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Popular Articles
Speak to your customers: Add language support to your critical CRM and ERP checklists
Top 5 Reasons Why CRM Deployments Fail – and how to avoid them
What's the biggest risk of social media marketing in 2010? Not trying it out for your company
Why isn't IT funny? Maybe what IT needs is an occasional pie-in-the-face
Customer satisfaction goes way beyond CRM – so get their thoughts on how you're doing
CRM and ERP systems deployed? Now use analytics to get the real work done
How BPM can help get your company to the next level
New York's failed CityTime payroll system mess: you don't want a piece of this
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The next ERP trend: Bringing in payroll and HR data into your ERP applications for greater efficiencies
Explore Article (Sep 9 2010)
If your company could use the existing business data you already generate to create new competitive insights and leverage even greater productivity, you'd probably do it in a heartbeat. Enterprise software analyst Albert Pang believes that some of the best information your company isn't yet using to its fullest can be discovered by bringing together your existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application and your payroll and human resources (HR) functions.
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There's always more value to be found in your corporate ERP system
Explore Article (Sep 7 2010)
For years, Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) systems have been around to help your business make sense of all the incoming and outgoing data that flows through your company 24/7. But as your company has grown, has your ERP infrastructure grown and matured to keep pace and help your business operate at peak efficiency? Maybe it's time for an internal ERP audit inside your business.
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Is your company's ERP system secure?
Explore Article (Sep 2 2010)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have gained huge new productivity features in the last few years, including mobile access for workers in the field and the ability to more easily share critical information with business partners and vendors. Those are great additions, but there is a catch. Now that more people have access to your critical ERP systems and customer and business data, have you made sure that your systems are secure from electronic intruders, hackers and others who want to steal your information or harm your business?
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When using social media for your company, be clever, but don't misinform your customers
Explore Article (Aug 31 2010)
As your business continues to experiment with Twitter to take advantage of the immediacy that surrounds the innovative social media tool, it's never a bad idea to also remember how that immediacy can be your worst enemy. How so? Well, let's take a look at the case of a Washington Post sports reporter who was suspended from his job for a month on Tuesday for allegedly trying out a little experiment to see how quickly a false news scoop could be circulated on the Internet via Twitter.
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IT disaster recovery continues in New Orleans, five years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina
Explore Article (Aug 27 2010)
NEW ORLEANS -- Five years ago this week, I was in my home office outside Lancaster, Pa., where I worked as a staff writer for Computerworld.com, writing story after story about how Hurricane Katrina was literally pounding the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, leaving massive destruction and loss of life in its horrific wake. By a coincidence, I'm here in New Orleans this week and took some time to walk around to find out how business IT departments are faring. So what did I find? Energy, rebuilding, more work to still be done and an IT infrastructure ...
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Improving corporate social responsibility: A new role for ERP applications?
Explore Article (Aug 26 2010)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has been a powerful business tool set for many existing business functions for a very long time. That's why it always seems amazing when we are still able to find new and innovative ways to use ERP to improve our companies. That's the beauty of this flexible, invaluable and key business management and operations suite. In an article last week on CIO.com, "Is ERP Ready for Corporate Social Responsibility?" another huge, potential new role for ERP was outlined -- how it could be used to help track key business information to improve corporate social responsibility ...
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Not all social media attention is good -- just ask Target and Best Buy
Explore Article (Aug 25 2010)
Many companies are working very hard to explore and nurture new ways to communicate with their customers and potential new customers via social media networks from Facebook to Twitter. But for some businesses, the attention they're getting on social media networks isn't exactly what they had in mind when they started their initiatives. The recent experiences of the big retailer, Target, comes to mind.
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After giving up on its failed, over-budget $30M ERP deployment, Marin County to start a new ERP selection process
Explore Article (Aug 19 2010)
Back in June, I wrote here on ForecastingClouds.com about how Marin County, Calif., had sued Deloitte Consulting LLP for $30 million after the SAP ERP project they began together with high hopes in 2006 failed to work as designed and planned. This week, Marin County is taking another step as they work to get their ERP plans back on track -- they're about to announce several alternative steps for bringing in a new ERP system that will finally accomplish their IT goals. Hey, you have to be brave and tenacious in this difficult and challenging world of enterprise IT.
