Innovative Retail Strategies Featured in Newest Cognos eNewsletter

Latest issue of Cognos Performance Perspectives eNewsletter details innovative retail strategies.

Ottawa, ON (PRWEB) December 18, 2007 -- Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, today announced the availability of the December issue of its Cognos Performance Perspectives eNewsletter.

This month's edition, published at the height of the holiday shopping season, spotlights retail trends as well as innovative management strategies.

The stories cover three specific areas of corporate performance management: IT, Finance, and Business decision-making. Highlights of the issue include:

* Lead the Business or Lag Behind? Questions for the Retail CIO: Why Wal-Mart's IT dominance may be on the decline, and lessons CIOs can learn to avoid the same fate.


* Bye, Bye Box Stores? How shoppers are rewriting the rules in retail by choosing personalized shopping experiences over mega-stores, and how smart retailers are capitalizing on the trend.


* The Invisible Manager: Why mass collaboration and teams are replacing traditional management structures, giving rise to the "invisible" manager -- one who facilitates and guides innovation through collaboration and spins wealth from pure human talent.


* Big Decisions, Big Dreams: Insights from Dr. John Izzo, author of Values Shift: The New Work Ethic and What It Means for Business, on successful businesses that aim high and dream big dreams.


Good decisions are the building blocks of great business performance. The performance management system from Cognos integrates software, services, best-practices, and partners. By integrating information, technology, and people, your decision-makers can become performance managers. Performance managers look at metrics, plans, and reports in their functional area to make the best possible decisions.

They also use this same approach to connect with others. For example, if Marketing decisions improve demand, then Sales and Operations needs to know to ensure the supply is ready. In this way, your good decisions cause other good decisions. The end result is better alignment, accountability, and performance.

Cognos Performance Perspectives is the Cognos eNewsletter with a subscriber list of 23,000. It is published every six weeks in English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian. Learn more at Cognos Performance Perspectives.

About Cognos
Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.

Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization's ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? -- and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies.

Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com

Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Equity Alliance Properties of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, and Paradise Valley Offering $150,000+ In Buyer Incentives

In an effort to help homeowners get back into the game while home prices are still low, Equity Alliance Properties is offering considerable cash incentives to their homebuyers.

(PRWEB) December 18, 2007 -- The show must go on. In the face of tough times in the real estate market homebuyers find themselves with difficulty in finding home loans that suit their financial situations. Most commonly those challenges are accompanied by a lack of funds for down payment or closing costs. In an effort to help homeowners get back into the game while home prices are still low, Equity Alliance Properties is offering considerable cash incentives to their homebuyers.

Homebuyers in the $150,000 to $200,000 price range will automatically receive $1500 toward their down payment or closing costs. In addition, Equity Alliance Properties, with its award winning negotiation techniques, will in many cases secure an additional $10,000 to $20,000 for the Buyer in the way of Seller contributions, in this price range. As the price of the home goes up, so does the amount of guaranteed incentive from Equity Alliance Properties and also the amount of any additional incentives secured by contract.

Take for example a home with a list price of $2,250,000 and let's assume that it is priced fairly in today's market. Given current market conditions it is not unreasonable to expect an experienced broker such as Robert Hand of Equity Alliance Properties to secure through contract negotiations an additional $200,000 to $300,000 of Seller funded incentives on a home in this price range. After negotiations and Seller funded incentives we reach an agreed upon sales price of say, $1,990,000. Equity Alliance Properties will then guarantee upon successful close of escrow an additional direct cash incentive through escrow of $19,990, which the purchaser may use towards down payment, closing costs, or as cash back to the Buyer. Robert Hand of Equity Alliance Properties has just saved you $279,990 on the purchase of this luxury home. Don't allow yourself to be drawn in by the Seller's own real estate brokerage listing representative through their advertisements and promotions. These players are Seller's representatives; they represent only the Seller and do not represent your interests as a Buyer. The Seller's representative is bound by law and code of ethics not to disclose to any Buyer what kind of offers the Seller might accept and/or any concessions the Seller might be willing to make. Often the Seller doesn't even know just how low they will go until we get out the pen and paper and start written negotiations: hard line, cutting edge negotiations that make most folks uncomfortable to even try on their own. This is business. In fact it is the biggest business decision most of us make, our own personal real estate transactions. Don't go it alone. Better yet, get representation that will get you results and put you in a home with equity to boot.

To find out more about the incentives available to you in the price range of homes you are interested in, go to: www.equityallianceproperties.com to contact Robert Hand directly, the broker and owner of the company. Please mention this article. Thank you.

