CRM Buyer
http://www.crmbuyer.com
CRM Buyer -- "The Essential Guide for CRM System Purchasers"en-usCopyright 20092009-11-07T05:29:04-08:00ECT News NetworkECT News NetworkCRM Buyer -- "The Essential Guide for CRM System Purchasers"hourly12009-11-07T05:29:04-08:00CRM Buyerhttp://www.crmbuyer.com/images/rss/cad_100x36.jpg
http://www.crmbuyer.com
CRM for Financial Services, Part 1: Unmet Potential
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68572.html
The chastening effect of the recession has many financial services firms taking a cautious view of future CRM investments. One reason is that these firms are husbanding their resources. Another is a growing awareness that investments in CRM by the financial sector have not been all that successful.John K. Higgins2009-11-06T04:00:00-08:00Financial Services
The chastening effect of the recession has many financial services firms taking a cautious view of future CRM investments. One reason is that these firms are husbanding their resources. Another is a growing awareness that investments in CRM by the financial sector have not been all that successful. The first wave of CRM programs had the positive effect of providing more efficient ways of implementing marketing programs through automation, indicates a study by the Aite Group. However, the report questions the true effectiveness of CRM programs.
]]>2009-11-06T04:00:00-08:002009-11-06T09:23:34-08:00Southwest Doesn't Fool Around
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68575.html
This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit.Erika Morphy2009-11-06T04:00:00-08:00E-Commerce
This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit. The top half of the page was devoted to promoting a new destination for the airline -- Milwaukee. Book now, the item urged -- and frankly, I was tempted, as the image beckoning to me was one of the most enticing Wisconsin views I've ever seen.
]]>2009-11-06T04:00:00-08:002009-11-06T22:32:52-08:008 Habits of Successful Customer Feedback Managers
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68563.html
Customer relationships are damaged when companies hear too late about customer concerns or issues to do anything to repair them. Even worse, many crucial concerns aren't being heard by the right people at an organization. For example, are managers aware of which customers are unhappy? Did an employee treat a customer unfairly? What are the specific factors that caused a customer to leave?Kyle LaMalfa2009-11-05T04:00:00-08:00Customer Loyalty
Customer relationships are damaged when companies hear too late about customer concerns or issues to do anything to repair them. Even worse, many crucial concerns aren't being heard by the right people at an organization. For example, are managers aware of which customers are unhappy? Did an employee treat a customer unfairly? What are the specific factors that caused a customer to leave? Which of your organization's services matter most to customers, by priority?
]]>2009-11-05T04:00:00-08:002009-11-04T15:12:51-08:00Black Swans and Blue Birds
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68550.html
I just finished reading <i>The Black Swan</i>, a book that has been on my list since it came out in 2007, and I highly recommend it, though it is not easy reading. There is a great deal of set up before you get to the whole point of the book in the last 50 pages. <i>The Black Swan</i> is about uncertainty in the real world, and the subtitle explains it all: "The Impact of the Highly Improbable."Denis Pombriant2009-11-04T04:00:00-08:00SFA
I just finished reading The Black Swan, a book that has been on my list since it came out in 2007, and I highly recommend it, though it is not easy reading. There is a great deal of set up before you get to the whole point of the book in the last 50 pages. The Black Swan is about uncertainty in the real world, and the subtitle explains it all: "The Impact of the Highly Improbable." It's something that I can see affecting CRM and its users on many levels. Highly improbable things happen frequently, and they have deep and unpredictable impacts on our world.
]]>2009-11-04T04:00:00-08:002009-11-03T15:42:22-08:00Social CRM: Size Matters
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68537.html
There's no longer any debate about whether social media's going to have a huge impact on CRM. Social media's a little different than the usual emerging business technology, mostly because it didn't begin as a business technology. It started with consumers -- and how they use it varies dramatically.Christopher J. Bucholtz2009-11-03T04:00:00-08:00Strategy
There's no longer any debate about whether social media's going to have a huge impact on CRM. Social media's a little different than the usual emerging business technology, mostly because it didn't begin as a business technology. It started with consumers -- and how they use it varies dramatically. That places companies seeking to harness the power of social CRM in an interesting position: They have to understand how their potential customers use social media, the best social media outlets to reach them, and the best way to engage with them through those outlets.
]]>2009-11-03T04:00:00-08:002009-11-07T03:12:19-08:00Workforce Management: Beyond Time and Attendance
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68531.html
In both the best and worst of economic times, worker productivity is a major management goal. Making sure that employees efficiently carry out their tasks is critical to the success of both government and business enterprises. First, of course, the workers have to show up.John K. Higgins2009-11-02T04:00:00-08:00Workforce Management
In both the best and worst of economic times, worker productivity is a major management goal. Making sure that employees efficiently carry out their tasks is critical to the success of both government and business enterprises. First, of course, the workers have to show up. Keeping track of employee attendance is no small task, but far too often it is conducted by somewhat primitive manual procedures that are inefficient themselves. As a result, the incidence of workers cheating on their hours is still a major issue for employers.
