We Blog CRM

From anyone else it might be called bragging, but this is Oracle. Oracle will buy 21 firms to act as subsidiaries in the country, declared Wang Chunwen, general manager of Oracle’s Enterprise Management Software Service in China. Oracle currently has five subsidiaries in China.

Wang stated that China has become the fastest growing market for Oracle’s global business, with the small- and mid-sized enterprise markets accounting for 99 percent of China’s total enterprises, 50 percent of China’s GDP and 75 percent of job opportunities.

Oracle’s 2006 fiscal year report shows that the company’s management software service increased by 80 percent over the previous year.

Oracle is putting another of its acquisitions to work, as company officials announced today the release of its first version of the core Berkeley DB embedded database since acquiring the software through its February purchase of open-source developer Sleepycat Software.

First developed in 1991, Berkeley DB is the core version of the Sleepycat embedded database, but the open-source vendor had also begun offering Java and XML versions of its database in recent years. Oracle also plans a refresh of Berkeley DB XML shortly.

Touted in Berkeley DB release 4.5 are the ability for users to upgrade or patch a replicated Berkeley DB without having to take the entire system down, multi-version concurrency controls to handle simultaneous multiple database changes, and a replication framework.

Oracle representatives reported that Oracle research and development was investigating opportunities to get Berkeley DB to work with the Oracle product portfolio, but offered no concrete results.

Unlike other areas of its business, notably applications, where Oracle is looking to consolidate disparate products into a single code base, the vendor’s approach to the embedded database market is rather different. As well as Berkeley DB, Oracle has its TimesTen In-Memory Database and Oracle Database Lite 10g and the company can also embed its higher end Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Application Server 10g software. Berkeley DB is complementary to Oracle’s other embedded databases, but differs in having no SQL layer and is able to store data in memory or on disk.

Another mid-sized company has switched CRM systems; so, no huge news there. However, you’ve got to love the unabashed honesty of Australian customer Superior Water Tanks, whose spokesperson called the replaced Legrand CRM system as “a glorified address book.” Nice.

Seeking functions such as mobile device accessibility and MYOB integratability, Superior Water Tanks reported to Australian industry news outlet ComputerWorld.com that the company had switched to Sage Act! to manage customer service and warranty issues. Superior Water Tanks general manager Suzanne Evans stated it needed CRM to list manufacturing, sales and installation details of its water tanks and to synchronize the data between the office and mobile staff.

The $10,000 project included implementation, six licences for Sage Act, three for Sage Link pocket PC and one for Sage Link MYOB. Implementation took six weeks and some initial glitches were reportedly experienced. Sage reseller Evolution Marketing Services assisted with vendor selection, implementation and training, performing a customization which required thousands of customer records to be migrated from the old system to Act!

A spokesperson for Legrand told ComputerWorld that its solution did not have remote access but said it does integrate with MYOB accounting software. The company plans to release a web-based CRM version in November.

Positive addiction? John I. Todor, Ph.D. sure thinks so. Todor is the managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, a customer experience consulting and training firm that applies scholarly research on human behavior to buyer-seller dynamics. The psychological principles which are Todor’s specialty have been encapsulated in a book to be published by Silverado Press.

In the tome entitled “Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company,” Todor expounds upon the burgeoning philosophy within the CRM philosophy known as “customer experience management,” or, naturally, CEM.

Essentially, CEM is the group of psychological principles that underlie compelling customer experiences and the business strategies to put these principles into action. CEM practitioners typically place heavy emphasis on the “essential first step” of making the selling environment more appealing.

Todor’s “Addicted Customers” seeks to add a psycho-economic framework to enhance these pursuits, demonstrating why companies need to recognize the emotional power of the customer experience. According to Todor, “loyalty accrues because customers value not just what the company has done for them, but what the relationship can do for them in the future.”

While the implications of emotional and consumptive value are decidedly obvious in the business-to-consumer sector, Todor also argues that the strategies are equally powerful in a business-to-business context.

The list of key points by which non-fiction publishers so often like to define books states that secrets revealed inside “Addicted Customers” include:

• the two distinct buying personalities that customers employ;

• insights that help you avoid the triggers that "turn on" the less desirable personality;

• strategies to engage the personality that leads to loyalty and commitment;

• how price and convenience can undermine customer relationships; and

• the psychological principles that underlie compelling customer experiences.

“Addicted Customers” is now available in printable eBook format at AddictedCustomers.com (of course) for US $25.95. The hardcover version will be released on October 30.

Silverado Press publishes titles on business topics and social awareness issues. Silverado also develops and implements comprehensive marketing programs designed to quickly capture the attention of the target audiences.

Here comes the wave (officially): SAP AG’s third wave of its SAP CRM on-demand solutions, just made available and right on schedule according to the firm’s quarterly product roadmap.

The SAP service on-demand solution is designed to assist service managers in consolidating and tracking service tickets; in establishing rule-based escalation for follow-up; and in adhering to service-level agreements.

