PROFNET EXPERT ALERTS: Business & Technology

1. Business: For Business Leaders, Digital Age Offers Progress and Peril
2. Business: Franchisors Can Help Franchisees Through Troubled Times
3. Business: What Can Businesses Learn from Obama's Text Messaging?
4. Energy: Natural Gas is Critical to Nation's Energy Debate
5. Internet: Google Chrome: Challenges to Web App Testing and Management
6. Personal Finance: Parents Change College Savings Strategies

1. BUSINESS: FOR BUSINESS LEADERS, DIGITAL AGE OFFERS PROGRESS AND PERIL.
ERIN NEALY COX, managing director and deputy general counsel of STROZ
FRIEDBERG LLC, a computer forensics, computer investigations, expert witness
and electronic discovery technical services firm: "In World War II, the
warning was 'Loose lips sink ships,' but now it's employees' e-mail, text
messaging and other digital threats that keep today's CEO awake at night.
Electronic evidence has figured into countless recent scandals, not to mention
everyday business disputes and probes. The business world and the courts are
still playing catch-up with the ways we work and communicate. Companies need
help, whether it's a complex data breach or simply understanding that data
doesn't disappear when you hit the delete button." News Contact: Robert Tharp,
robert@androvett.com Phone: +1-800-559-4534 (9/2/08)
2. BUSINESS: FRANCHISORS CAN HELP FRANCHISEES THROUGH TROUBLED TIMES. KENNETH
COSTELLO, lawyer at BRYAN CAVE LLP, specializes in U.S. and international
franchising law and product and service distribution: "Franchisors can do
several things to help franchisees through troubled times: a) reduce the cost
of goods sold; b) find cheaper supply alternatives -- perhaps different
substitute ingredients; c) develop marketing and pricing strategies for their
products; d) offer new products, such as lower-priced goods; and e) provide
partial royalty rebates or royalty deferrals where they sign a note not to pay
all of the time. Those monies can be used for local advertising. It is
important, though, that royalties are not always forgiven or waived. That is
because the franchisor itself is at the hub of the wheel to design
alternatives and fixes so the chain as a whole does well. But if everyone is
not paying a royalty, the franchisor does not have money to do its own job."
News Contact: Luis Mocete, luis.mocete@bryancave.com Phone: +1-212-541-1141
(9/2/08)
3. BUSINESS: WHAT CAN BUSINESSES LEARN FROM OBAMA'S TEXT MESSAGING? ROB
UNDERWOOD, a senior manager with DELOITTE CONSULTING and co-author of the
Deloitte paper "New Media and the 2008 Campaign Season: Valuable Lessons for
Business About Being First, Fast and Nimble": "Businesses are well advised to
keep a keen eye on effective and ineffective uses of new media by the
campaigns, in particular, as a response tool to attacks. Defending your brand
on your feet, establishing an emotional connection online, and preparing for
brand attacks show that campaign 2008 offers businesses important live case
study results that should be considered right now before the lessons and
techniques become commonplace. Companies need to consider the following seven
new factors employed by the campaigns to reach constituents and fend off
attacks: 1. Know how the customers collect, create and collaborate. 2. For
better or worse, YouTube is egalitarian. 3. Facebook provides many plausible
functions for markets, none of which is clearly dominant yet. 4. Not
responding is no longer an option. 5. Brand terrorism may be right around the
corner. 6. Your media plan may need shredding. 7. Your organization structure
may be impediment." News Contact: John La Place, jlaplace@deloitte.com Phone:
+1-212-492-4267 (9/2/08)
4. ENERGY: NATURAL GAS IS CRITICAL TO NATION'S ENERGY DEBATE. DENISE BODE,
CEO of the AMERICAN CLEAN SKIES FOUNDATION, a non-profit charitable
organization whose mission is to educate the public about environmental and
energy issues, is available at the Republican National Convention to discuss
the use of natural gas as part of a sustainable energy future. Bode can also
provide expert commentary and perspective on the impact Hurricane Gustav will
have on American consumers and industry, particularly natural gas: "This is
the age of natural gas. No other energy source can do so much for America,
from fueling our vehicles to generating our electricity, and do so as cleanly
as American-produced natural gas. Recent studies show that America has
substantial natural gas to fuel its future beyond this century at a price
that's likely to remain less than half the price of oil and provide
significant environmental benefits as well." News Contact: Katie Pendergast,
Katherine.Mitchell@Dittus.com Phone: +1-202-715-1545 (9/2/08)
5. INTERNET: GOOGLE CHROME ADDS ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO WEB APPLICATION TESTING
AND MANAGEMENT. IMAD MOULINE, CTO of GOMEZ, INC., a leading provider of Web
application experience management services: "Google's newly announced browser
Chrome adds another layer of complexity to Web application testing and
management. So many Web applications are still being developed and tested for
just IE 6 or 7, but more and more end-users are now using Firefox, Safari and
soon the new IE beta 2. To ensure all users receive an equally good Web
experience, application developers and IT operations executives must be able
to quickly conduct rigorous cross-browser testing both before and during
deployment." Mouline can provide tips and advice on how to ensure quality Web
experiences across all browser types. News Contact: Samantha McGarry,
smcgarry@gomez.com Phone: +1-781-778-2783 (9/2/08)
6. PERSONAL FINANCE: KIDDIE TAX FORCING PARENTS TO CHANGE COLLEGE SAVINGS
STRATEGIES. DON LINZER, CEO of SCHNEIDER DOWNS WEALTH MANAGEMENT ADVISORS:
"With soaring tuition costs, uncertain economic times and changes to the
kiddie tax, some parents are adjusting their college savings strategies. Many
are using 529 plans to save for education expenses because the assets grow
tax-deferred and because of the expansion of the age bracket on the kiddie
tax. There is now much less incentive to shift investment assets to children
under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act
because children will have to pay taxes at the parents' marginal rate, some as
high as 35 percent." News Contact: Karlye Rowles, knrowles@schneiderdowns.com
Phone: +1-412-697-5264 (9/2/08)
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