CRM Buyer : Archives

INSIGHTS
NetSuite, Transportation and the Internet of Things

Friday - May 18, 2012

This spring has seen a raft of software company events and announcements, and they've been good meetings full of real news and important new developments. It is as if these companies bided their time during the worst of the recession, building new product, thinking about the future and how customers will use their technologies. It was time well spent. This week, SAP, NetSuite and others have held meetings, and more good news seems to be emanating from their conferences. I attended the NetSuite SuiteWorld event in San Francisco, and that's what I want to write about here. [More...]

OPINION
People, Processes and Standout Service Experiences

Thursday - May 17, 2012

Customer service is a crucial part of the customer experience. That seems immediately obvious. And customer experience is the big buzzword right now, so companies are going bonkers revamping their customer service operations. Right? Would that it were so. Almost paradoxically, many businesses are still stuck in the mode of tweaking with utterly defective customer service processes. [More...]

INSIGHTS
The Rise of Open Source

Wednesday - May 16, 2012

SugarCon, the SugarCRM user meeting held in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, did some important things for Sugar. It was a coming out party of sorts for a company with a distinct business model and strategy, namely open source. It was also validation of that strategy and, for many, a new realization of what open source means. [More...]

Sapphire Now: It's a Mobile, Social, Cloudy, Collaborative World

Tuesday - May 15, 2012

The Sapphire Now conference kicked off Monday in Orlando, Fla., with 60,000 customers, partners and employees of SAP participating, either at the conference facility or watching it online. The first day of the event offered the usual lineup of celebrity speakers -- corporate and otherwise -- with Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong featured in the morning and SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott in the afternoon. [More...]

ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE REPORT
CRM Conference to Showcase the Retail Experience

Monday - May 14, 2012

CRM Conference is being held May 29 to 31 at the Chicago Hyatt Regency. This annual event offers a unique agenda for retailers, said Devon Wylie, CEO of CRMC. "It's specifically focused on case studies from topnotch multinational retailers. With this approach, attendees can get actionable learnings they can take home with them." [More...]

PRODUCT PROFILE
Zoho Boosts Its Social Enterprise Creds

Friday - May 11, 2012

Zoho has enhanced its menu of offerings by incorporating social media into its customer support features. It has also added a Facebook social media integration point to its flagship application. The changes went live on Thursday, added automatically to the applications. These two developments are modest compared to the company's massive overhaul to its suite at the end of last year. [More...]

OPINION
When Your Business Goofs, CRM Can Be Your Best Friend

Thursday - May 10, 2012

There are three things certain in life. We all know the two cited by Benjamin Franklin, but there's a third certainty that we all face regularly and have to cope with constantly. That's the certainty that we'll make mistakes. Everyone makes them; if it hasn't happened to your business, you haven't been in business long. [More...]

INSIGHTS
Sustainable CRM

Wednesday - May 9, 2012

There was an interesting article about airlines in The New York Times last week, "When Flying 720 Miles Takes 12 Hours," but the subtext was all about CRM, or at least where CRM has to go. If you know me at all, you know I closely attend to macroeconomics and energy issues, and they are all over this article. [More...]

EXPERT ADVICE
BPM and CMOs: A Match Made in Heaven

Tuesday - May 8, 2012

There's been a lot of talk recently about how BPM is gaining traction across a wide variety of industry verticals. BPM's surge is part of the larger trend of agile development; organizations are weary of growing top-heavy and employing a number of individuals to perform tedious, manual processes. [More...]

OPINION
Making Customers the Object of Devotion

Monday - May 7, 2012

The proliferation of customer service channels can be both a blessing and a curse. It can be a blessing in that companies now have more ways than ever to address customer needs and resolve customer issues, potentially leading to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. At the same time, the proliferation of customer service channels can be a curse. [More...]

PRODUCT PROFILE
Insidesales.com Aims to Keep Leads on the Front Burner

Friday - May 4, 2012

Imagine walking into a department store on a Wednesday morning and spotting a pair of shoes you feel that you must acquire, or life will have no meaning. You excitedly ask the sales rep if you can try on a pair in your size and she says, "Sure, why don't you come back on Friday?" That deflating experience occurs all the time on the Web, said Ken Krogue, president of InsideSales.com. [More...]

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