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9/29/06 - Why Field Service is Unique
Next week, I will share an extended list of capabilities and features that are unique to field service. Thank you in advance to all those that have shared their thoughts.
For those of you who have yet to weigh in, this is your last chance. Tell me what makes field service different from sales and service.
I also extend a special invitation to those vendors that have specialized on field service solutions. What features in your product make it a better fit than simply using a call center and/or sales for automation tool?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK (more)
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According to a study by Lyris Technologies, false-positive filtering (emails that are incorrectly identified as unsolicited or "spam" emails) remains high among leading email service providers (ESPs) including Hotmail and Gmail. Gmail did see a dramatic improvement in Q2 '06, with a false-positive filtering rate of only 2.97 percent compared to last quarter's 44 percent. However, Hotmail's false-positive filtering, although improving, remains high (18.2 percent this quarter compared to 23.4 percent the previous quarter).
SupportSoft announced the results of a survey, in which 69% of corporate employees interviewed said that they want to use online chat to resolve technical problems at work. Additionally, of those employees who already have tried Web-based chat to resolve problems related to their PC hardware, software, Internet or e-mail usage either at home or at work, 66% have had a positive experience.
KNOVA announced the general availability of KNOVA 7, the new version of the company's application suite. KNOVA's new application suite brings the power of Web 2.0 to the enterprise, from marketing and product selection through service resolution.
Epicor announced CRS RetailCRM 1.1 -- a module of its customer relationship management (CRM) solution, based on Microsoft .NET technologies, for multi-channel retailers.
LexisNexis announced the launch of the LexisNexis Corporate Intelligence Subscription for InterAction. This new offering integrates external LexisNexis content with InterAction, the CRM solution for professional services organizations, providing InterAction users with a true, 360-degree view of clients and prospects.
RightAnswers announced the launch of its RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite. This new suite combines RightAnswers' products and services to provide internal help desk organizations with self-service and support analyst software solutions, dynamic content, and value-added client success and knowledge management services to improve the support experience for end-users, accelerate problem resolution, and control support costs.
Callidus Software announced the results of a new EIM market sizing study conducted by Evalueserve, a research and analytics company. Results show that the overall worldwide market for EIM solutions was estimated at US$ 3 billion in 2005. This market mainly consisted of home-grown solutions (91%). The global third-party packaged software market for EIM solutions is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30% from US$ 275 million to US$ 1 billion by 2010.
Customer Relationship Metric announced that it has completed the analysis of a 3-month study into Contact Center Workforce Management Practices sponsored by Aspect, Witness Systems and Pipkins. Key Findings include: While the penetration of licensed workforce management software to support the scheduling function is quite high (88%), 52% do not use licensed workforce management software to support performance reporting and 25% do not use licensed workforce management software to support forecasting.
Aspect Software announced it has launched Contact Center: Unplugged, a blog from the company's technology leaders, Gary Barnett, Roger Sumner and Jim Mitchell. The new blog will offer postings from the three industry luminaries that will explore a range of topics impacting the contact center - from new and future technology, agent interactions and business processes, to their own experiences as consumers.
Selectica announced the United Kingdom's Royal Mail is using Selectica's pricing and configuration solution to power the new Royal Mail Online Price Finder. The Price Finder Application allows online users to calculate the postage of items they wish to mail.
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 Research Notes (more)
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Evaluating Maturing in Contact Centers: A Performance Management Research Study - Ventana Research undertook this research study to evaluate the maturity of contact centers worldwide, assessed by region, industry and size. We determined maturity by communications channels and services supported, how performance is measured and what technologies are deployed. In the analysis, we applied the Ventana Research Maturity Model, placing centers at one of four levels for increasing maturty: Tactical, Advanced, Strategic and Innovative.(Ventana Research)
|  | | Get a Starbucks Card loaded with $5 and qualify to win an iPod nano when you participate in a survey! - Performance Scorecards and Dashboards - A Ventana Research survey - Do scorecards, dashboards and performance alerts really bring about strategic alignment? Do they facilitate the best use of a company's resources and coordinate the efforts of every member of the organization? Ventana Research, our trusted research partner, is conducting a short survey on the topic of Performance Scorecards and Dashboards. Get a Starbucks Card loaded with $5 and qualify to win an iPod nano when you participate in our survey!(Ventana Research)
| | | Why Microsoft CRM Is the 3rd Choice - In this document, Microsoft CRM is given a comprehensive review including "Global Perspective" by CRM expert, Mr. Paul Greenberg, auther of "CRM at the Speed of Light" and Executive VP of CRM Association US.(GCCRM)
| | | Siebel + Oracle > SAP? - Oracle just announced to acquire Siebel. Technically speaking, this will make Oracle the number one CRM vendor in the world, even though the official legitimation has to wait until early 2006. There is however, another saying that SAP is catching up fast that she will likely replace Siebel as the CRM leader one day or the other. Would Siebel + Oracle > SAP in CRM in the coming years? We don't know yet. But it makes sense to have an individual review on each of them to see how they are doing so far and listen to what 443 survey respondents have talked about their image and product.(GCCRM)
