 OUR TAKE -
When Less is More
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| Lasting Impressions:
Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
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Henry J. Kaiser
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A funny thing happened on the way to the economic meltdown. An increase in business. Indeed, that is what we have been seeing with our own business. You ask, how can that be? Allow me to explain what I think is happening.
Our business model is based on featuring the offering of companies that want to market to the CRMAdvocate readership (that is you, by the way). The money for such expenditures typically comes out of the marketing budget - funds that are often the most likely to get cut in tough times. But companies know that cutting marketing spend to zero is fool hearted.
So they look to do "more with less." That often means reducing the most expensive spends and looking for more cost effective alternatives. So instead of print advertising and big booths at trade shows, many organizations are marketing online at a fraction of the cost. And that is why I believe we are seeing an increase in business.
Here's the point of the story: Now is the time to create a cost-effective alternative to "business as usual?" Rather than waiting for the economic tide to raise all ships, determine how your offering may be a better option for those with smaller budgets today. That's my take. What's your take?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
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| Stock Ticker |
| Teletech | 8.15 |  | 0.62 |
| ICT | 5.21 | | 0.33 |
| eLoyalty | 4.25 | | 0.25 |
| ATG | 2.3 | | 0.09 |
| NetSuite | 9.01 | | 0.3 |
| Interactive | 8.21 | | 0.27 |
| Chordiant | 2.6 | | 0.07 |
| Amdocs | 18.27 | | 0.3 |
| Oracle | 17.24 | | 0.28 |
| Sykes | 15.34 | | 0.19 |
| Rainmaker | 1.06 | | 0.01 |
| Pegasystems | 14.86 | | 0.14 |
| NICE | 21 | | 0.09 |
| Astea | 2.14 | | 0 |
| Tekelc | 12.8 |  | -0.01 |
| Unica | 4.4 | | -0.02 |
| Salesforce | 25.77 | | -0.17 |
| HP | 34.08 | | -0.26 |
| LivePerson | 2 | | -0.02 |
| SupportSoft | 1.92 | | -0.02 |
| SAP | 35.11 | | -0.43 |
| Convergys | 6.78 | | -0.1 |
| APAC | 1.52 | | -0.03 |
| Vignette | 7.11 | | -0.16 |
| NCR | 9.59 | | -0.28 |
| CDC | 0.83 | | -0.03 |
| RightNow | 8.17 | | -0.34 |
| ClickSoftware | 2.89 | | -0.15 |
| SPSS | 27.22 | | -1.61 |
| Epicor | 2.84 | | -0.2 |
| Selectica | 0.39 | | -0.04 |
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As of 4:00 p.m. on 2/18/09 |
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 NEW IN CRM
News: Oracle Adds Functionality in CRM On Demand Release 16
Oracle CRM On Demand Release 16 introduces five additional products continuing on last month's announcement. These applications include: Oracle Self-Service E-Billing On Demand, Oracle Sales Library, Oracle CRM On Demand Deal Management, Oracle CRM On Demand Enterprise Disaster Recovery and Oracle AIA integration from Oracle CRM On Demand to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. Oracle Sales Library is a single repository of an organization's sales materials that helps improve collaboration within and among sales teams, while increasing close rates. Sales reps can create targeted presentations, as well as access, preview and download slides -- or an entire presentation -- to find relevant content. A rich set of social networking tools enables users to share, rate, review and tag slides so that everyone in an organization can leverage the most effective sales materials.(Oracle
)
News: ICMI Plans to Benchmark Contact Center Customer Satisfaction
Think Services' International Customer Management Institute announced its latest research project today -- the ICMI 2009 Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Study. This three-month study will measure and compare customer satisfaction ratings regarding services they received through customer contact centers. Companies with any number of customer care agents are encouraged to participate. While keeping all participants anonymous, the study will measure and compare customer satisfaction ratings based on industries, organization sizes, customer bases, and more. (ICMI
)
Article: Planning for Choppy Waters
Economic crisis. Slump. Depression. Call it what you will but the current financial climate has made 2008 and (and the foreseeable future) difficult for many businesses. How does this affect service businesses? Consumers are nervous and looking to save money any way they can. If a competitor offers a lower price, or if you deliver unsatisfying customer service, the customer will jump ship. Word of mouth (or bad Internet rants) can cripple a customer base. No business can afford to take that risk. So how does a service organization keep its customers happy and cut costs without jeopardizing service levels and sending customers packing? As a recent Forrester study says, "You can't be completely irrational, because customers are so important and customer service is so bad in this economic time, you have to spend. You need to spend now-quickly-and spend wisely." Good advice, but where will the money come from?(DestinationCRM
)
News: NICE Gains Romania's Leading Telco, Romtelecom
NICE has gained one of Romania's leading telecommunications companies, Romtelecom, as a new customer in a deal for NICE SmartCenter at their contact centers. Romtelecom plans to leverage the synergies of call recording, quality management, workforce management, and performance management, solutions to improve customer service levels and operational efficiency. Facing fierce market competition and growing call volume at their contact centers, Romtelecom made the goal of increasing customer satisfaction a key priority through a program called "Customer 1st". (NICE
)
News: ATG Helps Online Retailer in Netherlands to Attain Growth
bol.com, an online retailer in the Netherlands, has deployed ATG Commerce, ATG Content Administration and ATG Merchandising. The move to a new platform was necessitated by the desire to simplify the administration and commercial management of its site, and to increase the number of visits and ease of browsing for users. More than 11 millions products were sold online last year on bol.com with a record of 80,000 in only one day in December 2008. (ATG
)
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