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3/17/08 - Happy St. Patrick's Day
This weekend, I pondered how best to weave CRM into a St. Patrick's Day theme. Some may feel it takes the luck of the Irish to satisfy some customers. Or, maybe there is more "green" when we remain customer centric. Instead, who couldn't use the encouraging words of the famous Irish blessing?
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Smile and enjoy the day.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Microsoft and Aspect Software announced a multiyear alliance to help deliver unified communications (UC) to contact centers around the world. Aspect will design its Aspect Unified IP contact center solution to interoperate with Microsoft's platform for software-powered voice and unified communications and Microsoft is making an equity investment in Aspect to accelerate the development and adoption of the new solutions and services.
Tech support salaries rose significantly across the board during 2007, according to the latest annual salary survey conducted by the Association of Support Professionals (ASP). The survey found double-digit pay gains in five of the seven job categories that the survey tracks, with 8%-9% raises for two other groups.
Standard Bank of South Africa has been voted as the overall winner at the CRM Excellence Awards at Gartner's CRM Summit in London.
InfoStreet announced Version 2 of its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. StreetSmart's CRM is aimed at small businesses, particularly those which do not wish to spend the 65-dollar and up (per-user) price of other Web based CRM offerings.
Quebecor Media Inc. has selected the ATG Commerce platform to enhance personalization capabilities and extend the Web sites for some of the most popular Web properties in Canada. Technology experts at Quebecor were impressed with the flexibility, scalability and ease of integration of the ATG platform.
The ability to provide wide ranging contact center services across verticals and geographies has long been the goal of players in this space. In a new report, Decision Matrix: Selecting a Contact Center Outsourcing Vendor , independent market analyst Datamonitor reveals the five players that have proven themselves capable of doing so.
Rainmaker Systems, Inc. has signed a two-year agreement to deploy a worldwide, hosted, integrated marketing, sales and event management services solution for its new Client's Volume Business Program.
Noble Systems Corporation, a contact center technology solutions provider, has been selected by The Fuel Agency (TFA) to provide contact center automation technology to manage all of its telemarketing and call center activities for its Melbourne advertising operation.
BroadSoft announced BroadSoft Xtended, an initiative created to highlight the integration of voice and Web 2.0 technologies. The initiative drives new applications into the hands of BroadWorks VoIP application platform service providers and end-users by making them available online through the establishment of the BroadSoft Xtended Marketplace.
TeleTech Holdings, Inc. announced that it has signed a multiyear agreement with one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers.
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 FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
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"Secrets of On-Demand Reporting"
Travis Huch, Vice President, DreamFactory
On-demand reporting and analytics is changing the way companies execute and manage their business due to flexibility in customization and configurability, cost and standardization of data. Making sure that your CRM investment is providing you with reporting visibility and real-time accuracy is essential to helping you grow your market and customer base. Join DreamFactory, a pioneer in providing the next generation business applications on SaaS platforms with customer, Salesforce.com on this informative webinar.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 55.95 |  | 2.16% |
| Dow Jones | 12,392.66 | | 3.39% |
| Nasdaq | 2,268.26 | | 4.02% |
| S&P 500 | 1,330.74 | | 4.07% |
| Top Gainers |
| SAP | 49.96 | | 57.90 |
| HP | 47.93 | | 49.78 |
| NCR | 21.25 | | 47.99 |
| Top Losers |
| eOn | 0.3 | | 0.78 |
| Selectica | 1.29 | | 1.75 |
| Broadvision | 1.05 | | 2.20 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 03/18/08 | |
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April 21-23, 2008: Services Industry Summit - eService Strategies and Challenges - Join us in Charleston, South Carolina April 21-23, 2008, for the Services Industry Summit. Industry luminaries from leading organizations will share insights into the hottest topic around - eService Strategies and Challenges! The summit, which includes a pre-conference executive roundtable and workshop sessions, will feature presentations from industry leaders such as IBM Information Management Software, Nokia Enterprise Solutions, Vignette Corporation, Novell, Inc., McAfee, Inc., Consortium for Service Innovation, and more.
|  | | March 26-28, 2008: Celebrating Customer Service Excellence - Celebrating Customer Service Excellence, March 26-28, 2008 at the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Orlando, FL. This is our premier customer service conference and will focus on the seamless collaboration between the back end of operations, adjacent departments and the front end customer experience.
| | | March 30 - April 3, 2008: The 12th Annual Shared Services Week - IQPC's 12th Annual Shared Services Week is an annual gathering of Shared Services professionals. This can't-miss multi-tracked event is designed to provide executives from start-ups, intermediate and mature shared services with everything they need to know to bring shared services to the next level.
| | | April 1-2, 2008: 2008 CRMA National Conference: "Deepening The Customer Experience" - Stronger Metrics. World-Class Programs. Leading Insight. The Customer Relationship Management Association (CRMA) presents its annual, award-winning conference for CRM practitioners, Return To Customer. Last year we showed you how to improve your customer experience in multiple ways, including strategy, process, people and technology and this year we go deeper. Two days of packed content on how companies are achieving incredible results with broader and deeper customer experience management.
| | | April 13-16, 2008: 4th Annual Customer Contact 2008, East - This year's Customer Contact East Event is the place to be to learn about the people, technology and processes you need to have in place in order to deliver truly superior customer care in the contact center. It brings you five tracks and 24 interactive sessions hitting on the red hot issues on top of everyone's minds.
| | | April 28-30, 2008: Government Customer Support Conference - Leaders of help desks, call centers, web service portals, and other touch points for Government's internal and external customers come together yearly at the Annual Government Customer Support Conference and Expo (GCSC) to learn, share, and synergize as a community of practice.
| | | May 1, 2008: Call Center Optimization Forum - You're invited to uncover the secrets of the best call centers, and find out how to apply them in your organization! You'll learn breakthrough strategies and techniques you can use to exceed customer expectations, raise performance standards, and achieve your career goals. CRMAdvocate subscribers receive a Complimentary Registration (a $299 value).
| | | May 1, 2008: Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty with Every Channel - Join this by-invitation-only event to examine both the opportunities and risks for retail banks created by the changing nature of customer management.
| | | May 1, 2008: Delivering Customer Satisfaction in Member Management - This by-invitation-only event examines both the risks and opportunities created over the next few years by the changing dynamics of providing member management.
| | May 4-6, 2008: SSPA Best Practices 2008 Conference - The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) Best Practices 2008 Conference is the premier event for technical service and support. It delivers practical solutions, tested methods and new ideas on the Essential Elements of Support in more than 70 sessions. Tracks include Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, Talent Management, Benchmarking and Metrics, Support Operations, Consumer Support, Management Excellence, Best Practices for Small and Medium Businesses and Innovative Support Technology. Keynote speakers include Denise Rundle, General Manager, Global Consumer Support, Microsoft; Andreas Graesser, Vice President, Active Global Support, SAP America; Mary Cay Kosten, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Services, Sun Microsystems; John Ragsdale, VP Research, SSPA; and Eric Chester, Generation Why. Learn more and register online at www.thesspa.com/santaclara.]
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