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H-P to Buy Mercury Interactive In Deal Worth $4.5 Billion
Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to acquire software company Mercury Interactive Corp. for $52 a share through a cash tender offer. H-P said the acquisition, which has an enterprise value of about $4.5 billion net of existing cash and debt, would cut its profit before one-time items by around four cents a share in fiscal 2007. The transaction brings together H-P OpenView systems, network and IT service management software with Mercury's application management and IT governance. The acquisition is expected to increase the size of the H-P Software business to more than $2 billion in annual revenue. Immediately following the close of the transaction, Mercury will become part of the H-P Software business and both companies' sales forces will begin selling each others' products.
Source: WSJ

New mobile features boost calls to customer service
Wireless phone service subscribers have increased their calls to customer service to an all-time high as they grapple with new and complex services, according to a semiannual study released by J.D. Power and Associates. In its mid-2006 report, J.D. Power said that 59 percent of wireless phone customers called their service provider within a 12-month period--the highest percentage since 2000, when the researcher began tracking such service inquiries. Not surprisingly, the study showed that customers made most of their service inquiries--74 percent--by phone. The overall increase in customer service requests may have also increased the time callers spend on hold. For the first half of 2006, it took an average of 3.59 minutes to reach a service representative, a 4.3 percent increase over the 3.44-minute average in 2005.
Source: CNET

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Leverages Kintera Social CRM
Kintera® Inc. announced the launch of a new national Web site for existing client Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and several pilot sites for local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies -- all leveraging Kintera's social CRM system on the Kintera Sphere® technology platform. Using a virtual account structure within Kintera Sphere, the new Web sites feature consistent branding across the organization and its piloting agencies, and use the Kintera social CRM system to enable and capture online donations, recruit volunteers to become Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and enroll children in the mentoring program.

Jacada Wins Significant Contract with Major Financial Services Firm in Europe
Jacada Ltd., a provider of contact center productivity solutions, announced that it has entered into a significant software license agreement with one of Europe's largest financial services companies. The financial services company invested in Jacada Fusion as part of an initiative to deliver an enterprise-level view of the customer across multiple systems and customer records. Jacada Fusion provides a critical component for this initiative by providing a non-invasive integration and process optimization solution for the wide variety of business applications and platforms. By automating manual and complex processes and providing more timely access to customer data, the company expects to improve employee productivity and customer service by delivering a single, enterprise view of the customer.

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Software Support Satisfaction: Third-Party Vendors Come Out Ahead
A few months back, ITSMA reported that software support customers are in no hurry to sign up for support services from third-party providers, with approximately 90% of the people we interviewed preferring all-inclusive maintenance contracts that include usage support and bug fixes as well as major software upgrades. However, even though customers are generally loyal to their vendors, those who defect and rely on third-party vendors report higher satisfaction.

It’s unclear why third-party vendors receive higher satisfaction ratings. It could be because they provide a higher level of service due to lower customer volumes and more experienced software engineers on the front lines. Or it could be attributable to a better price/value equation for a comparable level of service for the customers who are not interested in major upgrades. Regardless of the reasons, there is cause for concern among software vendors.

Software vendors need to respond to this issue by ensuring that their customers are getting the highest-quality support possible. Further, the support and maintenance services should be made more tangible, with careful documentation of and feedback on response times, repair times, system availability, number of help desk calls, number of updates installed, proactive support, and so forth.

The question of value delivered via upgrades must also be addressed. Infrequent upgrades or upgrades that do not directly address customers’ needs for new functionality erode the value of maintenance contracts. What’s worse are major upgrades that are designated “new releases” and are therefore not available to the maintenance contract customers. Support marketing, support services delivery, product development, and product management groups must work together to ensure a competitive value equation.

For more from ITSMA's latest Focus Report, please click here.

Federal IT Security Spending to Reach $6.3 Billion
Federal civilian and defense information technology (IT) security spending is expected to increase from $5.1 billion in fiscal year 2006 (FY06) to $6.3 billion by FY11, according to a report released by INPUT, an authority on government business. As information becomes increasingly valuable and the number of cyber terrorist attacks rises, the requirement to secure federal networks has become a government priority.

Recent data thefts and losses at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Energy have forced Congress to question government-wide information security processes and policies. Initial findings from Congressional hearings suggest that CIOs and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in general have little authority to implement, monitor, and enforce information security technologies and polices, due to the decentralization of federal IT networks within their respective departments. Most CIOs and CISOs face numerous organizational and technical challenges hindering centralized control.

