Teradata And SAP Join Forces To Deliver Enterprise Analytical Solutions
Teradata and SAP AG announced a technology partnership agreement to deliver analytical solutions to targeted industries with high data-volume requirements, including telecommunications, financial services, pharmaceuticals and aerospace and defense. The relationship will provide customers with an integrated view of their business by delivering industry-specific analytical solutions that are scalable and offer a rapid return on investment. As part of the agreement, Teradata also becomes an SAP Global Technology Partner.

Yahoo! Widens Use of MicroStrategy BI Platform
MicroStrategy Incorporated announced that its customer Yahoo! has purchased additional software licenses to expand its use of the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform. For these new applications, MicroStrategy was selected primarily because of its analytics.

			Required Reading
		Customer Retention, A Simplified Approach    Retention is definitely the "buzz" word for businesses today. Customer retention has business leader's attention and leaving most wondering how other businesses are approaching this seemingly complex business function. A web search of "customer retention" results in thousands of available web sites all with the real solutions for customer retention. Researchers, analysts, and consultants have developed a multiple selection of theories, programs, and practices for customer retention. Businesses today readily share their experience in improving customer retention. Most solutions point to business culture, staff training, and sales methodology along with tracking and responding to customer demographics. In simple terms, customer retention is all about the customer and the customer's experience. more >>
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Toyota Financial Services Selects Siebel
Siebel Systems announced that Toyota Financial Services (TFS), a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, has selected the Siebel Automotive Captive Finance suite of products as part of na upgrade of its core consumer receivables applications. TFS is the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the U.S., offering retail auto financing and leasing through Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC) and extended service contracts through Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS).

Business Objects And Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Sign Agreement
Business Objects announced an expanded alliance agreement with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The alliance will encompass joint product development, co-marketing, and reseller capabilities worldwide. CGE&Y will also expand its team of consultants certified in Business Objects products, and as part of the agreement, proactively market joint solutions to its customers.

Interchange Solutions Joins IBM Initiative To Help SMB Customers
Interchange Solutions, the developer of the CRM software solution Maximizer Enterprise for Notes, has joined IBM's ISV Advantage Initiative, a program designed to provide independent software vendors (ISVs) with technical and marketing support to help meet the specific information technology (IT) needs of small and medium business (SMB) companies. Customers are seeking solutions that help them better integrate processes and applications internally and externally and allow them to quickly respond to changing market opportunities on demand.

EMC And Oracle Help Customers Manage, Preserve Inactive Database Records
EMC Corporation and Oracle unveiled a new joint solution to help Oracle customers efficiently migrate inactive database records onto more cost- effective storage systems to reduce costs, improve critical application and database performance and to meet compliance regulations for historical data. The EMC Solution, EMC DatabaseXtender Accelerator for Oracle E-Business Suite, combines joint services from EMC and Oracle with the new EMC software (see related announcement release) to automatically identify and relocate dormant Oracle data from production systems to lower cost online storage platforms.

SSPA Selects Keynote Speaker For San Diego
The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) announced that Jim Sterne, President, Target Marketing, will make the opening keynote presentation at the SSPA Conference @ San Diego, April 5-7, 2004. Sterne focuses his twenty years in sales and marketing on measuring the value of a Web site as a medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships.   (about SSPA)