(CyberSister Diane is back: I had to jump in at some point :)
So why is video on demand important technology? Last Ripple Effect newsletter we talked about broadband (high speed) networks. Imagine what happens when broadband is widely available in homes. Millions happily pay subscriptions to watch movies on demand and listen to music online, while corporations do more to encourage telecommuting and remote business activities because of the availability of always-on, high-bandwidth connections. It's a pretty powerful "holy grail" for high-tech executives and policymakers hung over from the dot-com bubble burst and economic slump.

But this may be a steeper road to climb than some think: high-speed connections, via Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable modems and satellite, reach less than 10% of all Internet-connected homes, and new adoption of the services may be stagnating or growing slowly. Mass-market adoption of broadband at a percentage that's large enough to generate an economic stimulus by prompting companies to offer new kinds of Net-based services may still be years off. I think it is still an area of potential and growth, but it may be adapted a lot slower than expected.

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is an information technology industry term for methodologies, strategies, software, and other web-based capabilities that help an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships. For example, "if a marketing department runs an outbound campaign, all of the information about the customers and the program should be retained for the sales staff to follow up on, the customer service representatives to answer any queries, and technical support to provide any field support. The idea is to have the same information available to all in the company so that every product or service need of the customer is met. CRM implies that everyone in the enterprise is focused on the customer.

Source: http://www.ittoolbox.com/help/crmoverview.asp

Kettner's Comment

A study conducted by Delphi Consulting Group indicated that only about 12 percent of the organizational knowledge in any company is in some sort of knowledge base where it can be easily accessed by others who need it. In today's economy, the productivity of the knowledge worker is of paramount importance. There's a lot of great analysis and discussion papers available through the Customer Relationship Management Association of Canada (Digital Ripple's latest client - Welcome!). Check it out at: http://www.crmacanada.com/whitepapers.htm