Any tech support pros who've had their heads up the last few years know that their jobs are changing due to trends such as cloud computing and consumer devices bought by corporate IT users. But an even bigger impact might come from the rise of social media sites Twitter and Facebook, where technology users often go first to rant or praise hardware and software.
Now Salesforce.com is launching a new product that will let company IT departments monitor social media sites and turn any posts by customers into IT job tickets. The company, which helped pioneer Internet-based software a decade ago, said it's integrating the new technology into its customer-tracking applications and tools.
If it works as planned, the next exasperated Tweet from a product user may be followed by a chat invitation from an IT support person ready to help. The technology is part of a broader push to make IT customer service more proactive. (CRN)
Job Inertia (FINS)
It's apparently easier to complain about your current job than it is to find a new one. Even though nearly half the 3,400 respondents of an Accenture survey said they were unhappy with their jobs, only 30% planned to do anything about it.
Liberty Mutual Hiring Tech Workers (Insurance Journal)
Insurer Liberty Mutual said it's looking to hire 100 tech workers, including software developers, project managers and architects at various experience levels, for a new IT development center in Boston.
Job Help for Non-Readers (AllThingsD)
Thanks to new IBM technology, illiterate job seekers in India will now be able to respond to job listings they can't read by calling Web sites that will use voice-recognition technology.
http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/20110304/ibm-launches-network-of-spoken-web-sites-in-india/
http://it-jobs.fins.com/Companies/4444/IBM-Corp
Lenovo, Meet Las Vegas (CRN)
Lenovo, the China-based PC and hardware maker that's been investing more in its North American business to better compete with Dell and Hewlett-Packard, plans to host its first U.S. partner conference in Las Vegas in May.
Calling It Quits (Bloomberg)
AT&T said chief financial officer Rick Lindner will retire effective June 1 and be replaced by John Stephens, who is now controller of the telecom giant.
Amazon's Web Services Chief Speaks (AllThingsD)
Adam Selipsky, vice president of Amazon.com's Web services unit, answers seven questions about the fast-growing business.
RIM Marketing Chief to Leave (Reuters)
Research in Motion, which is expected to unveil its first tablet computer soon amid fierce competition in the mobile device market, said chief marketing officer Keith Pardy will leave the company in six months.
WordPress CEO Blames China for Attacks (CIO)
The large-scale computer attacks that hit sites run by the blog-hosting service WordPress late last week originated in China, the company's CEO told one news organization.
Making Friends with Angry Birds (VentureBeat)
Angry Birds, the video game that started in Finland and has been downloaded onto more than 75 million mobile phones, reportedly will be coming soon to Facebook and its more than 600 million global users.
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