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Managing SharePoint 2010 Using PowerShell

sgayda — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Presented by Vancouver SharePoint User Group (VanSPUG)

Featured Habañero presenter: Charles Cote

Overview

In this session we will cover how to get started with managing SharePoint 2010 using Windows PowerShell. This powerful command-line scripting tool allows IT pros to interact directly with SharePoint 2010 (and many other systems).

Topics to be covered

quick overview of the PowerShell Engine
new capabilities of PowerShell with SharePoint 2010
automating the SharePoint 2010 installation and configuring a new farm
provisioning and configuring service applications
creating new web applications and site collections
creating scheduled SharePoint backups

SharePint at Steamworks

sgayda — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Presented by: VanSPUG

Did you know that you all have a lot to share about SharePoint?

There is quite a lot of hype around SharePoint 2010 and a few of you have first-hand experience. We could talk about the the top five features and/or things we've learned in SP2010. We could also talk about some of the issues/bugs/gotchyas that we've run into and what we've done about it.

This is meant to be a fun social event where we get together and talk about - you guessed it - SharePoint!

Technology as a Driver of Change

sgayda — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

As part of the University of Calgary's 40th Annual Business Day Conference, Ismail Qadry will co-host breakout sessions for participants. The topic for the sessions will centre around around "The Evolution of Business" and will explore how technology is a driving force behind change in business.

Vancouver TechFest 2009

sgayda — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Habañero presenters

David Webb, Michael Schweitzer, Yaroslav Pentsarskyy, and Sing Chan

About TechFest

The 3rd Annual Vancouver Technology Festival features an exciting day of presentations by and for the local community. A place for developers and IT professionals to come and learn from their peers, TechFest offers presentation topics based on community interest.

For the third year in a row Habañero Consulting Group was invited to participate. The following four developers will present:

David Webb - Tracing and the SQL Server Profiler - View the video.
Michael Schweitzer - The Power of Reflection - View the video.
Yaroslav Pentsarskyy - SharePoint 2010: What's New for SharePoint 2007 Developers?
Sing Chan - Creating jQuery Web Parts for SharePoint - View the video.

Find out more about TechFest.

SharePoint External & Internal Information Management - Tips & Tricks

sgayda — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Presented by: VanSPUG

Featured Habañero presenter: Yaroslav Penstarskyy

View the code from the demonstration.

Overview

This event is jointly organized by both the VanSPUG and .netBC user groups.

A new version of SharePoint is around the corner. Microsoft is expected to release NDA restrictions on SharePoint 2010 on Monday Oct. 19, 2009, so we clearly are not just going to talk about the out-of-the-box features of SharePoint 2007. Brace yourself for the newest kid on the block: SharePoint 2010.

In this session we'll focus on various types of data that you're likely to consume in your SharePoint solution and look at some of the ways to process it with maximum utilization of out-of-the-box functionality and of course with some custom logic. These types of data will be discussed:

Content types: how do you locate data and records on your SharePoint server quickly and efficiently?
Streaming media on your SharePoint server - you're not planning to upload it all to your document libraries? In what format do you save your media?
Office applications interoperability - you have data in a list and want to convert it to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint? We'll take a look at how this can be done.

We'll discuss some pros and cons of several approaches and provide sample code for developers in the audience to go and try things out themselves.

Tuning Your Talent: Approaches to Performance Management

sgayda — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Featured Habañero panelist

Steven Fitzgerald, President

Overview

As part of the 2009 Human Capital Symposium put on by the HR Tech Group, Steven Fitzgerald will participate in a panel discussion about effective HR practices and will offer a brief overview of Habañero's approach to performance management.

The Human Capital Symposium is a one-day forum that will bring together tech leaders and HR professionals from the technology community to share and learn about best people practices.

TechNet Webcast: Ten Reasons for Hosting Websites on SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites

sgayda — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Featured Habañero presenters

Ben Skelton, Practice Leader, Websites & eCommerce

Jasvir Shukla, Information Architect

Overview

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites is being used by a number of industry-leading organizations across the globe. Join us for a in-depth look at how your organization can benefit from SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites. In this webcast, we review ten areas in which SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites is delivering concrete value to organizations that have deployed the technology.

View the webcast.

SharePoint Conference 2009

sgayda — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero has 11 employees attending the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas. A big focus of this year's conference will be SharePoint 2010, everything from upgrade and migration to the business value of new platform features and functionality.

