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Business Cloud Summit Review
Congratuations to Sift Media for organising such an excellent event.
560 delegates attended the event on 2 December to hear from high level speakers on the 'view from the Cloud'.
The general messages were:
- The Cloud is here to stay - it is the next stage of evolution for business applications, although there is still some way to go
- The 'Security' myth has now been dispelled - in fact cloud applications are managed more securely than many in-house managed systems.
View from end users:
- The technology is not important in itself - what they want are extra benefits and services, e.g. reduced costs, ROI
The BASDA Cloud SIG issued a delegate questionnaire at the event. We are still interested in your feedback and a copy can be downloaded here: Cloudquestionnaire. Please complete and return by the end of December to Lynne Wallis.
A summary of results from end user feedback will be published in the New Year.
Winner of the champagne draw from completed questionnaires at the event was Rob Nobile, Technology Centre Manager, at Roke Manor Research.
The Cloud SIG also announced a new white paper at the event - "Developing on the Cloud", which was praised by many organisations including Argos, BIS (Dept for Business Innovation and Skills) and many BASDA members. See the Cloud SIG update for the document link.
Thanks go to Lynne Wallis, BASDA Administrator, for co-ordinating and manning the BASDA stand in the exhibition area and thanks also to Rita Andrews of Sift Media for her support.
Special thanks to Sue Stephens from @UK plc, Neill Turner from Futureroute and Gary Ramsay from Opsource for lending their support on the BASDA stand.
Read more feedback from the Business Cloud Summit >>
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Data Protection Act - BASDA Working Party
BASDA members from Oracle, Intuit and Sage have formed a Working Group to agree a way forward in consultation with Frances Aldhouse CBE, formerly the UK Deputy Information Commissioner, who is noted for leading the teams which developed policy guidance on data protection issues.
At the inaugural meeting of the Working Group it was agreed that BASDA should develop a scheme of application software accreditation to give assurance to users that their business applications have been designed to assist them in complying with the UK Data Protection Act. It was also decided that BASDA should provide a White Paper to guide users in following best practice when implementing and supporting application software in their enterprises with regard to Data Privacy issues. It is intended that the scheme should receive the public approval and support of the Information Commissioner.
The DPA Working Group idea came from the HR & Payroll SIG, but has been separated out so that other SIG members can participate.
Liz Wilson, Product Strategy Director, Oracle EMEA, and a founder member of the BASDA Working Group comments:
“The intention is to give BASDA members and their customers an advantage over companies who have little regard for data protection issues, especially security matters. This is an important initiative and I would encourage other members to get involved.”
For more information on how you can get involved, contact
Jairo Rojas.
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New BASDA Journal
Look out for the new BASDA Journal, currently going to print, for distribution to BASDA members in the New Year.
The journal has been produced in response to member feedback for more 'tangible' communication and provides an update on BASDA's recent and ongoing activities as well as key articles from external contributors, including:
- An update from John Oates, recently appointed Chair of the ICAEW IT Faculty
- ERA - Will Roebuck, CEO talks about supporting UK online businesses
- Jyoti Banerjee takes a close look at 'green' software applications
- Zach Nelson, CEO of Netsuite, provides an insight to Cloud Computing
Please distribute the Journal to your colleagues and senior executives in support of your annual membership fee.
We welcome your feedback.
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Minister launches Voices of British Business Summary Report
At a recent Trade Association Forum event the Business Minister, Ian Lucas, formally launched the Voice of British Business Summary Report stating that ‘The way in which Government engages with business, particularly in relation to consultation mechanisms, will become increasingly important against the backdrop of the rapid acceleration of globalisation, devolution, regionalisation, our competitiveness and for an enterprise-led economic recovery. Business and Government will therefore need to be faster, smarter and to work together collaboratively.’
