UNIT4 Business Software Signs Significant Deal with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

UNIT4 Business Software Signs Significant Deal with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

Agresso Business World's Post-Implementation Agility Chosen Instead of SAP or Microsoft Dynamics NAV

VICTORIA, BC and DALLAS, Jan. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - UNIT4 Business Software (http://www.unit4software.com), the North American subsidiary of UNIT4, the world's leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC(TM)), has signed a significant deal with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). The $677,200 CAD contract in license and services will see TRCA reduce its need for IT resources and increase its ability to respond rapidly to change through the implementation of Agresso Business World's latest version called Route 66, epitomizing the next generation of fast, flexible and user-friendly enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. TRCA selected Agresso Business World's Financials, Procurement, Planner, Project Costing & Billing and Reporting modules ahead of large-market ERP solutions SAP and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

TRCA controls over 40,000 acres of land in the Toronto region. It has a strong history in watershed management and leadership in applying sustainability practices. Offering knowledge, education and engagement for youth and communities through its facilities and programs, TRCA works alongside municipal partners, corporations and community groups alike to make the Toronto region a greener, healthier place to live. "We manage an ever increasing number of stakeholder relationships, business lines and projects that will likely grow and change in the future. We chose a system that could handle both this known and unknown change effectively while still providing us with timely and accurate information to support decision-making - now and in the future," says James W. Dillane, Director, Finance and Business Services for TRCA.

UNIT4 Business Software works with a number of nonprofit organizations in North America including Save the Children, TRIUMF, ACDI/VOCA, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and the International Partnership for Microbicides. These organizations share a need to respond swiftly and cost-effectively to business change like changing funding levels, new funding structures and regulatory requirements while still delivering total accountability and transparency. "Like many of our nonprofit customers, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority wanted an accurate view of the big picture at all times. Agresso Business World delivers this in an integrated system that's founded on its differentiating VITA architecture which smartly couples data, process and reporting/analytics to move in lock-step. This fundamental capability guarantees meeting TRCA's needs now and going forward," says Shelley Zapp, president of UNIT4 Business Software.

With hundreds of nonprofit customers worldwide, UNIT4 thoroughly understands the needs of these organizations and provides them with the agility to operate efficiently with a low ongoing cost of ownership. This enables UNIT4's nonprofit customers to turn a far higher percentage of grants and other funding into services that best help their stakeholders and causes.

About Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

With more than 50 years of experience in the community, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) helps people understand, enjoy and look after the natural environment. TRCA's vision is for The Living City - where human settlement can flourish forever as part of nature's beauty and diversity - and works with its partners to ensure The Living City is built on a natural foundation of healthy rivers and shorelines, green space, biodiversity and sustainable communities. For more information, please visit http://www.trca.on.ca.

About UNIT4 Business Software

UNIT4 Business Software in North America (http://www.unit4software.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UNIT4, a $576 million enterprise resource planning (ERP) company and a top six mid-market ERP software player globally. UNIT4 Business Software's leading ERP product for organizations living in change, Agresso Business World, is widely acknowledged as the business software solution that delivers the lowest Total Cost of Change. The software's unique VITA(TM) architecture allows for ongoing, post-implementation changes by business users, without the external IT costs typical of disparate systems.

Over 3,000 companies and organizations in 100 countries deploy Agresso Business World for both operational support and strategic management. The company's role-based, Web Services and Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) enabled solutions include Financial Management, Human Resources and Payroll, Procurement Management, Project Costing and Billing, Reporting and Analytics, Business Process Automation, and Field Services and Asset Maintenance.

The names of actual companies or products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Agresso, Agresso Business World, BLINC and VITA are registered trademarks of UNIT4 Business Software.

For further information:

Media contact:   
Sarah Milner   
Marketing & Communications Manager   
UNIT4 Business Software   
P: +1-250-704-4484   
C: +1-250-516-2137   
E: sarah.milner@unit4.com   
Twitter: @UNIT4SoftwareNA

SAS achieves double-digit growth, rockets 12 percent to record $2.725 billion

SAS achieves double-digit growth, rockets 12 percent to record $2.725 billion

Latest revenue milestone built on high demand for business analytics to capitalize on big data

CARY, NC, Jan. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, achieved record global revenue of US$2.725 billion in 2011. SAS marked double-digit growth in its 36th profitable year as organizations sought to uncover business opportunity in their own burgeoning data stores through the use of advanced analytics.

"Companies trust SAS® Business Analytics to solve their toughest problems, from increasing revenue through better pricing strategies to stopping fraud-related losses," said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. "Every major industry has SAS success stories worth noting. We thrive on the challenges customers bring us. It's why we exist. We take our role in their success seriously."

Goodnight said 2011 results also affirm the positive effects of steadfast investments in SAS' workforce and award-winning corporate culture despite an economic climate that remains difficult. SAS, a perennial presence on FORTUNE's Best Companies to Work For list in the U.S., announced its latest No. 3 ranking. Innovation, Goodnight said, starts with prioritizing employees.