Are you a Habañero client? Attend our evening party on Oct. 21. Contact Brian Edwards for more details.
Want instant updates and news from the conference? Follow @HabaneroConsult on Twitter.
Looking for a more in-depth and personal account of the event? Subscribe to Habañero's engineering blog and/or user experience blog.

Bing Maps with SharePoint: A Better Business View

sgayda — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

View or download the webcast (registration required).

Featured Habañero presenter

Daniel Flippance

Visualize SharePoint content using Bing Maps

Viewing your business data in an efficient, intuitive way is key to your organization's success. When you use Bing Maps with SharePoint, the mapping platform can be a powerful tool for visualizing content. Bing Maps incorporates rich imagery and cutting-edge technology to provide unique views of data – for use all across the enterprise.

Join Microsoft partners IDV Solutions, SpeakTech, and Habañero Consulting Group, as they demonstrate how they have integrated SharePoint and Bing Maps to deliver compelling solutions for their customers. Learn how you can improve your business by using Bing Maps with SharePoint.

Learn more about Bing Maps for Enterprise.

Microsoft TechDays Canada

sgayda — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Featured Habañero Presenters

Daniel Flippance, Michael Schweitzer, Adam Crandall, Mike Jensen, Tommy Lum, Carmen Craciun

About Microsoft TechDays Canada

Microsoft TechDays Canada is Microsoft Canada’s largest technical education event series for IT professionals and developers. It focuses on providing customers with skills development through deep technical training, providing a place to connect with their peers, and giving them the opportunity to learn and evaluate across a full range of technical sessions.

For the second year in a row Habañero Consulting Group was invited to contribute a large group of presenters. The following six developers will present:

Daniel Flippance — SOLIDify Your Microsoft ASP.NET MVC Applications
Michael Schweitzer — Visual Studio Tips and Tricks
Adam Crandall — Patterns for the Rest of Us
Adam Crandall — Going from 0 to 100 Dollars per Hour with the .NET You Never Knew
Mike Jensen — Better Software Change and Configuration Management Using TFS
Tommy Lum — Metrics That Matter: Using Team System for Process Improvement
Carmen Craciun — Architecture of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Find out more about Microsoft TechDays Canada.

Internet Marketing Conference

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Featured Habañero presenter: Ben Skelton

Session overview

In this workshop, Ben Skelton, Habañero's Practice Leader, Websites & eCommerce, will explore a number of tools and techniques that you can integrate into any website project to create a first-class user experience. Dig deep into the key elements of successful user experiences, learn how you can develop easy-to-understand website structures, and discover how you can take your usability tests to the next level. In addition, Ben will review Habañero's best practices for website design and development.

Implementing a Solid DR Strategy

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Presented by: VanSPUG

Featured Habañero presenter: Carmen Craciun

Overview

This session will be a discussion about how to keep your SharePoint data safe and available. Some of the topics we will cover include:

overview of built-in tools available for backup and restore and content recovery
scenarios to backup and restore a SharePoint farm, site collection, and web
third-party tools available for backup, restore, and disaster recovery and a comparison between them

Register

Please RSVP to contactus@vanspug.com if you wish to attend this session. Limited spaces available.

The Many Faces of SharePoint

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Presented by

Brian Edwards, Habanero's Practice Leader, Collaboration, and Paradigm Consulting Group

Overview

You don't have to look far to notice that SharePoint has taken off as the leading enterprise collaboration platform. Companies big and small are turning to Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) to streamline communications and provide teams with the ability to collaborate better and faster.

SharePoint’s rapid growth has also raised a lot of questions:

What are the best practices for implementing the platform as an enterprise solution?
What type of supports will you need to effectively run a SharePoint environment?
Once you've set up SharePoint for collaboration, how can you continue to get value out of the platform?

In this presentation, we will explore these questions and more. We will look at SharePoint through a few different lenses: as a business productivity and workflow tool, as an executive dashboard reporting solution, and even as an external website web content management platform. We will also look at the features in SharePoint search and web 2.0 knowledge sharing and how the opensource Microsoft development community has made these features even more powerful.

Designing for the Community Experience

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Presented by: VanUE

Habañero speaker: Nick Bouton

View the presentation slides.

Session Overview

As the popularity of social networks on the web has risen dramatically over the last few years, many designers and developers have found themselves running into a bit of a dilemma: does one design and build for promotion and virality, or to enhance their site’s existing community experience? Fear not, fellow user interaction designers; these two things need not be mutually exclusive.

