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Dell,
Intuit Combo Simplifies Retail Operations
Independent retailers can manage inventory, sales transactions and
customer information easily and affordably using two new hardware/software
solutions announced by Dell and Intuit. The two bundled offerings,
available direct from Dell starting at $3,739, include an OptiPlex
PC, QuickBooks Point of Sale software from Intuit and a complete
set of retail hardware, such as a receipt printer, bar code scanner,
credit card reader and cash drawer. All are supported by Dell, with
Intuit providing software support. QuickBooks Point of Sale software
tracks inventory, sales and customer information, and provides useful
reports to help independent business retailers manage their business
better, and is designed for self-installation, without the need
of a consultant.
KANA Releases Agent IQ For Retail Banking
KANA, a provider of knowledge powered CRM applications, has announced
the availability of Agent IQ for Retail Banking, an agent facing
application that provides guided service resolution capability to
front office customer-service agents to quickly and accurately resolve
customer requests at a lower overall cost. The KANA Agent IQ for
Retail Banking solution is part of KANA's Knowledge-Powered Service
approach to providing customized solutions that address the specific
pain points of key vertical markets. The company also announced
customized solutions for the telecommunications industry, customer-facing
retail banking and branch banking. Agent IQ for Retail Banking guides
customer-service agents through the problem resolution process,
which is the most expensive part of providing customer service,
thereby enabling agents to resolve more customer inquiries, more
accurately, resulting in higher overall customer satisfaction at
a reduced cost.
Visa Creates Web-Based Service for Commercial Payment Data
Visa USA has announced the availability of Visa Information Management,
a Web portal service that offers organizations increased visibility
of their procurement and payment data and enhanced reporting tools
for Visa commercial transactions. The new offering, which serves
as a secure, centralized online repository for virtually all payment-related
data, is designed to help both the private and public sector better
manage information, utilize payment-related data and make more effective
decisions that ultimately improve the bottom-line. The Visa Information
Management portal provides Visa's financial institutions with a
sophisticated Web-service technology that makes it easier for their
business customers to integrate Visa reporting tools into existing
organizational processes and improve their procurement and payment
procedures. The service, which can be used either on its own or
in conjunction with custom developed solutions from Visa's leading
financial institutions, helps businesses and government agencies
achieve greater efficiency and lower their administrative overheads.
Gryphon
Networks Introduces Exemption Advisor
Gryphon Networks, a provider of automated Do Not Call (DNC) and
outbound call management services, has announced the release of
Exemption Advisor, a powerful addition to the Gryphon Networks Compliance
Suite of outbound calling technologies. Exemption Advisor significantly
increases the effectiveness of sales campaigns while providing comprehensive
management of federal, state and internal Do Not Call lists. Gryphon
Networks Exemption Advisor automatically identifies dialed numbers
that qualify as an exemption under state and federal DNC rules,
dramatically reducing the amount of time, resources, and expertise
involved with checking millions of transactions against internal
customer data. Exemption Advisor ensures that only lawful calls
are placed to numbers otherwise restricted by their presence on
state or federal Do Not Call lists.
Amodat Announces Mobile CRM for Field Reps
Amodat Ltd., a provider of wireless mobile workforce solutions,
has announced Amodat Mobile CRM – a new online/offline mobile
application for CRM. Amodat Mobile CRM provides sales and marketing
professionals with immediate access to key customer information
on PDAs, regardless of network availability. Amodat Mobile CRM enables
field reps to manage their accounts, contacts, forecast, activities
and opportunities, and to collect, update and store key client information
from virtually anywhere in the field. A combination of intelligent
synchronization protocols and data compression enables fast and
efficient wireless data transmission. The system shortens response
time to customer needs and reduces the cost of customer care. It
manages – in the field – anything that may be connected
to customer calls, account history, forecasting, opportunities and
other customer-management related activities.
