| CRM top of retailers' IT to-do list
In the face of cut-throat competition from their rivals, retailers are investing in new systems to give them as much information as possible about their own customers. High street competition is fierce, with supermarkets in particular broadening their offerings from their traditional focus on groceries into clothing, electronics and banking products. And, at the same time, customers are less and less likely to be loyal to a particular store. As a result, retailers will up their spending on customer relationship management programmes, according to research by analyst house Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC). PAC consultant Henrietta Lacey told silicon.com: "In the UK one of the main growth areas is in CRM systems, especially with embedded business intelligence functionality.
EDM Group unveils strategic partnership with India based Digitization ...
The EDM Group, the UKs leading document management solutions provider, has announced a strategic partnership with CMC Limited, an India based leading end to end Digitization services provider. CMC is a subsidiary of the US$4 Billion TATA Consultancy services and the TATA Group Indias largest private sector business group. The strategic relationship will see the two companies explore joint business development opportunities in the UK market. The EDM Group delivers the full range of document services to some of the UKs largest blue chip companies, including document conversion, online document hosting and document management systems. CMC, the IT software solution specialist within the TATA Group, will provide back-office technology support services to the EDM Group from its base in India, ultimately improving efficiency of the service and reducing costs for customers.
Get more marketing value from recruitment software
Today's sophisticated, made for purpose recruitment applications, such as Bond Adapt, RDB Pro and Eclipse integrate with third party email clients and offer a range of contact management or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) features. Chris Pawsey, Business Development Team Leader at Bond International Software (UK) Ltd, explains: "Bond Adapt integrates email via Microsoft Outlook. Since Outlook is by far and away the market leading product we (Bond) make use of many of the functions therein. It is also possible to integrate Bond Adapt with other email clients." It is this contact management or CRM functionality that allows recruitment agencies and staffing professionals to create and retain email, letter and fax templates; conduct email marketing campaigns; and record response data.
CIO Jury: Tough enough to negotiate with suppliers?
Increasingly complex contracts and licensing models are making it tough for IT departments to get a fair deal when negotiating with and managing suppliers. Two UK universities are looking at offering MBAs that cover outsourcing to deal with that very problem and half of silicon.com's 12-man CIO Jury IT user panel said the odds are often stacked against them during the procurement and contract negotiation process. .
DRIVER OF CHANGE: Archie Kane 'constantly focused on things still to ...
Scottish Widows chief executive Archie Kane has pledged to retain customer service roles in the UK, but signalled that the company could still send more jobs abroad as he oversees continued reform at the Lloyds TSB-owned insurer. Kane has presided over a turnaround in the fortunes of Widows but is adamant that there will be further improvements at the Edinburgh-based business. When he took over in October 2003, Widows was reeling from the fall-out from the mis-selling of precipice bonds and, like virtually every other life company, had to devise an alternative product range when customers turned their backs on with-profits after the post-millennium stock market crash. A measure of Kane's success in streamlining the business is that it has been able to repatriate around £3.6bn of capital to its Lloyds TSB parent company in the last three years.
ORU alumni support sought
Uncertainty remained Saturday about what effect Richard Roberts' resignation as president will have on Oral Roberts University, but some observers said it was a step toward improvement.
"I think people are going to be waiting and watching: OK, can it survive without a Roberts at the helm?" said Donald R. Vance, professor of biblical languages and literature.
Vance said he thinks alumni need to support ORU as it undergoes this transition, after being led for 42 years by a Roberts. ORU professors are committed to the school's evangelical Christian mission, but that might not be obvious without a TV minister as president, he said. Christian colleges across the country are led by non-ministers -- "it will just be different for us."
ORU leaders have not addressed what role, if any, Roberts will have at the university.
Polk falls to Hawks
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