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from E-Commerce Times:
"The B2B Renaissance, Part 2: Solutions in a Global Economy"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/54069.html

From: tejapkan@gmail.com (tejas)

Targeting Your B2B Lead Generation

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Yaphon Leads China's B2B Alliance; Provides Chinese Commodity Information Search

BEIJING, Oct. 25 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- On October 25, owners of dozens of the best Chinese B2B websites, officials from the Chinese government agencies, and representatives from foreign chambers of commerce witnessed the foundation of the ''Yaphon B2B Alliance''. Being a Chinese B2B professional organization that enjoys the most abundant trading resources and attracts the most types of industries to participate, the establishment of Yaphon B2B Alliance marks the end of separate operation of online trading by individual sites. Instead, B2B sites in various industries get the opportunity to consolidate their resources and enjoy common advantages, and present as an allied sector before buyers, while offering a great path for overseas buyers to acquaint with overall Chinese market.

According to the introduction from Michael, the CEO of Yaphon.com ( http://www.yaphon.com/ ), the first English B2B X.0 international e-business platform in China and organizer of Yaphon Search Alliance, the B2B Alliances will help foreign customers get a clearer understanding of Chinese exporters more conveniently and accurately, and it will also promote the internationalization of Chinese industrial B2B. It is said that, with regard to the operation of the Alliance, Yaphon will not participate in the entire transaction; instead, it will give full play to its advantage in vertical search engines and e-business platforms, provide overseas buyers with the information about Chinese commerce and provide Chinese exporters with more business volume and commercial opportunities. By resorting to the new advanced idea and the rich resources, Yaphon has swiftly gathered many industrial magnates, including http://www.efu.com.cn/ , http://www.chinahardware.org/ and http://www.pack.net.cn/ .

Before this, Alibaba.com occupied a big share in China's B2B e-business market. However, the establishment of ''Yaphon B2B Alliance (B2B Alliance)'' also indicates that the Chinese B2B market has begun to combine the advantageous resources and demonstrate Chinese suppliers to overseas buyers in an organized way. Officials say Yaphon adopts the TQS (Total Quality Sourcing) operation system based on the theory of group selection. It enables overseas buyers to have more visualized understanding of the products and Chinese exporters from multiple angles on the basis of QR (Quality Ranking) offered by the website, and it effectively solves the sincerity and credit problem that had puzzled the e-business industry in the past.

About Baichuan Tongda

Baichuan Tongda is the leading B2B e-business facilitator of foreign trade in China, and the development standard bearer in the professional vertical search engine. The e-business services of Baichuan Tongda, with the English version B2B vertical search engine most prominent, take international purchasers and domestic suppliers as their service focal points, through advanced techniques and the professional service experiences, they supply the information to help bilateral international business cooperation, as well as advanced, safe, and effective e-business network platforms for China's foreign trade.

Baichuan Tongda

B2B CFO/CIO, LLP Adds Prominent Partner To Ranks: Timothy Mclellan Joins As Partner In Atlanta

B2B CFO/CIO, LLP, the fastest growing nationwide CFO and CIO firm, announced today that Timothy McLellan has joined the firm’s Atlanta, GA market as Partner.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 9, 2006 -- B2B CFO/CIO, LLP, the fastest growing nationwide CFO and CIO firm, announced today that Timothy McLellan has joined the firm’s Atlanta, GA market as Partner. Tim will provide part–time CFO services to small and mid-size businesses in the Forsyth and North Fulton areas.

Tim brings over 25 years of financial management experience. Prior to joining B2B, Tim was Vice President of Finance for the Commercial Flooring Installation Division of Interface, Inc., in Atlanta. Previously Tim held positions of Corporate Controller and Internal Audit Director for a large building materials manufacturer and distributor based in Alpharetta. Tim also spent seven years as a Manager with a Big 4 CPA Firm. Tim is both a CPA and a Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional.

Jerry L. Mills, CEO and Founder of B2B CFO/CIO, said: “We are delighted that Tim has joined our partnership. He is a highly accomplished senior level financial professional and is a great addition to our firm.”

Tim will focus his practice on helping business owners increase their cash flow and improve their profits, giving the business owners more time to focus on other areas of their growing businesses. He will focus on servicing businesses in the Forsyth and North Fulton market areas. Tim resides in Cumming, GA. He has two sons who are very active in youth sports in Forsyth County. Tim is a member of the Cumming – Forsyth Chamber of Commerce, Construction Financial Management Association, American Institute of CPA’s and the Georgia Society of CPA’s.

According to Tim, “Joining B2B CFO/CIO as Partner in the Forsyth / North Fulton area was a great opportunity and I am excited to bring my skills and expertise to service the growing businesses.”

About B2B CFO/CIO, LLP
Founded in 1987 by Jerry L. Mills, B2B CFO/CIO, LLP is one of the fastest growing nationwide CFO and CIO firms. B2B CFO/CIO is the largest firm in the country that serves the needs of closely held companies with sales up to $60,000,000 annually. Its partners have an average of 20 years of experience and each individual partner is a senior level executive with a broad range of experience.

Two of the hallmarks of the firm are the partners work on a hand-shake basis and are engaged to work on an as-needed basis. The firm’s goals are to make order out of chaos and then continue with the client in a long-term, cost-effective relationship. The firm’s motto is: First direction, then velocity. For additional information please visit online at www.b2bcfo.com .

In June of 2006, Jerry L. Mills released his first book titled “The Danger Zone – Lost in the Growth Transition.” For additional information on the book, please visit a the site www.dangerzonebook.com.

B2B Marketers Take Action to Share Their Insights

Direct Impact Marketing is inviting B2B marketers to voice their opinion and share their expertise on the lead generation tools that they use most. Survey results will be compiled and presented at MarketingSherpa B-2-B Demand Generation Summit.

(PRWEB) October 5, 2006 -- Toronto, ON – What are the most popular, affordable, and user friendly B2B lead generation tools? Direct Impact Marketing is inviting B2B marketers to voice their opinion and share their expertise about the lead generation tools they use most. Direct Impact Marketing is asking marketers to complete an online survey, found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=561102653676. It takes only a few minutes to fill out and its results will be used to identify the best lead generation tools in the industry.

The results will be compiled and presented by Robert Lesser, Direct Impact Marketing’s President, at the MarketingSherpa B-to-B Demand Generation Summit in Boston and San Francisco this fall. Direct Impact Marketing will also share the survey results with each respondent via email. A directory of lead generation tools will be published on the LeadGenTools.com community.

"It is important that we share our knowledge and experience with one another in the small but dispersed B2B marketing community," says Robert Lesser, President of Direct Impact Marketing. "We need to know what lead generation tools rank highly with B2B marketers. This survey will provide the industry with the information needed to make the best decisions about lead generation tools."

About Direct Impact Marketing Inc.
Direct Impact Marketing Inc. offers outsourced B2B lead generation services as well as acting as the publisher of the LeadGenTools.com community (to go live on October 9, 2006). This free B2B Community provides marketers with a directory and peer reviews of affordable and user-friendly lead generation tools found nowhere else on the web, and as nominated by B2B marketers.

The services division of Direct Impact Marketing is an innovative outsourcer providing B2B lead generation services for marketing and sales executives. Leveraging industry best practices in lead generation along with customizing CRM tools, Direct Impact Marketing is focused on providing on-demand inside telesales and direct marketing teams.

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B2B: Know Your Roles

Manoj Jasra Expert Author Published: 2006-10-03

When providing services such as Search Marketing strategies to large B2B tech firms you will find that there are several levels of management to please (this is the case for many large corporations).

With above average sales cycles and the focus to produce quality leads it's important to establish the right metrics to satisfy all levels within the company.

