At a UWEBC Customer Service Peer Group meeting, members of the Walker Information Marketing team shared business best practices and case studies on listening to your customers, conducting analytics and delivering insights, and prompting action.

At a UWEBC IT Peer Group meeting, members of the CUNA Mutual Group Quality Enablement team, discussed their journey to becoming an industry-leading Agile quality organization.

At a UWEBC Information Technology Peer Group meeting, attendees learned how to enable automation across an entire company.

At a UWEBC Marketing Peer Group meeting, Carolyn Shelby, SEO Manager at ESPN, discussed how companies can anticipate what search engines want by understanding what they have changed.

At a UWEBC Marketing Peer Group meeting, Sargento Foods shared social media trends and influencer strategies for companies to boost their online presence.

Peter Kohl of CUNA Mutual Group, shared the success CUNA Mutual Group's Quality Assurance (QA) team found when evaluating and improving their contact center QA program.

Aarde Cosseboom, Senior Director of Global Member Services Technology at TechStyle Fashion Group shared how his company successfully implemented AI and automation via voice, chat and social for their customers.

Melissa Burch, Director of Self Service and Proactive Support, Madison Davis, Content Management Manager, and Christina Libs, Proactive Support Manager at Zendesk, shared the successes the company found when moving to self-service within their business.

At a UWEBC Agile IT Special Interest Group meeting, attendees learned how CUNA Mutual Group is adopting Agile methodologies to drive continuous improvement across multiple functional areas.

At a UWEBC IT Peer Group meeting, Interim Director of User Services at the UW-Madison Department of Information Technology (DoIT), Tamara Walker, shared how DoIT utilized their customer-facing metrics to understand and improve the customer experience across the entire company.

At a UWEBC IT Peer Group meeting, Director of IT Strategy and Architecture, Erin Allen shared how Sargento Foods is adopting best practices to converge their IT practices throughout the company.

At a UWEBC Marketing Peer Group meeting, attendees learned industry best practices on how to boost conversion rates with social proof.

Touchstone Digital Marketing shared industry best practices on how to leverage context for mobile marketing.

Appirio presented industry best pracetices to enable a company to make the right technology buying decisions.

A collaborative research study by the UWEBC and SmartLens Analytics with Furniture & ApplicanceMart/Ashley HomeStore demonstrated AI-based customized bidding in paid search marketing increased store visits for less spend.

At a Supply Chain Management Peer Group meeting, Kristen Daihes from Opex Analytics shared the company's tips for digitization and using AI in supply chain analytics.

At a Procurement Peer Group meeting, Vollrath's Director of Procurement Marc Durant and Procurement Category Manager Jeremy Paltzer shared the company's path to improving their supply chain by reducing lead time and increasing visibility to their suppliers.

At a Procurement Peer Group meeting, Dr. Enno Siemsen, Associate Dean of the MBA and Masters Programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Business, and Executive Director of the Erdman Center for Operations & Technology Management shared insights on how to measure a company's forecast accuracy.

At a Procurement Peer Group meeting, Dr. Enno Siemsen, Associate Dean of the MBA and Masters Programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Business, and Executive Director of the Erdman Center for Operations & Technology Management provided insights on how to measure forecast accuracy using his three forecasting principles. Enno also talked about how to enhance a company's forecast accuracy.

Eden Weller of J.J. Keller & Associates shared insight on what design thinking is and the stages of the design thinking process for member companies to implement.

Jeff Rumburg, President and CEO of MetricNet, discussed how to improve contact center performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) and a process maturity model.

Atul Gupta from IBM provided an expert perspective on AI in customer care.

Jared Beier presented the journey and transformation of American Family Insurance's innovation lab to become the success that it is today.

Northwestern Mutual's Jeremy Lewandowski shared the company's technology service center's ongoing omnichannel transformation.

At a UWEBC Information Technology Peer Group meeting, attendees learned what the IT world could look like in 2019.

Nicole Westenberger of Brady Corporation, shared her insights on how to identify expansion opportunities and determine which selling and distribution model to use.

Dena Nejad, Director of Marketing at HOVER, discussed how journey maps inform a company of who their ideal customer is and how that customer comes in contact with the company.

At a UWEBC Marketing Peer Group meeting, Dena Nejad of HOVER, presented on how creating a customer persona is key to improving experience with your products.

Liz Gross of Campus Sonar, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Wendy Scherer of The Social Studies Group, shared social listening case studies their companies worked on.

Liz Gross of Campus Sonar, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Wendy Scherer of The Social Studies Group, explained social listening and explored how to use online conversation insights to solve business and marketing challenges more quickly and efficiently.

Brett Walker, Vice President of Global Procurement at QBE North America, discussed the myths around stakeholder management and the reality on how to get buy-in across your organization.

A tight labor market, a stable and growing economy, and ongoing regulations have created a nationwide capacity crunch, in addition to a need for shippers to behave differently. At a UWEBC Logistics & Distribution meeting, Jim Blohm, Director of Supply Chain Strategy at Schneider, discussed these market challenges, including electronic logging devices (ELDs), and what companies should be prepared for.

