York Technology Association Member News

To submit a press release

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:59:50 GMT

To submit a press release you must be a member of the YTA. Visit the Member Connection page and Submit a Release.

Bid-Winners.ca Introduces Public Training Workshops for Bid & Proposal Management

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:32:50 GMT

For Immediate Release

Bid-Winners.ca Introduces Public Training Workshops for Bid & Proposal Management

Bid-Winners announces its new series of public training workshops. These training programmes teach bidders how to read and interpret complex Bids and RFPs, and how to write professional quality proposals that are compelling to buyers.

Toronto, Canada, June 7, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Bid-Winners is a management consulting firm that helps businesses find and respond to public and private Bids, RFPs, and Tenders.

The company is extending its popular corporate training programmes to the general public. Public workshops provide a cost-effective way for individuals and small businesses to learn how to successfully manage bids and proposals.

“The full day workshop explains in detail the NINE-STEPS to managing a successful Bid-Response project.” explains Dan Pelletier, President Bid-Winners.ca. “Attendees learn how to: find bids; decide to bid or not-bid; write a compelling proposal; present a professional bid-package; and debrief on both won and list bids”

“From the many proposals we have managed for our clients, we have selected both the best-practices and the common pitfalls, and built these into the workshop content.”

Attendees develop basic to intermediate skills in: interpreting complex bid documents; writing professional proposals that meet mandatory requirements; and creating compelling solutions for buyers.

Sales Professionals, Admin & Sales Support Teams, Entrepreneurs, and Small Business Owners will benefit from this content-rich and interactive workshop.

For more information, or to request a Bid-Winners' information package, call 800-311-1678 or order through the company website at www.bid-winners.ca

About Bid-Winners.ca and DJP Management Inc.
DJP Management is consulting firm offering business development solutions. Bid-Winners provides Bid Management and Proposal Writing solutions across Canada.

###

Contact Information

DJP Management Inc.

Dan Pelletier

416-471-9738 / 800-311-1678

info@bid-winners.ca

www.bid-winners.ca

Open Text to acquire Texas software firm

YTA Admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:41:33 GMT

The Canadian Press

May 6, 2009 at 4:55 PM EDT

Canadian software developer Open Text Corp. says it plans to acquire Vignette Corp. in a friendly cash and stock deal valued at $310-million (U.S.).

The deal was announced ahead of Open Text's third-quarter financial report, which included $22-million, or 41 cents per share, in net income and $192-million in revenue, both up substantially from the comparable period a year ago.

Open Text of Waterloo, Ont., is the market leader in enterprise content management software, used by organizations to produce and keep track of electronic mail and other electronic documents.

It says Texas-based Vignette brings technology that will enhance Open Text's product line.

FlowTracker Analytics develops depositor behavior tracking software for banks

YTA Admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:57:34 GMT

Toronto,, Ontario (PRWEB) April 16, 2009 –

FlowTracker Analytics Inc. revealed they have developed customer behaviour tracking software for banks that analyzes the flows of funds within customer relationships. Research based on 1 million US households over a 3 month period, shows that 30% of all account balance changes are funded by transfers between customers’ accounts. This discovery will dramatically alter the industry’s understanding of customer behaviour, as well as marketing, sales and service performance by separating internal from “new” money flows for the first time.

FlowTracker Analytics seeks to answer the basic questions of bank portfolio management – who, what, when and where changes have happened– without complex and expensive transaction mapping and analysis. The result is their patent pending FlowTracker bank portfolio analysis software, which does just what it says – it tracks flows within, into and out of portfolios of customer accounts.

A unique feature of this analysis is that it enables bankers to see flows between accounts, products and branches that belong to the same customer as internal flows (product substitution and cannibalization), distinguishing them from money coming into or leaving their bank (real sales and attrition). Since 30% of flows are internally funded, this information is critical to understanding sales, attrition, product performance, branch performance and customer behaviour.

FTAI’s President David McNab, a Chartered Accountant is the lead thinker behind this innovation. Since the 1980’s he has been developing analytics and insights for the Financial Services Industry, and has published a number of authoritative articles on management, measurement and customer intelligence methods for the Canadian Marketing Association and the American Management Institute for Financial Services. His thinking turned to customer flow of funds as an extension of the industry’s adoption of customer centric measurements.

