We Blog CRM

CRM software provider Soffront Software Inc. today announced that Ensafe Inc. has implemented Soffront CRM to develop a customer knowledge base and self help program. Ensafe provides environmental consulting services to clients worldwide.

Soffront Help Desk is help desk software designed for mid-size businesses, seeking to assist companies in managing customer support tickets from submission to resolution. Ensafe is using the software for numerous processes including ticket tracking, workflow, notifications to users and IT, and knowledge base applications.

“The software has also helped us increase efficiency and decrease duplication of efforts,” said one Ensafe exec. “Overall, fewer man hours are spent on trouble ticket issues. I would estimate that our overall savings so far this year is approximately US $65,000.”

Self-billed as a pioneer of CRM since 1992, Soffront offers end-to-end, fully integrated CRM solutions spanning sales, marketing, customer service and employee help desks; the firm’s clientele now exceeds 500. Soffront is a privately-held firm.

And speaking of NetSuite, the firm yesterday announced their ushering in of the “‘Service as Software’ Revolution” (ever notice how ho-hum the word “revolution” has become since its utter subsuming by English-language marketers?), with SuiteFlex extensions now made available as open source.

SuiteFlex is a new application development platform that enables the creation of third-party vertical applications within NetSuite, as well as end-to-end business process customization for any end-user company. As a part of SuiteScript, NetSuite introduced Suitelets and SuiteScript UI Objects. Together, Suitelets and SuiteScript UI Objects seek to enable customers and third-party developers to build new workflows and applications that look and operate as though NetSuite’s own developers wrote them.

In addition, SuiteFlex introduces a dramatic (also a much cheaper word these days) new concept for the Software as a Service market, entitled, “Service as Software.” The Chump’s just gonna straight quote on this one:

“Third parties can use the new SuiteFlex SuiteBundler to deliver new integrated vertical solutions by packaging their Suitelets and other extensions with NetSuite’s core Accounting/ERP/CRM/e-commerce application. SuiteBundler’s new capabilities allow solution providers to embed their industry-best practices, knowledge and applications — traditionally delivered as one-off services — into the actual NetSuite application. SuiteFlex enables in-house developers and systems integrators to extend these capabilities by developing entirely new workflows and applications that meet the needs of specific industry segments. For partners building such extensions to NetSuite, the new SuiteBundler enables them to package the custom applications and workflows for a vertical market, and sell them over and over again.”

It is certain we have not heard the last of this particular philosophy.

NetSuite also announced that SuiteFlex application and process customizations can be shared as open source, with over 100 SuiteFlex extensions immediately available at SuiteSource. The Open Source SuiteFlex components were contributed from a number of sources such as NetSuite itself, Explore Consulting, IT-Ration Consulting, Epiphany, Inc., Skyytek Worldwide, Demand Solutions Group and Ncompass Business Solutions.

PR out of OnSite had twin announcements today, with the release of its “POS for NetSuite” product along with its acceptance into NetSuite’s SuiteFlex Developer Program.

OnSite has leveraged NetSuite’s SuiteFlex platform to extend and enhance NetSuite for retailer needs. The POS for NetSuite system is billed as “a lightweight, client-only, point-of-sale application that requires minimum maintenance and can be setup easily without specialized IT staff or consultants.”

With support of the latest USB POS peripherals from HandHeld Products, Star Micronics and APG, POS for NetSuite seeks to provide state-of-the-art customer interaction and transaction processing. POS for NetSuite is currently in select beta status and is planned for release next month.

At this time, OnSite is providing demos for prospective NetSuite customers.

Founded in 1998, OnSite is an independent software vendor and IT consulting firm. OnSite is a certified partner of NetSuite, Microsoft, HP, IBM and Cisco, among others. Recent software products delivered to market involve the NetSuite application and include Sync, CM, eCommerce and POS for NetSuite products.

American Express Incentive Services has joined with Centive, a provider of on-demand strategic sales compensation management, to offer prepaid AEIS cards as a special incentive reward – or spiff, press material, tells The Chump – option in Centive’s on-demand sales compensation solution Compel.