He went on to say that the ‘project offers fantastic potential for Trade Associations to represent their members in an effectively co-ordinated fashion when interacting with government’. By building on the partnership that already exists, it is intended that the project will be the catalyst for much improved methods of better collaborative working that helps boost communication between businesses and government.
Download report: Voices of British Business summary report
View video >>
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UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)
Jairo Rojas recently met with David Kennedy, Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee, to discuss how BASDA can get involved going forward with the government green agenda. He advised that BASDA should work closely with the Carbon Trust and Department for Energy and Climate Change.
The CCC will call upon BASDA to provide relevant empirical evidence to support their work.
David Kennedy spoke about the UK's Carbon Reduction Commitment at the recent TA Best Practice Exchange - see link to his presentation below.
View video >>
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A round up of news from the BASDA SIGs
HR & PAYROLL SIG:
The HR & Payroll SIG is meeting on the 15th December and is eagerly awaiting the Chancellors Pre-Budget Report on the 9th December to see what surprises he may have in store for us now!
We are still engaged in talks with the HMRC over Payrolling of expenses and Benefits, with PADA about the Personal Accounts (pensions) due in 2012 and CMEC about the new Child Maintenance arrangements. We are also involved with other HMRC and government department committees on payroll related issues.
Visit the HR & Payroll SIG forum
TASSA SIG:
A meeting in December had been called to discuss the proposed HMRC consultation document on their intention to withdraw from the provision of free software to unrepresented taxpayers and small agents. Following representation from BASDA on the terms of reference for that document, HMRC have decided to delay the issue of the consultative document.
HMRC are now taking stock of this project and consulting with a wide range of senior HMRC stakeholders. They expect these discussions will not be complete until after Christmas due to the availability of some key people. We are therefore waiting for HMRC to respond to BASDA and will reconvene this meeting once the terms of reference of the consultation document have been finalised.
HMRC / Companies House Joint Filing:
At a Tripartite Steering Group meeting it was announced that Companies House are looking to utilise the HMRC CT Online product for submission of accounts to Companies House. This is to replace the existing free option currently available from the Companies House website and their intention is that this will be released in Q3 2010. This project is in its infancy at the moment and HMRC / Companies House are looking to involve agents in the requirements gathering in January 2010 with software developers being involved in February. The inference from the meeting is that this project will be announced at the HMRC CT Developers Forum on 8 December. BASDA have asked to be very closely involved in this project.
Visit the TASSA SIG forum
CLOUD SIG:
Members of the Cloud SIG supplied information for the BASDA stand in the exibition area at the Business Cloud Summit and were on hand to talk to delegates.
The Cloud SIG also produced an end user questionnaire for delegates at the Business Cloud Summit on 2 December to gain more first-hand feedback on user requirements and concerns surrounding web-based business applications. Results will be published once available.
A White Paper has also been produced - 'Developing on the Cloud'. This is an evolving document which will be extended in 2010. Your feedback would be important via the Cloud SIG.
Download document; Developing on the Cloud
Visit the Cloud SIG forum
LOGISTICS SIG:
Since being uploaded on the Manufacturing & Logistics IT website, the BASDA Logistics Best Practice document has been downloaded 17,362 times.
The document is also available on the BASDA website and its success should encourage other SIGs to produce similar, customer-focused information.
At the SIG meeting on 19th November, John Kearns of Inovis was voted in as Chair and Linday Rodway of Proteus Software as Deputy Chair. Many thanks to Howard Turvey of Proteus Softare, the outgoing Chair.
The SIG aims to provide guidance to end users on the broader issues affecting the Supply Chain and Logistics industry - more in the next bulletin.