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| Customer
Service E-Mail in a "Do Not Call" World
By
Marilynne Rudick and Leslie O'Flahavan, E-WRITE
Now's
a good time to take a second look at customer service
e-mail, to recognize that it offers many marketing opportunities.
Yes, millions of people have cut off marketers’
access by saying, "Don't call me." But at
the same time, a growing number of customers are e-mailing
companies for support, help, or information. In doing
so, these customers are giving permission -- sometimes
begging companies -- to contact them. When a customer
e-mails you, he's initiated a dialogue. Okay, maybe
he's e-mailed you to complain. But any communication
from a customer gives you an opportunity to strengthen
your business relationship.
Full
Article...
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| Holiday
Shoppers Beat Economic Blues
Sales promotions, well-stocked shelves and reasonable prices helped
holiday shoppers in the U.S. and U.K. overcome any lingering doubts
about whether to open their wallets in an uncertain economy, according
to a study just released by Accenture.
The
survey of nearly 1,300 shoppers found that about two-thirds of respondents
(65 percent) said they spent the same as or slightly more than they
did last year on holiday purchases. Forty percent of all respondents
reported spending $500 or more on holiday gifts this year, while
37 percent spent $200 - $499. U.K. respondents mirrored this spending
pattern.
In-store
sales were a big driver of shopping traffic, with 79 percent of
respondents saying their purchasing choices were either very or
somewhat influenced by retailers' promotions.
A
large majority (89 percent) of respondents said all or many of the
items they were looking for in stores were in stock and available
for purchase, and 86 percent said they found that prices were what
they expected or more reasonable than they expected. About a third
(35 percent) said they would have bought more if prices had been
better, and 18 percent said more interesting products might have
prompted them to buy more.
Web
sites continued to offer an alternative shopping venue. Twenty-eight
percent said they shopped online the same amount as last year. Of
those shoppers who used online stores more than last year, convenience
was the main reason (79 percent), followed by avoiding crowded malls
(59 percent). More than half (56 percent) of these respondents said
they found better prices online. Slightly more than half (53 percent)
said they did not increase their online shopping this year over
last. When asked why they did not go online for holiday shopping,
they cited a preference for physical stores, shipping charges and
concern about credit card fraud.
On
another bright note for bricks-and-mortar retailers, 65 percent
of respondents reported that they spent most of their money in physical
stores. The Internet followed, at 25 percent, with catalogs a distant
third, at 5 percent. Moreover, almost two-thirds (63 percent) said
stores were staffed well or had staff who could help them.
More...
Online Order Abandonment Remains Key Issue
Online order abandonment remains a key issue for marketers, according
to a new study from Kefta Inc., a provider of online revenue acceleration
solutions. Between 50% and 90% of prospects who start an order —
either choosing item for their shopping cart or starting a financial
application — leave the web site before completing it.
Other
findings:
- Most
prospects that do not complete the order do have an interest in
becoming customers. At least two-thirds of the prospects surveyed
said that they are serious about making a purchase.
- Usability
is not the primary source of abandonment. Less than 10% of prospects
left the site because the ordering process was too complicated.
- The
most often mentioned reasons for abandonment are: not a good time
to buy, price, uncomfortable buying online, and needing more information
or help.
More...
US
Retail Banks to Lavish $1.4B on Revamping Branches
Following in the wake of UK firms, US banks are set to drastically
transform their branches in an effort to turn them into financial
centers for high-value sales and advice, reveals a new report by
Datamonitor. The report estimates that approximately 30,000 (26%)
US bank branches will be renewed by 2006. Key IT initiatives involve
replacing legacy networking infrastructures and developing a next-generation,
CRM-enabled branch desktop, with IT spending expected to reach $1.4b
by 2006.
The
rate of branch renewal is expected to be highest in the UK, France
and Benelux, with top-tier banks expected to be more aggressive
in their rollout. For the customer, branch renewal is likely to
dramatically transform the traditional banking experience. Gone
will be the glass divide. Self service stations will be made available
for them to process simple transactions. Wireless technologies will
become an increasingly important part of the branch infrastructure
and layout, giving staff the ability to move freely within the branch
to service customers.
