Chapter 9 of the textbook focuses on Customer Relations Management as it pertains to the information systems used by businesses to help retain customers, bring in new customers, market specific products, and determine the success of product introductions/rollouts. The article I chose for my article review comes from BusinessWeek online and is written by Theresa Forsman. The title of the article is, “The Promise, and the Perils, of Customer-Relations Management Software,” and the focus is the benefits inherent with the proper implementation of CRM software, but also the inherent dangers in relying on this software and completely abandoning old school salesmanship, relationship management and know-how.

The author describes, “Customer-relations management covers a lot of territory, But basically, CRM is technology that allows a business to store and sort information about customers’ preferences, purchase histories, and demographics” (Forsman, 2000, p. 1). Essentially, Forsman is cautioning businesses that might seek to rely fully on CRM technology to generate information about their customers. She continuously throughout the article warns that while the benefits of CRM are numerous and unbounded (as of 2000), the perils of losing physical contact with valued customers may prove far more costly. Forsman points to the fact that CRM can make the paperwork and other formalities much more streamlined between customer and company, however, there’s just no technological replacement for an old-fashioned handshake, smile, and a how are you?. Realistically, while CRM can help increase throughput, efficiency, and total volume, it cannot serve as the pulse and face of the business’ relationship with its valued customers. These relationships must be personal and while some can go unmonitored for many years without personal maintenance, at some point, human interaction and old-fashioned salesmanship will be of utmost importance.

Chapter 7 introduces us to the concepts of network architecture and mobile technology and how these technologies can help employees better communicate within an organization and allow easier and faster responses to others outside the organization. Businesses must understand the new trends of technology to compete in today’s mobile world. Members in an organization must have easy access the largest network–the internet.

I found a product that makes it easier for organizations and individuals to keep in touch without spending hundreds of dollars. MagicJack is positioned to be the fastest growing telecom company in the world. It was founded by Dan Borislow, also founder of YMAX Communications Corporation. It was nominated as the Product of the Year 2008. MagicJack does require some kind of internet connection in order to function such as broadband, High-Speed Internet, cable internet, DSL, WiFi, WiMax, FiOs. However, MagicJack does not work over dial-up or satellite internet. Some of the features that MagicJack offers are: free local and long distance, free directory assistance, free phone number, free call waiting, free voicemail, free Caller ID, and now FREE MagicJack Conference Calling.

The magic about MagicJack is that it eliminates the expense of local and long distance phone charges, which saves the average customer around $1000 a year. In 2008, PC Magazine Editors-Choice said “MagicJack’s call quality is amazing—almost too good to be true. …for less than $40, everybody should try it.” If you go to MagicJack’s website it even gives you a 30-day FREE Trial, 100% Risk FREE! You can also buy a MagicJack at electronic stores such as RadioShack and Best Buy for about $45. You pay nothing for a whole year; however, an annual renewal fee will be due one year after you first register you MagicJack. A friendly e-mail reminder will be sent to the registered e-mail when your renewal fee is due.

I can say from personal experience that MagicJack really does work. I can make local and long distance calls without getting disconnected. All I can say is that people should try it!

MagicJack. (2009). Retrieved on Oct. 6, 2009 from http://www.magicjack.com/1/index.asp

Chapter 6 introduces business students to different types of data storage systems. It distinguishes between transactional databases and information housed in enterprise wide data warehouse systems. Although, they share the same purpose to store large volumes of organized data; organizations use the stored data in different ways. For instance, organizations store their data in data warehouses to make decisions and support their analysis.

I focused on WisdomForce Technologies, a company that offers real-time transactional data integration and data transactional control solutions across different vendors/platforms/versions of widely used database systems. Customers receive “software infrastructure for data replication, extract, change data capture, transformation, movement and management of data from one/many database to one/many database.”

Their software products help CIOs and other decision-makers of data-intensive businesses improve their overall quality, continuous data availability within their IT systems, support better decision-making, overall positive impact on productivity and bottom line.

WisdomForce offers various tools to organizations success in the business world. According to WisdomForce, it allows users to share enterprise business data with other applications, such as OS platforms and database vendors.

