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FrontRange Solutions Introduces GoldMine Premium Edition
FrontRange Solutions, an established global provider in CRM, IT Service Management and Voice applications for the mid-market, has confirmed the availability of GoldMine Premium Edition (PE). This new edition of the GoldMine product line provides a common platform for salesforce automation, direct marketing, customer service and CRM, which offers small and mid-size businesses with a cohesive approach to the full customer lifecycle.
ServicePower Launches ServiceOptimizer
ServicePower, a global developer and supplier of service chain optimization software, has announced the release of ServiceOptimizer, a re-tooled software product that maximizes companies’ efficiency and productivity by streamlining planning, scheduling, service delivery, performance & warranty management. ServicePower designed ServiceOptimizer to meet the increasing demands of mid-to-large size corporations with thousands of field personnel and the demands of the software as a service (SaaS) and outsourcing business, which is a rapidly growing market for ServicePower. This solution was developed to increase revenue, reduce cost, improve customer satisfaction and manage and control visibility for both the corporations and the more than 86,000 independent servicers ServicePower uses to complete jobs on our behalf.
Cybera Unveils SmartView 2.0.0 Customer Management Portal
Cybera, a provider of private IP network solutions for multi-site enterprises, has announced the general availability of SmartView 2.0.0, effective June 1. SmartView 2.0.0, the next generation of Cybera’s customer management portal, assists customers in securely accessing technical details, orders, and billing information pertaining to their Cybera network services -- from any Web-connected browser. On June 1, the service will emerge from beta with several strategic clients and will be freely available to all existing Cybera customers.
Teradata and Protegrity Deliver Security for Consumer Data
Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation, has announced that it has expanded its partnership with Protegrity Corporation to offer Defiance BAR (backup, archive, and recovery) Encryption, a new software solution that protects backed-up and archived data. Defiance BAR Encryption protects sensitive financial, health-care, insurance and other consumer data, as well as intellectual property information and business data, making the encrypted records virtually impenetrable to unauthorized access by those who do not have Defiance BAR Encryption-enabled access to them.
KANA to Acquire eVergance
KANA Software Inc., a provider in multi-channel customer service, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase eVergance Partners, LLC, a management consulting and systems integration firm offering end-to-end consulting services for CRM optimization, knowledge management, and Web self-service deployments. Through this acquisition, KANA will significantly expand its professional services portfolio to meet growing demand for consulting and implementation services.
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| Customer Contact Centers Leaving Cash on the Table
Ventana Research rolls out new research that indicates big opportunities for cost savings, improved effectiveness and enhanced customer service are within reach for contact centers. But the study, “Customer Interaction Technologies,” also reveals that unless centers make better use of innovative technologies and implement new customer-focused measures, it will be difficult to understand and improve performance.
Among the key findings, Ventana Research reveals:
Major Trends will Impact Bottom Line:
- IP Contact Centers on the rise. 36% of respondents have implemented a VoIP-based contact center system (up from 30 percent in 2006 study).
- Virtualization gathering speed. VoIP and other technologies assist cost-effective and smart routing. 21% of the respondents now route to employees in business units outside the contact center, 17% to mobile workers and 10% to home-based workers.
- Cost center to profit center. 35% of centers have trained agents specifically to sell, and 29% say advanced profiling and thorough customer data will increase sales.
New Opportunities through Technology:
- More data, more knowledge. While unstructured data is growing 15-35%, less than 18% of respondents' companies have deployed business intelligence tools to analyze and use the data.
- New channels of communication. Companies are using instant messaging (26%) and video (12%) to communicate with customers, and many are planning proactive outbound contact using text (22%), voice mail (19%) and automatic response to e-mail (45%).
More...
Everything You Need to Know About Email Marketing, You Learned from Your Mother
Tuck your shirt in. Clear your plate. Speak when spoken to. For most people, a mother’s wisdom helped them navigate through life as a child and imparted values that still influence their actions today. On the occasion of the recent Mothers’ Day, marketers would be wise to apply some of mom’s lessons to their email marketing efforts.