"Innovation is what has kept SAS growing for the past 36 years," Goodnight said. "We can't succeed without innovation, new products, ideas and services. Loyal, creative, healthy employees are innovative."

In 2011, SAS grew staff 9.2 percent and reinvested 24 percent of revenue into research and development. The Americas accounted for 46 percent of total revenue; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) 42 percent; and Asia Pacific 12 percent. SAS growth was strong across the board in all major regions and countries, even in regions hardest hit economically.

SAS RECORDS ACROSS-THE-BOARD INCREASES

Revenue surged across all solution and industry categories. Software to detect fraud saw a triple-digit jump. Revenue from on-demand solutions grew almost 50 percent. Growth from analytics and information management solutions were double digit, as were gains from customer intelligence, retail, risk and supply chain solutions.

SAS experienced growth in every industry, demonstrating that more businesses recognize the benefits of analytics. Highlights include continued strong growth in financial services and double-digit increases in government, health care and life sciences.

SAS CANADA CONTINUES MARKET GROWTH AND HIRING

Celebrating another successful year, SAS Canada announced an eight per cent increase in total revenue over the previous year. These results were strongly supported by a 20 per cent increase in consulting services revenue, as more customers continue to turn to SAS to help them drive more value from their business analytics investments. In response to ongoing growth and demand, SAS Canada announced that it will continue hiring for the third year in a row.  In 2012, SAS is looking to add 43 new positions, increasing its current employee base by 15 per cent, focusing primarily on acquiring domain expertise in areas like Fraud detection and prevention, Customer Intelligence and Information Management, to support and respond to customer demand for its business analytic solutions in these areas.

"We are continuing to invest in specific industry domain knowledge and geographical needs across the country as more companies realize the benefits of using business analytics to solve their most complex business challenges, as well as help companies use analytics to gain business value from Big Data; said Carl Farrell executive Vice President SAS Americas. "As a result of these increased demands, our business continues to grow to allow us to respond to our customers' needs and build upon their success, among them:

  • Laurentian Bank: The bank is implementing the most complete financial crime detection system to date.
  • Sobeys: The grocer uses analytics to offer customers the products they want at every store, for every market. As well Sobeys targets its loyal customers with personal one-to-one communications.
  • Indigo: Derives deep insight from its customer data with SAS, and in doing so has nearly doubled the success of its marketing campaigns while continuing to grow its revenue base.
  • Canadian Institute for Health Information: Quick access to accurate analyses helps Canadian legislators make smart decisions about the country's healthcare system.
  • Passport Canada:  With the help of analytics the agency can now fulfill passport requests in 10 business days using one of the fastest and most secure document systems in the world.

SAS® ANALYTICS DELIVER RESULTS

The circle of trust among SAS, its employees and customers has yielded countless successes. Among them:

  • Berlingske Media, Denmark's largest news publisher, used demand forecasts to reduce delivery volume 12 percent without hurting sales.
  • Chartis targeted $14 million in new, low-risk business - representing 100 percent segment growth for the insurer - and avoided potential losses of $75 million.
  • Invacare, which manufactures and distributes medical products for home and long-term care, recouped its SAS investment in nine months.
  • Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson increased marketing-channel lift by up to 30 percent.
  • The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks used targeted marketing to sell fishing licenses, adding $3.8 million to the state economy.
  • Macys.com reduced its email subscription churn about 20 percent and improved analyst productivity, saving the iconic retailer's e-commerce division $500,000 a year.
  • Loyalty New Zealand creates buyer-behavior models in less than 30 minutes and can develop and launch campaigns in one day, compared with up to 20 days previously.
  • Statistics Estonia accelerated information delivery by as much as 50 percent while saving more than €1 million.
  • The North Carolina Department of Transportation shaved $500,000 off project costs and 20 percent off planning time.
  • Twiddy & Company cut invoicing errors by 15 percent and makes better decisions about which vendors to hire for maintenance at the 900 vacation properties it manages along North Carolina's Outer Banks.
  • The University of Central Florida gets real-time budget data and other reports that drive important decisions about students, programs, resources and facilities at the US' second-largest public university.

ACQUISITIONS ADDRESS DATA MANAGEMENT, CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE ROI

SAS acquisitions add crucial technologies that enhance SAS' powerful solutions. In 2011, SAS added two companies to its portfolio:

  • Assetlink in Pleasanton, California, for market-leading marketing operations management technology.
  • Baseline Consulting in Sherman Oaks, California, for data management ROI.