WisdomForce guarantees instant results to employees, partners, vendors and customers, so they can make faster and better decisions.

WisdomForce offers two different types of products for different needs. One of the products is Database Sync, which features low system overhead, is highly scalable, secure, reliable, and flexible to integrate with third party system and easy to configure. The technology can be applied to various markets data markets to complex security applications and guaranteeing data integrity. On the other hand, FastReader provides lightning fast data unload/load into non-proprietary portable format as well as migration and data compression capabilities and can be deployed across various platforms in large data centers. FastReader features a higher performance if combine with Database Sync.

WisdomForce Technologies, Inc. (2009). Retrieved on Sept. 30, 2009 from http://www.wisdomforce.com/solutions-.html

As chapter 5 talks about enterprise architecture and security Google plans on offering cloud services such as Google Apps to federal agencies starting in 2010. Google has assured the cloud services to be entirely compliant with the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). According to Business Week, Google announced its plans at a cloud computing event in California, in which it was clarified that the government services would be hosted on Google’s data centers that are complaint with government regulations. A service provider is required to have a FISMA certification in order to sell to federal agencies.
However, for those of you like me who do not know what cloud computing is I found a definition in Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is a paradigm of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. In other words, these services typically provide similar business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.
One of Google’s executives assured that the government cloud service will be operated by individuals with the appropriate security clearances and all the government’s data will remain in the U.S.
According to Karen Evan, former de facto federal CIO under the Bush administration, one of the greatest advantages on using cloud services from Google could help federal agencies significantly reduce IT costs. However, many are very reluctant with the security and information assurance of using a cloud service.
The deal between Google and federal agencies could close depending on the result from the FISMA certification and accreditation that Google’s cloud services receive.

Viajayah, Jaikumar. (Sept. 17, 2009). Google Pursues Government Biz: Security Concerns Loom. BusinessWeek. Retrieved on Sept. 22, 2009 from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc20090917_122270.htm

Chapter 4 is about Ethics in the workforce and Privacy policies. I found an article that talk about Ethics in the workplace from a different perspective. The article focuses on romances between co-workers, boss/employee and the awkward situation after it’s over. Most of us spent more hours at work with our co-workers than with any other person. According to Dr. Weinstein due to the amount of time spent at work, it seems like the most common place to find “love.” However, there are also many reasons of why people should avoid at all cost the temptation of an office romances. Although, they can be challenging and exciting, are the best troublesome and can very much damage the relationship with others affecting our performance at work. Perhaps that’s the main reason of why we should NOT get romantically involved with our co-workers.

According to Dr. Weinstein, a romance between two people at work affects more than two people. He describes the importance of ethics in the workplace. The two people involved should be considerate of other people’s well-being.

When you are involved with someone at work it is very easy to go against the Ethical Standards of work, especially if they have different levels of power and authority within the organization. What would happen if the relationship is over? More than one thing can be at stake, not to mention your job. However, what if the other person does not feel the same way you feel towards him/her, you could be charged with sexual harassment. So as Dr. Weinstein explains whatever you decide to do, make sure you are familiar with your company’s ethical standards.

Weinstein, Bruce, PhD. (Feb. 2, 2008). The Ethics of Office Romance. BusinessWeek. Retrieved on Sept. 16, 2009 from http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2008/ca20080212_702316.htm

An article that I found very interesting was about a Canadian software company, Brightspark, who came up with the idea to help companies rent the extra space directly to other for short-term use. The idea evolved as Brightspark noticed that many tech companies had tons of extra space available. Randy Busch, vice president of marketing at Brightspark believes that at the beginning these companies rented big office spaces with the intent to grow, but the recession changed their plans. Some companies even paid in advance a 5-year lease. Today, these same companies are unable to sublet the extra space available.

According to The Economist, office vacancy rates are on the rise and for the 2009 second quarter it increased to 23%. Unfortunately, these are not good news for those who are trying to get extra cash in times of recession. Especially when the same report found that office vacancies in midtown New York were approximately 10%.

