Verification solutions in Florida

Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) of Florida has chosen Medversant Technologies’ OneSource Web-based credentials verification solutions in an effort to streamline administrative processes, reduce costs, and gain real-time access to continuously verified provider information. OneSource automates physician credentials verification and allows the records to be viewed in real time through a Web-based platform that is updated and available 24/7. The technology allows for transparency, which is critical for the full outsourcing of this important business process. Provider data is continuously monitored and updated, and includes an automatic status alert when changes occur.

New look wrangler.com

wrangler.com has a new look and feel, an interactive home page and a new ecommerce store. The Zobrist team developed the WebSphere 6.0 Commerce / Content site architecture to deliver an integrated brand experience on wrangler.com. (Brendan Walsh, Wrangler.com Project Manager.) www.zobristinc.com and www.wrangler.com.

Sports memorabilia and apparel

Dreams, Inc, a leader in the licensed sports products industry, has reached an agreement with JCPenney that provides customers the ability to purchase from an array of licensed sports memorabilia and apparel directly from the retailer’s online sports fan shop at (www.jcp.com). The new site provides an expanded offering of licensed sports merchandise from professional teams, colleges and athletes – all at JCPenney’s signature affordable prices. The new and expanded online sports fan shop will launch in October. By aligning with JCPenney, a national retailer with one of the largest general merchandise websites on the Internet and more than 1,100 department stores, Dreams is able to extend our merchandise offering to the more than half of Americans that the retailer currently serves. (Ross Tannenbaum, president and CEO of Dreams Inc. Steve Lawrence, executive vice president of men’s apparel at JCPenney.)

Critical marketing tool for hospitals

With 75 percent of the U.S. population and nearly 100 percent of physicians being online, the web is a critical marketing tool for hospitals. Emerson Hospital selected brand communications firm PARTNERS+simons to develop a next-generation website to both underscore the hospital’s dedication to its patients and to build its brand online. Emerson Hospital is a 179-bed hospital providing advanced medical services to more than 300,000 individuals in 25 towns. The PARTNERS+simons assignment includes developing new content and functionality to enhance the Emerson experience for patients, visitors, and referring physicians. (Bonnie Kaplan Goldsmith, Senior Director, Public Affairs, Marketing and Communications for Emerson.)

TexasOnline 2.0

The state of Texas has signed a new seven-year contract with Texas NICUSA, LLC to manage TexasOnline 2.0 (www.texasonline.com), the official government portal for the state of Texas. TexasOnline currently offers more than 850 services to 2.4 million visitors every month and has processed $12 billion in transactions since inception in 2000. The new contract calls for maintaining these services and enhancing TexasOnline with new services and “next-generation” Web design and Web 2.0 tools to give citizens easier access to government services. (Brian Rawson, executive director of DIR and the State’s Chief Technology Officer.)

VW dealership

Riverbank Volkswagen, a family-owned VW dealership, has deployed MegaPath’s Duet™ service to improve productivity and customer service. Riverbank VW is leveraging Duet to share and access corporate data, as well as improve customer response time and satisfaction by ensuring network uptime to process and quickly respond to Web site leads. Duet leverages MegaPath’s all-optical MPLS network to deliver a low-cost, high-speed Internet and full-featured voice service bundle that is ideal for small-to-medium sized businesses. Duet includes productivity features found in enterprise voice and data solutions without the staffing requirements or investment in network and telephony needed for customers to deploy their own infrastructure. (Andrew Goldstein, President of Riverbank Volkswagen.) www.riverbankvw.com.

Cheesecake Factory Web Site

It was clear to Automatic that creating another traditional website was simply not enough for The Cheesecake Factory. After research and technical trials, Automatic presented the company: an ‘experiential’ website that brings the restaurant to life online. The Cheesecake Factory was founded in 1978 and has grown to over 145 restaurants with annual revenues of over $1.6 billion. The Cheesecake Factory’s full-service restaurants offer over 200 menu items including over 30 varieties of cheesecake. (Mark Mears, Chief Marketing Officer for The Cheesecake Factory.)

Take a look at http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/#lobby

Bank's web site

New Hampshire-based Centrix Bank selected MindBlazer’s remote deposit capture-themed video segment as an educational and marketing tool for the bank’s Web site. Remote deposit capture is one of twelve different financial topics available from MindBlazer’s MoneyMinutesTV, which offers syndicated, education-based videos for online, e-mail, direct mail and in-branch use. Centrix Bank is a $550 million commercial lender that operates six branch locations throughout the state. (Joyce Baldassare, Centrix Bank SVP and chief deposit officer.)

Rich Internet Applications

Roundarch has developed a series of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and dashboards for the Air Force’s logistics community with its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. To produce the applications, Roundarch and Lockheed Martin utilize a pre-built RIA framework that developers can configure to build applications quickly at low cost and minimal risk. The RIA framework leveraged existing frameworks and custom code was developed for the applications. Looking toward the future, the applications were designed for reuse within the program and throughout the Air Force.

