CRM Cloud Computing

Fujitsu has enabled the University of Bath to expand the scope of its Innovation Centre by migrating its business network system to a cloud-based solution.

Thanks to this move, Innovation Centre has been able to increase the number of its business networks that has lead to more rapid identification of new technology start-up clients and spin-outs from University research, according to company officials.

University of Bath’s Innovation Centre provides access to expertise, skills and quality contacts in a flexible business environment.  University officials said that the new ventures emanating from the University work along side privately-owned start-ups in an Entrepreneur-friendly environment.

Over the last five years, ventures from the University of Bath’s Innovation Centre have created 160 new jobs and brought £15m into the City’s economy, according to University’s officials.

Previously, the center used a spreadsheet–based system to manage the networks and members, which led to significant business constraints, including little ability to cross-reference network lists, a lack of visibility of potential clients interested in other networks and missed cross-selling opportunities when planning events.

University officials said that after investigating various solutions, the Innovation Centre decided to deploy a solution from enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.com.

“Salesforce.com (News - Alert) has allowed us to not only manage our subscribers in a fraction of the time but as a result, we have been able to expand our business, launching two new networks for our clients,” said Simon Bond, director of the Innovation Centre.

Additionally, the Innovation Centre has selected Fujitsu (News - Alert) as a system integrator due to their expertise in minimizing downtime during the transition phase. Fujitsu employed a staggered transition over a week period, known as a hot-migration, ensuring that the Innovation Centre was able to continue working as usual until the Salesforce.com implementation went live.

 “In recent years, we’ve helped a number of education establishments move from spreadsheet and manually-intensive systems to the latest Cloud-based solutions,” said Mark Peplow, senior consultant for UK and Ireland at Fujitsu, adding that this implementation is not only expediting the University of Bath’s processes but actually enabling it to expand its business.

Earlier this month, Fujitsu Limited and Kagawa University announced the start of joint research looking into how smartphones can provide lifestyle and educational support to children with special needs and their guardians.