AEIS prepaid cards will provide Compel customers with a spiff option separate from the standard cash reward. Cards may be customized and personalized, and can theoreticallz direct recipients’ spending options to ensure that the reward is memorable.

AEIS is a joint venture between American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc. and Maritz Inc., provides business-to-business reward solutions including prepaid cards, American Express Gift Cheques and a web-based reward management tool. AEIS is headquartered in Fenton, Mo.

Headquartered in Burlington, Mass., Centive bills itself as “the recognized leader in on-demand strategic sales compensation management.” Compel was recently bestowed a 2006 CODiE award for "Best Financial Software," the 2006 CRM Excellence award from Customer Interaction Solutions, and is a 2006 eWeek Excellence Award finalist.

Representatives of Epicor Software Corporation have announced the introduction of Epicor Information Worker, a new desktop productivity solution for Epicor’s enterprise resource planning applications on the 2007 Microsoft Office system. The product was unveiled this week to attendees at Epicor Perspectives 2006, the company’s annual customer conference.

Built using service-oriented architecture principles with Microsoft .NET-based technologies, Epicor IW users are promised the ability to synchronize Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 contacts, appointments and tasks with an Epicor application along with items such as customer information, sales history, inventory levels and production schedule for offline access.

At the heart of the product, said Epicor vice president of marketing is the company’s goal, and "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our mutual customers to use the information captured within Epicor applications effectively."

Epicor Information Worker is scheduled for general release in December 2006. Founded in 1984, Epicor provides integrated enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management and professional services automation software solutions to mid-market companies and divisions of the Global 1000. Today, Epicor boasts a customer base of 20,000-plus in over 140 countries, with solutions in 31 languages. Epicor’s headquarters are located in Irvine, Calif. Epicor was named one of Fortune magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2006.

Would you believe somebody in the industry media is giving Oracle kudos. Really. It says it right there in the first line: “…kudos to Oracle.” The piece comes out of CRMBuyer, whose Denis Pombriant attended the Oracle Open World user conference in San Francisco this week. (It’s all over now, guys, sorry…) A Pombriant story entitled “Oracle’s place in the transitioning CRM world” is a take on the big firm’s success.

“It is mind-boggling to think that the 40,000 people in San Francisco represent only a small portion of the people all over the planet who know the company’s products and use them in mission-critical business processes every day,” writes Pombriant, going on to state that “More than that, it is a tribute to one man’s vision of what information technology needed to become that started more than 30 years ago.”

As Pombriant sees it, Oracle is really two businesses at this point – stacks and applications – and both businesses are facing massive challenges thanks to changes in the industry due to on-demand computing. “I don’t think I would want to be running Oracle at this juncture,” muses Pombriant.

According to the CRMBuyer guy, the problem for Oracle is that “The on-demand customer today hardly knows — or cares — what’s behind the application service that is running in the browser, and that’s equally true of the operating system and server hardware.” Oracle is certain to be undermined by low-cost providers and/or on-demand solutions providers. Pombriant’s solution? Oracle should take a more aggressive position on providing infrastructure for on-demand.

Oracle? More aggressive? (Wait – do you hear that? That “doo doo doo doo”? That’s the “Twilight Zone” theme.)

Addressing applications, Pombriant sees the same bugaboo most in the biz do: namely, the motley collection of applications that Oracle has amassed in its bid of the past few years to buy, buy, buy first and ask questions later. For Pombriant, it’s “a flawed policy to build a platform — i.e., Fusion — that knits them all together.”

Pombriant brings it all around rather nicely (hey, that’s why they pay him the big bucks, right?) with Geoffrey Moore’s theories on business evolution: “…contemporary CRM was made for the part of the lifecycle that Geoffrey Moore called the ‘tornado’ phase … We are now living in a phase that Moore dubbed ‘Main Street,’ and the tools needed for selling, marketing and service on Main Street are vastly different from what we now have. …While paying attention to the customer and the customer’s experience are valid and important … the juxtaposition of the words and the late 20th century applications seemed strained.”

