Zavanti feature at iTSHOWCASELIVE

Zavanti were pleased to be a part of the recent iTSHOWCASELIVE exhibition, at The Old Trafford Football Stadium in Manchester on December 3rd.

Zavanti featured along side some of the UK's leading software specialists for accounting software, CRM, ERP software, construction management, job costing, estimating software, manufacturing management, retail and hospitality systems, at the one day event.

Despite the recent down turn in the economy, with the construction and property market been one of the sectors hardest hit, the industry is still keen to move forward and implement systems that enable them to manage their projects more efficiently and effectively.

We hope to feature at the next iTSHOWCASE event in the New Year - visit iTSHOWCASE online for more information.

Inaugural Gulf States Building Awards

Organised by Building magazine and endorsed by the Emirates Green Building Council, the inaugural Gulf States Building Awards were held in Dubai on November 13. The awards highlighted the most exceptional projects across the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

Atkins was named Engineering Consultant of the Year following its work on projects such as the Bahrain World Trade Centre, while EC Harris, beat Davis Langdon and Mace to win the Construction Consultant of the Year Award.
The hotel project of the year went to Shangri La Qaryat Al Beri Hotel in Abu Dhabi, while the the infrastructure project of the year award was won by the Al Garhoud Bridge, a 14-lane road bridge in Dubai. Downtown Burj Dubai won the BIW Technologies sponsored award for best mixed-use project of the year for boasting the world’s tallest tower and world’s largest shopping centre.

For the event sponsors, such as Davis Langdon, Mace, and Leighton, the awards provided an opportunity to raise their profiles in the eyes of many of the Gulf region’s major contractors and consultants. BIW Technologies' General Manager Middle East, Asif Sharif said, "BIW's sophisticated project control platform is already widely used on major mixed use developments in Dubai. This sponsorship will have boosted recognition of the BIW brand across the Middle East region."

A full list of category winners, sponsors, and photos from the night are available from the Building website

Retirement Villages the next Construction Boom

At the Property Council of Australia's recent Ageing of Aquarius II Conference, Peter McMullen, National Director for Health and Aged Care Services for Jones Lang LaSalle, presented his research paper, "Is Supply Meeting Demand or Missing the Mark?"

McMullen says that Australia's rapidly ageing population has resulted in an abundance of retirement village development opportunities across the nation. "To meet this surge in demand, it is predicted that up to 140,000 new dwellings in retirement villages are needed over the next 15 years, equating to an investment of about $42 billion (in 2008 dollars) in new construction,"
he says.

He also found that Retirement Village living is also becoming more accepted as participation rates are continuing to increase. "At present, approximately 5.25 percent of the over-65 population live in retirement villages, a significant increase from the 3 to 3.5 percent benchmark from only eight or nine years ago."

At present, there are more than 500 new villages with more than 51,000 new units either proposed, approved or under construction. In existing villages, another 20,7000 new units are either proposed, approved or under construction.

McMullen believes that, "despite the current softening in market sentiment in all property classes, the long-term future of the Retirement Village industry is secure with significant opportunity for investment."

For more information, see the full article in the November Edition of "Property Australia".

More information on the Ageing of Aquarius Conference is also available via the Property Council's website - http://www.propertycouncil.com.au/retirement/

Visual Evolution 2008 a success for Corda Technologies

Corda Technologies annual four-day Visual Evolution conference brought together executive dashboard and data visualisation users, developers, prospects and partners, along with industry leaders from around the globe, including Zavanti’s own Corda Developer, Jason Marshall.

Wayne Eckerson, author of “Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business” was the keynote speaker for the event. Wayne is also the Director of Education and Research for The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI). Other industry expert speakers included Ron Powell, Co-founder of The Business Intelligence Network, and Peter Traynor, Editor in Chief, Dashboard Insight.

Corda’s expert Dashboard Technologists delivered presentations on CenterView™, PopChart®, OptiMap™ and Highwire™, giving best practices for all levels of users and developers. In addition, participants attended sessions to learn how to create attractive dashboards, extend the dashboard interface, transform data from data funnels, and to explore best practices in choosing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They also participated in round table discussions, where they had the opportunity to learn from other users and developers, as well as case studies from leading industry executives.

The Data Visualisation Lounge was a new feature this year, here attendees could practice the tips and tricks learned at the conference, see how other customers are visualising business intelligence, or work on their own dashboard projects - with the help of expert Dashboard Technologists from Corda.

“Visual Evolution continues to be a terrific success as our signature annual event,” said John Purvis, CEO and president of Corda. “The world’s best minds in data visualisation, business performance management, and performance dashboards gather together to learn about and successively refine what it means to truly manage performance.”

Click here to access the session presentations from the event

New Operational KPIs and Performance Management Report

A recent report by Aberdeen and Corda Technologies, has found that adoption of Operational Performance Management capabilities has improved customer satisfaction rates of Best-in-Class companies by more than 4.5x that of industry average companies.

The report, “Operational KPIs and Performance Management”, has revealed that Best-in-Class (BIC) companies – those performing in the top 20% of all research survey respondents – have taken multiple approaches to improving their operational performance through the establishment and management of operational key performance indicators (KPIs).

The report found that the areas for operational performance upon which Best-in-Class companies are more likely to focus their efforts are:

Customer performance - Including metrics for customer satisfaction, customer issue resolution speed, customer issue resolution accuracy, and customer retention rate

Service performance - Including metrics for first call resolution rate, service renewal rate, rate of compliance to SLAs, delivery performance to customer, and product return rate

Sales operations - Including metrics for new pipeline accounts identified, meetings secured, conversion of inquiries to leads, average call closure time, and dials completed per hour, shift, and day

Financial operations - Including metrics for price to purchase order accuracy, purchase order fulfillment ratio, quantity earned (revenue can be recognised), forecast to plan ratio, and total closed contracts

Click here to access the full report

Loans a developing problem for construction industry

By Anthony Klan, The Australian (October 10th)

This recent article highlights the issues that developers and builders are facing as they attempt to borrow money during the current financial crisis.

Monarch Investment’s Chief Executive, Peter Icklow advised that, "The whole process of getting finance is now taking twice or three times as long as it was before the credit crisis".

He added that, borrowing problems were exacerbated for developers because the confluence of falling property prices and high taxes meant many projects were now unviable, forcing many developers out of the market, and intensifying the housing shortage.

Chief Executive of the Master Builders Association, Wilhelm Harnisch, said many builder members were also being turned away by lenders.

"Even some of our biggest building members, despite having been major clients of the major banks for many years, are now being told there is just not enough money to go around," Harnisch explained.

To read the full article click here

Are you getting immediate value from your ERP system?

ERP systems are designed to integrate business information and processes within an organisation, facilitating real-time planning and management. However, despite their power, the software doesn’t always deliver.

Linda L. Briggs in association with TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute™) talks with Jim Heatherington, managing director of Cutwater, a provider of decision support software for mid-market distributors and manufacturers, about why so many businesses have trouble getting real value from their ERP systems, and offers some possible solutions.

Read the full article online here