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Online Service Automates Grunt Work
A free online service from IBM records step-by-step processes for Web users, then automatically runs those processes, eliminating repetitive or mundane tasks. Created at the IBM Almaden Research Center and available on alphaWorks, CoScripter enables users to go to a Web site and capture their actions as a "script" which can automatically perform those tasks. CoScripter simplifies repetitive processes on the Web such as checking email, checking flight arrival times and status, or searching for WI-FI hotspots in the area. The service uses a technique called "programming by demonstration" to capture the steps of a process by watching people do it and recording those steps into a script. The scripts are integrated with a wiki, so they are easily shared with other users.

Vectren Invests in Superior Customer Service with Ventyx Solutions
Venty, the world's largest private software provider to the utility industry, announced a three-year managed care contract with Vectren Corporation. Vectren, a progressive energy-holding company, delivers gas and/or electricity to more than 1 million utility customers in Indiana and Ohio. The company signed a three-year agreement with Ventyx, with the option of adding a fourth year, to ensure access to the most advanced releases and newest functionality within Ventyx Customer Suite and Service Suite solutions. Additionally, the company is upgrading to the latest release of Ventyx enterprise workforce management software, Service Suite 8.0. As part of the managed care agreement, Ventyx will provide maintenance and services offerings tailored specifically to Vectren's unique business needs. These services will ensure the technical currency of Vectren's implemented software, as well as the right to future releases of the software.

Southwest Water Company Selects Suite of Oracle Software
Oracle announced that Southwest Water Company, a provider of water, wastewater and public works services, has selected a comprehensive suite of Oracle software to help streamline operations. Specifically, Southwest Water selected Oracle(r) Utilities Customer Care and Billing, Work and Asset Management, Mobile Workforce Management and Business Intelligence, as well as Oracle Financials, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, and Oracle Database to modernize and simplify its legacy systems and processes.

Jamcracker Introduces Desktop Support as a Service
Jamcracker, an on-demand services delivery company, announced the Jamcracker IT@yourservice desktop support as a service offering. IT@yourservice enables telecom and IT services providers to bundle and resell desktop installation and configuration support for on-demand applications provided through the Jamcracker Services Delivery Network (JSDN). IT@yourservice is provided by e4e Inc, a global outsourced services provider. Jamcracker IT@yourservice solutions will be available in October through Jamcracker-affiliated service providers.

Clone the best agent DNA in your contact center/support desk: A 7-Step Approach

M&As, product lifecycle compression, and outsourcing make it difficult, if not impossible, for customer service organizations to keep their agents up-to-date on best-practice interaction and service fulfillment processes, service compliance, contextual sales, and product knowledge.

How can you provide distinctive customer service and boost sales in this environment? "Cloning" the capabilities of the best customer support and helpdesk agents across the agent pool -- in-house and outsourced -- is a powerful approach that can help improve the quality and value of all interactions with customers. Starting with a unique Agent Cloning Framework that groups agents into mistakes, misfits, makeovers and models, this paper shows you how to implement a cloning program to take your customer support capabilities to new levels.

Download the white paper.

Customer Management Spending Will Increase 16% in 2008
A new AMR Research report finds that customer management application spending will increase 16% in 2008 to nearly $2,200 per employee. Mid-market companies (<$1B in revenue) will see the greatest spending increase at nearly 22%. This year's report reveals a number of industry positives: 2008 will see the largest average planned increase in CRM budgets to date, and the appeal of software-as-a-service (SaaS) is growing and impacting the industry average for upgrade rates (65% of companies now upgrade at least once a year, with 25% upgrading even more frequently).

But these positives are counterbalanced balanced by a set of somewhat alarming data points:
CRM failure rates remain far too high: 29% of companies reported an implementation failure that kept them from going live with the software versus 31% last year and just 18% in 2005.

User adoption remains a challenge, with 33% to 47% of customer management applications facing serious adoption issues.

Unused seats of CRM remain a challenge, with 25% of all licenses undeployed.

More....

Worldwide IT Services Market On Track to Grow 9 Percent in 2007
Despite the slowing U.S. economy, growth in IT services is expected to remain solid as worldwide IT services end-user spending is forecast to exceed $730 billion in 2007, up 8.7 percent from 2006, according to Gartner, Inc.

Core outsourcing (IT management and process management) remains the highest growth area in the market. In 2007, core outsourcing services are on track to represent 41 percent of total worldwide IT services end-user spending. Process management services are typically funded outside of IT budgets and IT management services replace internal IT spending, so growth in these outsourcing segments often occurs even in the face of restricted growth in IT budgets.

The development and integration (D&I) segment continues to exhibit steady growth fueled by regulatory and compliance initiatives, and a continued push for improved business change management and agile architectures driven by merger and acquisition activities. The worldwide D&I segment is forecast to reach $225 billion in 2007, up 9 percent from $206 billion in 2006.

