2. It will make your business:
Technology that works your way
Performance improvements that present new opportunities
Effective business means improved outcomes
3. Gen-i’s approach to building and
delivering solutions:
Approach 1 : Build it, and then sell it
Approach 2 : Sell it, and then build it
6. > Ground well around Cloud in SME space, and
wanting a new range of devices to access the
applications and data
> Clients seeing the benefit of Dual Cell now – 40Mb
down, and 11Mb up (on supported devices)
> UFB inputs showing up
7. > Stop, look, listen, engage,
deliver!
> Draw on our product set, and our
experience to help you Engage
the Future of Business.
Notas del editor
Good afternoon,So you’ve heard from Steve and Ben about some of the forces that are influencing the ways we use technology, and of course fundamentally we’re all after these sorts of outcomes:We need technology to be SMART – we need technology that works the way you need it to, We need technology that is FASTER – because being able to do things faster enables new opportunitiesAnd overall we need technology to be BETTER – we need to leverage ICT to enable more efficient and effective business, improving outcomes no matter what industry you are inAll of that’s great but from the IT Departments point of view – how do you approach achieving these outcomes!? How do you design and implement solutions that are going to account for the “nexus of forces”, the business goals, the business needs, the needs and wishes of the individual departments and users. So many requirements, so many solutions, so many options.We’ll as you might appreciate at Gen-I we face the same challenges, and today I want to give you a glimpse of how we approach the build of products that are aimed at achieving these outcomes, and how we build products that are relevant, and I’ll give a few examples of the success we’re having. Am I’m going to do this not only to give you confidence that we have a process but there may well be aspects of our approach that you could integrate into the way you select or even build products and services for your business.<slide change>
So at Gen-i there are two fundamental approaches to building and delivering technology solutions; and the approach to each is similar – but different! And while we’re a relatively large organisation, the fundamentals around the approach we use apply to large business as much as they do for medium and small.Here’s how I sum it up…. And forgive the words I used, they’re my own and have a certain Nakiflippancy about them!<transition>Approach number 1 is used where we Build a product, and then sell it. So, here we determine the need and requirement, decide ultimately what to build, we build it, and then serve it up to you. We use this approach for our Cloud products and services – and is usually reserved for when the product or services needs to be configurable, but not overly customisable. The key here though is that we need to be very clear on what’s required, so we make the product relevant to you. <transition>Approach number 2 is used where we sit down with our specific individual clients, discuss and agree on what to do, and then we go off and build it. We use this approach for the bespoke on premise type solutions, where the client needs a high degree of flexibility, and customisation. In this case we usually able to have a far more specific conversation about relevance – to make sure what we build is 100%.And so today I’ll focus on Approach 1 and give you a sense of what we’ve been doing in that space. And then after me you’re going to hear from Kevin Glynn, IT manager at New Plymouth District Council, on how they’ve gone about building their solution essentially using Approach number 2 – which is where they had a specific set of requirements and needs and so a specific solution was built.<slide change>
So, the whole approach to the design and build of our hosted product set is managed within a framework we call the Product and Service Framework.Thisis aimed at adopting and implementing good practices, methodologies and processes to build and manage products that are relevant,minimise risk for us and you ourclients; and enable us to get products and services to market quickly.And so Framework, summarised by this diagram, contains a number of streams. <transition>Sitting over the top is the governance layer. This contains the policies and procedures that we will adopt within this model – and essentially contains the instruction manual for each of the component streams within the framework.<transition>2. The Product Portfolio Management layer involves the development of product portfolio strategies, recognising that we have a number of products, some with dependencies, so we group them together and build portfolio strategies, portfolio plans with roadmaps.<transition>3. Then there’s the juicy bit of the framework, the Concept to Market process. Which is where the rubber hits the road, and all the techopropellers start to wind up! This is where we take an idea, and turn it into a product. And underpinning this phase is the Stage-Gate model, which is out of the US and is actually based on the process they use in American football – the stages are the plays, and the gates between each stage are the huddles. And the benefits of the stage-gate approach are that Ineffective ideas are spotted early and stoppedIntervention into projects that require mediation happens earlyIdea – this is where anyone in the organisation can submit and idea. And, and idea can come from a thought an individual has, a need a client has requested, or it could even be influenced by one the nexus of forces – so a global trend. The idea gets submitted and a team called the Product Governance Forum get together and review it. And I can tell you, as a member of the PGF, it’s a pretty regerous process – and as you might expect not all ideas get through!Feasibility – but if it does, it goes through the feasibility process, which is really the business case process – and in here we really test the financial aspects, and look to confirm our ability to build it, deliver it, and support it once its in market.Capability Build – and then if it gets through that huddle, we move into the exciting bit – where we actually take the hardware and software and do the integration, and we build the fulfilment approach – which is how we’ll serve it up to the client. And its also at this point we’ll build the support framework – servicedesk, level2 and 3 support. And as well in this phase we run the market and internal readiness phases. This is where we confirm that from a pricing, legal, commercial, billing, and marketing point of view we’re tidy and ready. No point in having a great product if these other areas aren’t covered as well.Review – ad then Review, which is where we launch the product internally, and into market. And here we take care to ensure our people know about the product and we do that by providing online training material via our elearning portal. And of course in the review phase we do a project implementation review, which has us reviewing the actual outcomes against the business case, so we can report back to stakeholders.