Misadventures with Bill
As competitors move ahead on everything from SOAP to nuts, Microsoft’s lead erodes on a number of fronts EVER SINCE HE relinquished the CEO job to Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates has been busy in the lab as chief software architect.…
The next big thing
Before you leap at the opportunity to use Web services, use experience as a guide to possible pitfalls MANAGEMENTSPEAK: We would like this solution to be as flexible as possible. TRANSLATION: Discovering our requirements will be like nailing Jell-O to…
Don’t you worry about a thing
CA says 802.11 security issues are nothing to be concerned about See correction below AN ARTICLE I read recently attributed Simon Perry, vice president of Computer Associates’ security division, as saying 802.11x security issues are all vendor hype ( ).…
Revamping recovery
Hewlett-Packard makes customers answer questions to prove they need a recovery CD before they can order one THERE’S A CERTAIN magical quality to the operating system that comes with some PCs. It’s there, but it’s not there. For several years…
In praise of laziness
Applauding the unlikely qualities that CTOs should look for to create an effective and efficient IT team See correction below RECENTLY, I GAVE a keynote address entitled “The Future of IT Management” at a software user conference, and one of…
Fostering a CTO community
A rise in CTO professional groups across the country provides both aspiring and current chief technologists with opportunities to mentor and be mentored WHEN RAGY THOMAS became CTO of Bigfoot Interactive, a New York e-mail outsourcing company, he needed help…
Finding a niche
Gruvo’s CTO uses animation and live chat to grab eyeballs in the auction marketplace WHEN IT COMES to online auctions, eBay is certainly the 800-pound gorilla: a large, wide-reaching, and instantly recognizable name. But Marie Patel had a growing feeling…
Priced to sell … to you
Tapping into reams of rich CRM data, companies are turning to technology to quickly optimize prices for individual customers “HOW MUCH DOES it cost? For you?” If you’ve ever heard these words at the corner store, you’ve experienced CRM-driven price…
Self-service CRM
Self-service technologies are becoming a mainstream part of the CRM mix, thanks to advances in natural language processing, voice recognition, and knowledge engines. In particular, so-called “self-learning” systems based on hybrids of statistical and rules-based techniques have improved results while…
CRM price optimization
Price optimization gives companies a way to apply analytics to existing CRM data to improve profitability. Companies can create prices on the fly, based on customers’ past buying history and the profitability of the product or service. Successful CRM price…
