Value of Early Feedback in an LMS Implementation

SumTotal® Systems a provider of talent development solutions, will present a live webinar, “A Good Old-Fashioned Pilot Test: Wendy’s Demonstrates the Value of Early Feedback in an LMS Implementation,” at 1:00 pm Eastern time on Wednesday, July 15, 2009. The webinar will examine how usability and pilot testing can be used to enhance a learning management system (LMS) implementation.

The featured speaker is Coley O’Brien, National Director, Operations Training for Wendy’s Corporation – one of the country's largest quick-service restaurant companies – ensuring the success of its LMS rollout meant first getting feedback from Wendy’s crew members and managers across the country through formal usability and pilot testing. Before rolling the learning solution out to approximately 45,000 employees in 1,400 restaurants that are multi-lingual, multi-generational and with varied levels of technology experience, Wendy’s conducted a series of tests to assess usability, feasibility and impact. As a result, the company was able to streamline the implementation, increase user adoption by engaging employees in the process and reap maximum benefits.

Viewers can expect to learn Wendy’s process for conducting usability and pilot testing with a broad target audience spanning a wide geography and using multiple test leads. Specific topics to be discussed include: why Wendy’s chose to conduct formal usability and pilot tests prior to implementation; how Wendy's conducted testing with a geographically-dispersed pilot audience; how Wendy’s harnessed test feedback to enhance their LMS implementation and custom e-Learning course development.

To attend this webinar, register here.

Truck and load matching

Location Based Technologies (LBT), a provider of personal, pet and asset location devices, has received its first Purchase Order for LoadRack Tracker devices. LoadRack.com is a provider of truck and load matching, with a real-time asset tracking application. Their technology allows shippers, carriers, and truck brokers to optimize resources and coordination by procuring available trucks and loads, while ensuring load integrity across the supply chain. Accessed via the Internet, the system allows users to determine load location and status, designate safe and unsafe zones and lanes, monitor load temperatures, facilitate route changes, and effectively manage equipment problems and delays.

A customized interface for the LoadRack solution is accessed via the Internet to show its exact location in real time. In addition, the devices include features such as: users may designate customizable zones or lanes providing stakeholder notification when a device leaves or enters a zone; load temperature monitoring; route changes; and the ability to manage time delays. By combining the PocketFinder solution with the LoadRack software, load integrity, customer service and load visibility will enhance the procurement and delivery of goods.

Licensing and Study Support Services at GSK

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts covering Licensing and Study Support Services with Phase Forward, a provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. (Diane Fuell, Vice President of Business Support in the Centre for Clinical Study Excellence Operations and Data Quality at GSK.)

Licensing and Study Support Services at GSK

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts covering Licensing and Study Support Services with Phase Forward, a provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. (Diane Fuell, Vice President of Business Support in the Centre for Clinical Study Excellence Operations and Data Quality at GSK.)

Mutual of Omaha and customer data

Mutual of Omaha has deployed Navagate’s Agility to track and manage its customer data, provide its agents with quick access to information, and improve marketing and service. A full-service, multi-line provider of insurance and financial services products, Mutual of Omaha offers products and services for families, individuals, businesses and groups with a product line including Annuities, Retirement Plans, Banking, Critical Illness, Dental Insurance, Disability Insurance, Employee Benefit Plans, Investments, Life Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, Medicare Supplement Insurance, and Voluntary/Worksite Products. (Scott Campbell, Director of Distribution Marketing, Mutual of Omaha.) www.mutualofomaha.com.

Four Universities join program

California State University, Sacramento, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Virginia Tech have joined Unicon's Cooperative Support Program for the open source Sakai, uPortal, and/or CAS (Centralized Authentication Service) platforms. The Sakai software is a community source effort to develop a platform for innovation in collaboration, teaching and learning, and research support software.

$1.5 million on appraisal & tax solutions

Tyler Technologies has signed contracts totaling approximately $1.5 million to provide product upgrades to Bernalillo County in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Town of Brookhaven, New York, for Tyler’s Appraisal & Tax Solution, iasWorld. The most populous county in New Mexico, Bernalillo County is located within the Albuquerque metropolitan area and is home to over 635,000 people. The Town of Brookhaven is part of the New York City metropolitan area, the town has a population of more than 400,000 and is the second most populous town in New York.

$17.4 million for QinetiQ North America

The Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) Acquisition Center for Support Services (ACSS) awarded QinetiQ North America a prime contract to provide a wide range of services to the MCSC’s Program Manager for Autonomic Logistics (PM AL). The contract has a one-year base period of performance, two one-year options, and a ceiling value of $17.4 million.

