New Electronic and Web-based Applications, Sites, and Technologies Wilson Learning Enhances Performance Measurement Solution Wilson Learning Corp. has released an enhanced version of its Leader Navigator performance measurement system, a multi-rater, 360-degree tool that provides personalized feedback and development planning for fine-tuning the performance of leaders. With enhanced functionality and flexibility, the solution offers the latest business strategy and is based on the Integrated Leadership model, which was created in late 2004 by a team of Wilson Learning psychologists and subject matter experts. This model stresses a balance of essence (character, who the leader is) and form (action, what the leader does). Wilson Learning offers Leader Navigator in three standard versions: Performance Leader, Growth Leader, and Strategic Leader. “This tool helps determine the current level of leadership skills and where they should be,” says David Yesford, VP of product management at Wilson Learning Worldwide. “Like anything else, to compete and win in today’s business environment organizations need to base performance improvement initiatives on concrete, real-world data, not just bits and pieces of disparate information.” Tom Roth, president of Wilson Learning Corp., says the Leader Navigator is a means to identify behavioral needs and allow managers to create the right solution to enhance the leadership capabilities and potential in an organization. “Today, with competing resource demands and the stresses of a volatile marketplace, time and money spent on efforts to improve human performance through training and development must yield a maximum return to the organization,” he says. With competing resource demands and the stresses of a volatile marketplace, time and money spent on efforts to improve human performance through training and development must yield a maximum return to the organization, says Tom Roth, President of Wilson Learning Corp. Edge Dynamics Releases Latest Version of CCM Solution Edge Dynamics 3.0 is the latest release of Edge Dynamics Inc.’s channel commerce management (CCM) solution. The new release doubles the functionality of the Edge Dynamics solution by introducing the first analytics platform and the only plug-and-play SAP connector built for CCM. The new version also includes significant enhancements to its continuous score-carding functionality, transaction dispositioning, and overall performance. The CCM solution delivers continuous, in-line transaction analysis capabilities that offer clients improved control and insight into channel commerce. Additionally, because the application captures the history of transaction decisions, clients benefit from streamlined procedures for compliance against key regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley. “With Edge Dynamics 3.0, we are providing manufacturers with the insight to anticipate channel commerce activities and respond to them proactively for maximum financial performance,” says John McGrory, Edge Dynamics’ president and CEO. Edge Dynamics 3.0 is complementary to existing enterprise systems, such as ERP, SCM, and CRM, and can be deployed in as little as eight weeks. The new version also includes significant enhancements to its continuous score-carding functionality, transaction dispositioning, and overall performance. Harte-Hanks Opens E-mail Marketing Service Centers Harte-Hanks Inc. has launched six additional U.S. and European service centers, offering a broad range of e-mail marketing services tailored for retail, technology, pharmaceutical, financial, and other vertical markets. Each center has a dedicated staff of e-mail specialists with expertise in vertical direct-marketing solutions capable of managing e-mail marketing programs for clients using Harte-Hanks Postfuture Enterprise Edition e-marketing suite. Each e-mail service center is located within existing Harte-Hanks facilities corresponding to a core vertical market expertise and one regional market. The healthcare and pharmaceutical markets service center is located at the company’s Langhorne, Pa., facility. “Based on our industry-vertical approach, we can more easily combine e-mail with other interactive and offline marketing channels, such as Web design, direct mail, contact center, and targeted print and broadcast advertising inside all of Harte-Hanks to execute more effective multichannel marketing strategies,” says Richard Merrick, managing director for Postfuture at Harte-Hanks. “By shifting e-mail campaign strategy and execution responsibility to locations most familiar with client and industry needs, we are better able to centralize marketing strategy, streamline day-to-day execution, and simply be more responsive.” “To provide an effective direct marketing solution today requires comprehensive knowledge of all media categories, vertical and regional market expertise, and a shared focus with what each client is seeking to accomplish,” says Gary Skidmore, senior VP and corporate officer at Harte-Hanks. “E-marketing is a top priority for many of our clients, and our Postfuture offering delivers e-mail savvy in exciting ways. Yet its greatest value is in how we leverage e-mail messaging for any one client within an integrated direct marketing solution.” In December 2004, Harte-Hanks acquired Postfuture and announced its intentions to integrate the company’s e-mail marketing and e-publishing offerings within many of the direct marketing solutions that Harte-Hanks delivers to its diversified base of clients. Based on our industry-vertical approach, we can more easily combine e-mail with other interactive and offline marketing channels to execute more effective multichannel marketing strategies, says Richard Merrick, Managing Director for Postfuture at Harte-Hanks. November 2005 E-media Lathian Introduces Life-Sciences Sales and Marketing Suite Lathian Systems has released Spectrum of Solutions, an end-to-end sales and marketing suite that gives life-sciences marketers an integrated, full-service arsenal of tools that improve customer relations, enhance product education, make materials more accessible to busy physicians, as well as increase sales. Whether used in whole or in part, the suite counteracts the industry trend of decreasing return on investment from life-sciences’ sales teams. The decreased ROI is a result of increasingly busy physicians who don’t have the time to meet with field reps. The Spectrum of Solutions is a one-stop, Web-based system that supports the five crucial platforms — considered by many to be the top five marketing challenges — used by life-sciences professionals: medical promotion, medical education, medical conferencing, salesforce effectiveness, and market research. “With Spectrum of Solutions, life-sciences companies of all types and sizes have a single suite of solutions to effectively connect, interact, educate, and close their target audience,” says V. Brewster Jones, chairman and CEO of Lathian. “Our solution is a comprehensive, cost-effective sales and marketing suite.” The system supports medical promotion with solutions that include e-detailing, e-sampling, and product alerts for delivering timely news; medical education with online e-learning environments that accommodate virtually an unlimited number of physicians; medical conferencing with solutions such as unbranded, nonpromotional disease-state symposia and live, key opinion leader-led Webcasts; and salesforce effectiveness, enabling the first electronic sales organization with Web-based tools for initiating e-promotion sessions. The solution also includes personalized one-to-one streaming video and live audio for online communication as well as market research with offerings that enable life-sciences companies to gain additional insights into customer behavior and overall market drivers. The Spectrum of Solutions is a one-stop, Web-based system that supports the five crucial platforms used by life-sciences professionals. Follow up Edge Dynamics Inc., Redwood City, Calif., provides channel commerce management solutions to the life-sciences industry. For more information, visit edgedynamics.com. Harte-Hanks Inc., San Antonio, is a worldwide direct and targeted marketing company. For more information, visit harte-hanks.com. Lathian Systems, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., offers innovative online promotional and educational solutions that help life-sciences companies to improve customer relationships, enhance product education, and increase sales. For more information, visit lathian.com. Wilson Learning Corp., Edina, Minn., provides human performance improvement solutions for Fortune 500 and emerging organizations. For more information, visit wilsonlearning.com.
