The Axis Technical Group Blog

Companies large and small are continuing to seek out new ways to maximize their technology investments to drive new business and lower costs. Over the last 18 months companies have executed numerous plans to reduce cost and maximize efficiency, and in many cases this led to an increased focus on technology. However, technology itself is not cheap either.

With an increase in the development (and use) of software to help save costs and increase productivity, the development cycle has been heating up at organizations coast to coast. But the multitude of platforms and environments organizations need to support are leading to new cost concerns. The fact is, testing software applications or products that support multiple active versions and/or multiple operating systems can be very expensive and time consuming activity.

Many of the clients and IT Executives that Axis Technical Group works with have focused on ways to deal with this challenge. One such solution is to use virtual environments for software maintenance and testing. By using this solution, The Axis India team is helping several clients realize substantial benefits from reduction in overall costs, to improved turnaround time and increased reliability of the test environment.

Axis Technical Group has just published a new white paper on the subject, and it is available for download by clicking here. We would also like to hear from you about the money-saving efforts your organizations are using as we all continue to navigate this new global economy.

Download: Virtual Environments for Software Maintenance & Testing

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We have heard of dark clouds, white clouds, and clouds with a silver lining but now the clouds are D-for-digital (d-clouds) or I- for-internet (I-cloud), not to mention the 24 more possibilities for rest of the alphabet. Well, if you need to pick an alphabet you need to pick it fast as most of them are “going going” and will soon be “gone”. In the “gone” state is the G-Cloud – the “Government Cloud” (It could have been green, growing, gaming or g-whatever) . Yes. Just as is obvious, it does mean a cloud that is of the public sector for the public sector and for the public sector.

In theory this would be huge achievement. Firstly, it would mean hefty cost savings in the IT infrastructure and most significantly energy. Secondly, the availability of the resources will be easier than ever and from the public sector point of view, standardization of all the underlying requirements will make it a dream project. If you think this concept is out of a “vision 2020” book you are wrong. The UK government had announced commencement of work on the G-cloud and that it will be available soon. If this turns out to be a success, this one event is sure going to be a game changer.
Everyone including the software product vendors, hardware vendors, support personnel, software services companies will have to pause and re strategize to meet the enormous transformation that this one single event will cause. But isn’t this taking things too far too soon? Where will all the critical, highly sensitive data lie? “There somewhere on the cloud?” Everyone knows that even the most publicized private clouds place their most sensitive data at the most secured locations.

So will the G-Cloud stand true to the expectations? Will you be comfortable with the Government offices working on the “server in the air”?  Will a single failure be a failure “en masse”?  Will a single security breach compromise the security of a whole nation? Are people behind this really sure of what they are doing or is this one of those policies that can never be realistic. The questions are more and answers are few. An issue for a  rigorous debate that we simply cannot ignore.

What do you think? Which side would you take? We would love to hear from you.

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Axis Technical Group is a global company with offices in the US, Mexico and India. Starting today, we are going to share some blog posts introducing the city of Pune, India, where our office is located. So sit back and and enjoy reading our first post, “Pune – A Melting Pot of Cultures.”

Pune - A Melting Pot of Cultures

Pune city is well known as the ‘Queen of Deccan’ due to its scenic beauty and rich natural resources, and famous for its religious and historical places. It is known on the world map for its educational, research and development institutions. The district also has an importance as an important military base and famous IT hub in the country. Pune’s proximity to Mumbai, the financial capital of India, makes it an attractive destination for many a corporates.

Culture:

Pune exemplifies an indigenous Marathi culture and ethos, in which education, arts and crafts, and theatre are given due prominence. It is the home of great freedom fighters like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Agarkar and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Jayant Narlikar, the famous contemporary scientist, is from Pune.

Pune is the seat of North Indian Classical music. Annually, in the month of December, it hosts a three nightlong cultural program of vocal and instrumental classical music, called “Savai-Gandharva”. Pune has been an example for the blending of the culture and heritage with modernisation. With the Pune festival, Osho Commune International and other cultural festivals, Pune is indeed the cultural capital of the Maharashtra.

