We Blog CRM

Publisher and broadcaster industry biggie the Tribune Co. announced on Friday that 120 full-time and 130 part-time call-center jobs would be excised from at its daily newspapers, with the job to be outsourced to APAC Customer Services. APAC plans to place the jobs in the Philippines. The layoffs equal approximately 1 percent of Tribune publishing operation costs.

As a reason for the cuts, a company memo released to the press stated that, "The intensely competitive media environment we find ourselves in and the changes happening within our industry make it even more important that we continue to look for better ways to meet the needs of our readers and advertisers.” Industry analysts, however, are pretty much unanimous in citing pressure from Chandler Trust, Tribune Co.’s largest shareholder, to increase shareholder value.

In May, the company said it would buy back up to US $2 billion in stock and sell off US $500 million worth of assets in an attempt to boost the company’s performance. Tribune shares dropped 9 percent drop in July.

Bangalore-based JTS Institute has made getting a call center job a lot easier. The firm recently announced its free “e-recruitment” system, which enables job hunters to apply via an online test at www.jtsinstitute.com.

The process is three staged, with the online exam first, followed by a telephone interview by a “Voice and Accent expert from the Call Center industry.”

If the score is high enough, the prospect will then be interviewed over the phone by an HR department. JTS Institute CEO Pradeep Menon is credited as the mastermind behind this “e-recruitment” process.

According to Menon, “JTS Institute has made elaborate arrangements for the successful functioning of the e-recruitment process. 146 Voice and Accent experts have been given assignment to handle the telephonic interview with the candidates.”

On the call center front, news came from Hong Kong early this Monday morning, with the announcement that Oasis Hong Kong Airlines had appointed PAM Limited to establish, operate and maintain its Hong Kong-based call centre services, including staff and equipment.

PAM will provide customers and travel agents with sales, general enquiries and customer service assistance for twelve hours a day seven days a week. Under terms of the contract, PAM will supply staff members each fluent in Cantonese, English and/or Mandarin. PAM is also contracted to provide “intensive initial and ongoing training.”

The birth of three new phones for two companies was announced yesterday.

Philips representatives today announced models called the VOIP321 and VOIP433, names that, unlike other vapid brand names, make it quite clear what this technology is all about. The models, said none other than Philips managing director Matthew Moran, “are a response to the increasing need for immediate access to digital content.” The VOIP321 is a cordless with DECT digital voice quality, and is designed for Skype users with broadband internet connection. Features included are a speakerphone and caller ID.

The recommended retail price is approximately US $130 for one handset. The VOIP433 uses the Microsoft Windows Live Messenger service and includes a color screen. The recommended retail price is approximately US $160 for one handset. Meanwhile, computer peripheral specialist Keyspan also announced its new product today, a cordless phone, compatible with both Macs (really!) and PCs. The telephone is also designed for Skype users.

The suggested retail price is $79. If within range (100 feet indoors, 300 outside) of the internet-connected computer, the Keyspan cordless allows use of Skype wirelessly. The phone jacks into the USB port of the computer.

VoIP provider Fusion Telecommunications International has announced its entrance into a strategic partnership with mainland China-based website Jinti. Jinti is a “community services” website which reportedly receives some 3,000,000 visitors monthly. On the Jinti website, Fusion Telecommunications will market its Efonica VoIP.

The Efonica system will also be integrated into the Jinti consumer registration process. Fusion is a provider of VoIP, internet access, and internet services in the markets of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Founded in 2004, Jinti.com is a community services provider currently based in over 63 Chinese cities. Jinti also offers online recruitment, marketing and social networking services.

Lawson Software, Inc. representatives today announced their firm’s new contract with Sweden-based Seco Tools for licenses and support for the Lawson M3 software solution. Under terms of the contract, Lawson M3 will become the standard for Seco Tools and its companies worldwide, representing 2,000 users in 22 countries.

Lawson will also be responsible for maintenance of the system on the IBM iSeries platform. Seco Tools has employed the Lawson M3 system in the Nordic countries for five years. Seco Tools, is headquartered in Fagersta, Bergslagen, Sweden, and is a producer of tools for cutting and machining.

Seco Tools today has 40 wholly owned subsidiaries around the world. St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software was formed in April 2006 via the merger of Lawson and Intentia. Lawson is a CRM software provider specializing in service industries, healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution. Lawson applications are today used by over 4,000 customers in 20 languages in 41 countries.

Sprint representatives today released another solution guaranteed to help keep that cellular phone handcuffed to your wrist. The "Sprint Advanced Wireless Solutions" program seeks to provide business customers with mobility solution delivery capability. The program promises to offer businesses a one-stop shop, single contract and centralized bill, with hardware, application software, mobile voice and data use, professional services, and customer care packaged together.

Sprint Advanced Wireless Solutions is being touted for mid-size businesses, enterprise customers and government agencies. The six operational enhancement solutions currently available include field service automation; route accounting; fleet dispatch and resource management; mobile asset management; mobile IT help desk management; and field sales management. Four other solutions are promised for release later in the year: healthcare provider solutions; equipment diagnostics; a fixed assets tracker; and public safety.

The call for CRM was seemingly so great for pharmaceutical research firm Applied Biosystems Group that it’s hard to believe last year they had no such system in place. By 2008, it will not be possible to imagine Applied without it.

Prior to signing on with salesforce.com, Applied had been running on a higgledy piggledy bunch of programs that varied in style, methodology and language. With data collection making up the basis of Applied marketing campaigns, any sort of work between countries had to go through a myriad of programs and encryption to coordinate.

