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9/22/05 - Lessons Learned
Years ago, I wrote a column for a magazine entitled "An Open Letter to Mr. Siebel." The column was written at a time when the company was worth more than 10 times what it sold for last week. At the time, the company was growing like a weed with silly rich profits.
My message in the column was simple. "Don't spike the ball on the five yard line." While Siebel competitors shook in their boots and had no answers, the blatant hubris displayed at all levels of the Siebel organization gave one the impression that while they were the big bullies on the field, there were no fans in the stands.
Today, we see a similar confidence and cockiness at Salesforce. Mr. Benioff's quote about the Siebel/Oracle merger is great for headlines and I'll paraphrase it for you. Basically he said, even dinosaurs mate before they die. So my message to Salesforce is the same - make sure you find the end zone and put the points on the board rather. Apologies to all the non-football (U.S. version) fans.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Wireless service providers and their customers will soon be able to benefit from simultaneous delivery of voice, video and data virtually 'anytime, anywhere,' leveraging technology developed by Nortel. This service bundling is designed not only to help create a new business model for wireless operators, but also to position them to increase revenue potential and enhance the subscriber experience.
Genticity will unveil new enhancements to its business intelligence tool set, combining reporting, analysis, scorecards and performance monitoring within its award-winning integrated web-based desktop. Customer1 is introducing the Customer1 Reporting Matrix, designed to extend business intelligence to all levels of the Contact Center and the Enterprise, while lessening the demand on information technology resources.
SAP announced that it is acquiring privately-held, Toronto, Canada-based Triversity, a North American provider of point-of-sale (POS) software solutions. The announcement was made at Triversity's Retail Summit and Executive Conference, being held in Phoenix, Arizona, Sept. 18-20.
Conexio Managed Services announced the acquisition of the assets of TJBA of Monroe, MI. The combined company will operate under the name "Conexio Managed Services, LLC."
Pandora Networks and salesforce.com announced the availability of Pandora's Worksmart On Demand IP Communications service for AppExchange. Built on salesforce.com's Appforce on-demand platform, Worksmart for AppExchange is available immediately for preview in the AppExchange, and will be generally available at the same time as the Salesforce Winter '06 release.
Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporation ("Allied") announced that it will standardize its sales operations with Entellium's CRM solution for up to 5,000 associates in more than 600 offices operating in 50 states.
Pegasystems announced its SmartBPM alternative, Pegasystems' Customer Process Manager (CPM) framework, to the uncertainties arising from the acquisition of Siebel by Oracle Corporation.
NICE announced that in the recent 2005 study by Frost & Sullivan entitled World Agent Performance Optimization Market, NICE ranked first in the global quality monitoring market.
Webcom announced the availability of Version 5.0 of its WebSource CPQ (configuration, pricing, quotation and proposal) solution. With this latest version, enterprise customers can support unlimited nested configurations, advanced cost and margin analysis, solution wizards and enhanced checkout and shopping cart experiences unique to a user group.
Service Strategies announced additional international dates for the popular four-day Support Manager course. The Support Manager Course is part of the Support Center Practices (SCP) Career Certification program, which certifies the skills and capabilities of service professionals.
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 FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
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"CRM's Secret Sauce - Everything You Need to Know About CRM"
Gary Lemke, Founder and Publisher, CRMAdvocate
Ah CRM . . . So much investment, so little return. Even today, a great divide exists between the promise and the benefit of CRM. Why? The answer is a paradox of simplicity and complexity - that is, the straightforward desire for customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention against an unyielding realization that not all customers act the same. Nor are all customers valued equally. This webcast is the first in a series on a single strategic focus and metric that can catapult your organization to the next level of revenue growth and profitability. Listen now to learn more.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 42.35 |  | -0.65% |
| Dow Jones | 10,378.03 | | -1.00% |
| Nasdaq | 2,106.64 | | -1.17% |
| S&P 500 | 1,210.20 | | -0.92% |
| Top Gainers |
| Tekelec | 19.1 |  | 1.06 |
| Interact Intell | 7.3199 | | 0.94 |
| Interv Brite | 9.47 | | 0.31 |
| Top Losers |
| NCR | 30.1 | | -1.66 |
| SPSS | 22.23 | | -1.17 |
| Verint | 37.52 | | -1.02 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 09/21/05 | |
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 Case Studies (more)
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Kronos Incorporated with Citrix GoToAssist - Citrix GoToAssist interfaces with Kronos' internal products and provides a strong support solution for Kronos. Key benifits that Kronos sees include reduced costs while improving quality of service, increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, improved first-call resolution, measured success with comprehensive reporting functionality, and Citrix can have someone up and running within 48 hours with no additional infrastruction needed.(Citrix Online)
|  | | Stellar Call Centres Improves Operational Effeciency - With Verint' ULTRA suite of Contact Center Actionable Intelligence Solutions, Stellar Call Centers increased the effectiveness of its quality management program, improved operational efficiency and enhanced the value of its offerings. This has translated into better service for customers and a sharper competitive advantage.(Verint Systems)
| | | MEDEX Global Group With Epicor - MEDEX needed a CRM system with integration capabilities to enable sharing of information across the organization. They found their solution in Epicor Clientele CRM.NET and can now share detailed contract and service information, have improved flexibility in adapting to growth and changing business processes through Web services architecture, and the ability to create HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant reporting.(Epicor Software Corporation)
| | | Carlson Hospitality Worldwide with IEX - In the first year, CHW said it eliminated 1,000 hours of shrinkage per month and reduced labor costs by 8 percent. Manual processes were automated and cycle time was reduced.(IEX Corporation, a Tekelec Company)
| | | EDS-Saturn Can Grow with Witness - The most critical factor in EDS-Saturn's decision to implement eQuality was the software's ability to grow with the organization and meet ever-changing industry demands. While EDS-Saturn currently uses eQuality to record interactions from both a voice and data perspective, the software can evolve with EDS-Saturn as the organization adopts other mediums for interacting with customers, including e-mail and Web chat.(Witness Systems)
| | | Prophet 2004, a Sales Opportunity Management Solution - After looking at sales management software including Prophet 2004, ACT! and custom development, Brandrud selected Prophet to help their sales organization establish a sales process for the first time in company history.(Avidian Technologies)
| | | LifeWay Improves Contact Center - Learn how the ULTRA suite of Contact Center Actionable Intelligence Solutions helped LifeWay improve agent performance, enhance customer experience, and increase revenue through cross-sell, up-sell and new products and services based on identified customer needs.(Verint Systems)
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"OUR TAKE"