Creating a sense of community in a web-based environment is a complex puzzle at the best of times, with hundreds of moving parts that can be hard to nail down. It’s also an exhilarating experience that can be as addictive to designers and developers as any drug. This session will work through several examples of how you can design (or update) your site to integrate some of the key elements required to build any successful community:

Create a barrier to entry (it’s not as bad as it sounds!)
Provide users with a sense of identity and ownership
Give users control over their content
Provide social tools for discussion and collaboration
Offer multiple paths to discover interesting content
Encourage reciprocity and cross-pollination
Don’t be a faceless entity: get involved in your community
Create and develop your super-fans
Allow your community to share content and promote itself
Listen to your users: triage feedback, iterate quickly, grow organically

Find out more about VanUE.

Helping Your Organization Create Competitive Advantage with the Support of IT

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Ignite Your Career Webcast Series

Presented by Microsoft. Habañero panelist: Jason McIntyre

Microsoft Canada presents a series of online discussions designed to support career development in the industry. Led by a panel of Canadian ICT experts, the webcasts will provide insights and answers to help professionals stay on top of their game.

Session overview

Now more than ever we as IT architects need to help see opportunities for leveraging our organizational investments into competitive advantage. There are a number of ways an organization can create this advantage, but sustaining it almost always needs deep and thoughtful support from IT infrastructure and solutions. Our panelists will explore the environment we're in, where some opportunities might lay, and how we as architects can help support and even lead this process.

Find out more about the Ignite Your Career Webcast Series.

Spillway Gates Portal

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:17:13 GMT

Find out how BC Hydro's spillway gates portal helps improve team collaboration, communication, and efficiency.

Call Reports System

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:11:07 GMT

Find out how Deeley Harley-Davidson® Canada increased efficiencies and consistency in collecting, reporting, and tracking the issues and service requests of Retailers.

NAV Implementation

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:37:17 GMT

Find out more about Day4 Energy's scalable and easy-to-use ERP system.

Website

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:55:00 GMT

Find out more about how CAPP's effective, user-friendly website engages diverse audience groups.

On-boarding Solution

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:53:49 GMT

Find out about the MOSS 2007 solution for on-boarding new emplolyees that has increased productivity, saved time, and streamlined workflow at EPCOR.

ERP Solution

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:36:31 GMT

Imprint Plus has a Dynamics NAV ERP solution that can grow with the business. Find out more.

Dynamics AX Enhancement

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:32:13 GMT

Find out how Habañero helped Houweling Nurseries generate accurate reports from a single Dynamics AX data source.

ERP Strategic Planning Project

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:42:15 GMT

Find out more about the ERP strategic plan Habañero developed for Archipelago Marine Research that helps create alignment between IT and business strategy.

Data Warehousing and Reporting Solution

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:59:44 GMT

Find out how the school division reduced time and costs with its new data warehouse and reporting solution.

Reporting Solution

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:54:27 GMT

Find out about the reporting infrastructure that enables employees to easily access business data, strengthen reporting, and improve decision making.

Contoso Bike Club

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:50:13 GMT

Find out more about the Contoso Bike Club application, a mash-up based on publicly available Windows Live Services that provides a whole host of features and increasingly rich programmability.

Foundation Invitational Website

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:44:13 GMT

Learn about the rebranded Sitefinity website Habañero created for BPFI organizers in under one month.

Your Tribute Website

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:43:19 GMT

Find out more about the improved, user-friendly interface we created for Your Tribute.

Website

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:42:47 GMT

Discover how the Port Metro Vancouver website became an information-rich and action-oriented source for a diverse audience group.

Website

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:40:48 GMT

Find out more about the website Habañero created for Boston Pizza that leverages the Sitefinity CMS and provides an enhanced experience for guests.

Radcliffe Habañero's New Regional Leader for BC

sgayda — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:40:17 GMT

Habañero Consulting Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Radcliffe as the new Regional Leader for British Columbia. Radcliffe brings extensive experience in client experience management, project delivery, senior level consulting, risk management, and financial analysis, and he has worked extensively with Habañero’s Practice Leaders to develop our service offerings.

As BC’s Regional Leader, Radcliffe is responsible for creating and implementing a go-to-market strategy, executing the regional sales plan, and developing strategic client relationships. With a strong vision for the business potential in the region, Radcliffe presents a compelling approach for integrating the role into Habañero’s existing and evolving leadership structure.

