| |
 |
 |
Verticals
onDemand Secures $4 Million of Financing from Emergence Capital
Partners
Verticals
onDemand, a provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM solutions
for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, has secured $4
million of funding from Emergence Capital Partners. This latest
funding for Verticals onDemand will be used to accelerate the growth
of the company's flagship VBioPharma SaaS CRM application in the
life sciences market and to expand the product footprint into other
vertical markets. Interest in VBioPharma from large, global pharmaceutical
and biotechnology companies and emerging market leaders has grown
sharply this year as companies realize the value of a vertical CRM
product built on a flexible, scalable platform.
Amdocs and IBM Introduce Unified Customer
Relationship and Data Management Solution
Amdocs
and IBM have entered into an alliance and original equipment manufacturer
agreement under which Amdocs will embed the IBM DB2 Data Server
and the IBM Optim Data Growth solutions with Amdocs' customer management
solutions. This new solution will help companies improve the customer
experience and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by maximizing
overall application performance and availability, while significantly
reducing storage and other hardware costs.
Striata
Introduces Innovative Email Marketing to Online Bill Pay Customers
Striata,
an international provider of ground-breaking eBilling applications,
revealed that they have introduced their innovative electronic messaging
solutions that help create dramatic new marketing opportunities
to reach customers who use online bill payment portals. These bill
payment websites have become an expected fixture in the banking,
mortgage, cable and telecommunications industries, and play a vital
role in their overall strategy to reduce costs. Striata's technology
addresses the marketing challenges of online bill payment portals
by turning simple, plain text payment confirmation emails into a
significant revenue-generating marketing channel.
Thailand's Largest Wireless Operator
Signs Consulting Contracts With Convergys
Convergys,
a provider of relationship management solutions, announced that
it has signed two transformational consulting contracts with Advanced
Info Service PLC (AIS), the largest wireless operator in Thailand.
Under the terms of the multi-year contracts, Convergys will provide
advisory services to transform AIS' customer relationships. AIS
will use Convergys' solutions and consulting methodologies to reduce
churn, retain customers longer, and increase sales, turning the
contact center into a sales and service center. An important relationship
management tool, Convergys' Dynamic Decisioning Solution will be
a key component of the solution allowing customer service agents
to provide consistent and proactive care to AIS customers.
|
| |
 |
|
Don't
Miss SupportIndustry.com's Featured Webinar:
Proving
the Business Case for Implementing the IT Service Catalog
and CMDB Together
Thursday,
July 17, 2008, 11:00am PT/2:00pm ET
Many
organizations recognize the benefits of ITIL, but struggle
with how to effectively and practically implement it
within their service organization. Following an ITSM
Roadmap can help. This SupportIndustry.com webinar,
conducted by Pete McGarahan and FrontRange Solutions,
will examine the business case and business value for
implementing an IT Service Catalog, in conjunction with
the CMDB, as a core part of your service management
implementation.
Register
Today!
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Organizations
Lacking in Customer Experience Management Capabilities
ciboodle, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sword Group and provider
of customer-oriented business software and services, is a sponsor
of the customer experience management benchmark study released this
week by Ventana Research. The survey of more than 250 companies
from around the world evaluated the maturity of customer experience
management and found that only 12 percent of organizations are truly
mature in their focus on ensuring the optimal customer experience.
On the surface, the research results show a high degree of understanding
of the customer experience management as a serious business strategy,
with more than half the participants identifying the term as the
process of improving customer interactions and a quarter recognizing
it as a strategy for influencing customer behavior.
In the study, key themes emerged around multiple channels, the single
customer view and the agent desktop:
-- Multi channel: The Ventana study found that
nearly all interactions occur through a customer service agent in
a call center or through the Web, and the research shows that customers
are less than satisfied with the results of their calls. Few participants
reported that issues usually are resolved during the first call.
And despite the growing prevalence of multi-channel customer service
amongst the organizations surveyed, less than a quarter of organizations
record handoffs between communication channels, and only about two-thirds
are capable of tracking interactions across channels.
