"bSOLVe delivers software and services to help people make sense of information.” This is how Simon Hepburn, business development director of the Cape Town based Microsoft Partner describes the company. “Our simple formula is software + services = productivity,” he adds.
bSOLVe was formed in 2001 by founders Martin Hattingh, Simon Hepburn and Charles Ritchie. Having identified a select set of Microsoft technologies within which to specialise, the company's vision has from the start been to apply these technologies to add tangible value within business context, with solid technical acumen as the enabler.
Specifically, bSOLVe has since its inception evolved into its current state of being exceptionally proficient in using Microsoft SharePoint and surrounding technologies as tools of choice in solving business problems.
This recipe has earned it Microsoft Gold Certification with six competencies, as well as several finalist slots in Microsoft's Partner Awards. More importantly, it has helped bSOLVe successfully implement SharePoint within clients one would usually expect to be serviced by larger vendors. Success in this arena has to a large extent been due to two factors: 1) bSOLVe's SharePoint Enterprise Framework, a methodology used to plan and structure SharePoint for optimal benefit within medium to larger organisations, and 2) the company's strategy of being a focused player serving niche needs with a specialised team, as opposed to one trying to cover all bases.
Being a specialist in Information Worker solutions, bSOLVe possesses extensive skills and experience in solving very particular business problems: those brought about by the complexities that information workers face when dealing with large amounts of information on a daily basis. To ensure the primary problem-solving vision is kept in focus, bSOLVe's team always bears in mind that it needs to help clients understand five categories of information interaction:
Consumption: Smooth the process of finding, identifying and viewing information.
Sharing: Enable people to work better together by sharing knowledge, skills and insight.
Directing: Make information useful by moving it to the right person, place or time.
Analysis: Enable insight by presenting information in an organised, usable way.
Action: Simplify decision-making by providing links between information sources and the ability to take action.
By identifying, developing and implementing tools that support these interactions, bSOLVe ensures that instead of solving technological problems, it targets business issues that affect productivity on a daily basis. Hepburn says this approach has resonated well with businesses of all sizes in recent times, specifically because productivity is a key factor in the battle against the recession. He emphasises that the benefit is clear: "We're finding that by putting in place tools and processes that help individuals and groups work together more effectively, businesses are experiencing definite gains in productivity. Needless to say, this affects the bottom line markedly. In addition, we offer engagement and billing models to suit varying business sizes and structures, which we've found to be well received in recessionary times."
As part of its strategy of thoroughly understanding the challenges its clients face, bSOLVe consistently employs the same approaches used out in the field within its own walls. In this respect, bSOLVe is proud to be on the cutting edge of Microsoft's 2010 wave of products, with the release of the new version of its Web site, based on SharePoint 2010.
"We're naturally very excited about the release of the latest iteration of our site," says Martin Hattingh, who heads up the front-end SharePoint delivery team at bSOLVe. "It utilises several powerful components in SharePoint 2010's Web Content Management (WCM) arsenal, and adds to the recent myth debunking drive that SharePoint and creative design are not mutually exclusive concepts."
bSOLVe's new site is one of the very first production Internet-facing SharePoint 2010 sites in South Africa, and as such showcases the company's continuing commitment to the platform. Visit www.bsolve.co.za if you'd like to find out more about the company or get in touch to discuss how you can benefit from its offerings.
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