As Radcliffe states, “We will continue focusing on deepening engagement with strategic relationships in BC. To help clients coming out of a rough economic period, we will concentrate efforts on pre-project business justifications and post-project business impact valuations.” He adds, “I look forward to the exciting challenges this position brings and to expanding Habañero’s positive impact within our client base.”

Contact Chris Radcliffe.

Habañero an Alberta's Best Workplaces Finalist

sgayda — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:03:17 GMT

Habañero was a finalist in three categories on the Alberta’s Best Workplaces 2010 list, as featured in Alberta Venture Magazine. The awards recognize those Alberta-based companies leading the way in corporate culture and human resource development.

Habañero received honourable mentions in the following three categories:

Best Workplace for Working Parents
Best Workplace for Volunteerism and Community Involvement
Best Overall Workplace (Under 100 Employees)

Jason McIntyre, Habañero's Regional Director for Alberta, is proud of the achievement. "We have a really strong team of talented people here. Given the amount of time our employees spend at the office, it's important that work is an enriching part of their lives." He adds, "The positive byproduct of our engaged staff is that our clients and partners are better served and enabled to meet their business objectives."

Habañero Ranks #19 on Top 50 Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada

sgayda — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:44:00 GMT

Habañero Consulting Group is pleased to be named number 19 among the Top 50 Best Small and Medium Employers in Canada. The study, now in its sixth year, is published in the Globe and Mail and PROFIT Magazine.

Becoming a Top Best Small and Medium Employer is a very detailed and competitive process. This national awards program recognizes top employers with between 50 and 400 employees. This study mirrors the renowned Best Employer in Canada initiative run by partner, Hewitt Associates; however, it caters to smaller businesses.

The rankings are primarily determined using the results from Employee Opinion Surveys. Here, 21 key engagement drivers are detailed and analyzed. The evaluation process also includes the assessment of organization practices and perspectives from the leadership team. This year, more than 200 companies across Canada registered to participate in the study.

View the full list in the Globe and Mail.
View the press release from the Queen’s Centre for Business Venturing at the Queen’s School of Business

For media inquiries related to the study, please contact Sandra Olszowka, Queen's Centre for Business Venturing, Queen's School of Business, 613.533.3119, solszowka@business.queensu.ca.

For Habañero media inquiries, please contact Sarah Gayda.

Tech Update

sgayda — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:36:13 GMT

Get ready for SharePoint 2010

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 is now available in Beta. Habañero had some input into the development of this version, picked up a ton of great information at the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, and is currently working with the platform internally.

So what are the most significant improvements in the new version of SharePoint? Here's what we think:

ability to build even better user experiences
enhanced functionality in all core areas (business intelligence, content and records management, search)
integration of Performance Point Server features
better licensing options: standard and enterprise licences will be available for external websites
enhanced Web 2.0 concepts and features throughout the platform including status features, social tagging, blog and wiki capabilities, and team sites that work like wikis
ability for end-users (as opposed to just developers) to create mash-up applications
support for multi-millions of records in lists and libraries

To upgrade or not to upgrade?

The decision to upgrade your SharePoint environment isn't straightforward. To help you out, here are some scenarios where upgrading would make sense:

you want to reduce the overall administration cost of the product
you want to extend the platform to better collaborate with clients and partners with multi-browser and multi-lingual support
you want to upgrade slowly in stages but still keep your original (2007) site's design
you have an Enterprise Service Agreement (ESA) so there are no licensing costs for you

However, there are definitely cases where upgrading does not make sense. For example, if you are getting good business value from your MOSS 2007 implementation or do not have an ESA, you may be better off investing in another area that will deliver greater returns.

No matter what the technology, an upgrade decision still needs to be based on answers to fundamental questions: How will the platform align with your key business drivers? Where will you get value? What is the roadmap for the project over time? What are your core governance processes that will ensure the implementation maintains its value over time?

Identifying ROI essential in a tough economy

Today's tough economic times call for even more stringent technology project planning. It's imperative that plans outline a solid business case including details on the expected return on investment.

Spending a bit more time thinking projects through at the outset can really help. Strategic planning activities, business roadmapping, pilot programs, and proof-of-concepts are all designed to ensure your business makes smart investments that will pay off in the long-term.

