Spotlight Features

When Richard Humphrey, chief executive officer of Arts4All, began searching for his nitch on the Internet, he started Master Vision, delivering video conferencing services over the Internet. Now he is forging Arts4All as a vehicle for bridging the gap between content online and technology. Based in ...

Let's say that the time has come for your closely held corporation to take the next step for growth and credibility -- the choosing of a board of directors. Or, let's say that you are a major shareholder in a publicly held company and are concerned about whether your corporation is in compliance wit...

In the research my company does to benchmark the customer experience provided by the top Web sites in various vertical industries, we suggest best practices and ways to find out what works and what does not for a company's online customers. Often, when speaking with prospective customers about syndi...

Millions of entrepreneurs and thousands of account executives from major ad agencies all over the world are losing their sleep these days, most sleepwalking in search of new names with some extra "OO"s to ride along with the success of Google's name. During the day, they daydream about coming as clo...

Starting this month, Ingenio is teaming up with AOL Search to provide businesses nationwide a new marketing strategy that combines the Internet and the telephone. Called Pay Per Call, the strategy offers the power of Internet pay-per-click marketing to small businesses in their own regions. The new ...

A critical path to growth for any company is the creation of business proposals that ultimately are accepted by prospective customers. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that many proposals are poorly prepared and lose site of both their goal (to secure a sale) and their audience (the prospect...

Police in India announced on Thursday that they had recovered 1 million Indian Rupees (almost US$23,000) in funds allegedly stolen from Citibank customers in the U.S. by employees of an Indian call center firm. The case highlights the need for a reexamination of corporate cultures and corporate ethi...

During the last century, mega corporations throughout the world followed the prime rules of building corporate image and name identity in the strictest sense. Their goal was simply to achieve an elite, world-class image by having their name and logo brightly displayed on skyscrapers in every city. T...

Business process outsourcing (BPO) facilities, which handle non-voice work, are easier to manage than offshore call centers. This is because of the nature of the work itself as well as the human resource issues associated with call centers in emerging economies. Common types of BPO work are: E-mail ...

A short while ago, I wrote a column for the E-Commerce Times entitled "VoIP Here to Stay." In it, I talked about WiFi technology and its impact on VoIP. This article goes further in that it explores the widespread adoption of WiFi technology and what it bodes for the future of technology. WiFi means...

When a company or even a not-for-profit organization collects, uses and/or deals with personal information, it might be legally required to immediately notify individuals whose information it is handling if there is a security breach relating to that information. Apart from specific local laws that ...

There are four lessons for U.S. firms setting up operations offshore, beginning with the need for good market positioning, having enough American trainers on the ground, emphasizing quality over quantity, and the need to export American corporate culture overseas rather than have offshore facilities...

The fallout from the dot-com collapse a few years ago might be fueling a new rush for businesses to build a presence on the World Wide Web. Network Solutions CEO Champ Mitchell sees small businesses setting up shop on the Internet in record numbers. As storefront welcome signs announce a growing gat...

As mergers take off in all directions, newly stirred corporate philosophies must be properly captured, realigned and projected through new corporate name personas to ensure the confidence of long-term investors. It is extremely difficult to run a corporation with two faces, two messages and two name...

Insider trading laws have been around for a long time, even before the SEC Act of 1934. Martha Stewart's recent trial and incarceration have brought a higher degree of awareness and caution to investors who are potential beneficiaries of insider trading. This article will define insider trading, ex...