We Blog CRM

On February 12th, RightNow announced its on-demand CRM solution designed for retailers. Existing features of RightNow CRM include self-service, call center and email management applications and knowledge foundation. These come preconfigured with the offering for retailers which also offers features like RightNow Chat to enable retailers to converse one-to-one with customer, Voice of the customer which allows retailers to capture and measure customer feedback, Shopping cart and post purchase surveys, and other features.

Visit the RightNow site to learn more about their retail CRM offering.

Here’s the lowdown on yet another study on CRM, this time by Gartner. Sometimes I feel that CRM single-handedly keeps a lot of these research companies afloat. Anyway, a Gartner October 2007 study states that the European CRM software market is expected to grow at the rate of 12% in 2008. The growth rates in 2006 and 2007 were 8.2% and 14% respectively.

The forecast for CRM growth in 2008 is positive inspite of uncertainties in the financial market. The reason for this is that 66% of companies questioned as a part of the survey stated that CRM initiatives were one of their top three priorities for the year. A very interesting fact is that 2008 is the year when most companies will be shifting to new-generation CRM systems. So, it’s the end of one cycle that began somewhere in 2008. Spending in one sense is thus unavoidable. CRM modules or sub-sectors that will be the drivers for CRM deployment are SFA and marketing and analytics software.

Here’s more on the same topic.

An interesting interview of David Peterson — CEO of PowerHouse Consulting at VoIP-News throws light on the process of integrating CRM with call-center telephony. David talks about the issues that crop up when integrating a CRM solution with a call-center. These include selecting the right intermediary server for converting the proprietary language of the telephony system into one which the CRM system can understand.

Systems Integrators and consultants are useful as they speed up the deployment process. This is because they already have integration modules for major CRM vendors already in place. David also talks about the importance of management tie-in, on-demand and on-premise CRM, as well as the risks of shoddy integration.

InsideCRM has published an interesting piece that offers short snippets on the top movers and shakers in the CRM domain for the year 2007. Chris Bucholz who has written the piece has accurately picked up the trends and the trendsetters. The list is an eclectic mix of company heads, bloggers, analysts, and technologists who saw the trends coming and those whose ideas will drive the CRM industry in 2008.

Heading the list is Marc Benioff, Salesforce Chairman, CEO, and Founder, who is credited with turning Salesforce.com into an 800-pound gorilla, albeit an intelligent one. Salesforce is credited with raising the profile of on-demand CRM and piquing consumer interest in SaaS as a delivery model for CRM. The company also gained its millionth license in December 2007.

Ed Abbo Oracle Corp. Senior Vice President of Applications Development makes the list at number two on the strength of his efforts to bring out the Fusion application middleware which will bring together multiple Oracle platforms such as Siebel, JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise and Demantra.

At number three is Greg Gianforte RightNow Technologies Inc. CEO and Founder because of his customer-centric philosophies that drive his business. For example the November 2007 edition of RightNow CRM introduced a knowledge-syndication widget that allows companies to distribute dynamic content across multiple sites.

EnterpriseWizard has released version 2.0 of its CRM application built on top of its SaaSWizard Web application development platform. Customizability of tables, drag and drop style of building templates, and a browser-based interface are the key features of this CRM application. Version 2.0 also incorporates a new improved search engine and automatic transmission of information from a client computer upon receipt of a trouble ticket.

The company CEO Colin Earl chooses to describe the SaaSWizard platform as a representation of ‘man-centuries of development” and not just “man-hours”. EnterpriseWizard hopes to go one-up on its competitors like SAP, which has recently come out with CRM 2007, with the help of its business model that stresses partnership with system integrators and value-added resellers in an effort to make inroads into various verticals and sell applications based on the groundbreaking SaaSWizard. Colin argues against the direct sales model that most SaaS companies follow. He intends to share the pie, as he calls it with his channel partners.

EnterpriseWizard is one of the few CRM offerings that’s available as an on-premise and SaaS offering and over the years the company has done well to develop a customer base that’s just fewer than 400. The software costs $65/staff/month for the hosted model, $950/staff user when purchased outright for Linux and $1150/staff user when purchased for Windows.

