QuickREAD

October 18, 2006

How Much Will Online Sales Be Worth This Holiday Season? How About $32bn!
Online holiday retail sales will increase 18 percent this year to $32bn, a market research firm predicts. Driving the sales increase will be a record 114 million people shopping online, says Jupiter Research. That number reflects a 6 percent increase over last year. For online retailers, the numbers mean they have a chance to sell more products to returning shoppers, the researcher says. However, more than a third of shoppers will make their purchase at the last-minute, which means retailers should be prepared to ship fast.
Source: TechWeb,
http://www.techweb.com/

Most CEOs Say Compliance Issues Really Don't Have Full Support of Management
A new survey confirms that CEO attention to compliance issues has measurably increased in the past six years, but the message isn't always getting through. In fact, less than half the IT executives surveyed say they consider compliance to be a “critical initiative with full management support.” At the same time, nearly 40 percent say their company's IT executives don't understand current regulations well enough to effectively implement compliance technologies and policies.
Source: Chief Executive, http://chiefexecutive.net/

VoIP Ends 'Brutal' Telephone Down Times for Children's Apparel Manufacturer
Steven Golub wondered why it was so difficult to get his telephone service to work. The manager of operations at Success Apparel, a children's sportswear manufacturer in New York City, he had to deal with three different suppliers whenever there was a problem. He says customer service was a horror story and "down times were brutal."
One time the phone was dead for three days. "That cost us $5,000," he says.
These malfunctions created major problems for Success Apparel's bottom line. "In our customer-service area, our life blood is our computer and our telephone," Golub says. Customers call "constantly" to check on their orders. "E-mail will only go so far when they need an answer or you have to settle a problem right then and there," says the executive. In addition, the manufacturer found it "impossible" to set up onsite meetings because of the telephone troubles.
So when the company moved its offices, Golub reconsidered their phone system provider. "We had to purchase a new phone system. I said, 'I'm not going through this again,'" says Golub. His IT consultant suggested calling on hosted, or outsourced, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). He liked the idea but was hesitant about outsourcing. "I really wanted to control the process," he says.
A New York City-based outsourced IP phone system provider, sat down with Golub and explained the benefits of outsourcing. "The more I listened, the more I thought giving up control wasn't as bad as it sounded," says the Success Apparel exec. Looking at it another way, he realized "they actually control the process, unlike me, who couldn't control anything at all."
The manufacturer, however, "was extremely concerned about call quality," since the calls use VoIP. The provider allayed Golub's skepticism by setting up a temporary VoIP line for a two-week trial. "I couldn't tell the difference between a VoIP call and my regular PBX," he says. Call clarity convinced Success Apparel to enter its first outsourcing telephony agreement.
Source: Outsourcing Journal, http://www.outsourcing-journal.com/

Hey, What Happened to the Relationship Between IT and Innovation?
Historically, IT has played two kinds of roles in a company's innovation efforts:
• Innovation enabler and coach. IT departments provided the tools and support that let innovators develop new products and services. This meant being an adviser on new software purchases, for example, rather than a gatekeeper. Imagine someone from marketing coming to IT and saying, "I need software to help with brainstorming. I've looked at PersonalBrain, MindManager, and Groove, and I'm trying to decide which I should use." The folks in IT could help this person make a choice.
• Innovation leader and player. A number of companies pushed their IT departments even further into the role of innovator. They looked to IT to provide the process innovations necessary to make possible a range of new products and services. In 2003, for example, American Express's then-CIO Gene Salow described how his group had designed modular software to cut the time required to develop and prototype new applications from six months to two weeks. "You can build new applications almost as if you're snapping together Lego building blocks," he said. "It frees you up to take more gambles, because each risk is not so costly and you can move a lot faster."
These days, IT doesn't appear to be playing either of these roles very effectively.
Source: Internet Week, http://internetweek.cmp.com/

Retailers Across the Board Seem to Have a Better Understanding of CRM
As CRM solutions emerged, retailers with private label credit cards and catalog operations adopted the technology with a clarity many other retailers lacked. They already had a wealth of information, and they understood that customer relationship management provided a tool set for data analysis and optimization.
"They stressed the 'C' in CRM because they had customer data," says marketing consultant Mike Capizzi. "They had direct relationships with consumers. Others didn't have data, so they adopted the technology first.”
Unfortunately, in the excitement to invest in cutting-edge software, many retailers failed to set goals for their CRM implementations or even to identify what type of data should be collected. Others gathered any information they could—then sat on a mountain of bits and bytes, unsure of what to do with it. Grocery retailers still get flack for this apathetic CRM approach.
CRM captures transactional data collected through proprietary payment tools and point-of-sale software. Now retailers are marrying the "what" of behavioral data to the "why" of attitudinal data. "They know what's happening and the emotional triggers behind the activity," says Capizzi.
Source: CRM Buyer, http://crmbuyer.com/