Chicago to monitor and manage its web

The City of Chicago has deployed SpringSource Hyperic HQ Enterprise to monitor and manage its large and complex web operations environment to guarantee satisfaction for residents and tourists making use of government-run services. Chicago’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) is the central IT organization for the city, providing telecommunications services to more than 40 government departments as well as residents, businesses and tourists. It is also in charge of the city’s official website, www.cityofchicago.org. With 38,000 employees and a large, heterogeneous IT environment with thousands of PC’s and more than 500 servers (running on Linux, Windows and UNIX), deep visibility into all systems is a tall order. (Jason DeHaan, Chicago’s first deputy CIO.)

Seattle Fleets and Facilities workflow

The City of Seattle's Fleets and Facilities Department has chosen Skire Unifier to replace four obsolete systems with a single, Web-based platform for systemizing and integrating management processes and data. The City of Seattle Fleets and Facilities Department operates and manages approximately 3 million square feet of city-owned facilities. Skire Unifier will integrate workflow between the city's property management, lease and tenant management, resource conservation, facilities maintenance, space planning, building asset management, cost and time tracking, facilities and condition inventory, and other functions. http://www.skire.com.

Family organization solution

Cozi, a free web service that helps families organize and simplify their daily lives, has formed a partnership with Nestlé to offer a co-branded edition of its popular family organization solution. Nestlé will launch the Cozi co-branded service in conjunction with its back-to-school “Happy New School Year” campaign beginning July 15. Cozi has more than 1.4 million family members, and is available for free at www.cozi.com. Nestlé USA had 2008 sales of $8.8 billion. (Becky Chao, mom insights director, Nestlé.)

Congratulations to Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company’s web site has taken top honors for technological and digital innovation, ranking first out of 68 leading U.S. corporations, according to the Brookings Institution. The Brookings Institution evaluated nearly two dozen features of digital innovation, including personalization, interactivity, transparency, PDA (personal digital assistant) access, disability access, language translation, number of online services, privacy, security and user feedback. Wells Fargo was ranked above sites belonging to corporations generally considered industry leaders including Google, Apple, Amazon, and Disney. (Jim Smith, executive vice president, Wells Fargo Internet Services Group.)

Web-based policy administration suite

Discovery Insurance Company, a provider of non-standard personal auto insurance has selected Ravello Solutions’ web-based policy administration suite to manage their entire policy administration, claims management and billing processes. Ravello is a leading provider of software solutions to property and casualty insurers. The selection of the web-based software will position Discovery for expansion into new lines of business, and will provide significant efficiency gains and shorter time to close claims through the automation of many tasks. (D. Stuart Lindley, President of Discovery.)

U.S. Chemical Safety Board Web site

Americaneagle.com, a Web site design, development and hosting company has developed the U.S. Chemical Safety Board Web site, located at www.csb.gov. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Web site delivers an online portal for the public to access the agency’s investigations, recommendations, and outreach programs. Along with Web 2.0 graphic designs, the site is equipped with a Content Management System powered by Americaneagle.com’s idev solution platform. The site is also equipped with Americaneagle.com’s idev Broadcast Email Tool that enables the agency to extend its outreach by sending news, announcements, events and other important items to registered users. (U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman John S. Bresland.) www.csb.gov

US Web analytics market will grow

Fueled by a need for marketing organizations to be more accountable to the business and a shift in marketing budgets' allocation for interactive channels, in order to match consumers’ migration online, the US Web analytics market will grow to $953 million by 2014 — an impressive 17 percent compound annual growth rate — according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc.

$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.”

New for U.S. consumers

Now available in the U.S., GrowVeg.com is a web-based garden planning tool which helps gardeners grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of their garden or plot. It is easy to draw out a garden plan and decide how best to plant it. The planning tool clearly shows how much space plants require and how to group them for maximum success, removing the need to look up planting distances and crop families. Growing advice is just one click away as you select the plants that you wish to include, enabling you to solve problems and maximise your harvest from the space you have. An annual subscription costs just $25, but a free 30 day trial is available at http://www.growveg.com.

Another consumer product newly available in the U.S. is Spysure. This PC product helps protect children from paedophiles and blocks adult content. It monitors and views activities and tells you what is happening online. http://www.spysure.com

It is estimated that in July 2009 the number of consumers in the U.S. will exceed 307 million (compared to 61 million in the UK). It is also calculated that 24 percent of the world's PCs in use are in the U.S.

Online community

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has selected KickApps (www.kickapps.com), the on-demand social media, video player and widget platform, to power its online community, myMDA (www.mda.org/mymda). myMDA is a place for people whose lives have been affected by muscular dystrophy and associated diseases to gather and share their experiences and get support from each other. (Gerald C. Weinberg, MDA president and CEO.)