Market Digest

Consumers Energy is introducing a new bill format in September that customers will find easier to understand and more informative than the previous format. Improved information flow on the bill will help customers use energy more efficiently and save money on their energy costs.

The bill now includes a graph showing personalized energy use over the past 13 months. That section allows customers to see their energy use per day, as well as the cost per day.

The new bill has a quick-glance feature for customers interested in their total charges and energy use. It also includes more detailed information for customers who prefer to see line-by-line descriptions of energy use charges.

“We’ve listened to our customers in re-designing our bill to give it a clearer, sharper look,” said Tom O’Masta, executive manager of customer operations for Consumers Energy. “These changes are the first in nearly two decades as we increase our efforts to provide value to our customers.” Read the rest of this entry »

Expands IBM’s Integration Portfolio and Cross-Channel Commerce Software for Marketing, Selling and Fulfillment

IBM announced the closing of its acquisition of Sterling Commerce. The company expands IBM’s ability to help clients accelerate their interactions with customers, partners and suppliers through dynamic business networks using either on-premise or cloud delivery models.

Organizations are looking for ways to create more intelligent networks of business partners, customers and suppliers in order to enhance efficiency and profitability. These interactions are increasing dramatically due to the proliferation of electronic business transactions, from banks exchanging transaction data and manufacturers sourcing raw materials electronically, to retailers automating stock replenishment and managing orders online.

Sterling Commerce provides software for cross-channel commerce and integration of customer, partner and supplier networks across a wide range of industries. The combination of IBM and Sterling Commerce enables the integration of key business processes across channels and among trading partners – from marketing and selling to order management and fulfillment.

“We now offer a complete platform for multi-enterprise business transactions,” said Craig Hayman, general manager, IBM Industry Solutions. “In combination with IBM’s existing offerings, Sterling Commerce, Coremetrics and Unica are expanding IBM’s ability to help companies automate, manage and accelerate core business processes across marketing, selling, order management and fulfillment.”

With the acquisition of Sterling Commerce, IBM advances its ability to help clients integrate and automate business processes, resulting in improved demand generation, customer experience and fulfillment. Using the combined technologies of IBM and Sterling Commerce, clients have the flexibility to manage these processes – and their networks of business partners – through public or private cloud computing environments. Read the rest of this entry »

Two weeks after becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 will cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office today, joining Alice in Wonderland as the second $1 billion film this year from The Walt Disney Studios – the first studio in history to accomplish this feat. Disney first crossed the $1 billion threshold with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006. Toy Story 3 becomes the only animated film to reach this milestone and the seventh title in industry history.

“It’s been an incredible year as we saw the Pixar team bring Buzz and Woody back to the big screen and watched Tim Burton’s vision for Alice in Wonderland take the world by storm,” said Rich Ross, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “These box office triumphs prove that creative storytelling brought to life by imaginative, inspired and talented professionals is something audiences respond to the world over.”

As of Thursday (8/26/10), Toy Story 3 tallied more than $592.9 million internationally, Disney’s largest international animated release. Latin American audiences have contributed $138 million making Toy Story 3 the highest grossing Disney film ever released in the region. Toy Story 3 is the most successful UK release in Disney history and currently stands as the fourth biggest title in territory history with $102.4 million in box office receipts so far. In Japan, the film has taken in $111.2 million and spent five consecutive weeks as the #1 movie. Toy Story 3 currently ranks as the #7 film in global box office history and domestically ranks #9 with $404.6 million in receipts to date.

Alice in Wonderland began setting records during its opening weekend (March 5-7), becoming the biggest March opening in industry history, the highest 3D opening ever and The Walt Disney Studios’ biggest opening for a non-sequel film. Internationally, the film went on to tally more than $690 million, becoming Disney’s biggest overseas release of all time and the fourth biggest title ever released overseas. Worldwide, the film took in $1.0243 billion, ranking it as the #5 film in global box office history.

Cost amounts to nearly $500 for each U.S. licensed driver in one year

In a one-year period, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with injuries from motor vehicle crashes exceeded $99 billion – with the cost of direct medical care accounting for $17 billion, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The total annual cost amounts to nearly $500 for each licensed driver in the United States, said the study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

The one-year costs of fatal and non-fatal crash-related injuries totaled $70 billion (71 percent of total costs) for people riding in motor vehicles, such as cars and light trucks, $12 billion for motorcyclists, $10 billion for pedestrians, and $5 billion for bicyclists, the study said.

CDC researchers used 2005 data because, at the study time, it provided the most current source of national fatal and non-fatal injury and cost data from multiple sources.

“Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States is treated in an emergency department for crash-related injuries, and nearly 40,000 people die from these injuries each year. This study highlights the magnitude of the problem of crash-related injuries from a cost perspective, and the numbers are staggering,” said Dr. Grant Baldwin, director of CDC’s Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Read the rest of this entry »