$375 million spend by USAFE

L-3 Communications’ MPRI division has been awarded a follow-on contract by the U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE). This five-year IDIQ contract consists of a base year plus four option years, with a total contract potential of $375 million. Under this contract, L-3 will provide the USAFE with a variety of advisory and assistance services (A&AS), including engineering and technical services; management and professional support; and studies, analysis and evaluation services to maintain and enhance government owned computer software and provide intelligence analysis support.

Market data at mid-sized companies

Providing its resellers with quantitative, current market data so they can make more informed business decisions, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (Arrow ECS) commissioned its second-annual survey of information technology decision makers at mid-sized companies. Among the survey findings, 40 percent of respondents indicated that they expect their IT budgets to stay the same in 2009. The number of executives who expect their budget to increase this year is equal to those who expect a decrease (29 percent). Those expecting an increase anticipate a 16 percent boost while those that expect a decrease think their budget will fall 18 percent. Not surprisingly, 77 percent of respondents listed “reducing costs” as the most important business issue, making it the No. 1 concern for IT executives. This is more important to respondents than “improving security/reducing risk,” which 38 percent listed as the most important issue in this year’s survey but was noted by 78 percent in the 2008 study conducted by Arrow ECS.

However, security was the second-named initiative (59 percent) among those planned for the next six to 12 months, with data management being named most often at 61 percent. Nine out of 10 report that “better access and information sharing” and “meeting service-level objectives” are the key technology issues. Approximately 38 percent of midmarket IT executives require evidence of return on investment for technical purchases, and those respondents require an average of 33 percent ROI. Only 12 percent require a one-year payback, while 33 percent look at the total cost of ownership over multiple years as the financial requirement. Arrow ECS reported $5.4 billion in global enterprise computing solution sales in 2008.

iPhone application statistics

Wizzard Media has released figures today showing an increase in iPhone App sales, podcast downloads and podcast audiences from iPhone users for the first weekend after the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 3GS. Comparing with the previous weekend, the Wizzard Media Network saw an increase in audiences using the iPhone to request podcast episodes of 29% in the U.S. and 27% worldwide. As a result, there was an increase in podcasts downloaded from the network by iPhone users of 66% in the U.S. and 50% worldwide. Revenues for Wizzard’s iPhone App sales showed an average increase of 12% worldwide for the weekend after the new iPhone launch, compared to the previous weekend. Financial analyst projections for Apple’s iPhone sales average over 20 million units for 2009 (RBC, Piper Jaffrey, Citi).

AdMob’s May 2009 Mobile Metrics Report shows in less than one year, the Apple App Store has grown to more than 50,000 applications. Highlights from the May 2009 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report: five percent of applications had more than 100,000 active users in May 2009; 14 percent of applications had between 10,000 - 100,000 active users, representing 322 applications; 54 percent of applications had less than 1,000 active users, representing 1,244 applications; the average iPhone user in AdMob’s network accessed four applications in May; five days after its launch, the iPhone 3.0 Operating System (OS) represented 44 percent of iPhone ad requests. In contrast, only 1 percent of iPod touch requests came from devices running the iPhone 3.0 OS. AdMob reached 15.1 million unique users on iPhone and iPod touch devices on 2,309 applications in its network in May, the vast majority of which were free to download.

27 million emails a year

Powell’s Books is boosting online sales with a new email campaign that delivers book recommendations based on customer’s favorite topics. Launched in February, Powell’s Subject Newsletter has already returned open rates of more than 70 percent by delivering subscribers monthly book recommendations in up to ten subject areas based on their identified subject interests. The company, which began its email marketing efforts in 1999, offers book aficionados a suite of seven email newsletters ranging from a book review a day to a listing of its recently arrived used books. Collectively, Powell’s sends more than 27 million emails every year to its growing subscriber list that now tops more than 500,000 book readers. (Sam Whitmore, Powell’s Books’ online marketing developer.)

Florida law firm replaces Novell Groupwise

One of Florida’s leading law firms, Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. (Stearns Weaver), has replaced its Novell Groupwise installation with Azaleos remotely managed e-mail services for Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry Enterprise Server. The Azaleos service, which leverages patented technology to maintain e-mail data and infrastructure on the customer premise, provides dial-tone levels of e-mail availability for the firm’s more than 300 users. Stearns Weaver is a full service law firm with over 120 attorneys serving clients throughout Florida and nationwide. (Eugene Cabreja, IT Director for Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson.)

