Best of ECT News

When Double Cola wanted to encourage its customers to keep coming back for more of its vintage fizzy drink, it started a rewards program. Using tried-and-true loyalty methods, the company offered customers the opportunity to turn over the cola's caps, earn points, and get discounts and merchandise.

Today, few people are using an IBM desktop computer -- and if they are, the machine could be close to 20 years old. However, back in 1995 when IBM bought Lotus Notes, it was the world's largest software company and still made personal computers. Fast-forward, and today IBM isn't really known either ...

If you haven't already, dump archaic email for projects. It doesn't work. The idea of having a stream of emails gathered chronologically -- and stuffed with uncollaborative attachments rather than fluid conversations organized by project -- is asking for confusion and delays. Team collaboration app...

WORX, a power tool company, has a unique Pinterest board: one devoted entirely to tools that aid in zombie defense. The WORX JawSaw, for instance, has a pin that tells consumers to "accessorize before they rise, and protect yourself now!" The board's sense of humor makes it especially effective on t...

It was a busy summer for Microsoft and chief executive Steve Ballmer. The software giant released customer previews and ship dates for the newest versions of its flagship Windows and Office products; purchased Yammer, a cloud-based enterprise social networking company; hosted its annual Worldwide Pa...

Many people know it's a bad idea to open attachments in email received from strangers, but relatively few know they need to take the same precautions when clicking links on social media sites and even VoIP service Skype. Cybercriminals have been targeting individuals through Skype, and the criminals...

Jeff Hasen, Hipcricket's CMO, recently had what he called his "10 millionth" bad customer experience with Comcast. It's galling enough to be treated poorly by a company when you buy just about all of its services, as Hasen does with Comcast. Worse, though, is when you are a mobile CRM expert, as Ha...

How can classic retail, the brick-and-mortar physical stores dotting our neighborhoods, compete with the likes of Amazon and Zappos? Can real-world retail survive e-commerce? And if it can, what's the trick? How do retailers intend to meet this growing threat? We're now seeing something insidious t...

NASA and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition have jointly developed a new robotic exoskeleton, dubbed the "XI," that could help astronauts in space stay in better physical shape, while also helping humans on Earth walk. The 57-pound wearable device is in essence a robot that fits o...

One of the tricky parts of developing a social CRM strategy is that it requires left-brain and right-brain thinking. The left brain, where more logical and procedural thinking takes place, is comparable to how "traditional" CRM operates, organizing and distributing data based on predetermined proces...