We Blog CRM

The folks at Terrasoft have announced the presentation of “The advantages and peculiarities of CRM in software developing companies” by direct sales executive Serge Ganshyn at the sixth Independent Software Developer Forum to be held in Moscow April 27-29.

Ganshyn seeks to address topics including building CRM processes in software developing business, creating the optimal sales workflow and the process of development of partner network. Ganshyn will also relate the experience of realization of integrated CRM solutions for software firms.

The main topic of ISDF Spring 2007 is “Automation processes in software companies.”

The People’s Daily online is reporting that The Big Country will soon be home to its fifth branch of The Big Company. (Oracle Corp. that is…)

The IT development center will open in Xi’an, capital city of Shannxi province, and joins Oracle’s Chinese facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. First established in The Big Market in 1989, Oracle today also boasts R&D centers in Beijing and Shenzhen. Oracle plans future expansion into Shenyang, Nanjing and Jinan.

Sage Software India closed its week with the announcement that Barco Electronic Systems has selected Sage Accpac ERP.

The ERP will be implemented by Delhi-based Partner Across Domain Solutions Private Limited. (Not a very catchy name there…) The application seeks to assist Barco in automating its financial and operational processes. Modules to be implemented include Order Entry, Inventory control, General ledger, Accounts Payable/Accounts receivable.

Sophos announced today that Asian CRM biggie CDC Software has selected Sophos to protect all tiers of its network against viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware, potentially unwanted applications, and hackers. (Guardian at the proverbial virtual gates, eh?)

Under terms of the agreement running until 2010, up to 2000 CDC Software employees will be protected at the endpoint with Sophos Anti-Virus. Sophos’ PureMessage promises to disinfect and/or quarantine viruses, spyware, Trojans and worms in both incoming and outgoing email.

CDC Software, that wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and provider of enterprise software applications, announced today that RS Components Hong Kong has selected he Pivotal suite of CRM applications for its fourteen offices throughout the Asia Pacific area.

RS will be using Pivotal CRM to manage and track customer services including contact and activity management; telesales and sales account planning; account territory alignments and scorecard tracking; and tracking visits to customers and prospective customers. The company will also be marketing and distributing its trade catalogues and comparing customers and prospects data to their customer marketing management lifecycle data using the Pivotal application.

Established in 1937, RS’ mission statement declares the company “is committed to providing a part for every job, from research and development through pre-production to maintenance and repair.” RS is making good on the goal, today supplying more than 300,000 products to 24 countries and exports to an additional 160 countries worldwide.

PacificNet, Inc., a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management, mobile internet, e-commerce and gaming technology in China, announced subsidiary PacificNet Games Limited’s (or PacGames) launch of a new line of gaming products called the Multiplayer Electronic Table Game Series at the 6th International Gaming & Entertainment Expo in Macau, China, last week.

(“The first time,” noted oft-quoted PacificNet CEO Tony Tong, “PacificNet has had a chance to showcase our gaming products at a leading international gaming expo in Macau.”)

The first promised products in the Multiplayer Electronic Table Game series were the multiplayer electronic SicBo machines, which were presented to “leading casino operators in Asia” at the event.

What is SicBo? Glad you asked.

A dice-rolling game, Sicbo is made distinctive by its history. Reads the authoritative-if-minimalist webpage Sicbo.info, in part:

Sicbo, which literally means “dice pair,” is an ancient Chinese gambling game. This name is slightly peculiar since Sicbo is actually played using three standard six-sided casino dice. But Sicbo may have originally used a pair of dice shaken between a plate and an overturned bowl. This is why Sicbo is also called ‘Dice-in-a-bowl’ at some casinos.

At the heart of it, Sicbo seems a simple game with bets placed simply on what gamblers guess the next combination of three dice will be; check out this nicely broken down listed of odds and payoffs for each typical Sicbo table bet at the excellently-named Wizard of Odds. Like craps, it’s gotta be about riding the waves of luck, eh?

Naturally, with the 21st century upon us, the ancient game – like poker, keno, bingo, whatever ways places like Las Vega$ devise for us to part with our money – is now, having passed through mundane electronic ways, digital: In modern casinos the dice are shaken mechanically, and the outcome is keyed into a computer which automatically lights up the winning zones on the table.

Macau as the setting of the games’ launch was appropriate, for according to recent Macau government statistics, Macau is the fastest-growing gaming market in the world and has reportedly recently surpassed Las Vegas as the largest gaming market in the world. Macau’s total gaming revenue is now $7 billion.

