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5/23/06 - Profits Through Penalties - Part V
One reader responded to the on-going conversation about the high cost of consumer penalties by saying, "Here in Britain, consumers are taking it to the banks who charge penalty fees for things like late payment, exceeding overdraft limits, returned checks, etc. The premise is that by UK law, companies cannot charge punitive fees, only fees that accurately reflect the cost of the transgression."
The reader goes on to share a consumer web site that states: "Penalty clauses in contracts in English (and Scottish) law for breach of contract aren't legal if the penalty exceeds the actual cost of the breach of either party. We all know that it does not cost a bank £25 to £39 to return a Direct Debit, Standing Order or cheque, and luckily so do judges, and indeed the banks. It's purely a money making scheme, and a lucrative one at that - with estimates that the charges from the top 4 UK high street banks generated £3 billion alone."
In short, bank charges are not legally enforceable in that country and some consumers are asking for their money back and getting it. There is quite a bit at stake for both sides. The big question is whether or not the market will support high priced penalties in the long run. My guess is no but I hate to guess what the "tipping point" or change agent might be.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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RightNow announced the acquisition of Salesnet, an on demand software firm focused on sales workflow automation. With the acquisition, RightNow adds 26 employees and a dozen off-shore development contractors with a long history of delivering sales automation solutions to mid-market and enterprise customers, including deployments of up to 2500 users. Under the terms of the acquisition, RightNow has acquired Salesnet through an all-cash merger.
Parature announced that the company is offering current Talisma customers free data migration and professional services set-up when switching to Parature's Customer Support Solution. Organizations seeking support software that can be customized to their specific needs, includes reporting.
Service Strategies announced an initiative to develop standards for delivering web-based customer support. The initiative, slated for completion in late 2006, focuses on improving the effectiveness, quality and consistency of customer support provided through web-based channels.
Infra Corporation has supplied its IT service management application, infraEnterprise, to LexisNexis Butterworths. The publisher selected Infra as a part of a global IT initiative to standardise the group's business divisions.
Pegasystems announced the upcoming availability of its Insurance Industry Framework, designed to promote insurance best practices to drive competitive advantage and accelerate return on investment for insurers. The framework takes advantage of the IBM Insurance Application Architecture and ACORD XML standards to help carriers and brokers realize gains in the efficiency and effectiveness of their new business and claims processes.
UniPress announced its FootPrints line of service desk solutions will be showcased for various University of Michigan schools and departments, as well as other educational institutions in Michigan, at a special educational event for university officials, support staff, and administrators.
BPT Partners have announced CRM Certified training. This is an internet-based training series based on CRM at the Speed of Light, the best selling book by Paul Greenberg. The five course program titled "Certification in Applied CRM" provides the theory and methodology to allow individuals and organizations to design, develop, deploy and fine-tune customer relationship management business strategies.
Pervasive Software announced that its Pervasive Business Integrator software supports MIB's new WEB-DIRECT Internet connectivity which utilizes the ACORD TXLife 401 and 402 transaction sets. Canadian-based SSQ Financial will be among the first insurance companies to utilize Pervasive technology to exchange data with MIB.
SAP announced that diamond and jewelry retailer Shane Co. will implement SAP for Retail to support its strategy to leverage multichannel sales, improve customer service and pricing consistency and enable merchants more time to focus on business decisions.
FINEOS and Reed Group announced a partnership that delivers integrated disability insurance and workers' compensation claims processing solutions to insurance companies, third-party administrators (TPAs) and governmental organizations to empower better return-to-work guidance and more efficient case management productivity in their greatest cost area, claims management.
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 FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
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"Does your CRM system know what customers are thinking?"
Bob Jurik, Director of Sales, Satmetrix
CRM is a good start. However, today's CEOs are waking up to the sober reality: CRM has not enabled major leaps forward in customer focus. That's where Customer Experience Management (CEM) comes in. Each and every one of your customers has valuable information to share and CEM captures that information and helps you analyze it so you can make timely business decisions. CEM completes the process begun by CRM by directly channeling customer feedback to impact all business units. CEM helps you continually fine-tune your customer-facing actions and provide a new level of strategic differentiation for your business. CRM promised to focus your organization on the needs of the customer. CEM delivers on that promise. If you are ready to take your customer loyalty/satisfaction strategy to the next level and learn if your customers are really benefiting from your CRM investment, you should invest 40 minutes of your time to learn about the other, more valuable, process that will make a significant and immediate difference.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 49.00 |  | 1.56% |
| Dow Jones | 11,125.33 |  | -0.17% |
| Nasdaq | 2,172.86 | | -0.97% |
| S&P 500 | 1,262.07 | | -0.39% |
| Top Gainers |
| Verint | 33.89 | | 1.22 |
| Astea | 9.68 | | 1.18 |
| salesforce.com | 29.39 | | 0.84 |
| Top Losers |
| NICE | 54.01 | | -1.38 |
| Amdocs | 36.75 | | -1.27 |
| SPSS | 35.58 | | -1.14 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 05/22/06 | |
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