Best of ECT News

Is there a reasonable expectation of anonymity when defamatory content is posted on the Internet? Is there a difference if the content posted is in the context of political speech? The answer to these questions is becoming increasingly important as cases surrounding defamatory content are becoming m...

Solar is no longer on the back burner; it's right there at the front of the stove, demanding that economists and job seekers alike take notice. "It's a tough environment, but I think it will continue to grow," said Gerald Kelly, communications director for Third Sun Solar. "As we move forward as a...

I am developing an appreciation of the Occupy Wall Street movement that surprises me. You know the news about it and how over the weekend the movement went global. You probably also know that the authorities are not dealing with it effectively. They've been content to watch and wait, hoping that ...

The mobile age has arrived. In 2011, global shipments of smartphones and tablet devices surpassed shipments of laptops and desktop PCs, laying the groundwork for an era in which consumers are increasingly using mobile technology for everything from airline reservations to vehicle purchases. The mobi...

As a Sprint corporate customer I'm referred to as "preferred," which basically translates to "preferred because I give them increasing amounts of money." Anyway, it gets me a phone upgrade annually, rather than the non-preferred biannual deal. The only problem with an annually replaced gadget is y...

During the past few years, customer service organizations have faced increasing amounts of pressure to deliver better service over a broader range of channels including the Web, email and phone. Customers expect to get service at any time of the day or night and assume that customer service teams wi...

Computer software requires an enormous amount of support. That fact has enriched companies such as Oracle and SAP, which levy annual support fees of about 20 percent of the sale prices of their applications. That's one of the things that just sticks in the craw of Clint Oram, chief technology office...

It just makes sense that consumers tend to trust the opinions and recommendations of friends before they trust those of advertisers, promoters and retailers. Social shopping sites, which combine features of social networking with online sales, seek to capitalize on the sharing and trust that exist b...

In terms of online communication, social media is the biggest trend in recent years. There are billions of participants around the globe as well as an array of forms: blogs, forums, wikis, multimedia content, social bookmarking and, of course, popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+....

Whenever I talk about CRM to people who aren't CRM experts, I find the discussion devolving into an examination of the real common denominator in all of this: the human aspects of doing business. The "R" of relationships resonates far more strongly with people than the "M" in management, and for goo...