BEST PRACTICE REPORTS:
DECISION TOOLS & OPINION PAPERS
UWEBC Best Practice Reports include original research by UW-Madison faculty and students, and lessons learned from UWEBC member companies. These Reports are comprised of two categories: Decision Tools and Opinion Papers.
2005 Decision Tools
Decision Tools are special checklists, calculators, or benchmark studies that are useful in helping to evaluate the state of your organization as it relates to a specific process or technology.
Web Strategy & Marketing
Benchmark Study of Desktop Search Tools
There's More to Search than Google & Yahoo! An Evaluation of 12 Leading Desktop Search Tools.
"If you only look at one review, make sure it's this one. This is the "mother of all desktop search reviews". They look at 12, yes 12, desktop search tools(I bet you didn't even know that there was 12 desktop search tools). The review is ultra unbiased and ultra thorough. They ran benchmark testing on 6 different categories which are broken up into 35 different sub-categories."
- The Uber-Review, May 2005
2005 Opinion Papers
Opinion Papers are in-depth research documents specific to a topic or business practice that is generally considered important to our members. In most cases, the specific opinions or practices from several Consortium member companies have been added to help the reader better understand how the topic or business practice is being addressed.
Secure Email Technology
In this paper we investigate the present challenges and threats to email security, and the solutions available in the market. The paper also includes a qualitative comparison of product features among the top vendors of email security products.
Call Center Agent Performance:
Lesson Learned from Seven Member Companies
Call center agents serve a crucial role, connecting customers to a company's products and services. Their performance must be effective and efficient to maximize the benefits of each customer contact. Find out what seven UW E-Business Consortium Member companies are doing to train, measure and incentivize call center agents in different and innovative ways. This best practice report compares member company activities to each other and industry research to uncover areas for improvement.
Rich Internet Application Technology:
Overview & Leading Practices
Web-based applications have jumped in use and popularity in the last decade, beginning with Amazon.com's e-commerce Web site in the 90's to today's enterprise resource planning and business intelligence applications. Using a browser, end users can book airline tickets, bid on auctions, check email, buy and sell stocks, submit tax forms, or listen to music from any networked computer. If this was the first wave of web applications, the second big wave is yet to come in the form of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
Questions or Comments
Contact Dr. Raj Veeramani
Director, UWEBC, Director, UWEBI
Professor, College of Engineering & School of Business
raj@cae.wisc.edu
INDUSTRY - SPONSORED PROJECTS
UWEBC faculty, staff, and students work with member companies to conduct company-specific e-business projects related to their strategic e-business initiatives.
- CUNA Mutual Group and CUNA & Affiliates
- UW Transportation Services
- UW Hospitals & Clinics
- Sub-Zero Freezer Company
Identity Management: Issues and practices in the Credit Union Industry
Today, credit unions and other financial institutions are facing the challenge of implementing effective identity management measures to protect their member, partner and employee data. The importance of effective identity management methods -- coordinated across operations and business partnerships – to combat identity theft cannot be overstated. This is especially the case in credit unions where security and trust are cornerstones of the industry.
CUNA Mutual Group and CUNA in conjunction with the Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association, the Education Credit Union Council and the CUNA Technology Council partnered with the University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium in conducting a study that provides a compilation with a real-world look at the identity management strategies, technology tools and business considerations credit unions are using or implementing to safeguard their members’ data and financial futures.
This study includes research through focus groups, case studies, and an online survey.
Passive RFID Tags for Parking Ramp Access- Preliminary Assessment
RFID technology has been successfully used in practical scenarios in many industries resulting in benefits such as increased ease of use, reduced maintenance, increased visibility and cost savings. Transportation is one such area where RFID technology has been implemented for various purposes like toll collection, vehicle tracking, parking applications, and so for. Most of the applications until now have implemented battery-powered tags (E.g. the IPass system in Illinois), that are significantly higher in cost when compared to passive tags.
The main objective of this feasibility study was to help University of Wisconsin Transportation Services (UWTS) understand and assess the potential for using emerging passive-tag RFID technology (UHF) to control parking entrance/exit from campus parking lots and related functions. We successfully tested with preliminary positive results the use of passive RFID tags for identifying vehicles accessing the parking ramps at the university.
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
RFID Applications in Hospitals
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a rapidly evolving automatic identification and data capture technology that is gaining adoption in many industries. There are many potential applications of RFID in the hospital environment that could result in improved safety, increased process efficiency, and lower costs, and ultimately overall improved quality of care and patient satisfaction.
This project sponsored by UW Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) to address the following questions pertinent to the application of RFID technology:
- What are the potential RFID applications in a hospital and the associated outcomes?
- What is the current state of RFID technology?
- What are the potential barriers to successful implementation?
This project was motivated by UWHC’s interest in understanding and assessing the feasibility of using RFID technology to automatically signal when an in-patient vacated their hospital room.
Sub-Zero Freezer Company CRM Project
UWEBC assisted the Sub-Zero Freezer Company with a comprehensive customer relationship management software selection. Specific activities included:
* Evaluated CRM-related business processes
* Helped identify and prioritize software requirements
* Developed Request For Proposals'
* Created demo scripts
* Conducted research on CRM vendors
* Compiled comprehensive evaluation criteria used in making the final
vendor decision
This project culminated with Sub-Zero selecting a single vendor solution to address their CRM technology needs. They will implement the selected solution in 2006.
Questions or Comments
Contact Alfonso Gutierrez,
Associate Director, Research & Education, UW E-Business
Consortium
608-262-5690
agutierr@wisc.edu