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At the end of last month, Amdocs announced a new version of their Customer Experience Systems (CES) product, as well as some impressive fiscal 1st quarter earnings.

The overall good reviews of Amdoc’s CES 8 make their quarterly earnings less of a surprise, as one of Analysys Mason’s senior analyst noted it was a marked effort by Amdocs to offer complete packages to service providers. Amdocs has productized CES’s capabilities, and therefore very easily offers a package that may have once required custom implementations. CES 8 touts customer satisfaction, communication scalability, and lean technology operations, and is the result of a recent user survey titled “Amdocs’ Connected World Survey 2010.”

Along with consultancy Frost & Sullivan, Amdocs conducted a customer survey, and noticed that the trend toward device connectivity meant service providers had to offer more flexible, better-integrated solutions. The report identified four mean drivers for device connectivity—consumer desire for it, improvements in edge devices, improved network capabilities, and new business models and partnerships—as well several hindrances. Among the obstructions in the way of device connectivity: device- and component-certification processes, buildouts for 3G and 4G networks that are still in progress, and the need for additional network openness and industry standards.

To add to CES 8’s litheness, Amdocs took several approaches. They integrated the capabilities of a Java-based convergent service platform, which will synchronize network services across legacy and IP-based network elements, and create a standard development environment for communication applications. CCES 8 also enables service providers to offer one e-commerce experience for all goods and services with Universal Storefront, which hides the complexity of service providers’ different offerings and configurations. And Amdocs ChangingWorlds’s mobile internet portal allows personalization for quick and easy access to relevant content based on users’ specific interest. Lastly, Amdocs is helping users run leaner with small machine architecture.

Amdocs’ commitment to revolutionizing their product is undoubtedly a large factor in the 19% rise in fiscal quarter earnings. Their revenue fell 4% to $724.8 million, but analysts are forecasting a profit of 54 centers per share on sales of $725.4 million. Amdocs is a CRM heavyweight for sure, but this fact is sometimes muddled, as they make the news less often than some of their competitors. Still, we’re excited to see how the competition responds to their movement toward becoming a one-stop shop.

Earlier this month, Salesforce.com announced the 31st generation release that will bring new features to Sales Cloud 2, Service Cloud 2, and Force.com: Spring ’10. Salesforce offers three releases a year, but this latest one will bring an entirely new user interface. There weren’t a large number of details given outside of the press release—we’ll have to wait till Spring ‘10’s February release to see more, but there is a screenshot of what the new UI will look like (below).

For Sales Cloud 2, the new changes aim to keep sales teams efficient and generate more leads. Notably, there will be real-time quotes given—sales users will be able to generate quotes using relevant data—which is generate automatically for quoting purposes. In addition, to accommodate salespersons offering multiple quotes throughout the sales cycle, Spring ’10 has “quote sync” capabilities to sync the final quote with the opportunity in one click.

Service Cloud 2—Salesforce’s platform for merging contact center technologies with cloud computing platforms—will be endowed with Salesforce Answers, and entitlements and service contracts functionality as part of the Spring ‘10 release. Salesforce Answers will help companies leverage cloud data for customer service, and more importantly, allow users to initiate conversations through unique customer communities. The other aforementioned improvement comes in the form of call center operators having access to some of that cloud data as well—they’ll be able to track service entitlements and contracts.

And users of Force.com, Salesforce’s ever-popular development platform, will finally see Adobe Flash Builder for Force (which Salesforce announced back in October), and will also have the ability to run authenticated sites. Adobe Flash Player on Force was jointly developed, and is an integration that’ll enable building cloud-based apps that can be easily deployed to end users through the browser using Adobe Flash Player. Spring ‘10’s authenticated sites feauter will allow companies to run public and private authenticated web sites from Force.com, and customers will easily be able to add security functionalities and create web sites for myriad purporses.

Again, we’ll have to wait and see how Spring ‘10 really performs, but things sound promising thus far. Salesforce.com can hardly make an update without their competitors matching it (or trying to), so we’re excited to see what else emerges this season.