To help companies make some profits with all that extra space, Brightspark created a web site called iStopOver. The nice thing about this web site is that lets people rent the excess space that businesses have such as cubicles, offices, meeting rooms, presentation rooms, warehouses, boardrooms, studios, and even parking spots. According to this article a furnished cubicle at an ad agency on East 24th Street, rents for $650 per month.

iStopOver was created to serve all people’s needs and wallets. It also has a service for travelers who want to save money on hotels and are willing to try something different as to rent a room in someone’s home, but a t a huge discount.

iStopOver is the place on the internet for directly renting excess capacity in homes and offices. When you find the perfect place where you want to stay in, the interaction and rental process is directly between the Host and the Guest secured by iStopOver with no risk.

iStopOver offers a new innovative way to use the extra space while making profits.

http://www.istopover.com/

King, Rachel. (2009, Aug. 13). Renting Office Space on the Cheap. BusinessWeek. Retrieved Aug. 29, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/technology_at_work/

As I was browsing through the business magazine BusinessWeek it was exciting to find a very interesting article about a Web 2.0 Dashboard called StrategyEye Digital Media. Everyone is talking about StrategyEye, a London-based startup, because of its unique ability to mix Web search services with in-house analysis to offer organizations with business information related in friendly, interactive formats. According to BusinessWeek, it was founded in 2004 by former investment banker Neck Gregg and its main goal is to become as large as Google, but for the market research.

What makes StrategyEye unique is the way it uses technology by scanning the internet, including blogs and social networks such as Facebook or MySpace, something that Google and Yahoo! cannot offer. As all the data is gather about a particular company or topic is put into meaningful graphic displays which could later be used by most managers with little or no technology skills and still understand how his organization is seen by others around the world. Nick Gregg describes StrategyEye as “It lets you see what everyone in the ether is saying about your company and the industry as a whole.” In addition, it links the results with entries from 4,500 expert bloggers who share their knowledge in today’s main issues of the digital world.
Another useful tool that StrategyEye offers to its users is the accessibility to add comments on the posts of StrategyEye analysts. The information discussed in the posts examines mergers and acquisitions such as the recent acquisition of Pfizer Inc. over Wyeth and other digital media related topics.

I was curious to learn more about StrategyEye, so I signed up to get an account. Unfortunately, most of its users are business people who can afford to pay costly subscriptions; therefore, my subscription was not successful.

Scott, Mark. (June 15, 2008). A Web 2.0 Dashboard for Buzz.
BusinessWeek. Retrieved Sept. 1, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080115_925667.htm

Chapter 3 main topic is about the importance of internet to the success of new entering businesses. Many ebusinesses have emerged since the internet became available to the public, including Netflix, eBay, Amazon, Paypal, youtube, and TiVo Inc. However, I will focus on TiVo, the Alviso (CA)-based company creator of the DV recorders. TiVo’s success is the perfect example of disruptive technology. TiVo’s main rivals are cable companies such as Dish Network, AT&T and the world of television itself. What sets TiVo apart from all other VCRs or DVRs is that ability to find and record all your favorite shows, every time they are on, so viewers can watch them at their best convenience, all it takes is turning on the TV. Also, TiVo allows you to pause, rewind, fast-forward through commercials and record live TV. A TiVo box can be connected to the cable service or the internet service.

Although not many people knew about the existence of TiVo, little by little TiVo has become a more profitable and innovative organization; especially, after receiving $200 million in damages from a late 2008 lawsuit against EchoStar, Dish’s parent company. The grounds of the lawsuit were a patent violation.

According to BusinessWeek magazine on August 26, TiVo filed a lawsuit against AT&T and Verizon Communications for an alleged violation of three of its patents for time-sifting and other aspects of its DV recorder. TiVo’s patents are the comparative advantage over its rivals.

TiVo plans to expand by offering rating services to advertisers and broadcasters, including a blockbuster deal with Netflix to stream movies to Netflix subscribers who also own a TiVo.

