Software Magazine Ranks MICROS Systems, Inc. As One of the World’s Largest Software Companies
MICROS Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, is pleased to announce its inclusion in Software Magazine’s Software 500 ranking of the world’s largest software and service providers, now in its 27th year.
MICROS Systems, Inc. was ranked #81, with software and service revenue of $688.2 million.
The Software 500 is a revenue-based ranking of the world’s largest software and service suppliers targeting medium to large enterprises, their IT professionals, software developers, and business managers involved in software and services purchasing.
via Software Magazine Ranks MICROS Systems, Inc. As One of the World’s Largest.
HipCricket Introduces Patent-Pending Mobile Coupon Solution For Retailers and Quick Service Restaurants
Mobile marketing leader HipCricket today introduced a new measureable solution which places mobile coupons within reach of the more than 240 million Americans who have text messaging on their mobile phones. Based on patent-pending technology, the new mobile coupon solution allows retailers and quick-service restaurants (QSR) to measurably increase customer loyalty and sales.
Founded in 2004, HipCricket has deep experience with retailers, restaurants and consumer packaged goods manufacturers, among others.
Over this time, HipCricket’s retail and QSR clients have successfully employed strategies to deliver mobile offers including Jiffy Lube, which sent an offer via mobile that produced redemption rates of nearly 50 percent new customers.
Death By Mobile Coupon
My heart sank as I came to the head of the line at Borders this weekend. Methuselah was my check-out person and I had a mobile coupon. The 30% off promotion wasn’t even directly from Borders.
As some veterans of this column may recall, I have a longstanding bone to pick with that bookstore chain. It had a perfectly reasonable SMS couponing service more than a year ago that it unceremoniously yanked from its customers. Now I have to rely on third-party coupon scrapers like the MobiQpons, which seem to aggregate Web coupons — nicely, I might add. But I am never sure if the cashier is going to recognize and honor the offer or have a meltdown and start looking around the cash register for the training book.
via Death By Mobile Coupon @MediaPost @stevesmith – ajimmything’s posterous.
Small business ill prepared for disasters
Small businesses in Australia and New Zealand have experienced three network disruptions on average in the past 12 months costing them an estimated $30,000 a day, a Symantec report released today has found.
The survey, conducted by Applied Research, found power outages (79 percent) were the number one cause of disruption in the past 12 months, followed by floods, fire or storm (70 percent) and virus attacks (67 percent).
Of concern, however, was that 93 percent of small businesses said they were “somewhat to very satisfied” with their disaster plans even though almost one third didn’t have a plan to deal with such disruptions.
via Small business ill prepared for disasters – Software – Technology – News – CRN Australia.
SMBs lack proper disaster recovery plan
A new survey has found a large discrepancy between how small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) perceive their disaster readiness when it comes to protecting their data and their actual level of preparedness.
The Symantec 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey of over 1,650 respondents from 28 countries, found that 93 percent of Australian and New Zealand businesses are satisfied with their IT disaster plans, yet the average SMB has experienced three outages within the past 12 months, with the leading causes in Australia and New Zealand being a power outage (79 percent), a natural disaster (70 percent), a virus or hacker attack (67 percent), an employee accidently deleting data (65 percent) and an outage as a result of upgrading or changing consumer systems (63 percent).
via SMBs lack proper disaster recovery plan | Dynamic Business.
Study: Mothers Use Facebook, Twitter, Blogs More than Average Adults
A new Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) survey conducted by BIGresearch indicates that retailers who are interested in attracting moms are advised to pay close attention to social networking. Women with children at home are more likely to use Facebook (60.3%), MySpace (42.4%) and Twitter (16.5%) than average adults (50.2%, 34.4%, 15.0%, respectively). No less than 15.3% maintain their own blog.
Mike Gatti, Executive Director for RAMA, stated: “Retailers who aren’t engaging customers through social media could be missing the boat. Twitter, Facebook and blogs are becoming increasingly popular with moms as they search for coupons or deals and keep in touch with loved ones. The web provides efficient, convenient ways for brands to stay in front of their most loyal shoppers and attract new ones.”
On a scale of one to five, when asked what kinds of promotions most influence their purchases, moms ranked product samples in the store (3.8), product samples delivered to home (3.6), loyalty cards (3.5), and special displays (3.4) as their favorites.
via Study: Mothers Use Facebook, Twitter, Blogs More than Average Adults | Mobile Dialog Blog.
New York Small Business Owners Coping in Still-Rough Waters
A restaurant owner, squeezed by a slump in sales and growing debt to his landlord, discontinues his health insurance. A contractor decides not to replace a member of his small crew who quit. An industrial bicycle maker starts selling to universities, prisons and zoos. For a quintet of small businesses that The New York Times has been tracking for the past year, the persistent recession has hurt some more than others. As fall began, some cautious optimism about a recovery crept into recent interviews conducted by Patrick McGeehan, Erik Olsen and Gabriel Johnson.
via New York Small Business Owners Coping in Still-Rough Waters – NYTimes.com.
What does PCI mean to you?
This week my attention has been dominated by one word, well six officially, but often narrowed down to six or even three letters – PCI.
To give it its full title it is the ‘Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard’, and in my meetings this week at Gartner and other panel debates, the subject arose on several occasions. Now I will be the first to acknowledge that I do not know the ins and outs of PCI (as we will now call it), but thanks to the PCI DSS user group (see link) I do know that it is a set of complex regulations that all businesses taking credit card payments must adhere to.
Emerald Business Systems Blog 