There are some good examples of businesses applying this kind of initial planning in order to enable wise business decision making:

Day4 Energy integrated Microsoft BizTalk with its ERP solution to reduce resource overhead and create reporting efficiency in its manufacturing process. Day4 anticipates ROI in approximately three months.
For another client, Habañero created a five-year portal roadmap that tightly integrated with other business initiatives and goals during that same period and that outlined projected business value.
Many clients have accessed Habañero's Total Cost of Ownership Calculator for SharePoint. This tool informs clients of the costs and benefits of managing a SharePoint solution over a five-year period.

Top reasons to consider SharePoint for Internet Sites

Recently Habañero's Ben Skelton and Jasvir Shukla presented a Microsoft TechNet webcast citing the top ten reasons for hosting websites on SharePoint for Internet Sites. Some of the most compelling reasons include ease of integration with other Microsoft technologies, a rich workflow foundation, rich content management system features, and more. View the full presentation.

ERP and the environment

Recent studies indicate that one of businesses' top environmental goals is energy and emissions reduction. Habañero recently introduced a new cost-effective ERP software solution that measures and tracks energy consumption and emissions according to greenhouse gas accounting principles. Contact Jeff Bacon, Senior Consultant, Dynamics, at 604.709.6201 x172 for more details on this offering.

Habañero selected as best employer again for 2009

For the second year in a row, Habañero was selected as a Best Company to Work for in BC by BC Business Magazine and as a Best Place to Work in Calgary by Avenue Magazine. Find out more.

Need more information?

For more information about SharePoint or Habañero's services, feel free to contact Brian Edwards, Habañero's Practice Leader, Collaboration, at 604.709.6201 x117.

Blogs Become One

sgayda — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:32:34 GMT

Habañero has merged three separate company blogs into one composite blog. The former user experience, engineering, and SharePoint blogs can now be accessed collectively on Habañero's blog page. Posts are sorted and stored by category, so users can easily find topics of interest.

Feedback? Please contact us.

Habañero Makes Best Companies to Work for in BC List Again for 2009

sgayda — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

BC Business Magazine named Habañero Consulting Group one of the “Best Companies to Work for in BC” in its December 2009 issue. Out of 96 shortlisted companies from all industries, 20 companies were chosen. Habañero ranked number seven in the Top Companies With Fewer Than 100 Employees category. Habañero was also ranked number three in the Top 5 Technology Companies list.

Making the list for the second consecutive year, Habañero was selected based on anonymous employee responses to a survey measuring talent systems, employee engagement, leadership dynamics, and organization culture.

New in this year's survey was the question, "If my company were a celebrity, it would be?" One Habañero employee's answer: "Hugh Jackman - he's smart, capable, and equally comfortable with being strong (Wolverine) and sensitive (he also does Broadway musicals - c'mon!). Oh, and hot."

Read Habañero's profile.
View the Top 10 Best Companies to Work for in BC List.
Hear about best practices from the Best Companies.

Habañero Named Fourth Biggest Web Development Company in BC

mchanfong — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero Consulting Group was ranked number four on Business in Vancouver’s list of the “Biggest Web Development Companies in B.C.” The newspaper’s October 27-November 2, 2009 issue ranks companies by number of employees and provides details on 25 businesses.

View the complete BIV list (subscriber number required).

View the complete list on Techvibes.

Habañero's Data Warehousing & Reporting Solution a 2009 IMPACT Awards Finalist

sgayda — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

The data warehousing and reporting solution Habañero developed for SE Cornerstone School Division in Saskatchewan was selected as a 2009 Microsoft Canada IMPACT Awards finalist. The solution was shortlisted in the Finance (ERP) category. Award winners and finalists will be announced and recognized at a gala awards ceremony in Toronto on November 12, 2009.

Cornerstone School Division is currently seeing the benefits of a modern, streamlined, and easy-to-use financial reporting solution and has had a great deal of positive user feedback. Find out more about the solution.

Microsoft Canada's annual IMPACT Awards recognize innovation and excellence in the Canadian technology partner community.

See the complete list of 2009 finalists.

Habañero Makes Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in BC List

mchanfong — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero Consulting Group was ranked number 47 on Business in Vancouver’s list of the “Top 100 fastest-growing companies in B.C.” The newspaper’s September 8-14, 2009 issue ranks companies by percentage growth in revenue between 2004 and 2008.

View the complete list (subscriber number required).

Habañero Among Best Places to Work in Calgary for Second Year Running

sgayda — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Avenue Magazine selected Habañero Consulting Group as part of its 2009 "Calgary's Best Places to Work" list. After making the list in 2008, Habañero was one of only five companies to requalify again for 2009.

