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The aftershocks of that opinion of Chief Judge Rich have been rippling ever since. To many, the Federal Circuit went too far and unleashed a torrent of bogus patenting. Many in the press seized on various silly patents issued by the Patent Office as exemplary of the ridiculousness of it all. Despite the fact that the Patent Office, severely underfunded and understaffed (a state in which it remains today), was trying to control quality, some patents were and are issued that should not be issued. Nonetheless, the vast majority are correctly issued, and mechanisms are in place to invalidate any bogus patents...

More than 50 percent of inquiries need follow-up that extends beyond 30 days. That's a lot of time for your sales staff to spend simply following up with information. Why not bring that task back into the marketing department, let them control the dials and knobs on the stove, and re-pass the truly qualified prospect back to sales when the interest AND the trust have reached the buying point? Sales can then handle the personal areas of true sales, price.

However, the more profound challenge will be evolving a new type of Chinese B2B business -- efficient, flexible and innovative. This, clearly, involves major changes in business practices and cultures, such as the faster uptake of new technologies, the evolution of an ethos of creative excellence, and more skilled staff capable of adding value at all stages of the supply chain.

The coffee shop isn't the only crime scene. Airports, car rental shuttles, hotels, and the back seat of your car are equally susceptible to theft. Check your bags at every turn. Make sure you've got the correct luggage, and account for all your personal and professional belongings. Report any stolen items to the police and your IT staff at once...

Start small. The goal is not to make life difficult for your admin staff with tremendous reporting requirements. Instead, what you're doing is building a channel. You can refine the data later once you have a better idea of what you're interested in. At the early stages, the goal is just to take the information you already have and build a pipeline so it's going somewhere...

Some of the iPad's earliest adopters include high-profile individuals in positions of power who presumably would want their personal email addresses kept private. Victims of the breach include White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, as well as staffers in the U.S. Senate and other major government departments, according to a post on the blog Gawker...

Some of the iPad's earliest adopters include high-profile individuals in positions of power who presumably would want their personal email addresses kept private. Victims of the breach include White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, as well as staffers in the U.S. Senate and other major government departments, according to a post on the blog Gawker...

Some of the iPad's earliest adopters include high-profile individuals in positions of power who presumably would want their personal email addresses kept private. Victims of the breach include White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, as well as staffers in the U.S. Senate and other major government departments, according to a post on the blog Gawker...

With the extra time and resources saved, you could invest in more training and coaching to improve agent knowledge and call-handling skills, and minimize the cancellation of offline time. This results in a win-win scenario: Overall customer satisfaction levels can be increased; you can focus more on cross-selling to drive additional revenue; and staff satisfaction will likely increase because you are canceling less offline time and offering more coaching time and one-on-one support.

The FT story quotes some Google employees as saying increased in-house use of Chrome and other OSes has always been planned, but the China hack hastened the move. Right now employees can choose a range of OS options, including Mac OS X and Linux, for their work, and other staffers profess to being upset about having to give up the Windows option...

However, the way many organizations look at adoption doesn't help matters. All too many adoption failures are attributed to the users -- those darned stubborn employees who can't be bothered to deal with change, even when it's for their own good. If only they would listen! How many articles have you seen about motivating your sales staff to use CRM, or showing your employees how they will benefit from its use? A lot...

Value: People tend to take Office for granted. Most of us have used it for years and forget that it replaced a typewriter, editor (checks your spelling and grammar for you), calculator, and the need to use a graphics artist to create your presentations. This was demonstrated to me when one of the folks I was having dinner with shared a story about his daughter going to school and forgetting her notebook computer and getting upset that her pen and paper notes didn't correct spelling and grammar for her automatically. People treat Office like an entitlement that they always expect to be there. By the way, that is why the majority of Linux/OpenOffice deployments have failed. As soon as Office is taken away from the administration staff, folks suddenly discover that secretaries have one hell of a lot more clout than they ever expected. ...

People. In a knowledge economy, people are the most vital asset. What is required is an assemblage of the right set of people. Leaders skilled in people management with emphasis on customer focus and a clear comprehension of people, processes and system are briefed by the senior management on the design and crafting of the unique customer experience. They are ably supported in their endeavors by the administrative staff for training coordination and data management, support staff for management of technical and physical infrastructure, and support staff for human relations management...

There's no shame in admitting that audits are hard. For those of us in IT, hearing the word "audit" probably brings up a groundswell of negative connotations and the corresponding aggravation and headache: We know from having lived through it that tech-heavy regulatory audits -- annual PCI assessments, HIPAA audits, ISO, etc. -- cut directly into our staff's ability to get their already-busy jobs done. ...

It's really designed as a way to get anyone in the company or guests to get a sense of what customer service is like. If you're a product marketing manager or someone trying to understand some of the issues that people are having, it's a great way to hear first-hand what those problems are. Now, not all my staff are practicing this -- the booth has been there for three or four months, and as people hear more about it, it will be one of those viral things that people use as another tool in understanding the customer experience...

It's really designed as a way to get anyone in the company or guests to get a sense of what customer service is like. If you're a product marketing manager or someone trying to understand some of the issues that people are having, it's a great way to hear first-hand what those problems are. Now, not all my staff are practicing this -- the booth has been there for three or four months, and as people hear more about it, it will be one of those viral things that people use as another tool in understanding the customer experience...

It's really designed as a way to get anyone in the company or guests to get a sense of what customer service is like. If you're a product marketing manager or someone trying to understand some of the issues that people are having, it's a great way to hear first-hand what those problems are. Now, not all my staff are practicing this -- the booth has been there for three or four months, and as people hear more about it, it will be one of those viral things that people use as another tool in understanding the customer experience...

"Be a content aggregator. Don't write it all yourself," she said, adding that you can refer to other articles and blogs. Also include other people, Thomas suggested -- whether it is others on staff or invited guest bloggers -- to help take the pressure off you Staying Out of T...

Adding this layer between self-service and live service to the overall customer service strategy can help consumers trust that the company cares about them as people (and not just about their money). The stronger the relationships you have with customers, the more likely they will be loyal to your organization, and the more sales you will make. Additionally, it's a viable alternative to staffing for peak levels -- a task that contact center managers know is practically impossible...

The possibility of students abandoning plans for graduate school is even more discouraging to the U.S. as a nation -- particularly if they're leaving the science and engineering fields. There's a staffing disaster in store for the aerospace industry due to the shortage of trained young engineers, according to Deloitte Vice Chairman Tom Captain.