Perhaps SAP is so tired of hearing criticism for their ERP product that they’ve decided to beef up their CRM platform for a while. That’s right, this week SAP announced that SAP CRM 7.0 would live in the future, and features a Twitter integration.

Twitter is where many enterprise software companies have begun their foray into social network integrations—despite producing lots of noise, it is a very simple way to gain insight into customers’ conversations and tastes. And SAP is being smart about the integration—the Business Objects Text Analyzer will provide sentiment analysis of user’s Twitter streams. The goal, as usual, is to create targeted connections with customers using social media.

But as there were difficulties before, some obstacle still remain, and not just for SAP, but for any company trying to effectively leverage social tools typically used for leisure. And SAP CRM VP of Marketing, Vinay Iyer, expressed security concerns to SearchCRM’s Barney Beal (though what those specific apprehensions are were not detailed in Beal’s article), as agreed that easily drawing significant data from Twitter will take some time.

Iyer did make an interesting note, however: he said he’s observed many customers that are simply happy to looking at aggregated data, find relevant tweets, do sentiment analysis, and create a response based on that. This is a good thing, because we might be waiting a while before CRM platforms can analyze and respond to individual tweets, which would be ideal for an all-encompassing “social CRM” platform, which is doutbless what many vendors have been working toward since the explosion of social networking.

Earlier this month, CRM Magazine drew attention to the retail industry as one in need of more CRM; another such industry with room for CRM improvement is perhaps a less obvious one: hotels.

There are 4.4 million hotel rooms in the United States, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), and that number implies not only a wealth of places to stay, but the difficulty some hoteliers might face in keeping customers loyal to their establishments. The case of hotels and their guests is much the same as the relationship between airlines and their customers—they both rely heavily on customer rewards programs. But by and large, the hotel industry is not as far along on the rewards program spectrum. Larger hotels—especially casinos—have CRM implementations, but establishments of all sizes in that industry need more CRM.

The largest hotel chains make the most use of their CRM platforms, focusing mostly on loyalty programs that primarily benefit frequent travelers. These rewards programs usually take the form of discounts for extended stays, and deals on rooms based on points accumulated from frequent visits. As stated previously, it is much the same as an airline’s loyalty program, but examples from airline initiatives prove there is more to be done.

For example, many airlines and online travel agents will email customers with upgrade opportunities with the confirmation of their ticket purchase. There are some hotels with a similar practice, but most hotels do not do this—even though for some it could generate millions in revenue.

Examples of large hotels using CRM efficiently often come from casinos. Harrah’s Casinos have developed a means of not only tracking customer behavior, but doing it during their stay. Guests are given a “Harrah’s card” when they check in to be used as a credit card during their stay, and tracking these purchases in real-time allows the hotels to offer rewards while guests are there—it’s been a hit for ensuring repeat business. Some hotels also have a breakout of guests by room, keeping track of which customers are traveling as families, for business, etc.

Those hotels most in need of CRM are the second-tier establishments, of which the AHLA estimates there are more than 49,000, with a minimum of 15 rooms apiece. It’s unclear why exactly CRM implementations are underused in the hospitality industry. It could be confusion about what such programs are; it could also be confusion about deployment costs. Still, there are plenty of CRM vendors offering platforms for hotels, and web-based CRM is certainly affordable—for a single guest property, SaaS CRM systems can be deployed for $75,000 to $120,000 per year.

Real-time data has catalyzed a lot of races of late, and it is becoming more and more important for hotels to capture guest information and cater to their needs in very specific ways.

At last year’s Dreamforce, we saw just how aggressive SugarCRM could be when they staged a guerilla marketing attack. Well, it seems the open-source CRM provider is aggressive in all aspects of business, as they reported a record year in 2009.

While the majority of companies struggled to bring in money—and stay afloat even—SugarCRM had a record year in revenue, customer base, community, and partner development. They added a reported 2,000 commercial customers last year, and 50 new value-added resellers; these new VARs extend SugarCRM’s reach to over 75 countries as well.