EFFECTIVE PARTNERING YIELDS RESULTS

In 2011, SAS introduced the only in-memory offering on the market delivering high-end and big data analytics to produce time-sensitive insights. SAS High-Performance Analytics (available on data warehouses from partners Teradata and EMC Greenplum) combines SAS expertise in analytics and its partners' deep understanding of massively parallel processing scenarios. The result offers customers a highly optimized, in-memory analytical appliance to confidently tackle complex business problems at a much faster pace.

Besides technology, SAS and its partners provide for customers' technology needs and help them become analytically driven. Participating in research projects, the SAS/Teradata Product Advisory Council and the Institute for Advanced Analytics help customers identify opportunities. The formation of the Accenture SAS Analytics Group helps senior executives gain practical insights from their data, make better decisions and improve their business outcomes

Customers working with SAS and its partners include: Australia's National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Italy's Generali Insurance, Japan's Oita Bank, Korea's Hana Financial Group, Samsung Securities, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Russia's MTS.

OUTLOOK

According to one estimate, global information is doubling every two years, and the data created last year exceeded 1.8 trillion gigabytes. Another predicts that by 2020, data will grow by 50 times. "The search for business value in big data is today's gold rush," said SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jim Davis. "Big data is interesting to the extent that you can make sense of it all, and the tool for that is analytics. Big data analytics, rather than just big data, provides real value and insight."

In 2012, SAS will continue to innovate, with new technologies to analyze big data, build stronger customer relationships, fight fraud and more. SAS will:

  • Expand its SAS High-Performance Analytics family to provide greater value through analytical, industry-specific and horizontal business solutions, helping reduce processing times for complex operations from days to hours and hours to minutes.
  • Build on its momentum in SAS Customer Intelligence solutions with new versions of SAS Social Media Analytics and SAS Marketing Automation.
  • Help financial services and other firms better manage credit and operational risk.
  • Update its anti-fraud software to help organizations in banking, government, health care and insurance better fight financial crime.
  • Continue to invest in SAS Analytics, addressing a wide range of text and predictive analysis, forecasting and operations research needs. With enhanced analytics, SAS will improve how organizations use massive volumes of structured and unstructured data for better and faster business decisions.

"What would you do with the extra time if your code ran in two minutes instead of five hours?" Goodnight challenged. "I want to reset how people think about business problems. Things are possible now that we could never think of before."

ABOUT SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 55,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation for 24 years. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs 293 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices. www.sas.com

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.  Copyright © 2012 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

For further information:

Editorial Contact: 
Suzanne Sprajcar Beldycki
Suzanne.Sprajcar@sas.com
www.twitter.com/SASsoftware
416-307-4634
www.sas.com/news

Lenovo Unwraps New Financing Plan for Small-to-Medium Business Resellers

Lenovo Unwraps New Financing Plan for Small-to-Medium Business Resellers

 

Partner Credit Program Extends Product Financing Up To 60 Days

 

Toronto, Ontario – January 20, 2012: Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today announced a new program by Lenovo Financial Services to extend financing terms to small-to-medium business (SMB) resellers in Canada. The Lenovo Partner Credit program offers eligible resellers up to 60 days of interest free credit by extending indirect financing through Lenovo’s distributors: Supercom and Synnex.

“We’ve introduced the Lenovo Partner Credit program in direct response to feedback from our resellers who target SMB customers,” said Stefan Bockhop, Director of Channels, Lenovo Canada. “These partners have told us they need working capital solutions to grow their business. Resellers now have an industry-leading solution to meet working capital objectives and leverage profitable revenue growth.”

 

The Lenovo Partner Credit Program, a joint program between Lenovo and De Lage Landen, a global provider of high-quality asset-based financing products to manufacturers and distributors of capital goods, complements Lenovo Financial Services’ existing end-user financing program, launched in June 2010. These programs give resellers powerful end-to-end solutions to address their own, as well as customer, requirements for available credit to finance PC acquisitions.

”Following the success of the Lenovo Partner Credit Program in the U.S., we are excited to expand this product to Lenovo Resellers in the Canadian market,” said G. Peter Horan, President & CEO – De Lage Landen Canada. ”SMB financing is one of the core competencies of De Lage Landen and an underserved product offering in the channel.”

The Lenovo Partner Credit program was first launched in June 2011, following Lenovo’s first Channel Partner Summit in the U.S. for SMB resellers, which focused on Lenovo’s channel strategy, products and programs to accelerate business in this high-growth segment. Lenovo has experienced recent record growth as the fastest-growing of the top five PC manufacturers for six consecutive quarters and outgrowing the worldwide PC market for eight quarters in a row. 

 

The Lenovo Partner Credit program continues to offer Registered Lenovo Resellers the benefits of a 60-day free inventory finance option in the U.S., and now Canada. Resellers can access more details and contact information about Lenovo Financial Services programs at: www.lenovopartnernetwork.com/ca/financing.

 

For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$21 billion personal technology company – and the second largest PC company in the world, serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo has major research centres in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, see
www.lenovo.com.

