ASSISTUM NEWSLETTER ------- ISSUE 4 - July 2001
CONTENTS
THIS ISSUE
SMART
Award
for KTS
Glocalisation
PCPRO Review
Bulletin Board
Pharma
survey
results
Multinational sales
Export to MS WORD
Free subscription
This free newsletter is published about once a quarter. We hope you find it interesting.
Please forward it to any colleague who might also find it interesting.
If you have been forwarded a copy and would like to receive your own copy, send us an e-mail with newsletter as the subject.
If you would like to read previous editions of this newsletter, click here.
If you would like to stop receiving this newsletter, send us an e-mail with unsubscribe as the subject.
We will not pass your e-mail address to any other organisation.
SMART Award for KTS
A 'Smart Award' from the UK Department of Trade and Industry has been received by Higher Level Systems Ltd, the creator of Assistum knowledge tools.
The Smart Award is a grant to support and promote enterprise, innovation and increase productivity for small and medium size businesses, and the package of help and support that HLS have been given will be used to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of a potential component of the next phase of the Internet.
This will comprise in the main a Knowledge Transaction Server (KTS) designed by HLS to enable any number of users to develop and consult knowledge at the same time across the Internet using the emerging standards of what Tim Berners-Lee calls the "Semantic Web". The next phase of the evolution of the Internet will create a pool of human knowledge and complement it with machine processability.
Glocalisation or How to get the best of both worlds
Imagine... You are the Chief Executive of a large business with many branches - (or a Secretary of State with many departments) and you have a problem with your organisation's sluggish response.
Your business is too centralised to react quickly to your clients' needs but you don't want to devolve decision-making to the people at the local level dealing with your clients in case you lose control.
You really want the best of both worlds - local responsiveness within a global framework.
Assistum provides a solution that will empower at the local level by referring to a set of principles and guidelines that are up-to-the-minute; an audit that they are 'on message'; and a reporting facility for future use and reference. Read on if you would like to know more about how Assistum will help you achieve this 'glocalisation'.
PCPRO Review
PCPRO, a leading UK magazine for IT Professionals, reviewed Assistum Version 4.0 in its May Edition and awarded ASSISTUM five stars out of six.
The verdict was "Easy-to-use tools which enable you to create powerful rules-based decision-support software. Assistum removes many of the barriers from the distribution of rules-based knowledge - so get sharing."
You can read the review on the PCPRO website. Click on REVIEWS, then on BUSINESS.
The latest Edition of PCPRO (July Issue 81) features the Assistum Project Selector on the Cover Disk.
Bulletin
Board
We have added a Bulletin Board to the Assistum site.
Please use it for questions, comments and interesting stories about knowledge management, decision analysis or Assistum itself.
Assistum now has clients in eleven different countries ranging from Australia to the USA, and in eight vertical markets including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, telecomms as well as consultants and solution providers.
Export to MS WORD
We have developed a number of VBA extensions that increase the power of Assistum. One, for which there is a lot of interest, enables you to export an Assistum report to MS WORD where you can edit or print it.
Pharma Survey results
At a number of recent pharmaceutical events, we have surveyed participants about the value of Assistum. Three types of application were seen to be of particular value.
1. Devolving operational decisions without losing global benefits
We asked: Would it help you respond faster to local customer and competitor actions without endangering the global strategy if you could provide on-line access to corporate principles and guidelines and best practice to guide local decision-making on pricing, promotions etc? How about packaging decisions? See glocalisation story.
2. Making better strategic business decisions
We asked: Would it help improve your pricing decisions if the key pricing issues were mapped out, your business knowledge consistently applied, and the reasons for the decisions documented for future review and lessons learned? How about R&D or supply chain decisions?
3. Improving key business capabilities
We asked: Would it help your organisation be more innovative if the key enablers of innovation (goal setting, creativity, development and implementation skills) were comprehensively examined and areas for improvement identified? How about selling capability? How about design and planning of major projects?