Only
a few years ago, the advent of the Internet and other, fully automated
channels was widely believed to spell the end of branches. Once
familiar with these new channels, customers were expected to favor
the convenience and cheaper products they offered and the 24/7 access
to the bank. Consequently, as banks poured vast amounts of money
into the development of new channels, such as the Internet, the
branch was neglected in investment terms.
Today
the emerging picture is decidedly different. Not only are branches
still widely used by customers, but banks are realizing the Internet
may not lend itself to selling high-value or complex products. To
optimize the use of branches within a multichannel context, banks
will aim to leverage the face-to-face nature of interactions in
the branch by turning branches into sales and services centers,
while automating the greatest possible amount of simple transactions.
The
teller platform is at the core of US banks' branch renewal efforts.
Datamonitor believes that banks are focused on browser-enabling
the teller front end and allowing for greater process automation,
notably through automated product origination and check imaging.
That said, banks' aim of turning branches into sales centers is
also leading to increased investment in CRM for the tellers, giving
them access to all relevant sales and servicing tools, as well as
to all customer data and product information.
More...
Customer Trust a Priority For Construction Industry
When choosing a construction firm, customers say that trust and
integrity are more influential than the price of the bid, according
to a newly released Intuit Construction Business Solutions study.
The study found these qualities to be especially important with
residential customers, 43 percent of whom cited trust as the number
one reason they selected a particular construction firm.
Personality
and professionalism also count. More than 80 percent of respondents
cited these characteristics as important factors in selecting a
firm. These qualities, along with trade skill sets, contribute to
a contractor's reputation and can mean the difference between success
and failure when dealing with customers. When asked how they had
heard about the firms they hired, more than 75 percent of respondents
from each group favored word-of-mouth over telephone directory and
Web research.
The
study found that contractors are generally succeeding in keeping
their customers happy. The survey revealed:
- 94
percent of businesses would recommend their construction firm.
- 84
percent of homeowners said they would recommend their contractor.
- Approximately
60 percent of those commercial and residential customers trust
the firms with which they hired/do business.
Commercial
and residential customers also agreed on their main reasons for
dissatisfaction. A total of 56 percent of residential and 40 percent
of commercial customers cited job quality as their primary reason
for dissatisfaction. Other key factors included low productivity
and efficiency, and both groups felt that construction firms need
to do a better job communicating with them. In fact, 41 percent
of commercial businesses wanted more clarity and promptness in the
communications from their construction firm.
More...
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| Is
CRM Innovation Dead?
The CRM applications market is maturing, and it seems the speed
of change has slowed dramatically over the past year to 18 months.
Have the small vendors stopped innovating? Or have they all been
acquired, or their ideas co-opted, by the larger vendors? According
to analysts, there are areas of innovation to watch, including service-oriented
architectures, integration, interoperability, self-service, e-service
and customer analytics.
Full
Article...
Best Practices for a Portal Implementation Project
An enterprise portal implementation doesn't always fit the mold
of your standard IT project. Organizations failing to recognize
this can see their portal projects dragged down, thrown off schedule,
or fail to meet corporate expectations for implementation cost efficiency.
Considering a typical portal implementation can be more than $250,000,
mistakes can be costly. This article outlines portal implementation
best practices that can help you avoid many of the common portal
project sinkholes.
Full Article...
To Boldly Go Where No Center Has Gone Before
After several years of retrenchment and economic malaise, it may
seem like the call center industry is in the doldrums, with mature
and well-tested technologies taking the lion's share of the attention
and purchasing dollars. That may be true, but with the economy looking
a little better, we can look over the horizon and see that several
interesting developments are coming our way. Tools that have flash
and panache are moving from the realm of marketing hype into the
hands of early adopters. From there, it's just a short leap before
they become the technology of the every day.