I would enjoy watching shows and films on my television with no commercials and have the ability to pause and especially record at the same time. I would definitely buy one!

Grover, Ronald. (Sept 8, 2009). The Lawsuit Route Proves Lucrative for TiVo. BusinessWeek. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc2009098_760023.htm

Ina Fried basically says that complains made by customers regarding Windows Vista lead Microsoft to a new product designing approach. Where they sought the input of PC manufactures like HP, Dell, and Acer etc. Morbello, an Acer Vice president, said, “Until Vista, Microsoft was fully thinking on there own and implanting their own ideas and then releasing it. The PC manufactures didn’t really know what to expect or how it would function in there PC hence all the problems that PC users experience.
Microsoft had to change their method of design in part because of Apple strong customer satisfaction. They held meeting and discussed how certain PC components were functioning with the Windows program and also how pre-installed non-Microsoft programs would affect the function of the PC. A few of the decisions made were the addition of an XP mode to allow users to use a free virtualization copy of Windows XP in order to run older applications not compatible with the new version; and they also cut out all the “Crapware” (preinstalled non-Microsoft software) that was slowing down the PCs.
This article relates to the chapter because it used all the information obtained from complains surrounding Windows Vista. Microsoft took this information obtained from customers and got to the “root cause”! Rather than continuing to develop their product in the same fashion they took their customers complains into consideration and developed a software program with the help of the PC manufactures in order to eliminate possible future consumer problems.

BY: Ina Fried

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10380296-56.html

In his 1998 article entitled Is This Job Really Necessary? , Thomas Stewart discusses the role of a chief knowledge officer (CKO) 11 years before today. He examines to see if the role is actually necessary and what it actually is. He states that a CKO has two parts to his or her job: collection and connection. When people really need to know about each other’s work across a company, the CKO would be responsible for making the knowledge available to everyone. They would also bear the responsibility of hiding key knowledge from competitors. He was wondering if the role would survive and contrasted it with that of a chief learning officer (CLO). He found them to be distinct.

This has to do with information systems in that it explains one of the key positions prevalent today. The book explains the importance of each of the IT positions (CKO being one of them) and that companies usually have one form or another of each of them. The article simply explains on of the positions before most people knew about it.

I especially found it interesting because it was before the year 2000. It is even mentioned in the article that it is important to have a CKO to get ready for possible computer problems when the year 2000 comes. The perspective was interesting as we still have CKO positions today. It is also interesting that the position hasn’t really changed that much over the years. With the advance of technology in the last ten years, you would expect it to change. From the article, it appears to have stayed the same.

Stewart, T. A. (1998) Is This Job Really Necessary?, Fortune Magazine. Retrieved September 3, 2009, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/01/12/236442/index.htm

Elizabeth Landau’s article entitled Therapy online: Good as face to face? delves into the world of psychotherapy using artifical intelligence. She explains how it was started in the 1960′s with a computer program called ELIZA that was designed to actually mimic an actual therapist. It would ask questions and respond the way an actual therapist would. This has progressed to be available online today. There is still a quite prevalent aspect of therapist doing to their work online, without the face-to-face interaction. There is believed to be quite a future fo this as it allows at a low cost for the patient to interact with the therapist without having to deal with embarrassing personal interaction. There are “ELIZA’s” today that incorporate text, graphics, videos, and more. It is not real clear what the future holds for this industry.
It relates to the text in that it has to do with the artificial intelligence aspect. It is about using technology to do the job that a human would normally do. As the text states, technology can be used to mimic human intelligence. In the article’s case, it improves the decision making process. No longer do people have to wait for an actual person to service their needs.
I liked the article because it was fascinating. It is intriguing to think of the idea of using a computer program for psychoanalysis. I like the aspect that it is a lot cheaper than actual human care and it has the possibility to work well. It could just get dangerous if a computer makes a mistake with a person that is suicidal.

