Business Intelligence - What is it?
The Business Intelligence Competency covers SQL Server in concert with Office and SharePoint. It helps you deliver Business Intelligence across your organization through the familiar Office user experience and provides a rich set of platform capabilities to ensure credible, consistent data that support today’s analysis, data warehousing, and Big Data needs.
What we do
We take your data possibly from a myriad of sources and optimise it for analysis and reporting. This data can be disseminated via Microsoft Reporting Services or SharePoint and using SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services we build comprehensive, analytic solutions for predictive analysis and interactive exploration of aggregated data.
Why use GSD?
We understand traditional Online Transactional Processing Systems very well. Interestingly the data designs for running these ERP systems (and your business efficiently) are not necessary the best designs for reporting. We understand how to create Data warehouse repositories or copies of this data that are designed around reporting and analytics. Using familiar Microsoft Office tools such as Excel and SharePoint we are able to deliver powerful solutions. Solutions that provide users of all levels, with new insights, compelling reports and analytical applications that can be easily shared and collaborated with colleagues.
The three core entities to describe Business Intelligence are:
SQL Server
Excel
SharePoint
Excel
Put your company’s most valuable information to work to fuel better decision-making and insights with Microsoft Excel and the powerful PowerPivot add-in.
Microsoft Excel is the industry standard for gathering and analyzing data to help make better decisions daily. Excel 2013 enables self-service BI as a natural part of user’s day-to-day activities with PowerPivot for data mash ups, Power View for stunning interactive data visualization and Data Models powered by xVelocity in-Memory technologies for extreme analytical performance and scale on hundreds of millions of rows of data.
Microsoft "Data Explorer" Preview for Excel: Try the upcoming capabilities for Self-Service BI with the Microsoft "Data Explorer" Preview for Excel. This preview gives you an early look into upcoming features that simplify access to public and corporate data. Now you can easily discover, combine, and refine data for better analysis in Excel.
Microsoft SharePoint lets users share and collaborate on data from multiple systems within a single browser-based experience. Interactive graphics make data more meaningful at a glance-and easily shareable across all levels of the organization. Empower better decision-making with SharePoint Server.
PerformancePoint Dashboards and Scorecards provide advanced filtering, analytics and business performance monitoring, quickly surfacing answers to user's questions.
Excel Services enable increased productivity and decision making by allowing employees to share their own workbooks and analyze business insights in a collaborative, managed and secure environment.
SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint lets users share and collaborate on data from multiple systems within a single browser-based experience. Interactive graphics make data more meaningful at a glance-and easily shareable across all levels of the organization. Empower better decision-making with SharePoint Server.
PerformancePoint Dashboards and Scorecards provide advanced filtering, analytics and business performance monitoring, quickly surfacing answers to user's questions.
Excel Services enable increased productivity and decision making by allowing employees to share their own workbooks and analyze business insights in a collaborative, managed and secure environment.
Power View empowers SharePoint users to rapidly explore data visually and interactively, easily create a story, present and share reports effortlessly. Power View is powered by SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services.
IT Management dashboards provide administrators with line-of-sight into the content that end users build and publish to SharePoint. Allow IT to manage and protect data without hampering creativity.
Microsoft SQL Server 2012
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence delivers a comprehensive platform empowering organizations to build and deploy secure, scalable, and manageable BI solutions.
Reporting Services is a platform for development and deployment of professionally looking, richly formatted operational and ad-hoc reports. Power View empowers users to rapidly explore data visually and interactively, easily create a story, present, and share reports effortlessly.
Analysis Services is a platform for building rich and high performance analytical models (multidimensional, tabular and data mining) that can be used for interactive data analysis, reporting, visualization and predictive analysis using a number of BI tools.
Data Mining provides new business insights, a reliable basis for forecasting and a comprehensive data-mining development environment.
Master Data Services ensure that the integrity of information and consistency of data is maintained across a wide array of applications.