]]>2009-11-02T04:00:00-08:002009-11-07T03:12:14-08:00CRM for the Small Biz: Turning Agony Into Ecstasy
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68518.html
Small businesses frequently rely on a haphazard assortment of tools to manage their CRM processes, such as email, contact managers and spreadsheets. However, such methods are usually not sustainable or scalable. "Their customer data ends up fragmented across 10 different applications and physical locations," said Dmitri Eroshenko, CEO of Relenta.Maria Verlengia2009-10-30T04:00:00-07:00Implementation
Small businesses frequently rely on a haphazard assortment of tools to manage their CRM processes, such as email, contact managers and spreadsheets. However, such methods are usually not sustainable or scalable. "Their customer data ends up fragmented across 10 different applications and physical locations," said Dmitri Eroshenko, CEO of Relenta. A good CRM solution can help small businesses tremendously by reducing data fragmentation and administrative tasks. Team and individual productivity will then increase.
]]>2009-10-30T04:00:00-07:002009-10-30T04:33:08-07:00JetBlue: Light on Frills, Heavy on Friendly
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68517.html
My tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times has included stops at some of the aggregator sites, some discount companies and some alternative services. I'm now entering new territory with explorations of the Web sites of the operators themselves. First stop: JetBlue, a discount airline that has carefully cultivated a customer-friendly reputation.Erika Morphy2009-10-30T04:00:00-07:00E-Commerce
My tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times has included stops at some of the aggregator sites, some discount companies and some alternative services. I'm now entering new territory with explorations of the Web sites of the operators themselves. First stop: JetBlue, a discount airline that has carefully cultivated a customer-friendly reputation. Of course, that reputation has become tarnished along the way. In February 2007, numerous JetBlue passengers were stuck for hours on airport tarmacs due to winter weather conditions.
]]>2009-10-30T04:00:00-07:002009-11-04T06:14:45-08:00B2B TeleServices: Bring the Right Intel to the Table
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68504.html
In research conducted among over 200 companies in 2008 for a reported titled "B2B TeleServices and Appointment-Setting: Less Risk, Less Reward?," Aberdeen Group found that end-user sales organizations relying primarily on external appointment-setting vendors for lead generation realized dramatically lower business results if the vendor deliverable was limited to simple appointments.Peter Ostrow2009-10-29T04:00:00-07:00Business Intelligence
In research conducted among over 200 companies in 2008 for a reported titled "B2B TeleServices and Appointment-Setting: Less Risk, Less Reward?," Aberdeen Group found that end-user sales organizations relying primarily on external appointment-setting vendors for lead generation realized dramatically lower business results if the vendor deliverable was limited to simple appointments, rather than meetings accompanied by business intelligence. New data indicates that this trend continues.
]]>2009-10-29T04:00:00-07:002009-10-29T21:00:43-07:00Meet-Up Month: RightNow, Sage and Microsoft
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68485.html
Colorado Springs is an interesting place. Despite the name, there are no "springs" -- it's an arid place in a valley surrounded by the southern Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak National Park. The springs were an invention of the railroads seeking to establish a destination for vacationers. Good idea; it's a nice place.Denis Pombriant2009-10-28T04:00:00-07:00Vendors
Colorado Springs is an interesting place. Despite the name, there are no "springs" -- it's an arid place in a valley surrounded by the southern Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak National Park. The springs were an invention of the railroads seeking to establish a destination for vacationers. Good idea; it's a nice place. You can ride horseback through the mountains and see abandoned mines and homesteads as well as some rugged natural beauty. Last time I was there, we rode on some trails that were barely wide enough to accommodate our horses.
]]>2009-10-28T04:00:00-07:002009-11-02T22:26:56-08:00New Medical Web Site to Open Window on Out-of-Network Fees
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68500.html
Consumers across the country soon will be able to find impartial information about out-of-network healthcare costs on a new Web site, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The information will be collected by a new not-for-profit company, FAIR Health, in partnership with a research consortium based at Syracuse University, Cuomo said.William Kates2009-10-28T09:31:13-07:00Healthcare
Consumers across the country soon will be able to find impartial information about out-of-network healthcare costs on a new Web site, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The information will be collected by a new not-for-profit company, FAIR Health, in partnership with a research consortium based at Syracuse University, Cuomo said. The new database "will bring much-needed transparency, accountability and fairness to a broken consumer reimbursement system" and could benefit more than 100 million Americans nationwide, Cuomo said.
]]>2009-10-28T09:31:13-07:002009-11-02T22:26:48-08:00Judge: Customers in Ameritrade Class Action Deserve Better Deal
http://www.crmbuyer.com/rsstory/68478.html
A federal judge has refused to approve a class-action settlement over contact information stolen from online brokerage TD Ameritrade. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco says the deal offers little significant benefit to the more than 6 million current and former customers affected.Josh Funk2009-10-27T04:00:00-07:00Customer Data
A federal judge has refused to approve a class-action settlement over contact information stolen from online brokerage TD Ameritrade. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco says the deal offers little significant benefit to the more than 6 million current and former customers affected. The proposed deal offered antispam software and a promise of tighter security at TD Ameritrade. Walker rejected the deal Friday, saying it appeared to do more for Ameritrade and for the plaintiffs' lawyers than for the victims of the data breach.
