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SAP Unveils On-Demand Business ByDesign Apps
SAP AG has unveiled SAP Business ByDesign, an on-demand business software solution specifically addressing a new market of prospective, fast-growing midsize customers. Designed around four key principles -- completeness, ease of use, adaptability and significantly cutting total cost of ownership (TCO) -- SAP Business ByDesign delivers an on-demand software solution with built-in service and support. It offers a personalized trial for invited customers to explore, evaluate and experience the solution, and competitive pricing at $149 per month per user, with lower price points for efficiency users.
The Walt Disney Internet Group Selects Omniture SiteCatalyst
Omniture Inc., a provider of online business optimization software, has announced that the Walt Disney Internet Group has selected Omniture’s web analytics technology for the company's online properties, including ABC.com, Disney.com, DisneyParks.com, ESPN.com and Movies.com. Omniture will provide the Walt Disney Internet Group with comprehensive online business optimization capabilities that include Omniture SiteCatalyst, Omniture Discover and Omniture SearchCenter.
Aspect Software Launches PerformanceEdge
Aspect Software Inc. has announced the launch of PerformanceEdge, a contact center optimization suite that synchronizes workforce management, recording and quality management, performance management, campaign management, and coaching and e-learning to holistically improve business performance. By bringing critical performance optimization functionality together, PerformanceEdge enables businesses to control costs, enhance service levels and align contact center performance with strategic company goals.
GoldMine Premium Edition 8.0.1 Delivers Complete CRM Lifecycle
FrontRange Solutions has delivered a GoldMine Premium Edition software update that provides compelling Customer Service and Support features and improved support for Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. GoldMine Premium Edition 8.0.1, already widely adopted for its new user interface, links for recently viewed items, improved search capabilities and other enhancements, addresses customer requests for further usability and performance with over 120 product enhancements, most notably Microsoft Office 2007 support and installation improvements, as well as the enhanced user interface and look and feel.
Pitney Bowes’ Group 1 Software Introduces Latest Version of CDQ Platform
Pitney Bowes has announced that its Group 1 Software subsidiary has released the latest version of its Customer Data Quality (CDQ) Platform for enabling more effective decision making, stronger customer relationships, and increased revenue based on a single, enterprise-wide view of customer information. In a typical enterprise business, customer data is fragmented across multiple systems and departments. Group 1 Software’s CDQ Platform 5.0 provides a robust and modular solution for collecting, cleansing, appending, distributing and reporting on customer information from across the enterprise. The Customer Data Quality Platform is the key to unlocking customer data for revenue generation and growth.
ClearMeeting Delivers No Frills Web Conferencing for Salesforce.com’s AppExchange
ClearMeeting, the no frills Web conferencing company, has announced the availability of ClearMeeting SA (the Sales Accelerator edition of ClearMeeting) for salesforce.com's AppExchange. Salesforce.com customers can now deploy ClearMeeting SA within their Salesforce implementation to dramatically improve results when prospecting and giving pitches by telephone. A powerful selling tool, ClearMeeting SA follows a low-tech, basic approach to reach prospects and customers regardless of their computer type or technical ability.
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Visit the CRMindustry.com Blog CRMindustry.com has launched a new blog to provide our members with another way stay on top of the customer relationship management industry. The blog, updated at least once a week, is dedicated to covering the latest topics related marketing, sales, service, support and much more. Check out the CRMindustry.com Blog today!
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| Collaboration and Standardization are Key Elements to Shaving Marketing Costs
The spend category of marketing is somewhat different from other indirect categories. Traditionally, marketers spare no expense to achieve high quality, superior service, and consistency in their marketing efforts. Marketing activities are ideally considered “revenue-generating,” so cost is not always top of mind. This where procurement, together with marketing, can develop strategies to improve control, visibility, and even performance. A new Aberdeen report, “Marketing Materials and Services Spend,” explores marketing spend and uncovers various challenges and strategies that Best-in-Class enterprises have utilized to achieve superior performance.
Aberdeen evaluated the survey responses of approximately 290 enterprises, noting Best-in-Class companies for their higher levels of collaboration between procurement and marketing. These top-performing organizations also experience the following advantages:
- an average of 14.7% savings on the five categories of marketing spend (creative/marketing services, direct mail, branded/promotional merchandise, printed materials, and media space), in comparison to 7.8% for all other enterprises.
- A compliance rate that is 77.5% higher than the average enterprise (supplier compliance to negotiated contracts, SLAs).
- A 37% lower rate of re-orders for marketing materials in comparison to all other enterprises.
Competitive Maturity Assessment Survey results show that firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared several common characteristics, such as:
- Sixty-seven percent of Best-in-Class organizations utilize a competitive bidding process for various marketing categories.
- Approximately 50% have been able to aggregate and centralize enterprise-wide spend on marketing materials and services.
- Sixty-four percent of Best-in-Class enterprises have established standardized processes and policies on procurement of marketing materials and services.
According to Aberdeen’s research, Best-in-Class performance enterprises must:
- Streamline procurement processes and encourage collaboration between procurement and marketing groups.
- Initiate the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for each category, or a combination of categories, depending on supplier capabilities.
- Identify current marketing suppliers and optimize this supply base to better understand the marketing supply chain.
- Track savings captured and formulate a plan for realization of savings or reinvestment into other marketing areas.
- Consider the usage of technology and/or service provider to improve control and overall management of the marketing category.
More...
Web Self-Service is High on the Agenda for European Contact Centers
In a recent survey conducted by online customer service solutions provider Eptica, web self-service was stated as the feature that most interested businesses in the future development of their customer contact centers. Over 63% of respondents expressed an interest in Web solutions ahead of other channels such as SMS and chat.
