake the company if they can't answer hard questions on demand?" commented David Menninger, vice-president of worldwide product management and marketing.
"To be effective, performance management applications must enable decisions as rapidly as the business environment changes. TM1 is the only performance management application available with memory-based technology to provide optimal response times, and this differentiating capability is being recognised in the Intelligent Enterprise's 'Companies to Watch' list."
"As performance management applications expand and evolve, they are taking a highly visible and strategic role within organisations," added David Stodder, editorial director of Intelligent Enterprise and the primary author of the annual editor's choice feature. "The visibility of these applications, combined with the added numbers of users is increasing the scalability demands on the core technologies. TM1's technology is helping those organisations who hit the scalability wall."
TM1's in-memory capabilities go far beyond adding scalability to deliver concrete results for vital business questions. For example:
* An international satellite-based telecommunications company, which processes 60 million transactions daily from 30 source systems into a 60 Gigabyte TM1 database with tens of millions of members in its customer dimension;
* A large energy company uses TM1 for a wide variety of reporting, analysis and planning applications, including the immensely complex business problem of modelling power purchase agreements, which are contracts to buy and sell energy between third parties. The application has intensive, complex calculations and 75 000 time periods for real-time 'what-if' modelling in multiple scenarios.
* An international airline's cargo division uses TM1 for customer planning, customer profitability, freight letter analysis, point-to-point parcel optimisation and scheduling.
Applix TM1
Applix's TM1 is a complete performance management application, delivering strategic business planning, budgeting, reporting and analytics for powering analysis of financial, operational, transactional and other business data. Customers using TM1-based applications have won industry awards from several leading publications, including Start Magazine and Business Finance Magazine.
Intelligent Enterprises
Published in print and online, CMP Media's LLC's Intelligent Enterprise is the only magazine dedicated to helping organisations plan and deploy strategic business applications that turn information into intelligence. Intelligent Enterprise empowers 80 000 business application analysts, architects and managers charged with unlocking and delivering the strategic value of information so their organisations can model, develop and improve enterprise business processes and drive excellence through operational decision-making.
Intelligent Enterprise content offers a unique focus on how to apply leading-edge technologies to sharpen such business objectives as improving the customer experience, developing smarter marketing campaigns, streamlining supply chains, detecting high-risk or fraudulent activity and creating effective, performance-driven enterprises. Along with print and online content, Intelligent Enterprise delivers expert coverage and strategic IT leadership through Webinars, conferences, e-newsletters and more.
May 9
[Johannesburg, 9 May 2006] - MCI Consultants today announced that it was the company chosen by Absa Stockbrokers to undertake the development work behind phase two of the latter's online share trading service that has recently been launched.
"With the need to redesign our Web site, we decided to look at our whole trading scenario," commented Duncan Ingram, Head of Online Share Trading at Absa Stockbrokers.
"This meant our trading platform, our online trading platform and our Portfolio Management System. It was with these three activities in mind that we evaluated the market for a suitable partner to undertake the development work for us based on the specifications, design and the Web site 'look and feel' that we took the responsibility for."
"After extensive evaluations, it was MCI Consultants that provided us with the best overall package, irrespective of cost; and also provided us with an acceptable proposal for future ongoing enhancements," continued Ingram.
The new site has all the features and facilities of the old site, plus a whole lot more, yet retains its position as the lowest cost stockbroker for most deal values.
The new site provides access to news, statistics and domestic markets and a selection of charts. At a later stage, clients who use technical analysis to make decisions will have links to a charting service through the site.
In addition, there is a link to the Web site of Absa Portfolio Managers (APM), and visitors to this site will have access to APM's monthly newsletter and top 10 share selections.
Absa Stockbrokers originally introduced online trading in August 2002 to complement the firm's traditional, telephone-based trading service.
"I have no doubts that we made the right decision regarding our partner in this project, as MCI provided us with a professional approach at all times, have produced the results that we required and have responded appropriately to any issues that have arisen during the implementation," concluded Ingram. "We are delighted at the understanding of our business that has been shown by MCI, and look forward to working with them into the future."
The revamp of the trading site is just the beginning of an ongoing process and developments planned for the future include:
* A charting service through the site
* The offering of stop losses
* The offering of more detailed information on JSE-listed companies
Apr 6
[Johannesburg, 6 April 2006] - MCI Consultants, the leading distributor for Applix's TM1 product in South Africa, today announced new features that offer greater access to and interoperability with data in SAP and SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW).
"Applix TM1 is used by global companies for performing planned and ad hoc analysis, and for reporting on financial and operational information," commented David Menninger, Applix vice-president, worldwide product management and marketing.
"Much of the raw data vital to this analysis and the corresponding decision-making process is generated by and stored in SAP applications. We've greatly enhanced our integration with SAP BW in order to give more functionality to our customers."
