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In a challenging economy, you must find new ways to make marketing work more effectively, get more out of marketing investments, and measure and account for marketing decisions. In short, you must make changes. Doing the same things in an uncertain economic environment and expecting the same results is, at worst, a definition of marketing insanity.
Typically, new technologies tend to promise more than they deliver. That has not been the case with Web services, which are being integrated into just about every new e-commerce application. "Support for Web services has come from application vendors, application development tool suppliers and middleware vendors," said Jason Bloomberg, a managing partner with market research firm ZapThink.
The software as a service trend is revolutionizing the call center industry, as companies of all sizes are now discovering the advantages of going with hosted versus on-premise solutions. With SaaS for the call center, applications are hosted on a shared platform in a data center and delivered to the agents via the Internet or dedicated network.
Last November, Procter & Gamble's Vidal Sassoon launched with much fanfare its first hair salon in China's virtual world. There was even a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, today the VS salon in HiPiHi, China's oldest and largest virtual world, sits mostly empty save for the occasional visitor.
The state of Texas may be the latest to take a bite out of Amazon's bottom line by assessing sales taxes on past purchases to state residents. Texas tax officials are reviewing the taxable status of Amazon purchases after an inquiry from the Dallas Morning News, which asked why the e-tailer appeared not to be collecting sales taxes from Lone Star State buyers.
The long-running debate over net neutrality took another turn Thursday when two lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it a violation of antitrust law for broadband providers to discriminate against different types of content in routing traffic on their networks.
Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores will allow Blockbuster and its largest shareholder, Carl Icahn, to look into the company's finances in connection with the video rental company's proposed buyout offer. Circuit City also revealed that it has hired Goldman Sachs to help the company look into strategic alternatives to build its shareholder value.
MySpace has forged agreements with other popular Internet sites -- Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket and Twitter -- to permit MySpace users to migrate their data. Profiles, videos and friend networks are among the content that can be ported. They can then access the partner sites using their MySpace user names and passwords.
The long list of companies Microsoft might acquire post-Microhoo includes such outré possibilities as Netflix, Cisco and Salesforce.com. Facebook is also on that list -- but its potential as a Microsoft acquisition target is beginning to look less unlikely. In fact, it's looking downright plausible. Rumor has it Microsoft has already approached the social networking site about a possible sale.
Gas prices are setting record highs, homeowners are facing foreclosure, the dollar's slipping further down a black hole, and the credit industry is collapsing. These are frustrating times -- and perhaps that's partly why "Grand Theft Auto IV" just set some new records for video game sales.
If you could clone your best agent hundreds or thousands of times over, you could ensure that each and every customer calling your contact center receives the same high-quality, friendly and informed response. In reality, natural language speech self-service is probably the closest and best alternative to delivering cost-effective and customer-friendly service.
Google's top executives on Thursday expressed hope that the Internet search leader will be able to form a potentially lucrative advertising partnership with Yahoo -- a deal that would lower the odds of Microsoft renewing its attempts to buy Yahoo. "We have been talking to Yahoo, and we are very excited to be working with them," Google cofounder Sergey Brin told reporters before the company's annual shareholders meeting.
Clear Channel Communications, a major radio and outdoor advertising company, reported higher first-quarter earnings Friday on asset sales but operating results were flat, reflecting weak demand for radio advertising. The San Antonio, Texas-based company is battling its lenders in court as it tries to go private, and says it's not sure when the $19.5 billion deal will close, if at all.
Attention! We're listening! Seeking competitive advantage and profitability through good relations with the social media, the B2B world has energetically embraced the grand online colloquy known as the two-way talk-back "conversation." Online social media platforms are now in play in the B2B relationships that organizations have with their vendors, suppliers, partners and contractors.
A new type of Trojan horse malware application is hiding inside fake MP3 media files, infecting approximately 500,000 consumer PCs, McAfee Avert Labs reported. The nefarious files have been delivered primarily on peer-to-peer networks during the last several days. The trojan, known as "Downloader-UA.h," was added to McAfee's DAT files about a week ago.
In a move sure to renew debate over how broadband access should be sold, Comcast is reportedly mulling a cap on how much data a customer buying its basic high-speed Internet access package can use each month. Comcast, the No. 2 provider of high-speed Web access in the U.S., would establish a preset monthly data usage level and then charge a fee for users who exceed that level.
The Internet Archive revealed Wednesday that the FBI dropped an effort to secretly obtain information about the online activities of one of the digital library's users. The Archive revealed that it had been served a National Security Letter by the FBI last year about one of its patrons.
Microsoft's Zune and NBC's downloadable television shows stand at the center of the latest digital rights management dustup. On Wednesday, New York Times blogger Saul Hansell reported that Microsoft might build a copyright manager into every Zune player, ostensibly in response to an NBC demand for copyright protections of its downloadable content.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has awarded the MPAA $110 million in compensation from Valence Media, operator of the now-defunct file-sharing Web site TorrentSpy. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered Valence Media to pay $30,000 for each copyright infringement of nearly 3,700 movies and television programs that were downloaded. The MPAA took TorrentSpy to court in February 2006.
Until now, having Google chief executive Eric Schmidt sit on Apple's board of directors has made a lot of sense. Google, the world's largest Web-search engine, is one of the most influential companies in technology. Google has been incredibly supportive of Apple's flagship computer, the Mac, and has developed a lot of software for Apple's music-playing iPhone.
