CINCINNATI – September 1, 2010 – Software and services provider Cincom Systems, an IBM Premier Business Partner, announces that Cincom Synchrony, its customer experience management solution, has been validated in IBM’s Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework. The IBM Industry Frameworks are designed to help customers shorten time to value and improve return on investment. 

The Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework is a software platform for the management and integration of a utility’s assets and information to help drive business agility and intelligent network transformation. The Framework strengthens line-of-business and IT collaboration by supporting seven software capabilities critical to smarter Energy and Utility solutions, including improved customer experience.

 “As more smart energy technologies come online, there is an increased demand for customer service within utility retailers, and the customer inquiries are far more complex. Consumers are no longer passive, they want to participate as they become more and more engaged in understanding and managing their energy usage,” said Randy Saunders, program director, Cincom Synchrony Customer Experience Management. “Receiving validation in IBM’s Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework strengthens our ability to help utilities gain competitive advantage through Customer Experience Management (CEM).” 

Representatives from Cincom and IBM will present a complimentary, interactive workshop to provide insights into the challenges and competitive opportunities energy and utility companies face in the UK and across Europe on Sept. 16 at the IBM Innovation Centre in Hursley, UK. To learn more, or sign up for the event, visit www.cincom.com/utilityworkshop.

Cincom Synchrony

Cincom Synchrony is a CEM Solution for contact centers that guides winning conversations with customers. It leverages the insight you have about each customer in the context of each interaction to deliver optimal customer experiences and organizational outcomes. Synchrony brings your CEM strategy to life in a realistic, operational model that grows your business while improving operational results. Learn more about Synchrony and the Energy and Utility Industry.

Cincom is an IBM Premier Business Partner. The two companies have a strong partnership, which began in the late 1960s when Cincom CEO Tom Nies was an IBM Account Executive. Today, Cincom and IBM have over 800 joint customers.

About Cincom

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services. Cincom, an IBM Premier Business Partner, helps customer-centric organizations differentiate and outperform through customer experience management.

 Related Links

Cincom Synchrony Collaborates with IBM to Enhance Call Center Customer Experience

Media Contact:

Liz Harter
Cincom Public Relations
Lharter@cincom.com
513-612-2155

CINCINNATI – August 31, 2010 – Cincom Treasurer Jerry Shawhan was recently named a National MDA Lock-Up All-Star by Muscular Dystrophy Association president and CEO Gerald C. Weinberg.

What a reversal of fortune . Mr. Shawhan had previously been accused  of having a “big heart.” But …

THE PROOF SET HIM FREE

Mr. Shawhan graphically proved the charges against him – of having a big heart – were completely unfounded and malicious. In his public testimony “The Proof will Set Me Free”, Mr Shawhan provided graphically documented proof.

SHAWHAN’S SAD STORY

Mr. Shawhan, behind bars and falsely accused, had told the “Jerry Shawhan Story” to anyone who would listen, to no avail. Then …

HEARTLESS HILARITY

A social media tsunami of unprecedented proportion arose. Over 800 people stepped up and told their stories of woeful woe – how Mr. Shawhan had been extremely heartless to them on many occasions. He was most certainly innocent of the charges – and unjustly accused of having a “big heart.”

Shawhan’s self-publishing company, Heartless  Hilarity Heroes Inc., ( a non-profit company – but not on purpose)  quickly turned those heartfelt testimonials into the worst-selling autobiography, “How-To-Be-Heartless,” a step-by-step guide for newbies.

After all the bills and checks were counted, the event raised $41,331 for MDA, but the real story here is that Shawhan (with the help of his “Free Jerry Shawhan” Web site) was the event’s biggest bail raiser, and now, one of the MDA’s National All Stars!

Mr. Shawhan declined all requests interviews. He was concerned too many people would email him at his secret email address (jshawhan@cincom.com).

His ever-vigilant PR department assured Mr. Shawhan that his jshawhan@cincom.com email address would be kept top secret.

BiologicsMD, from the University of Arkansas, the first place winners of the 2010 Cincom and University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise Business Plan Competition, took home the top prizes at both the Rice University Business Plan Competition and the Global MOOT Corp Competition (recently renamed Venture Labs Investment Competition) at the University of Texas. They are the first team ever to win both competitions.

Misty Stevens and Robyn Goforth from BiologicsMD, LLC at the University of Arkansas accept the $10,000 grand prize at the 2010 University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise MBA Business Plan Competition

The Spirit of Enterprise awards an automatic bid to the international Moot Competition.

Biologics MD is developing OsteoFlor, a new prescription medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis. Based on research developed at the University of Arkansas, OsteoFlor binds directly to the bone, nearly tripling new bone growth. An added and significant advantage over alternative treatments is that it requires only one injection a year.

