Indian IT firm Satyam Partners with SAP

India’s premier IT firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd has entered into a deal with SAP AG in order to become a SAP global services partner. As per the agreement, Satyam as a SAP global services partner would aid Fortune 1000 companies worldwide to implement SAP solutions and transform business processes in a reliable and efficient manner.

The announcement to this effect was made at SAPPHIRE 2008. Satyam now joins the league of an elite group of large consultancies belonging to the “SAP Global Partner – Services” programme. The company plans to invest in joint marketing resources and strategic planning in order to support the growth with SAP and serve customers worldwide. It also has plans to expand from the number of 5,000 to 6,800 SAP consultants by the end of this year.

The IT firm has chalked out a strategy to grow in the SAP business in not only recognised markets but also up-and-coming ones like the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Satyam has a robust track record of transforming customers’ business processes in partnership with SAP. It intends to take the relationship further and make it stronger.

Warner Brothers to bring back WB brand as a video Web site

The WB brand, conceived as a broadcast network more than a decade ago - in 1995 – subsequently closed in 2006, is returning as a video Web site that will combine classic shows with short original series, the Warner Brothers TV group has announced.

TheWB.com and a complementary web site for children KidsWB.com, both are part of a ‘digital destination’ strategy adopted by Warner Brothers, which is a subsidiary of Time Warner. The idea is to tailor sites to specific audiences. In an effort to compete for consumers’ attention and time, Warner and other media firms are seeking new outlets for content, often creating broadband Internet channels and bypassing the traditional network structure.

The president of the Warner television group, Bruce Rosenblum, stated, underlining his point:

My 20-year-old daughter and her friends watch ‘Pushing Daisies’ and ‘One Tree Hill’ but not on television.

They are watching on laptops and mobile handsets. Here is the interesting part - to them, that is television.

The site, to begin in a test form next month, is to focus on the audiences on the age group of 16 to 34, particularly women.

Video search engine Blinkx signs new online advertising deals

One of the leading video search engines, Blinkx, has confirmed signing online advertising deals with three well-known TV producers and programmers, including the creator of the popular children’s TV shows, Barney and Friends, HIT Entertainment.

The other two firms involved in this deal are Channel 5 Broadcasting in London and Cheflive. This deal will involve displaying contextual ads as well as online video, which will be searchable and viewable on Blinkx, allowing the partners to reach a larger audience.

The firm has signed similar deals with web sites Kitchen Caravan and Savory Cities. Kitchen Caravan is an online cooking show showcasing foods from across the globe. Savory Cities is an online video restaurant guide, which displays profiles of leading restaurants in top cities like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle. HIT entertainment offers TV programming worldwide.

Blinkx will give all of them an opportunity to increase the distribution of their shows worldwide, and support their digital strategy. It will display ads on highlights from 5 News of Channel 5 and has worked out similar arrangements with Cheflive.

Publishers realise the cost benefits of ‘online news delivery’ model

New research has revealed that leading news agencies and publications are increasingly realising the need and benefits of making information available through the web or a mobile phone to audiences. The study has also observed that readers now want to access current affairs through all mediums, going beyond the traditional print medium.

It has also been noticed that people now use Internet as their main resource for seeking the latest information. The Internet is seen as posing a major threat to the print medium. This means that publishers now need to aim at new technologies and media to send their stuff across to the readers. The study has also noted that though usage of the Internet is increasing day-by-day, e-papers have still a long way to go in terms of reach and sustainability. However, the population now subscribing to e-paper services do appreciate the opportunity to read the newspaper whenever and everywhere.

E-papers are also beneficial for publishers as the operational costs are relatively low and they can make profits from additional revenue streams. Last year, a director from one of the leading institutes had observed the number of people wanting in-depth coverage of different and specific sectors online was likely to grow. That indeed seems to be the case.

A new style of ‘hybrid’ technology organisation taking shape

Steve Wozniak built the original Apple I for sharing with his friends based at the Homebrew Computer Club. However, it was Steve Jobs, his business partner, who had the knowledge that there well might be a huge market for such a contraption. For decades, Silicon Valley has been identified and defined by the tension existing between the technologist’s urge of sharing information and the industrialist’s urge of profiting. Now, a new style of ‘hybrid’ technology organisation is emerging, which is trying to tread the middle ground.

These new firms are often referred to as ‘social enterprises’ since they pursue social missions instead of sheer profits. But unlike a majority of non-profit groups, these organisations generate a sustainable source of revenue and do not always rely on philanthropy. Earnings are retained and then reinvested. They typically begin as tiny groups of intensely motivated people who are dedicated to the goal of building a service or product. The best-known examples are Mozilla, that maintains and develops the Firefox Web browser, and TechSoup, an organisation started two decades ago to connect non-profit groups with technology experts. President of Benetech, a social enterprise incubator, James Fruchterman, said, “There is an intense discussion happening right now regarding a whole new organisation formed around social enterprise.”