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4/18/08 - Good Experience
This week, I shared an example how one company found an opportunity for improvement by studying the customer experience. They learned that some customers would mistakenly use the "O" instead of the zero when entering their ID on the web site. I passed the finding on to you so you wouldn't have to spend the effort to learn for yourself.
However, let's take step back. While you got that tidbit for free, what other areas for improvement can you discover? Do you have systems in place to observe and learn more about the customer experience? I hope so.
If you are looking for more information and motivation in this area, I recommend you consider signing up for Mark Hurst's email newsletter. He has made a practice of studying "experiences" under the title of Good Experiences. Mark didn't pay for the plug. In fact, we've never met and he doesn't even know that I'm sending you his way. Enjoy!
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK (more)
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Salesforce.com and Google expanded their alliance to make it easy for companies of all sizes to run their business in the cloud with Salesforce for Google Apps. The combination of the Google Apps(TM) suite of productivity applications and the Salesforce suite of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications enables businesses to communicate and collaborate without any hardware or software to download, install or maintain.
eGain will host an online seminar featuring Chip Gliedman, VP of CRM Research at Forrester, and Bob Fernekees, Publisher at Destination CRM. The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23rd and will focus on the "state of the industry" in customer service offered by leading North American businesses.
Oracle unveiled Oracle Deal Management designed to help companies increase profit by giving sales professionals a tool enabling them to optimize the deal process, control price erosion and consistently make better pricing decisions on every negotiation.
ClickSoftware Technologies, a provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions, and Aspective, a Vodafone company, jointly announced a strategic partnership. Together, the two companies are launching a Field Service Management Solution geared towards service organizations with between 50-500 field resources.
Appirio announced four new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings that bring together Google Apps and Salesforce CRM. The four Appirio offerings enable Salesforce and Google users to synchronize calendars, collaborate on marketing campaigns, find and embed documents, and create and share customized CRM dashboards.
Salesboom announced the release of an Enhanced Outlook Edition containing Outlook and CRM synch tools. The Enhanced Outlook Edition is a tool by Salesboom.com to help resolve user adoption hurdles which face the Web Based CRM Software Industry.
Service management software vendor Metrix and Trimble, a provider of Mobile Resource Management (MRM) solutions announced that they are working together to provide field service automation solutions to companies worldwide.
SpeechCycle announced that its Rich Phone Applications (RPAs) yield a three-fold increase in overall call automation rates as compared to conventional IVR and stand-alone dialog system approaches. Based on an internal assessment of the more than 50 million calls processed through its SaaS offering to date, SpeechCycle showed gains from the fusion of natural language user interfaces with enterprise applications.
InstantService, a provider of chat and email management solutions, announced that Spiegel Brands has deployed the company's solutions on its Spiegel.com and Newport-news.com ecommerce sites. According to the retailer, by implementing the InstantService solutions, they are significantly improving the customer experience, as well as the bottom line.
Kaleidico.com, makers of lead management technology, announced the release of SalesTwit.com, a new concept for working sales leads in any industry, in any language, and in any country. By simply connecting sales leads from any source- database, real time Internet leads, spreadsheet, or address book- someone can effectively work their leads no matter where they are by using any web, desktop, mobile or wireless tool.
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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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 Research Notes (more)
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Customer Experience Management Technologies - Customers are increasing intolerant of bad service. Time and cost contraints are pushing companies harder to improve that experience. However, the potential to improve either situation is improving as vendors come to market with products that can help analyze different forms of data. As better analytic information becomes available, companies can begin to assess the effectiveness of their interaction-handling processand figure out how to improve them.(Ventana Research )
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 | | JupiterResearch Finds Limited Consumer Interest in Mobile Banking - JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that despite renewed efforts on the part of financial institutions, overall interest in mobile banking services is limited.(Jupiter Research)
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 White Papers (more)
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| | | Achieving First Call Resolution 2008 - First Call Resolution (FCR) is a critical determinant of customer satisfaction-whether your systems and policies make this possible or not. Customers expect to bring a problem or question to your attention and have it resolved in a timely manner. Not all inquiries can be resolved immediately or on the first contact. However, advances in technology, increasing employee empowerment, and scrutinizing evaluation will increase the number that can.(Ascent Group)
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| | | Know the Physics, Chemistry and Math of Your Future CRM System - Do Albert Einstein, Marie Curie and John Von Neumann have anything to do with CRM systems? It turns out that the most effective way to evaluate a prospective system vendor is through the lenses of physics, chemistry and mathematics. (customerthink)
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 Case Studies (more)
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Prophet 2004, a Sales Opportunity Management Solution - After looking at sales management software including Prophet 2004, ACT! and custom development, Brandrud selected Prophet to help their sales organization establish a sales process for the first time in company history.(Avidian Technologies)
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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.
| | | 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 - 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.
| | | May 5 - 7, 2008 : Shared Services for the Public Sector - Driving Efficiencies, Economies of Scale and Cultural Harmony for Improved Customer-Centric Services. Shared services implementations around the world and in both public and private sectors illustrate the possibilities for maximum savings through shared services.
| | | May 13-15, 2008: SCORE 2008 - Besides exploring best practices in customer and loyalty, SCORE examines how advances in call center, database, Internet and other technologies can help manage customer operations more effectively. These are the critical touch points that greatly influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. The SCORE Conference is the only event that addresses both loyalty management strategy and customer operations.
| | | May 19-22, 2008: ACCM 2008 - A comprehensive conference for catalog, internet and multichannel professionals. See leading icons like Bill Bass, CEO of Fair Indigo, and Keith Wardell, Author of Marketing Out Of Control and select from 100 growth-building sessions led by 200 faculty members.
| | | May 19 - 21, 2008: Call Center & Demo Conference - Call Center Demo & Conference regional events have been an integral part of the call center industry for over seven years. Quality education and a pedestal style demo-hall keeps alumni coming back year after year and provides new industry professionals the inspiration and solutions they need to succeed.
| | | May 29, 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).
| | June 9 - 11, 2008: Customer Care and Service Forum - Learn about customer access strategies that expand outside of the contact center - how this fits together w/ other delivery channels.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 60.02 |  | 3.44% |
| Dow Jones | 12,620.49 | | 0.01% |
| Nasdaq | 2,341.83 |  | -0.35% |
| S&P 500 | 1,365.56 | | 0.06% |
| Top Gainers |
| SAP | 51.12 | | 57.90 |
| HP | 47.31 | | 49.78 |
| NCR | 23.64 | | 47.99 |
| Top Losers |
| eOn | 0.32 | | 0.78 |
| Selectica | 1.5 | | 1.75 |
| Broadvision | 1.17 | | 2.20 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 04/17/08 | |
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"OUR TAKE"
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