Virtualization, Cloud Analytics
Bright solution: Lithonia Lighting turns on Datalliance SaaS-based VMI
Datalliance, provider of vendor managed inventory (VMI) and other e-commerce services, says Lithonia Lighting , an Acuity Brands lighting business, will use Datalliance VMI as a service. Lithonia will initiate its VMI program implementation with a pilot distributor site and then will roll out VMI to a select base of distributors.Lithonia Lighting identified VMI as strategic technology to enhance an electronic partnership with key distributors.“VMI will give us better visibility of actual product sales for each distributor,” says Amra Boucher, manager, E-Business Services, Lithonia Lighting. “This detailed sales information will help us evaluate and fine-tune our product offering to determine the most profitable mix of products for individual distributors.
People pleasers: Human capital management systems track the ever-changing workforce
Fieldglass , a platform provider for acquiring contingent workers, services, and direct hires, reports new efficiencies in its InSite Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite that allow users to realize cost- and time-savings in managing human capital acquisition programs, including: Dynamic organizational structures : A significant new capability in InSite that overcomes one of the largest challenges of implementations: gathering and validating all of the organizational structures from myriad sources; and Enhancements to the InSite upload API : Enhancements result in nearly 20 new utilities, whereby users can add new lines of business, and make mass changes to the system—as in the case of an organizational restructuring. Through InSite Contingent, InSite Services and InSite Recruiter, the suite fully supports processes for acquiring contingent labor, service providers, and employees. Additional solutions track talent pools—such as retirees—that may be candidates for temporary positions; automate the workflow associated with the on- and off-boarding processes; and allow interaction between InSite and other applications via a Web service API.Workforce management specialist NaturalInsight also has new services said to strengthen remote management of people, places, and projects—including work validation and tracking components for better managing large-scale projects in different job locations. Specifically, a “Check-In” utility enables real-time monitoring of workers as they arrive onsite for time-critical projects. Workers dial into a user-friendly telephone system that recognizes their mobile phone number and requests the worker confirm their location.
ASP basics
What is an application service provider (ASP)? According to the ASP Industry Consortium (allaboutasp.org), a trade organization that represents ASPs, "Application service providers deliver and manage applications and computer services from remote data centers to multiple users via the internet or a private network.