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All RespondentsHigher EducationIncreasing demand for WLAN coverage at all locations43 percent60 percentNeed to increase staff productivity37 percent28 percentIncreasing demand for improved WLAN performance26 percent 36 percentDecrease telecom services costs18 percent8 percentUnprotected PII, HIPAA or sensitive data12 percent20 percent...

The challenge that businesses face is being able to glean this information without spending extraordinary amounts of time and effort in locating and storing it, so that the data is accessible to the right selling team member at the right time. In order to discover the appropriate contact within a company, or supplement an incomplete profile entry that currently exists in a CRM solution, an increasing number of companies are arming their sales staff with online business directories and customer information aggregators for the purpose of discerning the quickest and most beneficial path to the decision-makers they seek to engage.

Just as with CRM, the implementation of a PRM solution should be made in stages, starting with critical problems, Morgan says. Tackling the pressing problem first gets instant value from the solution and helps sell your staff on the solution, making it easier to implement other components later.

Compare a happy staff that offers a customer a double latte to a store bereft of sales clerks. It isn't hard to figure out which model works ...

Internet service providers have been working with FCC staff on a hardware-based testing regime that should produce more accurate results, McSlarrow said However, that testing regime is not completed and ready for use yet, NCTA spokesperson Brian Dietz told TechNewsWorld....

Research institutions generally don't staff marketing teams skilled in determining trends, and faculty members are usually not practiced in articulating value propositions. The Field of Dreams marketing model -- if you build it, they will come -- doesn't ring true to those of us who have actually sold products...

Tech support is a key factor to consider. Does the provider have local IT support, or must you contact a call center when a problem develops? Is support available 24/7, is there an 800 number to call, and is service support free? Be sure to determine how you can communicate with tech support -- by phone, email or both? Is texting or chat available via your cellphone? How long, typically, does it take before someone answers the phone or responds to an email? How experienced is the tech support staff; how many years of experience, on average, does each support technician have? And what is its turnover rate? Does the webhosting provider offer customer forums to help you gain more knowledge about its services and about the industry? It may seem like overkill, but when you're in a pinch, you'll want answers immediately...

But it's been the tech blogs that have questioned Apple's handling of its iPhone 4 issues, along with mainstream media outlets that follow those technosphere rumblings and the staffs of talk show hosts like David Letterman, who aired the "Top 10 Signs You've Purchased a Bad iPhone" list earlier this week (No. 4: Looks, smells and tastes like a Pop-Tart.)

With the advent of technologies enabling buyers with increasing insight into the sellers' products and competitors, the traditional strategies of bringing qualified prospects to a closed deal require a new set of contemporary skills among sales staff. ...

But let's say you're not the average company. Let's say you're smaller, even much smaller, than average. You probably don't have an IT staff and you don't have a lot of extra cash for hardware and software that you may or may not use. Well, good software is simple software designed to be used by non-technical staff, and it's out there. Even if you don't use your new backup system in a hurricane, chances are you will use it; most outages are caused by viruses or simple human error (and the Small Business Administration asserts that every business will suffer through one sooner or later).

"This data, when tracked not only by Web managers but in the CRM, provides important insights on the genesis of the prospect, and measures his profile value (lead score) against the company's ideal customer/prospect profile," Lionz continues. "When missed or ignored, marketers cannot establish a seamless chain or ROI value to their work or efforts, and sales -- both management and frontline staff -- can't know for certain how prospects were created or what their original motivations were."

The incentive payment will be implemented over a multi-year period, phasing in additional requirements that will raise the bar for performance on IT and quality objectives in later years. This will allow physicians and hospitals, along with their IT staffs and consultants, to assess where they stand currently, so they can then tailor their upgrade process to individual practice situations...

The situation wasn't helped by a report filed by the Inspector-General of the Department of Homeland Security in June. That report stated the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which coordinates national cyber analyses as well as warnings against and responses to attacks on America's critical infrastructure, is suffering from high leadership turnover. I needs to develop a strategic plan and is woefully understaffed to perform its mission, according to the report...

Hopefully, you have some dedicated staff for your consolidation project. Well, drop the "hopefully" and insert "you'd better" have dedicated staff, because a data center consolidation project of any size requires the attention of a team whose sole responsibility is both driving tasks and continually working toward achieving the overall success of the project (smaller milestones work well). ...

"Not every businesses' audience is online-savvy, so first determine if using social media outreach for customer service will be worth your time," said Staples' Deschenes. "If you do decide to use social media outlets for customer service, you must be ready to be responsive. Take time to train your staff to ensure that you offer the same quality customer service, regardless of customer channel."

In contrast to "buy-side" contract management solutions used by procurement or purchasing staff to ensure the best price and legal compliance, "sell-side" sales contract management is used by business development teams to automate and enable faster, more accurate production and delivery of approved contracts to a company's prospects or customers. End-users maintain and grow their customer base by automating the process of timely contract extensions, revisions and completions; understand the value of keeping their closers and account managers focused on relationship management, communications and revenue production; and help standardize the interactions and behaviors between sellers and buyers...

"With the added responsibilities of supporting externally facing mobile activities toward customers, mobile IT has now migrated from simply being a staff to assuming a central, key role in how the company interacts with customers -- directly affecting revenue and profit," wrote Purdy. "Thus, the new chief mobility officer sits at the table with the CEO to map out how to use mobility to best help run the company."

The aftershocks of that opinion of Chief Judge Rich have been rippling ever since. To many, the Federal Circuit went too far and unleashed a torrent of bogus patenting. Many in the press seized on various silly patents issued by the Patent Office as exemplary of the ridiculousness of it all. Despite the fact that the Patent Office, severely underfunded and understaffed (a state in which it remains today), was trying to control quality, some patents were and are issued that should not be issued. Nonetheless, the vast majority are correctly issued, and mechanisms are in place to invalidate any bogus patents...

More than 50 percent of inquiries need follow-up that extends beyond 30 days. That's a lot of time for your sales staff to spend simply following up with information. Why not bring that task back into the marketing department, let them control the dials and knobs on the stove, and re-pass the truly qualified prospect back to sales when the interest AND the trust have reached the buying point? Sales can then handle the personal areas of true sales, price.

However, the more profound challenge will be evolving a new type of Chinese B2B business -- efficient, flexible and innovative. This, clearly, involves major changes in business practices and cultures, such as the faster uptake of new technologies, the evolution of an ethos of creative excellence, and more skilled staff capable of adding value at all stages of the supply chain.