Linux News: Implementation

From Mainframes to I-Frames
November 11, 2009

I got a dose of reality last week when I took a briefing from TmaxSoft, a Korean company that specializes in mainframe conversions. I hadn't thought about a mainframe in a long time and assumed they were no longer an issue, but it turns out that they continue to live on. There are still 6,600 mainframes in operation in the U.S., according to TmaxSoft.

CRM for the Small Biz: Turning Agony Into Ecstasy
October 30, 2009

Small businesses frequently rely on a haphazard assortment of tools to manage their CRM processes, such as email, contact managers and spreadsheets. However, such methods are usually not sustainable or scalable. "Their customer data ends up fragmented across 10 different applications and physical locations," said Dmitri Eroshenko, CEO of Relenta.

Think, Then Measure: BI in the SMB
October 01, 2009

Suppliers and consumers have tightened their belts under current economic conditions, sending businesses scrambling for cost-cutting methods. Small and medium businesses have turned to business intelligence tools in response to these pressures.

Main Street Meets the Cloud
August 12, 2009

Late on a summer morning recently I got a call from my wife saying "On Point," a public radio program, was doing a show on about cloud computing. "Isn't that what you write about?" she said. "You should listen or call in." Well, I tried, and all the lines were jammed, but I was able to make a comment on the Web site. It was a funny show in some respects, though short on laughs.

Oracle Gives JD Edwards a PIP of an Upgrade
August 11, 2009

Oracle is giving users of JD Edwards -- one of the myriad enterprise software suites the company has acquired over the last decade -- a new set of tools to leverage through its value chain planning applications. It's upgrading the JD Edwards offering with a bundle of SCM-related applications and best practices that Oracle developed for its own products over the years.

Automation: A Lube Job for a Sluggish Economy
July 14, 2009

Companies are now in the third stage of "economic downturn syndrome." Having passed through Panic and Denial, they're firmly in Acceptance. Panicky knee-jerk responses such as cost-cutting, layoffs, tightening budgets and resources are a thing of the past. Most companies have had a quick breather and segued to the stage of a more carefully considered response.

The Carrot, the Stick and Other Sales Effectiveness Strategies
July 09, 2009

Companies seeking to organize and centralize customer, account and opportunity information are leveraging sales force automation and customer relationship management tools to provide sales managers with better visibility into internal operations and improve overall sales productivity.

Usability: The Cornerstone of E-Commerce/CRM Convergence
June 26, 2009

When e-commerce was born some 13 years ago, systems were typically proprietary, requiring a large team of internal developers to constantly upgrade features while diligently working to integrate them into key legacy back-office systems. At times, these were near-impossible tasks that consumed vast amounts of money and time.

Cloud Implementation, Part 3: Training for the Task
April 17, 2009

One of the selling points for moving software into the cloud is that it is supposedly hassle-free: no hardware, no software and presumably no huge staff of IT employees. The latter is certainly true -- but that is not to say companies can stop investing in their IT human resources just because they have moved some or all of their applications to the cloud.

Cloud Implementation, Part 2: Cutting a Path to Customization
April 10, 2009

For some companies, the decision to move to the cloud is a no-brainer -- especially if they limit their planning to pure number crunching. Without a doubt, the savings for such a leap, both explicit and implicit, can be huge. Still, though, there are technical issues to consider, not the least of which become apparent when the planning process begins to focus on customization.

Cloud Implementation, Part 1: Planning for Success
April 03, 2009

As with any new technology, there are special considerations that must be taken into account when deciding how or whether to implement a cloud-based application. These are early days for cloud computing, which means the planning process must move off auto-pilot.

The Welcome Challenge of Scaling Up: Q&A With ProspX CEO Todd Young
March 30, 2009

Every small vendor -- no matter the industry -- dreams of landing at least one big name Fortune 500 client. Such a client, of course, would lend it the necessary street cred -- not to mention revenue -- that all smaller companies need. It also might open the door to new product development and distribution possibilities. That has been the case with ProspX.

Catching the Next Wave of SaaS
March 25, 2009

In just a few years, Software as a Service has gone from a curiosity to a mission-critical application, accelerating into mainstream adoption. Faced with a dire financial situation, most businesses are taking advantage of the tremendous economies of scale that SaaS brings. Yet that's only the beginning.

Getting Customer Information Out of the Virtual Shoebox
March 19, 2009

Successfully leveraging an organization's collective knowledge has been an aspirational goal for decades, but many companies have deemed the effort as a "mission impossible" after investing time and money into these projects. Companies have fallen short in helping a distributed workforce apply knowledge to improve their business execution.

Tail (Zuora) Wags Dog
March 11, 2009

Last Monday at Demo, Zuora CEO and cofounder Tien Tzuo introduced Z-Commerce for Facebook -- a significant announcement that might be looked back on as a turning point in the evolution of on-demand technology. Zuora, if you don't know, provides an on-demand billing and payments suite for companies that sell Software as a Service.

Social CRM: What's Working, What Ain't
February 19, 2009

A computer company's research team puts their latest video up on Facebook rather than presenting it during a technical conference. A video game developer turns to Twitter to first break the news of a new release to the masses. A salesperson stays in touch with all professional relationships -- colleagues, mentors, proteges, former bosses, even friendly rivals -- through LinkedIn.