SAP, Microsoft reboot Duet Enterprise

SAP and Microsoft revealed what some observers see as a reboot of Duet, the strategy first formed by the companies in 2005 to tie SAP's enterprise resource planning (ERP) software with Microsoft Office, reports PC World.

Last week's news centred on the general availability of Duet Enterprise, software that connects Microsoft SharePoint 2010 with SAP's ERP applications. Duet Enterprise will be sold through a new joint partner programme.

Duet Enterprise provides tools and pre-configured content that helps speed up the development of composite applications for SAP and SharePoint, according to an SAP document. Other features include single sign-on, management and monitoring tools, and support for offline usage.

Smartphone users in India are the most exhaustive users of mobile applications and prefer business-oriented apps as compared to users in other countries, a global study by Nokia and Cornell University revealed, reveals The Economic Times.

Indians also want the latest technology and applications quicker than their counterparts in Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, China, the UK, Singapore, SA and the US, said the study that covered 5 231 people in November last year.

"Indians are the most progressive in terms of [mobile] application usage. They use applications to empower themselves," says Cornell University's sociologist and professor of science and technology studies, Trevor Pinch.

IBM has unveiled a new initiative to help organisations become social businesses with the broadest support for smartphones and cloud delivery models, says IEWY News.

With the news, IBM is introducing new software, services and programs that will help organisations integrate social networking concepts into business processes to accelerate collaboration, deepen customer relationships, generate new ideas faster, and enable a more effective workforce.

The adoption of social software is rapidly becoming a vital business tool, enabling organisations to transform virtually every part of their business operations from marketing, customer service and sales, to product development and human resources.