Landau, E. (2009) Therapy online: Good as face to face? CNNhealth.com. Retrieved September 3, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/31/online.internet.therapy.cbt./index.html?iref=newssearch

The Fortune Brainstorm Tech area of CNNMoney.com published an article entitled Meet “the world’s most annoying Web site”. It is about the social networking site Tagged.com. The article highlights how New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo plans to sue this social networking site for false advertising, deceptive business, and identity theft.
Tagged.com is much like any other social networking site, except for it’s emphasis on meeting strangers (instead of existing friends) and it’s questionable spreading tactics. Cuomo describes the site as tricking people into giving out their contact lists and issuing invitations to join Tagged.com. It gives out sort of personal ads. One of the practices is to send out a message to the contacts of a current Tagged member with the invitation to view “photos” and other things. The requirement for viewing is that one must join Tagged. The problem is that it isn’t photos that Tagged sends out, but Tags (icons that describe a person).
Tagged has used it’s tactics to become the third largest social networking site, claiming 80 million registered users. This relates to the text in that it is an example of a disruptive technology. It is essentially a new way of doing things. It is using spam tactics to gain more users for a social networking site. It did not really meet the needs of existing customers in the beginning as it dropped out of favor to sites like Facebook and MySpace. It then employed it’s new tactics to gain a foothold on the market and compete with the existing technologies.

Atal, M. (2009). Meet “the world’s most annoying Web site”, CNNMoney.com Fortune
Brainstorm Tech. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/07/meet-the-worlds-most-
annoying-website/

Hackers Like Christmas Best of All

Robert McMillan’s 2009 article entitled Hackers Like Christmas Best of All is an article about hackers favorite time to hack into corporate networks. The article explains how many people think that summer (the time when the security guy might be on vacation) is the ideal time for hackers to try to get into corporate networks. They actually try to do it the most at Christmas time. The hacking may include spamming or spreading worms like the Koobface facebook one and the ones before it: Sobig, Blaster and Zotob.

There are several reasons included for it. The hackers like it because they think that people will be distracted and busy with other things. Another reason is that more people are taking vacation at the time, leaving companies short-staffed. This will leave them more vulnerable. People are also sending more messages to each other and have their guard down. They shop online, making it easier for hackers to get in undetected.

A main point of the article was that security professionals need to be more alert at this time of year. People have their parties and gift giving, but some need to be aware of the danger that they may face.

Our textbook states that the first line of defense to this hacking is people. If people are informed better, they have more of a chance to defend themselves. Perhaps an idea is to employ more stringent security practices for the month of December and January. Companies can also hire outside help at this time for further security measures. As the textbook states, companies may lose $108,000 every hour that their IT system is not working right.

McMillan, R. (2009) Hackers Like Christmas Best of All, PC World Business Center. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/170799/hackers_like_christmas_best_of_all.html

Twitter message could be cyber criminal at work

Kevin Voigt’s June 22 article entitled Twitter message could be cyber criminal at work is basically about the evolution of cyber criminals. With Twitter being one of the latest popular technologies, it is only fitting that criminals would take advantage of it. They set up links to malicious software using key words and headlines of major events in the news. Twitter is just one of the examples used in the article that highlights a world wide $100 billion problem.
While it started out as pranks using viruses, internet crime has turned in to a very large business. Spam, phishing, botnet schemes, etc. are just a few of the latest methods in cyber attacks. Another thing is extortion. People make a deal with large companies to not expose their records and information in exchange for millions of dollars. They will draw people in to click on dangerous links using things like promises of free money, downloads, and pornography.
These criminals are actually very organized now. They have R&D departments, distribution networks, and Web sites. These Web sites can include “toolkits” for criminals to learn things like how to get past security measures to set up botnet schemes. They will actually charge money for this information. Financial information from secured-payment providers is made available for a fee.
This business is now largely unchecked and is hard to prosecute. The textbook exudes the importance of up-to-date antivirus software and patches and managing user access. The problems of cyber attacks becomes an increasing problem, so it should be an increasing priority for businesses.