The University of Arkansas team has raised over $300,000 in cash, in-kind and investments for the company, have been featured in the New York Times and Fortune and rang the closing bell for the NASDAQ on June 11 and 25.

A second Spirit of Enterprise success

BiologicsMD isn’t the only successful winner from the 2010 Spirit of Enterprise. LyoGo, formerly GlucaGo, from Purdue University, took third place in the Rice University Business Plan Competition and fourth place in the Global MOOT Corp competition.

They have raised over $100,000 for their company through competition and were also featured in Fortune.

The Purdue team won the Spirit of Enterprise Limo/Taxi Ride Competition which mirrors a chance encounter with a potential angel investor in which teams had to sell their business plan’s viability within 10 minutes on the road.  

2011 Spirit of Enterprise

The University of Cincinnati Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Cincom will host the 2011 Spirit of Enterprise Graduate Business Plan Competition on February 26 & 27 at the Cincom Systems, Inc. U.S. Headquarters in Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI – August 24, 2010 – Software and services provider Cincom Systems, an IBM Premier Business Partner, announces a collaboration with IBM Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) to leverage IBM’s Real-Time Analytics Matching Platform (RAMP) and improve customer experience in call centers.

“A good customer experience begins with matching a customer with an agent who has the best possibility for delivering a valued conversation,” said Randy Saunders, program director, Cincom Synchrony Customer Experience Management. “RAMP’s sophisticated applied analytics connects the right customer to the right agent. Then, Cincom Synchrony guides that agent to deliver the designed experience for the best performance and outcomes. Success-based call routing using RAMP is a critical first step in delivering a better customer experience and makes a powerful partner with Synchrony.”

Assurant Solutions (NYE – AIZ) has been using RAMP to increase call center profitability and enhance the customer experience in its call centers for more than seven years. Retention revenue grew by 37% and sales revenue by 29% within the first year of implementation. This success contributed to lowering agent attrition by 25%, simply by exploiting the untapped potential of analytics.

While users are already saving millions of dollars a year, RAMP has the potential to improve those savings as the underlying analytic models mature. When combined with Cincom Synchrony’s intelligent agent guidance and unified desktop, the probability for successful outcomes grows significantly.

Representatives from Cincom and Assurant Solutions will be presenting at Contact Centres World Africa 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa August 23 – 27.

For more Information

To learn more about the IBM Real-Time Analytics Matching Platform for contact centers, visit IBM’s web at http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29701.wss or Cincom Synchrony at http://WinningConversations.cincom.com or contact your Cincom or IBM representative.

Cincom Synchrony


A Customer Experience Management (CEM) Solution for contact centers, Synchrony guides winning conversations with customers. It leverages the insight you have about each customer in the context of each interaction to deliver optimal customer experiences and organizational outcomes. Synchrony brings your CEM strategy to life in a realistic, operational model that grows your business while improving operational results.

About Cincom

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services.

Media Contact

Liz Harter
Cincom Public Relations
Lharter@cincom.com
513-612-2155

If you answered yes to the above questions, Cincom Systems, Inc. invites you to join our Cincom 2010 College Football Experts Club.

The Cincom 2010 College Football Experts Club is a fun, 14-week competition following the schedule of the college football season. Each week, players will log into the Experts Club website (http://www.cincom.com/football), created in conjunction with Athlon Sports, and attempt to accurately predict the winner of each week’s most competitive games.

Points are won for each correct guess, and those players at the top of the leader board are eligible for weekly prizes.

Cincom is also hosting a college bowl games contest starting in December. A winner will be chosen based solely on outcome of all the bowl games.

Chances are that even if you answered “no” to our above football fanatic questions, there’s a sports fan in your life who wouldn’t mind owning some memorabilia from their favorite athlete. Plus, you can even donate your prize to a charity of your choice if you choose! So why not join us?

Catch up with Coach Liz

You can join in on the fun and keep up to date with what’s going on in the game and the college football universe by catching up with Cincom’s Coach Liz on Twitter (@CincomFBGal) and on Facebook.

The Prizes

All prizes are gift certificates to the Athlon Sports online store. Athlon has memorabilia from ALL sports, so winners are NOT locked into a college football related prize.

Regular season competition (2 weekly winners)

First place: $175

Second place: $75

GRAND PRIZE (based on 14-weeks of results): $1000

College Bowl Game competition: $300

About Cincom (http://newsroom.cincom.com/about/)

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services.

About Athlon Sports (http://www.athlonsports.com)

Founded in 1967, Athlon Sports Communications, Inc., is a Nashville-based media company with two major areas of expertise: Publishing and Sports Marketing. Athlon Sports publishes preseason, single-title sports annuals, covering professional and college athletics. These premium publications are sold at newsstands throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe.

Dr. Dewett is a business professor, author, consultant and speaker who specializes in leadership and organizational life. He has been quoted in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, the Chicago Tribune, and MSNBC, among others.