Mobile financial services

Delta Community Credit Union, one of the nation’s largest credit unions, has selected Mobile Money from Fiserv to provide its members with mobile financial services. Mobile Money was selected for its “triple play” technology, which allows members to access their accounts using any one of the three mobile access modes, and because it can be modified to provide additional mobile banking and payment capabilities as the market evolves. (Todd Marksberry, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Delta Community Credit Union.)

Congratulations to Brainboxes on 25 years

“I see the next few years as a positive time for manufacturing in the UK. There are many winning factors on our side including maintaining our innovative track record, favourable exchange rates and our in house manufacturing facility, which gives us the ability to respond to customer demand." says Eamonn Walsh, chairman of award winning Brainboxes, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Walsh believes that Brainboxes can be held up as an example for UK start-ups. "Some companies survive by being the lowest cost but we believe it is the communication you have with your customers that will give you the edge. We keep close to our customers, listening to what they are saying and understanding what they want. We do what the customer needs rather than telling them what they have to have.

Asked if he had any advice to someone starting a business in 2009, Walsh said, "The best advice I can give them is to get a good product and get it in front of customers fast. Nothing can happen in a business without a sale. Always give the customer value for money, do the best you can and then watch them as they use it. You will learn a lot if you keep your eyes open."

Brainboxes is assisted in the U.S. by ExportAction.

Want to sell your business to IBM?

IBM has named Elias Mendoza to oversee mergers and acquisitions. Mendoza will report to Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge. Earlier this year, IBM pursued an acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The bid, worth about $7 billion, failed when the two disagreed on the price. Oracle later agreed to acquire Sun for about $7.4 billion. IBM has made more than 50 acquisitions since Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano took the reins in 2002. Most of those deals, including the $4.5 billion purchase of Cognos, have built the company’s software portfolio. The company is focusing on analytics software, which combs data to help companies predict trends, and smart grids, which use censors to monitor infrastructure like utilities and traffic.

“Green Dam-Youth Escort”

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has asked Chinese officials to revoke a requirement for web-filtering software on all new PCs, saying it may violate World Trade Organization rules. Kirk cited the requirement that computer makers install “Green Dam-Youth Escort” software to filter out pornography as a possible violation of WTO rules in a letter he wrote. The U.S. is pursuing a complaint raised by representatives of technology companies including Google and Oracle, who have said those censorship regulations amount to an unfair barrier to trade. A group of 19 business associations in North America and Japan, including groups representing Microsoft, Dell and Cisco Systems have sent a letter to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology seeking a review of the agency’s order to adopt the software.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing access Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has joined forces with Sprint to offer toll-free TTY (teletypewriter) and video relay access, giving deaf and hard-of-hearing customers direct access to Southwest Airlines customer service. Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech disabled customers needing to call Southwest Airlines can dial a dedicated toll-free TTY telephone number. That number is answered by a Sprint relay agent who immediately connects to the Southwest Airlines customer service representative. The Sprint relay agent relays information between the Customer Service representative and the relay user in English or Spanish.

Video Relay customers can access the service using a videophone by calling SWAVRS.TV to reach a video interpreter who will connect to Southwest Airlines. By providing video access, those whose native language is American Sign Language (ASL) can communicate with a video interpreter in ASL who then acts as the ‘voice’ to Customer Service representatives. Sprint Video Relay Service (VRS) is offered at no cost to deaf and hard-of-hearing customers who use a videophone or web camera with a computer to connect with a qualified Sprint video interpreter who interprets the call in English or Spanish. (Lance Morton, director of Automation Resources for Customer Support & Services for Southwest Airlines.)

Track and target gun crime

The City of Montgomery will use the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System (GLS) to track and target gun crime. The ShotSpotter GLS is used to detect, locate, and track gunfire. It will protect a one mile area within the city. A combination of federal grants, City Council Capital Improvement allocations and asset forfeiture money provided funds for the system. (Jeff Downes, Deputy Mayor.)

Mobile medical applications

Federal government officials and policy and medical experts spoke at “mHealth Solutions and Policy Forum,” hosted by CTIA-The Wireless Association, to discuss mobile medical applications and their numerous benefits including reducing costs and errors, removing geographical and economic disparities and reinforcing consumer-focused and personalized healthcare. The U.S. healthcare system costs $2.2 trillion each year, or about 16 percent of the gross domestic product. Currently, the Obama Administration and Congress are working to determine the best way to fix this system and bring greater service and cost efficiency. While the plans of how this can be accomplished are still being discussed, speakers agreed that wireless technology is a major part of the solution since more than 270 million in the U.S. and 4.1 billion in the world have wireless access.