What’s my ROI story?
During recent months, we’ve had several enquiries from manufacturing companies keen to learn more about SPC software, who then subsequently ‘go quiet’ when they realise they’ll have to apply to management for budget approval. There could be many reasons for this apparent change of mind, though it’s often simply a question of lack of funds or a mañana mentality. In the instances where SPC software requests are competing directly with other projects for the same money, the success of your proposal hangs on your ability to provide a solid Return on Investment (ROI) justification.
This shouldn’t be a problem given that a properly implemented SPC system can save a business many thousands of pounds per year. However, generally speaking, it is rare that our customers have a solid “ROI Story”. More often than not, there is a general belief that improving the quality system will ‘somehow’ reduce costs and benefit the business but an exact figure is not known. With a view to giving you the tools you need to arrive at a realistic (and persuasive) ROI potential, we strongly encourage you to view the ‘Finding the ROI in your Quality System’ webinar from Northwest Analytics.
We live in a world where many things are moving away from the ‘physical’ and are instead going electronic or becoming virtualised. Take books for example. eBooks are big business, as are eReaders and hand-held devices capable of downloading and displaying them. Our top-selling bibliographic tools like EndNote, Reference Manager and EndNote Web work because so much literature and reference information is now in electronic form on the Web. So do real books belong to a bygone age or is there still a place for them in our digital world?
We think so. As a company, we might spend our days dealing with cutting-edge technical software, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a really great book. And we’re not the only ones to love a good read. Only the most dedicated team of real book fans would be willing to spend numerous sleepless nights moving, stacking and re-stacking books at a Toronto bookstore to create this amazing stop action animation we came across on YouTube. View ‘The Joy of Books’ YouTube video
Research also shows that children get more out of old-fashioned story books than digital technologies because they have more freedom to use their imagination. The feedback and interaction experienced during shared reading with a parent also improves their understanding and extends their enjoyment of the tale. Take a look at this Telegraph article to find out more.
It just goes to prove that there’s still much magic to be found in real books.
Well, another year is coming to an end. Despite all the doom and gloom we hear on the news about the challenging economic conditions we’re all facing globally, we’ve had another successful year here at Adept Scientific, and we hope you have too. As always, we strive to offer our customers the very best products and the very best support and customer service. The feedback we constantly get from customers (we say with all due modesty) shows we seem to be getting it right. You can be sure we’re committed to maintaining our standards in 2012 and onwards, to earn your continued loyalty. After all, every success we achieve is thanks to you.
We’re looking forward to working with all our fantastic customers, suppliers and partners in the New Year, and thank you for all your support in 2011. Compliments of the season to everyone reading this, and all of us here at Adept – in Letchworth, Frankfurt and Copenhagen – wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Last week, our bibliographic software specialists exhibited at the largest event dedicated to the information industry – Online Information 2011 – at Olympia, London.
The event showcased some of the best products and services available for the information and information management industries. Our team was there to demonstrate the new features of Thomson Reuter’s EndNote X5 including the new PDF viewer and reference updater tools. We also got a very privileged sneak peek at the EndNote iPad app that’s in development and planned for release some time in 2012. This fab new tool will let you gather online references, read, edit and annotate PDFs, then email them to colleagues, all on your iPad. The iPad tablet is a perfect compliment to EndNote desktop where users will find the most advanced support for publishing their research. Watch this space for more updates on the EndNote iPad app!
If you couldn’t make it to this year’s event, you can still experience the best bibliographic tools by visiting our biblio software webpages where you can find out more, download trials and brochure for EndNote, EndNote Web and Reference Manager.
Our bibliographic software specialists, Stephanie Marshall and Bob Green, were invited to attend the Annual eResources Roadshow at De Montfort University (DMU) on Wednesday 16th November. The event was hosted by Library Services and provided an excellent opportunity for academic staff and students to meet and quiz representatives from some of the library’s major eResource providers.
Our team was kept extremely busy providing information, answering questions and demonstrating DMU’s site-licensed bibliographic software tools, EndNote and EndNote Web to a wide range of users, from undergraduates still finding their referencing feet, to PHD students and lecturers looking for new ways to manage/use more extensive libraries.
If your institution is planning on holding a similar library event and you’d like an Adept representative to provide EndNote, EndNote Web or Reference Manager expertise, please get in touch. We’d be only too happy to meet your users and lend you some of our product know-how for the day.
Email biblio@adeptscience.co.uk or call +44(0)1462 489142, and let us help you promote your library resources to staff and students at your site.