Something simple such as spreadsheets became a puzzle of Rubik-like complexity. Today, Applied Biosystems announced the completion of a CRM pilot program in Germany and the full capacity reached by the system in the Asia Pacific region and the United States. As part of a two-year project worth approximately US $380,000, Applied implemented salesforce.com CRM software modules SFA, Marketing, App Exchange Builder, and Analytics. The implementation began just over twelve months ago.

The company brain trust hopes to have the system operating globally by 2008 across North America, Europe and Asia. Applied Biosystems is a life sciences technology provider focused on the following basic research, commercial research (pharmaceutical and biotechnology) and standardized testing markets. Applied Biosystems has an installed base of approximately 180,000 instrument systems in nearly 100 countries. Salesforce.com is currently the market and technology leader in on-demand business services.

Salesforce.com’s on-demand platform AppExchange allows the building of powerful new applications, customization and integration of the Salesforce suite. Salesforce.com today manages customer information for approximately 22,700 customers and approximately 444,000 paying subscribers including Advanced Micro Devices, America Online, Cendant Rental Car Group, Dow Jones Newswires, Nokia, Polycom and SunTrust.

The awaited security patch for the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser update has been released, albeit two days after originally promised. The security update for the browser update, which was released on August 8, is promised to “fully resolve” the security bug embedded in the Explorer program.

Major problems were almost instantly experienced by websites using HTTP 1.1 compression to speed up image downloads. The browser often failed when HTTP 1.1 kicked in to do the job, web-based applications from PeopleSoft, Siebel and Sage CRM had some serious compatibility issues with the software.

Microsoft had released a handful of earlier announcements upon being informed of the problem. Officials promised that the issue does not affect users of Microsoft’s latest Service Pack 2 version of Windows XP. Those employing Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows XP Service Pack 1 are affected. Last week, Microsoft released a “hotfix” download to solve the problems, but ultimately the Microsoft brain trust decided to rerelease the whole update, including the fixed patch.

Further errors revealed in final testing made necessary a later released date – and most likely programmers working long long shifts. Working long shifts, too, was eEye Digital Security, developer of endpoint security, network security and vulnerability management software, whose own employees became involved in the situation in order to protect certain unnamed firms under their protection. Early in the week eEye realized there was a problem.

The oft-quoted line from eEye chief hacking officer Marc Maiffret went “The bad guys basically know about this and know that it’s an exploitable scenario.” As a result, the eEye CTO himself pulled an overnight shift in working with Microsoft in investigating the parameters of the security problem. eEye’s interests were to issue an alert to clients, but security firms undertaking this sort of practice is highly unusual. eEye then went to reporters under embargo to ensure that “corporate customers knew what to watch for with this patch and how to get the updated patch from Microsoft, or, barring that, how to mitigate exploitation simply.”

Specifically, eEye revealed that simply disabling HTTP 1.1 functionality until application of the patch was a quick-fix solution. So far, so good, felt eEye until Microsoft’s own announcement that the public release of the patch would be delayed. The Microsoft release, however, detailed that “the issue lay with how SMS architecture handles .cab files and that the delay is to fix it so SMS can handle distribution.”

As one eEye Computer World blogger sardonically put it, “So, to recap, Microsoft writes a patch that causes another flaw, then delays releasing the patch (unless you call Microsoft support) and then releases the information needed to identify the vulnerability in [its] own advisory update.” The Computer World piece ultimately declares that “there is clearly a debacle going on, for the first time in a long time, Microsoft breaks the glass cabinet for emergencies.” At present, with troubleshooters at thousands of e-commerce and platform sites drinking too much coffee this weekend, no one seems to hold a grudge Microsoft for the inconvenience.

Except, of course, for eEye folks up in arms and engaged in a war of the words over the definition of “responsible disclosure” and exactly who was responsible for what. In fact, Microsoft went so far as to release another vaguely Orwellian-sounding PR statement “Microsoft continues to encourage responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities to minimize risk to computer users. Microsoft supports the commonly accepted practice of reporting vulnerabilities directly to a vendor, which serves everyone’s best interests.

This practice helps to ensure that customers receive comprehensive, high-quality updates for security vulnerabilities without exposure to malicious attackers while the update is being developed.” Few of these prescribed actions, some at eEye would contend, were practiced by Microsoft. This matchup of what has been called “the mightiest software company on the planet” versus perhaps the world leader in digital security could well produce some serious aftermath.

There’s a good piece for those new to the CRM implementation business over at WebProNews.com. “Expert author” (no proper bio is supplied) Colin Duffy’s piece entitled “How to Define Your Needs before Buying CRM” and is a decent piece defining some basics when attempting to choose the correct first CRM product. Like many other business trends, the pressure to keep up with the latest technology developments and hold on to your competitive edge can often lead to rushed and poorly researched decisions. Firstly, Duffy paraphrases a Kennedy-ism in posing the question would be CRMers must ask themselves first.

Ask not, says Duffy, “‘What can our organization / company / employees do with this CRM?’” but “‘What can this CRM do for my company?’” Duffy argues that the answer will assist in avoiding overkill and lots of bells ‘n’ whistles that sound great, cost more, and eventually turn off users because of the program’s unnecessary complexity. As Duffy sees it, most CRM software is based on best practices in business, essentially broken down into marketing and lead management; opportunity management; customer service; and customer support.

Since most industry solutions feature some variant on these principles, the potential client must test to see if the features are warranted for the particular firm. Of course, Duffy reiterates that future growth is absolutely key. In a growing business, things like billing and invoicing, contracts, quote management, product inventory, and human resource management will change rapidly and should not require CRM software upgrades or new products. Most of all, says Duffy, the prospective CRM newbie should define needs tightly.

Good advice for us all… “How to Define Your Needs before Buying CRM” can be found at http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/expertarticles/wpn-62-20060825HowToDefineYourNeedsBeforeBuyingCRM.html.