| A new record: $16.5 million
The Naples Winter Wine Festival topped its own world record Saturday. Amid a clamoring of maracas, rock 'n' roll music and a frenzy of volunteers banging clackers, screaming and running wildly under a billowing white tent at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, the well-heeled auction bidders blew themselves into fund-raising orbit, setting a new world record of about $16.5 million in a single day. With Saturday's take included, the festival's seven-year proceeds hit a total $55.26 million for Collier County children's charities, even taking the organizers' breath away. All the auction proceeds go directly to the charities. "We had no idea in the very beginning, if you had asked us, that we would be anywhere near where we are today," said Linda Malone, co-chair of this year's festival, and one of the 18 original Naples couples and individuals who started the event in 2001.
Purchasing pros build a strong case for centralizing MRO buying
Add high legal fees to death and taxes as inevitability in our life/work journey. It seems like the annual letter is the same, only the year change......More December 5, 2007 Let It Snow The recent first snowstorm of the year in New England rekindled all those ugly reminders of winter: traffic, ice, shoveling snow and cold winds. An......More November 27, 2007 Manufacturer's View in a Small World Is this not a small world? I was looking at the November issue of Industrial Distribution magazine, flipping the pages, came to manufacturers ......More .
Education Department Awards Perot Systems IT Infrastructure ...
FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER) announced today that its government subsidiary has been awarded the U.S. Department of Education's $400 million Education Department Utility for Communications, Application and Technology Environment (EDUCATE) contract. The ten year contract will serve to provide a broad range of information technology infrastructure services to the Department. "The EDUCATE award underscores the true partnership that exists between the Department of Education and Perot Systems," said Peter Altabef, President and CEO of Perot Systems. "We have a proven track record of success managing large information technology outsourcing environments and we look forward to this expanded opportunity to help the Department further its mission." The EDUCATE contract significantly expands the scope of the previous EDNet support services contract.
BT pumps millions into customer service system
BT is to roll out an upgraded system for its online customer service after signing a multimillion dollar contract with CRM software company, RightNow. The five year deal will see RightNow provide BT with a knowledge management system for 10,000 contact centre staff, to use when dealing with customer queries. It will also include a system to respond to email queries more quickly and a live IM-style service for customers to have queries answered by support staff. Information on the database can be updated in response to the kinds of questions being submitted and the answers that are given. David Thomson, senior business director at BT Retail, said the technology means the company can offer a "superb customer experience" and keeps it ahead of the competition.
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