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Jim Majeski Named President of CYDCOR

Westlake Village, Calif. (PRWEB) December 18, 2007 -- CYDCOR, the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams, recently named Jim Majeski President of CYDCOR. Prior to this role, Majeski held the position of CYDCOR Senior Vice President of Business Development.

"Over the course of the past 13 years, Jim has played a central role in making CYDCOR the success it is today. His leadership, ability to forge long-lasting client relationships and fuel the growth of our network of sales offices, has contributed to CYDCOR in innumerable ways. As President, he will lead CYDCOR at an even more significant level," CEO Gary Polson said.

Majeski joined the company in 1994 and is credited with taking CYDCOR global, leading business development in Germany, Spain and the UK. He oversees all client relationships which include Fortune 500 companies, some of which became clients more than a decade ago. In addition, Majeski has continued to meet clients' needs through increasing CYDCOR's network of independent sales offices from zero to more than 200 today.

"We have built an outstanding reputation with our clients and in the industry. The biggest and best global brands are choosing CYDCOR and our network of sales offices to represent them. As President, I look forward to the explosive growth CYDCOR will experience in the near future," said Majeski.

Most recently, Majeski and Polson obtained additional capital from institutional investors to fuel business expansion and the pursuit of channel and geographic opportunities. Both Majeski and Polson have financial as well as ownership stakes in the company.

Prior to joining CYDCOR, Majeski served as director of business markets at MCI and president of the International Marketing Group. Majeski has more than 20 years of experience in corporate sales, management and strategic brand marketing, and is currently on the Board of Directors of Pennsylvania State University and St. Thomas University.
About CYDCOR, Inc.

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Orion Health Congratulates Peninsula Health on Health Informatics Society of Australia 2007 Don Walker Award for Effectiveness in Healthcare Delivery

Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) December 18, 2007 -- Orion Health, a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for the healthcare sector, today congratulates Peninsula Health on being awarded the 2007 Don Walker Award for Effectiveness in Healthcare Delivery by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA).

Peninsula Health (PH), an outer Melbourne metropolitan health service, received the award based on an innovative project to improve continuity of patient care using e-Discharge and e-Prescribing. The award acknowledged that the e-Discharge and e-Prescribing initiatives have demonstrated a quantifiable impact on the improvement of patient outcomes through the use of innovative IT solutions.

"Australia is one of the many countries emphasizing the use of technology to reduce medical errors and streamline communications between physicians for more coordinated care and fewer ambulatory admissions," said Ian McRae, Orion Health Chief Executive Officer.

"Peninsula Health's team has implemented innovative e-prescribing and e-health solutions to improve patient care. We're proud to have such solutions be based on Orion Health technology."
Like many Australian healthcare organizations, information sharing at Peninsula Health had historically been paper-based and ineffective. A survey conducted by PH and the Mornington Peninsula Division of GPs in 2000 revealed only 16% of the GP respondents had received a patient discharge summary within three days of the patient's discharge. Many respondents had received discharge summaries up to three months post-discharge. Of the discharge summaries that had been received only 27% were legible.

The aims of the project were to improve the quality of discharge prescribing and reduce the opportunities for medication errors through the use of e-Prescribing. PH also hoped to improve the continuum of care between acute and primary care by providing a legible and accurate medication list via the use of e-Discharge Summaries. The final goal of the program was to enhance the quality, legibility and timeliness of discharge information communicated to primary care practitioners to reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions.

Electronic Prescribing and Discharge in Australia
Efforts to improve the continuity of the patient care journey from acute care settings to primary care have increasingly emphasized the role of information technology. The need to avoid medical errors, and prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions through enhanced communications with General Practitioners (GPs) has been well documented. The Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care has recommended the use of e-Prescribing coupled with the accurate transfer of information between hospital and community settings to reduce medication incidents. These recommendations are supported by other national health authorities. More than half of preventable medication incidents are associated with prescribing errors. A number of Australian controlled studies have indicated the provision of medication summaries to patients and their GPs improves patient outcomes and reduces medication incident.

Poor communication between hospitals and GPs has been identified as an obstacle to effective integrated health care. A number of authors have also highlighted the serious limitations of our current system of handwritten discharge summaries, while others have suggested discharge summaries of inadequate quality may have serious impacts on subsequent patient care. The Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care studies suggest "Communication from hospitals to GPs are in an unacceptable state, and to continue with the current system of discharge summaries appears futile". Citing high error rates (36.4%) and low rates of discharge receipt (27.1%) these researchers suggest resources currently being invested in this inefficient system would be better spent in determining methods of improving communication.

