Stories by Paul Krill

Speech recognition tops call center wish list

Speech recognition technology and automated e-mail response were at the top of the list of sought-after technologies in a survey of 100 call center executive managers by researcher Frost & Sullivan Inc.

Oracle upgrading contract management package

Eyeing a growing market opportunity, Oracle this month plans to release an upgrade to its contract management software, which helps companies better manage contracts and potentially mine new sales opportunities.

XML database takes hold

Looking to provide an alternative to storing XML tags in relational databases, Ixia Inc. this month plans to release Version 2.0 of its Textml database.

Siebel, Cisco join on IP-based contact centers

Looking to boost IP (Internet Protocol)-based contact centers, Siebel Systems Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. this week announced product integrations to assist companies migrating from legacy technology to IP infrastructures.

eGain looks to consolidate customer communications

Looking to consolidate different customer-to-seller interactions, eGain Communications Corp. on Monday plans to launch eGain eService Enterprise, a modular system intended to boost the productivity of phone-based call centers and help them evolve into multichannel facilities.

Big Blue unveils help desk software

Combining elements of IBM's Project eLiza self-managing systems technology and the vendor's e-sourcing initiative, IBM unveiled last week call center software for Web-enabling IT customer help desks with an emphasis on artificial intelligence.

Study: Mobile commerce to remain a niche

Although the United States has the largest base of cell phone users in the world, Internet-capable wireless phones will account for less than 2 percent of online shopping in the country by 2006, according to a study released this week by Jupiter Media Metrix Inc.

Kana, IBM link CRM offerings

Kana Communications and IBM this week announced the integration of IBM's WebSphere Commerce Suite with Kana's Web-based CRM (customer relationship management) products, with the intention of helping businesses increase customer service, interaction, and personalization.

CRM tabbed as top retail initiative for 2001

Some 52 percent of retailers surveyed reported CRM (customer relationship management) to be their highest business priority for 2001, but only 34 percent actually have implemented a CRM initiative, according to a Gartner study.

Intel preaches peer-to-peer

An Intel Corp. executive preached the company's peer-to-peer and collaborative computing mantra during a keynote speech at the eBusiness Conference and Expo here on Wednesday.

PeopleSoft adds collaboration to service automation app

PeopleSoft Inc. has integrated its Enterprise Service Automation (ESA) application with eRoom Technology Inc.'s eRoom "digital workplace" collaboration software, providing distributed teams of ESA workers a place to meet online to detail projects, the companies said Tuesday.

IBM executive touts promise, challenges of e-business

E-business is experiencing growing pains that will require technologies to meet the challenges now facing it, IBM Vice President Irving Wladawsky-Berger said during a keynote address at the eBusiness Conference and Expo here on Tuesday.

Asera hails its eBusiness Operating System

Officials of startup Asera held a gala event here Monday night to officially debut the company's eBusiness Operating System, which is being positioned as a platform for uniting back-end applications for use in Internet commerce front ends.

Brocade chief touts SAN potential

Emphasizing an industry projection of 35 petabytes of data being shipped in 2005, Brocade Communications Systems Inc. President and CEO Greg Reyes touted SANs (storage area networks) as critical to data management during a keynote speech at the SAN 2001 conference here.

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