Forward Thinking
By Marta Bright, Bobbie Hartman, Katheryn Potterf, and Patricia Waddington
News and information from around the globe
Cooling It Down
Whether you're a high-profile executive, an exasperated parent, or just a citizen at large, you've no doubt had one of those near-death experiences when somebody—friend, family member, or complete stranger—posed a question that nearly knocked you flat.
When the heat gets cranked up and the questions come fast and furious, one of the last things you want to do is begin stumbling over your words or, worse still, get defensive or hostile. In his new book, In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions When it Counts (Prentice Hall Publishing, 2005), author and acclaimed corporate presentation coach Jerry Weissman leverages the yin and yang of two notoriously prickly settings—politics and martial arts—using both as examples of what to do and not to do when you find yourself fielding hard-boiled questions.
"When a tough question comes, whether it's in a personal or professional situation, you have to strip away the hostility and employ the buffer technique, which is very much like in martial arts," explains Weissman. "When the attack comes at you, you deal with it not by meeting force with force but by deflecting the attacking energy." Deflection, or what Weissman calls the "buffer," involves stripping away any hostility. "If, for example," says Weissman, "someone says to you, 'Where does your company get off charging so much for its software?' and the attack comes down strong, you should respond, 'So, how do we arrive at our pricing?' or 'What is our pricing rationale?'" As Weissman explains it, it becomes a matter of directly addressing the heart of the question while simultaneously cooling the flames through a calm, direct response.
Weissman often gets asked about toning down an awkward situation with humor. "I love jokes," he says, "but my advice is, no jokes. No one can guarantee the success or failure of a joke, and a joke during a Q&A can absolutely make the wheels come off." Weissman cites the masterful skills of the great Johnny Carson. "For 30 years, Johnny Carson held forth on television with his late night show," he says. "One of his greatest strengths was his ability to recover from a failed joke. If Johnny Carson couldn't guarantee the success or failure of a joke, how can a businessperson expect to do that?"
Weissman stresses avoiding the trap of crafting answers at the expense of paying attention to the question. "Put on the brakes while the question is being asked, and concentrate," he says. "I call this 'active listening.' While you're doing this, in your mind, repeat to yourself the one, two, or three words that identify the heart of the question."
Pass the Chocolate Wasabi, Please
If you're on a fishing expedition for a unique chocolaty treat for a friend, colleague, or family member, consider casting a net out for Suedy's Koo-Ki Sushi. Yes, chocolate, which can be molded to look like anything from a golf ball to a space alien, has assumed the guise of fish and rice. Our editorial staff loved the shrimp sushi made from chocolate and white almond filling and the chocolate- and strawberry-flavored tuna sushi. For more information, visit www.kookisushi.com.
Job Search Web Sites:
Using Them Wisely
You have a job requisition that has been sitting on your desk for the past few weeks, maybe even months! You want that position filled—quickly and inexpensively. You might use an online job search service, such as Monster or Yahoo! HotJobs. If you do, you'll find they often feature a sophisticated array of search engines and other tools designed to help employers make a match with prospective employees. Although they are fast and cost-effective, there are a few things to keep in mind before you post.
"The reason companies are using online services is that they are efficient and cost-effective," explains Tony Lee, publisher of CareerJournal.com, a niche site that caters to professionals making an average salary of US$112,000 per year. According to Lee, the most common mistake companies make when they post a position is keeping their ad too short and sweet. "On the internet, you can publish enough information for people to make their own intelligent decisions about whether they want to apply," he says. The second-biggest mistake employers make is that they overlook a fundamental tool. "You go to their company Web site, and you can't find job listings," he says.
Oracle Leads in CRM
Forrester Research cited Oracle as a leader in enterprise CRM suites in its latest Forrester Wave ranking. Forrester evaluated enterprise CRM vendors in three categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence.
"Oracle is now the largest business applications vendor, as measured by employees, providing a depth of resources to develop products for, and market to, all major buyer segments, including CRM," reports William Band, analyst at Forrester. "Oracle has a full range of capabilities across all key components of CRM." Working from its independent labs and using vendor research from 94 buyer executives, Forrester analyzed strengths and weaknesses of the top enterprise CRM suites' vendors across 177 criteria.
"This recognition from Forrester is yet another proof point that Oracle CRM leverages enterprise information to drive profitable customer interactions," says Barbry Mcgann, vice president of CRM applications strategy at Oracle. "Through information-driven CRM, Oracle customers are succeeding every day in driving incremental revenue, reducing interaction costs, and growing the value of their customer relationships."
The full Forrester Wave: Enterprise CRM Suites report can be found at
oracle.com/corporate/analystportal/insider/forrester%20wave%20crm.pdf.
Source: Enterprise CRM Suites Scorecard Summary: Oracle (Forrester Research, July 2005)
Don't Drag Those Bags!
As we all hunker down and prepare to deep-breathe our way through longer check-in lines, intensive security screening, and more airline baggage restrictions, consider lightening your load by sending your bags ahead through one of several luggage-shipping services. Companies such as Luggage Express, Virtual Bellhop, Sports Express, and SkyCap International will not only pick up your luggage at your home, office, or hotel but they will also deftly deliver it to your destination as quickly as overnight. The price for hands-free freedom? Flying a 40-pound suitcase and a golf bag from San Francisco to Indianapolis and back costs approximately US$183 (economy, second-day delivery).
Pets in the Workplace
A nationwide survey conducted in 2001 by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) found that companies allowing pets in the workplace have lower absenteeism rates, higher productivity and creativity, less stress, and a higher level of teamwork and camaraderie among employees.