The Don Walker Award
The award was presented by the Health Informatics Society of Australia, in the spirit of Australia's first informatics pioneer, Don Walker, the first Doctor in Australia to introduce a computer into his practice. The award acknowledged that the e-Discharge and e-Prescribing initiatives have demonstrated a quantifiable impact on the improvement of patient outcomes through the use of innovative IT solutions.

About Peninsula Health
Peninsula Health is the major health care provider serving the metropolitan and rural areas on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. With close to 800 beds we provide a wide range of services from obstetrics to aged care, rehabilitation, emergency and intensive care, oncology, psychiatric services and Hospital in the Home (HITH). http://www.peninsulahealth.org.au

About the Healthcare Informatics Society of Australia
HISA was established in 1992 by representatives of health informatics groups operating within Australia at that time. The first HIC national event was held in Brisbane in August 1993. In 1994 HISA confirmed its status as an incorporated body following the first Annual General Meeting of national members at the Gold Coast meeting of HIC'94. In the following formative years HISA and informatics groups continued to work toward a national governing body and constitution.
In year 2000 HISA became a national governing health informatics body. Its constitution and accountability registered with the Australian Securities Commission organisation (ASIC) see http://www.asic.gov.au/

About Orion Health
Orion Health's easy-to-use solutions and applications improve patient care and clinical decision making by providing integrated health data in a single, unified view. By enhancing existing healthcare information systems, Orion Health's Rhapsody Integration Engine, Concerto Medical Application Portal, and workflow solutions provide healthcare workers with easy access to patient data and trends, and reduce errors and omissions by streamlining information transfer.
Worldwide, Orion Health is implementing health information communities involving over 35 million patients with tens of thousands of active users including Maine's HealthInfoNet and the Vermont Health Information Exchange. Orion Health's partners include leading health system integrators and IT vendors such as Accenture, IBM, Oracle Corporation, Sierra Systems and others. Orion Health has more than 1,000 clients around the world, including Lahey Clinic, New York State Department of Health, UCLA Medical Center, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More information can be found at www.orionhealth.com.

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Website Content Positioning Book is Finalist in USA Book News' National Best Books 2007 Awards

Irvine, CA (PRWEB) December 18, 2007 -- Internet writing expert Michelle Howe's new book about website content positioning, "Turn Browsers into Buyers: Secrets for Turning an Internet Profit," was named one of three finalists in the Business: Marketing & Advertising category for this year's USA Book News' National "Best Books 2007" Awards.

This is the second award for Howe's book. Earlier this year, her book received the 2007 IPPY Bronze award for being one of the best business books published in 2007.

USABookNews.com is the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses. According to Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USABookNews.com, "This year's contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries." Keen says of the awards, now in their fourth year, "The 2007 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States."

Howe's book, "Turn Browsers into Buyers: Secrets for Turning an Internet Profit," is a step-by-step guide for anyone who wants to have a successful website business. "Unfortunately," says Howe, "most websites are a dismal failure as a marketing tool. A business will spend thousands of dollars on the design of a website and leave the content as an afterthought. The result is a website that may look good, but doesn't bring the sales or generate the leads that it was supposed to do."

According to popular speaker and author, Seth Godin, "Marketing is not just the whipped cream you add on top. It's a core function of how you operate your business. It's a high level decision about how you're going to create, promote, distribute and deliver your wares. If you're smart you adapt your business model to the forces in the marketplace."

For a small business, a website can be an effective marketing tool if it has the right content. However, website content positioning is often beyond the skill set of the small business owner. So, a company's website becomes an electronic brochure rather than marketing tool. Howe's new book addresses the common problems entrepreneurs and small business owners encounter when trying to create website content strategies.

"Writing website content is different from writing other marketing materials," says Howe. "Because website content is being written for both human beings and the search engines, it can be challenging to write a clear, concise marketing message. My book teaches you how to write a website marketing message that attracts both visitors and search engines."

For additional information about "Turn Browsers into Buyers: Secrets for Turning an Internet Profit," or to order the book, please visit http://www.turn-browsers-into-buyers.com

About Michelle Howe:
Michelle Howe, MBA, is the owner of Internet Word Magic, an Internet marketing and PR company. Internet Word Magic creates a company's Internet marketing strategy by looking at the big picture of how a company's website is interacting with visitors. It then designs a plan to allow the company to effectively market its services/products using a combination of e-mail campaigns, persuasive website content positioning, blogs, search engine optimization and press releases.

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source: prweb.com