IT Infrastructure & Applications | Outsourcing Center

Skill Building Minus the Frustration

Jerri L. Ledford, Business Writer

As little as five years ago, when you needed to train employees, there were three basic options for doing it-sit the employee down with a video, partner that employee with a more experienced employee, or put a group of them in front of an instructor. Those weren’t terrible ways to train employees, but they weren’t the most effective.\x0d\x0aToday, the Internet gives training new meaning, new interaction and new power by leveraging the flexibility of e-Learning.

Ordering Online Produces A Catalog of Benefits for Quill

Outsourcing Center, Bruce McCracken, Business Writer

For Quill, a mail order office supply retailer based in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire, eCommerce in the late 1990s was a lucrative and untapped marketing channel. Its first Web site, launched in 1996, was rudimentary. We figured that everybody has one, so we better get one up, too. We did not pay a lot of attention to it. It was not a focused effort, says Lisa Iannuzzelli, senior Internet marketing manager. Email marketing, which Quill decided to do itself, included converting its printed newsletters to email.

Outsourcing Helps Trade Center Buyers Get Back in Business

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Outsourcing suppliers are responsive in a crisis. Forty-five minutes after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Compaq executives were on the phone, putting together a triage of support for its eight financial clients with Recover-All contracts as well as its many other customers headquartered in the twin towers. Tom Simmons, vice president of Compaq Managed Services in Stowe, Massachusetts, says within three hours Compaq had organized a crisis center routing telephone questions to Colorado Springs and opened a walk-in facility near Madison Square Garden manned by its Northeast sales team. A crisis Web site was online that night.

An Ounce of Prevention

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Burlington Resources, Inc., which is involved in the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons, ranks first among U.S. independent oil and gas companies, in terms of proved U.S. reserves. It’s a company with the diverse global opportunities and financial strength of a major oil company, but it is also blessed with the entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and responsiveness of an independent operator. If there was anything that might impede its ability to grow and remain competitive in its industry, Burlington would take steps to rectify that situation.

Delivering the Difference

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

If you’re a patient in the emergency room, you definitely want that hospital or trauma center to have all the necessary supplies on hand — from IVs and blood plasma to bandages and syringes. But the hospital can’t keep everything on hand; it’s in the patient care business, not inventory warehousing. So the doctors and nurses rely on medical distributors to be sure they have what’s needed — or can deliver it in a couple of hours for an emergency. Many of them depend on Owens & Minor, Inc. (O&M) and, in outsourcing their supplies process to O&M, they enjoy the added advantage of reduced costs.

Coping with Increased Development Cycles

Jerri L. Ledford, Business Writer

In the world of packaged software, upgrades usually happen about once a year, sometimes less, and those upgrades are usually pretty extensive. But in the world of an application service provider (ASP), one of the benefits of offering a centrally located application is the ability to upgrade more frequently. And because upgrades can be performed without disturbing a user’s systems, they can be done on a more direct, incremental basis.

No Room for So-So Performance

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Neither rain nor snow… You know the adage about the reliability of the U.S. postal system. Today we might transfer that goal concept: Neither viruses, nor bandwidth nor disk space will stop email! — at least not for organizations that depend on it as their primary communication vehicle.

Getting Started on the Right Foot

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Success in an outsourcing relationship must be built on the right foundation, and that happens only when the buyer clearly and objectively describes to the supplier exactly what it wants to buy. That’s what Xcel Energy did when it entered into its successful outsourcing relationship with IBM Global Services.

Back to School

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

The American School Directory (ASD) is the Internet guide to every public, private and Catholic K-12 school in the United States. Users have access to communication tools, maps, calendars, menus, payment tools, school wish-lists, images of students at work, alumni directories (even for schools that are now closed) and much more. Schools without their own Web sites can adopt the ASD site, and ASD also works hand-in-hand with schools that have their own sites.

Drexel Deepens Its Impact

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

As the world increasingly becomes defined by technology, Drexel University (DU) is committed to driving innovation and being a leader in technological advancements. Drexel stays in the headlines, having created a number of nationwide firsts. In November 2000, its 62-acre campus became the first major 100% wireless university in the U.S. Other firsts include distribution of speech recognition software to all students and staff, the nation’s first online techno-MBA and an online affinity bank. DU students and faculty have access to a wide array of information technology (IT) resources and support services.

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