Spotlight Features

My Web survey of SAP users is producing some interesting results. More than any other factor, customer references influenced buyers to choose SAP, quelling their concerns about the potential risks involved in taking that step. In fact, at this point in the survey, 80 percent of respondents said they...

After a year of heading in the right direction, the California Public Utilities Commission veered off course last week when Commissioner Dian Grueneich initiated a dangerous move towards old command-and-control regulation. Grueneich claimed to be staking out a middle ground in her alternate plan to ...

Now that the Earth has metaphorically become a flat, digitally formatted platform for the 'Net- and e-commerce-savvy to skate on, it's time for marketing to get circular. Basically, these are the new rules: All aspects of marketing should be delivered to customers at their destination of choice; the...

Enterprises today have a number of key questions when it comes to setting up and maintaining an online presence. Some of these concerns include critical Web-related security problems; scalability; and being aware of new online challenges expected in 2006. Who better to ask about these issues than Ak...

Last week I was in Monte Carlo to speak at a conference for distributors in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Traditionally these regions have been referred to as "emerging markets," but with sales in the tens of billions of dollars and growth rates in the high double digits, I think it's safe to ...

The mantra of selling solutions has taken enterprise software by storm and nowhere is this more prevalent than CRM. Honestly, it seems like the more challenging and difficult it is to sell into specific sectors of CRM, the more "solution-selling" is being invoked. This newfound religion is truly t...

Google recently created a public-relations firestorm when it unveiled a new search site in China that censors data on behalf of the Chinese government. Though the search giant's success stems from its birth in a free country, that doesn't mean the company is strong enough to enforce freedom around t...

As the dust settles on this latest season's holiday shopping data, there is yet one more issue to consider before this time next year: conversions. The recent release of the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research, revealed that consumer satisfac...

Recent research suggests that satisfaction among customers of 40 top retail Web sites dropped over the holiday season. So says the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, a study produced by ForeSee Results and FGI Research. The Index measures the top 40 retailers by revenue and provides a comparis...

In the United States, the Big Four music labels now routinely blackmail colleges and universities into peddling product via the likes of Napster and iTunes, with school staff working as unpaid public relations and marketing teams. EMI, Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMG wield the threat of...