It is also important to understand the objectives of each of the stakeholders at the B2B Company as well as their roles/responsibilities within the business. Products and solutions in B2B Tech frequently cost several thousands of dollars, causing the customer to stay within the research phase of the buying funnel for an extended period of time. As a result, success measurements for marketing programs are different for various positions within the organization therefore it is important that you define custom metrics and performance dashboards appropriately, so that they are meaningful to that stakeholder within their role.

Roles and Goals

Although there are many levels of personnel at B2B Tech organizations there are 3 that I would like to focus on for today: CEO, CMO and Director of Web/Electronic Marketing. Each individual has different needs and goals but they all want to see their business succeed, and online performance is a significant component of that success. It is important to understand all of their needs so that custom solutions for the site can be developed to address them.

CEOs are visionaries and are not concerned with more granular issues with the website; instead they want to focus on items such as the company's market share in the competitive space, profitability and consistent ROI. The CEO reports to a Board of Directors, who along with the CEO has created a set of objectives that the company must achieve. The last thing any major corporation's CEO wants to do is lose the confidence of the board of directors and investors therefore it's important for CEOs to understand their company's unique competitive advantage and leverage it to stay successful.

CMOs are focused on the company's direction as well, but more specifically the marketing direction. While having a keen interest in the company's market share, CMOs want to see the company develop strong brand image as well as understand the ROI behind all marketing initiatives. The CMO reports directly to the CEO therefore needs solutions to show visible measurable results quickly. The optimum SEM vendor for a B2B tech CMO would be one who understands the B2B tech marketplace.

As we progress a little bit further into the organization we notice the objectives having an increasing tactical focus rather than strategic. The Director of Web Marketing is the person in the organization given the responsibility to find tactical ways to use the web site specifically, to accomplish company goals shared by the CMO and CEO. This person is also interested in ROI but want to see that data at a more granular level. Being involved in the actual implementation of the strategies this person will need to understand factors like resource allocations and ease of implementation. The Director of Web Marketing wants a proven winner within the SEM industry so case studies and research within B2B tech are useful to them.

Metrics That Matter

When selecting reporting metrics it is important to remember that B2B Tech companies are often lead generation sites and have considerably long sales cycles, however this is not to rule out that these websites could also serve purposes such as customer support or communication. Another consideration is that you should define metrics that are appropriate to each level within the organization because a CEO will not necessarily want to see the same data as the Director of Web Marketing.

Metrics that are important to the CEO are very high level and include things like revenue and market share. Revenue is difficult to measure through regular web analytics because it is hard to calculate revenue on a B2B lead generation site whose leads are often closed after a long sales cycle. In this case a third party solution like Siebel would be best to extract the data out of and present to the CEO. Siebel provides the ability to analyze and measure revenue/leads for both offline and online marketing efforts. Market Share also requires a third party solution and in this case I recommend HitWise, which is a great tool for measuring competitive intelligence. HitWise is very useful in benchmarking online performance between you and your competitors, specifically: website rank, time spent on site, online audience, search terms and referring sources.

The CMO wants to see the same performance reports the CEO does plus a few metrics more. The CMO is interested in analyzing ROI by all the various company marketing efforts which includes PPC, Contextual Advertising and Organic referrals. This helps the CMO determine the best marketing mediums to direct the company's resources towards.

The granularity increases as we move onto the Director of Web Marketing. This position is interested in all the specific web site performance details which include: conversion rates by campaigns/referring sources, percent new visitors, sales cycle length, time spent on site per visitor, and effectiveness of landing pages to keep visitors engaged.

It is important to understand the stakeholders of the B2B tech organization and their main objectives and how the web site contributes to those goals. This is the only we can define performance metrics that are important to each position at the company. The metrics that are important to each position should be presented in a consistent format at predetermined intervals, for example: to CEOs monthly and to Directors of Web Marketing weekly. Try using formats such as PDF or excel dashboards for each of your clients on a company extranet. B2B tech firms want SEM companies with proven track records so also use appropriate messaging, case studies and research to help them make their decisions when you are making site marketing recommendations.

eBay to Enter Tractor Segment

At an event in Mumbai, eBay India Motors, the online marketplace for sale of second hand cars, bikes, and commercial vehicles in the country, announced a milestone in the form of sale of the 100,00th vehicle on their platform.

Rajan Mehra, country manager - new ventures and payments, eBay India, commemorated the occasion by felicitating the Delhi-based buyer and seller who helped the company complete the landmark transaction.

Rana Rekhi of Rana Motors sold a 1996 model Maruti 800 car to Anil Sethi of Sethi Motors on September 23 this year.

Commenting on the deal, Mehra said, "We are proud to announce the sale of the milestone 100,000th vehicle, as it connects the strong dealer network, and a wide reach that the platform has been able to garner with time. We thank all our dealers for their continued support and trust in us."

During the event, eBay India Motors also announced its entry into the fast growing "tractor segment," targeted at rural entrepreneurs, by providing them with a fluid marketplace, and access to a large inventory of vehicles, and a wide network of dealers to trade with across geographies.

Speaking about the initiative, Mehra said, "Today, we are making a foray into rural India, and launching the "tractor category" on the B2B Motors platform. We plan to extend our base to the 'tractors segment' to further grow our reach, and empower the rural entrepreneurs. This is in keeping with the larger eBay purpose of empowering entrepreneurs around the world."

Business 2 Business world, find your global business partner in a click

Press Release: www.b2bbusinessworld.com


Ecommerce and Internet are two of the most discussed buzz words of the century, and they certainly do create buzz when you hear them. Ecommerce is one of the greatest revolution business world will ever see. It has changed the way the business behaves, and has shown new horizons to the upcoming entrepreneurs. It is possible for someone who stays in Asia to sell his products and services to people in United States of America

On this big net, b2bbusinessworld helps new businesses to get the world exposure. It facilitates new business to find the business partner according to their needs.

It has never been so easier to find your business to business partner from any part of the world. With around fifty categories to choose from, you will definitely find the perfect category to list your business. Whether you are a farmer and want to sell your agriculture products, or you are just a small trader of electronics goods; everyone is welcome to expand their business.

As with retail market, business to business market is growing by leaps and bounds. The growing need of retail market to supply the necessary goods, b2b is the fastest growing market. It does not matter what you are selling, you just need the buyers who can buy from you, and that is exactly what b2bbusinessworld does.

So, what are you waiting for? Just get enrolled on b2bbusinessworld.com and increase your profits in no time. Enrolling does not cost you anything, and you get other privileged benefits. Show your business to world, and find your global business partner.

Resource:
http://www.b2bbusinessworld.com
b2bbusinessworld@yahoo.com

Online Marketing: Getting on the First Page Not a Scientific Thing

Commentary by Coracle Inc.

RISMEDIA, August 24, 2006—It can be exhilarating and frustrating when you are in the business of putting Realtors on the first page of the major web engines. It’s tremendously exciting to get that call when your subscriber sells that first property that comes to them from the Internet, but it can be reciprocally frustrating when some subscribers take longer than the norm to achieve their place on the first pages of major search engines.

In general practice, we put our subscribers on at least one major search engine first page within 90 days of production, and on two first pages (or more) within 120 days. As the first 90 days of subscription with us are not counted against a one year subscription, delay is frustrating, but no one is unfairly penalized for the delay that occasionally occurs in production. We will routinely extend a customer’s subscription to adjust for such delays when they occur, and do so
for no charge.

There are those people who we just can’t get there in that time; those take a little longer. There are also many who go to page one in a month; or even in a few days; it just is not completely predictable. What’s amazing too is that while most folks understand that this is part science, part art, others cannot understand why they should wait one more day for the system to synchronize. It’s a lot like your buyer who looks at 20 homes, never gets back to you after
touring each of them, and then is upset when she calls back too late on a listing you just sold: there are some people you just can’t satisfy.