 

About De Lage Landen

De Lage Landen, a fully owned subsidiary of Rabobank Group, specializes in asset-based financing programs for equipment manufacturers, dealers and distributors all over the world. Our programs cover our customers’ total distribution chain, as well as the entire lease lifecycle. We offer customers a single source for leasing, administration, risk and asset management solutions. De Lage Landen’s diversified solutions include car leasing in the European market and consumer finance and factoring in the Dutch home market.

 

Establishing a close and long-lasting relationship with our customers is at the heart of our company culture. This requires a genuine interest in and a thorough understanding of our customers’ business needs and goals. We partner with our customers to tailor solutions and develop programs that support mutual growth and profitability.

 

We care not only about our customers, but also about the communities in which we operate. We strive to have a positive social and environmental impact through our products and the way we conduct business.

For more information, please visit our website: www.delagelanden.com.

 

-30-

 

For more information, please contact:

Rejane Wilson/Cindy Watson

StrategicAmpersand Inc. (for Lenovo Canada)

416 961-5595 ext. 412/433

rejane@stratamp.com / cindy@stratamp.com

 

Ann Mahdy

Lenovo Canada

416 383-4974

annmahdy@lenovo.com

Public and private sectors are collaborating to push electric vehicles - Are consumers interested?

Click here to download:
Press Release (Jan 19).doc (33 KB)
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Public and private sectors are collaborating to push electric vehicles – Are consumers interested?

TORONTO, 19 January 2012 – Various polls show that Canadian drivers’ attitudes toward electric vehicles are changing in a favourable way. The extent to which attitude change can be translated to actual sales, however, is a different question.
 
EV-related vendors, auto manufacturers, and all levels of government are making a collective effort to demonstrate to consumers the benefits of EVs – reduced emissions; convenience of home charging; cushioning from fuel price volatility; and long-term cost savings.
 
Paul Scott, a founding board member of Plug-In America, responds to consumer worries regarding the lack of public charging stations: “Adequate infrastructure does exist for most people. Anyone with a single family home has a power source that can easily be used for nearly 100% of their driving.” Undoubtedly, one of the hardest aspects of consumer education is convincing drivers that they don’t actually drive as much as they think they do.
 
These kinds of issues are being discussed all over the world by private sector senior executives and government leaders. On February 22nd and 23rd, Toronto will host its own senior-level conference on electric vehicles and what must be done to encourage its rapid adoption.
 
“We are at a crucial time when market acceptance of this new technology will depend on the ability of leaders to work together across sectors in support of infrastructure developments. Consumers need to have confidence that EVs are the next big wave. Summits like this provide the much needed forums for leaders to meet, share ideas, and discuss issues in support of market transformation,” says Andrew Bowerbank, a respected authority on sustainable development and low-carbon economics.
 
The Electric Vehicle & Infrastructure Summit will be held in Toronto on February 22nd and 23rd, attended by provincial ministries, federal agencies, utilities, energy regulators, and vendors showcasing innovative EV technologies.
 
Full agenda, speaker roster, and venue specifics can be found on their website: http://evehiclesummit.com.
 
Contact:
 
Jessica Kim
Marketing Project Manager
Strategy Institute
401-401 Richmond St W
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
(866) 298-9343 ext 206

Oracle Delivers New Release of Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools

Oracle Delivers New Release of Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools

Enhanced Search Capabilities, New Dashboards and iPad Certification in PeopleTools 8.52 Improve End User Productivity and Usability

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Jan. 17, 2012

News Facts

Reinforcing its commitment to help customers maximize the value of Oracle’s PeopleSoft applications, Oracle today announced a new release of Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools.
PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 includes valuable enhancements to the user interface, search functionality and reporting capabilities designed to improve end user productivity and reduce the total cost of ownership for PeopleSoft customers.
As part of the upgrade, all versions of PeopleSoft are now fully supported on the iPad, enabling customers to access any version of PeopleSoft applications anywhere and at any time through the intuitive iPad user interface.

Functionality Updates Drive User Adoption and Productivity

Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools is a comprehensive development toolset that enables application developers to build and customize PeopleSoft applications quickly and easily.
Enhancements within PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 include:
Intuitive keyword search: PeopleSoft Application Search simplifies the navigation of application content, business objects and business processes. This version of PeopleTools provides simple, familiar searching capabilities, similar to a common search engine, enabling users to quickly and easily find critical information. In order to provide even greater levels of productivity, the new PeopleTools search includes an integrated related-action framework that enables users to take contextual actions directly from the search results.
Mobile access on the iPad: Certification for the iPad gives PeopleSoft users an intuitive and safe platform with functionality targeted to optimize their dynamic business needs. Oracle is the only enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendor that offers a comprehensive enterprise suite on the iPad.
Interactive user interface: Updated, interactive pagelets and inter-pagelet communication features in Workcenters and Dashboards enable the configuration and deployment of functionally rich, highly usable applications.
Integrated reporting functionality: Data retrieval and reporting enhancements for Oracle BI Publisher, PeopleSoft Query, Pivot Grids, Oracle Essbase and nVision improve user productivity.
The release of PeopleTools 8.52 is the latest update Oracle has delivered to extend the value of PeopleSoft applications between major releases. This new release of PeopleTools powers Oracle’s recently introduced Oracle’s PeopleSoft HCM 9.1 Feature Pack 2, which delivered key updates to user experience, navigation and search.

