Recently in Defence Category

 

The 2010 conference season started with a big one: the European Defence Geospatial Intelligence 2010 Conference in London. 600 attendees from all over the world from a myriad of organisations.
 
To get a better Common Operational Picture of this community we decided to infiltrate it by setting up a semi-permanent observation post (i.e. our stand) on the conference floor.
 
So, what were my expectations? As it was the Defence Geospatial Intelligence Conference I imagined flight simulators, four-star generals, secret spies in long raincoats and a communal "God Save the Queen" at the start of each day.   But what was the case? I was totally wrong! (...apart from spotting the occasional high-ranked military commander...)
 
A global geospatial community
 
It turned out that the geospatial intelligence and defence community is very much like any other geospatial industry: many highly skilled professionals who face similar challenges with enabling interoperability of their data and systems. Solutions are found in building spatial data infrastructures based on open standards.
 
Using open standards to enabe SDIs has been Snowflake's expertise for almost 10 years. Our experience in the INSPIRE and Aviation industries prove that open standards really do work and lead to practical and successful solutions.
 
What did I take back from this conference?
 
  • There is an irreversible move towards the use of open standards to ensure effective goal achievement across the defence and intelligence communities.
  • Geospatial information is not just a nice-to-have, but plays an absolutely fundamental role in the decision-making process.
  • The geospatial intelligence and defence community is not much different from any other geospatial community. However, it has the slightly masochistic tendency to starting conference days very, very early in the morning.

 

For more information about the solutions we can offer for interoperability, visit our website: www.snowflakesoftware.com or see our solutions for Defence and National Security: http://www.snowflakesoftware.com/markets/defence/solution.htm.

 

Richard Rombouts | Technical Sales Manager | richard.rombouts@snowflakesoftware.com

Long before I joined Snowflake, training courses were being carried out here, on "basic" GML and "hands on " GML . They have always been successful and widely talked about around the world. Up till now Eddie Curtis was the only person we could spare (and he wrote the courses) to carry out the training, with increasing demand from new markets we found the need to carry out more training. To provide these new courses we needed more trainers and we have great people in our Pre and Post sales team with fantastic  industry knowledge so who better than these guys to deliver industry focused training. Eddie embarked on a "train the trainer" course for the guys with the result that we have 2 more trainers in Ballal Jogleker and Richard Rombouts, raring to go.

Then two things happed. A customer wanted to know the value of training  so they could sell that to the boss to get the permission to come on the course. That got me thinking, well actually that got Sheila Drake ourTraining Manager thinking, because she runs all the courses, what is the value of training?

We did our investigation and these are our thoughts:

We are in the midst of a global recession and training is one of the first budget lines to be cut when the need to drive out cost is critical. But good companies taking the longer-term view recognise the value training brings to an organisation on both a corporate and individual level.

Successful companies train successful people.

In other words companies are successful because of fully trained people.

From an organisational perspective professionally delivered, relevant training delivers this value:

Reduced management costs - It is cheaper to train existing employees than to recruit new employees.

With a fully skilled workforce, good shared knowledge and skill base, managers are better equipped to manage the risk to their business of long term absenteeism or loss of key employees.

A trained workforce will make succession planning easier for managers.

Training and qualifications will strengthen your employees commitment to your company.  They'll stay longer and you'll save money on recruitment costs.

From an employee perspective you understand that professionally delivered, relevant training delivers:

Employees feel motivated, confident and are better able to do their jobs thereby gaining greater job satisfaction. 

With greater skills levels, employees benefit from increased salary, greater responsibility and possible promotion.

Skilled employees are more likely to have a successful career path.  

Training can give employees a strong sense of feeling valued by their employer increasing morale and enthusiasm. Attending training courses is not just about what is learnt but sharing ideas and experiences with other professionals ? that leaning is then reabsorbed back into the business.

The next thing that happed was that we had to run two courses simultaneously. Not only that but one held in the UK and the other in Europe! That's a first for Snowflake Software.
So major achievements for the team in such a short space of time and it will only get better as we have a new programme of courses coming up (please check out the Website) and a possible move to bigger premises due to demand.


Training in recession for survival is a requirement and essential!

Snowflake Seek new Partners

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Are you a Data eXchange business looking for new opportunities?

Snowflake Software is activity looking to recruit new Business Partners to sell its software, consultancy services, training and maintenance programme solutions.

The growth of data eXchange and usage of GML across the globe is increasing and in markets such as Data Providers, INSPIRE, Defence and Aviation. We are building such a high level of demand that we require new Business Partners to help fill that business need.

If you have experience in Data eXchange or the Geospatial market or have experience of handling GML or you are currently working in the above markets then we would be interested to talk to you about exciting opportunities we have now.

You will need to have an experienced sales team, technical support, a good infrastructure to accommodate a demanding but rewarding market segments.

We are looking for partners worldwide so please send you enquiry to:

info@snowflakesoftware.com

or post to:
Phil Lines Sales Director
Snowflakesoftware Ltd
Alleyn House
23-27 Carlton Crescent
Southampton
SO15 2EU

Telephone +442380386577

New UK Business Partners required

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The demand for Snowflake's products and services is growing and we need help!

We're looking for Business Channel Partners to join our Business Partner programme in order to take up demand and provide excellent customer service when selling our products.

If you're a company interested in selling and / or building solutions involving GML in the following markets ...

  1. Defence
  2. INSPIRE
  3. Data Providers
  4. Aviation

... then we want to hear from you.

We're putting together a brand new Channel Partner programme with increased benefits to help Partners grow their business through the resale of Snowflake's products. Our new programme offers a new discount structure, added elements such as pre-sales support, pre-packaged training courses, marketing funds and CRM .

In recent months we have improved our market focus and now have an excellent pipeline of opportunities that we need new partners to deliver.

If you don't wish to become a channel partner but would still would like to be involved in promoting or recommending Snowflake's products then we have other Alliance agreements that you may be interested in.

So why not drop us an email at info@snowflakesoftware.com

or write to

Phil Lines
Sales Director
Alleyn House
23-27 Carlton Crescent
Southampton
SO15 2EU