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CEO's Report
A few years ago we
moved our HQ from San Diego to Sydney and in hindsight this has
proven to be a very smart move. Fortunately for us, the Australian economy (where we
also have our R&D centre) is still
remarkably strong and substantially healthier than North American or
European economies and looks set to continue that way with strong
growth predicted for this year and next. It also helps that some of
our largest customers are also some of Australia's largest resource
companies locked in for the long term to Chinese infrastructure
development.
Even so, many of our customers,
especially in Europe and the US and Canada, are still telling us money
is tight despite the improving outlook and many projects have been delayed
or scaled down. There are
a few exceptions where customers are embarking on major rollouts of RecFind 6, some of the largest being international rollouts, but on
the whole a lot of our customers are still cautious about spending money
and are waiting on more proof that the Global
Financial Crisis (GFC)
is really over.
From our perspective then (and my peers in the
industry tell me the same story) the GFC
has not yet ended despite what our politicians and the people in Wall
Street are telling us. When you consider that there are more than
eight and a half million Americans who lost their jobs last year it
is apparent to any normal person that the GFC won't be over until
there is a strong growth in employment, especially in the USA. Any
real recovery has to be evidenced with strong jobs growth.
We are fortunate in that we have a very large and
both geographically and industry diverse customer base and with the support of our
customers we have managed to continue to invest heavily in R&D
throughout 2009 and
we are still trying to hire staff rather than having to lay off
staff. Whereas
2009 wasn't a good year for sales (for us or our competitors) 2010
is looking much better and 2011 (if I dare to forecast that far
ahead) is looking to be a much better year. We also have plans to
expand our marketing and sales operations because our experience is
that you just have to try harder when times are tough; this is a
time when you do more, not less.
However, you will all be pleased to know that
unlike some, we have not cut back on the two key areas of support
and
development. This will be apparent when you next contact us for support and
when you start to test the new products we will deliver this year.
Our biggest advantage last year and this year was RecFind 6, our brand new product. It is only because we continued to
invest in R&D that our sales are so buoyant in tough times. It is
only because of the high calibre of our support team and their great
attitude that our customers
continue to invest with us. Cutting back in either of these areas
would have been counter-productive and our investment is certainly
paying off with solid if not spectacular sales figures despite the
GFC, thank you
for your continued support.
For our part we have also kept our prices
unchanged for the last 18 months despite significant rises in our
costs. Every organization we deal with has raised their prices and
charges as has every level of government we pay taxes and fees to
and to date we have been absorbing these increases but we will need
to adjust our prices in the coming months. We promise to give you
plenty of notice and to keep the increases to a minimum.
What has also become very clear is that one of the
most important benefits of RecFind 6 in these tough times is its
ability to solve multiple application software problems. The unique
technology of RecFind 6 allows our customers to use it for multiple
applications including records management, document management,
asset manage, complaints management, customer request management and
many more. This functionality can easily lead to millions of dollars
in savings for our customers. That fact that this is also all 'standard product' means you
don't pay any extra when you use RecFind 6 to meet multiple business
application software needs. We do not know of any other product with
these same capabilities.
GEM - the fully-automatic way to manage all
emails
We invented the fully-automatic, rules-driven,
server-centric model for email and electronic document management
some ten years ago.
The two add-on products that implemented this new model were GEM for
emails, and RecCapture for all other electronic documents stored on
PCs and shared drives. We have always used both products within our
business and my staff for example, never have to worry about
capturing emails from Outlook; they know for a fact that everything
that should be captured will be and in our case, correctly attached
to the customer file. They also know that they can find any email
instantly using either the text, Metadata or BOOLEAN search
features. We meet all of our business and our compliance
requirements without any of my staff having to do anything. We can't
imagine managing emails any other way.
These two remarkable products however have been a
'tough sell' because our customers on the whole have resisted going
the fully-automatic route. I recently wrote a paper on this same
issue (click
here...) as part of my ongoing effort to convince the
records and document management world that there is a better, lower
cost, easier to rollout and infinitely more reliable and consistent
way to manage all electronic records, especially emails.
Paradoxically, for 99% of my customers, emails are
still the major issue and a small number are not managing them other than
in a cursory way (e.g., printing out emails and attaching them to
the paper file folder). Most of my customers and most of the
prospective customers I speak to are doing a less-than-perfect job of
managing emails and very few (if any) are meeting their legislative
and compliance requirements. The majority of my customers use the
RecFind Button to manage emails and this works fine except for the
fact that as a client-centric solution you are relying on each and
every staff member to do the right thing every minute of every day.