Supporting Quote

“Thousands of customers around the world depend on Oracle’s PeopleSoft to help run their organizations, and any way we can improve user experience and adoption directly supports their business success,” said Paco Aubrejuan, group vice president, Oracle’s PeopleSoft. “With the release of Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52, we have delivered improvements to user interface, search and mobility to extend the value of PeopleSoft to our customers.”

Supporting Resources

About Oracle Applications

Over 65,000 customers worldwide rely on Oracle's complete, open and integrated enterprise applications to achieve superior results. Oracle provides a secure path for customers to benefit from the latest technology advances that performance. Oracle Applications Unlimited is Oracle's commitment to customer choice through continuous investment and innovation in current applications offerings. Oracle's next-generation Fusion Applications build upon that commitment, and are designed to work with and evolve Oracle's Applications Unlimited offerings. Oracle's lifetime support policy helps ensure customers will continue to have a choice in upgrade paths, based on their enterprise needs. For more information on the latest Oracle Applications releases go to www.oracle.com/applications.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact Info

Danielle Cormier-Smith
Oracle
+1.610.766.3463
danielle.cormier@oracle.com

Joan Levy
Blanc & Otus
+1.415.856.5110
jlevy@blancandotus.com

Guardly Launches Free Mobile Emergency Phone Service to Students at 67 Universities and Colleges Across Canada

Connects students, faculty and staff to campus security instantly with mobile app for smartphones, available anywhere on campus

TORONTO – January 19, 2012 – Guardly develops mobile applications that broadcast calls for help and connects people to provide assistance in case of emergency. Today, Guardly is announcing a free nationwide service for students, faculty and staff at 67 Canadian universities and colleges across Canada. By simply downloading the Guardly app and registering with a university-issued email address, campus members can hold their own personal code-blue emergency phones, providing one-touch mobile access to campus security from virtually any location on campus. This is the first time that a service of its kind is being made available to Canadian students.

“It was a natural evolution of our technology, to enable a service like this for students,” says Guardly CEO, Josh Sookman. “Given the high prevalence of sexual assault against women and increases in violent acts on some campuses, we feel this innovation should be something provided to students for free. So we’ve done just that!”

Rona Ambrose, the Federal Minister of the Status of Women Canada, has recently shown public interest in taking action against violence against women at Canadian colleges and universities. In November 2011, Ms. Ambrose announced a request for proposals to end violence against women on post-secondary campuses. By empowering each person on campus with a virtual emergency phone to quickly report crimes and other emergencies, Guardly hopes to foster communities on campus that will look out for one another, boost safety awareness and action against crimes. For perpetrators, this is a very scary proposition since anyone within earshot can now report crimes immediately.

Eligibility and Usage of Free Mobile Emergency Phone Service for Campuses
Every student, faculty and staff member at the 67 supported universities and colleges across Canada will be eligible to use the free mobile emergency phone service. To register for and use the free service, you must sign up with your post-secondary school-issued email address, which automatically associates your account with your affiliated university or college. Once registered, when using Guardly on-campus to send any emergency alert, you will be connected to campus security by phone. We know when to connect you with campus security by quickly finding your GPS location and determining if you are within the boundaries of the campus. If you are off-campus, Guardly will not connect you with campus security, but will allow you to alert and connect with up to 15 people in your safety group as well as escalate more severe emergencies to 9-1-1.

Guardly is available as a free download on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.

Helping Ordinary Students Become Extra-Ordinary with the Campus Hero Campaign
Guardly is inviting students to join and participate in its Campus Hero Campaign. Joining the Campus Hero Campaign is easy and represents a positive step toward ending violence on Canadian campuses.

By downloading the Guardly app, students can work together as a collective group to take a stand against anybody looking to cause trouble on their campus. By simply sharing a message and encouraging friends to protect themselves and each other, we create vital awareness around violence against women and campus safety. In effect, students are assuming the roles of Campus Heroes.