And in case you worry that work might stress out your pet right along with you, pet-friendly policies are endorsed by the San Francisco SPCA (SF/SPCA), one of the most highly respected organizations of its kind in the U.S. "Most animals benefit from human contact, just as we do from theirs, with lower blood pressure and less stress," says Daniel Crain, president of the SF/SPCA. "Having pets in the workplace gives pet owners a chance to reinforce good behavior, which can lead to a better relationship overall."
Facts: 73 percent of firms surveyed said pets created a more productive work environment, 96 percent said pets created positive work relations, and 58 percent of employees worked later when their pets were in the office. Sample pet policies can be found at www.sfspca.org/advocacy/pets_at_work.shtml#at_work.
Oracle Events
Here is a short list of upcoming events that Oracle will be participating in. For additional information and a complete list of events, visit oracle.com/events.
BAI Retail Delivery Conference and Expo
Orlando, Florida, November 15–18, 2005
At "the industry's biggest meeting of the minds," the best and the brightest will once again gather to tackle critical business issues with winning strategies and need-to-know information.
Insurance & Technology Executive Summit 2005
Palm Springs, California, November 13–16, 2005
At this exclusive, invitation-only event, you can take advantage of unique networking and educational opportunities to gain insights into how to make sense of the new technologies that will transform the insurance industry.
Project World
Orlando, Florida, November 15–18, 2005
Be a part of the must-attend project management and business analysis event of the year, and see for yourself what everyone in the industry is talking about.
Frost & Sullivan, Sales and Marketing 2006
Phoenix, Arizona, January 22–27, 2006
This executive summit delivers real-world insights from seasoned sales and marketing professionals along with multiple opportunities for you to network and brainstorm with solution providers and your peers in interactive sessions that allow you to get practical in applying what you've learned to your
own organization.
Apps Days
Various dates and cities
Hear the latest on Oracle applications strategy, Oracle Oracle Fusion, and product-
specific updates. Experience a valuable day of learning and networking with peers, Oracle staff, and partners.
PARTNER NEWS
Business Intelligence and Beyond
A Future with Fusion
There are currently 14,000 partners and a mix of 7,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators supporting Oracle Fusion Middleware. Recent additions to the company's partner programs bring the total number of packaged application and infrastructure software vendors using Oracle Fusion Middleware to more than 4,750. Partners are leveraging Oracle Fusion Middleware to extend the value of existing systems and simplify adoption of service-oriented architectures (SOAs). Market-leading ISVs are demonstrating broad, global support for Oracle Fusion Middleware. Agile, Business Objects, and RSA Security are some of the leading ISVs that are using or integrating the software to provide the foundation of SOAs and business solutions that streamline business and IT operations, improve the accuracy and timeliness of decisions, and help drive security and compliance initiatives.
Noetix Brings Out the Best in Key Performance Indicators
"Noetix has been an Oracle partner for more than 10 years, delivering easy-to-use, fast access to Oracle Applications for more than 1,200 customers worldwide," says Morris Beton, CEO of Bellevue, Washington-based Noetix, a Certified Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork.
Oracle recently began working to enhance the integration of Noetix software with Oracle Daily Business Intelligence. This arrangement will demonstrate the combined value of Noetix' market-leading NoetixViews products for Oracle E-Business Suite and the recently released Oracle Daily Business Intelligence Designer tool. They enable Oracle Daily Business Intelligence customers to extend the value of the reporting system's prebuilt dashboards, key performance indicators (KPIs), and reports with custom-built content based upon NoetixViews. Noetix technology enables users of Oracle Daily Business Intelligence to rapidly create additional KPIs and reports directly within its framework to provide a more flexible and extensible solution.
Riding on the METRO RFID Train
Food, clothing, and specialty item suppliers serving the METRO Group—one of the largest worldwide retail trading groups—now have the opportunity to expand their use of RFID technology through the new EPC-Metro-Compliance-Package, being offered jointly by Oracle, Intermec, SATO, and Schreiner LogiData. The integrated solution—consisting of software, hardware, and a service-and-support package—enables RFID technology to be rapidly and securely deployed in companies today and expanded in the future. Oracle and its partners can implement the entire solution in just five days.
The METRO Group has been gradually introducing RFID technology into its supply chain, in line with its detailed guidelines, since November 2004. The EPC-Metro-Compliance-Package allows data to be imported from different ERP systems, generates electronic product codes, prints and reads RFID labels, and checks pallets.
Vulnerability Management with Lumigent and Oracle
Oracle partner Lumigent Technologies has released Lumigent Vulnerability Manager DB 3.0, a powerful enterprise security solution that enables organizations to identify, analyze, and continuously monitor a wide range of security activities related to their databases.
"Activities that put key information assets at risk are a growing problem, and organizations need to take preventive measures to ensure that these assets are safe," says Cliff Pollan, CEO of Lumigent. "For organizations that must comply with increasingly strict data regulations, the ideal solution combines proven and powerful data auditing technology with the ability to identify and mitigate potential issues before they happen. Even more important is a system that recognizes patterns of activity that can lead to a security breach. Lumigent Vulnerability Manager DB 3.0 augments our established expertise in data auditing with new technology that provides near-real-time assurance capabilities."
Lumigent Vulnerability Manager DB 3.0 works with database products from Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft. Using industry best practices and an organization's own policy information, it provides current-state analysis of database and operating system vulnerabilities. From this baseline analysis, changes can be managed, enabling a systematic process for identification, notification, and mitigation of vulnerabilities. With this insight, organizations can be confident of the integrity of their information systems.
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