You are also relying on a consistent classification standard right
across your organization and common sense tells us this just does not happen. The client centric
solution, no matter how good the software (and our Button is an
excellent tool), is not a consistent or reliable solution.
There is now a brand new release of both GEM and
RecCapture available for RecFind 6 version 2.2 (the current
release). Because I never give up (I know that GEM is the better
solution) we have a special offer on GEM for the three months March,
April and May.
Repeat of some
articles from the November E-Newsletter
Because we keep getting inquiries about the same
matters we have repeated a number of articles from the November
issue as they are obviously still topical.
And finally, thank
you for your continued support in these tough times. We will
continue to do everything in our power to reciprocate and to reward
your trust in us.
Best Regards,
Frank McKenna, CEO
»
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RecFind 6
is K1 version 2.0
Despite lots of
attempts to explain via newsletters, emails and phone calls we seem
to have confused our K1 customers about the merging of our two
product lines RecFind and Knowledgeone (K1). I am still getting
phone calls and emails from customers asking for clarification, my
apologies.
For the record,
RecFind 6 is a new product, it is not a development of RecFind 5.0.
It is actually the next development of K1 and in our R&D plan it was
originally called K1 version 2.0. We decided late in the piece to
rebrand it as RecFind 6 because RecFind is still our most powerful
brand worldwide. No matter how hard we market the Knowledgeone brand
we are still best known as the "RecFind company". We
decided to stop fighting it and just go with the flow; if our
customers and prospective customers want to call us the RecFind
company that is fine by us.
The product
chronology is RecFind 5.0 (2003) followed by K1 (2005) followed by
RecFind 6 (2008).
RecFind 6 version 2.2 is the next upgrade for both
RecFind 5.0 and K1 1.6. It merges the functionality of both product
lines and it contains a superset of the functionality of each.
However, it is a brand new product developed with the latest
Microsoft .NET technology; MS Visual Development Studio .NET 2008
for the first release and MS Visual Development Studio .NET 2010 for
the next release.
All the improvements requested and planned for K1 have been incorporated into RecFind 6 version 2.2.
For example, the ability to perform maintenance with the DRM while users are still logged on.
Every single feature of K1 including the DRM, Xchange, the Mini API, the HSSM, the Button,
workflow, reporting, searching, etc has been improved in RecFind 6.
RecFind 5.0 was at the end of its technology life
and it was not possible to upgrade it again. That's why we began
again with a clean sheet and a brand new product.
RecFind 6 is not a clone of
RecFind 5.0
We should also restate the fact that RecFind 6 is
not a clone of RecFind 5.0. There were many things in RecFind 5.0
that needed improving and changing and we most certainly took the
opportunity with RecFind 6 as a 'clean-sheet' development to rethink
and redesign everything. Just because RecFind 5.0 did something in a
particular way is no guarantee that RecFind 6 will do it in the same
way. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true. We tried to
apply a new model (i.e., no fixed, embedded rules) to RecFind 6 and
get away from the old-fashioned, inflexible rules model of RecFind
5.0. This was possible because whereas the customer wasn't able to
change the rules in RecFind 5.0, the customer can easily and quickly
change any rule or business process in RecFind 6 using the DRM.
The customer is truly empowered in RecFind 6 in a
way you never were with RecFind 5.0. The DRM is the secret; it
allows each customer to configure RecFind 6 to its exact and unique
requirements. You are no longer forced to accept the way the product
works in 'standard' mode. You can change and add rules with RecFind
6 and then lock them down to enforce your particular and unique compliance regime.
Basically, if you don't like it then change it! With the RecFind 6
DRM there is never reason to compromise.
If you are a K1 customer looking for assistance
with your upgrade to RecFind 6 please
click here...
»
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RecFind 6 & K1 Compatibility
Issues
With many of our customers now moving to upgrade
their IT environment it is worthwhile again reminding you of
possible operating system and database compatibility issues with
both K1 version 1.6 and RecFind 5.0.
The first thing to realize is that both RecFind
5.0 and K1 1.6 are now frozen; there will be no more updates or
service packs or new releases for either product. Both have been
replaced with RecFind 6. All of our R&D development is now
concentrated on RecFind 6. The only difference is that RecFind 5.0
is decommissioned, K1 is not.
