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Posts from the ‘Quadriga Consulting’ Category

The last 10 years…

Apparently only 1 in every 10 small consultancy firms lasts 10 years. We’re one of the one in ten. But we’ve only been able to survive and thrive because of the support and loyalty of our fabulous clients, employees and associates.

Our first paying client, 10 years ago, was The Gem – the CRM outsourcing firm (now part of Concentrix).  Our most recent is Stratton Craig.  And, in-between, we have worked with a veritable Aladdin’s cave of clients including Microsoft, BT, IBM, Amacis, Oxford Economics, Kable, Invest NI, Provita Eurotech, DETI, Strategic Investment Board, Taylor Wessing, SLA Mobile, Aepona, Replify – and many, many more.

We hope to make several announcements during 2012 about new clients, and new partnerships.  But I also wanted to say ‘thanks’ to everyone who has supported us over the last 10 years.  It’s been fun.

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Technology Imperative

By Jeffrey Peel

I was in Paris last week and had the opportunity to meet up with a colleague – Barbara Toorens.  Barbara has a strong background supporting technology vendors in terms of marketing communications activity. However, her specialist focus is corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the technology solutions that are emerging that support companies in achieving their CSR objectives.

In this short interview Barbara outlines how the EU is imposing demands on business in achieving CSR standards.  She also talks about the EU’s 20/20/20 initiative.

She also refers to solutions from vendors such as SAP that are allowing global organisations like Panasonic to achieve waste management and other CSR objectives.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility and Technology (mp3)

Mobile Cloud Mini Summit

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Peel to Attend Bled Strategic Forum

Jeffrey Peel, Managing Director of Quadriga Consulting Ltd, and Government 2010 will be attending the Bled Strategic Summit in Bled, Slovakia in August.

This year the Summit’s theme is as follows:

“The rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy and the growing influence of non-state actors is likely to make the international environment almost unrecognizable by 2020. Will the international system be up to the challenges that lie ahead? How can growing energy demands be met? How can access to sufficient clean water be guaranteed to everyone? How to re-connect the Western Balkans? What is the role of EU in the multipolar world?”

It’s snowing…

It’s snowing…

Which provoked me to write this little post wishing all our clients, suppliers and associates a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Introducing SID: Social Issue Dynamics™

Typical SID Elements

Typical SID Elements - Click to view larger graphic

Is brand and reputation management important to you?  Do you need to be associated with a major issue?  Do you need to be seen to be at the edge of the curve in terms of a social movement, an environmental debate, a new technology innovation?

In the old days, a bit of PR normally did the trick.  A few media releases, and perhaps a white paper, possibly even a seminar or two, might be enough to convince people that you were on top of things. 

However, nowadays, it may take a little more.  With the advent of social media it takes much more added value, and rich contribution to debates and social conversations, to be heard.

Here at Quadriga Consulting we have been developing a new research product called Social Issue Dynamics (or SID for short). 

What is SID? 

Social Issue Dynamics Data Sheet

SID is a public programme of research that embraces qualitative discussion around an issue or topic that is of interest to a brand owner.  The difference is that we take the discussion public using web broadcasting.  The result is that instead of an esoteric discussion just among members of a focus group, using the SID approach we extend the debate into international online social communities. 

The qualitative discussion is just the starting point.  A typical SID assignment contains the following key elements:

  • EXPERT RESPONDENT RECRUITMENT
  • TOPIC GUIDE DEVELOPMENT
  • PROMOTION OF THE PUBLIC DEBATE VIA MEDIA PARTNERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
  • LIVE WEB BROADCAST PUBLIC DEBATE – MODERATED BY US
  • BACK CHANNEL DEBATE VIA TWITTER AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
  • DEBATE AND SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS
  • FEEDBACK AND ONGOING DISCUSSION VIA DEDICATED BLOG AND FOLLOW-UP DEBATES
  • SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKING

A SID programme allows our clients to be seen to be right at the heart of an issue or series of issues.  SID takes the best elements of tried and tested qualitative reseach and explodes it into the social media domain – resulting in highly involved interaction from a much wider array of participants.  Instead of research being a tactical and passive part of the marketing process it becomes the centre-piece of strategic audience involvement – resulting in long term engagement with key protagonists from various perspectives of the debate.

To get some idea of how a SID programme might look and feel you may wish to take the time to visit our Government 2010 micro-site.  Government 2010 is a rolling programme of engagement focused on the issue of next generation government.  Think of Government 2010 as Quadriga’s own public exemplar of a SID programme.  It promotes us as the sponsor of issue-focused debate.  It engages social media communities.  It draws upon people with expert knowledge of various aspects of the Government 2.0 debate.

SIDs can be complex and large or modest and highly defined.  But if you want to be seen to have your finger on the pulse of an important issue that might affect your business, contact us and ask us to build a SID programme for you

The alternative may be that you are seen as a bit-part participant in a debate that may re-define your market.

