E-Commerce Minute

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E-Commerce Minute: Thursday -- August 20, 2009

The E-Commerce Times -- E-Business Means Business
http://www.ecommercetimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network

Today's Headlines:
The Government's Place in the Cloud
Building a Leak-Proof Sales Pipeline
GameStop Sales Wind Down on Recession, Delayed Releases
Vonage Redraws Borders for Unlimited International Calls
Microsoft Lawyers Start to Sweep Up Word Mess

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Podcast
The Enterprise Architects of the New Era (42:55 minutes)
As interest in cloud computing grows, the role of the enterprise
architect is changing. Changing into what, exactly? That's still open
for debate. The architect's role may well become the key office where
the buck stops. New duties will present new opportunities.
http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2009-08-17.mp3

Today's Story Highlights

The Government's Place in the Cloud
One of my predictions for 2009 was that many of the new Obama
administration's initiatives would promote and accelerate the growth of
Software as a Service and cloud computing. What I underestimated at that
time was how quickly government itself would embrace SaaS and cloud
computing to improve its own operations in today's tough economic
climate.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67907.html

Building a Leak-Proof Sales Pipeline
In November 2008, Aberdeen published a study titled, "Lead Nurturing:
The Secret to Successful Lead Generation." The survey captured the
challenges and strategies from 213 organizations and found that on
average, 16 percent of the total leads that are deemed "sales-ready
opportunities" actually close. That's a fairly alarming number.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67909.html

GameStop Sales Wind Down on Recession, Delayed Releases
GameStop, the world's largest video game and entertainments software
retailer, posted disappointing fiscal second-quarter results on Thursday
and lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing fewer hit video
games and cautious consumers. Shares tumbled in morning trading.
GameStop said it earned $38.7 million, or 23 cents per share, for the
period ended Aug. 1.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67911.html

Vonage Redraws Borders for Unlimited International Calls
Unlimited domestic phone calls are nearly a standard feature for
landline plans these days. Now, Vonage Holdings, which helped pioneer
that feature with its Internet phone service, is expanding it to most
international calls as well. CEO Marc Lefar said Wednesday that Vonage
will include unlimited calls to more than 60 countries in a new standard
plan that costs $25 per month.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67912.html

Microsoft Lawyers Start to Sweep Up Word Mess
Microsoft has asked an appeals court to stay an injunction that Judge
Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas issued
against the sale of Microsoft Word. The judge made the ruling after a
jury found that Microsoft had infringed on a patent held by Toronto-
based i4i. It is set to go into effect in October.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/67906.html

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About the E-Commerce Times
The E-Commerce Times is a free online publication that provides
daily news, special reports and success stories in addition to an
e-commerce products and services guide. The publication's tagline
is "E-Business Means Business," and its content includes
information on a wide variety of e-business topics, such as data
storage, network security, databases, B2B and B2C e-commerce, the IT
job market and the maneuvers of high-tech businesses.

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