From our Managing Director
Dear Customer,
If we are to identify overall top technologies in the past year, a number of trends would make the relatively long list. We can think of cloud computing, service oriented architectures, social computing and mobile applications - just to name a few. These and other trends have impacted libraries in many ways. Online discovery platforms integrate social networking tools and support user-generated content; a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) enables libraries to expand their technological infrastructure and provide additional services; libraries are increasingly looking to share virtualized resources and platforms; and a growing number of users now access the library’s services and collections directly from handheld devices.
The prevalent and emerging technologies of the last number of years have created an environment in which organizations can develop products and deliver services in ways that fundamentally put the user front-and-center. We can think of self-service systems, fully customizable online products, ‘on demand’ services, real-time information sharing with friends in our social networks - and the list goes on. This environment has of course also created immense opportunities for libraries, as we have seen with the deployment of new user interfaces or the use of RFID, for example. But I also believe that libraries can still benefit more fully from certain technological advances that we are currently witnessing. At Infor we decided to take a close look at the trends and technologies that have shaped - and are continuously shaping - the ways that consumers interact online with information, products and services. The result of these efforts has been a focus on a user-centered software architecture that will provide our customers with new ways to extend service offerings, manage customer relationships, and promote their collections.
In 2010 we will further develop our products on the basis of a user-centered architecture. We have already released new versions of our ILS (Vubis Smart 3.0 and V-smart 2.0) which incorporate a large array of workflow enhancements that dramatically improve the delivery of services to users. In addition, version 2.0 of V-insight, our statistical analysis portal, is now available. In the year ahead we will be adding a new product - Iguana - to our product offerings. Iguana is an online user collaboration platform that addresses the growing need for information discovery in a social, personalized and ‘portable’ setting. You can watch a brief video about Iguana at: www.experience-iguana.com
As we leave 2009 behind us, I would also like to thank you for your ongoing partnership and trust that have made our success to date possible. We will keep communicating our plans to you and look forward to an ongoing dialogue about our products as we move forward in the development and release cycles. For any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at any time.
I wish you all the best for the New Year.
Sincerely,
Ann Melaerts
Download the newsletter