Technology News: CRM

Salesforce.com Pumps Up Volume of Workplace Chatter
November 19, 2009

Salesforce.com is marrying its cloud computing bona fides with its growing expertise in collaboration in Salesforce Chatter, a new application and development platform. The company introduced the product at its Dreamforce tradeshow and conference under way in San Francisco.

Talk CRM in Language Users Can Understand
November 17, 2009

Those of us immersed in CRM take it for granted that people understand what the acronym stands for and what it really means -- the technology, people and processes that go into building stronger relationships with customers. Quite naturally, the people who sell, support and comment on CRM understand all of that. But do the intended users?

Finding Out What They're Saying About You Is Worth Every Penny
November 12, 2009

Social media monitoring is a new business endeavor, with relatively few companies able to boast a significant track record of achievement. In fact, according to the new Aberdeen benchmark report, "The ROI on Social Media Monitoring," only 27 percent of Best-in-Class companies have engaged in social media monitoring activities for more than two years.

A Tale of Two Sages
November 11, 2009

Sage convened its fall user group meeting in Atlanta this week. The event was set in the cavernous Georgia World Congress Center, a complex of three starship hangars left over from the Intergalactic Olympics. The facility is beautiful and very big. Sage estimated attendance at between 2,500 and 3,000 people, but despite that number of people, the place looked underused.

From Mainframes to I-Frames
November 11, 2009

I got a dose of reality last week when I took a briefing from TmaxSoft, a Korean company that specializes in mainframe conversions. I hadn't thought about a mainframe in a long time and assumed they were no longer an issue, but it turns out that they continue to live on. There are still 6,600 mainframes in operation in the U.S., according to TmaxSoft.

8 Habits of Successful Customer Feedback Managers
November 05, 2009

Customer relationships are damaged when companies hear too late about customer concerns or issues to do anything to repair them. Even worse, many crucial concerns aren't being heard by the right people at an organization. For example, are managers aware of which customers are unhappy? Did an employee treat a customer unfairly? What are the specific factors that caused a customer to leave?

CRM for the Small Biz: Turning Agony Into Ecstasy
October 30, 2009

Small businesses frequently rely on a haphazard assortment of tools to manage their CRM processes, such as email, contact managers and spreadsheets. However, such methods are usually not sustainable or scalable. "Their customer data ends up fragmented across 10 different applications and physical locations," said Dmitri Eroshenko, CEO of Relenta.

B2B TeleServices: Bring the Right Intel to the Table
October 29, 2009

In research conducted among over 200 companies in 2008 for a reported titled "B2B TeleServices and Appointment-Setting: Less Risk, Less Reward?," Aberdeen Group found that end-user sales organizations relying primarily on external appointment-setting vendors for lead generation realized dramatically lower business results if the vendor deliverable was limited to simple appointments.

Tempering the Supply Chain With Better BI
October 22, 2009

Many organizations in the consumer packaged goods industry are experiencing a trade-off between the benefit of high product volume sales coming at the expense of extreme data complexity. At the same time, these companies struggle to maintain open lines of communication with their retail customers and distributors in order to better manage the upstream flow of product.

Dell, Salesforce.com Join Forces in SMB Territory
October 13, 2009

Dell and Salesforce.com have added another tie that binds -- a service offering Salesforce.com's flagship CRM applications to Dell's SMB customers. Data integration and quality control are among the value-add features Dell is bringing to the table through its integration services division.

Think, Then Measure: BI in the SMB
October 01, 2009

Suppliers and consumers have tightened their belts under current economic conditions, sending businesses scrambling for cost-cutting methods. Small and medium businesses have turned to business intelligence tools in response to these pressures.

What Is On-Demand?
September 30, 2009

I have an ongoing conversation with an industry executive about the nature of on-demand, SaaS and cloud computing. The central question is, what is it exactly? Our conversation is always thought provoking, and I come away from it with at least some additional perspective.

Dialing Into Mobile Marketing
September 24, 2009

Mobile marketing has at last emerged as an important part of the marketing mix. Through a confluence of technologies and standards related to mobile devices, including 3G networks and data packages, the mobile channel can now enable large-scale marketing activities capable of engaging consumers in unprecedented ways.

Avaya Caters to SMBs With Kinder, Simpler IP Office Release
September 22, 2009

Avaya has launched Avaya IP Office, a new version of its flagship product line targeting the SMB space. Changes to the product, now in version 5, include new configurations for certain user roles, such as customer service agent or mobile worker, as well as new functionality.

CRM in 2009: Personal, Social, Mobile, Adaptable
September 14, 2009

Making sure that every customer gets the personal touch may be fairly easy for the owner of a neighborhood bakery, but in a mass market of millions, making each customer feel like an individual is a formidable challenge. In the information age, tools like customer relationship management software make it possible for companies to apply a personal touch to the mass market -- and that's golden.

Coaching a Killer Sales Force
September 10, 2009

With a variety of options available for training their revenue-seeking professionals, today's sales leaders need to carefully select the methodology that will most directly impact their bottom line. Ongoing Aberdeen research of over 500 companies surveyed in July and August of 2009 provides significant insight into how Best-in-Class organizations select and deploy sales training modalities.