“Since the 1990’s banks have been slowly assembling an understanding of each customer as a business relationship. They first developed balance sheets assembling a customer’s accounts together. Next they built customer profitability, which is really a mini income statement for each customer. What we’ve developed is the flow of funds statement that completes the picture of the customer’s relationship with the bank” says McNab.

Knowing these flows touches many aspects of bank management, including product performance analysis, branch location analysis, sales force compensation, predictive modeling, target marketing, customer segmentation and even the dialogue the bank can have with individual customers. “FlowTracker produces a kind of corporate memory, sorting out what is important from what is not” says McNab. “It enables a banker to understand and discuss changes in a customer’s relationship over time without having to work through thousands of transactions to get to the essence of what is changing, how fast and in what direction. The chance to screen 30% of the volume out of contact management lists because they are false positives should also grab the attention of field managers everywhere”.

The latest version of FlowTracker software enables bank management to understand how customer banking relationships change over time. FlowTracker version 1.5 creates transaction-like “events” that reflect individual money management decisions. These events reveal money flows into and out of customer accounts as well as inter-branch and inter-product cannibalization and product substitution. Flows from cannibalization typically amount to 30% of account growth in a bank. Knowing what customers are really doing with their money will profoundly impact bank marketing and sales strategies.
Toronto,, Ontario (PRWEB) April 16, 2009 –
FlowTracker Analytics Inc. revealed they have developed customer behaviour tracking software for banks that analyzes the flows of funds within customer relationships. Research based on 1 million US households over a 3 month period, shows that 30% of all account balance changes are funded by transfers between customers’ accounts. This discovery will dramatically alter the industry’s understanding of customer behaviour, as well as marketing, sales and service performance by separating internal from “new” money flows for the first time.
FlowTracker Analytics seeks to answer the basic questions of bank portfolio management – who, what, when and where changes have happened– without complex and expensive transaction mapping and analysis. The result is their patent pending FlowTracker bank portfolio analysis software, which does just what it says – it tracks flows within, into and out of portfolios of customer accounts.
A unique feature of this analysis is that it enables bankers to see flows between accounts, products and branches that belong to the same customer as internal flows (product substitution and cannibalization), distinguishing them from money coming into or leaving their bank (real sales and attrition). Since 30% of flows are internally funded, this information is critical to understanding sales, attrition, product performance, branch performance and customer behaviour.
FTAI’s President David McNab, a Chartered Accountant is the lead thinker behind this innovation. Since the 1980’s he has been developing analytics and insights for the Financial Services Industry, and has published a number of authoritative articles on management, measurement and customer intelligence methods for the Canadian Marketing Association and the American Management Institute for Financial Services. His thinking turned to customer flow of funds as an extension of the industry’s adoption of customer centric measurements.
“Since the 1990’s banks have been slowly assembling an understanding of each customer as a business relationship. They first developed balance sheets assembling a customer’s accounts together. Next they built customer profitability, which is really a mini income statement for each customer. What we’ve developed is the flow of funds statement that completes the picture of the customer’s relationship with the bank” says McNab.
Knowing these flows touches many aspects of bank management, including product performance analysis, branch location analysis, sales force compensation, predictive modeling, target marketing, customer segmentation and even the dialogue the bank can have with individual customers. “FlowTracker produces a kind of corporate memory, sorting out what is important from what is not” says McNab. “It enables a banker to understand and discuss changes in a customer’s relationship over time without having to work through thousands of transactions to get to the essence of what is changing, how fast and in what direction. The chance to screen 30% of the volume out of contact management lists because they are false positives should also grab the attention of field managers everywhere”.

Toronto,, Ontario (PRWEB) April 16, 2009 –

Link to the Full Release
Visit FlowTracker Analytics.

Keeping Your Proposal Documentation Up to Date

YTA Admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:15:26 GMT

In response to the common request by existing and prospective clients for “proof sources” when purchasing new technology, most business-to-business (B2B) marketers have created “proposal packages”. These proposal packages give “weight” to the financials of a proposal both literally and figuratively by providing industry articles, a list of references, perhaps an industry award and a case study or two. The proposal package serves two audiences;

Purchaser

Most purchasers do not want to be on the ‘bleeding edge’ of new technology and want a reasonable sense of comfort that a product or service has already delivered on its promise for other organizations.

Vendor

Vendors want consistent messaging across every interaction that involves an existing or prospective client and have a vested interest in making sure that any published information given to potential purchasers supports the product or service’s value proposition.