Data Quality Services is a new offering of SQL Server 2012 allowing customers to cleanse, match, standardize, and enrich their data to deliver trusted information for business intelligence, data warehouse, and transaction processing workloads.
Integration Services helps you connect and transform disparate data sources with a scalable enterprise data integration platform with exceptional extract, transform, and load (ETL) capabilities.
Data Warehousing helps your business reduce long-term storage requirements and generate reports faster with solutions that aggregate, compress, and store data in a dynamic, scalable, and integrated system.
Application Development - What is it?
The Application Development competency showcases our expertise in developing applications on Windows 8, Windows Server and Windows Azure platforms leveraging Visual Studio 2012.
In November 2012 our previous Microsoft ISV, Web development and Software Development competencies were merged to form a new competency called Application Development.
What we do
We build custom-developed solutions, business applications and provide integration to advanced web portals - running on premise or in the cloud.
Why use GSD?
The Application Development competency gives us the ability to differentiate our business as a trusted expert in application development. With our proven expertise in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 development system and Microsoft’s Partner Network (MPN) support we are able to provide unprecedented solutions running on the latest Windows Server and Windows 8 operating systems. Combined with Windows Azure platform and emerging cloud-based and web business models we have the solution for you.
Impact of new product releases
The launch of the new Application Development competency is aligned with the release of the associated Microsoft development platforms and solutions.
Here is a Brief Overview of these products:
Windows Azure
Windows Azure is an open and flexible cloud platform that enables you to quickly build, deploy, and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any language, tool, or framework. And you can integrate your public cloud applications with your existing IT environment.
Benefits
Windows Azure enables you to quickly build, deploy, and manage applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. You can build applications using any operating system, language, or tool.
Windows Azure delivers a 99.95% monthly SLA and enables you to build and run highly available applications without focusing on the infrastructure. It provides automatic OS and service patching, built in network load balancing and resiliency to hardware failure. It supports a deployment model that enables you to upgrade your application without downtime.
Windows Azure enables you to use any language, framework, or tool to build applications. Features and services are exposed using open REST protocols. The Windows Azure client libraries are available for multiple programming languages and are released under an open source license and hosted on GitHub.
Unlimited servers. Unlimited storage.
Windows Azure enables you to easily scale your applications to any size. It is a fully automated self-service platform that allows you to provision resources within minutes. Elastically grow or shrink your resource usage based on your needs. You only pay for the resources your application uses. Windows Azure is available in multiple datacenters around the world, enabling you to deploy your applications close to your customers.
Powerful capabilities
Windows Azure delivers a flexible cloud platform that can satisfy any application need. It enables you to reliably host and scale out your application code within compute roles. You can store data using relational SQL databases, NoSQL table stores, and unstructured blob stores, and optionally use Hadoop and business intelligence services to data-mine it. You can take advantage of Windows Azure’s robust messaging capabilities to enable scalable distributed applications, as well as deliver hybrid solutions that run across a cloud and on-premise enterprise environment. Windows Azure’s distributed caching and CDN services allow you to reduce latency and deliver great application performance anywhere in the world.
Start building great apps today!
Windows 8
What's new...?
The Start screen - Everything you care about most is on the new Start screen. Tiles on the Start screen are connected to people, apps, folders, photos, or websites, and are alive with the latest info, so you're up to date at a glance.
Mouse, keyboard... and now touch - Windows 8 is perfect for PCs with only a mouse and keyboard, those with touchscreens, and those with both. Whatever kind of PC you have, you'll discover fast and fluid ways to switch between apps, move things around, and go smoothly from one place to another.
New PCs - There are amazing new PCs of all kinds, including sleek and lightweight tablets, convertibles, and laptops.
Apps from the Windows Store - Windows 8 comes with a new store for apps, the Windows Store. Open the Store right from your Start screen to browse and download apps for cooking, photos, sports, news, and a lot more—many of them free.
Your Windows, everywhere - Sign in with your Microsoft account to any of your PCs running Windows 8 and you'll immediately see your own background, display preferences, and settings.
