CRM News: Vendors

Evolution, Revolution and Punctuated Equilibrium

Wednesday - July 1, 2009

Kudos to all those who participated in, organized or even attended the Enterprise 2.0 conference in drizzly Boston last week. There is a lot to write about. The big ideas that I took away include disruption and evolution, ROI and a need to sharpen our focus. Here are a few thoughts on a very good show. The Tuesday keynotes generated needless confusion by asking a simple question: Is Enterprise 2.0 a revolution or an evolution? Such a question is often resolved in a cowardly compromise to split the difference. [More...]

Outsourcing's No Longer In

Tuesday - June 30, 2009

Companies used to turn to outsourcing during tough financial times. The current global recession, however, has curtailed outsourcing as much as it has other parts of the economy. "Oddly enough, the global recession has hurt outsourcing significantly," said Chad Hahn, principal owner of Hahn Consulting. [More...]

ERP Should Pay for Itself in a Year: Q&A With xTuple CEO Ned Lilly

Monday - June 29, 2009

xTuple is an open source ERP provider, and CEO Ned Lilly says there are few fellow travelers on his company's path. In this tanking economy, the company has been leveraging both its open source bona fides and the fundamental functionality that is inherent in an ERP system to gain market share. [More...]

Support Revenue Keeps Oracle on Even Keel

Wednesday - June 24, 2009

Software maker Oracle's results for its latest quarter topped Wall Street's forecast Tuesday, despite a 5 percent drop in sales and a 7 percent decline in profit. The company blamed the declines on the effects of a stronger dollar -- which makes deals done in other currencies translate into fewer greenbacks. Companies also have been shelling out less for new software because of the recession. [More...]

Socializing the Revolution

Wednesday - June 24, 2009

Events taking place on the streets of Tehran may have an important effect on how social networking rolls out across the rest of the world, and that includes the CRM world. Last week, the media began carrying stories about a "cyber revolution" that may be happening in the Islamic Republic, but those stories fail to account for the whole story -- the yin and yang of social media. [More...]

Collaborating in the Cloud: Q&A With PBworks CEO Jim Groff

Monday - June 22, 2009

Cloud computing is remaking just about every software category -- and project management is no exception. In the on-premise software era, collaboration was limited by the technology of a particular firm, as well as the security requirements of a particular industry. That was then, of course. [More...]

Of 'Jurassic Park' and All Things 2.0

Wednesday - June 17, 2009

What do these things have in common? Maybe nothing other than that the movie has a sequel and the two-dot-oh suffix is a sequel. Also, the start of blockbuster movie sequel season overlaps with trade shows like Sales 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0. Sales 2.0 was held in Boston a couple of weeks ago, Enterprise 2.0 is coming next week, and I can't wait. [More...]

Turning 'Interesting Moments' Into Sales: Q&A With Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez

Monday - June 15, 2009

If there is any one characteristic of the current economy that stands out, it is that people are just not buying. From billionaires to budget shoppers, frugal is in. Enter Marketo, a startup whose raison d'etre is to get people to buy. Surprisingly -- or not, given its product lineup -- Marketo is doing very well these days. [More...]

Toiling Away in 'White-Collar Sweatshops' - aka Call Centers

Tuesday - June 9, 2009

Sarah Betesh's career in customer service began in box office call centers at venues such as the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. She moved on to Tickets.com and Vertical Alliance, at one point becoming a call center manager. However, in spite of her success, Betesh left her call center career behind in 2003. [More...]

Outsource or Keep It Home? Have It Your Way: Q&A With Alpine Access CEO Chris Carrington

Monday - June 8, 2009

Not that long ago, the outsourcing of customer service to home-based agents was a small niche category, viewed as not quite on par with a bricks-and-mortar call center operation. For a number of reasons, that perception is changing -- starting with the lower costs involved and ending with the growing number of quality providers that have highly qualified staffs on hand. [More...]

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