Payment services

RBC Life Sciences, a provider of proprietary nutritional supplements, wound care and pain management products, has selected ProPay’s payment services as the foundation of its new ClearPay Solution payment plan. The RBC Life Sciences ClearPay Solution speeds commission payments to North American Associates as well as giving them increased resources for managing and tracking their costs. (Kevin Young, RBC Life Sciences’ Director of Sales.)

Customs and freight broker efficiency gains

A & A Contract Customs Brokers, a customs and freight broker, has achieved dramatic IT efficiency gains by using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology and Microsoft System Center with NetApp storage solutions. A & A provides customs and freight forwarding expertise to a large base of international customers. By 2012, the company expects to grow at a rate of 20 percent per year by further expanding its services and opening an additional five branch offices. The acquisition of more servers and storage has led to increased IT costs and server and storage sprawl in the company’s data center. As a result, A & A needed to transform its IT infrastructure to meet its planned growth and business objectives. (Dan Morris, systems engineer at A & A.)

PACS for Maria Parham

Maria Parham Medical Center has implemented McKesson's Horizon Medical Imaging picture archiving and communications system (PACS). The solution is part of a larger healthcare IT investment and lays the foundation for an electronic health record (EHR). The EHR also includes access to patient images and reports at remote-care facilities and throughout the 102-bed acute-care hospital. (Randy Williams, director of information technology at Maria Parham Medical Center.)

Meetings for lawyers

More than 50 new law firms are using NetSimplicity's Meeting Room Manager scheduling software to book meeting rooms, reserve AV equipment, catering and additional services. Cozen O’Connor, Stinson Morrison Hecker, and Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice are among the latest law firms to adopt Meeting Room Manager for their room and resource scheduling needs. Winthrop & Weinstine, a law firm based in Minneapolis, provides an example of how a law firm can grow with Meeting Room Manager. Winthrop has grown to more than 200 employees and with this growth has implemented many processes and procedures, including new technologies. (Craig Wilson, Director of IT for Winthrop & Weinstine - www.winthrop.com).

$400k on Olympic security

Viscount Systems has begun shipping MESH systems for Millennium Water, a large multi-residential complex under construction in Vancouver, BC. Millennium Water will be home to the Olympic Village for the 2010 Winter Olympics and will be converted into a large condominium complex thereafter. The systems are being installed by Blue Mountain Technologies, a supplier of security systems for multi-residential highrises. Total revenue for the project is approx. $400k and will be realized in the current quarter.

Atlanta Public Schools purchase

Atlanta Public Schools has purchased Carnegie Learning Georgia Mathematics 1 and Georgia Mathematics 2 textbooks and Carnegie Learning Adaptive Math Software for all high school students enrolled in the District’s Math Support program. (Dottie Whitlow, Executive Director of Math and Science for Atlanta Public Schools.)

$2.5 million on full hand scanners

L-1 Biometrics Division has been awarded a contract with the State of Texas to upgrade existing L-1 TouchPrint live scan systems to incorporate full hand scanners. In addition to electronic finger and facial images, law enforcement and investigators across the State can now capture full hand prints which are sent to the state-wide criminal AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). Local law enforcement agencies searching latent palm prints against the AFIS will have high quality full hand images to search against for improved matching accuracy. The contract is valued at $2.5 million. Additionally, use of full hand live scan systems by law enforcement agencies in Texas will enable Texas DPS to comply with aspects of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, legislation that established a comprehensive national system for the registration of sex offenders and offenders against children. The Act requires, among other things, that local jurisdictions include a photo, fingerprints, and palm prints as part of the offender registry.

(Mike Lesko, Deputy Administrator of the Crime Records Service at DPS.)

Dole's transportation sourcing

Dole Food Company has engaged Transplace to facilitate the strategic transportation sourcing in North America. Dole Food is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and vegetables, and is a market leader in packaged foods and frozen fruit. Dole will employ Transplace’s transportation sourcing methodology, powered by Transplace’s proprietary technology solutions.

Save-a-Lot invests

Save-a-Lot has selected iTradeNetwork's collaborative Order Management and Transportation Optimization solutions to help procure fresh products such as produce, flowers and meat more efficiently and cost effectively. A subsidiary of SUPERVALU, Save-a-Lot operates nearly 1,200 value-oriented stores in urban, rural and suburban neighborhoods, serving more than four million shoppers each week.

Patient education solution

Brigham & Women’s Hospital, internationally recognized for excellence in patient care, has partnered with Krames for enterprise-wide patient education. “Our medical surgical floors deal with so many diagnoses making it virtually impossible to store printed materials,” explained Ann Furey, RN MBA, patient education program manager at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “The comprehensive database of Krames materials at our nurses’ fingertips is a great benefit for our team and ultimately, our patients.”

On-demand transportation management services

Active On-Demand, a provider of on-demand transportation management services, has selected Inovis to automate the delivery of electronic invoices and shipment notices across its customer base of carriers and shippers. Active On-Demand’s APT is an Internet-based transportation management system (TMS) that saves customers 20-45% in unscheduled transportation costs. In its third year as a software-as-a-service (SaaS), APT connects commercial shippers with hand-delivered couriers, ground express truckers and dedicated air charters, matching requests to quotes within minutes and managing the end-to-end shipment process. (Chris Healy, Chief Executive Officer of Active Aero Group, Active On-Demand’s parent company.)

