Baseline articles from November 2004

Baseline archives from November 2004

Project Review: The B of A Way To Integrate.(maintaining relationships with customers)
November 1, 2004... What a Project Leader Should Know * TALK TO CUSTOMERS. Determine what services, features, and products customers value most, such as free online banking or comprehensive banking statements. * INVENTORY ASSETS. Make a complete checklist...

Gotcha! Creating a Single Customer Databank.(analysis of customer databases)
November 1, 2004... A merger virtually guarantees that the combined entity will possess overlapping and conflicting customer databases. Great care must be taken in melding databases so that companies wind up with a single, current set of accurate data on each...

Roadblock: Consultants.(services to banks)
November 1, 2004... The Obstacle Bank of America relied on outside consultants to develop its information systems. While using consultants can be critical for systems development in the absence of in-house expertise, it also is fraught with dangers. Clients...

Banks Branching Out With Technology.
November 1, 2004... On a little more than 10 blocks in midtown Manhattan, 7th Ave between Penn Station and Times Square, no commuter, sports fan or theatergoer will ever have trouble finding an ATM, much less a place to cash a check, apply for a mortgage, or rent...

Planner: Integrating Information Systems.(use of debugging software banks)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... View the PDF -- Turn off pop-up blockers! You're the nation's sixth-largest bank, with 70,000 employees, $300 billion in assets, $12 billion in revenue and $3 billion in income. So that pesky little $2 million bug in your...

Fidelity Information Service: Buying Binge.(management)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2004... Chances are that Fidelity Information Services handles some very intimate details of your personal finances. The Jacksonville, Fla., company provides software and hosted information-technology services to the banking, mortgage and insurance...

AgriBeef: Cattle Drive.(management of the beef industry)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2004... Casey McMullen found himself in a bind a year ago when he and the executive team at Agri Beef were close to signing a contract for the firm's biggest software implementation to date, one that could cost up to $2 million. For just six weeks of...

Vertex: The Write Stuff.(Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., management)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2004... Mark Murcko's career is based on the idea that you can indeed--platitudes aside--rush genius. In fact, his company's whole strategy is based on it. So was his decision to take paper notebooks off the lab benches of his scientists. As...

Wet Seal: Wrong Call.(The Wet Seal Inc. and its new technical services)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2004... A year ago, Michael Relich was telling a suCcESs story about the virtual private network and Web portal he'd launched as chief information officer of Wet Seal. Today, he's an observer as the apparel retailer struggles for survival. CIO at...

Marketing of the President 2008.
November 3, 2004... Who will be the next candidate to harness a new round of computer services and change campaigning? Who can organize grassroots support online and translate that into an upset of the traditional two-party model? Is there some...

What is the Baseline 500?(a new service)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2004... Drawn from a database of 2,500 publicly traded companies with $100 million in revenue, Baseline has compiled a list of the firms most adept at managing information for competitive advantage. These companies, which range in size and industry,...

CVS: The Fire This Time.(CVS Pharmacy Inc. making some technical changes at Eckerd Corp.)
November 11, 2004... Drugstore retailer CVS Pharmacy has a prescription for the systems running the 1,260 Eckerd stores it acquired over the summer-decommission them by the end of December. Since CVS bought the stores in July for $2.15 billion, the Woonsocket,...

Patent Spending.(number of patent infringement cases increasing)
November 11, 2004... Technology companies are aggressively asserting their rights to payments from disputed patents, violated copyrights and abuse of intellectual property. Now, the mayhem is spreading to customers who use contentious technology, and it may require...

Panama Technicians Found Guilty.(National Cancer Institute of Panama)(super-radiation to 12 patients)
November 18, 2004... Two radiology technicians have been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in applying "super-radiation" to 12 patients at the National Cancer Institute of Panama in 2000 and 2001. Technicians Olivia Saldana Gonzalez and Alexis Concepcion...