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What your company can learn from the resignation of HP's CEO Mark Hurd
Explore Article (Aug 18 2010)
The resignation earlier this month of Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark V. Hurd has been a public spectacle for almost two weeks and continues to be played out in the media. So what, if anything, can your company learn from HP's experience?
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Comment on Article Mentions: Google
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ERP problems that can cascade through your company's operations are something to be avoided
Explore Article (Aug 16 2010)
How important is a top-to-bottom Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application suite to a hard-charging business? Huge, especially when it leaves that business high and dry in the case of a major failure. That's what apparently happened to automotive wheel making vendor, Superior Industries International, which recently experienced ERP problems that caused the company to delay its second-quarter earnings report as mandated by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, according to a story published late last week on PCWorld.com by IDG News Service.
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Why isn't IT funny? Maybe what IT needs is an occasional pie-in-the-face
Explore Article (Aug 13 2010)
Comment "You're so right. When I have tried to be more humanly humorous in announcements or releases, it has always get ..." - MalcYates
As a technology journalist, I get a lot of e-mails -- about new IT products and services, corporate mergers and customer wins. On most days, more than 200 e-mails a day often come in, and usually they are very business-like and serious, emulating the typical "this is very important, so please pay attention" tone of a traditional business press release about ERP, CRM, servers and more. That very predictability is what made me notice the unusual, very creative, striking and comical e-mail from CodeWeavers Inc.'s CEO Jeremy White earlier this week.
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IT analysts on ERP: Talking with Kevin Benedict about ERP and enterprise mobility
Explore Article (Aug 12 2010)
If you think that the business value of your company's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is past its prime, then you may need to readjust your thinking. In fact, says Kevin Benedict, the CEO and principal consultant of Boise, Idaho-based Netcentric Strategies LLC, the use of ERP is getting a whole new life nowadays due to the growing popularity of mobile communications, mobile applications and the need for business agility. He writes about these topics regularly on his blog. "A client just asked me about where they should start with enterprise mobility," Benedict said. "Everyone's asking about it."
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Comment on Article Mentions: IBM
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Google dumps Wave and isn't afraid to say it didn't work out
Explore Article (Aug 10 2010)
If may not seem like it, but everything Google does in the world of the Internet doesn't always pan out. But that doesn't stop them from trying. For your business, let this lesson be a motivational tool.
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Comment on Article Mentions: IBM Microsoft Google
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As your workforce ages, does your company have a succession plan for mainframe experts?
Explore Article (Aug 6 2010)
For the last couple of years, there have been more and more news stories in the IT press and general media about the pending retirements of longtime IT workers with mainframe expertise and how their departures will affect their former companies. If you haven't been paying attention to these developments, you might want to get it on your "to-do" lists -- and soon. This isn't a joke.
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Data security isn't just for laptop computers -- what would you do if some of your business desktop machines were stolen?
Explore Article (Aug 4 2010)
Your corporate data security policies have lots of rules and procedures for the use, transport and storage of laptop computers, storage media and portable flash drives so that you can avoid data breaches, data thefts and other unfortunate events with your corporate and customer data. But what are your security plans for all those desktop computers sitting in offices all around your company's buildings?
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What's your company's plan if your Web sites are knocked offline for days?
Explore Article (Jul 30 2010)
For clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc., it was an online retail nightmare of the highest caliber -- the company's Web site was completely down for four days last week, leaving all of its customers unable to peruse merchandise, place orders and finalize transactions with the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based chain. If a significant amount of your revenue is brought in through online purchases, this is not good at all. So what can your company learn from American Eagle Outfitters' experience?
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Comment on Article Mentions: IBM
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What's the biggest risk of social media marketing in 2010? Not trying it out for your company
Explore Article (Jul 29 2010)
If only I had a dime for every time that I hear someone in business ask aloud if "this Twitter thing and this Facebook thing are worth the time and investment" to their businesses. My answer when that question is posed is always similar -- you don't have to do it, but I'd bet that your competitors are doing it. And if your competitors are doing it and customers like it, then I'm afraid you're going to be left far behind. And that, to me, makes "this Twitter and Facebook thing" imperative for your business, whether or not you see ...
