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11/10/06 - CRM Prices are Dropping - Part II
Earlier this week, I talked about how CRM solution prices have trended downward suggesting heightened competition as well as trends towards commoditization of CRM functionality. One reader wrote, "I agree with your assessment that there is downward pressure on prices. However, I don't feel all vendors are created equal. As such, vendors with a vertical or enterprise approach should be able to charge more."
Allow me to extend that thinking a bit more. I believe that certain CRM functions have indeed reached commodity status. More importantly, organizations are getting better at recognizing value and ROI and are willing to pay for it. It all comes down to differentiation with features that really make a difference.
You might remember that Gartner research suggests that price is not as big a buying factor as it used to be. It's not the number of features (a laundry list approach) anymore. It's all about effectiveness of solution and people are willing to pay for it. It's interesting to watch the gap widen between high value and commodity functionality and how it will impact the way solutions come to market.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK (more)
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UCN announced inContact/PeerCompare, a real-time performance benchmarking service to be provided in conjunction with BenchmarkPortal. PeerCompare enables contact center managers to compare their center's performance against that of other call centers in similar industries.
Hosted contact center software solutions can provide many things: lower costs, increased flexibility, and faster deployments to name a few. But like every large technology purchase, there are a few challenges you must face to ensure success. In a white paper published by Cincom Systems titled "The Hosted Model: Simplifying Contact Center and Agent Desktop Solutions," Cincom gives a tutorial on the basics of hosting including what issues you need to have resolved before entering into a hosted software agreement.
MarketingExperiments.com announced that it is acquiring MarketingSherpa, a research firm that publishes marketing case studies and benchmark data. Financial details were not disclosed by either party.
Jacent Technologies announced the Jacent Ordering-on-Demand Platform. The platform offers the restaurant industry a cost-effective way to resolve critical business problems by increasing brand loyalty, increasing the amount of the average guest check and reducing lost calls.
Avidian Technologies will be launching Prophet 4.0, the newest version of its sales management software for Microsoft Outlook. Avidian will also be launching Prophet for Windows Mobile and Pocket PC, extending the functions and features of Prophet to Windows Mobile 5.0 and Pocket PC 2003 PDAs.
SAP announced that independent research firm IDC named SAP as the leader in the worldwide analytic applications market, a segment of the overall business analytics market, by revenue. In its report, entitled "Worldwide Business Analytics Software 2006 - 2010 Forecast and 2005 Vendor Shares", IDC found that in 2005, the worldwide business analytics market grew at a rate of 11 percent to reach $16.6 billion in revenue. SAP's business analytic applications revenue grew faster than the overall market, at a rate of 13.4 percent.
Aspect Software announced the release of Web Powered Agent 10.1, a thin-client agent desktop for Aspect Spectrum ACD, a complete inbound solution that includes robust queuing, routing, reporting, agent empowerment and modeling capabilities.
Symon Communications announced the release of Symon Enterprise Server (SES) 9.1 software. SES 9.1 is a software engine that powers Symon products for use in various markets such as digital signage, corporate communications, contact center and supply chain management.
ColdSpark announced the launch of the 5 Series of the SparkEngine Mail Transport Platform, a platform designed from the ground up to meet the needs of today's global enterprises. It provides any enterprise mail networking system with inbound and outbound message delivery, internal message routing, policy-based processing, security, authentication, encryption, failure processing and traffic management.
Respond has announced the latest version of its complaints and feedback management application, Respond CenterPoint 3.66. In version 3.66 the focus is on providing deeper functionality and expanding the application's capabilities for logging, tracking, managing and reporting on all forms of feedback data including complaints, complex queries, enquires, issues, comments and compliments.
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 FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
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"Optimizing the Customer Experience for Web Self-Service "
Allen Bonde, Senior VP, Strategy & Marketing, eVergance
Customers want - and have come to expect - great service. But, when it comes to self-service, many sites are still offering only static search and simple FAQs... with poor customer satisfaction and high escalation rates as a result. Get expert advice from self-service guru Allen Bonde and KNOVA Software CTO Mark Angel as they explore new ways to create an online self-service experience that cuts costs and delights customers with personalization and efficient resolution. You'll learn how to align business and user needs, drive adoption and measure the impact of your solution via targeted self-service metrics.
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 Research Notes (more)
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 White Papers (more)
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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 corporate objectives are being met and identifying where change is required.(DMG Consulting)
|  | | Defining CEM - When 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 worldwide 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)
| | | 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)
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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 .
| | | November 12-15, 2006: The North American Conference on Customer Management (NACCM) - The North American Conference on Customer Management (NACCM), November 12-15, in Orlando, FL, is the premier event, delivering sought-after solutions to your most pressing customer challenges. Don't miss once-in-a-lifetime presentations from Former Secretary of State, General Colin L. Powell; Chip Bell, Author of 16 Books on Customer Service; Malcolm Gladwell, Best Selling Author; Loyalty Expert Fred Reichheld; and many more. Attendance at this annual event is a necessary step in developing your customer experience strategy. Visit www.iirusa.com/crm, mention Priority Code: XM1900CRMAW and receive 15% off the standard conference price!
| | | November 13th-14th, 2006: West Coast - MarketingSherpa Business-to-Business Demand Generation Summit - MarketingSherpa's B-to-B Demand Generation Summits 2006 - Network with 500 B-to-B marketers & discover their best demand generation tactics.
| | | Jan. 22 - 24, 2007: Mobile Customer Retention & Loyalty - This event will consider the changing nature of mobile customer loyalty in marketplaces around the world and equips operators with the tools and strategies needed to tackle churn. Features more operator case studies, interactive sessions, networking opportunities and innovative speakers from related industries sharing their experiences!
| | | February 21-21, 2007: Call Center Demo & Conference Miami - Whether February finds you in the middle of a Boston blizzard or cooler temps in Tennessee, Call Center Demo & Conference's exciting, new location - MIAMI - is sure to be an inviting change of scenery come late February.
| | February 26-28, 2007: Linkage Strategies 2007 - Finally, the one event highlighting the entire customer feedback continuum - from collection to analysis to action - and how to WOW your customers every step of the way. Hear action-oriented perspectives to help you do your job better, faster and smarter from executives in leading organizations including: Wachovia, Hewlett-Packard, Oakland A's, Roche Diagnostic¸ Motorola, Inc., JetBlue Airways¸ American Girl, Bank of America, Kraft Foods¸ CA, Inc.¸ Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Allstate Insurance, UBS Financial Services, FedEx, PGA Tour, GlaxoSmithKline, 3M, HSN, and many more
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 57.55 |  | -0.34% |
| Dow Jones | 12,103.30 | | -0.61% |
| Nasdaq | 2,376.01 | | -0.38% |
| S&P 500 | 1,378.33 | | -0.54% |
| Top Gainers |
| Witness | 16.88 |  | 16.88 |
| HP | 39.56 | | 0.68 |
| Convergys | 22.51 | | 0.42 |
| Top Losers |
| ICT Group | 32.99 | | -1.70 |
| SPSS | 28.14 | | -0.66 |
| NCR | 43.59 | | -0.63 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 11/09/06 | |
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