A new IDC study confirms that homeshoring will remain an attractive option for service providers and their employees, particularly as the global economy slips into what could be a deep and protracted recession. “Current economic ripples are buffeting American wage earners, including customer care agents, at a time when workers already face significant challenges to both their productivity and their wallets,” said Stephen Loynd, program manager, Contact Center Services research. “I am convinced that when it comes to outsourced customer care, by the time we emerge from a possibly severe global recession, homeshoring will have developed into a more formidable sibling to offshoring than many would have expected just a few years ago.” (more…)

Although information technology is well integrated into the lives of many Americans, gadgets and communication services require, for some, a call for help. Some 48% of technology users usually need help from others to set up new devices or to show them how they function. Many tech users encounter problems with their cell phones, internet connections, and other gadgets. This, in turn, often leads to impatience and frustration as they try to get them fixed. (more…)

IDC’s latest update on information technology (IT) spending in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa reveals a bleaker outlook for the near term in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis. Growth of just under 3% is now expected for the EMEA IT market in 2009, which represents a 1.5-point drop compared to IDC’s previous, pre-crisis forecast. (more…)

FORTUNE magazine has named SAP AG, the world’s leading provider of business software solutions, in its rankings of “America’s Most Admired Companies.” (more…)

Overall, 62% of adult Americans have either accessed the internet with a wireless connection away from home or work or used a non-voice data application using their cell phone or PDA, according to the Pew Internet Project’s December 2007 survey. “People’s growing reliance on their cell phones, together with wireless internet access from laptops, suggests a shift in expectations about cyberspace,” said John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of the Pew Internet Project and author of the report. “For many people, access to digital information and resources is an ‘always present’ utility for answering questions and documenting what is going on around them through photos or video recording.” (more…)

Factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 2.4% year over year to $15.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 (4Q07), marking the seventh consecutive quarter of positive growth. Worldwide server unit shipments grew 9.0% in 4Q07 when compared with the year-ago period. For the full year 2007, worldwide server revenue grew 3.6% to $54.4 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 6.7% to 8.0 million units. This represents the highest annual server revenue since the market peaked in 2000 with factory revenue of more than $61.6 billion, says IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.
Volume systems revenue grew 8.2% year over year and the segment continues to be the catalyst for growth in the server market overall, gaining favor with SMB and enterprise customers alike. Midrange enterprise server revenue experienced negative growth for the fourth consecutive quarter, declining –0.5% year over year while the high-end enterprise server market had similar results with –5.7% year-over-year revenue growth. (more…)

Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users surpassed 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16 per cent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million, according to Gartner. Mobile phone sales at the end of the year were consistent with the yearly trend, as fourth quarter sales reached 330 million units. The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30 per cent of the global mobile devices market in 2008.
Nokia achieved its long-term target of 40 per cent market share in the fourth quarter of 2007 when it sold slightly more than 133 million phones across the world. Despite some component shortages, Nokia increased its market share sequentially in all regions except North America, which remains a challenging market for the vendor. In emerging markets, products such as the 1110, the 1600 and the 2630 were in demand by consumers, while in mature markets such as Western Europe high-end phones like the N95, N82 and N73 were sought-after devices. In 2008, Nokia will need to continue to improve its portfolio, offering not only more applications and functions, but also novel designs and improved user interfaces. (more…)

Operators need to harness the potential of their subscriber data or risk becoming obsolete as new players in the communications market encourage superior brand loyalty  - according to a wide-ranging global report launched today. The second part of this independent research, commissioned by Apertio, questioned over 70 global communications service providers (CSPs) on real-time subscriber data issues and focused on how CSPs can gain maximum benefit from their subscriber data. (more…)