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Subject: November 2002 VMS3.info: Internet Information Provider Services Industry Analyzed via the Value Framework
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November 5, 2002 *4,400 subscribers* Volume 4, Issue 11
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Inside this Issue:


Business News via the Value Framework™ Lenses
Management Perspective

by Mitchell Levy, Author of the book E-Volve-or-Die.com, Creator of the Value Framework™
Executive Producer, VMS3.info


VMS3.info News


MODEL: PROCESS

Catalog Customer Service Reigns Supreme
In study after study, call centers run by companies with large catalog operations prove to be the champions. Recent data from the Purdue Center for Customer Driven Quality (CCDQ), for example, ranks catalog call centers at the top of the heap when it comes to effectiveness and near the top in efficiency. How do they do it?...

Note to CIOs: Keep the Mainframe Legacy App
Enterprises with large, mainframe-based legacy applications that provide CRM and ERP functionality may want to consider keeping them and upgrading them exactly where they live -- on the big box...

CRM Versus the Value Chain
Some say that CRM as a concept -- that is, a stand-alone discrete application –- is losing its appeal among corporate IT buyers. As far as SAP's newly appointed vice president of global CRM initiative is concerned, this is a good thing...

STUDY: FORTUNE 100 LACKS RESPECT FOR ONLINE CONSUMERS
CONSUMERS SENDING QUERIES to some Fortune 100 companies' sites could probably get a more rapid response by driving to the airport, booking a flight to the company's headquarters and talking to a customer representative there, a new study reveals. In its study of online "consumer respect," Web-focused research firm ConsumerRespect.com, a division of International Ventures Research, found that not only do many Fortune 100 companies lag in responding to general online inquiries, 37 percent do not reply at all.

 

MODEL: TRANSACTIONS

M-Commerce: What's in It for Business?
M-commerce has flopped in the consumer arena -- or at least has failed to live up to the hype. There may be compelling reasons for business users to adopt transaction-based services offered on wireless devices, though -- but the mobile commerce tools used by enterprises are nothing like the services pitched to consumers...

Who Will Rule Cell Phone Sales in 2003?
The coming year could see some big changes in the way cell phones look and function, and much of the jockeying among handset makers in 2003 could revolve around young users. Analysts also point to the rising popularity of games and photo-sending services in Asian and European markets, which has cut across all age groups...

Study: Consumers warm up to e-billing
Online bill viewing and payment will be among the fastest growing consumer applications over the next several years, according to a study released Monday.
Jupiter Research noted that in 2001, American consumers viewed 643 million bills online, which represents 6 percent of all U.S. consumer bills. That number is forecast to jump to 3.5 billion in 2006, or 32 percent of all such bills.

 

MODEL: PARTICIPANTS

Supermarkets Continue To Build Customer, Brand Loyalty
These days, everyone is clamoring for loyal customers -- vying for shoppers in stores, at home and online. But supermarkets may be leading the way in building loyalty on several fronts. In addition to working to increase customer and return-visit numbers, grocers are partnering more often with manufacturers who wish to increase brand loyalty...

The Incredibly Quiet B2B Resurgence
There is life after the bubble for technology and portal providers that serve the B2B sector of e-commerce. But vendors must adjust to a new landscape in which spending and cost-cutting priorities have shifted dramatically in response to tough economic times...

 

MODEL: INFLUENCES

Is HTML on Its Way Out?
A mere eight years ago, the "HT" in HTML stood as much for "hot" as it did for "hypertext." This language of the Internet was on everyone's lips, from bedroom coders to boardroom capitalists. Now, though, XML, XHTML and other Internet languages are nimbly supplementing -- and in some cases supplanting -- their older and stodgier cousin.

Straight talk on Web services
When it comes to Web services, Rajiv Gupta intimately knows the meaning of first-mover disadvantage. The co-creator of Hewlett Packard's ill-fated E-speak, one of the earliest versions of what would become known as Web services, Gupta lived through the frustration of being early to market with a new--even grandiose--computing vision. With the passage of time, information technology shops have come to have a far clearer idea about what Web services are. But when it comes to convincing corporate chief information officers what it can do for their businesses, Gupta, now CEO of Web services start-up Confluent, believes technologists continue to commit a cardinal mistake.

The Next Web
One bubble and a few thousand failed businesses aside, the Web really has changed commerce. Yet finding the needle we need in the haystack of the Web isn't getting easier.