Unfortunately, Pombriant ruins an otherwise top-notch piece with a little transparent politicizing regarding members of the Bush and Clinton power bases – I mean, families. It’s a silly comparison that doesn’t work here. It’s funny, because while Pombriant talks about American presidents, he’s giving “Oracle credit for bringing together Peoplesoft and Siebel. In only a few months, they have made three disparate companies with different cultures work together…” Interestingly, citizens of the former Yugoslavia today say the same thing about General Tito.

Denis Pombriant’s “Oracle’s place in the transitioning CRM world” can be read in its entirety at either CRMBuyer or E-commerce Times.

Callidus Software Inc. not, as,The Chump swears, the name of one of the rogues from the old “Legion of the Super Heroes” comic book, but instead a leading provider of enterprise incentive management software, today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2006.

It’s a gray day in Callidus’ land, whether or not Sun Boy cooked him up. The news as released actually ran a bit like a comic book story, in that our heroes seem to be losing the good fight for the first half of the narrative.

Total third quarter revenues were US $17.4 million, essentially flat compared to the third quarter 2005 and to the prior quarter. Third quarter license revenues were US $5.8 million, equal to the third quarter 2005 and down slightly from the prior quarter. Third quarter maintenance and service revenues were US $11.6 million, an increase of 3 percent over third quarter 2005 and a slight decrease compared to the prior quarter.

But growth is good and so our heroes rise from the rubble, angered and vengeful. Hosted on-demand bookings were US $1.5 million in the third quarter, up from a neat zero in the third quarter of 2005. License revenues plus hosted on-demand bookings in the quarter totaled US $7.3 million, an increase of 26 percent over third quarter 2005.

And it even gets better: On a year-to-date basis, total revenues are up 18 percent from US $44.2 million to US $52.0 million compared to 2005. Year-to-date license revenues are up 76 percent from US $10.6 million to US $18.7 million compared to 2005. Year-to-date hosted on-demand bookings were US $6.1 million, compared to a goose egg in 2005. Year-to-date license revenues plus on-demand bookings totaled US $24.8 million, an increase of a whopping 134 percent over 2005.

Clearly significant to Callidus is the launch and growth of its hosted on-demand offering. Starting from zero, the company has sold multi-year contracts totalling US $6.1 million over the past six months. These contracts are expected to generate annual recurring revenues of US $2.3 million.

But wait a minute, what’s this? Third quarter net loss was US $2.5 million; this is even bigger than the net loss of US $0.9 million for the third quarter 2005. Of course, in second quarter 2006, Callidus took a net loss hit of US $3.2 million. Cash and investments totaled US $53.2 million at September 30, 2006, a decrease of US $3.5 million from June 30, 2006. Ouch.

Oh boy, here comes the spin … The Chump loves the spin. "After a slow start,” started Callidus president / CEO Robert Youngjohns, “quarter three was a solid quarter where we continued to consolidate on progress made earlier in the year … Our service revenues were limited by capacity rather than demand as we diverted service resources to our hosted on-demand business and were not able to backfill as quickly as we would have liked.”

Our heroes may be down, folks, but they aren’t out. Get the next issue of Callidus’ adventures: Forecasted for quarter four, are total revenues between US $19.5 million and US $21.0 million, a 12 to 21 percent increase over third quarter total revenues. In a healthy scenario, this would represent a nice US $7 million in profit. We’ll see. A conference call to discuss the third quarter results was held yesterday and is now available at the Callidus Software website. Or you can click here.

Founded in 1996, Callidus Software Inc. is an enterprise incentive management provider to global companies across multiple industries. Customers include 7-Eleven, Accenture, CUNA Mutual, HP, IBM, Philips Medical Systems, Sprint Nextel, Sun Microsystems, Time Warner Corporation and Wachovia.

FTS, a global provider of business control, billing and CRM solutions for communications service providers, today announced that major Russian communication service provider and retailer Euroset has selected FTS’ Leap Billing real-time billing and customer care solution for its MVNO, Broadband and fixed-line telephony services.