A new report, this time from Forrester Research, has found that companies that companies that have implemented CRM need to do a rethink on their strategy processes if they are to realize more benefits from the solution implemented. Factors necessitating a change in strategy include the growth of SaaS and a consolidation of vendors. Basically, the report says that companies need to continue investing in CRM in a selective manner and at the same time focus on optimizing their front-end customer-facing processes.

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Apparently, it is an effort by Boomi to integrate SaaS and on-premise software such that companies can extract maximum convergence from diverse applications and generate a healthy ROI. Integration is the key and an essential element in today’s application driven world where different technologies running on different platforms offer the same services. They may also lead in specific niches and have significant market shares. This forces companies to look out for devices that can enable disparate applications to communicate with one another. This in turn enables people to access data and information from anywhere using a range of devices. So, basically what companies like Boomi do is to enable businesses to execute their operations without being constrained by disparity in storage devices and assorted software; in doing so enterprising vendors are doing their bit to shrink the world and we are increasingly becoming inhabitants of a global village.

Where Boomi differs from the rest is in its efforts to integrate via the on-demand route. Boomi hopes that companies will appreciate the salient features of on-demand integration. The Boomi product is now available globally after an exhaustive beta testing that involved more than a 100 small and big companies. With Boomi, you can link almost any SaaS package with an on-premise application without investing in expensive software or hardware appliances that demand both space and financial resources. Boomi is in collaboration with established SaaS players such as Salesforce.com and NetSuite. It’s a win-win situation for Boomi and SaaS vendors such as Revionics, Intacct, SmartTurn, and OpSource who hope to make use of the Boomi product to facilitate better communication and data transfer between their product and other on-premise software.

Ad Authority has launched a CRM service that enables you to get in touch with customers who are no longer on your radar and rekindle relationship with them. This would hopefully get them back into your sales net. This is perhaps a one-of-a-kind facility provided by Ad Authority in conjunction with Cast Release Ltd.

The program is a collaborative effort between Randall Steinmeyer (Chairman - Cast Release Ltd.) and Jake Vale (COO - Ad Authority Inc.). Jake said, “Randall’s unique vision combined with Ad Authority’s message delivery system made this program a no-brainer.” Ad Authority is the first marketing company to capitalize on this emerging trend (SMS messaging) and is proud to provide one of the best CRM tools to hit the market since the telephone.

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Extremely sad and disappointing news over at KANA Software, Inc., as company CEO Michael Fields announced that the company will be laying off “some workers and contractors” (or rather, to coin a company PR-employed euphemism, a reduction in “employee headcount”), although no specific figures on this matter were forthcoming.

The news came as a result of poor fourth-quarter results turned in by the company, with total revenues for the second quarter of 2007 expected to be between $13.3 million and $13.5 million. Approximately $3.6 million to $3.8 million is expected to be recognized as second quarter license revenue.

Fields, trying to put a positive spin on the underwhelming business, stated that “We are encouraged by the momentum of the core business and we remain committed to the goal we set at the beginning of the year to grow profitably…”

To this end, Fields and Kana reported upward trends such as an increase of medium- sized deals (license or OnDemand transactions of $100,000 to $800,000) and that the number of transactions above $1 million in the pipeline grew year-over-year. Read more

The folks at Maximizer Software Inc., provider of Customer Relationship Management software applications, have announced the signing of a new strategic agreement with ES Research Group.

ESR is touted as a sales effectiveness and performance research firm which assists companies in evaluating, implementing and measuring sales performance programs. Maximizer and ES Research will “cooperate to expand the ecosystem of software options and sales effectiveness and performance services available to American sales leaders.”

ES Research Group will be employing Maximizer CRM in its Certified Measurement Program (ESR/CMP). The certification program reportedly represents the nation’s first independent evaluation and approval rating system for measuring the performance of sales training programs offered by training vendors.

Under the terms of the agreement, Maximizer and ESR promise to offer sales leaders in the market for sales training and supporting sales technology enhanced access to the knowledge and services available in today’s crowded vendor market. Read more