CRM News: Communication Systems

CRM Conference to Showcase the Retail Experience
May 14, 2012

CRM Conference is being held May 29 to 31 at the Chicago Hyatt Regency. This annual event offers a unique agenda for retailers, said Devon Wylie, CEO of CRMC. "It's specifically focused on case studies from topnotch multinational retailers. With this approach, attendees can get actionable learnings they can take home with them."

FBI Aims to Pry Open New Channels for Web Surveillance
May 07, 2012

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is urging Internet companies to provide back doors that facilitate online surveillance. The bureau aims to increase the amount of data they can collect through online channels. Because of a shift in popular communication methods, it's more difficult to gather information on Americans suspected of illegal activity, the FBI claims.

Got Your Number: Skype Investigates IP Discovery Flaw
May 01, 2012

Skype is investigating a tool published recently on Pastebin that captures the last-known IP address of the VoIP service's users. "This is an ongoing, industry-wide issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies," said Adrian Asher, Skype's director of product security. "We are committed to the safety and security of our customers and we are taking measures to help protect them."

Apple and Microsoft Take Heat for High Prices Down Under
April 30, 2012

Today in international tech news: Lawmakers investigate why software and downloads are so much more expensive in Australia, a mobile network is lobbying to speed up the introduction of 4G in Britain, a wireless provider might try to block Skype in Sweden, and Tech In Asia looks at the inspiration for the Google Drive logo.

AT&T's Watson APIs Let Apps Recognize Speech
April 20, 2012

AT&T could shake up the voice-recognition market when it launches several application programming interfaces for its Watson speech recognition program in June. Developers will be able to use these APIs to create new apps and services with voice recognition and transcription capabilities.

Yesware Is All About Keeping Sales Simple
March 23, 2012

Gmail sales productivity application Yesware does not align with any particular CRM vendor or industry or even sales methodology. That possibly accounts for its wide- ranging and especially large user base, said founder and CEO Matthew Bellows. In six months, Yesware has picked up 20,000 business users -- from chimney sweeps to law firms to PR shops.

CDNs: New Channels, New Demands, New Opportunities
March 23, 2012

The ecosystem for digital distribution is complex, with unique nuances for each category of content. In a broad sense, the ecosystem includes the creation of content, the availability of services that deliver content and services to consumers, and the deployment of technologies that enable delivery to connected consumer electronics platforms that are capable of receiving and displaying content.

Congressional Hearing Pits Small Fries Against Comm Giants on Spectrum Buy
March 22, 2012

Executives from Verizon and Comcast went before a U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee Wednesday to defend Verizon's plan to purchase $3.6 billion worth of spectrum from cable industry joint venture SpectrumCo. They were met with opposition from other wireless providers and consumer advocacy groups.

New Avaya Service Allows Selective Outsourcing of Communications Ops
March 16, 2012

Avaya is formalizing an outsourcing service it has been offering select clients for the past year. The service, Avaya Communications Outsourcing Solutions, manages all of a company's communications operations, regardless of age, location or vendor. It is part of the company's portfolio of Managed Services. "This is a custom managed service targeted at companies in the enterprise space as opposed to the mid- sized space," said Avaya's Ed Nalbandian.

Solar Belch Could Stink Up Energy and Communications Networks
March 08, 2012

Solar flares -- clouds of charged particles and plasma from the sun -- have hit Earth, according to the National Weather Service. The solar flares have been making their way toward the planet since Sunday. The storms can seriously disrupt GPS signals, radio communications and the power grid.

Mountain Lion Messages: A Few Crossed Wires, Lots of Potential
February 27, 2012

The new Messages app for the upcoming release of OS X Mountain Lion -- that's right, it's "OS X" without the old "Mac" in front of it now -- is in beta and available for download. Unlike some companies, Apple tends not to release beta software, but it occasionally does. Of course, it took me all of six seconds to decide to give it a whirl.

Continental Divide: The Forces Shaping Broadband in Western and Eastern Europe
February 24, 2012

The global marketplace for broadband services is dynamic and growing. At the end of 2011, approximately 660 million households subscribed to an Internet service, and about 580 million -- 32 percent of all global households -- received broadband service. The populous countries in Western Europe have high broadband penetration, but predictably, they are showing signs of slowing growth.

DOT Asks Carmakers to Help Curb Distracted Driving
February 21, 2012

The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed guidelines that advise automakers to disable certain in-vehicle electronic features. The DOT wants to crack down on any action that requires drivers to give the task more than a two-second single glance, or 20 seconds of total glance time, to control.

Cisco Chews Up the Scenery in the Interoperability Drama
February 20, 2012

Last week, Cisco raised an objection to the Microsoft acquisition of Skype, saying it would hurt video conferencing interoperability -- even though, in this space, you could argue Cisco is not the poster child for interoperability. Coincidently, I met with the CEO of LifeSize, and he saw this Microsoft acquisition as a huge opportunity.

FCC Action Zaps Robocalls
February 16, 2012

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has put in place tougher restrictions regarding prerecorded telemarketing calls, aka "robocalls." In a 3-0 vote, the commissioners agreed on four ways to limit the automated marketing calls, which often irritate users of residential and cellphone lines.

CRM Players' Accolades and Upgrades
February 06, 2012

TeleTech has been placed in the "Leaders" quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant: Customer Management Contact Center BPO, Worldwide, 2011, and Yesmail has announced the release of its "Look Book" in celebration of its recent awards for mobile-scalable email design. Meanwhile, West Interactive and VBrick Systems have released major upgrades.

Setting Up a Virtual Phone System With a Little Help From Some Friends
February 02, 2012

Twilio's cloud-based communications platform allows anyone with rudimentary Web-development knowledge to build a voice and SMS text application. An API, client, and various XML and other helper code is available that lets you build in PHP, C# and more. Applications can include transcription, conferencing, voice calls confirming orders, appointment reminders, customer support and so on.

New Email Spec Aims to Tangle Phishing Lines
January 30, 2012

Fifteen leading email service providers and tech companies have announced a joint effort to fight phishers. Google, Facebook, PayPal, Yahoo and Agari are among the companies behind the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance spec. DMARC is a technical specification that standardizes how email receivers perform email authentication using well-known mechanisms.