Warner Music Group, whose artists include R.E.M., Madonna and Green Day, said Thursday that higher costs and a shift to digital music resulted in a wider second-quarter loss, and it suspended dividends. Shares tumbled more than 20 percent, or $1.87, to $7.18 in morning trading. For the period ended March 31, the New York-based recording company reported a loss of $37 million, or 25 cents per share.
Traditionally, the contact center has been a cost center. However, with the contact center transforming into a profit center, the selling of products and services has emerged as an opportunity for the center to improve agent and customer interaction. Yet the challenge will be balancing customer satisfaction goals and driving profits.
Best Buy, the biggest U.S. electronics retailer, is paying $2.1 billion for a 50 percent stake in Europe's largest cell phone retailer, the companies announced Thursday. The Carphone Warehouse will place its 2,400 U.S. and European stores in the new joint venture. The deal also includes the Web and direct businesses of The Carphone Warehouse, the insurance operations, and its airtime reselling businesses.
In early 2002, the founders of Azul Systems wagered that Java was going to become a prominent enterprise platform. If that happened, they suspected enterprise customers of Java would soon need relief from the pain points caused by poor scaling and disappointing deployment costs.
A few days after the seeming culmination of its failed bid to acquire Yahoo for $47.5 billion, Microsoft appears to be contemplating an entirely new Web 2.0 strategy: a partner-free, organic approach to besting Google. The news was delivered by none other than Chairman Bill Gates: "Now at this point, Microsoft is focused on its independent strategy."
HP announced on Tuesday a new, highly scalable storage system meant to address the needs of online and digital media businesses. The HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System is designed to simplify the management of multiple petabytes of data with an eye to affordability.
Sprint will merge its broadband wireless operations with WiMax firm Clearwire in a multifaceted deal that will create a US$14.5 billion venture to expand high-speed wireless connectivity across the U.S. The joint venture will seek to bring WiMax-based high-speed Internet access to 140 million people across the United States by the end of 2010.
Take-Two Interactive Software is reporting record-setting sales of $500 million for "Grand Theft Auto IV," with more than 6 million units sold in just one week. "We knew 'Grand Theft Auto IV' would break new ground in terms of the player's experience. ... Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well," said Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's chairman.
As a small brick-and-mortar jeweler with retail stores in Central Florida, Goldsmith Jewelry may seem like an unlikely potential e-tail star. Goldsmith, however, has had early success by using blogging to drive traffic to its Web site and gain exposure for its fledging Internet store. The company is committed to continuing and refining those efforts, said Don Lair, the online arm's cofounder.
IBM plans to launch an initiative that centers on a Linux-based platform and a Web-based marketplace tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. Set for later this year, the rollout will provide users with a range of products and services from independent software vendors. It will also allow them to tap into IBM's computing horsepower.
Chief executive officers worldwide believe major change is coming to the global economy and their businesses, according to IBM's biennial study of CEOs. The executives are are also eager to find ways to keep happy consumers who are increasingly information-savvy and who expect the businesses they buy from to be more socially responsible and green.
The collapse of this weekend's negotiations between Microsoft and Yahoo looked like game over. When the news first broke that Microsoft was walking away from its $44 billion bid, it seemed as though Redmond was the loser: It had tried a high-stakes, high-profile acquisition gambit and failed.
The winners of the 12th Annual Webby Awards were announced Tuesday. Taking home top honors is comedian Stephen Colbert as the Internet's "Person of the Year." Other big name honorees include Will.i.am for "Artist of the Year" and Michael Gondry, who won "Film & Video Person of the Year." Colbert received the award for his innovative use of the Internet to interact with fans of "The Colbert Report."
Yahoo is working with Web security technology specialist McAfee to alert users about potentially risky Web sites. The companies launched the beta version of the SearchScan service on Tuesday. Now, Yahoo users will see red exclamation points and warnings next to search results McAfee has identified as offering potentially dangerous downloads, unsolicited e-mails or browser exploits.
Microsoft's challenger in the digital media player market, the Zune, received a major update Tuesday. New features will bring a host of TV shows and other changes to the Zune online store and its music-sharing community, Zune Social, according to Microsoft. The update will give depth to the Zune's video offerings and also deepen the social components of its music sharing community.
Loopt has taken friend connections to a new level. The startup's mobile social mapping application not only allows users to see where their friends are on a map, but also lets them text each other within the app and share photos. Since Loopt's beginnings, the company has been proactive in setting high standards for user privacy.
Amazon.com has filed suit against the state of New York claiming the state's Internet Sales Tax Collection law requiring online companies to pay state sales tax is unconstitutional and violates a 1992 Supreme Court finding. Amazon filed its suit on April 25, claiming that the newly enacted state law effectively makes any Web site operator posting a link to Amazon.com subject to New York tax laws.
T-Mobile customers in New York City are the first to be able to enjoy its long-awaited third-generation wireless service, the company announced Monday. T-Mobile officially launched its 3G network in New York on Monday, with plans to continue the 3G rollout across major metropolitan markets over the course of the year.
For all those Outlook users who have ever thought there has to be a better way to organize and search e-mail content, Xobni, a startup out of San Francisco, has launched its attempt at a solution. A free add-on, Xobni -- "in-box" spelled backwards -- is designed to help users of Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program get a better handle on what's in their in-box.
The stock market is making its after-the-fact adjustment to the end of the Microsoft-Yahoo saga, which culminated this weekend. After last minute negotiations failed, Microsoft walked away from its bid to acquire Yahoo for slightly more than its original offer of $33 per share.