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It's time to get your IT department ready for the economic recovery
Explore Article (Jul 27 2010)
Do you remember how many companies responded as the global economy began to slip into recession back in late 2007? Remember how they began cutting back on spending, laying off huge numbers of workers and generally behaving as though the end of the world was approaching? Well, guess what? Things have slowly been looking a bit brighter over the last few months and those same companies are finding out quickly that they might have jumped too quickly, cut too far and essentially made things even tougher for themselves back when they reacted so swiftly and mercilessly.
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ERP Beyond the Owner's Manual: What Else Can ERP Do for Your Business?
Explore Article (Jul 23 2010)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications already do a lot for your company, from business planning to coordinating and running manufacturing, sales, marketing, human resources, accounting and more. But are there still other options lurking there that you've never before even dreamed of taking advantage of in your ERP suite?
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From data centers to car rentals, the times they really are a changin'
Explore Article (Jul 20 2010)
Who'd have ever thought that more and more Americans would give up their cars? And who'd have ever thought that data center managers would give up more and more of their business' core IT functions and let someone else run and worry about them? In many ways, it's a new world in 2010, and it's interesting to watch where it's all headed. That's what I began thinking after reading a New York Times story last week about a new car sharing program in Hoboken, N.J., where city dwellers are finding it more and more convenient to rent cars when they ...
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Comment on Article Mentions: Google
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Top 10 Summer IT Tasks for your IT Shop
Explore Article (Jul 19 2010)
The dog days of summer are certainly here, in all of their hot, humid and relaxed glory. So is your company, your IT team and your data center taking advantage of this fabulous opportunity? If not, you should be. It's a perfect time to catch up on lots of those time-intensive IT tasks that are hard to do later in the year when the rush of Back-To-School, Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping are fast approaching. With that in mind, check out this list of intriguing tasks that you might want to think about while the rush is still ...
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Looking backward: 26 years worth of old computer magazines tell us just how far we have come in IT
Explore Article (Jul 16 2010)
I'm a true believer in the old maxim that we can never really appreciate where we're going in our lives unless we remember where we've come from in our pasts. I think that also holds true in the world of IT. It all was made even more evident to me a couple weeks ago when I saw an ad posted on a local Freecycle.com Web site. "Free old Compute!s PC, Compute!, Run and Ahoy! computer magazines," the ad read. My eyes opened wide, my fingers began typing a reply on my keyboard and pretty soon I was driving to Mount ...
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What are your rules for employees who bring in personal IT devices to use at work?
Explore Article (Jul 15 2010)
Comment "Social Media’s integration into the workplace is an exponentially growing trend, yet, many businesses are choosing to block social networking ..." - marlonsml
Inside your data center and corporate firewall, your company has lots of money invested in hardware, software and intricate infrastructure. You've got policies and procedures for data security, data storage, patch management and much more. But with all of this at stake, are you also paying attention to the personal thumb drives, personal laptop computers, unsecured wireless devices and other unauthorized IT hardware that's brought in to your offices by your employees for their use at work? And beyond hardware, are you even aware of the Web sites that your employees are accessing while they're at work, from social media ...
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Inside your data center: How to create a healthy working environment
Explore Article (Jul 13 2010)
You and your IT staff spend a lot of time together in the trenches in your company's data center. You put out ERP and CRM fires together. You deploy new hardware and configure it while working side by side. You resolve technical glitches and outages together and come up with innovative and smart ways to get it all done. That's a lot of time that you all spend together, building your team and learning how to work together as one cohesive unit for the greater good of your company. That can make a very healthy work environment for all of ...
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Windows XP Service Pack 2 support ends July 13: Are your corporate IT systems ready?
Explore Article (Jul 9 2010)
Sure, you're busy enough every day just maintaining your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite, your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, your business Web sites, the network, your data centers and the rest of your IT systems inside your company. So who's had the time to worry about replacing good, old Windows XP? Well, you'd better start paying more attention to that now nine-year-old workhorse operating system right away -- support is ending for XP Service Pack 2 next week and that will leave your systems vulnerable to security weaknesses.
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Comment on Article Mentions: Microsoft
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