We Blog CRM

Data mining, the process of searching through vast quantities of data to obtain the data that is useful, is somewhat of an art form and, when approached properly, it can ‘paint’ an undistorted picture of your customer base. Many times, however, in the rush to collect the data that is intended to give you that clear 360-degree view of your customer, you will wind up with data that is useless, overwhelming or, at worst, misleading.

Three vital first steps in the collection of useful information are:

• Having an objective in mind — knowing what you want the data to tell you.
• Development of a wish list that identifies the data that is potentially useful to you.
• Prioritizing your wish list so that the data that is most important to you is obtained before any time or resource constraints slow your efforts.

Two other factors that come into play when collecting data are: a) you are searching through data that was originally collected and stored by someone else, for a purpose that may or may not complement your objectives and, b) more importantly, the data you are searching through may contain erroneous information if it was not controlled properly at its source.

Go to: Unlocking Information Using Data-Mining Technology

McGraw-Hill Construction is now working with Oracle to integrate Oracle’s Siebel CRM OnDemand into its network. McGraw-Hill’s primary objective is to enable network users to efficiently manage their customer leads but with the integration of Siebel CRM OnDemand, McGraw-Hill’s customer base of design and construction professionals will also quickly be able to prioritize projects, identify customer needs, and track project status. As a bonus, personal productivity will be maximized due to the integration with Microsoft Outlook and PDAs. Design and construction professionals who use the McGraw-Hill Construction Network will now be able to serve their customers more efficiently with their enhanced access to intelligence, forecasting, trend analysis, and project data.

Along with the sales force automation capabilities that will be available to McGraw-Hill Construction Network’s Platinum subscribers, Oracle will join McGraw-Hill in planning and conducting marketing seminars and road shows that focus on lead management, targeted marketing and forecasting analysis. Rob Reid, group vice president at Oracle spoke in glowing terms of McGraw-Hill Construction’s innovative techniques for connecting people, projects and products in the construction and design industry and also predicted that McGraw-Hill’s subscribers will "now have a complete, end-to-end solution to prospect, manage and close more business on one platform." Oracle’s Siebel CRM OnDemand is an Internet-based CRM solution that is offered at a fixed price per user per month. OnDemand is affordable for most companies because it does not require an up-front investment in IT.

Go to: McGraw-Hill Construction, Oracle’s Siebel CRM OnDemand

Huber Engineered Woods, a Charlotte, N.C. based building products firm, used Customer Connect Associates when they were ready for a CRM solution and Customer Connect used Salesforce.com. Huber then realized their weakness and went back to Customer Connect for their package of special services, a package Customer Connect calls CRM Sherpa. CRM Sherpa provides customizable services in the areas of consulting, support, training and information technology; services that will help a CRM user maximize the success of their solution. Many times, companies will purchase a high-powered CRM solution that could do wonders for their business only to find that they are ill equipped to use it to its full potential; that’s where a product like CRM Sherpa becomes an invaluable part of the CRM solution. According to Geoff Ables, president of Customer Connect, “CRM Sherpa gives them the ongoing services that they need to make the most of their investment.”

Go to : CRM Sherpa for Huber Engineered Woods

It was predicted in some press reports that, when Bill Gates made his keynote speech at Convergence ‘06 in Dallas on Monday morning, he would make specific mention of “Titan,” the code name for Microsoft’s planned hostable, multi-tenancy CRM product. The predictions were wrong; instead the focus of Gates speech was ’software as a service’ (SaaS). Titan was, however, the topic of many other conversations at Convergence and the Microsoft folks did talk about enhancements to their current (and successful) CRM product, Dynamics CRM 3.0.

The enhancement of Dynamics CRM 3.0 is being called the "Service Provider Edition." This will not be Titan, which is rumored to be a full-on, multi-tenancy CRM solution but the Service Provider Edition should make hosting somewhat easier with its enhancements to the Dynamics CRM 3.0 release. So the trend continues, little has been said or is being said publicly about Titan since last year when Brad Wilson, Microsoft’s CRM General Manager let it ’slip’ that they were working on a hostable CRM solution with that code name and then on Saturday (3/25/06), at a pre-Convergence event, a company spokesman confirmed plans for a release of a hostable CRM product by June of 2007.

In December of 2005, Microsoft released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 which, while it was a major step forward over Microsoft’s existing products, did not support multi-tenancy. Multi-tenancy, the capability of allowing a shared server to host several accounts, is seen as an absolute must if Microsoft is to mount a successful assault on Salesforce.com — an objective that has reportedly been a hot topic among Microsoft’s executives.

