 |
|
2/14/08 - It's All About Support Stupid As I read through the array of reader responses to the "buy versus build" question, one theme seems to be bubbling to the top more than others. And that issue is technical support. It seems many people are extremely frustrated with the poor technical support they receive from their CRM vendors. Consider this thought: "Based on our experience, the vendor's first response might be 'its a customization, we don't support that', followed by weeks of poor customer service and little to no response, until you get 'its a known bug that MIGHT be fixed in the next few releases'. That is, if you can understand the person from the company to which your vendor has outsourced their support!" I see this as an extremely important issue and an area for differentiate among CRM vendors. Let's face it, the most common and necessary functions of a CRM system are available from just about every vendor. Hey vendors, do you agree? Gary Lemke, Publisher (Share your thoughts)
|
|
TODAY'S NEWS (more)
 |
|
|
NICE Systems announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2007. Record Fiscal Year 2007 non-GAAP Results Include: revenues of $523 million, 25% growth over 2006, operating margins of 16.7% up from 15.1% in 2006, earnings per fully diluted share of $1.44, and $118 million cash generated from operations.
Wind River Systems, Inc., announced that its EMEA Support team has achieved certification under the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards. Wind River achieved certification after an extensive audit of their EMEA customer support organization, which includes offices in France, the UK, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Israel.
Altitude Software, an independent contact center solutions vendor, announced the successful migration of Groupe b2s network of 10 call centers to the Altitude IP Contact Center solution, putting together the Altitude uCI multichannel contact center management suite and the Altitude vBox IP communications platform.
Oncontact Software, a mid- market CRM solution provider, released Oncontact Wireless, a solution enabling users to sync their Oncontact CRM application to mobile devices. Oncontact Wireless uses standard Web services to map and perform two-way data updates and configurable connections to and from wireless devices.
Advanced Solutions International (ASI), a provider of web-based software for associations and non-profits, made public a set of best practices for using online tools - particularly peer-to-peer fundraising applications - to increase donor participation, reach new donors, and drastically reduce campaign launch time, administration and overhead.
Calabrio, Inc., a provider of workforce optimization and unified desktop software for IP-based contact centers, added Nexus IS, a California-based solutions integrator, as a reseller. The expertise of Nexus IS includes converged networks, security, voice, video, data, IP telephony and the contact center. The company will now feature Calabrio Workforce Management and Calabrio Quality Management products as part of its Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise offer.
OnState Communications, announced OnState Unified Messaging for Skype(tm). This single-platform Skype messaging solution integrates multiple business-communication modes such as: email; voicemail; business chat; and customer contact messaging and recording systems. Starting as low as $10/per month, the solution enables communications-enhanced business processes for small- and medium-sized businesses that use Skype.
To address small businesses' increasing needs, Maximizer Software added its Entrepreneur Edition - completing the suite of Maximizer CRM 10 solutions. Maximizer CRM 10 Entrepreneur Edition gives start-ups and individual professionals an out-of-box, full-featured contact management solution.
ASC, a provider of solutions to record, analyze and evaluate communications, announced the certification of its communications recording solution, MARATHON EVOLUTION, and its VoIP recording solution, EVOip, for use with the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise.
CDC Software announced the general availability of Pivotal CRM for Home Building and Real Estate 5.9, a new product version that is intended to help builders increase revenue and margins on home options, while significantly reducing the cost and effort of integration with common back-end systems. This solution helps manage front office functions, including marketing automation, lead management, sales automation, quoting and contracting, surveying, and customer care.
|
FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
 |
"8 CRM Essentials"
Dan Chiazza, Director, Global Sales Operations, Harris Interactive
For the most successful companies, CRM is an area of continual innovation and assessment. And your CRM processes and technologies must keep pace with-or ideally stay ahead of-changes in your market and customer base. Whether you are searching for the right CRM technology for your business, re-evaluating your current use of CRM, or looking to derive more value from an existing investment, understanding the essential factors of CRM success can help you get the best results. This webinar highlights eight proven essentials distilled by over 30,000 global companies of all sizes and industry experts.
|
|
|
| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 55.69 |  | 2.99% |
| Dow Jones | 12,373.41 |  | 1.08% |
| Nasdaq | 2,373.93 |  | 2.27% |
| S&P 500 | 1,367.21 |  | 1.34% |
| Top Gainers |
| SAP | 48.93 |  | 57.90 |
| HP | 44.05 |  | 49.78 |
| NCR | 23.42 |  | 47.99 |
| Top Losers |
| eOn | 0.42 |  | 0.78 |
| Selectica | 1.64 |  | 1.75 |
| Broadvision | 1.19 |  | 2.20 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 02/13/08 | |
|
GET YOUR OWN COPY OF CRMAdvocate
|
Read Less. Know More. Still reading a forwarded copy? CRMAdvocate is everything you need to know about CRM because we do the hard work for you consolidating over 40 sources of CRM knowledge into one, easy to read format.
- Click here for your free newsletter subscription.
|
|
|
|
 | |
| (Feature)
Tap Into a Wealth of Information: Put Your Employees on Advisory Councils - It seems there has been almost complete buy-in in forward-thinking firms to the notion that they must listen to customers and try to understand them and what they are trying to get done, if there is to be any hope of building satisfaction, let alone loyalty. (Customerthink)
|  | | The Little Things Count When You Recognize Your Employees as Company Ambassadors - Whether you realize it or not, your employees have been ambassadors since they first interviewed for the job. Yes, it goes back as far as that because even before the interview takes place-in the time between when the appointment is made and the appointment-the prospective employee has been telling family and friends about why he or she wants to go to work for the firm. (Customerthink)
|  | | HP's Demo Days Turn Employees Into "Brand Ambassadors" - The CRM end-game is improved economics between buyers and sellers. Discrete activities, such as great customer service, segment marketing and product cocreation are simply means to that holistic end. So, for CRM economics to work, you must optimize for the integrated CRM system-the customer lifecycle-rather than for a single discipline, such as marketing. (Customerthink)
|  | | Circuit City, Lowes Ease Multichannel Woes - Retailers lack consistency when it comes to multichannel customer experiences. That's according to a Forrester Research report that gave the industry a C- for mediocre performance. While that "may have been OK in the past, consumers will push retailers to improve their multichannel capabilities," the report states. (1to1)
|  | | CRM Toolkit - The Mainstay CRM Toolkit was designed to support your development of a business case for your CRM implementation. The tools we have created and included in this packet were the result of over seven years of research working with top CRM providers such as Oracle and SAP as well as our experiences working with top systems implementers such as Accenture and EDS. (Mainstay Partners)
|  | | Would Oracle buy Salesforce.com? - While much of the West Coast tech world is focused on Yahoo's (YHOO) attempts to fend off Microsoft (MSFT), another notion currently being passed around Silicon Valley is that Oracle wants to buy Salesforce.com (CRM), a startup that's like Google in certain respects but couldn't be more different in one critical way: Salesforce.com makes its revenue selling software, not advertising.(Fortune)
|
|