How Much Is Your Company Worth?
During these tumultuous economic times, even valuable companies show such weak revenues that the entire concept of valuing a company based on multiples of earnings may be fundamentally flawed. But it is still possible for a potential buyer or seller to place a price tag on a tech-sector company. It just takes a little work and a shrewd eye...

 

STRATEGY DEPLOYED

EBay Launches Sports Site Amid AOL Incursion Rumors
EBay has launched a sports-themed section on its auction site, combining several existing categories, including memorabilia, ticketing, sporting goods and licensed merchandise, into a single section that it says will generate $1 billion in sales this year...

Is Sun's Vision Clear?
Sun Microsystems made news in August with its introduction of a general-purpose Linux server and its announcement of an upcoming Linux desktop "purple box," both built on Intel platforms. Those moves raised the question of whether Sun was abandoning its long-held strategy of tightly integrating its own processors, hardware and software...

Documentum To Acquire ERoom
Combined companies figure to move to the forefront in providing collaborative content-management applications. Documentum Inc. provided the most compelling evidence yet of the increasingly tight relationship between content management and collaboration Thursday when it said it will acquire collaboration vendor eRoom Technology Inc. in a deal valued at nearly $120 million. Documentum, whose stock tumbled 10.3% Thursday to $11.35, before the deal was announced, will issue 9.4 million shares of stock to eRoom shareholders and pay $12.6 million in cash.

Microsoft Strikes $96M Deal To Buy Mapping Firm
Microsoft has announced it will pay $96 million in cash to acquire Vicinity, a firm that helps customers find information about a company's nearest outlet and its hours via the Web, telephone or wireless devices...

Sprint Launches New Data Service Price Plans
In an effort to boost subscriptions on its data services network, Sprint PCS has launched new pricing plans for consumers and business users that it touts as the lowest in the U.S. However, the new plan comes with a few hitches...

 

STRATEGY: MANAGED

Sizing Up Amazon's Grand Experiment
Despite Amazon's impressive track record, not everything the e-tailer touches turns to gold. Along the way, the company has made some missteps, although it seems to be mastering the art of nurturing new ventures despite early stumbles...

Interview: Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos
Does the Amazon CEO give interviews in his sleep? This guy is everywhere. But, there's a reason. Bezos is not only charming, he's interesting. For Darwin readers, he shares his secrets to motivation and optimism. Worthwhile reading.

Who Pays for Tech Innovation?
Determining a company's return on its R&D investment is not a clear-cut exercise -- and until ROI is achieved, tech companies and their shareholders pay for their investment in lost profit. Even so, IDC research director Mark Hall likened a business without R&D spending to a lake stocked with fish but never replenished.

 

STRATEGY: EVOLVED

CRM's .NET Quandary
Many CRM vendors are hedging their bets in the latest application-development war pitting Microsoft's .NET against Sun Microsystems' J2EE, while others have firmly planted flags. Either way, customers stand to benefit as component-based software makes its way toward CRM, and as Web services standards close the gap between the two technologies...

Innovate To Stay Ahead of the Opposition
It goes without saying that to be a world class company, a business must implement world class strategies. Your processes have to be right, they need to be streamlined, and they must be e-enabled. You must endeavour to be as innovative in your customer relations as you are in your application of technologies and solutions...

 

 

About the Author:

Mitchell Levy, is President and CEO of ECnow.com (http://ecnow.com), an e-commerce management consulting company helping individuals and corporations transition from the industrial age to the Internet age through strategy, marketing, and off-the-shelf and customized on-line and on-ground training. He is the author of the book E-Volve-or-Die.com (http://e-volve-or-die.com), creator of the Value Framework and author of the Value Framework Workbook (http://ecnow.com/value), Executive Producer of VMS3.info (http://VMS3.info), the Founder and Program Consultant of the premier San Jose State E-Commerce Management Certificate Program (http://ecmtraining.com/sjsu), former Chair of comdex.biz at Comdex Fall, and Chairman of the Pay-per-Performance PR Agency Media Attention Now TM (http://ecnow.com/mediaattention), the on-line learning content production company Transition Learning (http://transitionlearning.com) and the CEO Networking organization CEOnetworking (http://ceonetworking.com). Mitchell was at Sun Microsystems for 9 years, the last 4 of which he managed the e-commerce component of Sun's $3.5 billion supply chain. Mitchell is a popular speaker, lecturing on ECM issues throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Read more about Mr. Levy: http://ecnow.com/ml_bio.htm
Public speaking appearances I've given: http://ecnow.com/speaking.htm
Read about ECnow.com's media coverage: http://ecnow.com/media

 

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