To learn more about becoming a Campus Hero on your campus visit: https://www.guardly.com/campushero

Guardly Safe Campus Program
The Guardly Safe Campus program is a management layer for campus security teams to manage incoming Guardly alerts. Partnering with the Guardly Safe Campus Program gives campus security more visibility into each emergency call on campus including the ability to identify callers, view additional profile information, track caller location in real-time and communicate with emergency callers by voice or instant messaging. To learn more, please visit: https://www.guardly.com/partners/safe-campus-program

About Guardly
Guardly (https://www.guardly.com) is a platform for emergency communication that facilitates rapid social, mobile and location-aware responses to calls for assistance. Smartphone users that find themselves in an emergency situation can alert, connect and collaborate with local authorities, campus security as well as their own safety groups in a single tap. Guardly is based in Toronto and raised venture funding from Golden Venture Partners, Extreme Venture Partners and angel investors. Guardly is committed to dramatically decreasing the amount of time it takes responders to arrive at an emergency.

Gartner Says Master Data Management Is Critical to Achieving Effective Information Governance

Gartner Says Master Data Management Is Critical to Achieving Effective Information Governance

Analysts to Discuss the Importance of Information Governance and How to Master It at the Gartner Master Data Management Summit 2012, February 8-9, in London and April 4-5 in Los Angeles

STAMFORD, Conn., January 19, 2012—  

               Master data management (MDM) is critical to achieving effective information governance, according to Gartner, Inc. Failure to manage information accurately has been the root cause of several incidents, including the leak of sensitive information to WikiLeaks, and can be fatal to the success of MDM programs.

“The recent global financial crisis has put information governance in the spotlight," said Ted Friedman, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Information governance is a priority of IT and business leaders as a result of various pressures, including regulatory compliance mandates and the urgent need for improved decision-making.” 

MDM is a technology-enabled business discipline in which business and IT organizations work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency and accountability of the organization's official, shared master data assets. It is increasingly identified by organizations with (1) the launch of a formal enterprise information management (EIM) strategy and (2) the foundation of an information governance program that supports EIM. 

MDM is one of the most notable information governance programs, and the MDM market continues to grow because it focuses on specific business drivers and business-led initiatives. Gartner estimates worldwide MDM software revenue will reach $1.9 billion in 2012, a 21 percent increase from 2011. 

Gartner has compiled several MDM predictions to help organizations plan for 2012 and beyond. They include the following: 

By 2016, 20 percent of CIOs in regulated industries will lose their jobs for failing to implement the discipline of information governance successfully.

“We’ve seen rapidly growing interest in information governance-related topics, and this trend shows no sign of abating,” said Debra Logan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “Information governance is the only way to comply with regulations, both current and future, and responsibility for it lies with the CIO and the chief legal officer. When organizations suffer high-profile data losses, especially involving violations of the privacy of citizens or consumers, they suffer serious reputational damage and often incur fines or other sanctions. IT leaders will have to take at least part of the blame for these incidents.”

In 2012, highly regulated businesses that do not already have information-archiving technology should invest in it in order to bring email and files under control. The governance-related technology of information archiving has reached early majority and is a key component of an evolving information governance technology strategy.

Through 2016, spending on governing information must increase to five times the current level to be successful. 

During the next few years, information governance initiatives will broaden significantly to include more subdisciplines — information quality, life cycle management/retention, privacy and security — and more of the organization’s critical data. More people will have to be assigned to information governance, both in dedicated roles (such as information architect and data analyst) and as part-time contributors (such as stakeholders participating in information governance councils and data stewards).

“Regardless of the structure, information governance responsibilities will become part of the roles of more people, and the time and funding allocated to these roles will need to increase dramatically in the typical organization,” said Mr. Friedman. “Organizations will have to increase their investment in related tools and technologies, both to facilitate the development and refinement of policy, and to distill policies into executable rules that tools can apply to information.”

It is important to set an expectation that investment in information governance will have no end — information assets will be strategic to the organization for as long as it lasts, so information governance must be an "evergreen" program with ongoing funding.

Through 2016, only 33 percent of organizations that initiate an MDM program will succeed in demonstrating the value of information governance.

When IT managers start an MDM program, they often struggle to get business stakeholders on board. They therefore fail to demonstrate the business value of MDM, as the necessary changes in business processes are not supported.

“An MDM program is not a project but a commitment by the business to leverage information for reuse in order to improve business process outcomes,” said Andrew White, research vice president at Gartner. “The real barriers to MDM adoption remain ones of change management, governance process, organizational change and measurement of business value. The creation of effective governance organizations, policies and processes that focus on the master data life cycle is key to success with MDM.”

Organizations need to create an MDM governance framework, an organizational structure, and a set of roles and responsibilities to suit their MDM strategy and politics.

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Predicts 2012: Information Governance and MDM Programs Gain Traction," available on Gartner’s website at www.gartner.com/resId=1856616. This document is part of Gartner’s overall Predicts 2012 coverage, available through www.gartner.com/predicts. The Gartner Predicts Special Report overview links to more than 70 Predicts reports, categorized by topic, industry and market.

