RSS Channels IndexProfNet Wire: Business & Technology: Credit Cards/HSAs
ROUND-UP: DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY (continued)
We've added the following to items posted previously at http://profnet.prnewswire.com/organik/orbital/thewire/lst_leads.jsp?iLRTopicID =500
**1. AL LAUTENSLAGER, author of "Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days" and the forthcoming "Ultimate Guide to Direct Marketing": "Direct mail and other more traditional forms of marketing, which have been supplanted by telemarketing and electronic marketing in recent years, are seeing a resurgence with the advent of do-not-call registries, anti-spam laws and cell-phone telemarketing laws. I estimate that half the mail a person receives is direct mail, and consumers spend upwards of $500 billion a year in response to direct mail."
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LEADS
**1. INTERNET: EBOOKS ARE THE HOTTEST PRODUCTS ONLINE. CHARLENE DAVIS, eBay buyer and seller, freelance writer and co-author of "Make Big Profits on eBay: Start Your Own Million-Dollar Business": "The hottest products available online are eBooks that can be purchased and immediately downloaded for instant gratification. The availability and demand for these items are increasing at an incredible pace. Plus, their affordability, which is often a fraction of the cost of a hardcover book, increases the attraction of these products."
**2. MEDIA: VIACOM'S SPLIT PORTENDS BIG CHANGES IN MEDIA MARKET. CHARLES ROTHSTEIN, senior managing director of BERINGEA, an international private equity and investment banking firm: "After the mega-merger climate of the 1990s, many media conglomerates are realizing that their behemoth structures are eroding value. Smaller, more agile content providers will be better positioned to transfer their property across quickly changing media platforms. Giants like Disney and Viacom get tied up with an old medium and can't move their content as quickly into new delivery technologies. That's something that will have to change -- and soon. Therefore, we'll see more and more of these sorts of breakdowns."
**3. PERSONAL FINANCE: YOU HAVE SIGNED UP FOR AN HSA -- NOW WHAT? ANN MOND JOHNSON, president of Chicago-based SUBIMO, a provider of technology that organizes health care, hospital, physician and pharmaceutical data, can explain how to best utilize HSAs: "An estimated 3 million people will be signing up for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in 2005, but will the people know and understand how to get the most out of their dollar?"
**4. PERSONAL FINANCE: CLOCK IS TICKING TO LOCK LOW INTEREST RATES ON STUDENT LOANS. MARTHA HOLLER, spokesperson for SALLIE MAE: "The clock is ticking for spring graduates to lock in today's historically low student-loan interest rates. This summer, we may see the first student-loan interest rate increase in five years -" roughly two percentage points higher than current rates. Applying for student loan consolidation before July 1 can save borrowers hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in interest." Holler can offer student loan consolidation tips and interest rate trends.
**5. PERSONAL FINANCE: TAX BREAKS JUST FOR SENIORS. KEVIN LEVINE, CPA, senior tax manager at SALIBELLO & BRODER LLP: "Older taxpayers receive certain breaks. For instance, once you reach 65, you are eligible for a higher standard deduction. In 2005, you can claim an extra $1,250 if you are single. If both spouses are 65 or older, your combined extra deduction is $2,000. Those over 65 may also qualify for tax credits and tax breaks on Social Security benefits. In addition, some states give special tax breaks to those over 65. These include deferral programs or other breaks on property taxes."
**6. PERSONAL FINANCE: CREDIT CARD LOYALTY PROGRAMS. PETER BARSOOM, director of card payments for the Consumer Banking Group at MERRILL LYNCH, is an expert on consumer credit cards, credit card reward (loyalty) programs and spending habits of consumers using credit cards: "From airline miles to million-dollar makeovers, credit cards now offer customers much more than a lower APR. Credit card issuers are becoming more creative in order to attract new customers and to instill loyalty in existing customers." Barsoom can discuss the business of loyalty programs and the different investments credit card companies are making for their customers.
**7. SMALL BUSINESS: OWNING A SMALL BUSINESS CAN BE EXTREMELY REWARDING. LOIS C. STEPHENSON, president of BUILDING BLOCKS CHILD CARE & DEVELOPMENT CENTER: "Becoming a small business owner is a brave endeavor; however, it can be an extremely rewarding experience if you understand the keys to establishing and sustaining a small business." Most recently, Stephenson has been named the 2005 North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). She is active in organizations, such as the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Women Presidents' Organization.
**8. TECHNOLOGY: SIMPLIFYING NETWORK COMPLEXITY. DAVE NOCERA, president of VERIFICHI, the creator of ITVerify, a data warehouse solution: "Change in a workforce's computing environment that disrupts business productivity can have a resounding effect on a business. Creating and maintaining an available and reliable infrastructure is an undertaking that brings risk, due to the rate of business change and technology complexity." Nocera can address the importance of simplifying the complexities of information technology systems by monitoring and reducing unanticipated changes in computer and software configurations, and how technologies impact existing infrastructure by identifying changes made to infrastructure that could result in loss of business critical data and downtime.
**9. TECHNOLOGY: CREATING A TRUE MOBILE WORKFORCE. ED PARTNEOPE, vice president of operations at INNOVATIV, provider of technology-based solutions for business communications: "Today's increasingly mobile employees require anywhere, anytime access to corporate applications. Many organizations are therefore deploying Blackberries, smart phones, PDAs and other devices to empower their mobile workforces. Yet these devices generally lack integrated connectivity to CRM, ERP and custom back-end systems. What's a progressive organization to do?" Partneope can discuss common challenges and proven approaches for mobilizing applications, as well as best practices and open, cross-platform solutions that connect today's mobile devices to back-end systems.
**10. TECHNOLOGY: RFID IS FINALLY GAINING MOMENTUM. DARREN SUPRINA, chief security architect at INNOVATIV, provider of technology-based solutions for business communications: "RFID is finally gaining momentum as the ubiquitous, global standard for automated, real-time inventory management. Emerging standards and declining tag prices are fueling this adoption. There is a tendency to fixate on the rollout costs of this technology, yet there persist significant security challenges to the adoption of RFID. These include threats to systems, as well as a potential forced-march towards SCM (supply change management) rollouts mandated by larger business partners." Suprina is available to review the current state of electronic goods tagging, as well as the technical and business IT risks posed by this technology.
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