The proposal package is meant to deliver on each of these counts and usually does when first published.

The challenge for most B2B Marketers is not in creating a proposal package but in maintaining it so that the information that it contains remains verifiable, relevant & recent. As soon as one item of information in the package is seen by purchasers and sales people as being unverifiable, irrelevant or dated, the entire package loses credibility. The most common reason that a proposal package is not maintained is that it is approached as a “project”, rather than a “program”. As a project, once the proposal package “project” is completed, marketing or sales operations staff are on to the next thing on their task list. Once it exists, the package remains in its original version since “it will do for now”. On the other hand, if it is managed as a program, it is viewed as something which is ongoing and can be monitored on a regular basis. Constant monitoring and maintenance will keep the information verifiable, relevant and current.

How can you keep your proposal package up to date?

- Assign responsibility
Ensure that someone in Marketing or Sales Operations is responsible in their performance appraisal for maintaining the proposal package.

- Document the maintenance process
Create a check list that must be completed on a monthly basis. The check list needs to include what to look for, where to look for it and who to contact within the organization. Without this, changes elsewhere in the organization may create voids and new employees will lack the ability to properly maintain the package.

- Create a visible and easy to use publication process
If there is an existing monthly sales channel newsletter or info package, make sure that it is used regularly to communicate updates. If you have a central repository of sales materials, make sure that it is updated and old versions are archived or purged.

- Acknowledge providers of information
People love to receive recognition whether they are sales people or administrative support workers. Publicly thanking contributors maintains visibility for the program.

- Acknowledge successes
Publish the names of those responsible for big wins. Create press releases if applicable and possible.

- Maintain access to sources
Make sure to maintain subscriptions to industry sources of information. If case studies are a critical part of your package, ensure that a program is in place to identify potential subjects and thank employees and clients for their participation

The proposal package is an invaluable sales tool that is worth allocating resources to - either internal or external – in order to ensure that the information is:

Verifiable, Relevant & Recent!

Link to the Full Release
Visit Moddocs Communications

Web Site Content - The Importance of Being Current

YTA Admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:13:41 GMT

When was the last time that you did a thorough review of the content of your web site to ensure that its content was current, accurate and consistent?

A typical web site contains outdated material or lacks the most recent marketing and corporate information within 3 months of being launched. A quick review of corporate web sites will show that many sites haven’t been updated in years! The most common reason for this is that the ongoing responsibility for maintaining web site content is not specifically assigned to anyone. If it is assigned, rarely is it considered a priority to which time is allocated on a weekly or monthly basis.

Web site development is commonly seen as a project. If the site is developed and hosted internally, the IT department is most likely responsible but their concern is server uptime not content. If the development and hosting has been outsourced, a similar situation exists whereby the ongoing concern and what is provided through the maintenance contract is uptime and redundancy in the case of a server failure.

Why should you be concerned if your web site isn’t up to date?

Your company’s web site is the ‘public face’ of the company and the primary source of initial information for prospective purchasers of your products and services. Existing customers often visit a supplier’s site to look for new developments and news. Stale and incorrect information leads to lost confidence and frustration for prospects and clients.Is so little happening at your company that you have nothing to add to your site on a monthly basis?

You should also look to your web site to see if you have consistency in your messaging. Is your value proposition consistent and at the forefront of each of the marketing materials on your web site and with the web site content itself? If not, visitors to the web site will not get the message that you intend.

Web sites are a lot like automobiles;
- they can range in price fantastically,
- they can have specific uses,
- they are most impressive and most useful when properly maintained.

Don’t assume that your monthly web site “maintenance” fee provides anything more than a guarantee of up time. Your maintenance fee buys you a 24 hour a day presence but the impact of that presence requires maintenance as well. If you want to guarantee impact, call Moddocs.

Link to the Full Release
Visit Moddocs Communications

AxiDotNet Release 1.0 Annoucement

YTA Admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:03:39 GMT

Toronto, ON, Canada — January 22, 2009 — AxiomFount Inc. today announced the availability of AxiDotNet release 1.0. The AxiDotNet family of solutions enables the use of Microsoft .NET™ Micro Framework 3.0 and Visual Studio® tools for Analog Devices Blackfin® processors by providing seamlessly integrated Blackfin specific and optimized libraries. AxiomFount will deliver AxiDotNet solutions ranging from standard configurable developer packages to full custom solutions.

