A Live Support Service for B2B Customers
Business for online customer support providers is booming and new products and services seem to be coming out of the woodwork. IGN has been covering some of what's available on the consumer side, but business-to-business solutions are out there as well. e-commerce support centers, inc., the self-proclaimed "largest provider of live, customer service solutions to Internet-based commerce companies," is touting a full suite of solutions that enable clients to offer a 24/7 customer support service that includes live chat, phone support, voice/video over IP, personalized email response and site monitoring. Specific features include push technology; survey production; a Java/HTML option; firewall compatibility; and "Auto Pilot," which gives customers an interactive sequence of pre-scripted questions and possible answers to quickly determine requests. For more information, visit www.ecomsupportcenters.net
Search Engine Optimization via WebPosition Gold
Care to try out a free tool for positioning your site favorably on search engine sites? FirstPlace Software has a product that's designed to do just that. WebPosition GoldTM aims to boost your site to the top of the results pages by using several techniques. Features include:
generates HTML pages designed to rank near the top of the search results;
analyzes your existing Web pages and gives plain-English advice on how to improve them;
includes a simple, built-in HTML editor for fast and easy changes;
assists in uploading your new and changed pages;
submits your pages to the major search engines automatically;
reports your positions on each search engine for each keyword you are targeting;
tracks the number of visitors to your site, where they came from, and what keywords they used to find you
The standard edition runs you $149, but you can download a free trial version at www.webposition.com
Makin' I-Deals in the Rockies
CEOs, venture capitalists and business development executives will gather in Telluride Colorado for the The Standard's i_deals conference June 7-10. The invitation-only networking event aims to accelerate strategic partnerships and powerful alliances between leading Internet industry deal-makers. To learn more or request an invitation, visit www.thestandard.com/events/ideals.
Red Herring Offers Workshop for Entrepreneurs
This month's PC EXPO 2000 in New York city will feature Red Herring's Entrepreneur Summit, an intensive full-day course offering entrepreneurs the concrete tools they need to succeed in this aggressive
marketplace. The workshop, to be held June 26, features industry experts who instruct entrepreneurs on how to get and stay funded, how to work with venture capitalists, how to forge strategic alliances, and more. John Mecklenburg, Editor of Red Herring Events, will moderate the day's program. Red Herring's
sell-out workshops feature industry experts who instruct entrepreneurs on how to get and stay funded, how to work with venture capitalists, how to forge strategic alliances, and more. Details await you at www.redherring.com/events.
New Group Attempts to Develop International Standards for B2B E-Commerce
Two hundred world leaders will meet in San Francisco September 27 at The Forum for Trust in Online
Trade's inaugural summit conference with the goal of building international standards for B2B electronic commerce. The event, co-sponsored by AIG, Cambridge Technology Partners and TradeCard, was created
in response to the B2B e-marketplace boom and "subsequent international incidents that have left
some experts questioning the reliability of the Internet as a B2B e-commerce option." September's inaugural summit event, "Linking the Virtual to the Physical: Building Trust in the Global Market," will differ from most like-events in that its participants will seek to shape international confidence-building standards for eCommerce going forward. Visit www.thetrustforum.com for more information.
A Marriage of Online and Offline Marketing Tools
Claritas, Inc., a provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services, and Nielsen//NetRatings, the leading Internet audience measurement service from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. have announced a partnership that will help companies improve the planning of their overall strategic marketing programs, bridging traditional offline marketing activities with the Internet to better target Web consumers. The new approach will combine Nielsen//NetRatings' Internet audience
measurement information with Claritas' marketing segmentation systems, Prizm and MicroVision,
and allow marketers in the financial, telecom, retail and energy industries to improve their outreach to Web users. Under the agreement, the two companies will offer customers lifestyle segmentation information. Using Nielsen//NetRatings' data, Claritas will analyze each site's audience according to their Prizm or
MicroVision target market segments. Prizm and MicroVison are used by major financial companies, retailers, telecommunications firms, utilities and advertisers to target consumers, identify markets and locations, and evaluate media and promotional opportunities. With the data, marketers can identify the
Internet sites visited by those in their target segments. Combining the Claritas data with the
Nielsen//NetRatings data will make it possible to assess online and offline media using the same
common criteria. Claritas currently provides monthly, custom lifestyle segmentation reports based on Nielsen//NetRatings' Internet audience data. Standardized products are expected to be available in late summer through Claritas and NetRatings.
Video Conferencing Made Easy by Videocall
Participants in online video conferences can now take advantage of a new Web-based service by Videocall Group Ltd and Genesys that aims to make video conferencing more efficient. Sessions are managed by Videocall from start to finish and users can log on and request meetings at the touch of a button. The service ensures that participants are notified with a pre-call diary notice 30 minutes before a meeting. A support team is on hand at all times. If one network goes down, conference attendees arer automatically switched to another network. For more information call Videocall in the U.K. at 44 (0)1276 706706.
RSA Security Provides Security for TurboLinux E-Commerce Platfrom
TurboLinux Inc., a high-performance Linux company, and e-security specialist RSA Security Inc. have signed an agreement to license RSA Security software for use in TurboLinux's e-commerce Linux operating system platform, TurboLinux Server 6.0. TurboLinux Server 6.0, with RSA BSAFE(R) SSL-C security protocol components, is now available at thousands of stores in North America with a suggested retail price of $199.95. The RSA BSAFE SSL-C product includes everything needed to implement the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2 and v3) protocol, as well as the Transport Layer Security (TLS v1.0)
protocol, for banking, financial services, Web publishing, government and other consumer and
electronic commerce applications.