Applix teams with syskoplan
Applix TM1 is already SAP certified and previously provided access to SAP information through ODBO interfaces. The new features announced today have been developed in conjunction with syskoplan AG, a systems integrator and consultancy headquartered in Gutersloh, Germany.
Connecting via native SAP interfaces allows for significant amounts of data to be transported rapidly from SAP BW to TM1 where users can take advantage of TM1's flexible reporting, 'what if' analysis, budgeting, planning and forecasting capabilities.
Syskoplan AG specialises in business intelligence, customer relationship management, and supply chain solutions for SAP customers. In 2005, syskoplan was named by SAP as one of its exclusive NetWeaver Special Expertise Partners, one of many certifications and alliances syskoplan has with SAP.
"For our customers we clearly see a need for very flexible reporting solutions for business intelligence power users, as well as for flexible, high performance planning and business modelling capabilities," added Thomas Greutmann, senior vice-president of syskoplan AG. "We are convinced that a combination of Applix and SAP BW is ideally suited to meet that demand, especially for customers that follow an SAP IT strategy. It offers end-users additional high-end analytics capabilities while leveraging - and even expanding - investments into an SAP data warehouse infrastructure."
Applix customers worldwide are finding TM1 brings more value to their existing SAP applications. With TM1, organisations can perform rapid ad hoc query and reporting on SAP data, unlocking raw data vital to enterprise-wide performance management activities. Some examples include:
* A cargo airline uses TM1 with SAP for reporting, passenger cost centre accounting and revenue management. The information extracted from SAP and analysed in TM1 facilitates customer planning, customer profitability analysis, freight letter analysis, point-to-point parcel optimisation and scheduling.
* A beverage manufacturer and retailer gets 'right time' updates from SAP and analyses the data in TM1 for product and packaging profitability analysis, sales trends by packaging and distribution trends analysis for shelf and packaging optimisation.
* A worldwide film and digital camera equipment manufacturer relies on TM1 for its planning, reporting and performance analysis. The operational information is extracted from an SAP cost accounting system and TM1 is used to manage rolling forecasts and align actuals with performance targets.
Applix TM1
Applix's TM1 is a unified application, delivering business planning, budgeting, reporting and analytics for powering strategic analysis of financial, operational, transactional and other business data. The annual BPM Partners 'Beyond the Hype' Webcast recognised that Applix TM1 application customers had the highest level of satisfaction of any of the leading BPM solutions, suites, tools and vendors. The OLAP Survey 5 gave TM1 the highest marks for speed of query, deployment, and data load and pre-calculation, as well as the highest ranking for overall business benefits achieved and the lowest number of technical problems. Customers using TM1-based applications have won industry awards from several leading publications, including Start Magazine and Business Finance Magazine.
Nov 23
I am sure most of you know by now that Cognos recently acquired Applix to create the second largest independent Business Intelligence company, a situation that lasted only a few days, since IBM in turn has now acquired Cognos for about $5bn, in a move that is the largest ever undertaken by IBM.
This latest acquisition escalates IBM into the business intelligence space big time and is in line with IBM's Information on Demand strategy, a cross-company initiative announced in February 2006 that combines IBM's strength in information integration, content and data management and business consulting services to unlock the business value of information. Integrating Cognos will enable new business insights to be delivered to a broader set of people across an organisation, beyond the traditional users of business intelligence.
Together, IBM and Cognos will become the leading provider of technology and services for Business Intelligence (BI) and Performance Management, delivering the industry's most complete, open standards-based platform with the broadest range of expertise to help companies expand the value of their information, optimise their business processes and maximise performance across their enterprises.
This purchase of Applix allows Cognos access to the flagship TM1 product, an in-memory multidimensional (OLAP) server that is well suited for the rigors of complex financial analytics and is a favourite among finance departments because of its Excel-based interface.
Cognos CEO Rob Ashe called this acquisition 'a terrific strategic fit for Cognos' as it gives the company a new in-memory, read-write OLAP analytics architecture capability for its other CPM products. TM1 would provide Cognos' CPM users with finance self-service capabilities such as business rules management and entry into new areas like profitability analysis and planning optimisation.
Following completion of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM's Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management. IBM also will appoint current Cognos President and CEO, Rob Ashe, to lead this group.
"As a direct result of this deal, MCI Consultants, already a strategic partner of IBM in South Africa, joins just a handful of other local organisations that have a similar role, although none have the TM1 knowledge," added Aliki Droussiotis, Director of MCI Consultants. "We are very positive re this double acquisition, since we are now able to offer a wider and improved portfolio of solutions for our clients as the areas of overlap between Applix, Cognos and IBM are minimal."