AxiDotNet release 1.0 provides the worldwide community of application developers the first of numerous integrated .NET Micro Framework based solutions granting easy access to high-performance signal processing on convergent Blackfin processors through use of Microsoft’s widely adopted Visual Studio development tools.

"We are excited about the opportunity to use .NET Micro Framework with Blackfin processors, and are impressed by the capabilities of the AxiomFount team for providing solutions that will enable numerous applications and products," said Colin Miller, Product Unit Manager for the .NET Micro Framework at Microsoft.

"The Blackfin community is very interested in the capabilities that Microsoft .NET Micro Framework presents. These include tremendous ease of use and the ability to utilize application developers and embedded engineers with no DSP experience to build advanced applications, GUIs and interfaces on Blackfin hardware. AxiomFount’s system integration expertise and in-depth knowledge of Blackfin is the key to making this possible," said Tony Zarola, Product Line Manager, in the General Purpose DSP group at Analog Devices.

"We are pleased to work with Microsoft and Analog Devices to provide solutions that bring together the benefits of .NET Micro Framework and capabilities of Blackfin processors;" said Massoud Hadjiahmad, Co-founder & CEO of AxiomFount Inc. "We envision great opportunities in making our AxiDotNet solutions available, and remarkably easy to use, for Blackfin-based developers across many applications and markets."

AxiDotNet solutions combine programming abstractions provided by the .NET Micro Framework with optimized, configurable and customizable Blackfin specific AxiDotNet libraries to jumpstart the development of embedded products, considerably simplifying the task of dealing with embedded peripherals and enabling development of application-rich products in a significantly shorter time.

Link to the Full Release
Visit AxiomFount Inc.

Executives on Demand® Expands Into Technology and Manufacturing Sectors

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:01:32 GMT

Toronto, Canada, December 20, 2008 --(PR.com)-- DJP Management Inc. is expanding its Interim Management consulting service, Executives On Demand®, to include technology and manufacturing sectors.

Designed for small- and medium-sized businesses, Executives On Demand® supplies experienced executives and senior managers for interim and retainer based agreements. Business disciplines include: General Management, Sales & Marketing, Operations Management, Information Technologies, Human Resources, and Financial Services.

"Interim Managers offer a unique value proposition" says Dan Pelletier, President of DJP Management Inc. "Many business leaders fail to capitalize on business opportunities because they lack the skilled resources needed to move quickly on new ideas and market opportunities. For many others the timing of bringing on new resources is tied to budget restrictions, recruiting fees, potential signing bonuses, severance payments for mismatched hires or terminated projects."

Pelletier cites the top three benefits of using interim executives: (1) interim executives can begin within days, not months as compared to normal recruiting and hiring; (2) the experience and knowledge of our interim executives is broad, bringing valuable coaching/advisory support to engagements; (3) interim executives bring a laser-focus to engagements and achieve quick results as they are not drawn into office and career politics.

Executives on Demand.pdf
Biznovations - DJP Management Inc.

Biznovations - New On-Demand Consulting Service

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:03:35 GMT

Toronto, Canada, December 11, 2008 --(PR.com)-- DJP Management Inc. introduces Biznovations, an on-demand consulting service that helps business owners increase sales and reenergize their businesses.

Specializing in small and medium sized companies, Biznovations focuses on sales performance, marketing effectiveness, and business planning and execution. Biznovations combines innovative solutions along with industry best practices to bring sustainable growth to an organization.

"The problem of poor sales performance is multi-dimensional," says Dan Pelletier, President of DJP Management Inc. "Many business leaders fail to apply strategic thinking when developing their goals choosing instead to go solely with their gut instincts. The problem is compounded when they fail to commit their planning to written and executable business plans."

Pelletier cites the top five indicators why businesses need to reenergize themselves: (1) sales revenues are flat or falling; (2) declining market share; (3) a growing need for price discounting or freebies; (4) increasing expenses and shrinking margins; and (5) tired or out of date product/service offerings.

“Our service is scalable to match each client’s specific needs,"Pelletier says. “First we analyze key business indicators, review marketing initiatives, and evaluate existing sales processes. Next we combine industry best practices with selected tools and processes from the new selling world of Sales 2.0. We utilize our client’s staff and resources as much as possible to ensure knowledge transfer and long term retention of new processes. "

New On Demand Service.pdf
Biznovations - DJP Management Inc.