Larry Augustin, who took the Sugar helm toward the end of last year, expressed excitement about the company’s current standing, nothing it leaves them prepared for a great 2010. Last year, Sugar partnered with Microsoft to provide Sugar applications on Windows Azure, and they also released their Community Edition on Amazon EC2. Putting the Community Edition on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud allows developers to access, test, and develop Sugar code, making it all the more accessible.

Like any good CEO, Augustin also conveyed excitement about new products coming out in 2010, and Sugar already seems poised to wow customers with new editions. Jigsaw reported recently that the SugarCRM platform is one of the three most-used CRM products globally. In addition, with many predicting that private clouds will be discredited—but not eliminated—in 2010, Sugar will likely be a top choice for public deployments.

This year, the retail industry is one that is expected to adopt significant CRM implementations, as the rise in digital outreach is changing retailers’ marketing orientation in a big way.

Online shopping is fast becoming some customers’ preferred method, and with its omnipresence has come some very sophisticated purchasing portals. According to the folks at CRM Buyer, this past Cyber Monday (November 30, 2009), American shoppers sent $887 million over the internet, which was a 5% increase from the amount spent the year prior. And along with such internet expenditures comes a rise in internet marketing, which is fast becoming essential to retailers’ CRM programs.

E-commerce has certainly made its mark on the way retailers get their products out: years ago, they focused on merchandising, and now retailers are examining customer needs and becoming more customer-centric. Shopping online offers users a better means of bargain hunting, and reading and writing reviews, to help them make the most informed purchasing decisions. Customers expect every retailer to give them a personal experience, and retailers of all sizes are seeking platforms to help them reach even individual customers more effectively, and so are turning to full CRM implementations.

While most retailers acknowledge the benefits of CRM for retail implementations (according to the National Retail Federation), such deployments have had varied degrees of success. Part of the problem is there is no strict definition of CRM for retail; another issue is that many retailers prefer outreach methods that offer immediate results. CRM implementations take time to delivery ROI, but email marketing campaigns can offer an instant boost, thus many retailers are comfortable with what is, largely, a band aid solution.

But the National Retail Federation still found that of 400 retail executives surveyed at the beginning of last year, two-thirds of them had implemented CRM programs the year before, and the other third planned to in 2009. The interest is there even if the patience has not been, but that will likely change with the increase in specified customer focus. Retailers are looking to implement more multi-channel outreach, social networking, and brand advocacy/loyalty programs in the future, and CRM for retail will likely be a big part of that.

In addition to streamlining some of the aforementioned outreach processes, CRM will also help retailers recognize their best customers and spend their marketing funds more wisely. In the coming years, it is quite likely that retailers will change their marketing tacks to fit with their CRM programs. The other side of that coin is that retail CRM platforms will offer greater insight into consumer trends.

It isn’t just individuals that make New Year’s resolutions—companies make them as well. Forrester Research recently released a report about CRM applications, as a guide to companies looking to tighten up application development without breaking the bank this year. This week, Lauren McKay at CRM Magazine took to the publication’s website and outlined five routes CRM software vendors should take in order to pursue “lean and mean” application development.

1.    Move to the Cloud
This first morsel of advice from Forrester isn’t surprising in the least. Companies creating business applications have heard for years now that they should move toward cloud development, and many have. Forrester specifically recommends public cloud environments like Amazon Web Services and Salesforce.com, and reminds us that cloud benefits include scalability and cost-efficiency, and that it offers a number of entry points. In addition, cloud computing is undoubtedly the future of application development, so it would be unwise to at least begin experimenting in cloud environments.

2.    Operate like a startup
The economy seems to be on the up and up so far, but it’s early in the year still and so Forrester is advising companies to adopt the no-nonsense attitude of a fledgling business. Startups don’t have the resources larger companies enjoy, and so there is little room for error. Therefore established companies looking to tighten up should put a little more pressure on themselves and be more goal-oriented.