- Stand up straight. The way you carry yourself says a lot about the kind of person you are. The same is true in email marketing. Subscribers will judge your email based on what it looks like. The subject line should entice the recipient to open it. The gist of the email should appear “above the fold.” Test your design in a preview pane with images both turned on and off before sending.
- What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too? Following the crowd is tempting, but not always the right thing to do. When building an email list, follow the right path and build a list by asking permission. The best lists require double-opt in permission.
- Mind your manners. No one likes a rude kid. The same is true for email marketers who do not have good unsubscribe practices. Honor unsubscribes promptly and make it easy for subscribers to leave your list.
- If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Most kids need to learn to filter what they say. The same goes for email marketers. Sending an email without having anything relevant to say just isn’t nice. Email only when you have meaningful content that is relevant to your subscribers.
- Don't make that face or it'll freeze in that position. This is one of mom’s favorite sayings when she’s tired of seeing your silly mug. Don’t let your subscribers feel the same way. Sending emails too frequently can result in email fatigue, higher unsubscribes and fewer click-throughs.
- Speak when spoken to. Nothing annoys a mom more than a child who doesn’t acknowledge an adult. Subscribers feel the same way when they get the same email everyone else does. Use the customer data you have to personalize emails -- even if it’s just greeting someone by name.
- Clean your room. Cleanliness was important to mom, and it’s important to ISPs too. Sending email to bad addresses and expired domains can result in ISPs blocking your email. Review your email list regularly. Fix typos and syntax errors and remove bad or bogus addresses immediately.
- Finish your dinner. Why take a plateful if you’re not going to finish it? Likewise, why implement an email program if you’re not going to pay attention to delivery? A few best practices can keep your email from being filtered to the junk file. Keep the “from address” consistent and from a recognizable person or company, use spell checker and avoid words that trigger spam filters.
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Need for Improved Data Discovery and Access
Noetix Corp., a software provider that automatically generates business intelligence (BI) content from enterprise applications, has revealed the results of a nationwide market survey indicating that improvements to data discovery and access will accelerate the impact that BI can have on business success.
Noetix sponsored the survey conducted by Unisphere Research to better understand the adoption and use of front-end BI tools. The majority of respondents were database or systems administrators from a wide range of industries and companies of all sizes.
The survey results indicated that the discovery of relevant data sources and access to those data sources are considered key pieces of BI functionality. More than one-third of the respondents indicated that they found it difficult or very difficult to locate the data they need for analytic applications. More than a quarter said that once target data was located, it was difficult to then access that data. Respondents remarked that the single most important functionality for a BI tool was ease in finding relevant data.
According to the survey, the ability to integrate data from disparate applications into a single report was also called out as a key feature for BI applications. Approximately 77 percent of the respondents said the ability to report from multiple applications and make the data available from one report is somewhat to very important.
Companies reported that they use a wide range of metrics to gauge ROI for BI. Of all the metrics used, analyst productivity and quality of the decisions made were listed as the most important. The key to improving ROI for end users is identifying tools that are easy to use and provide easier to access, relevant data.
More...
Customer-Centricity Key to Determining Financial Services Innovation
Among financial services companies, top financial performers are not necessarily the top innovators, journalists said in a new survey released by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and global public relations firm Manning Selvage & Lee (MS&L). The study, which asked 151 journalists questions about financial services industry leaders in performance and innovation, was part of Roper’s annual Media Perspectives of Financial Journalist’s survey. All reporters surveyed cover the financial services industry.
According to the survey, Goldman Sachs is the clear leader in expected financial performance. When asked what financial services company is most likely to produce the greatest returns to its shareholders in the next five years, 13 percent of those polled named Goldman Sachs; nine percent named Citibank/Citigroup, and six percent said Fidelity Investments. Further down on the list were Bank of America (5%), Charles Schwab (4%) and Wells Fargo (3%). But when asked to name financial services firms most likely to create the next major innovation in the industry, the answers were quite different, almost in reverse order: Fidelity Investments topped the list at 13% of respondents; Charles Schwab at 10%, and Citibank/Citicorp at 6%. Goldman Sachs, the firm with the best perceived financial performance, was at the bottom of the top five (3%).
