Spotlight Features

Fidelitone Logistics works with large retailers to manage their inventories and ship consumer goods worldwide. Mike Schoenfeld, an executive VP at Fidelitone, recently gave a group of executives from a venture capital firm a tour of the company's operations. No, the VC model hasn't changed so radica...

RFID has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. It started with a bang a few years ago, when Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense issued their edicts that all suppliers would need to get on the RFID bandwagon within a set time frame. Well, that deadline has come and gone, and uptake has fallen we...

Recent developments in robotics are promising to reshape supply chain fundamentals. Specifically, robotic devices are improving warehouse operations to a degree unforeseen only a short while ago, by automating a slew of repetitive, difficult and usually monotonous tasks. Applying this technology t...

Zappos, online shoe emporium extraordinaire, has been expanding its line of merchandise in recent years -- offering clothes, watches and other jewelry, and even housewares. For the consumer, the shift has appeared effortless -- just more categories to explore on the Web site. Behind the scenes, thou...

Can the privatized and anonymized be monetized? When it comes to the mega-million-name member lists of social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, Big Business really wants to know. As consumer databases go, the Facebook and MySpace lists have an appealing advantage over databases derived from ...

With an attractive force akin to the massive black hole at the center of the galaxy, online social networks have pulled into their orbits scores of new startups searching for profits. The target: eyeballs. Last January, Facebook totaled 68 million unique visitors and 1.1 billion page views, and MySp...

Nobody, not even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg himself, has yet successfully produced a proven, sustainable and scalable business model that can satisfactorily monetize the vast ecosystem of the social networks -- Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. The reason for this could be rooted in ...

For some companies, the decision to move to the cloud is a no-brainer -- especially if they limit their planning to pure number crunching. Without a doubt, the savings for such a leap, both explicit and implicit, can be huge. Still, though, there are technical issues to consider, not the least of wh...

As with any new technology, there are special considerations that must be taken into account when deciding how or whether to implement a cloud-based application. These are early days for cloud computing, which means the planning process must move off auto-pilot. Here are some of the things companies...

Having joined the business software company in 1996, George Klaus, chairman, president and CEO of Epicor, is hardly a newbie by industry standards. However, he tells CRM Buyer that all of his executive team has been with the company even longer -- long enough, in other words, to have weathered sever...

"Not to beat about the bush, but the budgeting process at most companies has to be the most ineffective practice in management. It sucks the energy, time, fun and big dreams out of an organization. In fact, when companies win, in most cases it is despite their budgets, not because of them." These a...

Saturday, Nov. 8, 6:15 p.m. The Wheaton, Md., Metrorail stop in greater Washington, D.C. I am meeting a friend at 7, and I'm later than I wanted to be getting to the Metro. Unfortunately, I'm a bit off my stride. I forgot to get dollar bills and now have to scrounge through my purse looking for eno...

What a difference a few years make. Back when Al Gore ran for president in 2000, experts and laypeople alike engaged in lively debates about whether climate change was real or imagined. Two elections later -- after a mammoth public education effort by that same Al Gore -- most people believe that th...

Recovering from an identity theft case can be more than a burden on your time and pocketbook. It can also be emotionally draining. Victims frequently feel the same anger and vulnerability suffered by victims of violent crime. Yet diligently working through the steps recommended by identity theft pre...

So it's happened. Someone's stolen your identity and now you've got a collection agency on your case, demanding payment for a car you didn't buy or a credit card you didn't take out. What to do? The first thing is not to panic, said Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center...