The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 continues to be a market driver for IT security spending within civilian agencies. In OMB’s FY05 report to Congress and resulting Federal Computer Security Report Card, the government received an overall grade of D plus for the second year in a row. As a result, and in light of major criticism, INPUT expects legislators to re-evaluate FISMA and consider including additional control elements based on information security best practices such as real-time network monitoring, inventory management, configuration management, and identity management.

More...

What's the Future of Desktop Software -- and How Will It Affect Your Privacy?
Twenty years ago, the personal computer began to revolutionize the way we work and play. In recent years, though, the Internet has been the primary source of technological innovation, offering us everything from online auctions to networked research libraries. As web-based applications encroach on the desktop's turf and a myriad of smart "devices" perform increasingly computer-like functions, will traditional desktop software begin to fade away? According to panelists at the recent Supernova 2006 conference in San Francisco, it's clear that these technological changes will introduce new challenges for programmers and users alike. Chief among these: balancing the requirement of making an individual's personal information available everywhere while remaining securely under his or her control.
Full Article...

Boosting Productivity with Ergonomic Work Tools
Many organizations have taken extreme measures to ensure every facet of their business is operating to its full potential. Although this fixation on optimizing productivity is rightly prefaced by the growing global marketplace and the increased competition and pressures that coincide with this expansion, many business leaders have overlooked one key aspect of employee productivity: comfort.
Full Article...

What Keeps IT Up At Night?
Look in the mirror: those bags under your eyes, that sallow skin, the haunted look. You must work in IT. Between keeping the network running and dealing with hackers, slackers, and clueless managers, it's a wonder you get any rest at all. But if you think you're losing sleep now, just wait. A batch of new problems is about to make a good night's sleep even more elusive. Nightmare scenarios include VoIP security breaches, scary data leaks, rogue software infestations, configuration calamities, and creepy compliance concerns. Fortunately there are strategies to help ensure some shut-eye.
Full Article...

10 Tech-Related YouTube Clips you Shouldn't Miss
From the chimp playing Pac Man, to Jon Stewart's jabs at Sen. Ted Stevens, here's a greatest-hits collection of tech videos.
Full Article...

Career Path Programs Help Retain Workers
Employers have long worried about the career paths of white-collar and salaried workers. Now, with unemployment dropping, a growing number of employers are taking interest in the progress of rank-and-file workers as well. Florida-based human-resource consultant Marilyn Durant says she sees more companies creating career-path programs for hourly workers, especially in high-turnover industries such as retail and health care. Ten years ago, she says, such efforts were rare. Workplace experts say such programs can reduce attrition by boosting morale and increasing employee commitment.
Full Article...

Customer Service: Career Success Through Customer Satisfaction
by Paul R. Timm

This book ties together the best information from trade books and textbooks, and then adds a clear and usable process for developing the kinds of skills, attitudes, and thinking patterns needed to win customer loyalty. The coverage includes positive attitude, customer turnoffs, dissatisfied customers, customer expectations, customer loyalty, winning telephone techniques, and more. This book is for employees and managers of customer service departments and human reso-urce training departments

More Info...

New Research: 2006 Service and Support Metrics
The valuable research provides insight into a range of issues and challenges important to service and support executives, including the channels organizations are leveraging to deliver support, the technologies they’re deploying to improve service delivery, the metrics they’ve established to measure their performance, and the salaries they’re paying their help desk staff, contact center agents and higher-level support executives. Click here to get your free copy!

2006 Service & Support Technology Showcase
The 2006 version of our Service & Support Technology Showcase is now available! This valuable, in-depth buyer’s guide features the latest tools and technologies in the support services industry that enable your support operation to deliver superior customer service.

White Paper: The Role of Web-Based Self-Service in the Support Organization
Today, as enterprise knowledge and content management takes on greater importance, self-service technologies are allowing users to search disparate, dynamic data sources using such sophisticated search mechanisms as natural language processing, precision optimization and adaptive learning. Not only are users exploiting Web-based channels to find answers to questions, diagnose problems and download fixes, but to perform such transactional duties as product registration, email opt-ins, user profile enhancements, service agreement updates and more. (please note – you will need your member log-in to view this white paper)
Read the full white paper!

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