As the globalising world has a bigger influence on the way people do business, a number of companies have changed their software and operating systems to become more efficient and technologically advanced, to allow them to compete in the global arena. As local markets become unstable and foreign shores provide more lucrative prospects for expansion, a number of companies are turning to the convenience of virtual offices. Virtualized locationsolutions, which we found at http://www.regus.com.au/products/virtual-offices/index.aspx, are available for such companies, which think clients that allow employees to stay connected even when they are not in the office. Other companies have employed cutting edge technology to streamline their software solutions and provide higher levels of service and better quality control across borders.
Blackline Systems, a leading financial software provider, has announced the addition of five global offices to the outlets currently operating in Los Angeles and Sydney as part of it global expansion strategy. New offices have been opened in Chicago, Atlanta, London, Portland and New York and the company has its sights set on European offices before the end of the year is out. The company’s new Australian client Veolia Transport NSW will join the likes of Lafarge SA in France, Tenneco Gmbh in Germany and Fujitsu A/S in Denmark and Blackline’s existing clientele of Boeing, AT & T, United Airlines and Whirlpool.
Accounting and professional service companies like Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC have continued to use Blackline Systems as their software of choice and the company’s revenues have increased by 50% for 2010 and 2011 and expect to continue the trend for the end of 2012. Blackline is one of the 500 largest software providers in the world and caters solutions for Fortune 100 to Fortune 1000 companies throughout the world. Blackline is credited with creating the world’s first Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation solution.
In other news,Allianz Australia has announced that it will join the ranks of other companies that have embraced technology and all of its potential. The insurance giant has introduced Apple iPads for a trial group in IT and claims departments as the company is under more pressure to adopt thin client computing systems.
The company has already replaced 150 of its out dated desktops with thin clients, with a view to expanding the replacements to 450 before the end of the year. The new technology will enable staff to access Allianz’s centralised claim systems at any time of night or day. Allianz Australia has motivated its decision by saying that they need to be operational 24-hours a day, seven days a week and the company has a number of staff who are not always in the office. The new system allows them to access the network whenever they need to.
The trial has been in place for around a month and has helped employees to handle emergency situations much better. It replaces the traditional telephonic method of doing business, which opened itself up to human error as staff would take information over the phone and only enter it into the system later on, creating margin for error.
The new system has also allowed more employees to work from outside of the office and still maintain high levels of productivity. A company spokesperson was quoted as saying that employees on call and those working from home could still perform at the required levels and have access to the company network wherever they are.
The company has overcome is security concern about tablets getting lost or stolen by using the VMware View software technology which means that devices do not store information and users have to input a security token before they are granted access to the system.