| When Shorter Waits Increase Stress
ScienceDaily (Jan. 11, 2008) People hate to wait, says common customer service insight. Marketers will hype their earnest attempts to shorten waiting times or at least promise to provide customers with information or distractions to make the waiting time more palatable. However, when it comes to waiting for stressful events, such as a doctor's appointments or a job interview, these types of well-meaning wait management strategies may backfire. New research shows that the effectiveness of wait-related customer service depends upon the nature of the waited-for event. .
Perficient makes 12th acquisition; Circuit City turns to Pluck; good ...
The Austin-based technology consulting firm bought ePairs Inc., a Cupertino, Calif., firm with a recruiting center in Chennai, India. Perficient CEO Jack McDonald said the deal strengthens his company's capabilities around Oracle-Siebel customer relationship management technologies, "a market segment where we see significant opportunity." EPairs has about $6 million in annual revenue and customers including Volvo and Farmer's Insurance. Perficient paid $5 million in cash and stock for the company and expects the deal to pump up its revenue to about $250 million a year. SOCIAL NETWORKING SOFTWARE Circuit City's online community is powered by Pluck software Circuit City Stores Inc. is using technology from Austin-based Pluck Corp.
So That’s Why They’re Leaving
The data show that, when students who got AP credit and were taking second-level college courses (as opposed to intro classes) were compared, non-science students got much better grades. In English courses surveyed, 85 percent of those high-achieving students that were surveyed received A’s or B’s. That's compared to 54 percent of those students in math courses. Paul Romer, an economics professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, who has studied the issue, wrote in an article for Stanford Business that “the grades assigned in science courses are systematically lower than grades in other disciplines, and students rely heavily on grades as signals about the fields for which they are best suited." Thus, he concluded, students usher themselves out of the science track.
CMP Channel Research Shows Shift in Marketplace: Vendor/Solution ...
MANHASSET, N.Y., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The CMP Channel today announced exclusive research results which identify a shift in the Channel marketplace. According to CMP Channel's data, for the first time Vendor/Solution Provider loyalty has moved from the vendor to the customer. It also highlights the characteristics of the Channel's partners and how each is responsible for growth, noting that prioritizing efforts around the top 20-30 percent of partners will not necessarily help them achieve their growth objectives. "Recruit, churn, refresh is what our research is showing. The partners of today will not be the partners of tomorrow. Solution Providers are aligning their products and programs with their business and growth strategies and customers' businesses; not a specific vendor," said Robert Faletra, president, CMP Channel.
Broadcom to Demonstrate Innovative Impulse Noise Protection Technology ...
IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) , a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, will demonstrate its innovative impulse noise protection technology at next week's Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Germany. The recently announced Broadcom(R) PhyR(TM) (pronounced "Fire") firmware enables service providers to deliver a ten-fold improvement in noise resilience resulting in more advanced triple-play services for ADSL and VDSL networks. From a user perspective, the improvement in performance provides better service coverage, fewer errors and a better viewing experience when watching IPTV systems equipped with PhyR. Video services, provisioned over traditional copper loops, are susceptible to noise sources in the ambient environment that limit the coverage area over which services can be made available, or may even reduce video quality by inducing "macroblocking," or corrupted images.
Astea Reports Profitable Third Quarter 2007 Results
HORSHAM, Pa., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Astea International Inc. (NASDAQ: ATEA) , a global provider of service lifecycle management solutions, today released financial results for the third quarter of 2007. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2007, Astea reported revenues of $7,853,000, 24% greater than revenues of $6,349,000 for the same period in 2006. Net profit for the third quarter was $892,000 or $.25 per share, compared to a net profit of $45,000 or $.01 per share for the same period in 2006. License revenue of $2,793,000 was 26% greater than $2,212,000 for the same period in 2006. Total service and maintenance revenues increased 22% to $5,060,000 from $4,137,000 for the same period in 2006. For the nine months ended September 30, 2007, total revenues of $21,956,000 are 50% greater than the revenues of $14,590,000 for the same period last year.
'Bucket List' Kicks Off With $19.5M Take
Score one for the geezers. "The Bucket List," the tale of two cancer patients who decide to travel the world before they die, bested movies about treasure hunting, bumbling crooks and pirates to top the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. "This was definitely a win for the older audience," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said of the movie, which stars 70-year-old actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. "The conventional wisdom is the younger audience drives the box office." The Warner Bros. release directed by Rob Reiner "skews to older audiences, but I think the star power is what brought the audience," Dergarabedian said. "Never underestimate the clout of the older movie audience." In its first week in national distribution, "The Bucket List" brought in $19.5 million at more than 2,900 theaters.
Militants hit Kabul luxury hotel
The dead included an U.S. citizen and a Norwegian newspaper reporter, Carsten Thomassen, 38. He died in the hospital of wounds from the blast, said Thomassen's newspaper, Dagbladets. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the attack targeted Norway's foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who was uninjured in the attack. "I'm again very much surprised by this terrorist attack," Ban said. Initially, Zemari Bashary, a spokesman for Afghanistan Interior Ministry, said the blast from the suicide bomber caused the casualties, but a witness disputed that report. "I believe all of them were killed by gunfire," Robert Stewart, a U.S. witness who had arrived with colleagues at the Serena Hotel for dinner and to use the gym. "We heard small arms fire ...
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