Many factors can affect anyone’s page ranking and visibility to the search engines. Broken links, changing search link depths promulgated by the engines, DNS resolution problems, geographic location, preponderance of pay-per-click, hosting server problems – there are a great many things that can affect placement negatively. That’s not even including the changes in formula
(algorithms) applied the search engines regularly to keep their sites secure and/or impenetrable to anyone seeking to spam or fool them.

The search engines want to prevent anyone but them from making sites perform on their engines, so they make it very difficult for that to occur. It takes expertise, brains, equipment and vigilance to put customers in good first pages search placement; it is no job for amateurs.

In recent weeks, we have hammered away at two thoughts: Every real estate professional need a dedicated personal Web site (in addition to participating in the corporate site) and every serious Realtor should have a First Page Search Placement facility.

With 77% of all real estate transactions involving the Internet these days (according to the National Association of Realtors®), it shouldn’t be hard to understand why you need a website. If you want to participate in the bounty of the Internet, however, you can’t if you aren’t able to be found when people go looking—not for you, but for what you sell.

That’s why it is so hard to put people on the first pages, and that’s why it is so valuable: being there can make you fabulously successful or just a little bit more successful than you are now, but it will make you more successful. That’s what the big hullabaloo about First Page Search Placement is really all about.

Everyone wants to be on the first page of the organic search placement results because that’s where people looking for homes in your neighborhood land when they go searching for a home to buy. Why not be there to greet them?

Future adds B2B titles to entertainment portfolio

Future has expanded the remit of Simon Maxwell, its film magazines publisher, to include two business-to-business entertainment trade titles.

Maxwell will now publish Home Entertainment Week and its monthly sister magazine, Timecode, in addition to his existing responsibilities on DVD Review, SFX and Total Film.
By bringing the titles under one publisher, Future said it hoped to identify and exploit commercial opportunities across the broader portfolio.
"I'm excited to be covering both the consumer and B2B elements of our enlarged film portfolio," Maxwell said. "There is a natural link across all the titles and Future can fully utilise its combined resources to maximise our market position."
Future has also appointed Michelle Blackwell as head of sales for the B2B titles. Blackwell has been with the company for seven years, working across its consumer electronics, computing and internet portfolios.
She most recently headed advertising sales for the women's-interest division.

Tune your b2b b2c portal store for upcoming season and festival

Press Release Summary = Optimize your b2b / b2c or c2c portal for upcoming seasons or festival, this is right time to market for christmas 2006.

Press Release Body = Marketing your products or services to your business clients offers many challenges than marketing directly to consumers. Here are some steps to help you optimize and boost your B2C and Shopping Portal marketing and promotional efforts.

* Search your target market and audience

Make sure you clearly defined your targeted customers. Find out who are the key decision makers. You can waste a lot of time and effort trying to sell to those who do not have the power to make buying decisions. Maximize your resources by targeting the true decisions makers. If you are not talking directly to the decision maker ensure that all information and collateral stands on its own with a clear message. The decision makers may only see your summary, so make sure it communicates your message clearly.

Make sure your marketing plan is aligned with your strategic business plan. It sounds simple, but in many organizations this does not happen. Marketing plans may get reorganized on a near daily basis due to reductions in budget, re-focusing of ideas, or changes in sales initiatives. By keeping in touch with your strategic business plan you will reduce your risk and also make better decisions. This will help you to deliver your marketing communications with maximum impact.

Most of B2C / B2B portal are not utilized to their maximum potential. Rather then thinking of it as an on-line catalog, one sees it more as a strategic competitive weapon. It is usually the first view of your company that many people receive. What do they see when they first look at your site? A global leader or another follower?

Today, the search engine results page for your company in like name in the new digital front page for your company. When you conduct a search for your company\'s name in Google, what do the first ten search results say about your company? Remember that this is what many potential clients read about you before they even visit your site! There are companies out there whose sole purpose is search engine reputation management. This involves ensuring top ten results for your name turn
favorable.

90% of technical buyers use the internet to seek products, so make sure you optimize your business opportunities being visible in the major search engine results.

Optimizing your site to be found in search engine searches is critical in today\'s economy. But this is only the first step. Once on your site, the visitors have to be converted into leads. Study your web analytics to find out the habits of your visitors. Invest in usability studies. Constantly update the site based on your findings to improve the user experience. This has paid huge dividends for many companies involved in B2B/ B2C and Online Shopping.


Remember, that your website is a low cost way to communicate about your product and brand to your target markets. Also bear in mind that the same is true for your smaller competitors! It is essential that you stay on the leading edge of the technology and maximize your online potential.

This is right time to gear up your website for Christmas 2006 Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing. Take the right step today, and you have six month to optimize your products. Besides, you save your cost on Pay Per Click or other paid Programs. Think about natural search engine optimization today, because when one goes for PPC program, it is too late by then and results are just anybody’s GUESS!!!

KARCHER USA OUTSOURCES B2B FUNCTIONS

Hosted Service Handles B2B/EDI Integration, Transactions & Operations Support
SEEBURGER has announced that Karcher USA, the U.S. division of the global cleaning equipment manufacturer, is outsourcing its trading partner management and other business-to-business functions to SEEBURGER Managed Services. SEEBURGER’s hosted service is handling all B2B/EDI transactions with Karcher’s U.S.-based retail customers as well as all transactions that pass through UPS Supply Chain Management (UPS-SCS), Karcher’s logistics provider, eliminating the time and expense involved in maintaining e-commerce systems in-house.

The engine that drives the service is the SEEBURGER B2B Gateway, a comprehensive EAI and B2B integration suite that is tightly integrated with Karcher’s SAP R/3 system to enable all transaction information to be automatically populated into SAP in real time. The gateway is processing thousands of Karcher messages per month, representing purchase orders, shipping notifications and other transactions with all U.S. customers ranging from Wal-Mart to Costco, Lowe’s, Menards, Sears and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).

That message volume also includes communications with UPS-SCS, which fulfills a large percentage of Karcher orders. All orders to be shipped directly by UPS are transmitted by the SEEBURGER service over a secure FTP connection, loaded into the UPS system, and confirmed with a shipping notice that is sent back to the SEEBURGER system and automatically imported into SAP.

SEEBURGER Managed Services is also handling Karcher’s eBusiness integration and operations support needs. Before deployment, this included all message mapping, workflow development and system testing with each trading partner as well as integration and testing with UPS’ information systems. Since deployment, responsibilities have included 24x7 system monitoring, error handling, and ongoing message maintenance to accommodate changes in trading partners’ needs.

“Our parent company in Germany and several other European offices use the installed SEEBURGER B2B Gateway for their B2B/EDI operations, but our business model in the U.S. is better suited to a hosted service because our staff here is relatively small,” said Oliver Schmid, Manager of Information Systems at Karcher USA in Duluth, Georgia. “It is more cost-efficient for us to outsource this service rather than investing in an internal infrastructure, including a developer and technician, even over the long run.”

Like other users of SEEBURGER Managed Services, Karcher pays a fixed monthly fee, avoiding the upfront costs associated with software, hardware, training and internal staff. Customers can use the SEEBURGER hosted platform as long as they wish, with the option to bring the system in-house at any time without having to invest in a completely new solution.

“Our hosted service reduces risk and lowers the total cost of ownership for any organization with B2B/EDI needs, whether it’s a smaller company, a larger enterprise, or a division like Karcher USA,” said Rakesh Harji, Managing Director of SEEBURGER UK. “Users have access to our mature B2B platform and our 20 years of experience in providing B2B solutions and services without having to install and maintain their e-business infrastructure in-house. These benefits and others make our Managed Services offering a practical alternative for managing B2B

Podcast Use Growing in B2B Marketplace

According to a recent survey, podcast usage among B2B technology buyers is significant and growing. 41% of survey respondents claim they have listened to podcasts on more than one occasion, while 13% stated that they “frequently” download or listen to them.

The KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann survey was completed by more than 3,900 business and IT professionals, representing a variety of job titles, vertical industries and company sizes.

“The objective of this study was to explore the impact new forms of media, concepts of Web 2.0 initiatives, such as podcasts and blogs, are having on content consumption and purchasing influence within the B2B marketplace” says Matt Lohman, director of market research, KnowledgeStorm. “This is one of the first surveys focused specifically on the B2B audience and it clearly shows that podcasts, blogs and other new media types are viable mediums for reaching B2B technology buyers.”

Thirty-two percent of survey respondents stated their usage of podcasts has “Increased” or “Significantly Increased” in the last six months. The same question yielded 39% for blogs. And, there is plenty of upside as the innovative media types, like podcasting, blogging and RSS, are still gaining momentum in the technology buying community.

“With this particular study, our goal was to determine marketing opportunities with podcasts by closely examining the behavior of podcast users as well as non-users,” says Stacy Malone, vice president, interactive media director, Universal McCann. “The results of this study prove that opportunities with new media are growing rapidly. In fact, podcasts have moved into the Top 10 most frequently accessed types of online content. This spike can be directly attributed to the addictive nature of this on-demand medium.”

B2B technology buyers are listening to podcasts for business interests, specifically technology-oriented topics, according to the study findings. Respondents are listening to a combination of personal and business interests in most cases — 65% responded that they listen for both personal and business interests. Furthermore, these respondents are listening to technology specific topics — 72% claimed that they have downloaded or listened to podcasts on technology topics on more than one occasion. Twenty-three percent do so “frequently.”

The study also revealed that B2B technology buyers want research content, such as white papers and analyst reports, delivered as podcasts. Nearly 60% of respondents said that information on business or technology topics, currently delivered as white papers or analyst reports, would be more interesting as podcasts. Fifty-five percent of respondents would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if they were delivered as podcasts.

“Business and technology-related subject material is a perfect match for podcasting content,” says Malone. “Podcasts are no longer being used only for pure entertainment value. They are turning into an indispensable, business-critical information tool.”

“This survey presents a lot of encouraging findings for marketers considering podcasts as a content format. Not only are business and IT professionals tuning in, but frequent users are eager for more business and technology podcast content,” says Lohman. “Fifty-seven percent of the frequent podcast users stated their biggest challenge with podcasts is the scarcity of interesting content. That represents real opportunity for savvy marketers.”

This is the first in a planned series of joint research studies focused on the effect of new media with the B2B marketplace. Upcoming studies will cover topics such as: blogging, RSS feeds, Wikis, Webcasts and mobile technology.

Source: KnowledgeStorm

Indian BPO company acquires Minacs

TransWorks, the BPO (business process outsourcing) arm of the Aditya Birla Group of India, has acquired all outstanding shares of Minacs, a Canadian BPO specialist for the sum of $125 million.

Minacs has a contact center service, but the company also offers marketing services and back office administration.

It claims business across six major industries: automotive (the company is a past GM 'supplier of the year'), consumer products, financial services, public sector, telecommunications, and technology. Contact centers are the big play for Minacs, contributing 67 percent of revenue.

By contrast, back office administration contributes 18 percent, and integrated marketing 15 percent.

Minacs' 35 current job openings are all for positions in Canada (which accounts for 46 percent of company revenue) and the U.S. (49 percent of revenue) The company also has a presence in Europe, where its headquarters are in Germany. Minacs has 5,000 employees.

The interesting thing about the acquisition is that Minacs is bringing much more to the table, in terms of revenue, than legacy TransWorks. Minacs does about $260 million in revenue versus $35 from revenue. That said, TransWorks is part of a much bigger business empire, with the Birla Group doing $7.6 billion in annual revenue.

The normal pattern has been for U.S.-based companies to expand their BPO footprint by acquiring an Indian company.

As far as we are aware, this is the first deal in which an Indian company has expanded its BPO footprint so radically by acquiring a North American company.

India catching up with online B2B : India News

Business to business collaborations in India are going virtual. Many Internet savvy businessmen here are finding a partner and even landing deals online. Though at a nascent stage, experts say it is redefining the age-old ways of doing business and has great potential.

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Online networking is being touted as the new-age way of doing business, where people need not travel physically to remote locations for promoting their businesses. Moreover, it's faster, there are more choices available and it is more economical.

It is estimated that in 2006, the annual retail business in US alone would be worth around 105 billion dollars. The net global online trade is fast approaching the trillion dollar mark. In India about Rs 2500 to Rs 3000 crore worth online business was done in the last financial year.

Industry watchers predict that by the turn of the century, almost all forms of collaborations would be done via a software or using online process. This would save the companies millions of dollars in travel, infrastructure and promotion cost.

Internet is fast emerging as a reliable medium for doing work globally, and companies in India are catching up with the advantages of doing business remotely, without the costs of travel and sending people abroad," says Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm Technologies, an online marketing firm.

Though the brick and mortar model of business continues to flourish, a silent revolution is taking place where people need not travel physically to remote locations for promoting their businesses. Though the birth of e-commerce happened some time back, its significance in the form of cutting costs across the enterprise has been realised quite recently, says Gurudatt Shenoy of Netalter, a software company.

For B2B collaborations, a proliferation of new collaborative tools is taking place with almost all major software vendors bringing out multiple business to business and business to client tools, says Shenoy, whose group has developed a browser, which forms virtual network with the client, dealers, agents and vendors.

"There are various factors which drive online retail businesses in India and also affect its growth. One is the penetration of ISP and the other trust and security of online transactions... People are still not very confident of sharing personal information," he says, noting not many people are even aware on online networking other than using sms on mobile phones.

However, broadband penetration is increasing in major cities and this would lead to increase in online transactions, notes Shenoy.

In fact, Murthy notes corporates in India are already doing business with other companies online. They handle marketing for large business clients from Europe, USA and South East Asia, work with them on the Internet, are able to demonstrate results, track projects in process, bill them and even get paid online through fund transfers and credit card payments.

"There is much more chance of your credit card being misused by a waiter in a restaurant than by a miscreant online," says Murthy, noting "we are yet to come across any instance of cheating."

"The Indian cyber laws are a step in the right direction to build confidence among consumers and businesses that their data will be protected and their transactions are secure. However, the laws need to go a step further and keep up with the times," notes Murthy.

Cityscape Dubai now largest B2B real estate platform in the world

IIR Middle East the organisers of Cityscape Dubai 2006, which is due to take place at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC) on 4-6 December 2006, announced that the premier property investment and development event has grown to such an extent that it is now clearly the largest event of its kind in the world.

According to Cityscape Dubai Exhibition Director, Rohan Marwaha, “Cityscape can now legitimately claim to be the world’s biggest b2b event in the property investment and development sector. Last year we booked 11,000 square metres of exhibition space which made Cityscape the undisputed market leader in the Middle East. We have now secured an additional 14,000 square metres, making a total of 25,000 square metres which represents 130 per cent annual growth. This means we will now surpass the likes of MIPIM in Cannes and Expo Real in Munich, to the number one spot.”
Earlier this year, the Cityscape officials confirmed that an astonishing 80% of exhibition space had been sold, nine months ahead of opening. At that stage 16,000 square metres had been reserved, but due to unprecedented demand, Cityscape now has grown still further to the record-breaking size of 25,000 square metres.

The final figures for the 2005 show were striking in their own right, 281 exhibitors from 29 different countries, 23,552 industry professionals participating from 85 countries and 626 conference delegates and speakers. At Cityscape Dubai 2005, real estate projects worth US$27 billion were announced.

“Having increased the amount of exhibition space by 130 per cent year-on-year, Cityscape Dubai 2006 will undoubtedly trump last year’s impressive figures. Not only is Cityscape the largest in the world, it is the fastest growing and the most diverse with up to 85 countries being represented, clearly reflecting the regional market growth,” added Marwaha.