The desktop - The desktop that you're used to—with its taskbar, folders, and icons—is still here and better than ever, with a new taskbar and streamlined file management.
Security - Stay up to date and more secure with Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, and Windows Update.
Speed - Windows 8 starts up faster, switches between apps faster, and uses power more efficiently than Windows 7.
It goes where you go - Your pictures, files, and settings are easily synced through the cloud, so you can get to what you need almost anywhere.
It plays as hard as it works - Windows 8 gives you the power to quickly browse, watch movies, play games, polish your CV, and pull together a killer presentation—all on a single PC.
You keep all your files - If your PC is running Windows 7, your files, apps, and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8.
You keep familiar programs - Programs that run on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8.
Windows Server 2012
With Windows Server 2012, Microsoft delivers a server platform built on our experience of building and operating many of the world's largest cloud-based services and datacenter. Whether you are setting-up a single server for your small business or architecting a major new datacenter environment, Windows Server 2012 will help you cloud-optimize your IT so you can fully meet your organization's unique needs.
Discover Windows Server 2012 - Beyond Virtualization
Offers a dynamic, multitenant infrastructure to help you scale and secure workloads and build a private cloud. Windows Server 2012 can help you provide:
- Complete Virtualization Platform
- Improved Scalability and Performance
- Connecting to Cloud Services
- The Power of Many Servers, the Simplicity of One
Delivers a highly available and easy to manage cloud-optimized platform. Windows Server 2012 can help you provide:
- Flexible Storage
- Continuous Availability
- Management Efficiency
- Every App, Any Cloud
Offers a cloud-optimized server platform that gives you the flexibility to build and deploy applications and websites on-premises, in the cloud, or across both. Windows Server 2012 can help you deliver:
- Flexibility to Build On-Premises and in the Cloud
- A Scalable and Elastic Infrastructure
- An Open Web and App Development Environment
- Modern Workstyle, Enabled
Provides users with flexible access to data and applications while simplifying management and maintaining security, control, and compliance. Windows Server 2012 can help you offer:
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Access to Applications and Data from Virtually Anywhere, Any Device
- A Full Windows Experience Anywhere
- Enhanced Data Security and Compliance
Visual Studio 2012 Update 2
Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (Visual Studio 2012.2) is the latest update for Visual Studio, providing new functionality and fixes. In addition, Update 2 is a cumulative release that also includes all of the benefits delivered in Update 1. As part of Visual Studio’s commitment to continuous delivery, this release has enhancements that span feature areas across all editions, with a special focus on the modern lifecycle capabilities introduced in Premium and Ultimate. The new functionality in Update 2 focuses on four key areas:
- Agile planning
- Quality enablement
- Line-of-business (LOB) application development
- Developer experience
Small Business - What is it?
The Small Business Competency is focused on Microsoft Office 365, the complete cloud based solution for all of your office requirements. Anywhere access to email, calendar, documents, and HD video conferencing that works seamlessly with the Office you know. Work with multiple devices seamlessly, both online and offline, with the latest version of the familiar Office applications (like Word, PowerPoint, Excel), that you currently run on your PC or laptop. No more licensing hassles with the added advantage that you are always up to date.
See a plan that best suites you - Click here...
Office 365 for SMBs is a completely modernized platform designed to meet your constantly changing business needs. It delivers rich features and cloud service innovation that SMBs are adopting at an accelerated rate.
Benefits include:
- Letting you take your personal office experience with you - across tablet, PC or phone - wherever you are and whenever you need to get work done.
- Saving documents to the cloud by default. When you sign into Office 365, you get roaming settings and quick access to your documents in SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro and SharePoint online.
- Scheduling a meeting, sending an email, starting an IM, as well as initiating voice and video calls right from your contact list.
- Easily hosting more effective online meetings, with multiparty HD video conferencing, document sharing and real-time note taking with OneNote.
- Connecting Lync and Skype services, so you can connect with millions of Skype users right inside of Office 365.