About the Gartner Master Data Management Summit 2012
The Gartner Master Data Management Summit is designed to help organizations realize the benefits of MDM, whatever their maturity level — from those just getting started with MDM, and those looking to move up the maturity curve, to those seeking advanced insight into the future of master data. Gartner analysts will help organizations identify where MDM creates growth opportunities, shortens time-to-market, improves the accuracy of decision-making and addresses regulatory compliance.

The Gartner Master Data Management Summit 2012 in London will take place on February 8-9 at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel. For further information about the Summit, please visit www.gartner.com/eu/mdm. Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Laurence Goasduff at laurence.goasduff@gartner.com.

The Gartner Master Data Management Summit 2012 in Los Angeles will take place on April 4-5 at the JW Marriott hotel at LA Live. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/mdm. Members of the media can register for the event by contacting Christy Pettey at christy.pettey@gartner.com.

Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc using #GartnerMDM.

Contacts:

Laurence Goasduff
Gartner
+ 44 1784 267 195
laurence.goasduff@gartner.com

Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a valuable partner to 60,000 clients in 11,500 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,500 associates, including 1,250 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

Turning clicks into customers: Rogers launches full service online marketing for local business

Turning clicks into customers: Rogers launches full service online marketing for local business

Outrank simplifies online marketing for small and medium businesses across Canada

TORONTO, Jan. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Rogers Communications Inc. announced today the exclusive availability of OutrankTM, a new, best in class online marketing solution that helps small businesses generate inbound phone calls and emails by marketing them online where consumers are searching for their services.

"Millions of Canadians are searching online every day for local services and we know that less than 45% of Canadian small businesses have a website," said Milind Mehere, General Manager of Rogers Outrank. "We are excited to launch a simple and affordable service that enables business owners to attract new customers and achieve a positive return on their marketing investment."

Outrank offers local businesses the following services across desktop and mobile devices:

  • Website:  professional websites designed to showcase the local business brand, convert site visitors into phone calls and developed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices.

  • Paid Search Marketing: prominent placement in the ads section of top search engines through a combination of dedicated marketing experts and our proprietary bidding algorithm.

  • Search Engine Optimization:  prominent placement in the "natural" section of top search engines through a set of best practices for website development, maps optimization, custom content creation and link building.

  • Performance Dashboard: provides access to campaign results including website traffic and metrics on the number of phone calls and emails a business is receiving from a campaign.

"Rogers is the team behind Canadian small businesses that helps them to grow through providing best in class products and dedicated support like Live Agent and Small Business Specialists in stores," said John Boynton, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Communications. "We know that millions of consumers are searching online for products, places and services and many expect to instantly connect with businesses - Outrank helps local businesses to connect with these customers."

To learn more about Rogers Outrank, or to join the growing team, visit www.RogersOutrank.com.

About Rogers Communications Inc.:
Rogers is a diversified public Canadian communications and media company. We are Canada's largest provider of wireless voice and data communications services and one of Canada's leading providers of cable television, high speed internet and telephony services. Through Rogers Media we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, magazines and trade publications, and sports entertainment. We are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). For further information about the Rogers group of companies, please visit www.rogers.com.

For further information:

Allison Fitton
Rogers Communications Inc.
Allison.fitton@rci.rogers.com
416-935-8860

TELUS Health Solutions launches new Canadian health reference portal, myhealthreference.com

TELUS Health Solutions launches new Canadian health reference portal, myhealthreference.com

88 per cent of Canadians are looking for online health information with Canadian references, yet 72 per cent concerned about reliability*

MONTREAL, Jan. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - TELUS is making access to reliable, verified Canadian healthcare information online a snap with myhealthreference.com. myhealthreference.com, a new health reference internet portal, is designed to help Canadians find the relevant information and tools they need to take better care of their health and the health of their loved ones.

A recent national poll by Vision Critical found 72 per cent of Canadians are concerned with the reliability of healthcare information they find online, yet 53 per cent still use the Internet as their primary health information reference.

"Technology has empowered us with convenient, fast access to health information. Yet much of the online information is unverified. myhealthreference.com will allow Canadians to quickly find credible, reliable and expert-reviewed health information for themselves and their families," said Paul Lepage, senior vice-president, TELUS Health Solutions.

With 66 per cent of Canadians seeking a single point for online health information, the new site will deliver current content, reviewed articles and specialized functions to make the consumer experience "future friendly".

The new site includes access to:

  • Web and mobile tools such as a symptom checker, self-assessment modules, healthy habits guides and smoking cessation programs

  • Powerful search feature that "learns" from user trends and health news to deliver relevant, credible content to returning visitors

  • Reliable reference content and news from trusted Canadian sources covering health topics from A to Z

  • Advice from physicians, pharmacists, naturopaths and nutritionists, as well as information to find specialized local resources

The Vision Critical survey also reveals:

  • 90 per cent of women identified themselves as the primary health seekers in the family

  • 70 per cent of mothers first look to the Internet to gather health advice for their children

  • 94 per cent of mothers prefer a website with information from a Canadian reference

  • 66 per cent of Canadians have used online health information for positive results

  • 25 per cent of Quebecers do not have a family physician. The highest rate from all provinces surveyed (17% BC, 14% AB, 8% MB/SK, 10% ON, 13% ATL)

  • 33 per cent of Canadians over 55 say it's difficult to find dietary tips for specific chronic health conditions

To explore the new site go to www.myhealthreference.com.

