Portfolio Skills

Delve into our background: Browse through a selection of our projects based on our skills and see some of the innovative software, applications and web services we have created for and with our clients. We develop for many platforms and work with Windows, UNIX, Linux and OS X servers.

PwC – Pulse, Profiled Business News

PwC – Pulse, Profiled Business News

PwC Global Services

Pulse – Profiled Business News

PwC – Pulse: Profiled Business News

PwC is an international accounting and consultancy company, providing high quality tax, assurance and advisory services. Their consultants therefore rely on direct access to up-to-date, reliable and relevant business news.

Prior to the arrival of Pulse, PwC Nederland employed six information specialists. Their task was to keep consultants up-to-date with the latest business developments. Firstly the specialists gathered news from various premium sources, such as Factiva, Lexis Nexis, and Gartner. They then combined the information, producing about 60 weekly newsletters. Each one focused on specific lines of business. This approach was obviously time-consuming. What is more, 60 newsletters could not cover every line of business. Which meant PwC consultants often resorted to Google, spending 26% of their time searching for information online. An inefficient method that produced results of doubtful quality.

PwC was convinced they could address this issue more effectively. Therefore they approached BSL. We have experience with knowledge management solutions, business intelligence and search. As a result our developers came back with a custom-made news-alert system. Called Pulse, our software delivers profiled news alerts to thousands of consultants within PwC.

Pulse: Smart Business News

“In order to introduce Pulse as a global service, we have worked with many different teams, each with their own technical and functional requirements. These wishes all had to be supported, making my work on this project both challenging and varied.”

Peter

Java/Sr. Software engineer, Bright Side of Life

Pulse Smart Business News

Business Intelligence, a custom solution

BSL designed and developed Pulse using Oracle ™ and Exalead technology. It imports around 80,000 new articles each day from global news services (Bloomberg, Factiva, Forrester, Gartner, Lexis Nexis, ISI…). It also imports local news sources, along with RSS feeds, selected website contents, and Twitter. Pulse imports articles from over 10,000 sources, updating the Pulse database in real-time. But Pulse isn’t just a database. It also classifies, indexes and maintains profiled news feeds for PwC employees.

Just four information specialists now manage over 1,000 profiled business news feeds in the Netherlands. PWC consultants subscribe to these feeds via the company’s website. But also via email and smartphones. And our technology ensures that every feed provides reliable, high quality content. Which means PwC consultants are at the top of their game when they meet their clients.

PwC first rolled out Pulse in the Netherlands, but its success has led to international growth. It’s now used in more than 20 countries. With over 10,000 users, and more than 30,000 subscriptions to news feeds. Most noteworthy is that over 92% of users would recommend Pulse to their colleagues! And PwC management teams are also equally enthusiastic. In PwC Germany the cost of briefing consultants decreased by 95%. Their consultants save time, they’re well-briefed, and they can focus on clients – not on Google searches. This success has been rewarded. Pulse has won two prestigious business awards.

Business Intelligence, a custom solution

BSL designed and developed Pulse using Oracle ™ and Exalead technology. It imports around 80,000 new articles each day from global news services (Bloomberg, Factiva, Forrester, Gartner, Lexis Nexis, ISI…). It also imports local news sources, along with RSS feeds, selected website contents, and Twitter. Pulse imports articles from over 10,000 sources, updating the Pulse database in real-time. But Pulse isn’t just a database. It also classifies, indexes and maintains profiled news feeds for PwC employees.

Just four information specialists now manage over 1,000 profiled business news feeds in the Netherlands. PWC consultants subscribe to these feeds via the company’s website. But also via email and smartphones. And our technology ensures that every feed provides reliable, high quality content. So PwC consultants are at the top of their game when they meet their clients.