Science Experts forms strategic partnerships with CA firms

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:19:42 GMT

Oct 21, 2008 - Science Experts Consulting Inc. is a leading service provider for assessments of eligibility to annual government cash rebates refunded to the businesses involved with development of new procedures, products, or testing of new materials. We provide consultations, technical writing and tax amendment services as per the needs of our clients.

This week, Science Experts Consulting reported on a strategic long-term alliance with Accounting Plus, Thornhill based accounting firm, helping to effectively secure the government funding for its clients in various industries. On previous engagements, Science Experts Consulting Inc. and Accounting Plus Financial services have acted on SR&ED claims for clients in Computer Software and Hardware as well as Metallurgy sectors.

During the past year, our management team put a specific emphasis on a development of business relationships with Chartered Accounting (CA) practices across GTA and the northern Ontario, seeking to expand and enhance their scope of activities.

Link to the full release document
Visit Science Experts Consulting Inc.

New Counsel joins Wilson Vukelich LLP

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:20:30 GMT

is pleased to announce that

Christopher A.L. Caruana
has joined the firm as Counsel
Christopher will continue his practice in commercial litigation

Direct Dial: 905-944-2952 ccaruana@wilsonvukelich.com

60 Columbia Way, Suite 710
Markham ON L3R 0C9
Tel: (905) 940-8700 Fax: (905) 940-8785
toll free: 1-866-508-8700
www.wilsonvukelich.com

TeVeStream CaptionSeeker - New Software for Locating Recorded TV Scenes by Captions

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:21:49 GMT

New software searches captions from TV shows recorded with Windows Media Center.

Richmond Hill, Ontario -- May 26, 2008 -- Arcosoft Inc., developer of video software tools, today announced the release of TeVeStream CaptionSeeker. Captions, found in TV broadcasts, is a valuable but overlooked source of information. Companies, institutions, and government agencies can stay informed of current events, if they can search the captions for interesting keywords.

Using a Vista PC, and one or more TV tuner cards, maintaining an archive of shows is a cost effective alternative to banks of VCRs, proprietary TV recording servers, and buying clips from service bureaus.

CaptionSeeker works by indexing TV shows recorded with Windows Media Center. The user searches for keywords in captions or descriptions. If a keyword is found, the user simply clicks on the search result to jump to the specific scene in Media Center.

Link to the full release document
Visit Arcosoft Inc.

TeVeStream CaptionSaver - New Video Conversion Software Preserves Captions from Recorded TV

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:22:47 GMT

TeVeStream CaptionSaver - New Video Conversion Software Preserves Captions from Recorded TV

New software converts recordings made with Windows Media Center to WMV and SAMI.

Richmond Hill, Ontario -- Apr. 14, 2008 -- Arcosoft Inc., developer of video software tools, today announced the release of TeVeStream CaptionSaver. Captions, found in TV broadcasts, allow the hearing impaired and English-as-a-second-language learner to understand the program. When TV programs are converted for the web or archiving, captions are lost if the conversion tool does not handle captions.

CaptionSaver converts recordings made with Windows Media Center to the compact WMV format. Captions are preserved as Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI). After conversion, video and captions are viewed in Windows Media Player as stand-alone or embedded in a web page.

Link to the full release document
Visit Arcosoft Inc.

TeVeStream FrameSeeker - New Software for Searching Surveillance Video Released

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:23:24 GMT

New software makes reviewing surveillance video easier by locating changed frames.

Richmond Hill, Ontario -- Feb. 25, 2008 -- Arcosoft Inc., developer of video productivity software, today announced the release of TeVeStream FrameSeeker. Surveillance video, such as those captured for security, paranormal investigation, and wildlife study, often contains many frames that are essentially static. Without FrameSeeker, a reviewer must spend many tedious hours watching the video completely to find interesting events. FrameSeeker reduces the effort by scanning for changes frame by frame. The search stops when a frame differs significantly from the previous. The sensitivity setting allows the detection of change such as something entering an area, or even a brief flash of light.

Link to Full Article
Visit Arcosoft Inc

RunFAX Fax Server Software Enables High Speed Color Faxing With Dialogic Diva Board

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:24:05 GMT

RunFAX fax server software lowers the cost of color faxing.

