Guide on internet telefony for SMEs published 13. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot A guide on internet telephonie (VoIP) drawn up by Swyx, a VoIP provider, is now available to small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). The brochure is to explain the advantages of VoIP to decision makers and managing directors in SMEs and serve as a reference. It contains a lot of useful information.
Microsoft threatens EU to postpone Vista launch 10. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot The antimonopoly dispute between Microsoft and the European Commission is about to escalate. In a press statement released on September 7th Microsoft threatened to again postpone the launch date of Windows Vista ,which is the operating system successor to Windows XP, in Europe as a consequence of continuing objections on part of the European antimonopoly …
Economy in Europe grows faster and faster 8. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot This year economic growth has accelerated to 2.7 percent in the EU and to 2.5 percent in the Eurozone. According to the Commission growth is mainly driven by internal demand, in particular by investment, and has not been that strong since the year 2000. In view of this favourable business climate the labour market is …
Unit labour costs still relatively high in Germany 8. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot As was reported by the Cologne-based Institute of the German Economy (IW Köln) a comparison among 15 industrialized countries showed that Germany had the fifth highest unit labour costs in 2005 after those of Great Britain, Denmark, Italy and France. On average, Germany´s competitors in the processing industry had labour costs per production unit which …
Personnel outsourcing industry reaches critical point 7. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot According to the Gartner market research institute the outsourcing industry is once again considered to grow strongly in the current year. A total turnover of 134.7 billion Dollars in this sector which is expected by the end of this year would amount to a growth by 8.3 percent as compared to the previous year. However, …
Open source provides big saving potential to SMEs 5. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot A change over to freely available applications may lead to substantial cost reductions for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), given that license fees would no longer be applicable. Linux-based applications are an interesting alternative to the dominating messaging groupware solutions such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. A report by Berlecon Research demonstrates that many …
Valuable information brochure on online management consulting and coaching available for SMEs 5. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot Consulting and in particular coaching are so-called “personal” services for the success of which there is the precondition of an intense co-operation between consultant and customer. This precondition is even more important for coaching than for consulting. Against this background, how important a role can online-consulting play and is such a version of this service …
First conference to be held by Federal confederation of German service industry 5. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot On September 20th from 9 am to 5 pm the Confederation of the German service industry (BDWi) will stage their 1. Conference of German service companies in Berlin. The event is intended as a forum for the German service economy which also offers the opportunity to exchange views going beyond the realms of one´s own …
Banks reduce overdraw facilities 5. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot Entrepreneurs who overdraw their business accounts for more than 90 days should in due course reorganize their financial requirements. According to Basel II (see MittelstandsWiki) overdrafts would “generally be considered as a plain negative criterion and early warning signal” as reports the Wirtschaft magazine published by the chamber of commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria. …
Products made in Germany are a big success in Russia 4. September 2006 by Thomas Jannot Russia is a huge country and also a market very difficult to open up. Eleven time zones and an average population density of 8.5 people per square kilometer are not exactly encouraging for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) to venture into this market. However, it seems to be quite interesting a calculation to compare Moscow …