Over 86% of respondents said they anticipate their customers’ requirements by learning from in-bound queries and asking customers direct through surveys and interviews. Respondents further say that 56% of their customers view consistency, accuracy and speed of response to be the key components of successful online customer service.
Web self-service puts powerful, intelligent functionality in the hands of customers so that they can quickly access relevant answers. However, Eptica warns that a successful online customer service strategy does not focus solely on directing customers to the web to drive down costs and reduce call centre agent hours. It is more about giving the customer options to service their own needs through the channel of their choice and providing consistency across these channels.
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Report Reveals Top Vendors in CRM Market
Retaining clients, maintaining good relationships and growing customer numbers is crucial to business. In working towards this, independent market analyst Datamonitor estimates global enterprise spend on CRM application licenses will hit US$6.6 billion by year end 2012. Clearly, for vendors operating in this space, the stakes for the license revenues alone are high. However, Datamonitor’s new report which assesses the strengths and weaknesses of leading CRM vendors “Decision Matrix: Selecting a CRM Vendor,” suggests that despite numerous players operating in this highly competitive space, just two names might be on many IT decision-makers’ shortlists.
Although it says the CRM applications market is very competitive and there are plenty of players who can challenge the current leaders in specific circumstances, Datamonitor considers Oracle and SAP as the leading solution providers deserving a place on most procurement shortlists. According to Datamonitor, both vendors provide complete solutions replete with functionality, integrate CRM with new communication technologies and offer full flexibility of deployment options, from conventional on-premise, through to variations of hosted and on-demand solutions.
Nevertheless, Datamonitor believes Oracle should be considered the clear leader in the CRM application market. Having augmented its CRM product line through the acquisition of Siebel and PeopleSoft, Oracle now commands a strong portfolio of CRM solutions. Datamonitor’s analysis reveals that Oracle Siebel CRM sets quality standards in terms of technology and execution, although Oracle E-Business Suite CRM and Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM may be more suitable, depending on the functional requirements, specific sector demands and the deployment environment required.
According to Datamonitor, if executed well, Oracle’s ambitious maintenance and development roadmap should ensure a market leadership position.
Currently the principal challengers to the leaders, including Chordiant, Infor and Salesforce.com, all offer very good solutions but lack certain elements to compete consistently with the leading duo. More importantly, this group of the market will become more competitive if Microsoft’s forthcoming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 release is a success or if vendors such as RightNow Technologies and Consona improve their standing.
The evolving CRM strategies now demand CRM application solutions that can provide well-rounded suites covering all CRM modules, present a single analytical view of customers across multiple customer interaction channels and that can be rapidly deployed in a variety of deployment methods.
http://www.datamonitor.com
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| The Case for Analytics
In his seminal work, Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology, Thomas Davenport called on us to move beyond mere automation of traditional transactions. Today much of that work has been accomplished, and government is zooming forward with new citizen access and services. Public-sector leadership heeded Davenport's message in the '90s because they had to. Government came under pressure to compete with the private sector in the name of customer service, or politicians would feel the heat. Many governments have more than met the challenge but others still lag.
Full Article...
Customer Vs. Supplier Expectations: Bringing in Value Beyond Just the Widgets
In a highly competitive world where the customer expects to be king, why are so many firms unhappy with the products they purchase, sales staff that over-promise and don’t deliver, and less than optimal after-sales service? In a recent paper, Singapore Management University marketing professor Kapil R. Tuli and Emory University professors Ajay K.Kohli and Sundar G. Bhardwaj shed light on what appears to be a mismatch between customer expectations and what suppliers think their customers want.
Full Article...
Virtual Contact Centers Growing in Popularity
As the demand for quality services that deliver on changing customer needs increases, the virtual contact center is becoming a popular option for its ability to create global visibility and control. With the virtual contact center, Web-based tools make it possible for important tools and reports to be accessed and utilized from any location where there is an Internet connection. Also, because the virtual contact center is Web-based, agents can be located all over the world and businesses can grow their operations without the need to open facilities in physical locations around the world.
Full Article...
Web Analytics Turn Online Visitors Into Paying Customers
VistaPrint Ltd., an online retailer that provides graphic design services and custom-printed products, has boosted its customer conversion rate with Web analytics technology that drills down into the most minute details about the 22,000 transactions it processes daily at 18 Web sites. Like many companies that have invested heavily in online sales, Lexington, Mass.-based VistaPrint more than a year ago found itself drowning in weblog data tracked from its online operations. So VistaPrint set out to find a Web analytics package that could test new user interfaces to see whether they could increase conversion rates (the percentage of online visitors who become customers), find out why visitors left the site and determine the exact point where users were dropping off.
Full Article...
Gain the Customer Experience Advantage Over CRM
Rather than bridging gaps between business units and creating a single customer view, CRM has too often created yet another silo with incomplete information. Customer experience management ensures that customer information is consistent across channels and that next steps are guided by segment- or event customer-specific strategies. This article details how to move toward a more holistic approach.
Full Article...
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|  Selling Today: Creating Customer Value
by Gerald Manning, Barry Reece
“Selling Today: Creating Customer Value” offers readers a blend of time-proven fundamentals and new practices needed to succeed in today's information economy. It emphasizes the need for salespeople to be guided by the new principle of personal selling: establishing partnerships that are maintained by customer value, created by the salesperson. This edition stresses the need for sales professionals to cope with new forces shaping the world of sales and marketing, and emphasizes the strategies for long-term success. It provides comprehensive coverage of consultative selling, strategic selling, partnering, and value-added selling, with salesforce automation as a major theme.
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more information, or to order your copy...
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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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