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To: tekboy who wrote (24646)	5/13/2000 9:14:00 AM
From: Bruce Brown	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 54805

RE: European Customer Service.... ....the only way for individual companies and countries to avoid falling behind would be for them to become more consumer-oriented, so Europe's anti-consumer/customer mentality was a relic on its way out. She said that she agreed with the basic argument, but that it might take longer than I thought. She had been waiting for such changes for years, she said, but the progress along those lines, while real, had been slower than she had expected. I hasten to add that Europe, as we knew it, is no longer. Once the European Union formed and trading borders relaxed between European nations - there is real competition. The corporations are getting the message that one of the things that can propel their business into this century is customer service. It's really a do or die proposal. CRM solutions will help facilitate that. You will all be happy to know that Siebel is over here executing and preparing that path for the future for these companies. Not to worry, Oracle, SAP and Baan are in the game as well, but we know who does CRM the best from our viewpoint as gorilla gamers. The good news is that there is room for plenty of growth on this side of the pond for the solutions providers. BB

To: tekboy who wrote (24646)	5/13/2000 11:01:00 AM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 54805

Tek, << Her take on these things was sort of like Eric L.'s re GSM: look, it will eventually fade away, but not nearly as quickly as many here expect >> Actually, my take is that it the air interface of 2G GSM that will rapidly fade away and be replaced by GPRS, which will in turn be supplemented by CDMA and eventually replaced by it. The feature rich, and data services oriented, GSM core network will continue to evolve and will be revitalized by a CDMA air interface based on QCOM IP. At the end of this decade the GSM core network which forms the base of UMTS will remain the dominant network architecture, but the air interface will be virtually exclusively CDMA. In the interim GSM & IS-95 will become highly interoperable. We will see the beginnings of this in China and see interoperability if not real harmonization significantly advanced in Japan. One of the interesting things to watch will be how Vodaphone/Verizon choose to achieve interoperability and eventually harmonization. - Eric -

To: tekboy who wrote (24646)	5/13/2000 2:18:00 PM
From: FLSTF97	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

OT Tekgirl is correct. It will take much longer in Europe, here's one supporting fact: ridiculously limited shopping hours in a country like Germany It used to be shorter about 3-4 years ago when all shops closed between 1800-1830. Now you can shop as late as what 2000 hrs, but better not need anything on Sunday. Many stores still close earlier, but not Walmarts (Wertkauf). Some globalization is creeping in and will force changes albeit very slowly. France is somewhat more enlighten legally: shops must only close for one 24 hr. period during the week. They make up for it with worse service (well, for foreigners at least). FWIW It find the service in Switzerland to be the best in Europe with honorable mention going to Belgium. Fatboy