To date regional heavyweights, Emaar Properties, Nakheel, Tanmiyat Group, Aldar Properties, Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group and Dar Al Arkan have signed up as platinum sponsors, with The Commercial Real Estate Co. Tameer and Saraya Holdings taking gold sponsor status, with Future Brand and Mawared going for silver.
The three-day exhibition and conference attracts key investors, property developers, architects and designers amongst others. Cityscape Dubai 2006, as in previous years will feature the hugely successful Cityscape conference, which last year attracted 80 internationally acclaimed speakers who gave 50 presentations as well as dedicated workshops devoted to specific industry issues. The coveted Cityscape Architectural Review Awards will also be distributed during a glittering gala dinner, these international awards are keenly contested and the 300 entries received last year are sure to be surpassed this year.

Commenting on the future of Cityscape, Marwaha declared, “We have recently announced plans to export the Cityscape brand to Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Shanghai. Considering that this show is only five years old, the brand-potential is colossal. This year’s event must be the most eagerly anticipated ever, and a true measure of Cityscape’s eminence on the international industry calendar”.

Majority of B2B Marketers Lack Customer Knowledge

Eighty-seven percent of b-to-b marketers have little confidence in their customer data, according to an on-site survey of attendees at DMA's DM Days by Extraprise.

Fifty-four percent of b-to-b companies surveyed indicated that the lack of sales and marketing collaboration is their most important challenge. Fifty-two percent of companies surveyed claimed to have integration between their sales and marketing systems. Thirty-nine percent of respondents indicated that data-related issues were the next challenge facing their marketing efforts.

Other topics covered included how many disconnected data sources cover some aspect of their customers (59 percent have data in at least four different locations whereas 18 percent cite between 5-10 locales and 23 percent claim to have data in more than 10 systems).


Related topics: Direct, Research, Sales/Repping...Eighty-seven percent of b-to-b marketers have little confidence in their customer data, according to an on-site survey of attendees at DMA's DM Days by Extraprise.

Fifty-four percent of b-to-b companies surveyed indicated that the lack of sales and marketing collaboration is their most important challenge. Fifty-two percent of companies surveyed claimed to have integration between their sales and marketing systems. Thirty-nine percent of respondents indicated that data-related issues were the next challenge facing their marketing efforts.

Other topics covered included how many disconnected data sources cover some aspect of their customers (59 percent have data in at least four different locations whereas 18 percent cite between 5-10 locales and 23 percent claim to have data in more than 10 systems).


Related topics: Direct, Research, Sales/Repping...

The Value of Branding in B2B Markets : B2B News

By Richard Heimsch, director at Protean Marketing

A brand is the most important strategic asset your business will ever possess.

Yet even the most experienced marketer might struggle to communicate the concept in a single sentence. Furthermore, if you were to approach the majority of today's business-to-business organisations, they would probably tell you that branding finds little application in a market allegedly filled with dispassionate decision makers. However, an increasingly competitive market landscape is eroding this reality - if, indeed, it ever existed. B2B marketing must follow the example of its consumer-focused counterpart and embrace the notion that a strong brand has the power to differentiate, build and protect those it represents in the face of incessant commoditization.

Stamping your agenda
We've moved far beyond the historical definition of a brand: "The name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to define the goods or services of one seller or groups of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors." And we're also moving past more current definitions of brand as a "trustmark" or reputation, a culture or corporate identity.

It is simply impossible to reduce the complex notion of brand down to a mere logo. A brand is undoubtedly much more than this, incorporating both tangible and intangible benefits and identifiers for what it represents. As the culmination of the end users' experience of a business, product or service, a brand is comprised of a multitude of marketing encounters, actual performance and perceived identity. Properly developed and applied, brands can be used over and over again to create new value.

As a promise of both rational and emotional reward, a strong brand will generate a resonance impossible to reproduce. Once developed to this point, branding has the power to fulfil a range of business objectives. For example, with a strong brand, a business is able to sustain price premiums, reduce risk and create a kind of shorthand for end users who will immediately recognise everything it stands for, thereby narrowing the choices the purchaser has to make. Largely this process is intangible, reliant on more abstract concepts such as association. (Do you ask for cola or Coke?)

The Human Factor
Naturally, it helps that during the Coke-buying process your decision was not complicated by the presence of a buying team, a complex performance matrix and specifically developed test criteria. However, regardless of the attempts to make B2B wholly objective, is it really plausible to suggest that unconscious programming of this magnitude evaporates when the consumer enters the office? Of course not, and this is the myth that B2B is beginning to face up to.

Traditionally, this sector has not been the most brand aware. However, the belief that the critical emotional component within purchasing is limited to the personal consumer is distinctly misguided. Are we honestly suggesting that we are suddenly devoid of all human emotion as soon as we assume 'work mode'? As B2B marketers, by ignoring the inevitable human factor, we also ignore a whole host of opportunities to differentiate our offering.

Assuming that this is in place, brands function as important social influencers, and this is a phenomenon that is not limited to the consumer environment. In B2B arenas, brands are symbols of quality, reliability and risk reduction, in addition to being significant aspirational targets. In a corporate capacity, we may like to think we are above the allure of peer group approval but then again, 'no one ever got fired for buying IBM,' right? In short, we wish to mitigate risk and will be reassured by purchasing a brand name synonymous with quality and reliability.

Perhaps there was a time in both B2C and B2B environments when products and services could be marketed solely at income brackets. However, as markets evolve, so does the customer chain. The breakdown of a homogeneous society necessarily means developing an understanding of wider influencers such as lifestyle and value systems. This is exactly what proper brand development seeks to address and what successful B2B companies have already recognized.

In part two of this discussion, we'll further investigate the "Brands by Design" fundamentals and their specific relevance in technology markets.

Technology Markets
The value of branding in B2B environments is epitomised by modern technology markets. Traditionally associated with a reluctance to invest in brand, this industry is accustomed to spending vast amounts on technical facilities and capital equipment. Technology markets are especially reticent to channel resources into what it often identifies as abstract concerns and until recently, this attitude was acceptable. Previously, demand for technology predominantly centred on product functionality and cost, conforming to the stereotype of today's B2B model.

However, technology suppliers were forced to re-examine this approach as their markets matured. As new technologies grew commonplace and supply grew dramatically proliferated, wider differentiation became essential. Added to this, the effect of increasingly short product lifecycles has further created a need for brands which can exist outside of individual products and services. The continuous introduction of new and competing products, updates and enhancements has forced technology suppliers to look beyond their conventional reliance on product attributes alone. In this respect, a strong brand has the capacity to restore stability to an overcrowded marketplace, and combat the downward price spiral of commoditization. .

The continual collapse of market boundaries is another factor that today's technology markets must contend with. The advancing nature of technology has led to a growing climate of convergence, meaning that products are increasingly able to transcend the confines of specific industries. Even if a product is renowned for its application in one particular field, it can often be reduced to near anonymity when transferred into another.

Absurdly, this situation can work against even the most innovative products or services. It is a truism that your most absolute strengths will inevitably become your most destructive weaknesses, a philosophy that has extreme relevance in the case of technology markets. As a consequence, it is vital that businesses develop a brand that can exist outside of their specific product markets and that will stimulate end user confidence even in alien environments. To take up the famous IBM example once again, the multinational's successful transition from hardware provider to business consultancy was ultimately, a direct result of a powerful B2B brand.

Like the majority of modern markets, technology markets have been significantly affected by the growing influence of the internet. While online is fast becoming a key purchasing channel, most buyers will be aware of the element of risk that is perceived to be heightened by this medium. Strong branding activity will inevitably become more important due to its ability to generate trust. Equally, as the internet dramatically increases the content channels open to technology marketers, fiercer competition means that prospects and customers are now more skilled at filtering out the noise. As such, it is imperative that technology markets and the B2B sector in general, partner with marketers that understand the full scope of their concerns and objectives.

Resistance is Futile
Successful brands build strong customer relationships for perhaps the very reason that B2B has historically resisted investing in them. A strong brand is based not just on tangible benefits but on intangible drivers with the capacity to provoke strong emotional responses. For less progressive B2B environments it is perhaps something of a culture shock to invest in strategic branding activity. However, in line with increasingly competitive markets, evolving industries, converging technologies and the increase of content channels, resistance to the significance of branding can only be destructive. Individuals react not to reality but to their perception of it.

You may have the most superior product offering in your market, but if your market does not believe it, or if they do not know who you are or what you stand for, this will go largely ignored. Ultimately, business prospects demand facts. However, they will also respond to an overt recognition of their human propensity for emotional stimulation. At the very least, in the B2B environment a powerful brand will hold the attention of your prospects and convince them to process the facts.

Orange Appoints Underwired to Lead B2B Digital Business

05 May 2006 - Press Dispensary - Orange Business Solutions has appointed independent digital specialist Underwired (http://www.underwired.com) to manage its digital B2B support. Underwired won the Orange business following a three-way pitch managed by the UK's leading search and selection consultancy, AAR.

Underwired has been briefed to handle all B2B digital creative and production for Orange Business Solutions campaign support. Planned activity will include online advertising, email marketing and tactaical online promotions for all aspects of Orange's B2B operations. The win comes as Orange is challenging the B2B communications marketplace by simplifying the tariff system for businesses.

Felix Velarde, Underwired's managing partner, comments: "We've wanted to work with Orange since we started our first agency in 1994 - the same year Orange was founded. Working with one of our 'hero' brands is a business milestone for Underwired and will help us deliver on our ambitions for the future."

Leigh Davidson, marketing and communications manager at Orange Business Solutions said of the appointment: "Right from our initial meeting, Underwired stood out from the other agencies with its understanding of the market, our brand and objectives. The Underwired team brings digital passion and expertise to our communications mix."

Underwired won 74% of its pitches in 2005 and increased its fee income by more than 50%. This growth was helped by a rapid expansion in its eCRM work for clients, including Virgin Holidays which won the BIMA Award for Best eCRM/Email Marketing Programme in 2005.



Notes for editors
Underwired is an independent digital specialist and was set up in 1996. It is headed by Felix Velarde (managing partner), Jason Holland (creative director) and Lazar Dzamic (planning director).

The agency creates websites, eCRM programmes and online advertising and marketing campaigns for clients including Virgin Holidays, Harrods, the Barbican, AXA PPP Healthcare, Start-rite Shoes, Penguin Books, Friends Reunited, Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign, National Missing Persons Helpline and AAR. Underwired’s fee income grew by 50% in 2005, helped by the expansion of its eCRM activities, which earned the agency a BIMA Award for Best eCRM/Email Campaign, along with commendations at both the New Media Age Awards and Campaign Digital Awards. Underwired is also a sister agency to Integrated Advertising Agency, Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw; both agencies retain their independence.

B2B Wales speaker and one of the UK's most successful female :B2B UK

B2B Wales speaker and one of the UK's most successful female entrepreneurs, Jacqueline Gold, of Ann Summers, goes under the Q&A spotlight May 3 2006

Sion Barry, Western Mail


What is your top tip/piece of advice for running a successful business?

Believe in yourself and don't let others deter you or put you down.

Do you have a business mantra or catchphrase?

No, but the best piece of advice I have been given is 'the greatest fear is fear itself'; ie, don't fear the competition. You can spend too much time worrying about the competition and not enough time focusing on your own business and what you are good at.

For you, what is the most difficult aspect of running a business?

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Running a large business like a small business. I like to run my business like a small business so I am hands-on, and am able to get feedback and respond and change things straight away. But sometimes it is hard when you are such a large business.

If you were setting up again is there anything you would do differently?

Yes, be myself. When I started in business as a woman in a male-dominated industry I emulated men and dressed like men. It was a mistake. Now I am myself.

Who has influenced you in business the most?

My father. Unfortunately there were no female role models when I was starting.

Do you have a business tool you find invaluable?

I can't live without my mobile phone and BlackBerry.

Is there any business/idea you wish you'd thought of?

I wish I had invented the battery. Our customers get through a lot of them!

Are there any mistakes you've made?

yes trying to launch a women's magazine, Bite, in the '90s which didn't work as newsagents kept putting it on the top shelf when actually it was a women's magazine targeted at the Cosmopolitan reader. It folded after a year, costing me a cool million pounds!

Most embarrassing business moment?

Many occasions of being stopped going through security at airports and getting searched and them pulling out Ann Summers products from my bags!

What would you have done if you hadn't been in this business?

Been an interior designer or something creative.

Next week Q&A with B2B speaker Simon Woodroffe

China Sourcing Fairs launched in AsiaWorld-Expo, HK

B2B media company Global Sources opened the China Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Home Products on Saturday in Hong Kong.

The opening ceremonies saw participation from Hong Kong and mainland Chinese high-ranking government officials like Frederick Ma, JP, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Raymond Young, JP, Director-general of Trade and Industry of Hong Kong and Shen Danyang, Vice President of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce, China.

The fair, the largest tradeshow ever to be held at AsiaWorld-Expo with over 3,600 booths, is co-located with Koelnmesse's International Hardware Fair/Practical World Hong Kong, offering a range of hardware and do-it-yourself products.

Both events will run from Apr. 22 to Apr. 25.

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business (B2B) media company and a primary facilitator of two-way trade with mainland China. It provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers.

Best B2B Website of 2006 to be Named by Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association will again be honoring the Best B2B Web site of 2006. The deadline to enter the 10th annual international WebAward Competition is May 31, 2006.

(PRWEB) April 24, 2006 -- The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 10th annual international WebAward Competition at http://www.webawards2006.org. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets industry benchmarks based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site.

The business to business industry represents an important category in the WebAward competition, and the Web Marketing Association will again be honoring the Best B2B Web site of 2006. The deadline for entry is May 31, 2006.

“The B2B industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts that the award judges provide,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “B2B, or business to business, Web sites only joined the WebAwards in 2003. While individual sites might excel, the industry as a whole has lagged the overall ISAR Index with each of the criteria averages falling below their overall benchmarks. B2B Web sites generally do better in content and copywriting while their lowest scores are for innovation and use of technology.”

Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best B2B Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the “Best B2B Web site” WebAwards include:

2005 Signity - Inspiration, Innovation, Information - http://www.signity.com/
2004 Universal Studios Consumer Products Group - http://cpgcreative.universalstudios.com/
2003 Veer web site - http://veer.com/

A complete list of past winners and the entry form for companies who wish to compete for 2006 honors can be found at http://www.webaward2006.org.

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use and receive a numeric score. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence. Entrants also benefit from receiving valuable feedback from the WebAwards professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Using the quantifiable data collected from 9,748 Web site evaluations over the past decade, the WebAwards has defined and recognized industry-specific benchmarks for successful Web sites in each of the seven judging criteria and released an Internet Standards Assessment Report to detail the findings of the study.

“Participants in the 2006 WebAwards B2B category will receive their scores in each of the seven criteria compared to the average of the entire industry. That type of feedback and benchmarking alone in worth the price of admission,” said Rice.

A copy of the Internet Standards Assessment Report, including details regarding the B2B industry through 2005, is available at www.webawards2006.org.

Judging for the 2006 WebAwards will take place in June through August, with winners announced in September. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet marketing professionals who have direct experience designing and managing Web sites with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web site development and technology. Mark Kingdon, CEO of Organic, Inc. (www.organic.com) has been selected to lead the judging panel this year. Past judges have included top executives from leading organizations such as Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, and Answerthink just to name a few.