SAP also today unveiled additional capabilities for the extant SAP CRM on-demand solutions, including new sales automation features in areas of product support and quotation management.

The announcement was made at SaaScon 2006, currently going on in fantastic San Francisco, Calif.

And finally, an announcement from Australia, where it is literally already tomorrow today.

IT services provider Unisys has won a deal with with Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) to provide support, IT infrastructure services and CRM software to integrate marketing strategies across all affiliated racing clubs throughout Victoria.

Unisys will tailor the Epiphany CRM application, using J2EE open architecture, to integrate the system with other applications such as event management and accounting applications. All Racing Victoria clubs will have access to an integrated CRM system, and a single marketing plan to support the clubs’ long-term initiatives. Said Chris Skorsis, CIO, Racing Victoria Limited, “In the past we’ve had a very limited view of our customer base. With our new reporting structure, we’ll be able to make informed decisions on future campaigns.”

The first stage of the implementation is due for completion before the country’s famed Spring Carnival, 2007 incarnation.

New Generation Computing, a provider of product lifecycle management, global sourcing solutions and enterprise resource planning software for the apparel and sewn products industries, today announced major enhancements to much of its line.

NGC unveiled the 2006 releases of its RedHorse, e-PDM and e-SPS solutions at Material World New York today.

Product enhancements to RedHorse 2006 ERP include an advanced report generation tool, an enhanced allocation and reservation function, and enhancements in screen design to improve the user experience; to e-PDM 2006 integrated product life cycle management software, improvements come to calendars, product specs, line planning, merchandising and costing functions; and to e-SPS2006 global sourcing software are included significant enhancements to the quality and logistics modules, calendars, production tracking and exception management.

New Generation Computing is headquartered in Miami, Fla., and has offices in New York, Los Angeles, China, India, Mexico and El Salvador. NGC is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Software Inc., and clientele includes VF Corporation, Russell Corp., Carter’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Gold Toe Brands Inc, Haggar Clothing Company, Hugo Boss, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., Armani Exchange, Maidenform Inc., Wilsons Leather, Rocky Brands and Valley Apparel.

Paperchine has chosen to install Encompix ERP to fill its manufacturing software requirements, and implementation has begun.

Located in Rockton, Illinois, Paperchine, Inc. was first formed in 2000 by four former Beloit Corporation executives dedicated to establishing a U.S.-based company which would be “composed of top professionals dedicated to the paper industry,” filling those roles first with themselves. 

Twice named one of the fastest growing American companies by Entrepreneur magazine, Paperchine today boasts over 100 proven professionals in the paper industry providing customers with engineering, technical support, and manufacturing teams.

Encompix is a business unit of Made2Manage Systems and has specialized in manufacturing software requirements of engineer-to-order companies since 1992.

Microsoft jumps in the koi pond today, as Singapore’s ornamental fish, pet food and accessories provider Qian Hu has announced some nice results in their business after implementation of Microsoft Dynamics solutions.

As Singapore’s reportedly leading exporter of ornamental fish, manufacturer and distributor of aquarium and pet accessories, Qian Hu has been achieving year-on-year growth of 30 percent and 90 percent in fish exports and pet accessories businesses, respectively, since 2002. With a stated goal of becoming the world’s single largest ornamental fish, pet food and accessories provider by 2008, Qian Hu management last year saw it was time to upgrade their customized system to an end-to-end ERP system to support its three main business foci in Arowana (Wan Hu Fish Farm Trading), ornamental fish (Qian Hu Fish Farm Trading) and pet accessories (Yi Hu Fish Farm Trading).

By implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV programs, Qian Hu got decent results in effectively streamlining its supply chain processes, in enabling more accurate capture of critical business information, in shortening period-end closures, and in enhancing financial reporting. Qian Hu implemented Microsoft Dynamics’ suite of Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, Dimensions, Support for Multi Currencies and System Management solutions, in addition to DP Technology’s customized Fish Packing solution.

A full, seven-page case study can be read here.

At the DEMOfall 06 Conference today, scanR (do not adjust your set; this is the spelling), together with salesforce.com, announced the availability of scanR for salesforce.com’s AppExchange. scanR is a solution that enables camera phones and digital cameras to scan, copy and fax.

Using scanR for AppExchange, says the hype, one can snap a photo of a business card, send it to scanR and automatically have the contact information uploaded and synchronized into their Salesforce service. Salesforce studies show that it takes approximately ninety seconds to manually type the information from one business card into an electronic contact manager. scanR solves the problems caused by this “tedious chore.” They’re serious, aren’t they?

scanR for AppExchange is immediately available at Salesforce.com and a free introductory period is offered.

scanR for AppExchange is one of the now more than 300 applications created by salesforce.com, its customers and partners available on the salesforce.com on-demand application platform AppExchange. 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 applications, customization and integration of the Salesforce suite.

Salesforce.com today manages customer information for approximately 22,700 customers and now more than 500,000 paying subscribers including Advanced Micro Devices, America Online, Cendant Rental Car Group, Dow Jones Newswires, Nokia, Polycom and SunTrust.