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Research Reveals 84% of Service Executives Expect Their Businesses to Grow Over The Next Year
According to a new survey by Service Strategies Corporation, a provider of standards, career development and strategic advisory services for the technology services market, 84% of service executives interviewed expect their businesses to grow over the next year, while 43% believe this growth will be more than 10% annually. Service has become a strong driver of growth and as a result, a strong contributor to corporate profits. The study indicates that service now contributes more than 30% of both corporate revenue and profit for many companies and is continuing to grow.

Seventy-five percent of participating service executives indicated that improving customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention are among their primary business objectives. While nearly half cited technical skill shortages as a major obstacle to growth in the coming years.

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U.K. IT Help Desk Managers Require Better Problem Diagnosis
Two thirds of U.K. IT help-desk managers are dissatisfied with their support resolution software, reveals new independent research conducted by SupportSoft , a provider of software and services for technology problem resolution. Respondents identified time taken to gather and input diagnostic data about end-users' computers as one of their main concerns. For 51 percent of managers, the process takes them over 15 minutes.

For 92 percent of those cases that escalate to Level 2 analysts, the diagnostic information has to be re-gathered. In almost a third (32 percent) of the organisations surveyed, some or all of the diagnostic information has to be entered manually.

These results come despite 97 percent of IT help desk managers in the United Kingdom reporting substantial investment in technology designed to provide better help desk support for end-users. Data quality is also an issue for IT help desk managers, with only 31 percent of respondents being confident that the diagnostic information in their IT asset management database is up-to-date at any time.

IT help desk managers surveyed said that having instant access to accurate diagnostic information would make it faster (60 percent) and easier (57 percent) to diagnose and resolve problems.

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Spending on Knowledge Management Will Hit $73B in 2007
According to a new report released by AMR Research, U.S. companies will spend $73B on knowledge management software in 2007, and spending will grow nearly 16% to an average of $1,224 per employee in 2008.

As a growing number of needs and initiatives are left unsupported by established enterprise applications, the demand for KM technologies has increased, leading to record-level activity in knowledge management; content management; navigation, search, and retrieval; and collaboration platforms.

Other highlights of the report include:

• Collaboration, digital asset management (DAM), and customer- and supplier-facing portals are the biggest areas of planned investment.
• The preferred KM purchasing models are shifting from traditional licensing to software-as-a-service (SaaS) and open source.

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Automate Your License Operations
Software licenses are the lifeblood of your business. They stimulate revenue generation via new entitlements and renewals. They contain a wealth of information that offers insights into how to market to customers. And they help you provide better customer experiences by enabling faster and more accurate service. By improving the way you manage licenses through automation, you can gain tremendous competitive advantage.
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Scaling the Social Web
Who needs Facebook? Web users who want to find community with like-minded people no longer have to sign up with traditional social networking sites like MySpace, Friendster, or Facebook. They can build ties with friends and family on the sites they're using every day. A broad array of online players, from major media companies like Viacom to e-commerce providers such as eBay, are adding networking features to their online destinations, letting users create detailed Web identities, connect with people over common interests, share content, and, above all, socialize.
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Five Tips On Giving Superior Customer Service
Wal-Mart has you beat on price, Whole Foods on selection and Starbucks on ... well, sheer force of habit at this point. Your best weapon? Customer service. This article presents some seemingly small, yet essential tips for keeping customers coming back for more. t.
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Social Networking: A Time Waster Or The Next Big Thing In Collaboration?
Hinting at the potential of social networking at work, thousands of employees of Shell Oil, Procter & Gamble, and General Electric have Facebook accounts. A Facebook network of Citigroup employees--only those with Citigroup e-mail accounts can join--has 1,870 users. Procter & Gamble employees use Facebook to keep interns in touch and share information with co-workers attending company events. Still, there are reasons for business and technology managers to be wary of Facebook, as well as MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networking apps. The trick for businesspeople interested in using social networks and for IT departments that need to monitor and manage access to them is to steer clear of the time-wasting stuff while leveraging the collaborative potential.
Full Article...

The Future of Management
by Gary Hamel

What fuels long-term business success? Not operational excellence, technology breakthroughs, or new business models, but management innovation—new ways of mobilizing talent, allocating resources, and formulating strategies. Through history, management innovation has enabled companies to cross new performance thresholds and build enduring advantages.

In The Future of Management, Gary Hamel argues that organizations need management innovation now more than ever. Why? The management paradigm of the last century -- centered on control and efficiency -- no longer suffices in a world where adaptability and creativity drive business success. To thrive in the future, companies must reinvent management.


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White Paper: Using Web-based Support Tools to Improve Customer Service
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Multichannel Service & Support Survey of Executives: Report of Findings
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