Today, Pune is known for its educational facilities, having more than a hundred educational institutes and nine universities. Additionally, Pune is known for various cultural activities like Classical Music, Spirituality, Drama, Sports, Literature, Foreign language learning and Administrative, Economics, Social Science studies. The city is an educational hub and a corporate haven, attracting talent across the globe.

Economy:

As one of the largest cities in India, and as a result of its many colleges and universities, Pune has emerged as a prominent location for Information Technology (IT) and manufacturing companies. Pune has the sixth largest metropolitan economy and the highest per capita income in the country.

The automotive sector is prominent in Pune. It is home to the Automotive Research Association of India, which is responsible for the homologation of all vehicles available in India. Several automotive component manufacturers like TATA Autocomp Systems Limited, Robert Bosch GmbH, Visteon, and Continental Corporation are also located here. Other automotive companies including General Motors, Volkswagen and Fiat have set up greenfield facilities near Pune, citing it as India’s “Motor City”.

The Hinjawadi IT Park (officially called as the Rajeev Gandhi IT Park), is a project undertaken by MIDC to promote the IT sector in Pune. Major software companies in Pune include Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, TCS, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, IBM and the likes.

Check back soon for the next blog post about India, titled “Rupee High”

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The following is an excerpt from Axis Technical Group’s free report titled, “Outsourcing – Critical Factors for Success”. The entire report can be downloaded for free by clicking here.

The realities of today’s economy demand that companies large and small “do more with less”. This rallying cry is familiar to everyone in the business world, and in many cases, the recent stability in the marketplace is in large part because organizations have successfully found ways to make every dollar they spend truly count. However, technology executives are continuously faced with new challenges to ensure that their company’s critical systems can keep up with the objectives of the business.

Dramatic shifts in revenue streams over the last couple of years have forced management to cut costs by becoming more efficient and productive. Huge demands have been placed on Information Technology departments and vendors to provide solutions that streamline process and demonstrate extreme cost effectiveness. Whatever the solution is for a particular or industry, the demand to reduce cost through automation is extremely high on the to-do list of most organizational leaders in every industry. Given the financial impact on a business by failing at this, the urgency to accomplish key technology objectives as quickly as possible places additional pressure on what is usually already an understaffed IT department.

These challenges combined with shrinking IT budgets, are leaving technology leaders with very few options. Generally, their choices boil down to just two: use fewer resources, or do more with the current resources they have. One way many IT leaders have found they can get more done within their current budget constraints is to outsource a portion of their work to a near shore or offshore IT partner. Outsourcing vendors provide a wide range of services from custom software development and maintenance of existing enterprise applications to Business Analysis, software Quality Assurance, and Documentation, all the while being sensitive to organizational budgets.

Click here to download the entire free report or email us and we will reply with a copy.

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Recently, a bill was introduced to the US Senate that proposes a new type of visa for immigrants who create start up companies and as such, create jobs. (Click to read more about the bill). While a similar bill had previously been introduced in the House of Representatives as part of an immigration reform bill, this new bill, brought to the Senate by Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar has already stirred a contentious debate.

On one side of the carpet, anti-immigration supporters are loudly protesting such a bill saying it is taking away opportunities for Americans, while many supporters of the Bill feel that if such immigrants start businesses that create American jobs and help the economy, then they should be welcome with open arms.

The Visa issue as a whole has been and continues to be a very important topic for the IT Industry in particular, as it is a key component (or at least a key topic of discussion) for every company’s IT strategy.

What side of the debate are you on? Axis Technical wants to hear from you, so please post your comments below and help be a part of a valuable discussion on the subject.

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There is a new home for the Axis Technical Group Blog in cyberspace: www.axistechnical.com/blog.

Hosting our own blog will allow for greater flexibility and access to our team of global professionals. We will be experimenting with different themes & skins for the blog in the coming weeks, so we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Be sure to mark the Axis Blog a favorite in your feed, and check back often. We are planning new streams of content in topics ranging from technology trends and breakthroughs, to our take on the market (in parts and whole), and will continue to provide tips to professionals seeking work in the IT industry.

