In the early days, CRM tools were much like an online address book. Today, when integrated with other databases, the web, social networks, and mobile media, CRM tools are rich with information, allowing enterprises to truly understand and connect with their customers. This evolution is driving the “streamlining, adapting or even elimination of entire business processes, as well as defining a new world of business analytics that includes social/viral (influence) and transactional (business impact) intelligence," says technewsworld.More...

Today the enterprise office space is at most sort of a “home base” for employees. The days of a permanent cubicle, with a desktop computer and POTS phone, seem archaic. It is a very dynamic situation, and as the IDC 2009-2013 forecast points out, a remarkable 72 percent of employees are mobile today, some even working out of their homes and on the road entirely. More...

First, to clarify: it is quite common for the terms “Web”, “Internet”, and “Cloud Computing” to be used interchangeably. They are indeed related, but they are also different. When we talk about the Internet, we are describing a network of networks. The “Web”, on the other hand, is a layer on the Internet, and is a user interface technology that makes the Internet usable. And finally, cloud computing, which has many definitions, is best described by Gartner as a style of computing where scalability and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are provided “as a service” using Internet technologies. These services are tracked and metered by use, which allows enterprises to pay for what they need. More...

On Tuesday, September 15, I will give the keynote address at Frost & Sullivan’s Growth, Innovation, and Leadership conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. As a preview, I thought I’d share the high level outline for my talk and point you to additional resources behind the topics I’m covering (try clicking on the links throughout this piece). More...

Starting this month we’ll pick out interesting blogs from different industry sectors (VOIP, wireless, etc) that we think are worth looking at from an IT manager perspective. The first reviews will focus on blogs covering mobile issues, originally featured on VOIP Now’s 100 Best Telecom blogs list. More...

Love reading all these blogs about “convergence” from a technology standpoint. But I think there’s a gap in the dialog. Viewing convergence from a network/technology (i.e. supplier/carrier) standpoint doesn’t necessarily align with convergence from a user standpoint. More...

I recently read an entry from Nurul Haque, Editor at Mobile2Mobility about how mobile advertising is really starting to come of age and becoming more contextually relevant. Sprint is certainly seeing this trend. This blog is one of the many ways that we are adjusting the manner in which we communicate with the market. Customers today want more social interaction with advertising content - they want to discuss it and challenge it. Most importantly in this multitasking millennium, customers want information to be contextually relevant. More...

I honestly believe that mobility is driving as much change into how we live and how we work as the Internet did in the 1990s and the PC did in the 1980s. I’m convinced that as companies adopt mobility it fundamentally changes business processes, organizational structures, and the basic ways in which companies communicate internally and externally. (I’m so much of a believer, I wrote a book on the topic.) More...