Sub-Zero Group, Inc.'s Jim Katsihtis shared their plan to better the company's customer service by increasing efficiency and minimizing transit times and handling by shrinking the company's distribution footprint.

Alex Goldberg discussed Snap-on's successful events and techniques to keep their associates engaged and motivated.

Jeremy Lewandowski shared Northwestern Mutual's command center's intraday management routine and the business outcomes that they drive.

Mike Hamill shared Great Lakes Educational Loan Services' approach to managing their contact center and agents using MySuccessManager.

Dave Cluka of Briggs & Stratton shared their approach to managing their contact center and agents using DOMO.

Bill Leinweber from School Specialty and Tim Johnston and Eddie Dryer of American Family Insurance provided their respective companies' approaches to one-on-one coaching sessions.

Katie Labedz, Director of Continuous Improvement and PMO-IT, discussed Plexus' ongoing three-year journey towards continuous improvement (CI) and lean education.

Brian Baillod, Senior Sales Engineer at Cloudera provided insight on defining the business value of Big Data.

At the March 2017 Information Technology Peer Group meeting, numerous members at breakout sessions were asking the question, "How is your company encouraging innovation?" This success brief provides a further look into this topic and successful case studies from IT departments at our member companies.

Catherine Ford and Monica Detter provided insight on how CUNA Mutual Group successfully started an agile marketing team.

Brian Klais of Pure Oxygen Labs presented the keys to uncovering mobile inisghts hiding in your search analytics with 10 insider tips you can do today.

Mark Clark of Healthgrades presented on the building blocks for customer understanding and insight-driven communication. This included the three pillars of insight-driven experiences, which are predict, differentiate and personalize.

Brian Rouse presented on how member company Kohler Co. defines and maximizes long-term success with its supplier relationships.

Hilary Schreiber shared how Foot Locker is implementing vendor management into their sourcing process.

Julie Pojar presented on how member company Kohler Co. established a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) on their campus in Kohler, Wisconsin.

Member companies American Family Insurance and CUNA Mutual Group share success briefs on their current initiatives focused on First Contact Resolution.

Snap-on, a UWEBC member company, shared a case study on how they strategized more ways to take their Customer Care Center to the next level.

Member company Duluth Trading Company provided a case study on prioritizing their customer experience.

Customer expectations are climbing because of readily available online information and innovations made by leading companies. By harnessing voice of the customer (VOC), you can better understand and address their expectations and needs. Patricia Coyne of CUNA Mutual Group and Jim Middlebrook of Harley-Davidson presented ways to leverage VOC data to make practical and competitive changes.

Generating an effective work environment and measuring the efficiency of your customer service agents can help your company eliminate unnecessary expenses. Member companies Northwestern Mutual, Demco and Sub-Zero Group, Inc. shared how they enhanced their customer service systems to achieve positive changes within their agent divisions.

Derek Laczniak, Insurance Professional at M3 Insurance, explained the threats of cyber breach, what constitutes a cyber liability policy, the funding mechanisms behind a liability policy, underwriting the policy, and what to do before and after a breach.

Maribeth Achterberg, Information Technology Executive at Johnson Controls, analyzed the current application of Enterprise Architecture (EA) in a corporate setting by splitting the framework into two focuses: technology and business. She explained the challenges businesses face when employing EA, especially when transitioning from technology architecture to business architecture.

Craig Jordan and Martin Stoddard shared American Family Insurance's extensive process to manage new technology to receive, use and present data. They also discussed the company's approach to implementing Enterprise Architecture (EA) to centralize infrastructure within its information and data management strategy.

Matt Christensen from member company Northwestern Mutual recapped the development of mobile device management, discussed the steps to take to ensure management of mobile security standards and forecasted where mobile is heading.

Jon Marler shared Trustwave's top 10 tips when it comes to securing your network from mobile threats and malware. He explained that with or without a mobile device management (MDM) system in place, every company has the capability of enforcing these recommendations to better protect their enterprise.

Kevin Kiser, Director of Marketing with SOLOMO, a Gartner Cool Vendor and Steve Case "Rise of the Rest" winner, shares types of location technology available today, best practices when approaching new initiatives and some industry examples across B2B and B2C organizations.

Adam Greco, Senior Partner at Web Analytics Demystified, outlines the steps that organizations should take to get the most out of their web analytics program/implementation. Based upon over a decade of helping organizations succeed with web analytics, Greco shares common mistakes made and how to avoid them.

Todd LaBeau, SVP Director of Digital, at Lindsay, Stone, and Briggs provided an inspirational look at what companies must do in 2015 to be successful. Todd presented examples of how to engage customers through integrated marketing across channels in a way that stands out in an already saturated marketplace.

Member companies Colony Brands, CUNA Mutual group, Duluth Trading Company and Schneider shared brief wins that their respective companies experienced in 2014.

In this presentation, Dan Schoepke revealed the steps of rapid improvement in project procurement by implementing a lean outlook.