Helping combat fraud in Colorado

L-1 Identity Solutionshas been awarded a contract by the Colorado Department of Revenue / Division of Motor Vehicles. The contract expands the scope of driver’s license issuance services and will facilitate an upgrade of front office processes by L-1 to improve customer service and help combat fraud in Colorado. (Roxy Huber, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue.)

New education option

California secondary students will benefit from a new education option this fall with the launch of two tuition-free online charter schools: Kaplan Academy of California, San Diego and Kaplan Academy of California, Central California. The schools will offer students in grades 6-12 a full suite of core, advanced placement and honors courses; one-on-one instruction from California-certified teachers, and an opportunity to customize their education to fit their individual needs. The teachers, employed by California Virtual Education Partners, will instruct students using Kaplan’s virtual learning platform and facilitate class discussions via telephone, instant message, email and online blackboards. Kaplan Academy of California students will be able to access their coursework from virtually anywhere at any time via the Internet. A parent portal allows families to access their child’s academic record and activity virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Laptops will be provided to any active student who does not have access to a computer.

Marathon governance, risk and compliance

Marathon Oil Corporation, has implemented BWise as its governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solution. BWise was chosen by Marathon to enable its compliance with several regulations and reduce its compliance costs. (Barbara Brooks, Manager, Accounting Process, and Anne Hunt, Director, IT Compliance, for Marathon.)

HighJump scoops Schoep’s Ice Cream

Schoep’s Ice Cream has selected the HighJump mobile sales and delivery applications to provide improved customer service while controlling costs. Schoep’s Ice Cream is an ice cream manufacturer and distributor with both local and national distribution operations. It will implement HighJump Route Administrator, HighJump Route Assistant and Usable GPS, products new to HighJump Software through the acquisition of BelTek Systems Design. The software will support the delivery of Schoep’s Ice Cream products via 21 pre-sell and delivery routes throughout the Midwest. (Jeremy Raether, Systems Manager, Schoep’s Ice Cream.)

$30m north of the border

Under the terms of a multi-year $30 million contract by Medbuy Corporation, RR Donnelley will provide web-to-print solutions and the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution of customized healthcare facility products such as clinical and administrative forms, labels, kits, brochures, and other preprinted materials. Medbuy is Canada's leading healthcare Group Purchasing Organization. Its membership includes 35% of Canada’s hospitals and healthcare organizations. (Bekhe Purkis, Medbuy Contracting Director, Med/Surg.)

$47 million market this year

The number of broadband enabled airplanes will increase from 25 in 2008 to 800 in 2009, reports In-Stat. As a result, broadband hungry airline passengers will generate over $47 million worldwide in 2009. The in-flight broadband market is still emerging and will grow well beyond $1 billion annually by 2012. In-Stat's report costs $2,995.

Silver lining for web marketers?

The economy is forcing online retailers to change their marketing tactics in order to acquire and retain customers, according to findings from The State of Retailing Online 2009, the 12th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research Inc. The survey of 117 online retailers also found that, while the number of companies focusing on customer retention has nearly doubled in the past year, many retailers see the recession as an opportunity to capture market share from weakened competition.

"While Internet sales continue to outpace traditional retail sales... companies are bullish about web operations: four out of five retailers think the web is better suited than other channels to withstand the recession and one-third say the downturn has enabled them to capture greater market share. Illustrating the resilience of the web, retailers report that their conversion rates continue to hover between 3 percent and 3.5 percent as they have for years."

“Retailers everywhere are trying to get their arms around a pullback in consumer spending, and online retailers are no exception,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. “Online retailers are trying to weather this economic storm by doing more with less, making smart spending decisions, and leveraging effective, affordable tactics like email to grow their businesses.”

Others... "see the economy as an opportunity to increase market share and are charging ahead with new initiatives. Almost half of retailers surveyed (46%) have no plans to cut back original budgets and will spend as planned on their web business, while one in four retailers (24%) will spend more on their online business than originally planned. Companies planning to spend more will increase investments in several areas, including search (80% of respondents), email (65%), and social marketing (60%)."

Despite the focus on customer retention, many retailers — primarily multichannel retailers — say their efforts at customer acquisition will be higher this year than last year. But for those retailers that operate primarily online, customer retention (which has historically been a distant second goal for this group) is now critical.

According to the survey, a majority of retailers (88%) list email as a high priority for the year, largely to retain customers. Almost three-fourths of retailers (71%) plan to send segmented emails to customers based on stated preferences or purchase data. In addition, more than half will use emails that highlight new product availability (55%), extend invitations to participate in surveys or garner customer feedback (55%), and feature online-only promotions (53%).

“Because consumers continue to spend online, interactive marketing spend to drive web sales remains a lucrative investment,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research principal analyst and author of the report. “While other retail channels struggle, eCommerce managers have a unique opportunity to drive more sales and test different tactics that resonate with consumers.”

Farley's and Sathers predictive analytics

Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, a premier domestic candy producer and distributor, has signed a multi year agreement with M-Factor to leverage M-Factor’s solutions to provide improved insight in to the optimal distribution strategy across its customers on a continuous basis. M-Factor is a provider of predictive analytics solutions for distribution strategy, marketing investment management and trade funds effectiveness for the consumer goods and quick serve restaurant sectors. “Farley’s & Sathers is a very SKU and channel intensive business that changes constantly to new trends both within the category and to larger macro economic changes,” - Steve Luitjens, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Farley's & Sathers Candy Company.

Video exploitation and analysis

Sarnoff Corporation has licensed TerraSight, its video exploitation and analysis solution, to the U.S. Army. The licensing agreement includes unlimited copies and distribution service-wide. TerraSight is a C4ISR-enabling solution that provides the U.S. Army with a common operating picture. Video and data feeds are utilized to permit 3D situational understanding ideal for mission commanders, tactical operators, and imagery analysts. The U.S. Army will receive the full TerraSight software suite comprised of multiple software modules. TerraSight allows for simultaneous display of live sensor feeds in a common operating picture.

X-ray detection - $2.3 million

American Science and Engineering, a worldwide supplier of X-ray detection solutions, has received a $2.3 million service and maintenance renewal order from the U.S. government for Z Backscatter Vans (ZBV).

Wireless remote monitoring

Air Products, a global manufacturer of industrial gases and specialty chemicals, has completed installation of a wireless remote monitoring solution powered by GE Enterprise Solutions and distributed through GE Water, a business unit of GE Energy. The new system is helping improve operational efficiency and productivity by providing a way to reliably monitor, diagnose and maintain water equipment and processes. (Butch Marshall, Site Manager for Air Products.)

Credit union selects software

Certified Federal Credit Union has selected Harland Financial Solutions' UltraData Enterprise, a real-time core processing system with integrated applications for lending, retail and branch operations, electronic banking, and marketing to deliver the most up-to-date information for member-service and sales functions. Certified Federal Credit Union began in 1949 when a group of Certified Grocers of Southern California (United Grocers) employees formed a financial cooperative dedicated to serving the needs of the grocery industry employees. The cooperative was owned and operated by the same people it served. Fifty-nine years, 8,600 active members, and $52 million in assets later, Certified Federal Credit Union has continually renewed its commitment to the community and its members, primarily the California grocery industry employees.(Phyllis Webb, vice president of operations at Certified FCU.)

University course evaluation software

Dominican University in California has realized an increase in course evaluation response rates through its implementation of Scantron's Class Climate course evaluation software as a Blackboard Building Block. Class Climate is a web-based software solution used to conduct course evaluation surveys at colleges and universities, as well as in professional education areas, such as corporate training. Dominican University, an independent university of Catholic heritage, offers more than 60 programs of study to more than 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students.
(Jackson Ratcliffe, chief technology officer for Dominican University.)

Winn-Dixie expands EDW capacity

Winn-Dixie Stores, a leading supermarket chain with 520 outlets, has expanded its Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) capacity in order to satisfy increasing analytic demand from its corporate and retail user base. Specifically, the expanded capacity will support the growing requirements for critical analysis and reporting across the company’s merchandising, supply chain, and marketing departments. As it expands the breadth and reach of its database user community, Winn-Dixie is planning to add additional subject matter areas to its EDW. Founded in 1925, Winn-Dixie Stores currently operates 520 stores throughout Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Mississippi. Winn-Dixie is one of the largest food retailers in the nation and ranks 340 on the FORTUNE 500 list. (Maura Hart, senior director, information technology for Winn Dixie.)

Tetra Tech awarded USAID $17.9m contract

Tetra Tech has been awarded a $17.9 million contract to support U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) justice and governance programs in Haiti. The five-year effort will be executed by the Company’s DPK Consulting division. Under the USAID Haiti program, Tetra Tech will provide specialized technical assistance to help improve the skills of prosecutors and strengthen the capacity of judges. Working with justice sector and civil society leaders, the business community, and citizens, Tetra Tech will help implement education and reform programs and improve the rule of law.

The Pantry upgrades for compliance

The Pantry, a convenience store operator, is enhancing its compliance solution to Zytax Enterprise to accommodate growth. Zytax supplies strategic software automation solutions for global indirect tax determination and excise motor fuels compliance for the energy industry. Enterprise will allow The Pantry to add all 12 jurisdictions in which they operate, minimize complexities, enable multiple users on the system simultaneously and to process more transactions. Additionally, The Pantry will define their own decision rules to address unique requirements related to their business model. (Kathy Poirier, tax director of The Pantry.)

SIP Based Communication Manager with Modular Messaging

Unified TelData (UTDi) has implemented a seven site, Avaya SIP Based Communication Manager with Modular Messaging into the Treasure Coast Hospice MPLS network. After the acquisition of an additional hospice, Treasure Coast was dealing with some growing pains. Much of the time spent by IT was plugging holes rather than delivering a solution that could meet the needs of an expanding organization. (Jeff Potter, Director of IT for Treasure Coast Hospice.)