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11/20/06 - Ten CRM Things We Should Be Thankful For - Part I
This week is Thanksgiving (at least in the United States). In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share with you ten CRM things we should be thankful for - a third of them today, a third tomorrow, and the last third on Wednesday. Let the countdown begin . . .
No. 10: The DNC registry has a positive dividend. Outbound call centers are spending more quality time reaching out to a more qualified group thus dealing with fewer belligerent people. No. 9: Most of us won't have to wait for Oracle's Fusion. Those that don't use a Siebel, Oracle, Peoplesoft derivative solution are exempt. Others have plenty of time to investigate alternatives. No 8: Large exhibit halls at CRM trades shows have disappeared. Indeed, we still see smaller gatherings but nothing to fill the likes of Moscone or McCormick.
OK. You now have the first three and I'll share three more tomorrow. Of course, feel free to share what you are thankful for as well.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Epicor|CRS, the Retail Solutions Division of Epicor announced CRS RetailStore Central - a product to manage geographically and typologically diverse store- system retail formats.
Rare Method announced it has acquired Calgary-based Stone Monkey Media, a leader in the development of online and custom web software applications. Terms of the cash deal were not disclosed.
Standard Chartered Bank has selected the Smart Investigate solution framework from Pegasystems as part of a major drive to improve customer service in payments processing.
Loyalty Lab announced that specialty retailer Brookstone has launched its new loyalty marketing initiative using Loyalty Lab's Customer Relationship Manager Suite, which also powers all of the retailer's marketing email communications.
The InterContinental Jeddah Hotel has deployed a converged network from Nortel to support advanced IP-based communications such as high-speed Internet access, unified messaging and mobility for guests while driving staff efficiency and productivity.
Teradata has announced that DnB NOR will extend the capacity and business value of its Teradata Warehouse by implementing Teradata Value Analyzer, an analytical solution that accurately measures profitability down to the individual customer or product level.
Amdocs and Sensis Pty Ltd announced that Sensis has selected Amdocs to upgrade and consolidate its front- and back-office systems onto a single Amdocs platform and has extended its managed services agreement with Amdocs by five years.
Verint announced that it has received Frost & Sullivan's 2006 Market Leadership Award for quality monitoring solutions in the India market for the second consecutive year.
Virtual-Agent Services announced that it has established its 21st North American location. Established in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the center will be added to the company's other sites located in Illinois and New Brunswick.
RightNow has been selected by T-Mobile The service portal enables T-Mobile customers to obtain information around the clock at the click of a mouse -- from home or on the road. By using RightNow's web self-service solutions, the Austrian company has improved the response to customers' questions, allowing clients to query T-Mobile's corporate website more comprehensively and efficiently than ever before.
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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 | 60.20 |  | 0.75% |
| Dow Jones | 12,339.61 | | 0.23% |
| Nasdaq | 2,452.88 | | 0.51% |
| S&P 500 | 1,402.81 | | 0.27% |
| Top Gainers |
| Witness | 18.5 | | 18.50 |
| Interact Intell | 18.92 | | 1.03 |
| Teletech | 22.98 | | 0.67 |
| Top Losers |
| eLoyalty | 17.99 |  | -0.62 |
| Astea | 5.13 | | -0.33 |
| AVAYA | 12.74 | | -0.25 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 11/17/06 | |
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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"