According to those polled, the companies expected to create the next major innovation will do so based on a history of creating new products (17%), a strong, assertive, flexible management style (15%), and a culture of being forward-thinking and taking risks (13%). Other top answers included being client-centric and responsive to clients’ needs (6%) and financial stability/the ability to invest in new innovations (also 6%). Strong performers are those that are well managed and have aggressive management (12%), have a high growth rate or a history of fast growth (12%) and a high return on capital (9%).
A review of the journalists’ responses suggest that strong financial performers focus on the company –- namely, its growth and global scope –- while innovative companies focus on the customer. Being client-centric, respondents said, is a key to innovation, whether it is through filling a customer need, being more accessible, using the Internet to reach the customer or responding to issues that they care about. Journalists also made specific mention of efforts to meet consumer-level needs as an added key to innovation.
The importance of the consumer in today’s world has gotten considerable attention over the past several months. In December, Time magazine named “You” as its 2006 Person of the Year, based on the impact of user-generated content and on consumers’ ability to seize the reins of global media. Major companies are asking consumers to create their commercials, design their cars and supplement their news feeds, and consumers are passionately taking part.
More...
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| A New Knowledge Management Paradigm
For companies that sell into a competitive market, purchase decisions often hinge upon customer service quality. Differentiating on service levels in the face of rapid growth, however, especially when acquisitions are involved, can be challenging. Service call volumes increase, and the company must integrate the support operations of acquired companies, all while improving support delivery and customer satisfaction. Other challenges also exist -- for many industries, customers are very technically savvy and prefer having the resources available to solve problems themselves. From a customer satisfaction and an efficiency standpoint, these self-service options become even more critical.
Full Article...
CDI Milestones on the MDM Roadmap, Part 1
Enterprise architects and project leaders are concerned about the product strategy roadmaps of the major customer data integration (CDI) and master data management (MDM) vendors. Keeping in spirit with the "CDI-MDM is a journey" adage, this article presents CDI-MDM milestones as a series of strategic planning assumptions to assist IT organizations and vendors in coping with the flux and churn of the solutions landscape.
Full Article...
Managing Remote Call Center Agents: 14 Best Practices
Many organizations are embracing the concept of remote call center agents, but the most significant concern is how to manage these agents without personal contact from the call center supervisor. This article outlines best practices for hiring and managing remote staff in the call center.
Full Article...
Software 2007: 'Software As A Service Is Evolving'
In contrast with the mid-20th century mainframe model championed by IBM and the late 20th century client-server paradigm advanced by the likes of Microsoft and Oracle, software has evolved into an on-demand service. At a recent conference, Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff and representatives from FedEx, Unilever, Motorola, and Walt Disney highlight their success with on-demand services. Yet Benioff acknowledged that when it comes to selling to large enterprises, Salesforce's on-demand charms don't necessarily entice CIOs. For that, his company has a traditional enterprise sales force that goes before hard-to-get IT leaders on bended knee, not unlike Oracle.
Full Article...
Visitor Segmentation Offers Target Marketing Insight
Different strokes for different folks. We all know the concept. The question for Web marketers and anyone in charge of converting online shoppers into online buyers is, how do we know which strokes suit which folks? The key is finding common groups of visitors, analyzing their actions, and targeting your offers to each group. It might sound complicated, but it doesn't have to be.
Full Article...
Authentic Communications
"Online communities and social networks aren't democracies," says Rob Key, CEO of Converseon. "They're oligarchies. And marketers can't just steamroll their way in." This article provides a few tips for avoiding the "steamroller" approach to marketing and improving the authenticity of your communications.
Full Article...
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|  Coolhunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing
by Peter A. Gloor
What do the iPod, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube all have in common? They're fresh, they're hot, and most importantly -- they're cool. But while many companies embark on the eternal quest for the next big thing, very few know how to actually find it. Coolhunting will take you into the very heart of the search and show you how to find trendsetters, spot innovations, and turn brilliant ideas into hot new trends.
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more information, or to order your copy...
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http://www.crmindustry.com/
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| Visit the CRM Solution Center
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The CRM Solution Center provides you unlimited access to white papers, case studies, detailed product information and more. Registration is quick and easy -- in 30 seconds or less, you will be on your way to accessing this valuable resource
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