26.02.2008
Survival in Germany
Beeing an expat is not easy. We have collected a few tips to deal with new challanges. Just download this pdf-document:
Survival Germany for Expats

28.03.2007
New IT concept results in higher service capability
merle & sheppard Language Consulting provides individually customized solutions for a wide variety of language training, interpreting and translation needs. A forward-looking IT basis was developed and implemented to improve existing business and to expand service capability. This modern system provides optimal support for business processes. In this interview, Frank Fleury of Fleury & Fleury Consultants comments on the new IT concept.

Mr. Fleury, your company was responsible for realizing this project. What were the fundamental reasons for redesigning the IT system at merle & sheppard?

That’s right. We were completely in charge of the project from the initial needs assessment and consultation to concept building and specification through implementation and documentation. Our industry-specific expertise played an important role here.

Today, language service providers operate within a highly competitive international arena, which would be nearly impossible without extremely efficient and effective computer technology. Furthermore, merle & sheppard’s comprehensive range of services considerably raises the bar for IT requirements. A high performance IT system that supports all of a company’s processes enables a business to work to its own strengths and to offer customers real advantages.
In this way, when combined with other factors, a well-aligned IT strategy provides an enormous competitive edge. Companies with an integrated, efficient IT structure grow on average up to 40 percent more quickly than their competitors, but still spend less on software and hardware, according to a worldwide survey conducted by business consultants Bain & Company.

Two deciding factors must be emphasized here: the IT solution must focus on the business and its efficiency. The effects are immediate: new procedural options, direct customer benefits, increased process efficiency, security and cost savings.

What’s behind this project, technically speaking?

For merle & sheppard we created a customized combination using both the newest and long-proven technologies and processes. Their solution unites open source software, conventional software and virtualization along with the latest hardware technology in one uniform, complete package. This combination yielded a comprehensive, high-performance and secure IT infrastructure. Where it made good business sense, we also integrated existing systems into the overall concept.

What concrete advantages can be attributed specifically to using open source software and virtualization?

A whole series of goals were set for this project. One of the most important was to establish the most stable and secure basis possible for daily tasks. That’s why we chose to use open source software solutions that have been developed over many years and have proven to be effective in a great variety of IT environments. They are aligned with open standards and offer the flexibility required for future customization or modification. In addition to providing technical advantages, the use of open source software leads to significant savings in terms of overall purchasing and administrative costs.

However, the merle & sheppard solution also includes conventional software. In particular, specific applications such as CAT tools - virtual standards in the industry – are niche products for which there are no comparable open source alternatives. Customer-related factors may also require that the workstations have access to a certain software environment.

On the other hand, virtualization offers completely new possibilities for flexible and cost-efficient construction of comprehensive IT infrastructures using much less hardware. Several virtual computers and network technology can run on one physical system. In this way, we were able to design an IT system that would have been extremely expensive to realize with standard hardware.

Separating all of the virtual servers from the hardware also provided significant flexibility for maintenance and upgrades. For example, when exchanging or replacing the physical host system, it is now possible to run the virtual servers on the new hardware without modification and without downtime. Individual tasks are dispersed across different virtual machines so that maintaining one application does not affect the availability of other applications. In addition, disaster recovery scenarios can be handled much more quickly and easily now.

The latest hardware technology in connection with server consolidation and the most efficient use of system capacity allowed us to drastically reduce the amount of energy needed to run the system and keep it cool as compared with conventional hardware solutions. This result is a big plus when considering climate change and ever scarcer energy resources.

merle & sheppard now have their own on-site FTP and E-mail servers. What are the advantages?

One important point is data security. Many customers depend on the fact that no information about their products or services is leaked to the public until the official launch. At the same time, such information often provokes great interest. merle & sheppard can serve their customers’ needs in this area above and beyond the customary non-disclosure agreement. Their data can be directly delivered to and retrieved from these servers with no intermediate storage procedure involving a third party. Moreover, secure communication channels are available: all connections can be strongly encrypted in order to minimize the risk of covert access.

Their on-site E-mail and FTP servers also allow for individual customization and flexibility for business processes beyond that offered by an external service provider using one system to serve many different customers.

And last but not least, you are no longer dependent on the reliability of other systems over which you have no control. Just recently it was revealed that even the customers of first-class service providers are not protected against breakdowns that can last for days and significantly disrupt production schedules.

How did the implementation phase go at the company and what did the employees think about the new IT system?

From the beginning, one of the project’s requirements was that the daily business not be disturbed. We planned the implementation accordingly. On one weekend, as far as possible, the new system was first configured and brought online parallel to the existing system. This procedure significantly renovated and extended the network infrastructure. The workstations were subsequently configured to use both the old and the new IT structures in parallel. In addition, the workstations were made more flexible to use.