]]>2009-10-27T04:00:00-07:002009-11-01T14:49:01-08:00
The chastening effect of the recession has many financial services firms taking a cautious view of future CRM investments. One reason is that these firms are husbanding their resources. Another is a growing awareness that investments in CRM by the financial sector have not been all that successful. The first wave of CRM programs had the positive effect of providing more efficient ways of implementing marketing programs through automation, indicates a study by the Aite Group. However, the report questions the true effectiveness of CRM programs.
]]>
This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit. The top half of the page was devoted to promoting a new destination for the airline -- Milwaukee. Book now, the item urged -- and frankly, I was tempted, as the image beckoning to me was one of the most enticing Wisconsin views I've ever seen.
]]>
Customer relationships are damaged when companies hear too late about customer concerns or issues to do anything to repair them. Even worse, many crucial concerns aren't being heard by the right people at an organization. For example, are managers aware of which customers are unhappy? Did an employee treat a customer unfairly? What are the specific factors that caused a customer to leave? Which of your organization's services matter most to customers, by priority?
]]>
I just finished reading The Black Swan, a book that has been on my list since it came out in 2007, and I highly recommend it, though it is not easy reading. There is a great deal of set up before you get to the whole point of the book in the last 50 pages. The Black Swan is about uncertainty in the real world, and the subtitle explains it all: "The Impact of the Highly Improbable." It's something that I can see affecting CRM and its users on many levels. Highly improbable things happen frequently, and they have deep and unpredictable impacts on our world.
]]>
There's no longer any debate about whether social media's going to have a huge impact on CRM. Social media's a little different than the usual emerging business technology, mostly because it didn't begin as a business technology. It started with consumers -- and how they use it varies dramatically. That places companies seeking to harness the power of social CRM in an interesting position: They have to understand how their potential customers use social media, the best social media outlets to reach them, and the best way to engage with them through those outlets.
]]>
In both the best and worst of economic times, worker productivity is a major management goal. Making sure that employees efficiently carry out their tasks is critical to the success of both government and business enterprises. First, of course, the workers have to show up. Keeping track of employee attendance is no small task, but far too often it is conducted by somewhat primitive manual procedures that are inefficient themselves. As a result, the incidence of workers cheating on their hours is still a major issue for employers.
]]>
Small businesses frequently rely on a haphazard assortment of tools to manage their CRM processes, such as email, contact managers and spreadsheets. However, such methods are usually not sustainable or scalable. "Their customer data ends up fragmented across 10 different applications and physical locations," said Dmitri Eroshenko, CEO of Relenta. A good CRM solution can help small businesses tremendously by reducing data fragmentation and administrative tasks. Team and individual productivity will then increase.
]]>
My tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times has included stops at some of the aggregator sites, some discount companies and some alternative services. I'm now entering new territory with explorations of the Web sites of the operators themselves. First stop: JetBlue, a discount airline that has carefully cultivated a customer-friendly reputation. Of course, that reputation has become tarnished along the way. In February 2007, numerous JetBlue passengers were stuck for hours on airport tarmacs due to winter weather conditions.
]]>
In research conducted among over 200 companies in 2008 for a reported titled "B2B TeleServices and Appointment-Setting: Less Risk, Less Reward?," Aberdeen Group found that end-user sales organizations relying primarily on external appointment-setting vendors for lead generation realized dramatically lower business results if the vendor deliverable was limited to simple appointments, rather than meetings accompanied by business intelligence. New data indicates that this trend continues.
]]>
Colorado Springs is an interesting place. Despite the name, there are no "springs" -- it's an arid place in a valley surrounded by the southern Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak National Park. The springs were an invention of the railroads seeking to establish a destination for vacationers. Good idea; it's a nice place. You can ride horseback through the mountains and see abandoned mines and homesteads as well as some rugged natural beauty. Last time I was there, we rode on some trails that were barely wide enough to accommodate our horses.
]]>
Consumers across the country soon will be able to find impartial information about out-of-network healthcare costs on a new Web site, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The information will be collected by a new not-for-profit company, FAIR Health, in partnership with a research consortium based at Syracuse University, Cuomo said. The new database "will bring much-needed transparency, accountability and fairness to a broken consumer reimbursement system" and could benefit more than 100 million Americans nationwide, Cuomo said.
]]>
A federal judge has refused to approve a class-action settlement over contact information stolen from online brokerage TD Ameritrade. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco says the deal offers little significant benefit to the more than 6 million current and former customers affected. The proposed deal offered antispam software and a promise of tighter security at TD Ameritrade. Walker rejected the deal Friday, saying it appeared to do more for Ameritrade and for the plaintiffs' lawyers than for the victims of the data breach.
]]>