*The Vision Critical poll of 1,500 Canadians was conducted from December 19 to December 22, 2011.

About TELUS Health Solutions
TELUS Health Solutions is a leader in telehealth, electronic health records, remote patient monitoring, mobile home and community care, consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management. Our solutions give health authorities, providers, primary care physicians, patients and consumers the power to enhance decision making and improve outcomes for Canadians. TELUS Health Solutions is transforming how information is used across the continuum of care from hospital to home with solutions that foster collaboration, drive prevention and empower care teams and patients. TELUS Health Solutions is Canada's leading Healthcare IT Company as cited by the Branham Group for five years and for being honoured as the ITAC Health Company of the Year (2008) and Health Transformation Company of the Year (2009). For more information about TELUS Health Solutions, please visit www.telushealth.com and www.telushealthspace.com.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $10.3 billion of annual revenue and 12.6 million customer connections including 7.2 million wireless subscribers, 3.6 million wireline network access lines, 1.3 million Internet subscribers and more than 450,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Eleven TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

Survey Methodology
From December 19 to December 22, 2011, Vision Critical conducted an online survey among a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,500 Canadians who are Vision Critical Forum panel members. Individuals were sampled according to Census data to be representative of the Canadian national adult population. The full dataset has been statistically weighted according to the most current gender, age, region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. The margin of error is ±2.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

For further information:

Emma Miller
TELUS Media Relations
647-464-6817
Emma.Miller@telus.com

René Samulewitsch
High Road Communications
416-644-2287
Rene.samulewitsch@highroad.com

CRTC supports the evolution of advanced telecommunications networks across Canada

CRTC supports the evolution of advanced telecommunications networks across Canada

OTTAWA-GATINEAU, Jan. 19, 2012 /CNW/ - Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduced a new policy that will encourage large telephone companies to rapidly adopt Internet Protocol (IP) throughout their networks. This shift will promote the development of innovative services for Canadians.

"The networks of the future will be primarily based on Internet Protocol," said Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. "We have established basic principles to ensure this technology becomes the industry standard for voice networks as quickly as possible. The industry was able to reach a consensus on many key issues during this proceeding, and we appreciate their commitment."

At the moment, companies are at different stages in their adoption of IP. Large telephone companies have traditionally relied on voice circuit-switched technology (known as TDM) to transfer telephone calls to and from other service providers. Although they are gradually migrating their networks to IP, large telephone companies continue to rely on the older technology.

By comparison, companies that began offering telephone services in the last few years, such as cable companies and wireless providers, have built IP-based networks. At present, they are responsible for converting their IP telephone calls to the older TDM standard.

In areas where a large telephone company uses IP to transfer telephone calls to either an affiliated or unaffiliated provider, it must provide a similar arrangement to any other provider that asks for it. The CRTC is requiring large telephone companies to negotiate such arrangements within six months of a formal request.

The CRTC has also simplified the rules under which the costs of transferring telephone calls between a wireless and a wireline provider are shared. A key point was the different obligations between independent wireless providers and those that are affiliated with a larger communications company. Currently, independent providers are responsible for paying the entire cost unless they allow alternative long-distance providers access to their networks.

Under the CRTC's new policy, wireless providers will no longer be required to give this access to alternative long-distance providers since they already offer a variety of plans and Canadians can choose from other long-distance options, such as prepaid cards and local access numbers. These changes will reduce costs for many wireless providers, particularly for those that have recently entered the Canadian wireless market, and level the playing field between independent providers and those that are affiliated with a larger communications company.

Today's decision follows a proceeding that included a public hearing that was held in Gatineau, Que., from October 24 to November 1, 2011.

By the end of the month, the CRTC will have completed a comprehensive review of its major telecommunications regulations. This exercise was launched in response to the government's policy direction to rely as much as possible on market forces, and today's decision represents one of the last steps. During the last five years, the CRTC has deregulated many segments of the telecommunications market and reduced the scope of existing regulations.

Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2012-24
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2012/2012-24.htm

The CRTC

The CRTC is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.

Reference document:
Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2011-206
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-206.htm

For further information:

Media Relations:
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/CRTCSubmissionMU/forms/Mediarelations.aspx?lang=e
Tel: 819-997-9403, Fax: 819-997-4245

General Inquiries:
Tel: 819-997-0313, TDD: 819-994-0423, Fax: 819-994-0218
Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782)    
TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-CRTC (2782)
http://crtc.gc.ca/RapidsCCM/Register.asp?lang=E