Macau is the only area in China where gambling is legal.

As for PacificNet and the PacGames, they’ll be heading on into Manila, Philippines for the GEM Gaming & Entertainment Plus Leisure Expo 2007 starting on Wednesday.

PacGames is a provider of Asian multi-player electronic gaming machines, gaming technology solutions and gaming related maintenance, IT and distribution services for the leading hotel, casino and slot hall operators based in Asian gaming markets.

Beijing- and Hong Kong-headquartered PacificNet Inc. is an investor in and operator of companies that provide outsourcing, e-commerce, and value-added services in China, such as call centers, telemarketing, direct response television marketing, CRM, interactive voice response, mobile applications, and communications product distribution services.

PacificNet corporate clients include China Telecom, China Mobile, Unicom, PCCW, Hutchison Telecom, Bell24, SONY, TCL, Huawei, American Express, Citibank, HSBC, Bank of China, Bank of East Asia, DBS, TNT, and the Hong Kong government. PacificNet employs over 2,300 in China with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, and branch offices in 26 provinces.

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. kicked off its week with the announcement of a big sale of OKI’s Ctstage to Suzuki Motor Corp. for its contact center system. TechMatrix Corp. built the system, which is linked with their FastHelp CRM package.

Suzuki’s contact center was formerly a PBX-based system, which required a steady increase in the number of operators. In streamlining and ultimately rebuilding the system, Suzuki put an emphasis on total management for inquiries, while also seeking the ability to increase operator seats easily and to use IP-based technology.

Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. claims a prestige spot in the industry, indeed, as Japan’s first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo. Today, OKI provides product to the info-telecom, semiconductor, and printer industries.

OKI launched the CTstage in 1996 as a CTI system to converge computer and telephony. The previous model, CTstage 4i, provides a contact center solution with softswitch and UnPBX architectures. Since its launch in 1996, over 5,200 cumulated sets have been sold.

An interesting first was recorded today, and kudos for the folks at Turkcell for doing so. Turkcell is proclaiming itself as – get this – the “pride of Turkey” for bagging the Gartner EMEA CRM Excellence Award by dint of its CRM program “Journey to/with the Customer.”

The CRM projects conducted under “Journey,” which Turkcell first initiated in 2002 reportedly cover the company’s entire clientele of 31.8 million customers.

Dubbing itself “Turkey’s leading mobile communication provider” (okay, they can brag a little today), Turkcell representatives announced their status as the first Turkish company to win a Gartner CRM Excellence Award. Founded in 1979, Gartner holds the CRM Excellence Awards annually in order to honor CRM applications that are “up to world-class standards and to share the accomplishments with broader audiences.”

Contestants were measured by Gartner’s methodology of "The Eight Building Blocks of CRM,” with companies “expected to build a customer-centered structure in all aspects from their visions to their strategies, from their organizational structure to their business processes and their technical infrastructure, and to reflect the outcome of their efforts to their operational results.”

As of September 30, 2006, Turkcell is the leading GSM operator has a market share of approximately 60 percent in Turkey with 31.8 million post-paid and pre-paid customers. Turkcell reported $4.7 billion in net revenue as of December 31, 2006. Turkcell has interest in international GSM operations in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Northern Cyprus and Ukraine.

Philippines-based Pancake House has announced its recent selection of BatchMaster ERP software. “The former system could no longer handle the existing flow and volume of information; data processing and transmission caused delays and problems rather than expediting the basic necessities of the company,” according to Pancake House finance director Zeny Mercado.

Crucial to the selection was BatchMaster ERP’s Chinese language capability and support. (A lesson to be learned, would-be international CRM product providers…) Like many other ambitious firms, Pancake House is looking at establishing presence in China and will standardize on BatchMaster thanks to the successful pilot implementation in the Philippines.

BatchMaster Software, Inc. has provided ERP product for 21 years and now boasts some 1,500 installations worldwide. BatchMaster clientele are in the food, beverage, cosmetic, personal care, paint, coating, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and specialty chemical industries.

Speaking of results, Russian firm Trakt announced the launch of the E1 Distribution vertical solution based on mySAP ERP with additional functions like budget management, asset accounting and quality management.

The introduction of E1 Distribution marks phase one in the project and was implemented to solve problems in product shortage and surplus in warehouses, to provide effective sales management, and to formalize business processes. In 2007, the second stage of the project involves installing client relationship management based on mySAP CRM.