Using a Sales and Operation Planning (S&OP) program is a change management process; companies must have an organized structure to orchestrate change, as team members don't have the capability to do so themselves. Wendy Brooke, assistant professor at UW-Platteville, explained the six sections that make up a successful S&OP program, as well as the importance of change management and continuous improvement as foundations of the process.

This presentation by Llamasoft focused on three main challenges of inventory strategy: complexity of operations, demand variability, and demand propagation and analysis. There are intradependencies of raw materials going into the same finished goods, which can be a challenge when understanding interactions and inventory requirements. This is in addition to the need to drive inventory optimization, algorithms and approaches to figure out the best response to demand variability, which also includes stocking strategies.

Ford Motor Company, The Hershey Company and Freescale provided case studies on how they successfully balance inventory needs from a supply and cost standpoint while having the right inventory, in the right place, at the right time and how they report it.

In this presentation, Brandi Goodman, VP of Logistics Shared Services at member company Schneider, dove into the overall market outlook of the truckload industry, including both opportunities and challenges in the current transportation market. Many shippers and carriers can agree that production is on the rise, capacity is tight, fuel cost is decreasing, and regulatory pressures continue to add complexity to the workforce. However, Goodman gave an inside look at the four key factors driving the truckload industry.

The ability to better understand the digital experience of customers requires that we measure multiple touch points with our digital assets and piece together information from many data sources. This recent Best Practice Report summarizes how to measure marketing's influence with cross-channel data attribution.

A sharp increase in use of mobile devices, tablets, and smartphones is changing how consumers interact with digital media and experience brands. Using several different types of devices with more interactions in many different settings, consumers are less apt to distinguish digital as a separate marketing channel.

This Best Practice Report is 10 pages of actionable ideas and tactics that will help companies design, implement, and sustain an effective sales process. Authored by Roger Paulson, UWEBC Practice Director, and Matt Herkenhoff, formerly a UW-Madison student.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the January 2011 Supply Chain Management Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the tweets of attendees at the January 2011 Web & Multichannel Marketing Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Oct. 20 Customer Service Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Oct. 27 Information Security & Infrastructure Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Aug. 5 Web & Multichannel Marketing Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Nov. 11 Web & Multichannel Marketing Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Dec. 16 Sales Operations Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Sept. 16 Sales Operations Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the June 25 Supply Chain Management Peer Group Meeting.

Key takeaways culled from the comments of attendees at the Nov. 19 Supply Chain Management Peer Group Meeting.

Because technology has a disproportionate effect on sustainability, Green IT has become an important and widely discussed topic. Armed with the results of research sponsored by CUNA Mutual, we address Green IT in-depth in this report.

E-mail is both the lifeblood of business communications and a potential source of crippling liabilities. This report details 10 best practices that can help companies to assess and strengthen their e-mail security.

Identify the causes of dis-alignment between these two critical functions, and learn how to bring them together to improve efficiency and revenues. Includes a helpful assessment scale from Harvard Business Review and leading practices for improvement.

E-mail has become a powerful and high-ROI marketing tool instantly delivering value to the customer. A 2008 Direct Marketing Association study found that e-mail marketing ROI averages $45 for every dollar spent. In this era of tight budgets and rising inbox clutter, this report can help marketers run effective and efficient e-mail campaigns.

A fully functioning, multi-worksheet Excel financial tool that calculates and compares total cost of a current, domestic part source with a potential overseas source. Calculates impact on cash flow resulting from your inputs on the differences in material, logistics, inventory and other costs.

This report describes a structured approach (including a RFI questionnaire template) for selection and evaluation of a search tool for your company's Website.

This checklist will help educate readers about the fundamentals of search engine optimization and provide tactics to improve a website's ranking on the list of natural (unpaid) search results returned by many popular search engines.

This report provides a detailed list of steps leading to identity theft and fraud at credit unions. Best-practice countermeasures make this Best Practice Tool a valuable aid in reviewing information security and authentication practices.

The report outlines best practice guidelines to be followed in creating an accessible Website design. Information on Web accessibility assessment procedures, tools and an accessibility compliance checklist is provided. Report also includes an interview with Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden, a world renowned authority on accessibility issues, and Director of the UW Trace R&D Center.

This checklist will help educate readers about the fundamentals of search engine optimization and provide tactics to improve a website's ranking on the list of natural (unpaid) search results returned by many popular search engines.

This paper highlights the growing importance of transportation management and discusses recent changes in the market and how these changes have affected manufacturers. The paper also provides a summary of best practices to address these challenges. This paper is useful for those who outsource all their transportation needs and for those who own their fleet.

This paper describes the different types of corporate blogs and their applications; lists best practices for running one's own corporate blog and for managing how your company is represented on others' blogs; examines case studies exploring successful and unsuccessful corporate blogging attempts; and contains a glossary of specialized terms found in the blogging community.

Website speed optimization continues to provide significant improvements for any company's online presence and can have a large impact on its e-business initiatives. This paper outlines ten of the most effective tips for improving your website's speed and performance. The tips are organized into three basic categories including image, website design, and HTML code optimization.