Compiled by Vicky Nolan
Call Centers See Massive Growth in E-Mail Traffic
"The vast majority of call center managers are underestimating the future
volumes of e-mail which they will cope with," said Datamonitor senior
consultant Steve Morrell.
"There will definitely be cases of call centers close to breaking under
the strain, and as time goes on, consumers will demand almost instant
replies to e-mails - or they will go elsewhere," Morrell added. He
estimates that the contact center market could see a 1,000 percent rise in
e-mails in 2003, over 1999 levels.
www.datamonitor.com
The Death Knell Tolls for Many Dot Com Retailers
A combination of weak financials, increasing competitive pressures, and
investor flight will drive most current dot com retailers out of business by
2001, according to Forrester Research. "It's time to face facts: Online
retail's honeymoon is over," said Joe Sawyer, senior analyst at Forrester.
"The difficulties that firms like CDNow and Peapod now face will only
become more widespread. Financial turbulence and new competition will dry
up venture funding and accelerate the dot com shakeout as the year
progresses," he added.
Forrestor suggests that the consolidation will occur in three waves. The
first wave will see firms selling commodities, like books, software and
flowers, consolidating by fall 2000 following slow annual growth rates.
Merchants who sell undifferentiated products at razor-thin margins - like
pet supplies, toys and consumer electronics - will collapse before marketing
expenditures ramp up for the next holiday season.
Meanwhile, heavily branded, high style markets like furniture and
clothing will keep a toehold on stability until next year.
www.forrestor.com
Linux is Red Hot
International Data Corp. (IDC) reports Linux sales are showing red-hot
levels, in their most recent Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.
"Even though Linux represents a small portion (approximately 6 percent) of
the entry server market in unit shipments, it will become an important area
of growth within the server market as more and more branded vendors come out
with Linux server offerings and as end users select Linux servers not just
because of reliability, availability, and performance as well," said Hoang
Nguyen, senior research analyst for IDC.
Additionally, IDC listed the top five vendors shipping Linux:
- Compaq, 25% market share
- IBM, 10%
- Hewlett-Packard, 7%
- Dell, 7%
- Fujitsu Siemens, 3%
- and others, 48%
www.idc.com
Thin Clients Find Help
Okay, so it's really misleading, there are no new diet plans listed here.
Instead, "thin client" refers to emerging desktop technologies that compete
mainly with PCs and traditional terminals, usually either enterprise network
computers (NC) or Windows-based terminals (WBTs). "Thin" is used to
describe these technologies because they simply provide access to
applications and data residing on host computers, similar to set-top web
browsers, and some wireless and mobile smart handheld devices.
According to IDC, thin clients are finding a following with IT managers.
Not only are they much less expensive than PCs, but more importantly, they
are cost-effective and easier to deploy, administer and support than
PC-based packages, which is winning over many IT managers.
Additionally, their popularity has grown so much that the technology is
gaining some real weight, and crossing the line into PC-dom. IDC reports
that one trend is to provide thin clients with slots for flash cards that
allow then to boot as Linux or Java workstations; while other features
include hard drive upgrades and parallel, serial, and USB ports that enable
attachment of scanners, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and more.
www.idc.com
Poll Indicates Most Are Concerned About Privacy Problems
A recent Business Week/Harris Poll showed that more than half of those
polled (57 percent) favor legal regulation for the collection and use of
personal information by online sites.
More than half of the respondents would choose to "opt out" of providing
personal information. At the same time, 86 percent would rather be given an
"opt in" option before giving out their name, address, and phone number.
The poll was published in the March 20, 2000 issue of BusinessWeek
Online.
Why Customers Head for the Competitor's Site
Customers are fleeing sites with long download times, according to
HydraWEB Technologies. Their recent e-Customer Satisfaction Survey gauged
the most common reasons that customers depart one Web site and head to a
competing one.
"Service is a crucial component to acquiring and retaining customers,"
said Amy Larsen DeCarlo, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.
"On the Web, keeping a site available and performing well is a critical
component of customer service. High-performing, highly available Web sites
are in a good position to win new customers and retain existing ones."
Other reasons respondents gave for leaving a site were:
- Site difficult to navigate, 28 percent;
- Presence of pop up ads, 5 percent;
- Lack of product, 8 percent;
- Registration process, 6 percent; and
- Secure information requirements, 4 percent.
www.hydraweb.com
Forget the Kiddies, It's the Boomers and Seniors Jumping Online
As older folks get more comfortable with new computer technology, they're
jumping online, according to a recent Newsbytes article. Additionally, once
they get online, the older folks, aged 45-to-64 years old, are more likely
to stay online longer and browse more Web pages per visit, compared to
college aged Web surfers. Unfortunately, say some researchers, this older
age group is often ignored advertisers.
"I think what you're seeing is that a lot of marketing and advertising is
being targeted at the younger generation," Stacie Leone, director of
marketing communications for Media Metrix told Newsbytes. "What Media
Metrix found is that this older demographic is worth just as much investment
in terms of marketing. As baby boomers are aging, hopefully they'll be
looking to that segment of the audience as well."