Articles by Kelly Shermach

A little more than a week ago, JPMorgan Chase withdrew from a seven-year, $5 billion Internet technology outsourcing agreement it inked in 2002 with IBM. It decided to pull IT inside However, this decision represents an anomaly in the outsourcing industry. All news reports verify IBM's accomplishment of agreed-upon milestones in the JPMorgan contra...

The Oracle-PeopleSoft controversy has caused a ripple -- or perhaps a wave -- that has not yet reached the shore of software development, but it carries implications for both the largest and the smallest software firms Although Oracle's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft is by no means a done deal, the very possibility signals a shake up in the industr...

First Chicago (now Bank One) initiated the trend of charging for face time with a teller in order to encourage the more cost-efficient use of ATMs. Competitors hastily followed suit In December 2002, however, the bank dropped this controversial practice, concerned that self-service banking channels would weaken their relationships with retail banki...

A week ago the U.S. District Court in San Francisco decided for Oracle in the antitrust case brought by the U.S. government, giving the software firm more hope that it can complete its hostile acquisition of PeopleSoft "The Department of Justice may want to appeal it, but I don't think they're going to get very far," Forrester Research's Paul Hamer...

For companies with average revenues of $8.26 billion, the average IT budget hovers around $28.21 million, according to a Gantry Group survey Given those numbers, small and medium-sized enterprises may wonder how they can compete in reliable and innovative information technology....

The global convenience retailer 7-Eleven Inc. is rolling out custom Hewlett-Packard technology in 5,300 U.S. locations. Both companies believe the partnership will transform convenience retailing, and some analysts agree Chris Selland, vice president of sell-side research at Aberdeen Group, told CRM Buyer that 7-Eleven's decision to customize using...

Galyan's, the sporting goods retailer that features climbing walls, kayak demonstrations and archery ranges in its stores, offers an innovative CRM strategy, too For four years, Galyan's has offered a stand-alone loyalty card, Galyan's Rewards, that offers points for purchases, gift certificates for points and special perks like invitations to spec...

With Hurricanes Charley and Frances inflicting an estimated $40 billion worth of damage to the state of Florida in just three weeks, insurance companies have been forced onto high alert "Natural disasters are our business," Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, told CRM Buyer....

General Motors and Ford suffered declining U.S. sales in August. Each announced Wednesday that it will cut production in the fourth quarter, risking profitability for the calendar year Chrysler, on the other hand, beat the bum month experienced by its competitors with its fifth straight month of sales increases. Since Chrysler managed to bump sales...

Siemens Business Services, SAP and Intel have announced a new radio frequency identification (RFID) product. Privacy experts, however, continue to express concern about the technology The new product allows suppliers to comply with demands from Wal-Mart, Target and German retailer Metro that they attach RFID tags to pallets and, in some cases, indi...

Not satisfied to be slowpokes in sales and customer service, the life insurance industry has continued to invest in customer relationship management (CRM) technology even as others have shied away from making capital expenditures in the current economy No matter the market's misery, these insurance underwriters have set their focus on spending to s...

As investors awaited a ruling in the antitrust suit of PeopleSoft against hostile takeover bidder Oracle, rumors circulated that a white knight bidder may emerge, kicking Oracle and its persistent pursuit of PeopleSoft to the curb Among the rumored third bidders are IBM, Microsoft, and the German firm SAP....