<transition>4. And then the last section is around Lifecycle Management. It says now that we have a product, what's the on-going strategy around that product, whats the plan for that product in terms of feature development, and how do we ensure we continue to enhance the product in terms of features and performance.And there you have it – our approach to building products and services. And look, this is a fairly simplistic view and you might appreciate that there is a smoke load of detail sitting in behind this framework, and if you’re interesting in learning anymore about it then give me a ring.<slide change>
And so what have we achieved since adopting this FrameworkWell, Our ReadyCloud Server platform now has over 500 VMs running on it – and the clients using it are using it not only for test, and dev, but also from production applications – we have banking customers on this, we have MOEs using, we have ecommerce websites for some of NZ’s largest retailers hosted on it. And the self service facilities that we’ve built into version 1.5 have all come from the concept to market feedback.Our ReadyCloud Backup solution – around a dozen enterprise clients using it this facility we back up either their system, or our Readycloud server solution.Our Readycloud Video – this is an exciting new development, which we have used to build a service we call Virtual Clinic – it enables High Definition video conferencing between Doctors and Patients not just nationally, but globally – and all securely. Also, our ReadyCloud Mail (hosted Exchange) is online and soon our Readycloud Storage and DR products will be as well.In the Workspace area - A large number of you attended our Innovation Centre Roadshow where we gave you a hands on account of a number of products and services could be applied to Workspace requirements. Well, although a lot of those products werentbuilt by us, the way we selected them, integrated them, packaged them, was managed by the Concept to Market process. And furthermore, within that collective of products is our Managed Mobility product which is based on Airwatch – that went through C2M process on its own – the adoption rate of this product has increased over time, so this is definitely a product where we anticipated the need and customers have grown into as their mobility fleets and needs have evolved.And in the collaboration space – we’ve built a great range of Unified Comms, and Visual Commsproducts utilising Cisco and Polycom technologies, all hosted in our Cloud environmentAnd at the connectivity layer, we are all interested of course in what’s here, or nearly here wrt to Fibre, and eagerly anticipating the arrival of LTE. But for us, its not just about how we package that product itself up for you, but its also about the products and services we’re going to be able to bring to over top of that infrastructure – that’s the fun bit, but like anything we have to confirm the need, assess the demand, and only do what is relevant. So, some key advancements for us here, and again they all came about thanks to the Product and Service Framework.<slide change>
Now, I’d like to take a minute to talk about what we’re seeing locally, in Taranaki.Well, when it comes to Cloud we’re seeing SME take off in the direction of Cloud. They’re keen as mustard! They all want their applications and data to be more accessible. We have 4 clients actively pursuing migration of their File and Exchange servers to Microsoft’s Exchange Online and Sharepoint Online facilities – and of course when they add that to applications like salesforce.com and XERO they have a real compelling solution there. Our role has been to help them get clear on their needs, and then introduce them to the right answers, including which device to select. A lot of people looking at the dual laptop \\ tablet devices.Dual Cell – so this is where your mobile device will connect to not just one radio antenna, but 2, and effectively double the mobile data throughput on your device. Its live now, although only possible on a certain set of devices – Nokia 920, iPad 3.And like many of you we’re anxious to see UFB fibre inputs turning up in our product catalogs – and we’re starting to see it now. We can deliver GDC, which is our Layer2 service over UFB fibre, and shortly we’ll be able to deliver business broadband, and then shortly after that we’ll be delivering our full GWS suite of products – and locally we’re getting a lot of enquiry about this. I might add that if you have any questions about where UFB is at in Taranaki we have Hamish from Ultra Fast Fibre in the audience – track him down.Its pretty exciting for us as all these 3 things are so very linked together – as we provide the bandwidth, so much more in the Cloud space is possible.<slide change>
And so there you go, there’s a brief account of how we approach design and building products and services that are relevant – and some of the outputs of that approach.Hopefully you’ve seen you need to stop (huddle) look, listen, and then engage, and if you do you’ll increase you chances of deliverying well.And of course, if there is any doubt, call us – we’re more than happy to help you at any point in the journey. And of course it may well be that rather than build you own product, you can just use one of ours!Thank you. And now, the part of the day I’m really quite excited about I’m going to hand you over to Kevin Glynn from the New Plymouth District Council. Kevin has been with the council for just over 5 years now as their IT Manager, and has really taken the council on a journey of discovery. What Kevin has been up to is a fantastic example of how to get real clear on the needs, and then how to set yourself up for the future – and look I’ve seen his presentation and I can tell you he’s much better at Powerpoint than me!. Kevin, over to you!