Voigt, K. (2009) Twitter message could be cyber criminal at work, CNN. Retrieved September 24, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/21/cyber. crime.internet/index.html?iref=newssearch

Virginia Tech families win $11 million settlement from state

A judge in Virginia ruled that $11 million would go to the families of those injured or killed in last year’s Virginia Tech shootings. In the settlement are the families of 24 killed and 18 injured. Compensation also extends to include the opportunity to meet with the governor and Virginia Tech officials to look at legislation and improvements made on the campus to avoid future tragic incidents.

The main reason that the families pursued wrongful death claims and personal injury claims is the sluggishness that the university showed in sharing information with students. The claim was made that if they had shared information sooner with students (thus warning them of potential and in this case real danger), injuries and deaths could have been avoided. Two students were found dead at 7:00 A.M., but students were not warned by e-mail until about 9:30 A.M. The shooter started shooting again around 9:50, not giving many students even a chance to check their e-mails.

I chose this article because a sobering reflection of the need for timely and accurate information in many cases. The textbook touches on the need for businesses to have timely, quality, transactional and analytical information. A university is a business and sometimes may not realize that the students need that information too. With lives at stake, more of an effort should be made to share information. New techniques can be established such as: timely e-mail alerts, social networking cite alerts, texting alerts, and alerts made to the staff as a whole.

CNN (2009) Virginia Tech families win $11 million settlement from state, CNN. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/17 /virginia.tech.settlement/index.html?iref=newssearch

4G Hype: Time for a reality check

Stephanie Mehta’s article entitled 4G Hype: Time for a reality check written for CNNMoney.com is about the hype of the new 4G networks being advertised. It starts out by talking about how Verizon Wireless has gotten back data on the development of a 4G network. It is a new generation of radio upgrades that will improve the throughput and capacity of wireless phone networks. It is supposed to “breathe new life into wireless internet”. It is supposed to bring peak downlink speeds of 10 Mbps.

The argument being made is that it is very little different than the 3G network. Other companies are touting the 4G network that they are coming up with as well. Like the 3G network, it will take a long time for the 4G network to take root and actually mean something for consumers. The argument is that companies now are just beginning to see revenue from the 3G networks that they were so excited about advertising. New technologies like the iPhone are not even using a 3G network yet.

Companies are still years away from fully developing 4G and even 3G networks. 3G coverage is even still spotty in the U.S. They are supposed help with data overload and improve download speed. The networks are mentioned in the textbook as being current when they really are far from it. In ‘reality’, the hyped networks are not near full and advertised use for businesses. If wireless companies expect a return on their investment, they need to finish what they started.

Mehta, S. (2009) 4G Hype: Time for a reality check, CNNMoney.com. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/18/4g-hype-time-for-a-reality-check/

Making electric cars smarter

Stephanie Mehta’s article entitled Making electric cars smarter is about a man named Shai Agassi that founded a company called Better Place. It is a company that is building a network of charging and battery-switch stations for electric cars.

Agassi’s former job was a software engineer for a company called SAP. He founded Better Place to fuse information technology with the automobile manufacturing business. His idea was to produce cars with the best technology as opposed to using the cheapest. The automobile industry hasn’t been “disrupted” for 100 years and Agassi would like to change that. The disruption is new technology.

He is making technology that helps with modern electric cars. One of the problems facing electric cars is when to charge the battery. Like getting gas, it is not always convenient. His software would learn your driving habits/schedule, talk to the network system, and figure out the best time to recharge the car. Also, just like “apps” on iPhones, they heading in that direction for cars as well with things like possibly CarTunes.

It applies to chapter 8 of the textbook entitled Operations Management and Supply Chain Management in that it is helping with operations management. As operations management is about taking inputs, transforming them, and producing outputs that are greater than the cost of the inputs, the technology that is proposed will do just that. Normally things like sheet steel, engine parts, and tires will go in as inputs, but modern technology features will greatly increase the “value-added”.

Mehta, S. (2009) Making electric cars smarter, Fortune. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/14/technology/better_place_agassi.fortune/index.h tm

    Steve McKee’s article entitled How to Generate Real Customer Loyalty is basically an article on five tips or principles to generating customer loyalty. 

