Stories by Len Rust

E-marketplace savings will come at a great cost

It has been estimated that companies will spend up to $US22.9 million each to integrate into online markets over the next five years, with the result that a big business will be created for e-marketplace vendors while putting cost performance pressures on Net markets themselves

Australian Internet activity under the microscope

There were a stunning 718 Internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia supplying Internet access services to 3.8 million active subscribers at the end of September 2000 and the big boys ruled the roost, according to figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Japan's Net users soon to break 100 million barrier

The number of Internet users in Japan is expected to rise to 104 million in 2005 from 39.8 million last year, due mainly to a rapid growth in mobile phone usage, according to IDC Japan. That number would represent more than 80 per cent of the estimated total population that year, compared with a ratio of 31 per cent in 2000

CRM data flexes muscles as a corporate asset

State-of-the-art campaign management solutions are no longer simply tools to automate direct marketing campaigns but instead now provide personalised information that enables a financial institution to meet acquisition, loyalty, retention and relationship development objectives by enhancing its customer knowledge asset, delivering value to the customer and capitalising on customer interactions and touch points

WAP portals are not sufficient to drive site traffic

WAP site owners should not depend on mobile portals to drive traffic to their sites because the different requirements of mobile users illustrate that portals will not have the same effect on the wireless Web as on the PC-based Web.

The dangers of reorganisations and layoffs

Enterprises have been warned to manage staffing cuts and layoffs carefully because more than 90 per cent of knowledge workers who are laid off or choose to leave the enterprise during an economic downturn will be unavailable for rehire in an upturn. Many managers are sending some of their best intellectual capital out the door forever because they do not have a good assessment of their companies' intellectual capital landscape

What the analysts told me

This futures business is a hell of a racket. Imagine people paying money today to be told what's going to happen in the future! And if the information is wrong, you can't get your money back.
I keep wondering how many more flavours of research they are going to come up with. If I could tell you that, I'd be a wealthy man

US e-commerce dominated by B2B in 1999

According to the US Census Bureau, B2B sales may have accounted for 90 per cent of all e-commerce activity in the US in 1999. The new "E-stats" report from the bureau attributes this figure to the fact that manufacturing and wholesale industries have long used EDI systems so the transition to e-commerce was easier than for the retail and service industries.

Greed and cluelessness led to the dot-coms' comeuppance

In the midst of dropping share prices, layoffs, and closings of Internet companies, most Americans attribute dot-com difficulties to over-eager investors looking for quick payoffs and to the poor business plans of dot-com entrepreneurs.

B2B Spending to reach $US8500 billion by 2005

Business-to-business electronic commerce transactions will reach $US8500 billion worldwide by 2005, according to Gartner Group. And while that represents an impressive growth rate of 81 per cent for five years running, e-commerce will be adopted more gradually than previously expected

Asia/Pacific server sales up in Q4, but a slowdown is nigh

Sales of servers to the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) market last year reached $US6.3 billion in 2000, 33 per cent higher than in 1999, according to a report released recently by IDC. But there will be a slowdown in sales growth in 2001 as users brace themselves for tougher times. On the positive side, 2001 will also see falling prices, greater competition, newer technology and shorter life cycles in the server market

Shift of power in telecom makers's ranks

The top eight telecommunications equipment manufacturers in 2000 remained the same as in 1999, but increasingly diverging strategies resulted in a shifting of the rankings, according to Dataquest. While nearly all of the top-tier vendors experienced double-digit growth in 2000, they will face increased challenges in 2001

Is Big Brother watching you at work?

Few Australian have absolute faith in the privacy of their medical records, bank accounts, employee records, office email and telephone communications and information on the Internet, a MasterCard International survey has found.

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