The first full service bank to launch in Britain for over a century has pledged to win business by underpinning its business with strong customer service principles.
Having being granted permission to launch in the UK by the Finanical Services Authority (FSA), the US banking giant intends to open two branches in London this year, with plans to build over 200 stores in the Capital over the next ten years.

RightNow has issued its Cloud Challenge - a ‘game changing innovation’ which challenges vendors to finally deliver on the full promise of cloud computing.
The company is setting a new direction for the industry by bringing vendor-client business engagements into the cloud.

Consumers are being offered a clear choice regarding the software they use to surf the internet, as laws designed to break Microsoft’s virtual monopoly on the browser market took effect this week.
Upon opening Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s browser, customers are shown a ‘ballot screen’, which explains that other applications such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari can be downloaded and used as the primary web surfing software.

Retailers are potentially losing up to £5.65 billion per year in sales because of poorly performing websites, it has been warned.
According to research by Hostway and Zeus Technology, website issues such as slow loading pages were the main reasons why consumers abandon online transactions.

Adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) communications has not yet reached a critical mass, with businesses failing to see the benefits beyond telephony cost savings.
A report from industry analyst IDC says that 50 per cent of businesses familiar with IP are not adopting it within their organisation.

Win two essential books for managing your customer relations. Managing Customers Through Economic Cycles by John McKean and The Relationship Revolution by Larry Hochman.

ServiceTick and Harding & Yorke have announced a partnership aimed at providing clients a new way of managing their customer service offering based on projected profitability scores.
By combining Harding & Yorke’s empathy measures and ServiceTick’s customer service monitoring technology, clients will be able to view projected profitability scores in real time. The data will be visualised in a new version of the ServiceTick online dashboard, giving managers more relevant and immediate data for improving performance and coaching staff.

Customer service software specialist Jacada has released a product which it reports monitors not just customer channels, but also the data found within the systems which facilitate communications.
The company told Customer Strategy that Jacada Insight is designed to offer real-time analytics of the customer experience, gathering intelligence from phone, email and web interactions, as well as the telephone switch, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) systems.

Workbooks .com, has announced that it has secured £2 million in its second round of funding.
The new investment builds on the £2.1 million the company raised in July 2008 and was completed through the Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), which helps smaller companies raise finance through tax reliefs for investors that purchase new shares.

Software-based application delivery controller company, Technology, is enabling Virgin Media to give customers a better online experience.
Customer Strategy is told the solution ensures over 4 million Virgin Media customers receive fast and available web and email services even during spikes in demand. Virgin Media is also using Zeus to migrate users onto a new function-rich email system, due for completion in the second quarter of 2010. The new email system has an easy-to-use interface with more features and storage space than before.