News & Research
NewsHospitality and Tourism: Tourism uniquely positioned for social media
By Dan Verel, Business Journal Staff Reporter
Santa Rosa-based IQR Consulting is similarly seeking to tap into technology as a way to assist excursion and tour companies with the launch of its Excursion Management System service.
Smaller and mid-sized tour companies have been "left out of the technology loop," owner Lomesh Shah said. The consulting company is hoping to correct what it describes as "manual processes and disparate applications and databases" used by smaller excursion companies.
EMS, as the service is called, allows businesses to consolidate day-to-day functions into one system, thereby permitting the business to easily update websites, set up tour operators and agents and access information on bookings occurring anywhere in the world. Information can be found at www.iqrconsulting.com.
read more... LEGACY MARKETING GROUP® TRANSITIONS TO IQR CONSULTING FOR IT RESOURCES
PETALUMA, CA, November 14, 2008 - Legacy Marketing Group®, an innovator in the development of traditional and index annuities and a leader in the independent distribution channel, has selected IQR Consulting as its primary IT outsourcing firm. Legacy has used external IT resources since 2001, relying on this outsourcing strategy as a way to manage technology to compete with industry giants. Because IQR has demonstrated experience in and knowledge of Legacy’s industry and market, Legacy made the strategic decision to move to IQR to access this expertise and streamline functions, which ultimately manages costs. IQR will assist Legacy in the creation of its next generation agent platform and other projects as needed. The successful transition to IQR was completed in less than 30 days.
About Legacy - Legacy develops fixed annuity products for top-rated carriers and markets those products through a nationwide network of independent Wholesalers and agents. The company’s unique business model simplifies day-to-day business for independent agents by providing a range of product and carrier options through a single service interface. Legacy builds diversity and options into its products, helping consumers to find the annuity that best suits their situation and needs. Legacy is headquartered in Petaluma, CA.
Research
As Spending Levels Drop, Devote Tech Dollars to Boost Efficiencies, Cut Costs, Remain Competitive
Posted By - Peggy Bresnick Kendler on Nov 3, 2008
Research
As Spending Levels Drop, Devote Tech Dollars to Boost Efficiencies, Cut Costs, Remain Competitive
Posted By - Peggy Bresnick Kendler on Nov 3, 2008
Times are tough – and expected to get tougher. Everyone is spending less – consumers, government, business – and trying to do more with less. But nowhere does that hold true more than in the financial services sector, where companies are cutting back in myriad ways – including on technology – while also striving to increase efficiencies and remain competitive.
Signs of the cut-back times in this sector include news from American Express, which last week announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs – or 10 percent of its workforce – in an effort to slash $1.8 billion in costs by 2009. Although the planned job cuts will be across various AmEx business units and will focus on management positions, the company expects to scale back investments in technology, among other areas, as well.
And two weeks ago, National City Mortgage announced that it will cut 4,000 staff positions – or roughly 4 percent of its workforce – by 2011. And UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank and one of the European banks hit the hardest by the U.S. property market crisis, announced that it plans to cut 2,000 more jobs. This is in addition to the more than 4,100 investment banking positions that were eliminated in 2008.
Technology spending is taking a hit. According to a report by the Commerce department, business spending on equipment and software fell by 5.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
To quote Bob Dylan, “the times they are a changing.” The spirited and lengthy spending spree is grinding to a sobering halt for consumers and businesses alike.
But financial services firms need to not only keep their heads afloat during these difficult times, they need to remain competitive and profitable in order to survive. Improvements in process efficiencies and reducing costs are imperatives, as is corporate risk management and the ability to quickly get products to market, according to a new TechWeb report, The State of Business.
According to the report, the most important business priorities that financial services’ IT organization must support are reducing costs, improving TCO and corporate risk management and speeding product delivery/time to market, as well as improving the execution of business processes. Nearly half of financial services respondents to the TechWeb survey said that reducing costs and improving TCO was a top business imperative, while 43 percent cited corporate risk management and 37 percent cited speeding product delivery and time to market as top business imperatives. More than a third said that improving business process execution was critical.
About 69 percent of respondents to the survey said that IT-enabled transformation was either highly important or of the utmost importance in their organizations. Interestingly, the respondents felt that the top business imperatives in which IT must not only support transformation but also enable transformation are those that were flagged as being the topmost important business imperatives: speed to market, cost reduction, business process improvements and corporate risk management.
So spending in general and on technology, in particular, is down. But the companies that will likely weather this financial storm will devote the bulk of their technology dollars to these four areas, which will keep their organizations running smart, enable them to provide targeted products to the market in a hurry, keep a handle on risk and create efficiencies within their processes.
Posted By - Peggy Bresnick Kendler on Nov 3, 2008
Times are tough – and expected to get tougher. Everyone is spending less – consumers, government, business – and trying to do more with less. But nowhere does that hold true more than in the financial services sector, where companies are cutting back in myriad ways – including on technology – while also striving to increase efficiencies and remain competitive.
Signs of the cut-back times in this sector include news from American Express, which last week announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs – or 10 percent of its workforce – in an effort to slash $1.8 billion in costs by 2009. Although the planned job cuts will be across various AmEx business units and will focus on management positions, the company expects to scale back investments in technology, among other areas, as well.
And two weeks ago, National City Mortgage announced that it will cut 4,000 staff positions – or roughly 4 percent of its workforce – by 2011. And UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank and one of the European banks hit the hardest by the U.S. property market crisis, announced that it plans to cut 2,000 more jobs. This is in addition to the more than 4,100 investment banking positions that were eliminated in 2008.
Technology spending is taking a hit. According to a report by the Commerce department, business spending on equipment and software fell by 5.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
To quote Bob Dylan, “the times they are a changing.” The spirited and lengthy spending spree is grinding to a sobering halt for consumers and businesses alike.
But financial services firms need to not only keep their heads afloat during these difficult times, they need to remain competitive and profitable in order to survive. Improvements in process efficiencies and reducing costs are imperatives, as is corporate risk management and the ability to quickly get products to market, according to a new TechWeb report, The State of Business.
According to the report, the most important business priorities that financial services’ IT organization must support are reducing costs, improving TCO and corporate risk management and speeding product delivery/time to market, as well as improving the execution of business processes. Nearly half of financial services respondents to the TechWeb survey said that reducing costs and improving TCO was a top business imperative, while 43 percent cited corporate risk management and 37 percent cited speeding product delivery and time to market as top business imperatives. More than a third said that improving business process execution was critical.
About 69 percent of respondents to the survey said that IT-enabled transformation was either highly important or of the utmost importance in their organizations. Interestingly, the respondents felt that the top business imperatives in which IT must not only support transformation but also enable transformation are those that were flagged as being the topmost important business imperatives: speed to market, cost reduction, business process improvements and corporate risk management.
So spending in general and on technology, in particular, is down. But the companies that will likely weather this financial storm will devote the bulk of their technology dollars to these four areas, which will keep their organizations running smart, enable them to provide targeted products to the market in a hurry, keep a handle on risk and create efficiencies within their processes.