PwC first rolled out Pulse in the Netherlands, but its success led to international growth. It’s now used in more than 20 countries. With over 10,000 users, and more than 30,000 subscriptions to news feeds. Most noteworthy is that over 92% of users would recommend Pulse to their colleagues! And PwC management teams are also equally enthusiastic. In PwC Germany the cost of briefing consultants decreased by 95%. Their consultants save time, they’re well-briefed, and they can focus on clients – not on Google searches. This success has been rewarded. Pulse has won two prestigious business awards.

Pulse Smart Business News

“As we all know, time is precious. I’m using Pulse on a daily basis, because it saves me so much time. It is easy to scan the news and then drill down to the full article if necessary. I have subscribed to several feeds that keep me up to date with all the news which is related to my Clients and the Industry.”

Sr. Consultant, PwC

At BSL, you have come to the right place for…

Search expertise

BSL has expertise with many search and business intelligence technologies, including Autonomy, Exalead, Oracle Text, Elastic Search and Sybase FTS. The full contents of documents can be indexed. We use language intelligence and semantic search techniques to recognize words, sentences, concepts and synonyms. These technologies ensure that we can find and select the most relevant information, even from millions of documents.

Award winning software

Pulse has won two important international MPF business awards. In 2008, the Best Use of Technology Award. And also the Best Collaboration Across International Borders award in 2013. The jury of the MPF award ceremony praised the simple way in which the ‘knowledge and management platform’ enables efficient collaboration between international teams.

Innovation and experience

Although Pulse started as a Dutch project, it has become a worldwide success within PwC. It was recently upgraded to a global service. Which goes to show that no bridge is too far for BSL to find suitable solutions for challenging projects.

This is a great example of BSL creating a custom solution designed specifically for a single client. And it’s grown to become a global solution! If you’ve got ideas for your own web applications or service, then why not get in touch – no strings attached!

Martyn Simpson

Director, Bright Side of Life

PwC Pulse Brochure

PwC Pulse Brochure

PwC Pulse Brochure

Pulse (previously SPiN)

Knowledge is power. Yet simple access to information is not enough. Most of all, information must be up-to-date, reliable and relevant. Developed by BSL, Pulse supplies thousands of PWC employees with reliable and relevant content. Working throughout Europe, they can subscribe to any number of profiled news feeds. Not only in their company portal, but also via e-mail and on their smartphones. We created Pulse using Oracle, and Exalead technology. (more…)

ABN AMRO SRS Brochure

ABN AMRO SRS Brochure

ABN AMRO SRS Brochure

ABN AMRO SRS

We developed the Signature Registration System (SRS) on behalf of the ABN AMRO bank. A worldwide organization that authorizes many hundreds of financial transactions each day. SRS manages and verifies the signatures and authorizations (Powers of Attorney or POAs) of employees located throughout the world. Along with the POAs, SRS manages personnel information and digital signatures, and provides the local Chambers of Commerce with the information they require. SRS is a web application using a central Oracle database. This makes it fast, reliable and easy-to-use. SRS meets the strict requirements and security guidelines that apply to all banking services. It is also integrated with the existing SAP HR system, so that personnel information does not need to be (re)entered or maintained manually. (more…)

CRV Multimedia DB Brochure

CRV Multimedia DB Brochure

CRV Multimedia DB Brochure

CRV Multimedia DB

CRV maintains a comprehensive database of herd records including many photos. The Bright Side of Life (BSL) was therefore asked to develop the Digital Photo Archive (DPA), an image database. Based on BSL’s standard Asset Management software (FRS), the DPA is now a multimedia DB (MMB), a unique database containing thousands of dairy and breeding stock images, as well as hundreds of videos…

(more…)

Dutch Libraries Brochure

Dutch Libraries Brochure

Dutch Libraries Brochure

Dutch Libraries Service

A BSL-developed prototype for the next generation of the mijnBibliotheek.nl website aims to bring the existing site in line with ‘Web 2.0’ standards, and to enable users/ local libraries to create an optimal library experience. A widget showing the location of libraries and their opening times within a Google Maps page was one of the initial developments. We went on to develop more than 40 different widgets for integration within local library sites. (more…)

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Contact BSL