More than 800 employees from over 100 companies submitted surveys for the competition. After shortlisting 53 companies, Avenue Magazine selected 13 winners. Survey questions focused on eight areas: fairness and respect for employees; leadership; corporate and workplace culture; workplace diversity and level of personal expression; corporate reputation; employee perks, benefits, and opportunities for growth; work/life balance; and corporate responsibility.

Read the full article and find out why Habañero was selected as a Best Place to Work.

Fitzgerald Discusses Habañero in Subvert Blog

sgayda — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero's President Steven Fitzgerald opens up about Habanero's history, services, tools, processes, and marketing, and shares some important business lessons he's learned in Subvert's blog.

Edwards Points to Benefits of Integration of Collaboration Tools for SMBs

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero's Brian Edwards, wrote an article for the Summer 2009 issue of Canadian Technology & Business entitled, "Integration of collaboration tools: The solution SMBs have been searching for". The article highlights the benefits of having collaboration tools integrated with document and records management solutions and discusses the associated cost savings.

Read the full article.

Fitzgerald Comments on Microsoft Canada's New Boss

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero President Steven Fitzgerald offered up his opinions on the appointment of Eric Gales as President of Microsoft Canada in the June 16, 2009 issue of itbusiness.ca.

In the article Fitzgerald states, “It's a real sign that the organization recognizes talent and can take advantage of it.” He adds, “I've always been very impressed with [Gales'] ability to balance a detailed understanding of the complexities of the business with a broad, clear-headed perspective and vision. He's a fantastic person for the role.”

Read the full article: Channel supports Microsoft Canada's new boss

Habañero Partnership Expands

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero Consulting Group is excited to announce an important change to the ownership structure of the firm. Effective, April 13, 2009, Habañero includes five new corporate partners, all long-term employees that have had a major impact on the company’s exceptional growth in the past five years and emerged as moral and operational leaders.

By expanding the partnership, President Steven Fitzgerald and Executive Vice President Elliot Fishman were able to achieve a significant milestone in their vision to establish Habañero as a growth oriented generational firm. Fitzgerald and Fishman maintain controlling interest in Habañero.

“The expansion of the partnership offers more transparency into how Habañero can be a long-term career vehicle for employees,” states Fitzgerald. He adds, “It also starts to differentiate us from lifestyle businesses—those that flourish during the careers of the people that started them and then fade away.”

The following five team members purchased a portion of the partnership from Fitzgerald and Fishman:

Brian Edwards, Practice Leader, Collaboration
Rick Martin, Regional Director, Alberta
Chris Radcliffe, Director, Consulting
Caterina Sanders, Director, User Experience
Ben Skelton, Practice Leader, Websites & eCommerce

Ben Skelton, Websites & eCommerce Practice Leader, says, “I was excited to have the opportunity to invest in the company I’ve grown with as an employee for the last ten years.” He adds, “This is a huge evolutionary step forward for Habañero, and I’m looking forward to playing a bigger part in the company’s amazing future.”

Structural Changes Required for Sustainable Habañero Future

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Habañero has implemented sweeping organizational changes in response to the current economic climate. The changes include a reduction in operating expenses and our consulting team, and a reorganization of some practice areas and service offerings. Together these changes are designed to ensure long-term sustainability by optimizing the company for current and anticipated market demand.

We believe that when the economy rebounds, solid companies will be in a strong position to grow and take advantage of market opportunities. These cost reductions are necessary to ensure our viability and prosperity in the future.

After a review of all areas of expense and a concerted effort to save as many jobs as possible, we unfortunately had to eliminate 12 positions in the company. We truly recognize the valuable contributions that affected individuals have made to our company, and are saddened that economic realities have led to the loss of great people.

Another change involves our decision to reduce our number of practice areas and incorporate business intelligence into our Dynamics ERP and collaboration practices. We will still continue to create and deliver business intelligence solutions; however, they will be offered in combination with our other solutions.

The decision to merge BI with ERP and collaboration was closely tied to recent changes at Microsoft, including the availability of BI tools within the SharePoint platform, and our desire to maintain close alignment with Microsoft's direction. It was also a response to changes in market demand.

In light of the above mentioned changes at Habañero, we would like to sincerely reiterate our commitment to fostering long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with both clients and employees. At the same time, our most immediate priority is to operate in a sustainable and fiscally responsible manner to ensure that we will be around and vibrant for years to come.

Sincerely,

Steven Fitzgerald
President