By far the most talked-about
set of next-gen tools is Voice-over-IP. Does it have a place in
call centers? Yes. Is there a consensus about what that place is,
and how it will be used? No. There seem to be two emerging camps
that have different views of how IP will make itself felt in the
center.
Full
Article...
Verizon Bets On Self-Service
Competition for customers is at a fever pitch among cell-phone companies,
with Cingular Wireless' $27 billion bid last week to acquire AT&T
Wireless making the most noise in the industry. Meanwhile, Verizon
Wireless views a newly revamped online customer-service site as
a valuable tool for improving relationships with some 30 million
subscribers.
So far, the service is
attracting existing subscribers and has helped increase the number
of bills paid online, which cuts customer-support costs and speeds
revenue flow. Since going live with the site in September, Verizon
has doubled the number of customers who are registered for online
customer service and is on track to book more than $2 billion in
online bill payments during the first year of the revamped site,
more than double the amount paid online last year.
Full
Article...
Co-creating Value With Your Customers
Value creation, the central focus of managerial activity, is undergoing
rapid change. The dominant, traditional assumptions are that the
company and consumers have distinct roles, while businesses offer
products and services that hold value and exchange that value with
consumers. Companies try to understand customer needs and manipulate
demand to suit their offerings. The market was the exchange of this
value from the producer to the consumer. In this way, value creation
occurred inside companies and outside of markets.
These assumptions are
now being challenged. Ubiquitous connectivity and the convergence
of technologies and industries are forcing a different basis for
value creation. The consumer is active and engaged, rather than
a passive listener. The new assumptions are that she wants to be
involved in constructing her own experience, and that her experience
is the source of value. Companies can no longer hope to create products
and exchange value as they've done, but instead have to co-create
value at the point of exchange with customers. This process is distinctly
different from traditional forms of customer focus. It isn't about
the company learning more about customers so it can target them
better, but about thinking of customers as equal problem solvers.
Full
Article...
The Right Way to Kill a Bad Brand
In the 1930s, Neil McElroy was a rookie manager who supervised the
advertising for Camay soap at Procter & Gamble. The consumer
products giant ignored Camay but lavished money and attention on
its flagship product, Ivory. Naturally, Ivory stayed the leader
while Camay struggled for survival. Dismayed, McElroy drafted a
three-page internal memo in May 1931. He argued that P&G should
switch to a brand-based management system. Only then would each
of its brands have a dedicated budget and managerial team and a
fair shot at success in the marketplace.
McElroy rose to head
P&G in 1948, and his memo became the basis on which most corporations,
including P&G, have managed brands ever since. In it, McElroy
posited that the company's brands would fight with each other for
both resources and market share. Each "brand man's" objective
would be to ensure that his brand became a winner even if that happened
at the expense of the business's other brands. However, McElroy
did not carry the argument to its logical end. The memo stopped
short of articulating what companies should do with losing brands.
Full
Article...
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|  Profitable
Growth is Everyone's Business: Ten Tools You Can Use Monday Morning
by Ram Charan
Ram
Charan, an advisor to CEOs and executives of startups and Fortune
500 companies, says he wants your company to consistently hit home
runs when it comes to growth. You may be able to start swinging
right away using back-to-basics suggestions he describes here. CEOs
and managers alike, he believes, can realistically make small changes
in their company's approach to sustainable growth by focusing on
daily activities and such basics as evaluating risk, developing
a "growth budget," and targeting upstream marketing opportunities.
The book encourages readers to ask tougher questions and then dig
deeper to find the solutions internally.
For
more information, or to order your copy...
You can find more industry sepcific
books at our web site:
http://www.crmindustry.com/
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| Free
Resource Paper: CRM From the Inside Out
Before you impress your customers with the capabilities in new CRM
apps, you better convince your employees. Learn what factors threaten
your ability to fully leverage your CRM implementation.
Get your free copy!
http://www.crmindustry.com
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