THREE RULES OF LEADERSHIP

Dr. Dewett will be contributing ideas and insights on the latest in business leadership. His three rules of leadership are introduced in this video.

ABOUT CINCOM EXPERT ACCESS

Cincom’s Expert Access is a bi-weekly online business magazine delivering business  ideas, information, insights and inspirations to help readers in their life of business and the business of life. Oh, almost forgot …

THE PROMISE

We occasionally deliver irreverent articles, cartoons, videos and a couple laughs along the way.  We promise, we really promise, to try to provide no …

SNOOZE-FESTS

Cincom Expert Access is published every other Tuesday with no issue between Christmas and the New Year. We have issues the rest of the year.

EDITORIAL MISSION?  BANISH THE BORING

The editorial goal of Cincom Expert Access is to provide objective ideas, information, insights and inspirations (sometimes in an irreverent, humorous manner) to help readers:

• Do their jobs better
• Become aware of new ideas, products and services
• Occasionally have a B2B laugh

CINCINNATI – July 29, 2010 – Software and services provider Cincom Systems, an IBM Premier Business Partner, announces that Cincom Eloquence™, its document automation solution has been recognized with IBM’s Industry Framework for Government validation.

The IBM Industry Frameworks for Government are designed to provide a platform for implementing government solutions and projects. It is a strategic software platform for implementing smarter government solutions focused on improving citizen services, increasing transparency, enhancing civilian safety and security, and helping achieve a green and sustainable environment.

“We are pleased to receive validation of Cincom Eloquence on the IBM Industry Framework for Government,” said Lori Gelter, program director, Cincom Document Solutions group. “Validation in the Industry Framework further complements our long history of helping government agencies, both Federal and State – most recently helping the State of Utah’s Office of Recovery Services improve its document communications processes by replacing its aging mainframe-based document generation system.”

Cincom Eloquence provides automation tools to design sophisticated document models that can be dynamically applied to all types of communications. Engineered to deploy via service-oriented architecture (SOA), it produces structured document communications in high-volume batch with the flexibility to generate highly personalized documents on demand while interacting with customers in real time, delivered in any form preferred – print, fax, e-mail or web.

Cincom is an IBM Premiere Business Partner. The two companies have a strong partnership, which began in the late 1960s when Cincom CEO Tom Nies was an IBM Account Executive. Today, Cincom and IBM have over 800 joint customers.

About Cincom (http://newsroom.cincom.com/about/)
For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services.

Related Links

State of Utah’s Office of Recovery Services Selects Cincom’s Document Automation Software

Media Contact:

Liz Harter
Cincom Public Relations
Lharter@cincom.com
513-612-2155

Troy Gross
Cincom Document Solutions
Tgross@cincom.com
513-612-2231

Cincom Expert Access, an award-winning online business magazine, revealed today the results of a forensic “history’s mysteries” type investigation today in their featured report “Marketing Secrets of the Grateful Dead.”

HOTLY DISPUTED ORIGINS

The investigation was triggered by a dispute about the origins of the band’s name between David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of  “The New Rules of Marketing & PR and Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot, co-authors of “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History,” and renowned B2B Thought Leader Donkey O’Tee.

LONG HIDDEN SECRET FINALLY REVEALED

The investigation reveals a long hidden secret and eight valuable lessons all companies could learn by choosing a memorable name like The Grateful Dead.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“Love it, hate it, or don’t understand it—the Grateful Dead is a name that you remember,” said Meerman Scott. “Naming is tough. But it’s a very important element of marketing. Most organizations don’t spend enough time on this important activity. The Grateful Dead did – although Donkey O’Tee disputes the facts.”

FAMED INVESTIGATOR TAKES THE HIGH ROAD

Donkey O’Tee declined to speak. His media spokesperson, Steve Kayser, said the investigation dug deep into the historical dispute and interviewed many witnesses – including a mysterious, melodiously mellifluous kilt-wearing piano player, and singer-songwriter, Bonnie Bray-It, of “Let’s Give Them Something to Bray About,” music fame.

Donkey O’Tee’s report … though completely fabricated, was multi-sourced, well illustrated, in fact, exceptionally illustrated, and adhered to the highest standards of ethically fabricated journalism.

BANISH THE BORING

The editorial goal of Cincom Expert Access is to provide objective ideas, information, insights and inspirations (sometimes in an irreverent, humorous manner) to help readers:

• Do their jobs better
• Become aware of new ideas, products and services
• Occasionally have a B2B laugh

RELATED – BUT NOT REALLY RELATED LINKS:

The Perfect Customer Experience – Is it Possible?

How to Move Closer to Your Customers in Complex Sales Environments – by Louis Columbus

Accidental Genius – How to Generate Great Ideas – Nettie Hartsock & Mark Levy

The Future of PR – by Liz Harter

About Cincom

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services.