After the employees were introduced to the redesigned IT system at the beginning of the week, new system functions were launched successively and the old system taken offline. In this way, the employees could continue their work while migrating step-by-step to the improved IT system.

In advance of the implementation, the company management had also started to replace the workstation computers. In the final project meeting it became clear that the sum total of these measures had a consistently positive affect on the working atmosphere and team spirit of the employees. “It’s like driving a Porsche!” was a concise comment we were especially happy about.

Is an expansion of the IT system planned?

We designed the IT system so that it can be used for years in its current form. However, at the same time we did focus on making it as easy as possible to upgrade and expand and to extend its services. This way, merle & sheppard are completely free to carry out further developments, and they have resources available to proceed in whatever direction they choose. We understand that the first plans for this development are already being made. The next concrete steps concern the further facilitation of administrative tasks and creating stronger connections with and among customers, partners and employees.

Fleury & Fleury Consultants is a management consultation company that specializes in translation management and multilingual information and document management. Fleury & Fleury consults with, trains and coaches export companies and language service providers who are working toward building efficient structures for their global communication.

www.fleuryfleury.com.html

15.02.2007
Financing continuing vocational training
The “training cheque” is still available until the end of 2007 for financing your continuing training. Take advantage of this opportunity by contacting us today for further information.

Le financement de la formation professionnelle continue
Jusqu’à fin 2007, vous pouvez encore financer votre formation professionnelle à l’aide de chèques-formation. Saisissez cette chance et contactez-nous dès aujourd’hui pour davantage d’informations.

Finansowanie dokształcenia zawodowego w Nadreni Północnej-Westfalii
Do końca 2007 roku mogą Państwo swoje dokształcenie zawodowe finansować czekiem.
Zapraszamy firmy z siedzibą w Nadreni Północnej-Westfalii do skorzystania z tej szansy i prosimy o kontakt z naszym biurem.
mail@language-consulting.com

15.02.2007
The European Union
has set itself the aim of “becoming the most dynamic and competitive economic area in the world”. At the same time, the Federal Republic of Germany has committed itself before the world to realizing an appropriate level of education. In the treaties of Maastricht (2004), Copenhagen (2002) and Lisbon (2000), Germany pledges to "invest in human capabilities".

L’Union Européenne a entrepris de « faire de l’Europe l’économie la plus dynamique et la plus compétitive du monde ». La République Fédérale d’Allemagne s’est engagée devant la scène internationale à développer une norme de formation appropriée : dans les traités de Maastricht (2004), Copenhague (2002) et Lisbonne (2000), la République Fédérale d’Allemagne s’engage à « investir dans les capacités humaines ».

Unia Europeјska postanowiła zostać „ dynamicznym i konkurencyjnym obszarem gospodarczym na świecie“. Republika Federalna Niemiec oświadczyła międzynarodowo zrealizowanie odpowiedniego standardu wykształcenia. W Traktacie podpisanym w Maastricht (2004), w Kopenhadze (2002) i w Lizbonie (2000) jest zawarte, że Republika Federalna Niemiec zobowiązuje się „ inwestować w ludzkie zdolności “.

15.02.2007
Education
determines the cultural, social and scientific level attained by a society. Our own identity is also formed in part by our educational background. Continuing vocational training in particular is an elementary political responsibility. Without it, the urgent problems facing today’s society and economy cannot be solved.

La formation est un pilier des niveaux culturel, social et économique d'une société. Une identité propre, que nous déterminons, entre autres, par notre degré de formation. La formation professionnelle continue est en outre une obligation politique élémentaire. Sans elle, les problèmes les plus urgents de notre société et de notre économie ne sauraient trouver d’issue favorable.

Wykształcenie zawodowe decyduje o poziomie społeczeństwa pod względem kulturowym, społecznym i ekonomicznym. Przez stopień wykształcenia tworzy sie między innymi własna tożsamość. Szczególnie dokształcenie zawodowe jest podstawowym zadaniem politycznym, bez którego droga do rozwiązania ważnych problemów naszego społeczeństwa i gospodarki jest niemożliwa.

14.02.2005
Opening of Prague Office
We are pleased to welcome Alice and Steve Dew to our international business team. Steve has taken on the position as Director and Purchaser in our new Czech head office. Originally from Wales, Steve has had many years of international experience as a buyer in the manufacturing and car industries. Alice Dew will also be working with our translators, interpreters and newly recruited trainer treams and responsible for co-ordinating in Czech. We feel that Alice and Steve's extensive expertise will be of considerable benefit to our company and to our customers.