-- Single customer view: Creating a single, comprehensive
(or 360-degree) view of the customer is an objective that companies
have talked about for many years. Yet the Ventana study shows that
it remains a dream for most organizations — barely a third
companies reported that they have currently achieved this.
-- Agent desktop: More than one-third of the organizations
participating in the research said they intend to upgrade the desktop
technology on which agents rely in the next 12 months. Only about
one-third of respondents said their current desktop provides agents
with relevant information that depends on the caller's profile and
circumstances.
More...
The Aim of Behavioral Targeting
Why isn't behavioral targeting a hit with advertisers? After all,
behavioral targeting offers many potential benefits:
- For advertisers,
effective behavioral targeting leads to ad campaigns that are
more likely to sway their audience.
- For publishers,
it can mean making more money from undersold or unsold ad inventory.
- For the public,
it means the ad-supported Internet might become more relevant.
So, while the
promise of behavioral targeting is huge, it's overdue. eMarketer
estimates that US spending for behaviorally targeted online advertising
will reach only $775 million in 2008.
The growth of
behaviorally targeted online advertising has been delayed by incomplete
development of technology, brand marketers that prefer to have their
ads appear with relevant content and concerns over violating consumer
privacy, says eMarketer. But a number of things are changing.
In fact, eMarketer
projects that behaviorally targeted ad spending will reach $4.4
billion by the end of 2012. Behavioral targeting segments the audience
based on observed and measured data, such as the pages or sites
users visit, content viewed, search queries entered, ads clicked,
information share on social networks and products placed in online
shopping carts. This data is combined with the time, length and
frequency of visits.
Behavioral targeting
is getting increasing attention from advertisers, publishers, the
public, politicians and mainstream media. For now, though, it contributes
little to total US Internet ad spending -- only 3% for 2008.
Nearly one in
10 content-site ad dollars will flow from behaviorally targeted
advertising in 2008. That will rise to roughly one in four by the
end of 2012.
More...
Contact Center Pricing and Attrition Levels Worrying Outsourcing
Providers
The proliferation of new contact center delivery locations globally
has done little to allay fears of wide-spread price and attrition
increases for outsourcing vendors. In its most recent strategic
focus report, "Trends in Global Contact Center Outsourcing
Pricing and Attrition", independent market analyst Datamonitor
illustrates some of the key challenges facing outsourcers in key
onshore / offshore delivery markets and highlights strategies that
may be deployed to counter these problems.
Among the key domestic markets from where contact center outsourcing
services are delivered, Datamonitor estimates that the UK, the Netherlands
and France rank among the most expensive in terms of fully-loaded
price per agent per hour (including wages, benefits, telephony /
technology, property, mark-up and other expenses). However, Datamonitor
also notes that while these markets are among the most expensive
in which to deal, there are several trends that vendors may face
when dealing across established onshore markets.
Among offshore markets, Canada remains the most expensive, while
Colombia, Philippines and India remain low-cost
While most offshore markets have been positioned at a lower level
than most domestic delivery locations, the same cannot be said for
Canada. With an ever-high Canadian dollar pushing up prices, US
outsourcers, long the mainstay of Canada's contact center industry,
have decided to seek new delivery locations. These include traditional
countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, as well as emerging
locations, including Egypt, Malaysia and Colombia.
While contact center agent churn has been characteristic in all
regions of the world, Datamonitor has noted several examples in
which local issues have been pronounced. In India and Mexico, the
presence of opportunities in other industries has been paramount
in prospective contact center agents choosing non-contact center
careers. However, in other markets, such as the Philippines, the
presence of multiple contact center vendors has led to bidding wars
for contact center agents, and has resulted in their switching vendors
at a rapid rate.
Datamonitor's research clearly shows that there is a correlation
between keeping price points stable across delivery markets and
low rates of agent churn.
