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Oracle's continued strides in the tech space say a lot about perseverance and deep pockets. It was a darling of the 20th century tech era, rising from a startup in the database wars and becoming the sole surviving independent database company. But at some point, success leveled out its rise and it b...

Sometimes when you tug on the thread of a small customer service failure, you unravel a big skein of much knottier problems. That happened when Shield Healthcare didn't send "Great Aunt Nelly" her shipment of medical supplies on time. There are many people like Nelly in the U.S. -- elderly and disab...

Recent events have led to many people learning about a long-understood rhetorical tactic called "Gish galloping." Named after creationist Duane Gish, it is the technique of confronting an opponent with a rapid-fire series of arguments -- including half-truths, misrepresentations and outright lies. C...

Respect is a vital ingredient in any mutually beneficial relationship, and that's never truer than in the case of business-to-business buyers and sellers. The most elementary way a seller shows a commitment to a healthy customer relationship is through an ongoing display of respect. That doesn't mea...

Pegasystems has unveiled a major upgrade to its customer service application, offering new functionality both for consumers and customer service reps. Pegasystems seeded the mobile version of Pega Customer Service with new functionality as well, said Steve Kraus, senior director of product marketing...

AppMesh recently came out of the gate with the second iteration of its flagship product, SalesMesh. Version 2.0 is a major leap in functionality for the app that builds on the cofounders' vision of developing a personal sales system for the sales rep. "CRM has made a lot of advances over the years,"...

Salesfusion has released a new version of its marketing automation platform enhanced with the lead-scoring capabilities it acquired earlier this year with its purchase of LoopFuse. The end result of this newly integrated product is a marketing automation application that has predictive lead scoring ...

Not every buyer-seller experience starts with a customer expecting to be delighted. There are lots of purchases we make because we're forced to make them -- something we need breaks, or an outside entity requires us to buy something. We're not buying because we want to, or even because the purchase ...

It has been a week since the Super Bowl, but its lessons for marketers are becoming increasingly clear. At the top of the list: The synergy between the mobile channel and the overall campaign is getting tighter. Another lesson gleaned from this year's big game, courtesy of the New Orleans' Superdome...

The term "cloud computing" has inspired a lot of thought, energy, ideas and enthusiasm. It's also sparked a lot of head-scratching, brow-furrowing and definition-debating. You might think that after several years of the concept being in the forefront of thought around business computing, this might ...

There's a saying in the business world: Customer acquisition is an investment, but customer retention delivers profitability. So, how do you retain your customers and earn their loyalty? It's like any successful relationship: If you want customers to be loyal to you, you must be loyal to them and de...

Do loyal customers translate into steady sales or profits? Intuitively, the answer should be yes -- and indeed, customer loyalty is a significant metric by which companies rate their performance. However, there a few problems with the concept of customer loyalty and a corporate strategy to develop i...

One best practice forward-looking companies have adopted is being proactive with online conversations that criticize, question -- or hopefully compliment -- a company's products or services. Not enough companies do this, of course, and of those that do, most do it more out of curiosity than anything...

After reading the book Mindset: The Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol S. Dweck, I began to wonder if her concepts of fixed versus growth mindsets were either accentuated or diminished when it came to customer relationship strategies enabled with SaaS-based applications. The many benefits of the Saa...

There were approximately 40 million women among the 90 million people watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, and Pats fan Andrea Learned was one of them. The night was a letdown for Learned the sports fan -- but not for Learned the marketer and author. This year's Super Bowl ads are illustrative of a fo...

Linda LaBeau didn't know her rights as a credit-card holder. She did know she was getting constant calls from a collection agency for a debt she wasn't sure was hers. Angry, scared and frustrated, she asked The Watchdog several smart questions. We found some surprising answers. Turns out consumers h...

There have been a lot of things to write about this week. The two things that pique my interest, and that I think will have long range implications, are the emerging discussion of customer rights and Salesforce.com's latest announcements of its financial vertical focus. I don't see how the two over...

Professional courtesy, that's what I call it. It's the punch line to the question, "Why don't sharks eat lawyers?" It's also my reason for not criticizing other analysts in public. Besides, there's too much to write about to bother picking a public fight. If someone wants to promote a flat-earth t...