Context Sensing - Real Time Information - Dashboards - Data Sources - Control Centre

SmartPoint delivers information in context by using unique patent pending technology called Active IntelligenceTM. This senses the context of the task someone is carrying out on their workstation and delivers pre-determined contextual information relevant to that task.

For example, if a sales person is on the phone to a customer and preparing a quotation in the sales system for a particular product, SmartPoint recognises this and immediately delivers additional information that will be valuable in the context of the operation being performed. This might include prices recently quoted to the customer for this product, a data sheet, answers to any frequently asked questions and perhaps other products that complement this product.

Similarly, a credit controller dealing with customers who are over their credit limit could receive ‘credit alerts’ from an external credit monitoring agency in context with the particular customer account they are reviewing. The information displayed is determined both by the role of the person using the system (i.e. credit controller) but also the specific context (i.e. customer) in which they are operating at any particular moment.

Importantly, because SmartPoint is continually monitoring the task that a user is working on, the contextual information presented by SmartPoint will be directly relevant to that task. This ensures that people are not overwhelmed with irrelevant data whilst the information they need finds them immediately.

Additionally, by determining what constitutes ‘best practice’ in any given situation (in terms of the most valuable supporting information) SmartPoint minimises the learning curve for new starters whilst maximising efficiency, customer satisfaction and importantly revenue.

While it is possible to develop complex IT solutions to integrate different systems, this takes a long time, carries high risk and is expensive – and often results in systems that are still very hard to adapt as your organisation changes and grows.

SmartPoint however, offers an approach which is easy to use and simple to deploy. It delivers information to people ‘Just-in-Time’, that is, when they need it – not too soon and not too late. No more hunting through different systems; information is simply provided to people from whichever system it is held in. The key difference is that the information finds them, not the other way around.

SmartPoint uses a simple dashboard in a sidebar on the user’s workstation to display contextual information neatly alongside the user’s main application.

The dashboard is extremely easy to use, requiring little or no user training. The dashboard technology used by SmartPoint complies with open Internet standards, ensuring that dashboards are simple to build and maintain.

The information that SmartPoint displays can include a wide range of content types from any number of different data sources including:

• Other software applications (e.g. ERP, CRM, Finance etc)
• Document management systems
• Microsoft Office documents on local and central servers
• E-mail Image, video and audio libraries
• Content management systems
• Information published via web services as part of a Service Orientated Architecture (SOA)
• Business intelligence systems
• Data warehouses

SmartPoint is deployed and administered using the comprehensive SmartPoint Control Centre. This ensures that within a few hours of installation, SmartPoint can be delivering information in context to people around the organisation. The Control Centre manages all aspects of SmartPoint including:

• User administration
• Role definition
• Security
• Context definition
• Information selection
• Dashboard assembly
• Dashboard deployment

Optionally some aspects of dashboard configuration can also be delegated to ‘super users’ within the wider user community.

Designated super users may access a special toolset in their SmartPoint dashboard enabling them to assemble, amend and deploy dashboards for themselves and other users using pre-built components. This approach means that the day-to-day involvement of the IT team can be minimised while at the same time ensuring that a tight control over data security and integrity is maintained.