- An enterprise-grade cloud solution with robust security, guaranteed reliability and compliant with world’s industry standards, including ISO-27001, EU Model clauses, HIPAA and FISMA.
Most importantly, with Microsoft Office 365 you get an always available secure and reliable cloud service from a trusted partner. We manage the billing and support for your subscription service so you have a one stop shop for all your support needs.
No more issues with maintenance and backups of your email server, Microsoft Office 365 provides business-class productivity tools and enterprise-level security specifically designed for small business’ needs. These are the same enterprise-class services – trusted by large corporations Coca-Cola Enterprises (72,000 employees), Starbucks, Hyatt Hotels and are backed by a 99.9% uptime guaranteed service level agreement.
What we do
We assist you in migrating your existing mail and licences to the new way of doing business. A quick and easy way to increase your productivity and effectiveness, while allowing you to work with laptops, tablets and mobile devices simultaneously.
Why use GSD?
As a Microsoft Certified Specialist and Microsoft Partner we have the proven credentials, experience and support of Microsoft to ensure that you have all the technology that fits the needs of your business.
Collaboration and Content - What is it?
The Collaboration and Content competency is focused on all aspects of the SharePoint technology solutions. Microsoft SharePoint, which is part of the Microsoft Office suite of products and comes with Microsoft Office 365, is one of the most popular server products in Microsoft history and currently has more than 125 million licensed users.
Microsoft SharePoint is not just a product that makes it easier for people to work and collaborate together. It has huge business value when you think beyond the initial collaboration deployment and realize the full business value of its advanced capabilities of integrated social networking, Enterprise Search and implementing Business-Critical processes based on line-of-business data surfaced in SharePoint.
What we do
We develop, deploy, and support solutions built on the SharePoint platform.
Why use GSD?
With the Microsoft Collaboration and Content competency, GSD can help you take advantage of the growing opportunities around SharePoint by offering solutions that connect teams, improve access to information, and increase productivity.
A brief overview of Sharepoint:
SharePoint
SharePoint introduces new ways to share your work and work with others, organize your projects and teams and discover people and information.
Share
Put social to work
Share ideas, discover answers and keep track of what your colleagues are working with new social features throughout SharePoint.
Share your stuff
Publish content to SharePoint from any Office application and share with people inside and outside your organization in a few simple clicks.
Take SharePoint on the go
Share documents, update your activity feed and keep in touch with your colleagues from your mobile phone or tablet.
Organize
Keep projects on track
Organize all your projects and tasks to get visibility into upcoming deliverables across SharePoint, Outlook and Microsoft Project.
Keep your team connected
Set up a new team site in minutes track meeting notes and bring together all your team's email and documents in one place.
Store and sync your docs
Sync your content in SharePoint to your desktop with SkyDrive Pro, so docs are just a mouse click away, even if you're offline.
Discover
Find experts you never knew existed
Connect with people across your organization and easily discover interests, past projects and documents they've worked on.
Discover insights and answers
Turn raw data into gorgeous interactive reports with Excel 2013 and publish to SharePoint to share insights with the people you work with.
Find what you're looking for
Customize and narrow your search to deliver more relevant results, and get recommendations on people and documents to follow.
Build
Build apps in the cloud
Build apps on common web technologies like JavaScript, HTML and oAuth with the new Cloud App Model for SharePoint.
Publish apps to the SharePoint store
Make your apps available to everyone to try and buy through the public Store or only available to your employees through the corporate catalog.
Build eye-catching sites
Use familiar design tools and flexible controls to create dynamic intranet and internet sites to share your organization's vision with everyone.
Manage
Manage costs
Reduce your infrastructure costs and extend the boundaries of sharing by running SharePoint in the cloud with Office 365.
Manage risk
New archiving, eDiscovery and case management capabilities extend across SharePoint, Exchange and Lync.
Manage your time
Spend more time delivering innovation and less time managing infrastructure with advances in SharePoint scale, performance and management capabilities.
