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11/13/06 - Does Price Equate to Effectiveness
One element of the discussion last week was about how organizations buying CRM solutions are focusing more on effectiveness rather than cost. It seems the justification for paying the higher price comes from a more promising ROI.
In other words, "I don't care what I have to pay as long as I get more out of it than I put in." I realize that states the obvious but observations tell me that the obvious is not always the case. Some buy based on cost and that might sometimes be the right answer. However, the trend made me think. Does a higher priced solution suggest higher value?
So when you get quotes from two CRM solution providers, do you think about the relative cost or the relative value? Cost is a very straightforward comparison while value can be a bit dicier to quantify. But does the higher price suggest that the vendor's installed base has actually seen a better ROI? Is a higher price actually a turn on rather than a turn off?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Visitar announced key enhancements to its 360° Care viaVisitar solution. The new version includes enhancements in CRM and customer interaction functionality, the user-driven configuration model, and the technology platform.
Pegasystems announced IBM will be unveiling its new banking contact center offering featuring Pegasystems' rules-based BPM platform at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo. The IBM Service to Sales Transformation offering is designed to bring together IBM's consulting services with telephony, Business Rules and Process Management, analytics and portal technologies within a SOA environment to drive sales growth through the customer service channel and enhance customer loyalty.
VeriFone Holdings announced the launch of an EMV Level 2-approved solution for the MX870 multimedia platform. The solution, which has been developed in partnership with Smart Technology Solutions Limited (STS), provides retailers with the ability to deploy a single unit offering multimedia interaction with customers as well as an EMV-certified PIN pad.
Centergistic Solutions announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent #US 7,130,812 B1 for their "method and system for managing real time data", which has been refined and trademarked under the name CenterStats by Centergistic Solutions. The CenterStats filtering architecture has formed the platform for Centergistic's newest AgentView performance management system, Version 4.0.
ATG announced that Infor has increased its support of ATG technology by implementing licenses of ATG Self-Service and ATG Knowledge. ATG customer care solutions will be leveraged across the Infor enterprise.
Convergys announced that ntl Telewest has signed a licensing agreement for Convergys' ICOMS customer care and billing solution.
In an effort to transform inbound and outbound logistics operations, Oracle announced that CNH Global, N.V. invested in Oracle Transportation Management. CNH aims to increase visibility and reduce costs by streamlining global logistics with Oracle.
UCN announced an exclusive license agreement and option to purchase with ScheduleQ for its on-demand workforce management (WFM) software solution. UCN has the option to purchase the ScheduleQ software and customer base by February 8, 2007, or to convert to a 10-year, non-exclusive agreement to private label the solution as an integrated software module within the inContact product family.
LiveTime Software announced that LiveTime Help Desk has been implemented by Genus to deliver best practice service and support to its customers.
Witness announced that its new Witness Enterprise Solutions group has been honored with the 2006 AeA High Tech Award from the San Diego Council of AeA, the nation's largest high tech trade association.
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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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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 59.27 |  | 2.98% |
| Dow Jones | 12,153.01 | | 0.41% |
| Nasdaq | 2,404.28 | | 1.18% |
| S&P 500 | 1,385.96 | | 0.55% |
| Top Gainers |
| Witness | 18 | | 18.00 |
| salesforce.com | 44.3 | | 2.72 |
| ICT Group | 34.33 | | 1.34 |
| Top Losers |
| eLoyalty | 18.3 |  | -0.45 |
| Interact Intell | 16.84 | | -0.31 |
| Selectica | 1.72 | | -0.25 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 11/10/06 | |
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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 - 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)
| | | 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)
| | | A Strategic Guide to Self-Service for the IT Help Desk - Self-service support can be a make-or-break proposition. A self-service strategy that is properly developed, tested, implemented, and managed over time can add remarkable business value through saved costs and improved employee productivity.(Pete McGarahan)
| | | Seven Actionable Tactics for Critical Contact Center Improvement - In this white paper, Tim Montgomery, founder of The Service Level Group and Certified Associate of the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), shares a career worth of valuable research to help your organization take its contact center to a more customer-centric level.(etalk)
| | | Customizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Complex Field Service and Sales Organizations - Microsoft Dynamics CRM software is the fastest and easiest way to customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities to any organization that uses Microsoft Office programs or the Microsoft outlook messaging and collaboration client. Because it was designed to partner with Outlook, Microsoft CRM delivers lower training cost, broader user adoption, less application-switching, higher productivity and and incredibly rapid impact on investment.(Microsoft)
| | | The Myths and Realities of Marketing Resource Management Systems - CRM systems have traditionally focused on the tracking of leads generated from various marketing programs and tying those leads back to the sales that occur from the marketing efforts. While certainly valuable, this functionality does not address the needs resulting from the level of effort, coordination and communication required up front in order to plan, create and execute those programs.(MarketingCentral)
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"OUR TAKE"