3.    Put cost and flexibility above platform loyalty
In terms of language frameworks, Forrester found that even though Java EE and .NET remain the most popular for CRM application development, there are a number of popular alternatives, like Adobe Flex, Drupal, and Google Web Toolkit, to name a few. There are a number of open source, rich Internet applications and dynamic language frameworks that are emerging, so companies should reevaluate what their needs are and then choose a path, rather than sticking with the more popular and convenient choice.

4.    Make the customer experience your *top* priority
The customer experience has always been, in theory, every business’s number one priority. However, Forrester concluded that things get a bit muddled in practice, mainly because even the most talented developers can be unversed in designing applications that will truly impress customers. Naturally, companies that succeed in pleasing their customers are more likely to see repeat purchases and recommendations, so really digging deep into market research to wow them is paramount.

5.    Hire multitalented developers
This last step is definitely one of the hardest to fulfill, because truly gifted developers don’t grow on trees. But what Forrester is trying to indicate here is that companies should consider a programmer’s business knowledge when making a decision. Multitalented developers may be difficult to find now, but luckily, there is an increasing number of developers who’ve studied business management and have a solid grasp on enterprise processes.

We like to spend a bit of time examining iPhone CRM trends here—and mobile CRM in general—and so we can’t end this week without taking a look at the week’s most-discussed item: Google’s Nexus One smartphone.

Every time a new smartphone is released, questions arise as to whether or not it will be the mobile device to dethrone the iPhone, which at first gained notoriety for its cool-factor, but has since become a widely-used enterprise device. All the major CRM players—Salesforce.com, Oracle, SugarCRM, etc.—have had iPhone CRM applications since shortly after the phone’s release in 2007; about three years later, smaller CRM providers have jumped aboard as well.

Despite lackluster sales last quarter, the Motorola Droid phone was hailed the new enterprise smartphone; Google’s Nexus One is also getting good reviews, but it remains to be seen whether either will unseat the iPhone in the business world. One of Nexus One’s crowning features, according to myriad reviews, is its simplicity—something the iPhone is loved for as well. On his blog, Tim O’Reilly also lauded its “completeness of cloud integration.” Everything about the Nexus One suggests that it is a wonderful new smartphone, and yet little evidence indicates it will take the lead in that market. Most Nexus One admirers predict that it won’t be a huge game changer. A sleek mobile device? Yes, but it’s not the “superphone” some predicted it would be.

Mike Burke, VP Business Development at IQ Services, which provides communications technology testing and monitoring, is one with faith in the iPhone’s continued dominance in enterprise. And more to the point of iPhone CRM, he predicted a big mobile CRM development this year in an interview with TMCnet. He didn’t elaborate on what exactly that innovation would be, but given the proliferation of, and competition among, smartphones, hopefully we’ll see some big changes in 2010, and some really sleek applications.

At the tail end of 2009, private equity firm Accel-KKR announced it would be purchasing KANA Software for $41 million. The acquisition has been finalized, and more details have come to light, and the main difference is that KANA will no longer be a public company.

KANA’s VP of Marketing, Keith Goldberg, noted that company executives fielded many questions regarding KANA’s stability as a publicly-traded company in a tough economic time, so the move makes sense. The nice thing is that the KANA brand will remain intact, and in face Accel-KKR was especially interested in furthering KANA’s “vision,” and taking them to new levels regarding various trends in the CRM software market.

Goldberg also points out that another KANA asset will remain unchanged by the acquisition: KANA’s alliance with IBM to create a customer service solution based on a collaborative SOA. Whether or not the relationship will cool remains to be seen, especially considering the boon this joint venture provides. According to an analyst at Forrester Research, the IBM collaborative SOA element makes KANA’s product auspicious for both customer service and CRM professionals, allowing them to implement changes quicker and overall provide a more efficient customer experience.

There have already been myriad CRM trends predicted for 2010, and it’ll be interesting to see if KANA and IBM’s collaborative SOA layer makes a splash, or takes a backseat with the former company’s purchase.