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Microsoft Word Sales Banned in U.S.
A Judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling its popular Word document creation application in the United States after finding that the software contains technology that violates a patent held by a third party. Microsoft Office, which includes Word, accounted for more than $3 billion in worldwide sales in Microsoft's most recent fiscal year and is used by literally millions of businesses and consumers for everyday tasks like word processing and making spreadsheets and presentations. The judge said the ruling, which applies to Word 2003 and Word 2007, takes effect in 60 days. Judge Leonard Davis, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, said Microsoft "unlawfully infringed" on a patent that describes how programs go about "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately.
source: InformationWeek
Parature Announces Social Media Integration with Twitter
Parature, a provider of on-demand customer service software, announced a social media integration with Twitter that empowers organizations to efficiently monitor tweets for proactive response and an improved customer experience. Social channels such as Twitter provide an open forum for customers to air their grievances, give praise or simply inquire about an organization's products, services or support. These customer sentiments and inquiries are valuable, actionable sources of information.
Contact Centers of America (CCA) Selects Cicero
Cicero Inc., a provider of desktop automation and integration solutions, announced that it has partnered with Contact Centers of America (CCA) to provide a desktop that integrates applications and automates processes to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction. The simplified desktop ensures that, no matter where CCA representatives are located, or when they interact with customers, they will be able to provide consistent, efficient and effective service to their customers. Using Cicero, CCA will be able to automate business processes for their differing customers, integrate applications without writing code and present a new user interface if needed.
Reward Program Expands Use of eGain's Email Management Solution to Support Customer Care Services
eGain Communications Corporation, a provider of multichannel customer service and knowledge management software, announced that the Canadian AIR MILES Reward Program extended its current use of the on-demand edition of eGain Mail. eGain Mail enables contact centers to intelligently route incoming emails and process them effectively, efficiently, and consistently. Key capabilities include categorization, auto-suggestions, auto-responses, secure messaging, multi-language support, agent knowledge base, extended task management, comprehensive reporting, workflow for regulatory compliance and quality control, and out-of-the-box integrations with leading CTI and business systems.
Elevate Your Service Levels: Support More Users on More Devices
Mobile devices are no longer used solely by top executives -- road warriors, field service professionals and "corridor warriors" also rely on smartphones.
With LogMeIn Rescue, you can help elevate your service levels by remotely resolving issues and training users on their BlackBerry® smartphones.
And did we mention it works on PCs, Macs and Windows Mobile® and Symbian™ devices, too? Try it free for 14 days and see how easy it is to support more devices across your entire organization.
IT Products and Services Will Likely Be Subject to Regulation by 2015
The frequency and intensity of leading indicators for widespread regulation of the IT industry are increasing, but many vendors and most enterprise IT organizations are unprepared to meet the requirements that regulated IT will likely impose on their processes and procedures, according to Gartner, Inc.
"Three years ago Gartner published research predicting that either catastrophe from IT failure, or a continuing history of lower-level failures would provoke either a governmental regulation or industry self-regulation of IT products and services in the U.S. by 2015 and in the European Union by 2015 to 2018," said Richard Hunter, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Although the exact date of arrival for regulation is difficult to predict, we believe that, in recent months, the tempo and intensity of the indications of such an event have increased."
Several recent articles describing the growth and scale of criminal hacking networks aimed at governmental and industry targets, as well as recent statements by representatives of the U.S. and U.K governments, indicate that the state of IT security is now viewed as unacceptably dangerous.
In addition, healthcare industry representatives have asked the Obama administration to hold software vendors liable for failures resulting from implementation of administrative software mandated by the U.S. federal government by 2014. Elsewhere, corporate customers are filing litigation against their IT providers with greater frequency.
The rise of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have generated increased concern over the extent to which personal data and the safety of minors are threatened by criminals using these networks to gain access to potential victims.
While neither supporting nor opposing regulation of IT, Gartner considers it increasingly likely and thinks it is probable that the EU will take formal steps to establish a regime for regulation of consumer-oriented IT products and services as early as 2011. Given the increasing likelihood of this scenario, Gartner advises IT vendors, service providers and user organizations to consider the implications of the regulation of IT on their businesses.
Software vendors need to be aware that increased liability will drive generic software out of the market, and they should prepare for transparency and product/price differentiation based on quality and certified fitness for purpose. IT service providers should do the same and mitigate risks by incorporating strong documentation, audit right provisions and legal compliance terminology into outsourcing deals.
Enterprise technology users are likely to benefit from regulation in terms of clearly understanding the functions and features they buy but should be aware that they cannot outsource regulatory compliance. They should consider whether the liabilities applied to vendors will apply to them as well, and consider whether the enterprise is prepared to manage its processes to regulatory requirements.
More...
U.S. Companies Preparing for Economic Recovery in First Half of 2010
U.S. companies are preparing for a global economic recovery to begin in the first half of 2010 according to a new "Road to Growth" study from AT&T.
The study is based on more than six dozen one-on-one interviews with IT executives employed with multinational companies in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. portion of the study included CIOs and senior information technology executives from approximately four dozen multinational companies averaging $4.75 billion dollars revenue and operations in 28 countries. 2009 Road to Growth Study Key Findings:
Time horizon to achieve ROI narrowed by 50%: In today's economic climate, U.S. companies have significantly shortened the time frame over which return on investment (ROI) is delivered.
