Biographical Information

Articles for David Longworth

When Will Customer Analytics Tools Deliver?

Only a small percentage of your customers are profitable; the rest are a drain. But can you tell the saints from the great unwashed? With projects fraught and goals uncertain, eB-21's David Longworth outlines the future for customer analytics.

Analytics Avalanche

An inrushing tide of customer information has created a new challenge for data warehouse vendors. Now this process is not just about gathering data from various systems, it's also about doing it in a reasonable timeframe.

Act Globally, Manage Locally

To succeed with a global strategy, a business must have a well-planned IT initiative, supported by a solid business case. The recent £42 million ERP replacement and portal project at B2B distributor Hagemeyer is a case in point.

Untying the Integration Knots

For such a new market the growth of application integration technology has shown a surprising maturity. Yet despite the advances, a killer app to untangle the spaghetti junction is unlikely to emerge.

Finding e-Content Contentment

Only 20 percent of the 10 million Websites have any form of content management. How can companies outgrow their stodgy, manual processes?

Microsoft's Sudden Move on the Mid-Market

Microsoft's buyout of Great Plains Software late last year surprised an industry used to seismic change. This column by David Longworth examines the reasons behind Microsoft's sudden decision to enter the ERP market.

Mining Customer Trends from Your Data

Auto Trader is in the midst of a major data mining project to analyze who is buying and selling what within its pages. David Longworth reports on an approach framed around adding to the bottom line.

Is Your e-Security Watertight?

As security failures on the Internet continue to make headlines, is the protection of information being ignored in the scramble to keep up with the hectic pace of e-commerce development?

UK's Established Companies Take the Lead in e-Fulfillment

UK's established manufacturers and distributors are having to shape up to match customer expectations in the Web-enabled world, but they can still score over the dot coms in e-fulfillment.

Overcoming Call Center Hurdles

Execs from Shell and Telewest insist that improving customer service involves change within companies before technology issues.

New Links for a Winning Supply Chain

Will the supply-chain industry ever adhere to a set of standards to streamline replenishment and fulfillment?

Profiles: New Management for New Technology

IT advances bring their own complications. In this profile, three UK companies are introducing new methods for managing groups of consultants and salespeople in the field while avoiding conflicts with employee culture.

CRM Vendors Target the Public Sector

The need for public sector bodies to develop their relationships with customers is nothing new, but the fact that they are seen as the next big target for CRM vendors is more surprising.

Automating Human Resources

Discussion with two British HR professionals about the state of automating HR functions and the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Does Your Retail Operation Move at E Speed?

Over the past 15 years, retailers have starved manufacturers of meaningful data in the mistaken belief that information is power. But by giving data back to manufacturers, they are better able to react to circumstances.

Keeping Up with e-Commerce

Marketing in the e-commerce world is changing rapidly - most marketers are struggling to keep up and are hazy about how to meet new customer needs. David Longworth of Customer Strategy Magazine offers a UK perspective.

Pharmaceuticals Apply CRM to Changing Health Industry

Traditionally, pharmaceuticals sales reps have a dubious reputation - but the software applications now exist to bring better and deeper analysis to the sector.