The 2006 WebAward Competition current sponsors include Burst Media (www.burstmedia.com), SimpleFeed (www.simplefeed.com), Register.com (www.register.com), NewsUSA www.newsusa.com), AdTools Inc(www.adtoolsinc.com), Small Army (www.smallarmy.net), Perseus Development Corp (www.perseus.com) and PRWeb (www.prweb.com). Media Sponsors include Website Services Magazine (www.websiteservices.com), AdRants (www.adrants), MarketingVox (www.marketingvox.com), MediaPost (www.wediapost.com), eComXpo (www.ecomxpo.com), Ad:Tech (www.ad-tech.com) and Macworld (www.macworldexpo.com). The Web Marketing Association thanks all of its sponsors for helping to make this annual competition possible.

About the WebAwards

The 10th annual international WebAwards competition sets the standard of excellence in 96 industry categories by evaluating Web sites and defining benchmarks based on the seven essential criteria of successful Web site development. The goal of the Web Marketing Association, sponsor of the WebAwards, is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today. Entrants benefit from a Web site assessment by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented to an award-winning Web site. For more information, visit www.webawards2006.org.

45% growth in online banking in Pakistan :B2B Pakistan News

By Arshad Hussain

KARACHI: The commercial banks have registered a growth of 45 percent in opening new online branches in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, State Bank of Pakistan data said on Monday.

During this quarter retail payment transaction (paper based and electronic) registered a growth of 5.05 percent in numbers, whereas the value of transactions increased by 4.91 percent over the first quarter of 2005-06.

Quarterly growth on the basis of previous quarter showed growth at the rate of 5.45 percent and growth in value of transactions by 2.98 percent, whereas the growth rate was 23.46 percent and 12.20 percent in case of number of transactions and amount, respectively, in the previous quarter.

Electronic banking: The central bank data said electronic transactions have posted a growth of 3.05 percent in the number of transactions and the amount showed a growth of 66.20 percent during the current quarter. The main contributor to growth in the value is real time online funds transfer by online bank branches that posted a 73 percent increase.

During the last six quarters the transactions from paper-based banking to e-banking has increased in terms of number of transactions. However, the value has achieved a remarkable growth, which has been driven by B2B through online branch network.

Online Branch Network and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): Online branch network is expanding to meet the funds movement needs of customers. This quarter witnessed the addition of 235 new branches in the online network. The coverage of online branches as a percentage of total branches has also increased from 41 percent in

the previous quarter to 45 percent in the current quarter. As such, the total number of online branches reached 3,265 out of total branch network of 7,245 reported by banks.

Similarly, during the second quarter of fiscal year 2005-06 banks have added 75 new ATMs in their network, bringing the total to 1,217, registering a growth of 6.6 percent as compared with 11 percent in the last quarter.

As such, 189 new machines were added in the first half of the current financial year as compared with 110 new machines added during the same period last year.

Number of (credit/ debit/smart)cardholders: At the end of second quarter of the current fiscal the number of credit, debit, smart and ATM cardholders increased from 3.664 million to 4.072 million, showing a growth rate of 11 percent as compared with eight percent during the previous quarter. The total number of credit cards reached to 1.257 million from 1.181 million and registered a growth of six percent as compared with 13 percent in the preceding quarter.

The total number of debit cards increased from the previous quarter figure of 2.197 million to 2.556 million in the current quarter, showing a growth rate of 16 percent as compared with a 14 percent growth rate in the preceding quarter. The total number of ATM cards is 0.137 million in the current quarter as compared with 0.175 million in the previous quarter, showing a decline of 21 percent and it is because of convergence of ATM cards into debit or smart cards. The total number of smart cards, which offer a high level of security, has reached 0.122 million at the end of 2nd quarter as compared with 0.111 million at the end of the last quarter, showing a growth of 10 percent over the last quarter.

Volume on e-banking channels: During the second quarter the number of transactions increased from 2.848 million to 3.475 million, showing growth in transactions of 22 percent and the amount by 73 percent over the last quarter, as against the 1st quarter’s growth of 24 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Internet Banking: Internet banking is getting momentum and during the second quarter the number of transactions was 0.094 million and the amount involved was Rs 4.321 billion as compared with 0.059 million transactions involving an amount of Rs 3.635 billion in the first quarter of the same fiscal, showing a growth of 59.32 percent in number and 18.87 percent in amount over the last quarter. The transfer pertains to intra- bank account to account transfer only.

Cox&Kings ready with its online travel venture :Ezeego1.com

Cox&Kings is gearing up to launch new travel marketplace in India, Ezeego1.com, in the second half of May. (4/24/2006)

Neelu Singh, the newly appointed chief operating officer of ezeego1.com said the ezeego1 is unique in a way as it is a travel meta-search site with booking capabilities. “It is a platform where suppliers and end customers meet to get real time information and transaction capability online. All travel providers, both online and offline, will be represented on ezeego1,” said Singh.

“The portal offers a real time web based booking engine, which is seamlessly integrated to the mid and back office. It is the only reservation system that offers dynamic packaging of all services with real inventory. Simply put, you get instant pricing and confirmation, which means that the information and booking status is all real time.”

Ezeego1 is headquartered in Mumbai and has branches in New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. The total investment in the travel portal is expected to be US$22.7 million. In the initial phase US$4.54 million has already been invested. Cox&Kings and its promoters have made the initial investment in this venture and in course of one to two years, this stake would be reduced to a minority.

According to the company, Ezeego1’s business model is based on three parameters. The first is the B2B, where the travel agent is provided with an email ID and password. All products on the site are commissionable to the agent and they would enjoy preferential pricing.

The second is the franchisee route where close to 100 franchisees would be appointed across India in the first year of operation. These locations would be called Ezeego1 shops. All shops will have a distinct look and feel to make it easily recognisable. Finally, the B2C model where the customer comes onto the site and books his holidays. The customer can book his air travel, hotel accommodation, car rental and also obtain his travel insurance. In order to provide customer flexibility we have introduced both online and offline payment options.

For Ezeego1, the company has already tied up with hundreds of hotels and large number of airlines across the world to provide not only real time availability but also booking capability. Ezeego1 has introduced a Supplier Module, which enables all service providers to control their inventory and price.

“Inventory management is instant as services can be updated at the click of a button. We also provide XML interface to many of our suppliers through our site,” said Singh.

Ezeego1 provides the reach to all suppliers to tap into the agent base in India, which is about 10,000 out of which close to 6,000 of them are in the Tier II cities in India.

“The sheer size of the country makes it rather difficult to reach out to all agents in India. Ezeego1 is the solution. It would market this portal across India through various media outlets such as television, radio and print amongst others. This would directly benefit all suppliers on the site,” added Singh.

Online shop opens cyber-market for disabled handicraft makers

Just a click away, web browsers can now place orders for handicrafts at an online market recently launched by two young people in Hanoi.
Ta Bich Huong and Trinh Cong Thanh Tuesday inaugurated a website at ww.nguoikhuyettat.org

after trialing a website at www.vndisability.net.

Huong recalled that as a student, she initiated the establishment of an online shop to sell products made by the disabled. She received support from Thanh, founder of the website for Vietnam’s Agent Orange victims, to translate her dream into reality.

Huong’s online shop has pictures made from stone or dry leaves, dried flowers, embroidered silk handkerchiefs, greeting cards, table lamps and bed clothes.

Thanh, also the administrator for the Vietnam Disability Network forum, said the prices of these products were 30 percent lower than similar items at other souvenir shops.

He said clients could place orders via the Internet and the shop employees would deliver goods free of charge for buyers in Hanoi.

Thanh revealed among the best-selling items were chains with pendants made from coconut shells by disabled craft makers in Can Tho Mekong Delta province and dried flowers by members of the “Green Dream” disabled group in Hanoi.

The products had gradually become popular and a Japanese firm recently placed a large order, he said.