    The first principle that he talks about is roots of loyalty.  If you serve your customers well and give them what they want in an “old fashioned” way, they will be naturally loyal to your company.  It is something that you cannot buy, but you need to let come naturally.

    The next principle is appealing to the heart.  People are loyal to people that put themselves out for people.  They make themselves vulnerable, which leads to behavior from personality- not rationality.

    The next principle is take your time.  People will be loyal to your company more over time.  It simply takes time to build the loyalty that you are looking for.

    The next principle is a two way street.  Loyalty only builds when it is reciprocated.  Trust (which leads to loyalty) is what builds loyalty.  The idea is that you want to mutually reveal things so that you can build that trust.  He uses the example that families develop relationships with their give-and-take relationship.

    The last principle is it’s more than numbers.  Not everything can be measured.  It is a good idea to go out of your way to do the little things.  It is not just about what physical things that you give your customers, but the mental things as well.  It could be handshakes, jokes, or just really friendly service.

    This relates to the textbook in that the chapter is about customer relationships.  This is just one aspect of the customer relationship.

McKee, S. (2007) How to Generate Real Customer Loyalty, BusinessWeek. Retrieved October 29, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2007/sb20070606_425478.htm

As technology progresses that mean electronics become outdated faster than we think. What are we doing with the “old” electronics that has been newly upgraded with modern electronics? Well, this kind of waste has a name, E-waste, which is the discarding of old computers and other electronics that will no longer be used. Large electronic companies pay recycling companies to dispose of these old electronics in order to save people from the toxins that they are created with. Some of the toxins are lead, mercury, and cadmium. All of these can sink into the ground and are very harmful if ingested. The amount of waste is constantly doubling each year and with it the worries of how to cut back the waste begin to increase.  Many of the recycling companies are paying to export this waste to Asia, which is currently being investigated because it is affecting many farms and irrigation systems through Asia. Supreme is a company that is said not to do the exporting of monitors to Asia, yet some of the employees will admit that the company does it, which if this can be proven, then Supreme will be closed down for endangering a large amount of people and having knowledge of it.  To help make this clearer as to how important this issue really is. There was some testing done awhile back in China and the outcome was horrifying. “The blood of children in rural Guiyu, China, a notorious e-waste scavenging site, contained lead at twice the acceptable level set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.”

There are a lot of issues that we are unaware of because they are very easily hidden out of the public eye. The fact that each of us can probably say that we’ve had to get rid of old monitors because they broke, which means that we are part of this problem that needs to be evaluated closely.  I plan to research this more because I was very unhappy to discover such horrible information about companies that are literally being paid money to send toxins over to China for children to consume.

Reference:

Elgin, Ben and Grow, Brian. E-Waste: The Dirty Secret of Recycling Electronics. Retrieved from Business Weekly on Oct. 29, 2009 from: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_43/b4105000160974.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis

The Disney Company is offer an iPhone application to iPhone users to help people interact with the company; Disney is offering this free app to deepen fan relation with Disney Characters. Some of the characters included are from the movies: “Up,” “G-Force,” “Ratatouille,” and “Wall-E”. You can take cell phone pictures of the characters on your phone. If you take the picture with your phone they character will become animated in the user’s hand.  This will allow you to access different video and content from the website.    Right now the app only allows users to surf the disney.com website but in the future they hope to expand the application to allow customers to shop at the Disney Store online. Another thing that Disney is hoping to do with this application is to link the customers’ via Global Position Sensors. When the customer is close to anything in relation to Disney they will be notified on their phone. Disney later hops to have this application which sells for $4.99 wrap Disney’s 17 other apps into one place.

This article shows that Disney is working to increase both contact management CRM systems and their opportunity management CRM opportunity systems. Disney is using the apps to help lure customers to Disney products. They are customizing the app to try and link it towards personal preference. Opportunity management CRM systems is also used to help target new customers to use the app. Disney is hoping that the app will allow customer’s easier access to some of the companies features.

Reference:

NAKASHIMA , R. (2009) Disney iPhone app makes photos the key to content Retrieved October 29, 2009, from Business Week.
WEB: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D9BJS4M00.htm