(Now, if you were dealing with a firm described as a “major Russian communication service provider and retailer,” would you want it as your friend? You bet you would.)

Euroset is Russia’s largest mobile phone retailer with 4,490 outlets and is billed as “a well-regarded Russian business success story.”

The Leap Billing solution is powered by FTS’ Leap Business Control and Charging Foundation, an advanced business rule and rating engine offering a service-aware business perspective.

FTS is a provider of business control, billing and CRM solutions for communications service providers. FTS deploys its range of solutions to customers in over 40 countries and has implemented in wireless, wireline, cable, content and broadband markets including multiple cross-network installations. In January 2006, FTS was ranked as the 54th fastest growing technology company on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast-500 EMEA.

Euroset is the largest mobile handset retailer in Russia and one of Russia’s leading dealers for major mobile network operators. The main business activity of the Euroset Group is the retail sale of audio and mobile electronics in addition to mobile network operator subscriptions. Some 4,490 Euroset retail outlets are currently in operation in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzia.

The company is currently in the testing phase for its triple-play operation and is planning to deliver a complete offering of mobile services, broadband internet and fixed telephony to Russia’s 143 million consumers. Future plans include beginning operations as an MVNO in the Baltic states in the near future.

FTS, a global provider of business control, billing and CRM solutions for communications service providers, today announced that major Russian communication service provider and retailer Euroset has selected FTS’ Leap Billing real-time billing and customer care solution for its MVNO, Broadband and fixed-line telephony services.

(Now, if you were dealing with a firm described as a “major Russian communication service provider and retailer,” would you want it as your friend? You bet you would.)

Euroset is Russia’s largest mobile phone retailer with 4,490 outlets and is billed as “a well-regarded Russian business success story.”

The Leap Billing solution is powered by FTS’ Leap Business Control and Charging Foundation, an advanced business rule and rating engine offering a service-aware business perspective.

FTS is a provider of business control, billing and CRM solutions for communications service providers. FTS deploys its range of solutions to customers in over 40 countries and has implemented in wireless, wireline, cable, content and broadband markets including multiple cross-network installations. In January 2006, FTS was ranked as the 54th fastest growing technology company on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast-500 EMEA.

Euroset is the largest mobile handset retailer in Russia and one of Russia’s leading dealers for major mobile network operators. The main business activity of the Euroset Group is the retail sale of audio and mobile electronics in addition to mobile network operator subscriptions. Some 4,490 Euroset retail outlets are currently in operation in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzia.

The company is currently in the testing phase for its triple-play operation and is planning to deliver a complete offering of mobile services, broadband internet and fixed telephony to Russia’s 143 million consumers. Future plans include beginning operations as an MVNO in the Baltic states in the near future.

Amid the tons of hullabaloo generated by the big Oracle show in San Francisco this week, please allow The Chump to allow some semblance of “objectivity.”

Take a look at ZDNet for an interesting article by Martin LaMonica and Dawn Kawamoto regarding Oracle’s newer strategy moves entitled “Oracle’s new plan: Make friends, don’t buy them.” A gripping title, eh?

Great lead, too: “Its reputation as aggressor safely established, Oracle is now looking to make friends in an industry transformed by its own multibillion-dollar acquisition spree.”

The piece details the change in Oracle’s heart, the sudden warming to the smaller fish in the sea, apparently simply because many more huge acquisitions can literally not be in the big boy’s future. Morgan Stanley analyst Peter Kuper sees Oracle CEO Larry Ellison as a guy now “beginning to see he can’t own the world, or he’ll alienate customers. He’s finding it’s better to own 70 percent of a real large pie, than all of a smaller one.” And AMR Research analyst Bruce Richardson is quoted as stating that “Oracle always made the business case that you can’t buy a separate [database and middleware] stack from the application. Now they’re trying to be ‘Miss Congeniality.’”

There’s lots more in LaMonica and Kawamoto’s work, so The Chump urges you to check it out at ZDNet.