The Challenge: What can we learn from a 157-year-old fashion company that’s being called “the world’s most digitally competent luxury brand”? That a multichannel and personalized customer experience is becoming the expected standard among consumers. Just as high fashion brands have been trendsetters in clothing, they are now trendsetters in multichannel marketing. Global fashion icon, Burberry, launched a program recently that upped the ante on multichannel marketing. Burberry’s Millennial-targeted “Runway Made to Order” campaign allowed viewers from around the world to live stream their Fall fashion show, and purchase and personalize items directly from the runway via a state-of-the-art interactive e-commerce ... READ MORE

There’s more pressure than ever these days for IT to do more than just keep everything online. More people at C-level positions (and not just CIOs) are gaining a better understanding of IT matters and, consequently, adjusting their expectations. Optimization and cost savings have become recurring themes on enterprise IT strategies. Data center infrastructure management (DCIM), takes those themes to heart and makes them central to what it offers to data center managers. Tools for data center maintenance aren't anything new, but where DCIM differs is in taking what was previously two different disciplines of data center maintenance, IT management and ... READ MORE

The Challenge: In a study by the Business Marketing Association, most BtoB marketers say customer engagement is a high priority within their marketing organization (72%), but 43% grade their company's level of customer engagement, a C, with even more giving their companies a D or an F. The opportunity for BtoB marketers: successfully engage their customers by establishing new avenues of relevant communication. Despite such poor self-ratings, 72% of surveyed BtoB marketers cite customer retention and loyalty as their primary reasons for establishing customer engagement efforts. Other motivating factors are recommendations for products and services that match customer needs (54%) and a ... READ MORE

When it comes to ERP systems, the word “customization” is one of the most dreaded terms that an executive hears. In fact, I would estimate that at least 90-percent of Panorama’s ERP selection clients indicate a strong preference for zero or no customization. In other words, most CIOs and CFOs want to use the system out of the box without making any changes to the software code. There will always be configuration and personalization, which every ERP implementation requires, but when it comes to heavy-duty changes to the software, most executives don’t want to hear about it. However, something strange happens during ... READ MORE

If you’ve ever worked at a financial business, you probably already know the benefits of going paperless: it’s good for the environment, it saves time (no more filing or retrieving documents), and it frees up office space that used to house filing cabinets. But have you thought about what going paperless would do for your customers? Here are some great customer benefits of going paperless:   Increased security by eliminating paper statements Better protection against fraud More convenient transactions Plus they’ll like that you’re doing your part to save the environment. Going paperless isn’t easy to do, but it’s worth the work. Here are some ... READ MORE

In spite of 30 years of structured programming, CASE tools, OO development, 4th GL languages, CMMI, and PMI, the failure rate for larger projects has failed to respond to all of this love and attention. We normally think of failure as a negative thing; but it can have its upside. Saddling a competitor or enemy with a doomed project could stain their career or at the very least inflict a high level of pain on them. A CEO about to retire, or whose focus is on near term stock options, may be able to boost quarterly profits by continuing to ... READ MORE

Why aren’t more companies demand-driven? I had an eye opening discussion with the SVP of supply chain at a multi-billion dollar company the other day, and together we tallied up the number of systems under his watch. In less than 5 minutes we came up with over 20! I thought it would be an interesting exercise to turn our discussion into a “Coordination Quiz”. To take the quiz, look through the list of supply chain processes/functions below, and try to determine whether each is managed with a separate system. If you can’t answer or don’t know because the process is outside ... READ MORE

Bloomfire knows the value of content. The company allows you to build an online community and engage with your colleagues and customers through knowledge sharing. We sat down with Craig Malloy, CEO and co-founder of Bloomfire, to discuss the ins and outs of how companies can get the most out of their content both in-house and externally.   What is Bloomfire's mission? The problem we're solving is the following: workers spend an inordinate amount of time searching for the information they need. Studies have shown this to be at least 30% of their workday. The internet has made it a lot easier to ... READ MORE

Most companies are now aware that analytics implementation on their websites is a good idea. But there are varying degrees of analytics that perhaps you have not considered yet. 1. Analytics Implementation: As I mentioned before, many decision-makers realize that this is an imperative part of their digital media strategy. Deciding on your analytics tools, from free Google Analytics to a more in-depth solution like Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite, is the first step. Choosing a tool based on your needs and team’s ability are among factors to take into consideration as well. 2. Aggregating Intelligence: So you’ve begun tracking and analyzing initiatives, but now what? Remember, all this data is ... READ MORE

The Challenge: Per recent guidelines, you will be penalized if your emails do not have adequate levels of deliverability and "engagement". Consider the following options to optimize your lists to increase open rates and engagement. New Rules Regarding Deliverability and Engagement Per our previous blog, recently most email service providers converted to a new algorithm that calculates deliverability using a combination of the original email delivery rules plus new "engagement" factors: open rates, clicks, unsubscribes, and complaints. With these new human behaviors factored into the equation of deliverability, future emails that you send may be considered SPAM or not delivered at all, ... READ MORE