With so much noise about online advertising and social media, the topic of telesales seems kind of outdated, if not obsolete. Yet, in today's rough economy, telesales may be even more important; that is, it can be an effective way to get someone -- who is noncommittal -- ultimately to buy your product.

So, how can your company leverage telesales? Let's take a look.

Cloud computing is a type of on-demand hosting services on the internet. Not only a necessity for mainstream e-commerce sites, it also increases efficiency, is scalable, and lowers expenses. The monetary savings may be misleading to consumers and businesses who do not fully understand the potential risks involved.

With a pay-as-you-go type structure, users are only charged for the amount of traffic, bandwidth, and memory used. Online businesses become more efficient by only utilizing the storage and space needed, while also being assured capacity for any usage increases. The buzz has been building for years, so cloud computing has attracted a diverse customer base, ranging from popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, to educational websites of Arizona State and Northwestern University.

• Jefferies upgraded shares of SourceFire (NASDAQ:FIRE) to Buy from Hold as they believe the company is benefiting from recent spending by the U.S. Federal government and private enterprises to improve cybersecurity. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $11 from $7.
  
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Brocade (NASADAQ:BRCD) to Buy from Neutral as they believe an expanded OEM announcement with IBM (NYSE:IBM) could be announced as early as the end of April, creating a positive catalyst. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $6 from $4.
  
• UBS upgraded Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) to Buy from Sell but lowered their target to $4 from $21 citing reduced churn and cashflow concerns, expectations for FY10 to be a trough year, and a potential reacceleration in deferred growth.
• AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Strattec (NASDAQ:STRT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
  
• Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) was upgraded at William Blair to Outperform from Market Perform.

Let's say you're on the phone with a potential customer. She likes the product and wants to make a purchase. However, you need to fax over an agreement to get a signature. Also, you need to set up a method for payment.

Unfortunately, this takes a few days – and during this time, the lead goes dark. You lost a customer . . .

In today's tough economic times, it's absolutely critical to close customers quickly. But how?

Well, there are some helpful – and affordable technologies to help out.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Bidz.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDZ) Q4 earnings release included notice about an SEC investigation.
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) saw net income drop by almost 50%, falling short of estimates.
• Ducommun Inc. (NYSE: DCO) received an analyst's downgrade after its Q4 earnings release.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) said Q4 earnings fell due to weakness at Gap and Old Navy stores.
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) worse-than-expected results prompted speculation about its survival.

Recession? What recession? Some companies seem to find ways to grow in any environment.

How? Part of it is the team; another part is the product; and finally, it helps if there is a big change in the marketplace.

Well, all this applies to Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), which has achieved an incredible milestone: $1 billion in annual revenues.

Started in 1999, the company has transformed the business applications market. Salesforce.com sells its software on a subscription basis; access is through the Net; and there is a diverse platform where customers can build their own applications.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the parade of earnings declines to continue into the final week of February, with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M), DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE: RY), Del Monte Foods Co. (NASDAQ: DLM), Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) all expected to post lower earnings for the most recent quarter. Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) are expect to have swung to a loss.

After the dot-com implosion, there was much talk about the death of the venture capital (VC) industry. And, while there was some pain, many firms survived. But the death may have only been delayed.

VCs need to generate substantial returns for their investors. Even though there have been some winners – such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) – there hasn't been enough activity. Simply put, the IPO market continues to deteriorate and M&A transactions are trailing off. Hey, there were only six VC-backed IPOs in 2008.

So, with thousands of VC firms in the market, it appears that the industry is poised for a Darwinian shakeout, according to the FT.

However, this doesn't mean that VC fundings will go dry. Basically, top firms will continue to do deals, but the approach will be more cautious and certain categories will get starved (such as social media and Web 2.0).

What are some hot spots? Well, according to the NY Times, the areas include web-based software, cloud computing, virtualization, open source and clean tech. Also, new companies will need to go beyond advertising revenues and expand their business models to areas like subscriptions.

Yes, as the recession continues, expect fewer free Net services.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) saw lower Q3 results in the tough retail envirnoment.
• Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Q4 profit surged but it lowered its Q1 forecast due to slowing orders.
• Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP) had dismal Q3 results and said it had ceased its quest to sell itself.
• Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) solid Q1 results beat estimates but shares fell despite a market rally.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) fell short of Q4 profit expectations and guidance was below estimates.
• Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) had a bigger-than-expected Q3 profit and raised its full-year outlook.
• D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) reported a wider Q4 loss as home sales revenue declined by 50%.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) posted strong Q4 numbers that didn't quite match the preliminary results.
• Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) had strong results and an optimistic forecast despite economic conditions.
• Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) lowered its fiscal 2009 forecast and warned of further restructuring.
• Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Q3 earnings declined but topped expectations, and it announced staff reductions.
• Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) Q4 earnings beat expectations though revenues fell slightly.
• Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) forecast a full-year profit in line with estimates and said it is confident in its liquidity.

Upcoming earnings releases include Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM), Guess (NYSE: GES), Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

I recently attended Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) annual conference, Dreamforce. The place was packed, with nearly 10,000 people. The atmosphere was certainly an antidote to the grimness in the tech community.

Then again, this week Salesforce.com announced its quarterly results -- and they were particularly strong (especially in light of the size of the company). Revenues came to $276 million, up 43% over the past year. Earnings spiked 60% to $0.08 per share and there were 4,100 new customers.

At the conference, the big message was "the cloud" (in fact, Salesforce.com refers to itself as " the enterprise cloud computing company"). Essentially, the company is positioning itself as the key platform for business software, which is completely web-based.

Interestingly enough, this appears to be attractive to cash-strapped customers. After all, there are no large up-front costs. Moreover, there are no ongoing costs for things like servers. Another key benefit is customization (which is done through Force.com).

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) swung to a Q3 loss as same-store sales fell, and it lowered its outlook.
• Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) forecast lower profits due to weaker glass sales but has a strong cash position.
• Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) swung to a Q3 loss as investors requested redemptions.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) profit beat estimates despite the decline in sales, and it reaffirmed its outlook.
• HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) strong Q2 results topped expectations but didn't impress the market.
• Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) reported solid results and offered modest growth for the next quarter.
• Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) Q3 profits and same-store sales fell and it lowered its guidance.
• Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) fell short of Q3 expectations and said it would reduce capital expenditures in 2009.
• Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) fell short of Q2 expectations and lowered its full-year guidance.
• PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) reaffirmed its previously announced full-year earnings guidance.
• Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) said Q3 earnings and revenue grew sharply, beating expectations.
• Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) posted weak Q3 numbers and discontinued its share buyback activity.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was downgraded on the belief that consensus estimates may be too high.