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Forward Thinking
Forward Thinking
By Marta Bright, Caroline Kvitka, and Rich Schwerin
Customer Satisfaction: Measuring Success
Turn-of-the-century department store pioneer John Wanamaker supposedly said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half." While business and technology have advanced considerably since Wanamaker's time, many organizations still lack effective tools and metrics for measuring success—whether in advertising, marketing, or customer satisfaction and loyalty.
You know that customer satisfaction and loyalty are essential to the success of your organization. But do you know how to effectively measure that satisfaction? In Improving Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Profit, (US$29, Jossey-Bass) Michael Johnson and Anders Gustafsson, from the University of Michigan Business School, lay out five steps that link the key measures of customer satisfaction with
marketing strategy and product development
to guarantee excellent customer service.
Johnson and Gustafsson outline customer measurement strategies and how to use data to build a plan for quality improvement and customer care. Armed with specific estimates of how improved quality
and customer satisfaction will boost the bottom line, managers can make the case for resource reallocation and process realignment. But effective process doesn't always equate to customer satisfaction—there's a balancing act between increasing business efficiency and maintaining a high level of customer service. (See "The Birth of Business Intelligence" in this issue.)
Some processes work better than others, and that's the focus of the Customer Satisfaction Measurement Association (CSMA). With more than 140,000 members from Alcatel to Volvo, the CSMA conducts benchmarking studies to identify practices that improve customer satisfaction and the overall operations of members. The CSMA identifies best-in-class business processes across more than two dozen industries that result in exceptional performance as perceived by customers. How do your processes fare? Visit www.csmassociation.org.
As companies measure and master customer satisfaction, they seek public recognition in the form of awards. We've all heard of "award-winning" customer service, but who's giving these awards? Perhaps best known is J.D. Power and Associates. Founded in 1968, J.D. Power counts most of the Fortune 500 as clients. Every year it surveys millions of consumers and business customers across a wide variety of industries, from automotive and telecommunications to travel, real estate, healthcare, and more.
J.D. Power and Associates' awards provide consumers with product quality and customer satisfaction data that enables them to make more-informed purchasing decisions. Companies that rank highest can license the use of the J.D. Power and Associates name for advertising claims. Is your company worthy of an award? Visit www.jdpower.com.
Business Ethics: This Is Only a Drill
Outsourcing. Dealing with corrupt foreign governments. "No-bid" contracts. Campaign contributions. How would your organization handle these situations? To find out, Enspire Learning pioneered a unique business ethics simulation called Executive Challenge.
Executive Challenge is a multiplayer, online game that lets participants make ethically challenging management decisions in a simulated business environment. Teams of MBA students or business leaders face strategic choices and ethical dilemmas while balancing company profits with personal "reputation points."
"Today's executives are under intense scrutiny to ensure that their managers understand the ethical repercussions of their decision-making," says Enspire CEO Bjorn Billhardt. "However, teaching ethics can be incredibly difficult. Theory learned in the classroom is often forgotten by leaders faced with the enormous pressures of the business world."
Described by the Wall Street Journal as "Sim City for the business world" (May 10, 2004), Executive Challenge was originally developed as a board game for MBA students at the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. Business-world relevance is one of the game's strengths. Visit www.enspire.com.
Let's Get Lean
When the executive boardroom started buzzing about Lean, they weren't talking Atkins Diet. But carving out inefficiencies from your supply chain is akin to carving carbs out of your sedentary lifestyle. Put down that steak and pick up a copy of Jeffrey P. Wincel's Lean Supply Chain Management: A Handbook for Strategic Procurement (US$40, Productivity Press). Wincel provides a powerful and profitable method for strategic procurement.
Instead of one-size-fits-all, Wincel considers your organization's business condition, with techniques tailored to "standard" or "crisis" environments. Wincel includes methods for developing and tracking strategic procurement initiatives, ways to coordinate supply chain management and Lean manufacturing, and helpful performance measurement tools.
Content Management with
Oracle Collaboration Suite 10g
Got content management? Announced at December 2004's Oracle OpenWorld, Oracle Collaboration Suite 10g features expanded real-time collaboration and content-management features. According to the META Group's Document Management: Massive Opportunity for the Mass Market (META Group, September 2004), regulatory compliance will drive increased content-management adoption during the next three years.
"Oracle Collaboration Suite is well-positioned to deliver effective, affordable, easy-to-use content-management solutions," says Rob Koplowitz, Oracle senior director of product marketing. "Enhancements to Oracle's content-
management capabilities are in line
with stricter government regulations
and corporate mandates."
Enhancements to the Oracle Files component include application-programming interfaces (APIs) that allow consistent policy enforcement across an enterprise, as well as the capability to intelligently surface documents within business or portal applications; the new release also provides better integration with Microsoft Windows.
In addition to the suite's current Web-conferencing capabilities, real-time collaboration features include instant messaging, presence, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) support. Oracle Messenger, Oracle's foray into the instant messaging space, allows users to launch a Web conference or chat session directly from the messaging window. Oracle also takes the presence function beyond showing whether members of a user's contact list are available. A software development kit for Oracle Collaboration Suite enables developers to build functionality that shows presence information and lets a user launch an instant message or Web conference directly from within a business application. Visit oracle.com/collabsuite.
Oracle Events
World Health Care Congress
Washington, D.C., January 30-February 1
One of the most progressive forums for achieving an affordable, accountable U.S. healthcare system. Stop by Oracle booth #619 to see demonstrations of the latest solutions for the healthcare industry.
Healthcare Information and
Management Systems Society
Conference & Exhibition
Dallas, Texas, February 13-17
This year's healthcare IT industry event includes a keynote by former President Bill Clinton, plus more than 200 education sessions, more than 700 exhibitors, and Oracle solutions for healthcare.