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As the State of California continues to face choking financial pressure with a huge budget deficit, new ideas are constantly being floated around Sacramento. The latest however would not only affect California’s blue-collar resources, but would hit home hard in the service industry, from Lawyers to CPA’s to IT Professionals.

According to this article in the Ventura County Star, politicians in the Capital are,

“advocating tax withholding on payments to independent contractors (1099) as a way to boost state revenues by $1.7 billion.”

What do you think about about Sacramento’s proposal and will it really help close the state’s budget crisis? Share your thoughts here, or by email.

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If you are looking for a new job, or have in the last few years, then you surely have been to countless job sites. A couple of the biggest, Monster.com and Yahoo! Hot Jobs are now one in the same, according to this article from TechCrunch.com.

Yahoo has been trying to unload HotJobs for a while, and it finally came to a deal with Monster, which will take the site off of Yahoo’s hands for $225 million in cash. As part of the deal, Monster will continue to power Yahoo’s job listings for three years.

What does this mean for job seekers? The answer to that question will likely take some time to be fully realized. As an IT consulting firm, Axis Technical Group regularly provides advice to job seekers, including not to put all of their job-seeking-eggs in one basket. Other than Dice.com, the other job boards have become overrun by various staffing firms, headhunters and the like acting on behalf of companies seeking employees, with the same position often posted by several different firms with a variety of language. This does a disservice to not only the end-employer, but to the job seeker as well. Furthermore, the mentality of the job boards leads to a cattle-round-up mentality, with hundreds of resumes being submitted for each job, and with most of those from people who are unqualified for a particular position.

This commentary is not to say all job sites are bad or worthless. Quite the contrary… some sites like Indeed.com and TheLadders are making strong inroads in this space which will help job seekers. But this is a reminder to all job seekers to diversify your search. Use the job boards, but don’t rely on them. Instead, use your network, whether it be LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter or others to have your friends, family and colleagues get the word out that someone great, you, are seeking a job.

What have your experiences with the various job boards resulted in? Axis would love to hear your feedback. Post a comment below, or Email us here to tell your story.

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The United States remains in the grip of a challenging economy. Depending on who you talk to however, some people believe recovery is upon us, while others disagree. What can’t be argued are the record unemployment numbers that our nation faces. As of December 2009, the unemployment rate in the US is 9.7%, a number that has remained relatively flat in the last couple of months. However in California, that number is 12.2% as of November 2009 with LA County also at 12.2%, while Orange County remains more in line with the US average at 9.4%. (Click Here to View all US Unemployment Data).

Not all the news is bad. In fact, the Information Technology industry seems to have bolted out of the New Year starting gate fast and feverish. Non-technical management opportunities from mid-level to C-level remain very weak, but those professionals with strong technical skills remain in high demand.

Axis Technical Group alone has more open requirements than we have seen in a year, and are looking for hard-working, passionate and reliable individuals to join our team at key clients. Some of the positions we are currently trying to fill include (click on job title for details):

• Senior C#/WinForms Developer
• Senior BizTalk Developer
• Senior .Net Web Developer (C#, ASP.net)
• Project Manager
• and more….

If you are seeking a new opportunity, or know someone who is, please visit Axis Technical Group and submit your resume for consideration.

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Axis Technical Group recently announced that Microsoft has renewed Axis’ Gold Level Partner Certification for 2010. The certifications are for key competencies in Custom Software Development, Data Management, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Business Process, as well as for Advanced Infrastructure Solutions.

Axis Expertise. Certified.

The Gold Level Partner status ensures the close working relationship between Axis and Microsoft, and stands as a testament to the outstanding work and expertise of the Axis in Motion strategic consulting team. The certifications represent the expertise and high level of competence in Axis’ service offerings, and, it doesn’t hurt our sales efforts in talking with clients either.

Read more about Axis’ certifications here.

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