Never underestimate the power of one unhappy customer.
Smart use of software can eliminate 'cable guy syndrome,' and save jobs.
By Moshe BenBassat, Chairman and CEO, ClickSoftware
Companies recognize how important the quality of service is when it comes to customer acquisition and retention, and that a drop in customer satisfaction can have a significant impact on a company's success or failure. Yet, Accenture's latest study of global business reports that customer satisfaction ratings have dropped by double-digits in each of the last two years. This finding is not surprising considering that customers today are more demanding then ever, and when expectations are unmet – people talk.
In fact, never underestimate the power of one unhappy customer. 90% share bad experiences with friends, colleagues and 'followers' online. With Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks, individual bad experiences become amplified and are eventually reflected in customer satisfaction ratings. Adding fuel to the fire: Management's statements about "putting the customer first"- if not backed by action, or worse are made in the context of headcount reduction - backfire as lipservice.
A "Davos virgin" speculates about the World Economic Forum.
I head to Europe this week to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting, better known by the name of Swiss town in which it is held, Davos. I am a Davos virgin, so I intend to see the conference through the eyes of the newcomer that I am and to drink up its global celebrities, big thinkers and attendant hangers on MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - Jan 24, 2010 7:15 PM ET
Apple's gadgets win adulation, but research shows the sector needs a jolt if it wants to grow
By Wouter Koetzier, global managing director-Accenture's Innovation Performance Group, and Adi Alon, North American managing director-Accenture's Innovation Performance Group
Large consumer technology companies are underperforming in the global innovation battle.
The culprit: Widespread flaws in how they manage and invest in innovation.
If tech companies want to grow, they need to invest in breakthrough, high-impact innovations MORE
Dec 7, 2009 10:00 AM ET
Device testing needs to drastically improve or carriers and manufacturers face big risks to their reputations.
By Abhijit Kabra, senior executive, Accenture
Kabra: How well has your mobile device been tested? Photo: Accenture
Cell phones have come a long way in the last five years: We can surf the web, listen to music, watch TV, and make payments on our phones. So why is the process of testing these devices stuck MORE
Oct 28, 2009 6:00 AM ET
Remember how cloud computing was supposed to kill client/server? Turns out it's more of a wedding than a funeral.
First, some background: The hype surrounding cloud computing in recent years has been nothing short of wild. If you believed the popular wisdom, the traditional computing model was toast. Businesses were going to stop loading specialized programs onto workers' PCs and buying expensive software and servers for data centers.
Instead, we'd have the MORE
Jon Fortt - Oct 22, 2009 7:00 AM ET
As cloud computing spreads, so does your company's data.
Tobolski: The cloud also has a dark side. Photo: Accenture
By Joseph F. Tobolski, director of development, Accenture Technology Labs
It often starts off innocently, say with a twentysomething employee seeking additional servers to do a data analysis project. Studies show, after all, that it's these "millennials" who expect to use their own preferred technologies for work rather than those supplied MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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