| | | Why Oracle CRM Is Only the 4th Choice - An Independent Survey and Perspectives from Global / China Experts on Oracle(GCCRM)
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 White Papers (more)
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Marketing Automation: The New Automation Frontier - Marketing, it's show time. Finance was automated in the 1960s, HR in the 1970s, manufacturing in the 1980s, and sales and customer service in the 1990s. This is the decade for marketing automation.(MarketingCentral)
| | | Defining CEM - Wen Joe Wheeler and Shaun Smith wrote "Managing the Customer Experience - turning customers into advocates" in 2001, they did not realize that it would help to stimulate a worldwirde interest in CEM that is growing all the time. For example, a 2005 Forrester survey found that 83% of executives considered customer experience to be more important than in the previous year. This year the figure is even higher. The question is why has CEM become such an issue for organizations.(GCCRM)
| | | Contact Center Manager KPI Survival Guide - Contact center managers are confronted with volumes of data and dozens of reports generated by automated and manual systems and processes. They may have a surfeit of metrics, but lack the fundamental information needed to manage their operating environment. Too often contact centers have no way of systematically measuring and communicating how well internal and coprorate objectives are being met and identifying where change is required.(DMG Consulting)
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Make marketing measurement count: Easier said than done - A very large company formed a task force to identify the value gained from the obscene amounts of money it spent on customer information, marketing analytics and reporting. No marketing representative was on the task force, even though marketing knew about the initiative and was consulted during deliberations. The person running the task force? An IT executive.(CRM Magazine)
| | | Directors Urged to Roll Up Sleeves for UK Customer Service - Senior directors of FTSE 100 companies could soon be manning phones, reception desks and tills to raise the profile of customer service. Paul Cooper, communications director of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) is lobbying senior directors at each company and challenging them to go back-to-the-floor in a front-line customer service role.(CRM2day)
| | | RightNow Technologies Upgrades CRM Suite - On the analytics front, RightNow 8 bolstered its capabilities with Report Design Center, a tool that lets users assemble tables, charts and fields to create reports and assemble customized analytics dashboards. With historical trending, users can compare current and projected information with historical performance data, such as lead conversion rates and customer satisfaction rankings.(CRMDaily)
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 Case Studies (more)
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AFLAC Increases Efficiency With etalk - AFLAC purchased e-talk Recorder and etalk Advisor. The integrated system enables call center supervisors to set up automatic recording times based on a specialist's schedule, something that was impossible with the old completely manual system.(etalk)
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November 12th-14th, 2006: SSPA Services Leadership Conference - Services are a key driver of customer success. To continue to succeed, a company's service capabilities must evolve to an entirely new level and this change must be driven from the top. Begin the journey by attending the Service & Support Professionals Association's (SSPA's) Services Leadership Conference, Nov. 12 - 14. For top-level service and support executives, the event offers 9 content tracks: Process, Strategy, Products, Skills, Consumer, Converged Services, Services Marketing and Innovation, Sales, and Tools and Technology. All designed to help you deliver maximum financial performance and ongoing customer success .
| | | October 3rd-5th, 2006: Marketing Mobile Services - Targeting, marketing and delivering consistent customer experience to maximize AR
| | | October 10th-13th, 2006: INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO WEST - Call Center 2.0 co-located with the 14th INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo that will be coming to San Diego on October 10-13, 2006 at the San Diego Convention Center. Call Center 2.0 is expected to attract an estimated 1,900 attendees with an overall conference of 9,000 attendees.
| | | October 17 - 19, 2006: Services Industry Summit - Successful Strategies for Service Innovation - Las Vegas, October 17 - 19, Paris Hotel. Learn how world-class organizations are improving their service operations. Presenting organizations include EMC, FileNet, Rockwell Automation, Sage Software, Sony Electronics, and others. Optional pre-conference workshops will also be held. Visit www.servicestrategies.com or call 858.674.4864.
| | | October 17 - 18, 2006: Professional CRM Certificate Program - Get CRM Certified(tm). Attend a fall seminar to receive a Certification in Applied CRM Strategy, based on Paul Greenberg's the best-selling book "CRM at the Speed of Light" and endorsed by Rutgers University Center for CRM Research, CRMGuru.com, the National CRM Association and GCCRM. 20% discount until September 30th.
| | October 22-24, 2006: Contact Center Summit Fall 2006 - The Contact Center Summit Fall 2006 is a unique event created specifically for senior contact center, call center and customer service executives across all major industry sectors. Over three days and two nights, the Summit provides several opportunities for you to interact with senior officers from Global 2000 corporations across North America.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 52.75 |  | -0.82% |
| Dow Jones | 11,731.34 |  | 0.19% |
| Nasdaq | 2,271.33 | | 0.17% |
| S&P 500 | 1,338.34 | | 0.05% |
| Top Gainers |
| HP | 36.79 | | 1.41 |
| eLoyalty | 18 | | 0.63 |
| Amdocs | 39.59 | | 0.62 |
| Top Losers |
| salesforce.com | 36.84 | | -1.38 |
| SPSS | 25.47 | | -0.80 |
| Verint | 30.4 | | -0.58 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 09/28/06 | |
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"OUR TAKE"
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