The Light Is Green

SAP merger?

There were rumors that a SAP M&A was in the works, but that was just shot down by SAP CEO Henning Kagermann, reports Red Herring. SAP is not interested going down the Oracle path (Oracle recently bought Peoplesoft and Siebel).

Previously, SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner had said that there are only 3 companies capable of acquiring SAP, Microsoft, IBM, and Google, that these scenarios are improbable, and that there are no ongoing talks regarding a merger.

If a politician said that then we'd KNOW something was up, right? :) But we'll take Mr. Plattner's word for it...

Merger rumors have been floating around since it was Microsoft and SAP began working on a joint product called Duet, which combines SAP's business application functionality with MS's Office and Outlook software.

Honda to develop clean diesel

Honda again! I don't have a bias for Japanese carmakers (if anything, I was brought up during the 70's when there was a bit of negative sentiment towards Japanese cars so maybe subconcsiously I'm biased against, or then again maybe I'm sub-consciously atoning for that subconscious bias, or maybe...), but it seems every high tech or progressive news item is coming out of Japan these days. I wonder if that can be directly related to how well they are doing...

Aaaaanyways, Autoblog and AutoblogGreen report that Honda will, in 3 years, present a clean diesel engine. It seems that Kenichi Nagahiro, inventor of the VTEC and Honda's chief engine designer, agreed to design the company's first diesel engine but on the condition that he could start completely from scratch, as he had a dislike for diesel's noisiness and smell.

Honda controls robots via brainwaves

Honda announced that they have developed a way to control robots through brainwaves. Man, that gets your imagination running, eh? 

According to the The Car Connection (via Cars! blog), this is done by relaying brainwave signals from an MRI scanner to the robot, via computer. They demo'd this in Tokyo by having a robot hand make a fist, spread its fingers, make a V-sign.

I imagine the Toyota guys in the crowd quickly left at that point, just in case! :)

Puerto Rico - Photos from the seminar

Finally got a chance to choose the best (!) photos from the seminar we held with ADC-Automotive Dealer Consulting in Puerto Rico last week. Click here to see the photo album...

Clouds loom over Internet?

A disturbing news item: U.S. ISPs (Internet service providers) want to slow down access to websites that do not pay a "protection fee".  Though not yet in effect, this is a potentially dangerous and harmful notion that needs to be swiftly nipped in the bud.

Since its very inception, the Internet has been a synonym of democracy and free-speech, and possibly the greatest embodiment of these principles which we all (I hope) hold dear.

The details, as reported by MoveOn.org (I read it on Emily Robbins's blog): Congress is pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. So Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer. Many members of Congress take campaign contributions from these companies, and they don't think the public are paying attention to this issue.

If you feel as I do, there's a petition you can sign to tell your member of Congress what you think.

New Honda plants in North America

Honda plans to build a new assembly plant in the USA, and an engine plant in Canada, all within the next three years.

They will also introduce a new, dedicated hybrid-powertrain car, and a diesel engine, in North America.

Read this on Automotive News.

Puerto Rico wrap-up

Ok, our trip is officially over here in Puerto Rico, so now it's just rest and relaxation for us, baby! That means beach, pool, sight-seeing, and shopping for our team, hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of us in action later today.

BTW, man, is Manu Ginobili awesome or what? We all know he can play, but to me his best attribute is that he just never gives up. Case in point the game last night, sure Duncan was the major factor in the nail-biting win, but Ginobili had two steals and a heads-up recovery in the final minutes. If you saw his amazing off-balance last-second score in the Argentina vs. Serbia-Montenegro game in the 2004 Olympics, you know what I mean, the guy just delivers when he's needed. Wish we could have him as our official spokesman!

Puerto Rico seminar was a....

... huge success!

Ok, we were excited before the event but now... Fuhgettaboutit! A great turnout with around 70 people in all, some 20 more than expected, so you can imagine. And the response was just awesome, mainly I think to the format (which was on the informational side, based on the work we are doing with global consultancy firm ADC-Automotive Dealer Consulting). A lot of useful best-practices were discussed, which I hope means a lot of takeaways for attendees.

The reaction to our DMS product was also excellent, which is gratifying since we've been working the last 6 months to add features that are specific to the region's needs. We're not exactly new here as we already have some clients, but the things we added are really convenient for Caribbean dealers.

What were the features that got rave reviews?

• Windows-based (not a slapped-on interface), which means off-the-shelf hardware and printers, Excel integration for reports, ease-of-use, quicker learning curve for new employees, etc.
• Multi-location (and multi-franchise) dealers need a system that can manage all stores in real-time, on one central database, with out any batch-processing to consolidate data.
• Online, real-time accounting, without batch-processing (that again! I thought batch had gone out long ago :) plus the really good reporting... by department, by location, consolidated, and some really cool reports that no other system seems to have.
• Actually people really appreciated the total integration of the system, and that everything is real-time.
• Wait, there are too many features to list :)!  I'll cull it down to the top five and edit this entry later!

Now, to rest, as tomorrow we have private meetings with some dealers...

Puerto Rico Part 2

Our team has been going over the presentation that we have tomorrow here at the beautiful El San Juan Hotel & Casino in Puerto Rico.

We have over 50 registered attendees including visitors from Dominica, Haiti, British Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic, so we're pretty excited, and the material we've put together I think is very good, not the common hard-sell product-oriented stuff you might expect, but more of a results-oriented overview of best practices, process improvements and such that both our co-host ADC and we have seen around the world. Similar to what we touched upon in our most recent podcast.

Keeping it brief as there is much work to be done...

Lovely Puerto Rico

Just flew in to lovely Puerto Rico where we (that would be our product manager, our sales manager, the head of our deployment team, and moi) are officially launching our dealer management system (Autologica) in the Caribbean and Central America region. I'd go on about the many benefits but that would take forever :), luckily we'll be explaining them at the seminar we're hosting in 2 days together with our partner ADC.

It'll be a kind of informative event more than the usual salesy kind of show, it's titled "How successful dealers are improving their bottom-line profits" and we hope to show how good processes and procedures together with a good DMS system can help. If in your mind that means ADC and Autologica, all the better!

First impressions as we get off the plane and head to the hotel: Ok, it is very hot, but not unbearable. The people are very friendly, the atmosphere is relaxed, there's a lot of green, the traffic isn't as bad as we've heard, and our hotel is just beautiful, the El San Juan Hotel & Casino (we're only using the first part!).

We'll get some rest now, tomorrow we'll do our final prep work for the seminar, the day after is D-day.