Thanh said the web founders offer their online market services free to encourage more disabled people to introduce their products at the website.

The online shop also medical equipment for the disabled, like wheel-chairs, three-wheeled motorcycles, wooden crutches and artificial legs, said Thanh.

In the past, Thanh had won the Information Technology Knight Title awarded by weekly IT newspaper e-CHIP and VASC Software and Media Company.

The award aims to encourage wider informatics usage by recognizing individuals or groups working on shareware development, products that serve the public, or those who work toward wider public use of information technology.

Google hits again at Microsoft with online calendar

Richard Waters, San Francisco
April 15, 2006

GOOGLE is opening a new front in its competition with Microsoft's traditional desktop software with the launch of a test version of an online calendar.
The service extends Google's reach further into the sort of personal-productivity software that has made Outlook one of the most popular elements in Microsoft's Office suite desktop software, one of its biggest profit-earners.

It also continues the internet company's steady transformation from a stand-alone search engine into a full-service internet portal, rivalling Yahoo.

Carl Sjogreen, product manager for Google Calendar, said the new service fitted the company's mission to "organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", since it would make it easier for users to organise and access their personal diary information from any computer.

Google's venture into online applications such as email and personal calendars has already sent a shock through existing online applications companies, prompting a wave of innovation after a period of stagnation in the early part of the decade.

Andy Spillane, head of Yahoo Mail, said the launch of Gmail, along with the emergence of a range of new lightweight Web 2.0 technologies, had led other companies to accelerate their own new developments.

Yahoo itself is testing a new web mail service that is based on technology that it had acquired when it bought Oddpost in 2004.

Google said it had tied its calendar service closely to Gmail to make it easier to create calendar entries while communicating by email, and to communicate with other people about events in one's diary.

Reflecting the company's roots in search, Google Calendar includes a function so users can find other calendars published online -- such as one produced by their local sports team, for instance -- and integrate these with their personal data.

The company is developing software to make it possible for users to "synch" a Google Calendar with data in Outlook software, Mr Sjogreen said.

Google plans to extend the calendar service, available as a test initially only in the US, to countries where it offers Gmail.

CDC reverses deficit to P28 M retained earnings

By BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT

For the first time since its establishment 13 years ago, Clark Development Corp. achieved a positive retained earnings of P28.2 million from a deficit of P67.66 million.


CDC documents showed that the state-owned firm’s financial position is going towards a positive track.

CDC president Antonio R. Ng said the company’s revenues increasedby P64.2 million last year or 11 percent compared to 2004, primarily due to improved results of Holiday Inn and Mimosa operations.

Its net income also tripled compared to 2004 from P29.6 million to P87.4 million.

"This was achieved by primarily keeping its overall cost flat such that any incremental revenue goes to the bottomline," he said.

This has also allowed CDC to declare dividends for the first time to the national government through its parent firm, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).

CDC has also provided financial support to its subsidiary, Clark International Airport Corp. in form of loans and operating expenses amounting to P456 million.

Last year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs were able to collect taxes and duties to Clark industries amounting to P1.145 billion from P913.897 million in 2004 and P366.764 million in 2003.

To further improve its services, Ng reported that its Green Lane has achieved a 95 percent on time delivery to its 10-minute goal.

The CDC has set a target to complete all processing for export, import, bring in/bring out and permit processing to only 10 minutes.

It is also moving towards paperless transactions for good governance.

Ng said the RosettaNet eCustoms trade system was adopted in Mau 2005 and is currently being piloted by Tokumi, Phil-Shin Ei, and Nanox.

The system, based on the leading international standard for business-tobusiness (B2B) transactions, will streamline import imports, export documents, and other trade document processing via online, with "faceless" transactions available 24x7.(BCM)

Web Acceleration Now Available with MegaBoost Web Accelerator

Up to 1400% Web Acceleration Now Available with MegaBoost Web Accelerator from i.Core.

Delta, BC, April 7, 2006: i.Core, a wholesale service provider to ISP businesses and enterprise organizations throughout USA and Canada, today announced the launch of MegaBoost, a web accelerator that delivers the next generation of web content acceleration. MegaBoost doubles the acceleration power of the current web accelerators, being up to 14 times faster than a standard 56K dialup connection. Standard accelerators are only up to 7 times faster.
"MegaBoost provides ISPs new opportunities to diversify and differentiate their product portfolio." said i.Core's CEO Amrit Dhillon. "We are continually seeking ways to improve our quality of service and deliver the latest innovations to Internet Service Providers. To our knowledge, i.Core is the first wholesale provider to make the new technology available to non facilities based ISPs."

MegaBoost combines patented image compression techniques with newly developed concurrent image delivery that enables subscribers to view higher resolution images and increasingly image rich web pages up to 14X faster! Web pages are fully viewable and usable almost immediately and maximum quality images are loaded progressively as users view the page.

MegaBoost, based on SlipStream's proprietary technology, is designed to accelerate web and email traffic for any low/mid bandwidth network connection. This means that MegaBoost can accelerate a large set of underlying network environments, including WiFi, Cellular, Dialup, ISDN and Broadband Lite. MegaBoost web accelerator is suited for connections using network bandwidth up to and including 384Kbps.

About i.Core Technologies

Since 2000, i.Core has developed enhanced and differentiated solutions to empower Internet Service Providers and telecom operators. These solutions help the ISP community offer economical and value-added services to customers.

By leveraging i.Core's B2B services, Internet providers can generate new revenue streams and enjoy a rapid return on investment without investing in expensive hardware facilities. i.Core offers products that focus on helping service providers retain and increase market share while expanding their profitability.

For more information about MegaBoost visit http://www.vispcenter.com.
For more information about i.Core visit http://www.icore.net.

MegaBoost is a trademark of i.Core Technologies Inc.

For More Information:
Beverly Cramp
Media Relations
i.Core Technologies Inc.
bcramp@icore.net

WAR creates interactive expert for Araldite

The creative boundaries of innovation have been pushed to the max with the latest pioneering online campaign created for Huntsman's Araldite® Adhesives by Ware Anthony Rust (WAR).

WAR's original brief was to develop a simple email campaign to increase customer dialogue and encourage interaction with their local Araldite® sales manager. WAR took the idea one step further and developed the concept of using a real live person to engage with the audience online.

Customers click on a website banner 'Ask the Expert' and are taken to a simulated movie, where a virtual expert encourages them to ask a question. The pre-recorded footage consists of an actor delivering a series of scripted lines to the camera, edited to work as an interactive tool. The illusion of a real live expert is all the more convincing when he remembers the visitor if they choose to return and pose another question.

Confident in their expertise, Huntsman sent structural engineers across Europe an email challenging them to come up with an adhesive-related question the expert couldn't answer and they responded in droves.

WAR account director Gareth Brookman commented: 'The campaign is a great example of the way we're embracing the new digital opportunities and executing them with good old fashioned strategic insight and creativity. The way the movie is scripted and edited essentially predicts how most conversations will go - so users feel they are almost interacting with a live person online. It's been very successful in dramatising the expert credentials of the brand, opening up dialogues and relationships with our target audience, and providing hard sales leads for Huntsman.'

WAR provides a seamless communications service for a host of clients in B2C, B2B and healthcare sectors, bringing together talented and creative individuals with specific expertise in their own fields.

The agency disciplines of advertising, design, public relations, interactive and direct marketing are blended to give clients holistic, strategic and creative campaigns, or offered independently to suit client needs.

WAR works with international and national companies based across the UK and overseas including: Multiyork, Van Dal, Acushnet (Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra), Johnson & Johnson, Huntsman (Araldite), Corgi Toys, Corinthian, Sekonda, Mundipharma, Plasti-kote, Linx Printing Technologies, Visa Europe, Zapf Creation, Stream Foods and Cambridgeshire Horizons.

reference: http://war.uk.com