We have not set a deadline for customers to
upgrade from K1 to RecFind 6 and we are currently working with K1
customers around the world to make the upgrade as easy as possible. However,
K1 customers, just like those customers still running on RecFind
5.0, need to be aware of possible compatibility issues if IT
departments upgrade their environment with software that is not
compatible with these two products. The following table lists those
products that are likely to break either K1 or RecFind 5.0.
| Product |
Possible
compatibility issue with K1 1.6? |
Possible
compatibility issue with RecFind 5.0? |
| 64 Bit Operating Systems |
Yes |
Yes |
| Windows Server 2008 |
Yes |
Yes |
| SQL Server 2008 |
No |
Yes |
| Office 2010 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Exchange 2010 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Vista |
Yes |
Yes |
| Windows 7 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Notes |
Yes, post 2008 releases and
up |
Yes post 2007 releases and up |
| GroupWise |
Yes, post 2008 releases and
up |
Yes post 2007 releases and up |
Please contact support on
support@k1corp.com if you think you
are having problems with any of the above products. There may also
be many more products that were released after we stopped testing
and certifying RecFind 5.0 and K1 1.6 that will cause problems of
one kind or another. Please report any that you suspect are causing
problems and we will do our best to investigate the cause and any
possible workaround.
Please note however that we are not making any
more code changes to either K1 1.6 or RecFind 5.0. If you have a
compatibility issue that cannot be easily resolved with an existing
fix or service pack or workaround the only advice we will give is to
upgrade to RecFind 6.0.
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RecFind 6 Futures - What is coming
Next?
As I have said
previously, all of our R&D work is now focused on RecFind 6 and the
ongoing development of RecFind 6. It is also RecFind 6 that will be
tested and certified against all new products coming from vendors
like Microsoft, not K1 or RecFind 5.0. RecFind 6 is the future for
all customers.
At this time we are working on two major releases
of RecFind 6, version 2.3 and version 2.4.
Version 2.3 will include the usual fixes and
performance improvements (we are always striving to make RecFind 6
work faster over both the LAN and the Internet) together with some
significant new features such as a brand new graphical user
interface for Workflow, a new and easy way to schedule reports and
thumbnails for images.
Version 2.3 should move into final testing in about two weeks and we
are looking for a May or June release to all customers.
Version 2.4 actually involves the addition of a
new product to RecFind 6, a brand new and optional 'thin-client'
user interface. This is based on the latest technology and is unique
in that it does not require the .NET Framework (as the RecFind 6
smart-client does) and it is also browser and operating system
independent. This means for example that it will run in Firefox as
well as Explorer and it will run on your Linux and Apple PCs as well
as your Windows PCs. This particular product has required a lot of
innovation and 'inventing' on our part.
We have made the new thin-client user interface
look and feel as close as possible to the current RecFind 6 smart-client.
This means users will be able to move from one to the other without
retraining. Customers can run both clients (smart and thin) at the
same time and both are managed by the same concurrent user
algorithm. So, if you for example have a 50 concurrent user license
for RecFind 6, you can run any mix of smart and thin clients up to a
maximum of 50. Pricing is also identical as is functionality. We are
planning on a June or July release of this new product.
Click here for a preview of thumbnails
Click here for a preview of the new graphical
user interface for workflow
Click here for a preview of the new
thin-client
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Introducing a new partner - Archive
Security
Archive Security specializes in Document Storage,
Offsite Document Storage and Archive Storage.
We try to introduce a new company in every
newsletter, especially ones that provides services of interest to our customers. We
also try to find companies that do things in a new or different way
in an attempt to improve traditional records and document management
services. Archive Security looks like that kind of company so we
take pleasure in introducing their products and services.
Archive Security are in that part of the records
management business that we are not in, namely offsite storage and
security. They have some unique offerings and it would be really
easy to integrate their services to RecFind 6 (all standard
product).
Please contact Archive Security directly and if
you wish to integrate their services with RecFind 6 please
contact us and we will show you
how.
For the Archive Security website
click here...
Why choose Archive Security?
Click here...
»
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New Imaging and Document Processing
Services
for RecFind 6
*Repeat of article in November E-News.