More than half of U.S. IT executives interviewed stated they are under pressure to deliver a return on investment in half or less than half the time. As a result, two-thirds cited that the change has affected their IT budgets, strategies and priorities. The study found that companies are less willing to invest in longer-term projects or projects where the return does not come quickly. One CIO stated that the added pressure has forced the company to focus on IT projects that give at least 100% ROI in 12 months; otherwise, the project(s) get dropped.
Cost cutting and improving productivity are top priorities: Cost cutting and increasing revenue remain the two primary business goals cited by U.S. companies. To achieve the goals, survive the recession and move towards growth, IT strategies are focused on:
1. Reducing operating costs: 87 percent cited "reducing operating costs" as "extremely or very important";
2. Improve collaboration with customer and partners: 85 percent cited "improved collaboration with customers and partners" as "extremely or very important";
3. Enhancing workforce performance and productivity: 83 percent cited "enhancing workforce performance" as "extremely or very important".
Short and long term strategies are similar: The study found that U.S. companies employ multiple strategies to address business goals, and do not distinguish between short-term and long-term strategies. It appears that U.S. companies are reducing the time period for their long-term forecasting until after the recession is over. The role IT plays in helping U.S. companies achieve long-term strategies is very similar to the role IT plays in supporting the companies' short-term business strategies.
Business continuity & security solutions have the highest positive impact: IT investments and priorities will go towards lowering cost, reducing risks and improving productivity and efficiency. The study found that "business continuity and security solutions" will have the biggest positive impact on business growth as U.S. companies prepare for an economic turnaround. This is closely followed by "enterprise mobility solutions" and "Web delivery solutions". Areas of IT investment that are expected to have a high to moderate impact on businesses are "unified communications services" and "hosted solutions."
More...
Big recovery for IT jobs in July
U.S. employment numbers released by the Department of Labor (DOL) displayed a startling increase in IT related jobs in the month of July following several months of decline.
National unemployment has stabilized at 9.4%, down slightly from the prior month, with only 247,000 jobs lost---the lowest monthly loss since last August. IT job segments have been part of this recovery, led by Computer Systems Design and Related Services gaining a whopping 7,900 jobs following seven straight monthly losses totaling 17,500 jobs. Gaining 900 jobs, the Management/Technical Consulting Services returned to positive numbers following a dip in June. This segment has been the steadiest IT-related job segment since the financial industry meltdown last October, with a net growth of 2,100 jobs since then. As further evidence of optimism, two segments---Computer and Peripheral and Equipment and Communications Equipment lost 3,400 fewer jobs July than June.
Not so lucky were tech workers in the Data Processing/Hosting/ Related Services job segment, dropping 400 jobs following a gain of 600 one months earlier.
More...
This is a great time for CIOs to cut long-term deals with their equipment and services providers. Vendors are squeezing every last penny from their own product development and staffing in order to make their numbers, and they desperately need to add new sales for the next couple of quarters.
Full Article...
Time to Leverage Social Media Technology in Customer Service
Overall, social media and mobile communications enable the consumer to operate more on their terms. They can -- and do -- choose when, where and from whom they get information. And they have a stronger voice for sharing information in return. Companies that are looking toward the future of interaction should communicate with customers through the same channels by which customers gain information and communicate with other people in their lives. Companies that do not evolve according to their customers and leverage the same media that their customers are using, are at risk for falling into a huge channel gap.
Full Article...
When Rogue IT Staffers Attack: 8 Organizations That Got Burned
Many call them rogue IT staffers, others might consider them IT heroes, and some are still innocent until proven guilty. But whatever the name or intention, these tech-savvy employees wreaked havoc at their organizations - and paid a price.
Full Article...
Simplify employee reviews: Use performance logs
It happens to every manager: You sit down to prepare a staff member's review and realize you can remember only what the person has done the past few weeks. Or you allow only a single incident (good or bad) to color your assessment. If you're relying solely on your memory to evaluate employee performance, you're making appraisals far more difficult than necessary. That's why it's best to institute a simple recording system to document employee performance.
Full Article...
First Contact Resolution: The Performance Driver!
In calculating your cost per call/resolution, it's important to know the resource cost of the other teams (usually depicted in an average hourly wage) as well as the all important Work Effort! With this information in hand, you are well equipped to prove the cost reduction value of your continuous improvement initiatives, justifying investments using financial metrics (ROI, NPV, etc.) and defending empirically against external threats impacting the ecosystem of your support strategy, structure and operations.
Full Article...
High Commitment High Performance: How to Build A Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage
by Michael Beer
Harvard Business School's Michael Beer integrates knowledge from the fields of leadership, strategic management, human resource management, organization design and organization development and change to show how a company can be transformed to achieve sustained high commitment and high performance. Drawing on numerous management studies and his work with senior managers who succeeded in building a high commitment, high performance organization, Beer provides leaders with the information they need to make the transformation process a reality.
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2009 Service & Support Metrics Survey: The Results
Supportindustry.com conducts an annual survey designed to explore the state of enterprise service and support -- technology adoption rates and deployment plans, financial challenges, workforce issues, performance metrics and other industry trends. This year's survey highlights support organizations' continued adoption of better-integrated and responsive technologies, efforts to improve processes, and growing recognition of the strategic role of service delivery in corporate growth. At the same time, however, these organizations continue to battle the ongoing challenges that have come to characterize the service function. Key metrics to benchmark your support operation were also captured and discussed.
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2009 Service and Support Technology Showcase Now Available
SupportIndustry.com has released the 2009 version of our Service & Support Technology Showcase. This in-depth buyer's guide features the latest tools and technologies in the support services industry that enable support operations to deliver superior customer service.
To view the listings, click here.
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