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Too many companies take a very automated, ATM-like approach to the ROI they get from industry analyst organizations they work with. For all the cash these companies deposit, they expect only a quote from time to time from their industry analysts, hopefully generated with the same efficiency of a 24/...

Think of this scenario: You're shopping for a new home and instead of guiding you into a single-digit fixed-rate mortgage, lenders try to persuade you that an adjustable mortgage indexed to your income makes more sense. Structuring mortgages like that makes no sense, and it's making less and less se...

You have to love the irony. Manufacturing companies spend months and thousands of dollars to select a channel management application that will cure many of the ills that years of neglect have created. These manufacturers -- fighting with inconsistency of policies, lack of channel focus and leadershi...

Let's face it. For many companies, the level of service to customers is lacking across the entire spectrum of their customer base, and service to internal customers is even worse. The cruel irony of all the maneuvering inside companies to protect departments is that the only goal that matters -- ser...

It's that time again; the earnings calls for CRM, ERP, hardware and services vendors are being scheduled, rehearsed and delivered to shareholders, industry and financial analysts. What's common across the more than two dozen calls I've listened to that span CRM, ERP and SCM software, hardware and se...

Companies looking at new CRM, order capture and even distributed order-management systems tend to give too much credibility to the vendors outside their company first, dismissing their own internal resources. What's troubling about this is that the answers to their toughest questions may very well b...

Look long enough at any company's Web site, C-level presentations, earnings conference calls or marketing efforts, and you'll find the phrases like, "customer-centered," "The customer comes first always," and "The customer is the center of the business." They are all noble thoughts to be sure, but t...

Let's face it: CRM continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of enterprise applications. It doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves. Despite many research firms' take on the aggressive growth of customer-based initiatives inside manufacturing and services companies alike, CRM itself continues to go ...

It's time to leave behind the hype of each new application release and get fundamental about what you are doing with your CRM strategies in the first place. Here's the bottom line: You will only be able to reach your goals if the processes that feed your CRM applications with verifiable, reliable, r...

Trying to make the disjointed pieces of Siebel's product strategy fit together is comparable to deconstructing a kaleidoscope and trying to create a mosaic from the pieces of randomly shaped colored glass. You'll get a colorful picture that's more abstract art than realism. You can't fault Siebel fo...