As Titan nears its release date there are other questions that need to be answered; chief among those is the question of who’s hosting the new product? Current speculation indicated that Microsoft, at a customer’s request, will host CRM. The question raised by that speculation is: what then happens to the third parties, like ePartners and Navisite, that Microsoft recruited to host its CRM 3.0 product? An even more complex question may involve Microsoft’s ongoing relationship with other existing Microsoft partners who are offering their own hosted CRM solutions built on Microsoft’s technology. Questions or not, it will be no surprise when Microsoft does whatever it needs to do to assure the success of the Titan product; if that means hosting Titan at the request of a major account, so be it.

When all is said and done, these may be moot points anyway; Microsoft’s partners in CRM ventures have reportedly been assured that a situation that involved a Microsoft hosted solution would be "revenue neutral" to them. So what’s the reaction of Salesforce.com, Microsoft’s chief competitor in the hosted CRM arena? When CRN.com sent an e-mail to Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO, asking for a reaction to Titan he e-mailed back: "They are unveiling hosted CRM again? Didn’t they already do that twice?" Maybe Mr. Benioff has rejected the old adage: ". . . third time’s a charm!"

On Friday (3/24/06) InsynQ, Inc. announced its launch of a managed, Internet-based CRM solution for small business as well as for businesses that are in the process of growing. InsynQ’s new product is being called Always-On CRM; Always-On joins and compliments various other online solutions already available through InsynQ and through it’s Appgen Business Software division.

Because the Always-On CRM solution is an Internet-based service, it saves the small business owner from the expenses that would be involved in in-house hosting of a CRM application while providing the value of a CRM solution in a turnkey application. In her announcement of InsynQ’s new product, Joanie Mann, the Executive Vice President of InsynQ said, "Small business owners frequently avoid looking at CRM solutions because they seem very complex. The CRM products on the market today are quite powerful, and that power is reflected in the time and consideration required for proper set up and implementation. With InsynQ’s Always-On services, we take the complexity out of the setup, including the software and server implementations as well as the initial system setup. Our packaged approach allows us to get the application up, working, and delivering value very quickly."

As a result of InsynQ’s relationship with Novell, Always-On CRM is based on and licensed by the SugarCRM solution; this relationship was referred to in a statement by Lars Nordwall, Vice President of SugarCRM, "InsynQ is bringing to market a very compelling Sugar-based solution for small businesses that demand a rapidly deployable, hands-off answer to their CRM needs. SugarCRM is excited to support the launch of Always-On CRM." The pricing set up for Always-On is intended to attract the small business owner who is astute enough to realized the benefits of and need for a CRM solution; after an initial setup charge, Always-On CRM is available on a subscription basis for $40 per user per month with a required minimum of 5 users. crm2day says:

"It is exciting to see the incremental customer offerings resulting from the Market Start program," said John Beuchert, Director of Open Source Marketing Programs at Novell.

Go to: InsynQ Launches Always-On CRM

On March 27th in Boston, Salesnet announced that Pink magazine, billed as the "magazine for professional women" has selected Salesnet to provide a CRM solution to improve their sales process. Genevieve Bos, the owner and publisher of PINK magazine wrote of the decision-making process: "With our disparate sales team, we needed a CRM solution that could virtually connect us and our sales information, We considered other CRM products but it was Salesnet’s Advertising/Media Sales vertical product that ultimately made our decision easy; using a product which is preconfigured to ad sales and has a defined sales blueprint for our industry already in place will allow our sales team to be even more successful."

Salesnet is a leader in the field of CRM solutions that focus on effective sales and, in the particular case of Pink magazine, managing the efforts of a sales force. In their press release to announce their selection by Pink, Salesnet emphasized that this was not only a win, this was a major win over Salesforce.com; Salesforce.com was also under consideration by Pink to provide their CRM solution but, because of Salesnet’s demonstrated experience in the field, they won out. Jonathan Tang, the president and co-founder of Salesnet, wrote of that experience in the Press Release: "PINK magazine came to us with a common challenge; the need to manage sales persons across the country but also with a specific need for a more targeted solution. We were pleased to find that the staff at PINK magazine understood the importance of the sales process and the advantages that a pre-configured solution would give them; through our experience with customers in this field, we understand the needs of Media Ad sales teams and are flattered that PINK recognizes and trusts our expertise in this industry." pinkmagazine.com says:

PINK magazine evaluated Salesnet along with other CRM vendors including Salesforce.com and decided that Salesnet could better address the magazine’s specific sales needs.