The step to take the Maple mathematical engine to a tablet form factor has been a long time coming, and what better format to adopt than the iPad, which revolutionised tablet computing?
Opening the app for the first time immersed me directly into Maple content. The content currently available is quite basic, however my first thoughts were how visually interactive and dynamic the worksheets are.
Allowing the computational engine to run on the device itself, rather than on a supercomputing cloud, seems to offer more capacity and capability. In the forthcoming releases, this capacity should enable users to:
- Perform advanced computations locally
- Create rich dynamic worksheets for the tablet form factor
- Utilise touch screen technology for an improved Maple workflow
The initial release shows exciting promise for the future, and I’m sure Archimedes would have been impressed by the visualisation of the approximation of Pi.
Tablet computing is becoming more widely adopted in industry and business as well. Engineers who are on site locations will be using mobile devices for access to calculation and design documents. Maple is currently the only system that offers native computational algebra on tablets, and I anticipate the forthcoming development of a more complete set of Maple tools for the iPad.
For the second year running, Adept Scientific has won a Mathcad Global Award, reaffirming our status as the top Mathcad reseller worldwide. The ceremony took place at the end of October in Athens, Greece and was attended by hundreds of professionals representing resellers across the globe. Jessica Nielsen, Mathcad Sales Manager for Adept Nordic went up on stage to receive a medal which was presented by some of PTC’s top management.
Not only does this award acknowledge the hard work and commitment of Adept’s team of specialists in supporting Mathcad users, but it also provides engineers with the perfect proof of quality of service when sourcing a proven Mathcad reseller.
Purchase decisions should never be taken lightly or rushed, regardless of what it is you’re actually buying. We’ve all heard the horror stories about so-called ‘bargain’ software providers who deliver poor support and shoddy service. Deciding ‘witch’ technical software or hardware to buy and where to buy it is equally ‘tricky’. So here’s some reassuring information that will make you feel confident about purchasing your software from Adept Scientific:
- We’re not the sort of firm who’ll leave you to fend for yourself once you’ve bought the software. We’ve been around for almost 30 years and we’re here to stay to support you with specialist knowledge as you find your feet with your new tool and apply it to your work.
- When you contact us during office hours, your call will be answered by real human beings – no remote call centre or annoying automated system. When you email us, we try to respond within 24 hours, so either way, you get prompt answers to your queries.
- Our team of experts won’t sell you software or hardware for the sake of it. They’ll listen to your requirements and recommend the best tool to fit your particular requirements.
- We can give you proof our customers are happy with the products and services we provide. Check out the user quotes on our webpage.
Avoid nasty shocks when sourcing your software or hardware, not just over Halloween, but any time of year by opting for Adept Scientific
The driveline library is a fantastic addition to MapleSim, for anyone who wants to model the dynamic characteristics of drivelines; shafts, gears, clutches, engines, etc.
The library incorporates power loss into these components, and data can be incorporated in a number of ways.
Figure 1 Hydrodynamic model of a Torque Converter
The interface of MapleSim is beautifully designed for acausal modelling. This streamlines the modelling process by allowing the modelling engineer to have all the nice things in life. A few features I like;
- Visualise in 2D and 3D
- Handle units internally
- Completely mathematically open
The final point above is why I am confident in this tool. It gives the engineer complete access and control of the mathematics which governs their model, allowing a symbolic level of fine tuning capability that is not found in numerical solutions.
Figure 2 Get access to system equations from ONLY a schematic description of the model
Driveline modelling is of course an area of research. This library shows what MapleSim is capable of, and can be a valuable asset for a modelling group, because it creates a good framework for future development.
You’d have thought by the 40th issue, the novelty of wrapping up another edition of our Technical Computing Magazine would have worn off! Yet, as our designer sends the artwork files to the printers, the Marketing Team are still grinning like Cheshire cats and breathing a sigh of satisfaction to see another edition of TCM finished for another year. And quite rightly so – this issue is a corker and proves that you can still look good in your forties!
TCM 40 Magazine Autumn 2011 is packed with software insights, hardware hard facts and techie stuff galore! Take a moment to preview our pages to discover some cool things our products can do and learn how the technology could be applied in the real world. Featured products include MapleSim 5, Quanser control technology, EndNote X5, NWA Quality Analyst SPC software, new industrial-grade DAQ solutions from Delphin Technology and real-time DAQ systems from ADwin, plus an exclusive interview with PTC ahead of the launch of Mathcad Prime 2.0
Visit the TCM 40 webpages now or download a clickable PDF
