By John Walker on December 2, 2011
Gartner, Inc. has revealed its top predictions for IT organizations and users for 2012 and beyond. Analysts said that the predictions herald changes in control for IT organizations as budgets, technologies and costs become more fluid and distributed.
This year’s selection process included evaluating several criteria that define a top prediction. The issues examined included relevance, [...]
Posted in Accounts, Business Culture, Business Software, Contact Management, Cost Management, Customer Support, Down sizing / Retraction, E-commerce, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Information Security, Information Technology, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Outsourcing, Payment Processing and Remittance, People and Players, Procurement, Product Research and Development, Production, Project Management, Regulation, Skills and Training, Standards, Technology, The Work Place | Tagged CIOs, client-side applications, cloud, Cloud Computing, Cloud Security Certification, customer-sensitive data, Daryl Plummer, economies of scale, enterprise social software, Gartner, Global 1000 companies, Google, IBM, Inc., Industrialized low-cost IT services (ILCS), market consolidation, megavendors, Microsoft, mobile, mobile application, operational costs, Oracle, smartphones, tablets, VMware |
By John Walker on November 29, 2011
The Chancellor has today delivered his autumn statement to Parliament, alongside the publication of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s updated forecasts for growth and borrowing. He announced permanent reductions in spending to ensure that the UK meets its fiscal targets, using some of those savings in the short term to fund infrastructure investment to generate [...]
Posted in Accounts, Business Banking, Business Continuity Planning, Commercial Property Services, Cost Management, Critical Infrastructure, Distribution Channels, Down sizing / Retraction, E-commerce, Economic Cycles, Employment Levels, Financial Capital, Forecasts, Fundability, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, Industrial Relations, Inflation, Insurance, Lending and Borrowing, Loans and Finance, Monetary Policy, Morale, Organized Labour / Unions, Outsourcing, People and Players, Political and Economic Philosophies, Politics & Legislation, Procurement, Product Research and Development, Public Sector, Public Spending and State Aid, Recruitment, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions, Skills and Training, Staff, Startups, Taxation, Technology, Telecommunications, UK, UK Budget, Utilities | Tagged Air Passenger Duty (APD), Apprenticeship, Association of British Insurers, Autumn Statement, bank levy, Bank of England, Business Finance Partnership, Chancellor, Child Tax Credit, deficit reduction, enterprise, Enterprise Zones, free education, Free Schools, fuel duty increase, Infrastructure Investors Forum, infrastructure spending, Jobcentre Plus, Jobseeker’s allowance, Local Authorities, measures, mid-sized businesses, National Infrastructure Plan, National Loan Guarantee Scheme, OBR, Office for Budget Responsibility, Official Development Assistance, pension funds, Sector Based Work Academy, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), small firms, smaller businesses, Spending Review period, State Pension age, super-connected cities, tax relief, Work Experience, young apprentices, Youth Contract |
By John Walker on August 22, 2011
Running her business for five years Clare Muir, from Hampshire, took up a new OSCAR marketing initiative that has helped her to see the bigger picture on how to promote and refocus the image of her business.
“Even after running a successful OSCAR business for five years I still needed to know more and a new [...]
Posted in Brands, Business Support Services, Customer Retention, Customer Support, Food, Drink and Tobacco Retail, Franchises, Franchising Out, Hampshire, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Pet Services | Tagged OSCAR, think outside the box |
By John Walker on August 19, 2011
As an alternative loyalty scheme to rival supermarkets signs up more than 500 businesses in just six months, a local business owner under the scheme, Heather Copley talks about her experience running a small business in today’s climate.
A shopping loyalty scheme set up to get people out of supermarkets and into farm shops is gathering [...]
Posted in Advertising and Marketing Services, Agriculture, Farming and Farming Support Services, Contact Management, Customer Retention, Customer Reward Programmes, Deals and Agreements, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Food, Drink and Tobacco Retail, Food, Drink and Tobacco Wholesale, Goodwill, Ideas and Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Outsourcing, Product Launches, Sales, Startups, UK, West Yorkshire | Tagged audio podcast, Farm shop, Farmer Copleys Farm Shop, Heather Copley, Ice scheme, loyalty points, loyalty scheme, start-up advice, take on the big boys |
By Hazel Prive on August 5, 2011
As a small business there is very little money in the budget for PR, marketing and communications, so why not do it yourself?
There are many things that you need to consider when you start a new business, but one of the most important things you need to think about is both your communications and PR. [...]
Posted in Advertising and Marketing Services, Brands, Business Software, Computer Services, Contact Management, Cost Management, Customer Support, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Publishing, Reputation, Technology, Telecommunications, Telecommunications Services, UK | Tagged Powwownow.co.uk, social networks |
By John Walker on April 6, 2011
In a competitive and tough business environment a lot of businesses, big and small, are looking to grow their online presence and using multiple e-commerce channels is often a key part of their strategy. One such channel which is becoming an increasingly important driver of incremental sales and brand awareness for many businesses is Amazon [...]
Posted in Advertising and Marketing Services, Brands, Business Software, Debit and Credit Card Merchant Services, Distribution Channels, E-commerce, Expansion, Financial Services, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Outsourcing, Payment Processing and Remittance, Retail, Hire and Repair, Sales, Technology, UK, Wholesale | Tagged Amazon |
By John Walker on July 1, 2010
Some interesting results from a survey by Insurantz.com showing Small businesses are still not catching on to social networking.
Just 16% of UK SMEs embrace sites like Facebook or Twitter as essential tools for business
56% of businesses put off by lack of understanding
65% have yet to see any benefit from social networking
Leisure and tourism industry most [...]
Posted in Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Distribution Channels, Equipment & Operational Resources, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Internet Services, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Product Research and Development, Recruitment, Reputation, Sales, Surveys, Technology, Telecommunications Services, UK |
By John Walker on March 17, 2010
TOKYO, March 16, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it will begin the acquisition process for the top-level domain name “.canon,” based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system.
The non-profit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which maintains and regulates the Internet’s addressing system, has rigorously evaluated the current gTLD [...]
Posted in Awards and Accreditations, Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Design and Photographic Services, Distribution Channels, Electrical Equipment Manufacturing, Electronic Equipment and Computer Manufacturing, Information Technology, Internet Services, Marketing Facilities, Registries, Technology, Telecommunications, Telecommunications Services, Worldwide | Tagged Canon, Dot Canon, gTLD, ICANN, WHOIS |
By John Walker on December 6, 2009
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced that the MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team won the $40,000 cash prize in the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that required participants to locate 10 large, red balloons that had been placed at undisclosed locations across the United States. The MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) team [...]
Posted in Advertising and Marketing Services, Awards and Accreditations, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Human Resources, Ideas and Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Multi-Level Marketing, North America, Sales, Technology | Tagged ARPANet, DARPA, MLM, Multi-Level Marketing, Network Marketing |
By John Walker on April 20, 2009
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.
“We expect this acquisition to be accretive [...]
Posted in Brands, Business Banking, Business Software, Contact Management, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Deals and Agreements, Distribution Channels, E-commerce, Financial Capital, Governance, IT and Telecommunications Services, Information Security, Information Technology, Intellectual Property, North America, People and Players, Procurement, Product Research and Development, Production, Production Facilities, Project Management, Public Limited Companies - PLCs, Recruitment, Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions, Technology, Worldwide | Tagged audio webcast, Cloud Computing, Java, Open Source, Oracle Corporation, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Solaris, Sun Microsystems |
World Business Report