Marcus Gomez has begun a pilot CMMI process mapping project for TIME Engineering Berhad.
After nearly two years as a process engineering and documentation consultant at Dagang Net and TIME Engineering, the company’s recently expressed its interest in the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) process improvement approach and approached Marcus Gomez for our help. The project involves mapping TIME Engineering/Dagang Net’s current processes against selected CMMI best practices and identifying where the gaps are. Marcus Gomez will then rewrite and reformate the company’s current documentation to reflect its readiness for CMMI best practices, after which the management will begin implementing the new standards.
History of Capability Maturity Models, from CMMI® for Services, Version 1.2. Click for larger image.
Developed by the Software Engineering Institute, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.
While only SEI-authorized Lead Appraisers can certify organisations as being CMMI-compliant, companies can accellerate the process by ensuring that all their paperwork is in order before the appraisal begins. Marcus Gomez helps companies do so by mapping their current processes against the CMMI framework and discovering the compliance gaps within their business systems. The management is then in a much better position to judge whether or not CMMI certification is for them, and can see for themselves what it takes to be a CMMI-certified organisation.
Cisco Innovators for Small and Medium Businesses
Marcus Gomez has been recruited to help write and edit the regional Cisco Innovators newsletter for Small and Medium Businesses.
Cisco Innovators provides entrepreneurs and senior managers in the SME/SMB arena with sound business advice and and technical tips that aim to boost your ability to keep up with the rapidly accelerating changes in the technology world.
Unlike the newsletters of many other companies, Cisco Innovators does not just focus on what Cisco can do for you. Instead, it takes a more pragmatic approach to communication that puts the reader’s interests first rather than Cisco’s interests per se. The most recent issue includes a network security checklist, for example, as well as four strategies for SMB’s to find a route to recovery:
- Increase revenues by getting bigger and better
- Control labor costs by increasing productivity
- Improve cash flow and profits by cutting overheads
- Reevaluate your technology suppliers
Cisco Innovators is also chock-a-block full of case studies, executive insights and technology spotlights, not to mention a wealth of information about the latest applications of IT in the networking world.
The assignment was an interesting one, and Marcus Gomez looks forward to working on the next issue.
Download SIRIMLink, Issue #2, 2009. "Getting to the Heart of Matter". (PDF, 2.3MB)
SIRIMLink Issue #2, 2009 is now available for download from our website on our portfolio page. (Or, you could just click on the cover image right here).
Published by the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), SIRIMLink is a quarterly journal on the latest R&D news from the eminent research and quality organisation. The theme for Issue #2, 2009 “Getting to the Heart of Matter” is nanotechnology — that all-exciting science of small stuff.
This time around, Marcus Gomez was given a tour of SIRIM’s Advanced Materials Research Centre (AMREC) in Kulim High-Tech Industrial Park and was allowed to witness some of the experiments first-hand. Once again, he was bowled over by the sheer brilliance of some of the discoveries being made, specifically in the fields of nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes.
Here is an excerpt from the lead story in the magazine, “The Tiny Revolution”:
“Nuclear fission taught both scientists and governments to think twice before playing with powerful technologies they know nothing about, and thankfully, the world has since come to regard the atomic world with a healthy mixture of awe and respect. Scientists are no longer obsessed with smashing up atoms. Instead, researchers around the world are using atomically precise technologies to put atoms together.”
Marcus Gomez has already started work on the next issue of SIRIMLink, which will take a decidedly different tack from the usual format. In it, President and Chief Executive of SIRIM Ir. Hj. Yahaya Ahmad will discuss the restructuring of SIRIM Berhad and talk about the organisation’s future in Creativity and Innovation. We also speak to Dr. Mohamad Jamil, Vice-President of the Design & Engineering Division, and find out what the restructuring will mean to his team.
Watch this space for more!
Microsoft Malaysia Business Advantage Newsletter
Microsoft Malaysia has contracted Marcus Gomez to write the lead articles for its monthly Business Advantage Newsletter: Management and Technology News for SMEs.
The monthly enewsletter contains helpful insights and tips for small to medium businesses. The business strategies covered include brand building, the creativity of selling and customer relationship management. It also includes some useful technology tips as well as the current events and promotions of Microsoft Malaysia.
The enewsletter is delivered by email every month. You can sign up for the newsletter at Microsoft Malaysia’s SMB microsite for free, although you’ll need a Windows Live ID to do so.
"Transit TV: All Eyes Are Now On It" (PDF; 2.4MB)
Marcus Gomez recently concluded a white paper project for Asia Media titled “Transit TV: All Eyes Are Now On It”. Asia Media is Malaysia’s leading narrowcasting network.
The white paper takes a close look at Transit-TV as an information medium. Research by AC Nielsen reveals some startling insights into an audience traditionally overlooked by media account managers. For example:
- 87% of passengers are able to recall one or more commercials viewed on transit-TV.
- 80% of the transit-TV audience are 15-to-39 year-olds and possess tertiary educations.
- 31% of bus riders have purchased a product advertised on transit-TV.
Here is an excerpt from the white paper:
“Transit-TV is quickly asserting itself as an alternative advertising medium that offers an exceptionally captive market with high frequency and high brand awareness recall rates, all at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising mediums. The audience are tertiary-educated city-dwellers with a demonstrable propensity to spend money on fast food and entertainment, personal hygiene and mobile services.”
The white paper can be downloaded for free from our portfolio page.
