Products

Dreamforce: The Aftermath
September 26, 2012

t's over, Dreamforce that is, and I have gotten some needed sleep on the flight back to Boston. As I contemplate Dreamforce 2012 and its meaning, I have three observations. First, it was what I expected it to be. If you refer back to my post just before the show opened my expectations were more than met. You might wonder about the timing of that post but I was under NDA and unable to say much until then.

Bizo Gives Social a Twirl in B2B Target Marketing
September 24, 2012

Bizo, an online marketing provider that focuses specifically on the business segment, has introduced two new apps that refine its marketing reach. Bizo Company Targeting and Bizo CRM Retargeting are tightly integrated with Salesforce.com, although it is not necessary to be a Salesforce.com client to use them. "Bizo helps marketers reach business audiences across the Web," said CEO Russell Glass.

Aprimo Shows Reps More Cross-Sell, Upsell Possibilities
September 17, 2012

Aprimo has released its second app for Salesforce.com's AppExchange, called "Aprimo Service to Sales." It is an inbound marketing app with real-time interactive features. The first Aprimo app destined for the AppExchange was released in 2010. The newer app, however, is written on a different code base, which was acquired last year with the acquisition of Helm Interaction's IP assets.

Benioff Cranks Up Dreamforce Expectations
September 13, 2012

With Salesforce.com's Dreamforce 2012 conference ready to kick off next week, there is little doubt the company has several new products ready to debut. Just in case, though, CEO Marc Benioff made sure the CRM world would be primed for the news. In a wide-ranging interview with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington at TechCrunch Disrupt on Tuesday, Benioff dropped a few hints.

Sage Act Hones Social, Mobile Tools for Small-Biz Marketers
September 10, 2012

Sage North America has rolled out Sage Act 2013, a new iteration of its flagship application that has been enhanced with mobile, social and email marketing capabilities, as well as new smart task automation functionality. The focus is on contemporary trends of interest to SMBs, said Brandon Balsley, director of Sage Act product management.

Blackbaud Offers Nonprofits Sharper Prospecting Tools
August 31, 2012

Blackbaud has enhanced its CRM app for nonprofits with completely redesigned prospect and research capabilities. It is the company's second major release this year, said Tiffany Crumpton, senior marketing manager for CRM solutions. "This release was long in the works."

Zoho Digs Deeper With Marketing Campaigns
August 17, 2012

Zoho has been speedily turning out applications to complement its core platform. Earlier this spring, for instance, it introduced Zoho CRM. Now, it is rolling out Zoho Marketing Campaigns to buttress the marketing functionality it introduced in the CRM app. "We had marketing and campaign features in that app, but the functionality wasn't deep enough for our satisfaction," said Zoho's Raju Vegesna.

Salesforce.com Unveils New Community-Building Plans
August 14, 2012

Salesforce.com is rolling out a limited pilot of yet another social media initiative -- Salesforce Communities. The offering combines its Chatter product, its Salesforce.com business processes, and an underlying social intelligence that makes it easy to show people the right information and give them the correct access to experts, said Doug Bewsher, SVP, Salesforce Chatter.

Awareness Helps Social Marketers Know the Score
August 10, 2012

Awareness has enhanced its social marketing automation suite, Social Marketing Hub, with a new feature called "social scoring." The feature allows marketers and brands to identify, store and rank prospects across all the major social networks based on scoring criteria they define. It is a deliberate change from the fluffy metrics typically associated with social marketing.

Oracle CRM Hits 20
July 31, 2012

Oracle has released version 20 of its Oracle CRM On Demand product. It is a major release with significant upgrades to the industry-specific life sciences vertical as well as horizontal functionality, said Anthony Lye, SVP for cloud applications strategy.

Yardi CRM for Real Estate: Integration, Integration, Integration
July 27, 2012

When Yardi CRM launched in the fall of 2010, it was targeting what it saw as a lack of industry-specific CRM within the commercial real estate broker industry. While standalone CRM applications -- even lightweight ones that reside in the cloud -- can work wonders for small and medium-sized businesses, it is pointless for this particular industry to have CRM functionality.

Fiitfu Puts Follow-Up Front and Center
July 24, 2012

When Mary-Jane Mehlenbacher left the corporate world to have her daughter, she didn't realize she would be leaving behind network marketing software that worked. Mehlenbacher had decided to form her own home-based network marketing company but couldn't find an appropriate CRM software application that fit her needs and single-proprietor company size. So she decided to build her own application.

Avaya Beefs Up BYOD Support in Unified Communications
July 19, 2012

New mobility and security features are among the areas of focus in Avaya's latest iteration of Avaya IP Office 8.1, its unified communications platform for small and mid-sized enterprises. The company also built out the scale of the application; it is now able to serve 1,000 users in a single location, up from its previous support level of 384.

Kana Makes a Move in Customer Experience Space
July 17, 2012

Kana plans to build out its customer service experience management bona fides with its recent acquisition of contact center provider Ciboodle from the Sword Group. The point of the acquisition is to weave together Ciboodle's chief strengths -- its process-based customer contact management platform, agent desktop tools and case management expertise -- with what Kana does well.

Votigo Ventures Into Full-Scale Social Marketing
July 12, 2012

Votigo has debuted a full-fledged social marketing suite that builds around its original core functionality of social promotions. The 6-year-old company is offering a price point that is reasonable for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as functionality that can scale to enterprise level fairly easily, said Mike La Rotonda, co-CEO and founder.

The List Builds Big Media Database Onto SugarCRM Foundation
July 06, 2012

The List, a provider of lead generation software for media buyers and marketers, is adding CRM functionality to its line of services. This new feature set joins other new functions the company is building into its core product, such as integration with Moat.com, and a global media content database.

Act-On Insight Lets Businesses See How They're Seen Online
June 29, 2012

Marketing automation provider Act-On Software has added a unique feature to its product lineup that allows users to track, compare, and then take action on what is being said online and in social media about their company or executives. Act-On Insight lets users benchmark and track these mentions, as well as other online marketing metrics, from one dashboard.

Avaya Mixes It Up to Give Customers a Seamless Experience
June 28, 2012

Avaya has added new products and enhanced existing ones in its Customer Experience Interaction Management portfolio. The overarching goal of the changes was to allow users to reach out to customers via any channel the customers chose -- for example, mobile application, social media or phone.

Nimble CRM Ties Up All the Loose Social Ends
June 25, 2012

A year ago, Nimble CRM launched with a simple idea: If one application could bring together a contact's social media profile, online comments, company information and other relevant data, the sales and marketing process would be much easier. The hardest part -- bringing in social media conversations -- has also been the most elusive, said Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara.

Constant Contact: Death of Email Marketing Greatly Exaggerated
June 22, 2012

Several months ago Constant Contact became aware that much of its customer base was intrigued by the daily deal model. However, it also noticed that once those companies actually tried out the model, their enthusiasm for it diminished considerably. "Daily deals just don't work for a lot of companies, especially small businesses," said Dave Gilbertson, vice president and general manager of SaveLocal.