Richmond Hill, Ontario (PRWEB) February 11, 2008 -- Arcosoft Inc., developer of RunFAX fax server, today announced the release of RunFAX v7.4. Although the latest generation of fax machines support color, color faxing has been slow to take off due to the high cost of color ink. Color faxes can make medical lab reports easier to read if results are color coded, for example. Fax server software saves money by not having to print out faxes unnecessarily, yet few fax servers support color. RunFAX sends and receives color faxes at the highest speed of 33.6 kbps.

RunFAX color faxing requires a Dialogic Diva fax board. The Diva line covers multi-line analog, ISDN BRI, ISDN PRI, T1, E1, and FoIP T.38. Running on Windows XP Pro, 2003, and 2000, RunFAX supports up to 30 lines per server. Pricing starts from $499 USD. Evaluation download is available from www.runfax.com

Link to the full release document
http://www.runfax.com

VONaLink ScreenPop – VoIP Software to Restrict Outbound Phone Numbers

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:24:52 GMT

VONaLink ScreenPop software works with any SIP based VoIP phone system to restrict the dialing out of undesired phone numbers.

Richmond Hill, Ontario – Jan, 23, 2008 – Arcosoft Inc., developer of VoIP call recording and productivity software, today announced the update to VONaLink ScreenPop. ScreenPop works with any VoIP phone system based on the open SIP standard, such as Vonage or Asterisk, to prevent the dialing out of any phone number, including long distance and toll calls. Besides providing caller ID features, ScreenPop can reject unwelcome incoming calls based on phone number, name, or partial match.

“One of our ScreenPop customers shared with me how he had some guests stay over at his house, and found some unexpected phone charges on his bill,“ says Tony Leung, founder of Arcosoft. “He never found out who made those calls, and did not want to inconvenience innocent people with questions.” Whether undesired calls are accidentally or intentionally made, ScreenPop restores control to the person paying the bills.

Link to the full release document
Arcosoft Inc.

SPM brings world-class leadership training programs to Canada.

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:26:54 GMT

TORONTO, Jan. 16 /CNW/ - SPM Group Ltd., of Toronto Ontario, announces a partnership agreement with Barnes & Conti Associates Inc., of Berkeley California, to provide their world-class leadership training programs in Canada.

"The Barnes & Conti leadership programs complement our existing curriculum for Program and Project Management," says Dan Pelletier, Vice President Business Development for SPM Group. "As many of our clients grow and mature in the area of Strategic Management they develop a need for persuasive leadership skills."

Barnes & Conti courses provide superior leadership competency development through research based courses that are designed for practical application. Courses are supported with extensive materials, online tools, and are delivered through certified professional facilitators.

The Barnes & Conti leadership programs focus on: Strategic Thinking, Influence & Communications, Innovation and Risk-Taking, Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Negotiating & Debating, and Leadership Development.

"One of our foundation courses, Exercising Influence(TM) – Building Relationships and Getting Results, is considered the world's most widely used influence skills training program and is taught to more than 10,000 participants every year," says Carter Serrett, Vice President Sales & Marketing for Barnes & Conti.

SPM Group is a Canadian market leader in the area of strategic initiative management. The training and learning solutions division provides a wide range of training services to mid and large sized corporations, all levels of government, and not for profit health agencies.

SPM's other divisions provide management consulting services for strategy execution, and contract staffing and outsourcing services for program and project management.

Barnes & Conti is a provider of corporate training services and organization development consulting. Founded in 1985, the company has developed a suite of thirteen training programs in the areas of interpersonal communication, leadership, and strategic thinking.

Barnes & Conti has offices in Berkeley and Philadelphia, and works with a network of partners in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, and South Korea.
For further information: SPM Group Ltd.: Dan Pelletier, Vice President Business Development, 1200 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite LL02, Toronto, ON M2K 5S2, (888) 776-3886 ext 236, (905) 485-9486 Fax, dpelletier@spmgroup.ca, www.spmgroup.ca; Barnes & Conti Associates, Inc.: Carter Serrett, Vice President Sales & Marketing, (800) 835-0911, cserrett@barnesconti.com, www.barnesconti.com

Link to the full release document
About SPM Group

TeVeStream OctoMediaPlayer - New Multiple View Video Player Software for Windows Released

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:27:58 GMT

New software for Windows allows the viewing of eight videos simultaneously.

