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Your new salespeople have very specific expectations of how their workday should flow. These 20-somethings want to sign a contract poolside, then post about it on Instagram -- #workingpoolside, anyone? They want to approve a purchase order on the go as they head to post-work Pilates and pizza. They ...

I don't see how you can operate a modern application development shop without a platform. Many vendors, if not most, offer a platform or platform-like environment, and a new approach to development, called "DevOps," has been percolating in the information technology space.

Customer-centric CEOs are putting their most important stakeholders, customers and employees, at the top of their agendas, and with good reason. Today, no matter what channel customers use to interact with a brand --phone, email, text, chat, online communities -- companies must be able to create pos...

Google need not comply with the right to be forgotten outside of the EU, according to a European Court of Justice ruling. A global de-referencing would meet the EU's data protection objectives, the court said, but it found that numerous third states do not recognize the right to de-referencing or ha...

I was speaking to an Oracle executive about some of the company's announcements at OpenWorld, and my impression that the company has changed so much that it is difficult to recognize it from the entity it was just a few years ago. On the macro side it's easy to see that Oracle has transitioned from ...

Google has announced tweaks to its privacy policy following earlier reports that its Google Assistant software was eavesdropping on user conversations. Although it does not retain Assistant audio recordings by default, according to Senior Product Manager Nino Tasca, the company has increased privacy...

Q1 in any business is the toughest for generating revenue and Oracle is no exception. In its Q1 earnings call it admitted missing by about $70 million on a $9.2 billion nut: small but consequential. No need to run for the smelling salts though, Oracle has been here before and it's got this. It shoul...

You've just come home from the gym and discovered that your teenager cleaned out your stash of energy bars. Drat. You decide to order a new supply of bars online. You usually buy Clif Bars, so you type the brand name into Amazon search -- but just as you're about to click the "Buy Now" button, you n...

There were 5,524 store closures in the U.S. alone last year. There is no doubt that the retail industry is moving to e-commerce. For mid-sized retail companies, this trend can be a major opportunity to gain market share in their local areas and continue to grow in an industry dominated by Amazon and...

What is the secret sauce of a sales rockstar? While there isn't a single end-all-be-all ingredient, I've unlocked some tricks of the trade for reps looking to rise to the next level.

Disruption drives business failure and success. Most people think technology drives disruption, but technology merely enables disruption -- changing customer needs cause it. This is especially obvious in e-commerce. Amazon's rapid growth and increased customer base got retailers worried. Leaders tho...

It has been my belief for several years that our industry is trending toward the formation of an information utility. I draw this conclusion carefully based on my understanding of how markets develop and commoditize. I consider the beginning of the modern IT era as the early 1970s. You can graph a r...

California Assembly Bill 5, which would require many businesses to hire workers as employees rather than independent contractors, has passed its second reading. After a vote on amendments in a third reading, it likely will go to Governor Gavin Newsom, who has indicated he will sign it. Bill AB 5 ext...

The attorneys general of 48 states, plus those from United States territory Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have joined in an investigation into whether Google stifled online advertising and search competition. The only holdouts are the attorneys general of Alabama, where Google is building a $600...