Replify All-Software WAN Performance Optimiser Now Easier to Implement Across the Enterprise

Client Media Release: Replify

Belfast October 28, 2009 – Replify – one of the first companies to introduce an all-software based WAN optimisation and application accelerator – today announced Version 3.4.1 of its accelerator software designed to enhance integration across enterprises and increase bandwidth speeds and reduce latency across WANs.

With three quarters of the world’s workforce estimated to be mobile by 2012, technology to improve remote working is needed now more than ever. This new software will make it easier for enterprises to reduce frustration with slow download at branch offices and for remote workers, as well as to avoid expensive proprietary hardware installations.

Replify’s Reptor Accelerator architecture further enhances Replify’s XDR bi-directional data reduction technology so that both data centres and branch offices require one virtual appliance instance.  The news comes in light of recent analysis by Gartner Group that identifies business resiliency as critical for effective operations management.

The new version will enable businesses to rapidly deploy the solution and to manage users through its ‘client awareness’ functionality.  Replify also augments Disaster Recovery (DR) procedures – critical for any business.

Joe Boyle, Head of Sales at Replify comments: “This collection of improvements further streamlines the Replify Accelerator Suite and makes the product more refined for enterprise implementation.  We have recently implemented the solution in large, distributed enterprise environments and have better understood – from the customer perspective – how to make the product more elegant from an implementation and systems integration point of view.

“In many respects our solution is coming of age.  Our virtual appliances are deployed in branch offices and data centres – so we now have just one product that can be configured for both scenarios – rather than dedicated virtual servers for each scenario. 

“Similarly we have made it easier to roll out multiple client-end instances of the product.  We have also recognised that application server transparency is essential for backup and DR implementation.  And we have taken the opportunity to make the charting functionality more compelling, as well as improve the host identification and naming.  The result is an improved product in many operational areas, recognised in the market with really positive feedback from our customers and resellers.”

Version 3.4.1 of Replify’s Reptor suite is available to download for trial today.  Network managers can see for themselves the improvements that can be achieved through Replify’s Reptor solution by visiting http://www.replify.com/downloads/

Quadriga Client Aetopia Secures Incisive Business

Quadriga Client Media Release

Incisive Media, one of the world’s leading B2B information providers, has selected MediaCore, a Digital Asset Management system from Belfast-based software company Aetopia (www.aetopia.com).  Quadriga worked with Aetopia during its earliest days helping with marketing and business planning. 

Incisive is using MediaCore to manage and monetize its vast digital archive. The publisher employs over 750 staff across 3 continents and serves the financial and professional services markets globally. It publishes over 100 print titles including some of the most recognised brands in the sector including Computing, Accountancy Age, Investment Week and Legal Week. They also run over 100 websites, including Clickz.com, Legalweek.co.uk and Yourmortgage.co.uk generating in excess of 35 million page impressions a month.

Incisive took the MediaCore product on trial and after 9 months have decided to roll it out throughout all their divisions and titles.

David Worsfold, Group Editorial Services Director said:

“We are using the MediaCore system to store, display and sell the thousands of photos from our many events. We are impressed with its ease of use and scalability. It gets great feedback from our readers”

Aidan McGrath CEO of Aetopia commented:

“We are delighted to have such a prestigious customer as Incisive. This implementation allows us to demonstrate that MediaCore can handle huge, multi divisional organizations and is truly scalable”

Aetopia was founded in Belfast in 2005. It won the N.I. heat of the Intertrade Ireland Seedcorn competition in 2006 and secured private investment in 2007. It supplies Digital Asset Management software to the Publishing, Photographic and Archiving sectors.

Jeff Peel to Speak at Microsoft ISU EMEA FY10

ISU10jpg

Peel to Speak at Microsoft ISU in London

Jeffrey Peel, Managing Consultant at Quadriga Consulting, is to speak at Microsoft’s Industry Solutions University (ISU) in London in November. 

ISU is Microsoft’s largest global internal training event that targets the improvement of Microsoft Enterprise Field Teams’ capacity by providing up-to-the-minute customized training from leading customers, partners, and industry experts.

Jeff will be focusing on the opportunity in local and regional government. 

Microsoft’s ISU takes places just 2 weeks after Quadriga Consulting’s major Government 2010 Event in London.  Government 2010 features once of the most extensive line-ups of speakers focused on next generation government ever assembled for a live streamed event.

Quadriga Builds NISINE Site

Quadriga Consulting is in the process of building a new video-intensive web site and blog for NISINE, the latest initiative from Momentum, Northern Ireland’s ICT Federation. 

NISINE is the Northern Ireland Software Innovation Network and is focused on promoting Northern Ireland software development excellence into international markets.

The site kicks off with a series of video interviews focusing on the four innovation competency areas: Mobile; Enterprise 2.0; Web Development and Embedded Systems.  It features interviews with Asidua, Aepona, Anaeko and FRONT – as well as software entrepreneur Denis Murphy.  The NISINE initiative is being launched into the USA in the next few weeks.