Richmond Hill, Ontario – Jan. 7, 2008 – Arcosoft Inc., developer of niche productivity software, today announced the release of TeVeStream OctoMediaPlayer. With the standard Windows Media Player, only one video can be viewed at a time, making it impossible to compare videos, or to search multiple videos quickly. With OctoMediaPlayer, up to eight videos can be viewed.

Link to the full release document
Arcosoft Inc.

Lyris, Inc. Releases Latest Version Of Hot Banana Web CMS Solution

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:29:07 GMT

Emeryville, CA - December 5, 2007 - Lyris, Inc. ( OTCBB:LYRI.OB ), today announced the availability of Hot Banana Version 5.7, the latest update to its award-winning Web content management solution and core application within the company's Lyris HQ integrated marketing platform.

Version 5.7 of the Hot Banana application provides seamless integration with other Lyris HQ applications, including the EmailLabs email marketing and ClickTracks Web analytics products. These integrations enable marketers to create HTML emails and landing pages within Hot Banana; automatically tag Web pages for Web tracking in ClickTracks; and distribute email campaigns through the EmailLabs application - all within a single login environment.

When users log in to Lyris HQ, they gain access to a suite of solutions including Hot Banana, ClickTracks, EmailLabs, EmailAdvisor, a deliverability management tool, and BidHero, a PPC campaign management application. Pricing is based on a per seat license starting at $199 and includes free usage of each application up to certain volume/usage levels.

Hot Banana 5.7 includes a refreshed user interface that allows for 100 percent width; in-context previewing of content; a new WYSIWYG Rich Text Editor based on the industry-proven FCK editor, which produces XHTML compliant code; and search engine-friendly URLs for structured data; and a selection of matching templates for landing pages and HTML emails.

"Hot Banana 5.7 on Lyris HQ is the only Web content management system that provides single sign-on with a best-of-breed Web analytics solution, an email marketing solution, email deliverability monitoring tool and a PPC campaign management solution," said Krista LaRiviere, Director of Professional Services Operations for Lyris, Inc. and General Manager of Hot Banana. "This integration fits in with Lyris' strategy to provide a single solution for all of a client's emarketing needs."

Link to the full release document
Visit Hot Banana Software
Visit Lyris, Inc.

Gilbane Web Content Management Survey Lauds Lyris' Hot Banana CMS Solution For Positive User Experience

YTA Admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:29:54 GMT

Boston, MA - November 27, 2007 - Lyris, Inc. ( OTCBB:LYRI.OB ) today announced that its Hot Banana Web content management solution (CMS) was ranked highest in overall ease of use by The 2007 Gilbane Group Survey on the Web Content Management User Experience. The company made the announcement at the 4th Annual Gilbane Conference Boston, here through November 29.

This first-of-its-kind survey was distributed to users of more than 20 commercially available Web CMS solutions. The survey results ranked Hot Banana highest in overall ease of use, interaction with other systems, and application design. Hot Banana also ranked in the top three for its navigation and feature functions and for its incorporation of rich media.

In lauding its ease of use, survey respondents noted that Hot Banana enables users to create content in Office applications or in Adobe Photoshop and then easily transfer the content and graphics to Web pages. Hot Banana was also recognized for its integration with other systems such as CRM, ERP and business intelligence solutions, and for its easy, intuitive application design. Respondents reported that the Hot Banana CMS solution made it easy for them to incorporate rich media into Web pages and that its interface was straightforward and easy to navigate.

"This is the kind of validation that every company strives for - highly positive feedback from actual Web CMS users, responding to the usage issues that matter most to them," said Krista LaRiviere, Director of Professional Services for Lyris, Inc. and General Manager of Hot Banana. " We are committed to providing the best e-marketing solutions to our clients and we continually strive to improve usability, connectivity and communications within our solution set."

"Hot Banana did well in the survey," said Tony White, Gilbane's Lead Analyst for Web Content Management. "Ratings in categories such as ease-of-use and application design often have an inverse relationship with ratings in other areas like application integration. But Hot Banana users gave it top ratings in all three. That's rather unusual."

The survey was conducted in recognition of emerging trends whereby companies are prioritizing their selection criteria around the ease with which users can create highly usable Web sites with rich content.

The survey ranked eight vendors in addition to the Lyris Hot Banana CMS, including Acumium, CrownPeak, EMC, Interwoven, Oracle, OpenText, Percussion and In-House.

Link to the full release document
Visit Hot Banana Software
Visit Lyris, Inc.