We are now offering an alternative to you having
to scan/capture and manage large volumes of documents and then
manage and process them to support critical business processes such
as accounts payable processing or student registration.
 |
To request
more information on this new service please contact
Sales |
»
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Product Decommission Notice
for RecFind v5 - Reminder
*Repeat of article in November E-News.
Every software vendor needs to decommission old products in order to
release support and development resources for newer products. In our
case this means releasing people (programmers and support
specialist) and servers.
With the release of RecFind v6 (December 2008), all RecFind 5
development has ceased and no further code changes will be made.
If a problem is identified in RecFind 5 that cannot be fixed by
installing any of the current service packs we will advise the
customer to upgrade to RecFind 6, or if the problem still exists in
RecFind 6, a fix will be applied to RecFind 6 and released as a
service pack.
Knowledgeone Corporation will cease all support of any kind for
RecFind v5 (i.e. v5.0.0A to v5.0.0J) from 31st December 2009.
This is approximately 12 months after the release of RecFind v6,
therefore providing ample time for customers to perform their
upgrades.
If you are unable to install RecFind 6 by December 31 2009 or
if you require support for any decommissioned product please see our
new extended support offer,
click here.
»
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Email Support now Free
*Repeat of article in November E-News.
A number of years ago we introduced our free e-mail support service,
allowing customers with a current ASU agreement to obtain unlimited
support via the form on our web site.
To avoid confusion we have now decided that any
support request received via e-mail will no longer require support
incidents. Any customer with a current ASU agreement will now be
able to obtain free support by sending an email to Support at
support@knowledgeonecorp.com.
We still encourage users to submit requests via
the free e-mail support form on our web site as it will prompt you
for important information that will assist us in diagnosing your issue
more quickly, however it is no longer a requirement to avoid the incident
charges.
To summarize, support requests made via the web
form or by email are both free.
Please note that email support is still for low
priority issues only. If you require urgent support, please contact
the Knowledgeone Corporation support department by phone (*this requires
a pre-purchased support incident -
order now).
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New White Papers
Frank McKenna has been tapping away again on his
computer writing more white papers on how to get the best out of
RecFind as well as on current subjects topical to our industry.
Please download the PDFs from the following links:
GEM is a complete email management solution
A better, faster and lower cost way to rollout
an EDRMS
RecFind 6 is the complete physical records
management system
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Customer Focus
University of the Sunshine Coast
 |
 |
The Sunshine Coast
University College was founded in 1994, with the first
students starting at the Sippy Downs campus in 1996. Full
university status was granted to the new institution in 1998
and it became the University of the Sunshine Coast. On
opening, USC became the first greenfield university in
Australia since 1971. |
 |
The University of the Sunshine Coast has been a RecFind customer
since 1997, two years after it was founded.
Kelly Passier, the
records officer at the university in charge of RecFind, managed the
upgrade to RecFind 6 and worked with the K1Corp consultants to
ensure that RecFind 6 was configured to the exact needs of the
university. Kelly is particularly impressed with the reporting and
searching functionality of RecFind 6.
"As far as what business problems RecFind 6 may have resolved I
would say the ability to conduct more defined reporting where it has
assisted a lot of areas and namely our ability to perform record
culls. Also, just in general day to day use, the Metadata and
BOOLEAN searching has allowed us to carry out more targeted
searching in order to locate records more efficiently."
Kelly is also very complimentary
about the services provided by K1Corp, "We
wish to convey our appreciation for the assistance provided by Greg
from K1Corp during our live conversion to RecFind 6. Greg's
exceptional knowledge of the RecFind product combined with his IT
skills and records management knowledge made him an essential
addition to our team in executing the RecFind 6 upgrade."
USC is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of Australia and
now accommodates around 8,000 students with about fifteen-percent
from multiple countries around the world.
The Sunshine Coast region itself
is not only a beautiful one, but is also an overwhelmingly safe
environment, at a distance from the pressures of major cities. It is
a rapidly growing ‘lifestyle’ region.
If you are interested in learning more about this fine university please
Click here
for the USC website and more information.
»;
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March Special Offer -
GEM for RecFind 6 Starter Package - manage all
emails automatically
This special offer is to promote our
fully-automatic, rules-driven and server-centric email management
and archiving solution GEM for RecFind 6.
Click here for a PDF on managing
emails with GEM.
The offer is valid during the months of March,
April and May 2010.
The offer is for five days of free onsite support
(travel and expenses not included) with every purchase of GEM SME
version (150 mailboxes).
