The new top-level domain .tel began the go-live process on March 6. Unlike older domain iterations, .tel is not designed for hosting conventional Web sites. Instead, it uses the domain name system to store and transmit contact information that domain holders customize for content, keywords and priva...

Shrinking client pools, lack of access to credit and competition from offshore destinations are squeezing some business process outsourcing service providers in the United States. With declining revenues come cheaper valuations. This creates opportunities for other entrepreneurs seeking to expand th...

An American's first impressions of India often include images of alternate approaches to trash management, intermittent electrical power supplies and issues of environmental sustainability. In this interview with Trudy Heller, those approaches are seen from the perspective of Heller's work designing...

An American's first impressions of India often include images of alternate approaches to trash management, intermittent electrical power supplies and issues of environmental sustainability. In this interview with Trudy Heller, those approaches are seen from the perspective of Heller's work designing...

An American's first impressions of India often include images of alternate approaches to trash management, intermittent electrical power supplies and issues of environmental sustainability. In this interview with Trudy Heller, those approaches are seen from the perspective of Heller's work designing...

The Pakistan Software Houses Association recently handed out its peer awards for the Pakistan IT industry. The awards provide an industry snapshot at a time when Pakistan has become the third most popular global IT outsourcing destination on RentACoder, an outsourcing marketplace. India and the U.S....

What is the future of the call center industry over the next five years? Here are some predictions: 1. Real-time Internet-based feedback techniques will become popular, enabling customers to rate agents from Web sites with click-to-call capabilities. 2. Transnational quality assurance practices will...

The planning and preliminary implementation processes for shifting IT-enabled work to offshore locations are similar for back office work, customer service operations and knowledge process outsourcing, or KPO. Here we map out the process of offshoring in a manner that allows firms to choose between ...

How to draw the advertising industry into the secondary market for domain names is preoccupying the domain name industry this year. Domain industry convocations have been grappling with the issue, seeing it as providing an opportunity for the secondary market to scale up and achieve sustained profit...

Search advertising is like an onion -- simple on the outside but increasingly complex inside. Online advertising is discussed today the way bandwidth was discussed during the 1990s. Everybody is talking about it, nobody can get enough of it and much of people say about it is either nonsense or wishf...

Cost increases are squeezing margins for outsourcing companies providing software and call center services to U.S. customers from popular international destinations. No immediate price increases for U.S. customers are possible for suppliers that are locked into fixed-term contracts in U.S. dollars,...

Direct search, or direct navigation, occurs when a potential customer guesses a domain name and types it into his or her browser address bar. The domain name often corresponds to the type of product or service being sought. Direct search is responsible for less than 20 percent of the online connecti...

The most common and least understood marketing barrier facing outsourcing service providers is the absence of a strong brand. Most brands associated with IT and IT-enabled services companies are chosen on the basis of criteria relevant to where outsourcing firms are based, rather than where they int...

Successful entry into U.S. markets is difficult for outsourcing companies operating within North America. For call center and business process outsourcing firms seeking to gain initial market entry or to expand their market share from offshore locations, it is even tougher. The steps to market entr...

Colorblind people represent a significant but often neglected talent pool and consumer segment. Identifying opportunities to make products usable by as many people as possible, without degrading overall quality or performance, is a quality assurance function that is not always well understood or pra...

Ten percent of Caucasian American men but less than one percent of women are estimated to have some form of colorblindness. Colorblind people represent a significant but often neglected talent pool and consumer segment. Identifying opportunities to make products usable by as many people as possible,...

Opportunities for using new media for the public good have been overlooked in the excitement surrounding the rise of new media itself. The fading of television as a traditional media form, the end of television sets as distinct single-function devices, and the redirection of advertising dollars away...

Afternic, the leading U.S.-based domain name reseller, has been purchased by NameMedia in a deal announced on Nov. 28. The acquisition is significant because of the traffic generated from the 1.8 million domain names listed for sale on Afternic's marketplace. The full terms of Afternic's sale have...

Labor market analysis needs to be part of the decision process on whether or where to locate or terminate operations around the globe. Managers of globalized or labor-intensive operations such as software development, customer service and back office support should be able to guide labor market ana...

Outsourcing and the establishment of captive customer service operations offshore depend on labor markets to supply qualified talent at affordable rates. Without appropriate personnel, nothing is possible. The globalization of information technology and IT-enabled services is leading to the global...