Need to Comply with Regulations Gives E-Learning Another Shot at Making a Big Splash
There are signs in 2006 that e-learning may have finally come of age. The need to rapidly roll out company-wide training programs has intensified on the back of regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, while globalization and the trend towards working at home mean that companies are finding it tougher to get their geographically dispersed workforces into a classroom.
At the same time, improved bandwidth has made web-based training courses utilizing Flash graphics and expert presenters a more attractive and user-friendly proposition.
Research firm IDC forecasts that ongoing compliance-training efforts will spur 27 percent compound annual growth in the e-learning system market over the next four years, with e-learning product sales growing from $6.5bn in 2003 to more than $21bn by 2008. Training consulting company Bersin & Associates has estimated that the need for compliance with regulatory guidelines accounts for 30 percent of training-related technology expenditures.
Source: CBR Online, http://cbronline.com/

Manufacturing Likely to Continue to Find Offshore IT Initiatives Highly Attractive
Service providers with offshoring capabilities are much sought after by manufacturers due to the increased adoption and willingness to outsource IT and other support services. The worldwide market for offshoring services in the manufacturing sector is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of more than 22 percent over the next five years. The market crossed $5.6bn in 2005 and is projected to exceed $15.2bn in 2010, according to a new ARC Advisory Group research study.
Manufacturing verticals are beginning to follow other industries in evaluating the value proposition of outsourcing IT services. Finance, banking, retail and government sectors have realized the benefits of outsourcing and offshoring for some time, while manufacturers in the process and discrete industries are increasingly turning to selective outsourcing. “The manufacturing industry is investing in technology solutions to derive more business value from IT investments. Beyond the primary objective of cost reduction or labor arbitrage, the focus of the manufacturers is on leveraging the talent pool of service providers with domain and technology expertise for services up the value chain,” according to ARC Analysts Libi Baskaran and Russ Novak.
Source: ARC Advisory Group, http://arcweb.com/

So Maybe China Inc. Isn't So Bad After All, Eh? (Unless It Is.)
A new study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Asia Society takes an interesting approach to gauging global sentiment. It polled public opinion in the U.S., China, India, South Korea, and Australia about world affairs. It's a fascinating, sprawling study, covering everything from each country's view on the torture of prisoners, to whether biological research laboratories should be subject to inspection, to the level of concern over Iran's nuclear capabilities.
One of the most surprising findings was about the perceptions of China. The study found Americans are surprisingly comfortable with the rise of China, even though they view it as a growing economic competitor and a future strategic rival in Asia. Forty-seven percent of Americans see China's emergence as mainly positive, while 46 percent see it as mainly negative. A solid majority of 65 percent think the U.S. should "undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with China" rather than try to contain it.
South Koreans and Australians are even more relaxed about the neighboring power, saying they see China playing a positive role in resolving key problems facing Asia. Their views of India's rise was just as benign.
Source: Business Week, http://businessweek.com/

Web Services Doesn't Just Run By Itself—You Must Manage Things
It isn't the first time management software has lagged behind the product its supposed to manage—just ask the early server and mainframe administrators. While the open-environment concepts of Web services and service-oriented architectures have gained popularity in recent years, organizations have been slower to adopt third-party tools to manage their performance.
The technology managers who have, however, are finding real results, whether in saved man hours or improved time to market. But the lazy need not apply: working with Web services management requires serious planning—and an even more serious understanding of your organization's business strategy.
Source: Baseline, http://www.baselinemag.com/

Other German Cities Vie for Some of the Air Cargo Business Enjoyed by Frankfurt
Frankfurt is trying to ensure its place as a powerhouse of the European aviation market by adding desperately needed runway capacity, but the greater capacity apparently can only be achieved by introducing a tough ban on certain night flights. That has opened a golden opportunity for second-tier German airports, making the country a new arena in the attempts to build up alternate cargo gateways.
Source: Air Cargo World,http://aircargoworld.com/

What Would Innovation in the Service Chain Mean for Whirlpool and Others?
John Kerr wants to eliminate the service call.
The general manager for global quality systems at $14bn appliance manufacturing giant Whirlpool Corp., Kerr is in charge of the company's sweeping effort to organize the data contained in thousands of warranty reports, field service repair notes, and dealer and retailer feedback forms in a database that can be mined and analyzed.
The knowledge gained from such systems, Whirlpool believes, can then be used to pinpoint component problems, identify patterns in quality problems, and set off early warnings of possible product failure. And that can allow Whirlpool and Kerr to reduce—if not eliminate—service calls.
Source: Managing Automation, http://www.managingautomation.com/

Coghead Says You Can Just Create Your Own Business Software?
In an effort to make programmers out of everyday workers and managers, Coghead just launched a service that lets anyone create a Web-based business application—from expense management to inventory tracking to CRM. What if the next time you longed for a piece of software to help you do your job, you didn't have to grovel before IT or shell out big bucks to outside consultants? What if you could simply create the software yourself, in a few easy steps? That's the promise of Coghead.
Source: B2Day,http://business2.blogs.com/

Cox Communications Says Its Field Service Solution Brings It Eight-Figure Savings
Cox Communications, a $6.4bn regional telecommunications and digital cable provider, has been using a field service automation solution for six years. Cox views the system as essential to its overall strategy of delivering customer service as a competitive advantage. Over the six years, the solution has evolved from text messaging over a private radio network to 3G (third-generation) wireless network access to Cox's back-end applications on laptops via Web portals. Cox's approach to field service is one of innovation, and you'd be wise to follow its example: Cox experiences eight-figure savings annually due to its field service solution and has also received numerous industry awards.
Source: Integrated Solutions,
http://integratedsolutionsmag.com/

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