Visit the Logistics SIG forum
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Member News - Latest Members |
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Curran Project Controls (CPC) is an RICS Construction Consultancy specialising in the implementation and continued use of best practice in the areas of Commercial Management, Project Controls and Cost Management within all sectors of the construction industry; building, civils, house building and infrastructure maintenance. |
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Passfield is a fully integrated software system that gives horticultural nurseries control over all their operations, from sales and stock to production planning. |
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TeamSeer provides line managers and their teams with a web-based planner to schedule and record holidays and all other absence. In doing so, it gives HR and senior executives a complete and immediate picture of absence across the organisation, enabling informed resource decision making and precise support where necessary. |
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Member Survey - Feedback on Results
Our member survey, conducted by independent researchers CSM, was designed to canvas frank and constructive feedback from all member contacts to ensure that we fully represent members’ needs at a strategic level.
With a response rate of almost 50%, the survey produced some fascinating feedback and input to BASDA’s direction. In summary, the main priorities for BASDA members centred around the following:
- Providing more information for business support, particularly funding opportunities
- Increased PR activity to raise the BASDA profile
- More regular, quality communication to members on relevant topics and issues
Not surprisingly, the biggest business challenges cited by members were in Sales and Marketing.
Thank you to all who responded.
The BASDA General Council are reviewing the survey results and will be publishing their action plan in the New Year.
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Member Webinar - Thu Dec 17 2009, 10.30am
A new lifecycle approach to application performance management
This webinar highlights how a proactive approach to application performance adopted throughout the development lifecycle will increase quality and reduce by up to 90% the resources currently spent resolving performance issues.
Learn how leading software companies including Salesforce.com, Intuit, SAS, LinkedIn, Novell, Sterling Commerce, Zebra, Cegedim, AutoTrader.com, Intralinks, Telcordia, Adobe and others use dynaTrace to optimise the performance and scalability of their solutions, getting new releases out faster with more features and fewer field issues than ever before.
Full event details and registration >>
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Membership Renewals - January 2010
In December you will receive your BASDA membership renewal invoice for payment in January 2010.
BASDA is a “not for profit” organisation and is continually striving to keep admin costs to a minimum, so please help us all by processing the invoice quickly - thank you.
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Publication of MAC report on Tier 1 of the points-based system - 4 December 2009
In July 2009 BASDA responded to the Migration Advisory Committee consultation on proposals from the Home Secretary to apply new controls in respect of requests for visas for 'Tier Two' applicants - non-EU nationals in the context of an intra-corporate transfer (ICT) into the UK. The report was published in August 2009.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has now published its report on Tier 1 of the points-based system on Friday 4 December. The reports are available on the MAC website.
During the preparation of these reports, the MAC received a significant amount of evidence from stakeholders. The MAC is very grateful to those who took the time to respond and gave their time to meet with them.
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BASDA PARTNERS
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ERA is the independent, trusted e-business forum that aims to remove the legal uncertainty that often plagues companies online and to encourage a dynamic and competitive economy capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs, greater social cohesion and respect for the environment.
BASDA and ERA will be working together on areas of common interest.
Lord Erroll, ERA’s President said, “We are delighted to be working with BASDA in order to raise the game for UK plc. Only smart businesses will weather the current recession and we legislators desperately need their help to shape up a better economy that benefits society as a whole. BASDA has an evidential role to play by providing empirical data and case studies to support the business view.”
ERA’s current work items include the EU Public Procurement Rules, E-commerce and Data Protection Directives reviews, the proposed Consumer Rights Directive, and the Digital Economy Bill that was announced in the Queen’s Speech in November.
For more information visit the ERA website |
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ICAEW IT Faculty launch new hosting review service
A new hosting review service has been launched by the ICAEW in conjunction with Baker Tilly at a time when hosted services are becoming a vital component of business systems for a growing number of organisations. The new service will give access to reliable, independent information when selecting a hosting service.
'More and more solutions are being delivered online as broadband becomes faster and more reliable', says John Oates, Chairman of the IT Faculty and Baker Tilly Partner. 'We know businesses are looking for guidance to differentiate between the numerous available providers in "The Cloud". The review service will help them to select operators "that they can treat as business partners for years to come"'.
For more information visit the ICAEW website. |
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