Skip the navigation
)

Winning the Name Game

Technology tools are helping companies monitor their reputations on the Internet.

By Alan R. Earls
April 5, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - How much is an organization's reputation worth? Just consider the fate of Martha Stewart's company since its founder has been in legal hot water -- stock prices battered, consumers on the run and no place to lie low until the scandal fades from public memory.
While Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's fate offers an extreme example of a spoiled corporate reputation, damage can also come more subtly. In the Internet Age, companies are learning that they must be more alert than ever to what customers, shareholders, regulators and the media think about them -- and what they say about them.
"Reputation management is one of the most important components of a successful PR department, but it is also one of our greatest challenges," says Dan Miller, public relations manager at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., a health care provider in Cypress, Calif. Miller says his five-person department has struggled to find the time to adequately assess what's going on in the industry and has relied on an outside consulting firm to perform a manual analysis of what's being said about PacifiCare in print and on the Web.
But things are changing. Today, reputation management is increasingly the focus of new technologies and techniques, ranging from human-aided Web searches to advanced analytical software running on enormous server farms dedicated to teasing trends and shades of meaning from millions of Web pages. PacifiCare now tracks its reputation using software delivered as a service from Biz360 Inc. that mines millions of Web pages for information about the company and the context in which it's presented.
Even with the best technology, protecting and strengthening a corporate reputation is no small task, in large part because the Web has empowered people to communicate more freely and openly than ever before -- sometimes blindsiding businesses that thought they were sitting on top of the world.

Winning the Name Game
Image Credit: Marlena Zuber
As a matter of fact, reputation management has two current meanings. From the consumer's point of view, reputation management consists of those consumers who, on their own initiative, share their impressions of an organization or person. Familiar examples include book reviews on Amazon.com or the comments that buyers and sellers post on eBay about one another's business practices. In short, consumers manage the reputations of those with whom they do business.
Companies on the receiving end of such scrutiny, however, view reputation management as the actions they need to take to ensure that they and their brands remain unsullied and viewed in the most positive light possible. And it's here


What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Don't have an account yet?
Additional Resources
Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Applications White Papers
Establishing a Strategy for Database Security is No Longer Optional
The options for securing increasingly valuable databases are very broad and deep, and can be confusing. This research provides an overview of three...
Driving Secure Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing in the Enterprise
GroupLogic's new activEcho is the industry's only secure Enterprise File Sharing and Synching solution that balances the need for simplicity for the end...
The Enterprise File Sharing Option
Enterprises and IT departments need to address several critical security issues when considering file sharing and syncing products. Many of today's solutions do...
Activities Streams Base An Integrated Social Layer
The enterprise social software market is exploding thanks to converging trends of consumerization, cloud, and mobile. In this must-read report, "The Forrester Wave:...
Converged Infrastructure for Dummies
As you know, everything is mobile, connected, interactive, and immediate. This is exactly why organizations need a highly agile IT infrastructure in order...
All Applications White Papers
Applications Webcasts
Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT

Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,...
Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT

Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific...
BMC Control-M - Single Point of Control Demo
With BMC Control-M, you schedule and manage everything - down to the very last platform and application - from one simple interface. It's...
Operational Analytics - Changing the Competitive Dynamics of the Business
Date/Time: June 5, 2012, 11:00 a.m., EDT, 4:00 p.m. BST / 3:00 p.m. UTC

Please join us for this webcast, as Dr. Barry...
Oracle Database Appliance Best Practices
Business users increasingly demand 24x7 availability of their data while IT departments face the challenge of ensuring maximum availability while operating with limited...
All Applications Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs