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The past 3 weeks I have been very busy preparing for and hosting webcasts for TechNet dealing with the new products (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010) that Microsoft will be releasing this month. While discussing some of the new features and updates in Windows 7, I was struck by what a large impact some seemingly simple new additions can make. Let’s face it, we’ve all heard a great deal over the past few months about DirectAccess and ranchCache and they truly are game changing technology, but they require new technologies to be implemented (Server 2008 R2 for both
features, IPv6 for DirectAccess). So I wanted to look at some of the small less touted features in Windows 7 that still return a very real business value right out of the box with little to no administrative overhead. What I came up with are the new Windows 7 Search and Windows 7 Libraries. It didn’t take much digging to see that these new additions would make users working experience more enjoyable, but when I broke out my calculator and started doing some simple math I was startled by the results.

Let’s start out by taking a quick look at what Windows 7 Search and Libraries are and how they impact a user’s daily routine.

The new Search capabilities in Windows 7 make searching for anything much easier than ever before by both putting the Search box directly on the Start menu and then returning search results directly into the Start menu as the Search is entered. The results to a search are not limited to only files and directories on the local computer, but rather display files, files contents, SharePoint contents, Outlook contents (even if Outlook is closed), Internet results, customized bags, and many other possibilities. Making Search easier to access while also returning a better and more diverse result set makes finding information much easier and faster for an organization’s users.

While Windows Search makes finding information easier, the new Libraries feature in Windows 7 allows users to organize their data in ways that are intuitive to them.Users can create their own Libraries and then add files and directories to them for future access regardless of where the data truly resides. With Libraries, it no longer matters where a file or directory is located, which makes accessing files as simple as opening a Library. No more digging through directory hierarchies to find files, no more remembering which mapped drive holds the necessary data; just open the library and the appropriate files and directories are there. The best part is that these libraries were created by the users not and administrator, so they do not have to recall someone else’s logic to find things, they create the organization while IT Professionals create the infrastructure.

Now you might at first respond to all this with “So what, users can search and find things more easily. What does this mean for me as an IT Professional or Manager?”, because that was my response. But then I put pen to paper and fingers to calculator, I crunched some numbers and I was very happy with what I found. Assuming that users save a mere 2 minutes apiece per day by no longer traversing directory structures to access the information they use to do their jobs, an organization with 250 users would save $32,500.00/year if each user makes $15.00/hour. I honestly think that the numbers I used are low (I see our users at my organization already saving far more than 2 minutes per day in real life testing programs) and I haven’t even delved into some of the “big” changes in Windows 7, but already I am seeing a full ROI for my upgrade licenses in less than a year with enough left over to by a very nicely configured server for continuing my migration to a virtualized data center. That’s powerful stuff high fashion eco loungewear really is! Those are real concrete numbers I can take to the CEO, CFO or CIO and justify those upgrades that Vista just never managed to warrant. This truly is The New Efficiency!!!

Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD), the leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM), today demonstrated continued new-business momentum for the pharmaceutical industry by announcing that it signed a leading pharmaceutical company as a new customer for its on-demand Monaco suite. Under the agreement, signed in the fourth quarter of 2009, the new customer will deploy the Callidus Monaco Suite for its direct sales force in the U.S.

“This is yet another new pharmaceutical customer that we have signed this year and we are very pleased with our ongoing momentum in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Jeff Saling, senior vice president of global sales at Callidus Software. “Callidus Monaco leads the SPM market with its unbeatable combination of ease of use and deep functionality, delivered by our SAS-70 compliant on-demand offering. SaaS for SPM is great for SMBs, but it is also expanding into the enterprise market, as demonstrated by our agreements with some of the leading courier services companies. These customers have selected us to replace their existing and frequently inflexible legacy solutions with SaaS from the SPM market-leader. Callidus Software now provides its solutions to three of the top five US-pharmaceutical companies.(1)”

The Callidus On-Demand Monaco Suite provides an end-to-end performance management platform. It enables businesses to optimize the entire sales lifecycle from sales on-boarding, to quota and plan deployment and payment. This helps deliver a high ROI in a very short period of time. The company’s solutions give actionable insight into sales execution and channel operations and provide the tools to fine-tune sales performance.

Due to its fast implementation, scalability and applicability, Callidus Monaco is chosen by many of the world’s leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry to manage their sales performance. By every meaningful measure — be it number of customers, number of payees, or size of transactions — Callidus Software is the leading provider of sales performance management software and services, allowing the world’s largest companies to more strategically and effectively manage sales operations and incentive programs.

For more news on sales performance management, follow Callidus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

About Callidus Software®

Callidus Software (www.callidussoftware.com) (NASDAQ: CALD) is the market and technology leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM). Callidus’ customers gain a competitive advantage by maximizing sales cost efficiencies and driving improvements in sales execution. Our award-winning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications set the standard for performance management across the sales force. Over 2 million employees and channel partners have their performance managed by Callidus Software.

© 1998-2009 Callidus Software Inc. All rights reserved. Callidus Software, the Callidus Software logo, Callidus TrueAnalytics, TrueComp, TrueComp Grid, TrueComp Manager, TrueConnection, TrueFoundation, TrueInformation, TruePerformance, TruePerformance Index, TruePerformance Indicator, TrueMBO, TrueAllocation, TrueProducer, TrueQuota, TrueReferral, TrueResolution, TrueTarget and TrueService+ are trademarks, servicemarks, or registered trademarks of Callidus Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand, service or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or owners.

ATLANTA, Nov. 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — American Software, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMSWA) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the Company’s quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share. The Company’s regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per share of American Software common stock is payable on March 5, 2010 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 19, 2010.

About American Software, Inc.

Headquartered in Atlanta, American Software develops, markets and supports one of the industry’s most comprehensive offerings of integrated business applications, courier services development, including supply chain management, Internet commerce, financial, warehouse management and manufacturing solutions. e-Intelliprise(TM) is an ERP/supply chain management suite, which leverages Internet connectivity and includes multiple manufacturing methodologies. Logility, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Software, is a leading provider of collaborative supply chain solutions that help small, medium, large and Fortune 1000 companies realize substantial bottom-line results in record time with its Logility Voyager Solutions(TM) and Demand Solutions(R) product suites. Logility is proud to serve such customers as Arch Chemicals, Avery Dennison Corporation, BP (British Petroleum), McCain Foods, Pernod Ricard and Sigma Aldrich. New Generation Computing Inc. (NGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Software, is a leading provider of PLM, Global Sourcing and ERP solutions for fashion, apparel, footwear and retail. NGC’s global customers include VF Corporation, A|X Armani Exchange, Carter’s, Maggy London, R.G. Barry, Hugo Boss, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Isda & Co., Tristan America, Parigi Group and many others. For more information on the Company, contact: American Software, 470 East Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta, GA 30305; (800) 726-2946 or (404) 261-4381. FAX: (404) 264-5206. INTERNET: www.amsoftware.com or e-mail: ask@amsoftware.com.

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