In order to retain staff and keep attrition a low as possible, contact
center vendors must be able to show their employees that over the
long term, they will be able to glean career opportunities, as opposed
to simply being continually stuck on the telephone. This can be
done by outlining a career path for contact center agents at the
outset of their recruitment, and accentuated by frequent feedback
sessions.
More...
|
 |
| Problem
with 'Social' CRM: Salespeople Want Commissions, not 'Community'
CRM seems like a enterprise application practically crying out for
elements of Web 2.0. After all, sales and marketing are among the
most "social" functions at any company. Yet at least one
publication, Network World, noted that competitive salespeople --
are there any other kind? -- could erode the potential of such networks
if they resist sharing data with colleagues. And it's not just salespeople.
If they're honest, most folks will admit they like communities where
they get more than they give.
Full Article...
Customer Satisfaction Is Needed To Maintain Trust
Disgruntled customers need to know that their complaints are actually
being heard and will only become angrier if they feel they are given
the runaround or can't talk to an actual person. The most important
thing is training. A well-trained, knowledgeable and courteous staff
is a business' first line of defense against losing a customer.
Full
Article...
Social Influence Marketing: The New Way to Win Customers
Don't get us wrong, we're not saying that consumers can't think
for themselves. But they do influence each other when they decide
what to buy. What's changed is that digital behavior has caught
up with offline behavior. Consumers now seek advice through social
networks, prediction markets, micro-blogging, location-based, networked
mobile phone applications and even virtual worlds. The question
is what marketers can do to tap into this phenomenon.
Full
Article...
How to Improve Service with CRM
Despite the common keyword in their names, customer relationship
management (CRM) and customer service technologies don't work together
at most companies in a way that will maximize sales opportunities
and service levels. The key to improving the relationship between
CRM and technologies, is to use CTI (Computer Telephony Integration)
software, which provides the bridge between telephony, data and
agent systems. This enables companies to make use of all their information
and technologies to optimize customer satisfaction, call center
productivity and revenue opportunities.
Full Article...
Is Social Networking KM All Over Again?
Social networking technologies are reaching maturity, and now that
the likes of IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are onto the most proven
and popular capabilities, this is looking like another market set
for consolidation. Still, there are impediments within organizations,
who can't agree on what Enterprise 2.0 means. Still, "Knowledge
Management-Inclined" organizations are far more receptive to
Enterprise 2.0 technologies than those that aren't.
Full
Article...
|
 |
| 2008
Service & Support Metrics Survey Results
Parature and Supportindustry.com
have announced the release of a free white paper outlining the results
of the 2008 Service & Support Metrics Survey. This annual survey
explores the state of enterprise service and support – current
industry trends, future plans, technology adoption, workforce issues,
benchmarking strategies, metrics and other areas.
Get
your copy today!
|
 |
Visit the CRM Solution
Center
CRMindustry.com and KnowledgeStorm have joined forces to offer you access to the CRM Solution Center, a fast, intuitive way to locate, research and qualify potential CRM and IT solutions.
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
Click here to start searching!
White Paper: Improving Customer Service Using Web-based Support Tools
Since a business's Web site is the first place many customers go today when they're in need of service, it's imperative that what they find there -- the search tools, the breadth and depth of content, easy escalation paths, the tools that aid in speedy resolution -- meets their needs. Each visit presents the business with the opportunity to impress and influence existing and potential customers.
This informative white paper from SupportIndustry.com examines the latest trends and technologies in using Web-based support tools to improve customer service.
Click here to find out more!
|
 |
| Manage
Your e.Newsletter Subscription!
Log-on
to the member's only
page and you can to change newsletter formats, remove yourself
from the list, or update your member profile.
Editorial suggestions, feedback & comments:
Carolyn Healey, Editor - chealey@supportindustry.com
Advertising Information:
adinfo@supportindustry.com
Thank you for reading CRMINDUSTRY.COM's
weekly newsletter!
Copyright © 2008, crmindustry.com
|
 |
 |
CRMindustry.com
3056 Calle Rosales
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
ph. 805.569.5761
|
|