To new customers
The package includes RecFind 6 (5 concurrent user
licenses), GEM SME version, one year's ASU (maintenance and support)
plus five days of onsite support. Normal list price $39,753, special
offer price $31,253.
To existing RecFind 6 customers
The package includes GEM SME version, one year's
ASU (maintenance and support) plus five days of onsite support.
Normal list price $26,200, special offer price $17,700.
The five days of onsite support will be used to install and configure GEM and
to enter and test a set of core rules to automatically manage all of
your emails.
Why five days of onsite support?
We have made this special offer because we
believe that most customers need help initially in designing,
entering and testing the rules required to manage their emails. Most
customers struggle with the concept of rules and are concerned about
flexibility and maintenance; basically, capturing everything with
the smallest number of rules possible is the prime objective.
The rules engine in GEM has been
specifically designed to enable you to manage all of your emails
with the smallest number of rules possible and to provide the
greatest amount of flexibility via 'group' processing. We for
example, manage all of our emails at K1Corp using GEM with just twelve rules.
We believe that the five days will be sufficient to get you up and
running with GEM and in production, meeting all of your business and
regulatory requirements for email management.
For customers with over 150 mailboxes
There are also versions of GEM designed for larger
organizations - GEM Corporate (500 mailboxes) and GEM Enterprise
(unlimited mailboxes). Please contact us for a special offer for
your organization,
Click here...
To learn more or to request a quotation please,
Click here.
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Extended Support Option for 'old' versions of RecFind
*Repeat of article
in November E-News.
This the first time we have ever offered support
for old and decommissioned versions of RecFind and it is primarily
to accommodate those customers that will be unable to install
RecFind 6 by December 31 2009. It also however applies to any 'old'
version of RecFind.
For full details of this new option please
click here .
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New Service - Post Training Support
|
Post Training Support is a service developed
for both end-user and administrators of RecFind.
It aims to reinforce skills acquired in previous classroom
training sessions.
Unlike consultancy, Post Training Support is a revision of
areas covered in the training courses (such as retention,
electronic document management, workflow, reporting, etc)
rather than an analysis of an organization's needs.
Post Training Support has been designed for
all administrators and end-users who have completed the
initial, standard training courses; this is a prerequisite.
We obviously can't reinforce previously learnt skills if you
have not completed the standard training.
Post Training Support can be provided onsite or remotely via
our online GoToAssist Internet capability.
Prerequisites
- You must have attended the standard training
course within the last two years.
- If onsite, you must purchase at least one
day.
- If online you must purchase at least two
hours
with a four hour maximum.
For more details or to book your time please contact Daniel
Romano
on (Click
here for 1-800 phone numbers for your country) or
d.romano@k1corp.com |
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Training Update
Enthusiasm for RecFind 6 remains high with
customers looking forward to getting it into production. The end users seem to
love the new user interface and the fact that they use the same
Windows product whether they work on the LAN or over the Internet.
Upcoming Training
Schedule - Australia
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Sydney |
Melbourne |
Brisbane |
Adelaide |
Perth |
Hobart |
January
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February
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March
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1/2 |
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3/4 |
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April
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User |
19/20 |
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Admin |
21/22 |
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May
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17/18 |
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10/11 |
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19/20 |
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12/13 |
June
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User |
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21/22 |
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23/24 |
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July
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User |
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26/27 |
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28/29 |
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August
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User |
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23/24 |
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25/26 |
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September
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User |
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6/7 |
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8/9 |
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October
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User |
18/19 |
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20/21 |
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November
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December
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To book your place at one of these upcoming
training courses simply click on the following links:
RecFind Courses:
http://www.knowledgeonecorp.com/services/enrolonline.htm
For Europe, Africa, and
North America we will be running RecFind 6 training course 'on
demand' because of the vast geographical distribution of our
customers. It is has proven to be just too difficult to get to get
students to fly to a central location.
To inquire about and
book an onsite 'on-demand' training course please
click here...
If you have any
questions whatsoever regarding our Training courses or one of
Knowledgeone Corp's Consulting services please email the
Training
Department.
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Contact Update
Have you recently
shifted office or changed contact person?
For any updates, simply give us your new particulars, as listed
below, and email them to our
Sales Department.
Please include the following details:
Company Name, Contact Person, Job Title, Address, Email Address,
Telephone Number, Fax Number, and Customer Number (if known)
»
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