Gartner Business Intelligence
Summit 2005
Chicago, Illinois, March 7-9
Increase your performance and learn from the top analysts and leading organizations about innovative uses in the field of business intelligence, data warehousing, and corporate performance management. Oracle President Charles Phillips will deliver a keynote address.
National Manufacturing Week
Conference
Chicago, Illinois, March 7-10
The single best source for the components, tools, and knowledge to innovate, monitor, control, and manage entire manufacturing processes in a transforming competitive world.
Flashback:
Oracle OpenWorld Online
Whether you missed OpenWorld or want to revisit the experience, you can watch keynote Webcasts, online demos, and news from the show floor at Oracle OpenWorld Online.
The Business Athlete's
Prescription for Success
"Today's warriors must be calmer and in more control; they must adopt a new paradigm in which stress and recovery are mixed in a healthy balance." So writes renowned sport psychologist James E. Loehr in his best-seller, Stress for Success (US$14, Three Rivers Press). In this 250-page handbook for "corporate athletes," Loehr puts a practical and positive spin on the effects of stress, offering constructive ways to utilize simple, ritualistic behavior to enhance your energy. Loehr's Toughness Training program provides techniques derived from discoveries in the areas of biochemistry, brain physiology, psychology, and medicine. With the promise of Ideal Performance State (IPS), this book will at the very least help you improve the way you view and handle stress. Often referred to by athletes as "the zone," IPS occurs when your mind, body, and emotions are in balance, oscillating between stress and recovery. By learning to achieve this potent blend of emotions, you can summon IPS on demand.
You Wanna Make a Bet?
The NCAA men's basketball tournament—a.k.a. March Madness—will soon tip off. And for legions of fans, betting with colleagues at work is all part of the (illegal) fun. But how much fun can your bottom line withstand?
Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates that employers nationwide lose US$101 million in productivity for every 10 minutes employees obsess about the tournament.
"Cyber-slacking is the most unmanaged internet problem on company networks today," says Richard Schmidt, CEO of Stellar Technologies. Stellar's Internet Management software lets you view, report, and archive all online activity. But is "Big Brother" monitoring the right strategy for your organization?
The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found more than half the businesses it surveyed were unconcerned about office pools. Why? A 1999 SHRM survey found that gambling has little effect on worker productivity, and it may even boost morale.
Partner News:
Opportunities, Innovation, and Awards
Oracle partners with Swift TO Offer Secure messaging
Oracle is now partnering with SWIFT to bridge the gap between financial services providers and customer back-office systems. Oracle will enhance Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Application Server for compatibility with SWIFT, the industry-owned cooperative providing secure, standardized messaging services and interface software to 7,650 financial institutions in more than 200 countries. "SWIFT is pleased to work with Oracle on this important integration initiative," says Joel Ludvigsen, a director at SWIFT. "By integrating Oracle E-Business Suite and SWIFTNet, we extend our mutual commitment to helping our customers carry out their business—efficiently, seamlessly, and securely."
E-Business Suite Special Edition Partner Opportunities
Oracle has begun offering Oracle
E-Business Suite Special Edition in North America. Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition is designed specifically for sale, implementation, and support by Oracle's Certified and Certified Advantage E-Business Suite Partners. It is localized for regional requirements and packaged so it arrives working with minimal support calls. It provides significant return on investment (ROI) for both partners and customers as a result of accelerated implementation methodology.
Oracle Partners Win Innovation Award
The Oracle PartnerNetwork launched a new innovation awards program highlighting accomplishments of partners serving customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The awards showcase solutions, services, or initiatives where Oracle products and technology have been applied to create value for the customer and generate new business potential.
Geodan Movida, a solution integrating multiple location-based technologies, took first prize. "Geodan Movida is proving popular in several sectors, such as healthcare, retail and distribution, the public sector, transportation, and tourism," says Euro Beinat, CEO of Geodan Mobile Solutions. "Oracle Database and Oracle Application Server 10g provide Geodan Movida with an excellent platform for managing location information as a critical asset."
German partner Jentro Technologies took second prize with activepilot, a Java-based, off-board mobile phone navigation service. "activepilot is seeing rapid success because it can be used by anybody owning a mobile phone, is available as a low-price service, and is easy to subscribe to," says Erno Hempel, CEO of Jentro Technologies. "Oracle Application Server 10g and the capabilities of Oracle Database 10g make them a natural platform to power the activepilot service."
Partner/Program Locator
For more information, visit
At the 2004 Oracle OpenWorld Conference, held December 5-9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Oracle PartnerNetwork program leaders presented category-based awards to 12 Oracle partners. Recognized for their outstanding achievements in key service/solution areas—including consistently delivering outstanding solutions and business results based on Oracle E-Business Suite applications, and consistently demonstrating a strong commitment to marketing campaigns for Oracle-based solutions and capabilities—these partners provide stellar-quality solutions and services and help ensure joint customer satisfaction.
North America Oracle PartnerNetwork Partner of the Year: Partner Awards
Applications
IBM BCS
Global System Integrator
Deloitte
Independent Software Vendor
Cerner Corporation
Marketing
Core Services Inc.
Regional System Integrator
Dynamic Information Systems
Technology
Lockheed Martin
Value-Added Reseller
Mythics Inc., Virtus Partners
North America Oracle PartnerNetwork Partner of the Year: Solution Awards
Oracle Application Server
TUSC
Oracle Collaboration Suite
Enterprise Business Solutions LLC
Oracle Database
CGH Technologies Inc.
Industry
Sierra Atlantic Inc.
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