Go to: Salesnet is Tickled PINK with Another Win Over Salesforce.com

On Tuesday (3/28/06) Oracle announced that its Siebel CRM applications have been selected for positioning as a leader in Gartner’s CRM Customer Service Contact Center Magic Quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is published annually by Gartner as a tool for organizations that are considering new Customer Service and Support solutions.

The Magic Quadrant is a ranked listing of solution providers by market segment and by expertise. The leaders in each category are the select few who, Gartner feels, have demonstrated their strengths and have the ability to affect positive change in their sectors. In the Oracle announcement, Mike Betzer, Oracle’s Vice President of Service Products said, "We believe Siebel’s placement as a leader in this Gartner Magic Quadrant is recognition that Oracle offers the most comprehensive service suite in the market, and delivers proven capabilities for contact center and service organizations. Now that Siebel CRM is part of the Oracle CRM product family, we are committed to protect Siebel customer investments and extend a superior ownership experience through new offerings, such as our industry-leading Lifetime Support Policy." It is far from easy to make it into a Gartner Leadership Position.

To be selected, a company must not only have a vision but must also have, in Gartner’s opinion, the ability to effectively execute that vision. Other aspects of Gartner’s criteria in the area of customer service and support includes: having at least 15 customer references and at least five new customers in the past four quarters who have generated at least $10 million in revenue for CSS in that period. The selected company must also have the existing capability to fulfill all present and projected customer demand during the next six months and must be financially secure enough to operate at their current level for the next year. Other requirements are: having existing operations that support customers on at least two continents; having existing technology that supports cross-channel customer service; and having a reputation as a leader in the industry.

Mike Pazak, vice-president of Avanade Inc. is in Malaysia having talks with prospective banking customers and has a lot of confidence that Avanade’s new enterprise CRM for financial solutions will help them win a large share of the Malaysian market and help Avanade grow the Microsoft CRM for the business enterprise and financial services sector.

Avanade is a global technology integrator for Microsoft enterprise solutions and Mike Pazak has been involved with Avanade since it was formed in 2000. In an interview with the Malaysian press Pazak said, "I am meeting with customers in Malaysia, understanding their challenges and, with the help of the local arm, will offer solutions that are accepted in the local market." He also indicated that he was encouraged by what he heard while talking to existing and prospective customers during this visit and past visits. This is Pazak’s second visit to Malaysia this year.

Pazak said he was impressed with the strong reception and was optimistic of the strength of the local market to help Avanade grew the Microsoft CRM for the business enterprise and financial services sector.

"We are targeting four to five more clients in the near future. Currently, we are talking to them to identify their challenges and tell them how our solutions can deliver business results," Pazak said. Right now there are ten anchor banks in Malaysia; there are also three Islamic banks, ten other foreign banks and three banking licenses still to be issued. Most of the potential customers Pazak has seen in Malaysia are still using first-generation CRM solutions and want very badly to upgrade their technology.

Avanade is aggressively pursuing these opportunities and is working with their local team to make sure that they have the knowledge and capabilities required to deliver what the market requires. Avanade was originally founded in Seattle, Washington in 2000 as a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture. Since its inception, Avanade has expanded its operations into 39 countries.

In June of this year (2006), Marketing Mix and Sappi are planning on publishing a best practice CRM with relevance to South Africa. A call for papers has gone out; desired categories include, but are not limited to: automotive, financial, multi-partner program, discount program, airlines, charity, affinity, retail and consultants. To contribute a best practice paper to this effort, email the consulting editor, Nici Stathacopoulos at nici@proximityttp.co.za before 31 March 2006. Only send a 150-word synopsis; the best will be selected and the full papers will be requested and then published in a CRM Casebook that will be widely distributed to marketers, larger SMEs, senior government representatives, universities and international affiliates.

Microsoft has released a new version of its Dynamics CRM 3.0 software. The new version is expected to help Microsoft improve the hosting capabilities of its CRM offering. According to Brad Wilson, G.M, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in the next two years almost one-third of the company’s CRM clients could move to a hosted environment. computerworld.com says:

Rival SAP AG launched its on-demand CRM service last month, but its system carries a 100-user minimum limitation. By contrast, Microsoft is positioning its hosted CRM software for companies with 20 or more seats, according to Wilson.

Go to: Microsoft tweaks CRM to improve hosting