Media Contact:
Steve Kayser
Cincom Expert Access Editor
skayser@cincom.com
1-800-2Cincom
http://newsroom.cincom.com

Similar to an automotive dashboard, the Business Activity Monitor—one of six key upgrades for Cincom CONTROL:2010—focuses on the critical few pieces of information that determine success or failure. Unlike an automotive dashboard, the business dashboard provides a navigation tool tailored to the duties of a specific role.

Cincom CONTROL:2010’s Business Activity Monitor displays KPIs, leading measurements, flow tasks and alerts all on a single screen. It’s refreshed every few minutes so you see the most accurate information.

“Our goal is to provide everyone in a manufacturing operation—regardless of their role in it—with the essential information they need to stop problems early,” says Mike Gauthier, product director, Cincom® CONTROL™. “If you don’t receive the information in real time or have to dig for it, then by the time you receive the information, the problem has already started to fester. This can negatively impact your supply chain and customer fulfillment processes.”

Business Activity Monitor includes:

Warnings and Alerts – Like a check-oil light in your car, Cincom CONTROL:2010’s Business Activity Monitor gives warnings and alerts only when there’s a potential problem.

Performance Indicators – See at a glance how your area of the business is performing with graphic indicators that are specifically designed for your role.

Leading Measurement – There’s always that one objective that is measured above all else. See how you’re doing in real time, up-front and center so you can drive corrective actions.

Activity Launch Pad – Information is only as valuable as your ability to put that information to work quickly. Here is where you access the tools to effectively and quickly execute based on your personalized analytics.

An example of Cincom CONTROL:2010’s performance indicators that help users measure only the objectives that directly affect their roles in the organization.

Cincom CONTROL:2010 ERP software provides real-time facts about operations so manufacturing business leaders can make decisions and quickly implement actions regarding key business metrics, such as:

• Overall cost control and margin
• Inventory management
• Working-capital optimization
• Risk mitigation
• Process improvement

Cincom is the only ERP software provider with zero failed implementations.

About Cincom

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services. For more information about Cincom’s partner program, contact Cincom at 1-800-2CINCOM (USA only), send an e-mail to info@cincom.com or visit the company’s website at www.cincom.com.

RELATED LINKS

Cincom CONTROL Web site:
http://erp.cincom.com/

Cincom CONTROL:2010 brochure:
http://www.cincom.com/pdf/CMUS1002057.pdf

Cincom CONTROL:2010 screenshots:
http://erp.cincom.com/cincom-control-2010/

Media Contact:
Donna Hedge Burns
Corporate Public Relations
Cincom Systems
dburns@cincom.com
513-612-2305

Familiar Microsoft SharePoint Navigation

Cincom CONTROL:2010 is designed with powerful and easy-to-use Microsoft SharePoint navigation to help users get onboard and running in minutes. CONTROL:2010 also utilizes a one-stop feature making operation simple. With the ability of a 360-degree information view, CONTROL:2010 delivers fast, new-user productivity through a minimized learning curve.

[click image to enlarge]

Role-based Functionality

CONTROL:2010 provides information based on user roles, so only job functionality specifically applicable to each role is delivered to the user, enabling new hires to be more productive much sooner. Businesses now have the ability to become more efficient by concentrating on their training and teaching new employees what they need without wasted time. Less time and money need to be spent with new employee training.

[click image to enlarge]

CONTROL:2010 is also flexible enough to change with each employee as their role expands and responsibilities change. This facilitates a “deep bench” with easy cross-training of users and reduces the need for added headcount.

“These advantages with CONTROL:2010 can save a company substantial manpower and resources,” says Mike Gauthier, Cincom® CONTROL™ product director.  “CONTROL:2010 offers efficient operation and is easier to use than many other ERP software systems.”

Cincom CONTROL:2010 ERP software provides real-time facts about operations so manufacturing business leaders can make decisions and quickly implement actions regarding key business metrics, such as:

• Overall cost control and margin
• Inventory management
• Working-capital optimization
• Risk mitigation
• Process improvement

Cincom is the only ERP software provider with zero failed implementations.

About Cincom

For 41 years, Cincom has helped thousands of clients worldwide by solving complex business problems with its software and services. For more information about Cincom’s partner program, contact Cincom at 1-800-2CINCOM (USA only), send an e-mail to info@cincom.com or visit the company’s website at www.cincom.com.

RELATED LINKS

Cincom CONTROL Web site:
http://erp.cincom.com/

Cincom CONTROL:2010 brochure:
http://www.cincom.com/pdf/CMUS1002057.pdf

Cincom CONTROL:2010 screenshots:
http://erp.cincom.com/cincom-control-2010/

Media Contact:

Donna Hedge Burns
Corporate Public Relations
Cincom Systems
dburns@cincom.com
513-612-2305