Come 1st June 2007, Formis Network Services Sdn Bhd (FNS) will take over the the entire operations and business of Formis Computer & Communication Sdn Bhd. This is in line with the Group's direction to streamline its Systems business.

FNS is a Bumiputra Systems Integrator focussing on Government, Telecommunications and Oil & Gas industry. With this integration, FNS will now have in its portfolio the business of providing mission critical solutions for the Defence and National Security sector.

Jonathan Ng, our Group Accountant is leaving us to join an undisclosed MNC as their Financial Controller. Bigger pay and larger scope of work were the reasons for making the jump.

Jon joined us in 2004 and brought with him over six years working experience both in Commercial Accounting and Auditing environment then. He holds a professional qualification in Accounting and is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Some of his past employers include Chin Foh Berhad and BDO Binder.

We all wish Jon the best of luck in his career.

IBM Plaza, May 15th : It wasn't just boring slide presentations and snoring back rows when First Solution Sdn. Bhd. (FSSB) held it's second Blades Day event at IBM Plaza today. Business Partners were exposed to the latest in IBM BladeCenter technology via a workshop and entertaining hands-on session with the IBM Blade and BladeCenter. Speakers included Rizal Yunus, Saiful Jazri from FSSB and Kai Sum from IBM.

The day went on and despite overstaying the reserved classroom and having to relocate to another smaller room, spirits were still high as the event had just begun the more exciting Blades Day Games; a tradition kept since the last Blades Day event. This time, participants were given the task to assemble a mock BladeCenter in the fastest time, with the main attraction being the grand prize - a scale model IBM BladeCenter.

Article by Rizal Yunus, Product Executive - FSSB

This picture looks familiar to you?

Yes, this is the cinema.  ININ (www.inin.com) was having its "New Rules for IP Business Communication Seminar" in the cinema hall @ Golden Screen Cinema, Berjaya Time Square.  FORMIS BASS, the authorized Reseller in Malaysia had participated and invited their customers to the seminar. 

Mr. Gary Blough, Executive VP Sales, ININ HQ, flew in all the way from Indiana, US to welcome all the guests.  He was followed by Mr. David Toh, Country Manager ASEAN, ININ, who shared the trends in Call Centre space, and how to turn customers' call centre into a more effective, customer-focused and multimedia-packed IP contact centre.  Must say that everyone enjoyed the session and its insights, not to mention the soon-to-follow sumptuous spread and, of course, the highlight of the evening – the Spider-man 3 movie.

This lonely looking vending machine is located on the 10th Floor of Menara SMI. It was placed there for the convenience and enjoyment of staff as well as guests of Formis Group who use the training and conference facilities. It is now facing a strong possibility of being carted back because of under usage.

So, if you want to continue to enjoy cold canned drinks at only RM1.30 per can, please beef up the usage to ensure its presence. Price check around shows that a can of Coke is RM1.50 from the drugstore at Menara PanGlobal, and RM2.50 from Geo Cafe.

22 staff of FORMIS BASS Software and Formis Computer Services attended a sales training called Professional & Effective Solution Selling at Bayu Beach Resort, PD on 11th & 12th May, 2007.

The Objective - To learn and adopt best practices for professional and solutions sales process.
The Issues - Prospecting and qualification skills to produce healthy sales funnel, Understanding clients’ behavior to win deals by generating and implementing pro-active action plan to win.

Right from the start, all participants were told to adapt to “Change” in order to be successful. The highlight of the training was to identify and understand clients’ business value chains – this was where the participants were grouped into 3 groups and made to present their view of business opportunities by looking at their business functionalities.
They also learned about follow-up, handling objections and closing calls which are part and parcels of a sales process.

Besides training, there were moments of fun in and out of the sun (beach soccer and volleyball, playing pools and karaoke). After two days of training, everyone is looking forward to adopt what they have learned into action and hopefully will be able to gain more qualified clients and turn into sales for the company.

To position itself as the leader in Dynamic Warehousing solution, IBM had the FSS Solutions Insights for Financial Sector event at The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur recently on 8th May 2007.  FORMIS BASS was invited to showcase its innovative solutions, built on top of IBM software solutions. 

The event generated a lot of interest among the participants. FORMIS BASS’ Insurance Portal in particular attracted the crowd, as it is able to help customers gain convenient and customized access to their business information and applications.

There were ample help from colleagues from FORMIS BASS in the initial preparations to ensure a smooth event and ultimately, in addressing the keen interest and questions from the crowd.   The event ended at about 2pm, with many tired but happy faces.

Formis Network Services (FNS) together with their network solution partner HuaWei Technologies (www.huawei.com) joined forces to organize a two days  technology update and project workshop for Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad (www.celcom.com.my). The event was successfully held at PNB Darby Park, Kuala Lumpur on April 18  and 19, 2007.  

 At this session,  participants attended are Celcom staffs who are involved in the recent awarded Next Generation SDH Fiber Optic Phase 1 project, value at RM12 million. During this event the team learned more on Huawei Technologies' solutions and concepts. In addition they also discussed the project implementation and the current progress.

It was a successful event as there was good interaction and questions raised between speakers and participants.It is apparent that apart from learning everyone had an enjoyable time. Hoping to get more from Celcom.   

The Network Engineers of Celcom enjoying their lunch at 39 Restaurant together with some FNS Managers.

Bernama reported that Comptroller of the Perak royal household Raja Datuk Seri Mansur Raja Razman announced the marraige of the Raja Muda of Perak to be held on May 17. According to Utusan Malaysia the lucky girl is Zara Davidson, Formis (Malaysia) Berhad's former Vice President, Partnerships and Alliances.

Zara Salim Davidson, graduated with honors from University of Nottingham, UK, in Chemical Engineering. She joined Formis Network Services in 2001 after serving six years in PETRONAS. She was reassigned to corporate the following year. She left Formis in 2006 for Forthwave Consulting and served as its Managing Director until March 2007.

Congratulations Zara and we at Formis wish you all the love and happiness.

Other than diversifying into software application business, First Solution (FSSB) is also setting our footprints in the area of services, particularly, to support the IBM Wintel Servers nationwide.

We managed to gather service partners from 13 states all over Malaysia last 19th of April in IBM in order to provide their first IBM System X Technical Principle training. Stephen Low (second row - fourth guy from the left), the IBM System X IT Specialist, conducted the day long session in such an interactive and lively manner.

There will be many successive training to lead them all towards advanced level in the near future.

The highlight of the day was when the Managing Director of IBM, Mr. Ou, (second row, second gentleman from the left) dropped by to say hello and spent some time to be photographed together with everyone involved in the training session.