CRM

With the launch of On Demand, version 15, Oracle is introducing robust new Web 2.0 functionality -- and it's sending a strong signal that more of this type of application development is on the horizon. Oracle's message is that Web 2.0 is now part of the CRM family, Beagle Research founder Denis Pomb...

Bloggers -- especially those whose traffic volumes can rival a minor newspaper's -- are getting used to the royal treatment. Consumer electronic vendors, hotels, auto manufacturers -- heck, even politicians -- are reaching out to the people who have made it their avocation to blog about them. Every...

RFID has gained ascendancy in the corporate world more by fiat than through efforts to persuade suppliers that the technology could deliver internal returns -- at least, in the beginning. With the requirement to deploy it or lose contracts handed down by such entities as Wal-Mart and the Department ...

PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel and a host of others succumbed to the pull of its tractor beam. Could Salesforce.com be next on Oracle's list? Though this rumor has been around for several years as idle speculation, in the last several months it's taken on new life. The tenor of the gossip has change...

NetSuite has introduced its own version of a development platform -- direct competition for the raft of initiatives and platforms Salesforce.com has designed to entice developers to its product line. The difference between them, according to NetSuite, is that it based its new platform on open standa...

RightNow has updated its flagship SaaS CRM product with new agent desktop functionality, customer-tracking abilities, enhanced analytics and chat features. The new version, which it calls "February '08," also includes a contextual workspace -- that is, a user interface for contact center service rep...

Empowering sales forces with tools to work remotely has evolved dramatically since the first wave of smartphones hit the streets. Sales reps have grown adept at basic applications such as e-mail and Web browsing, but often still wait for an end-of-day laptop session to access their CRM system. Still...

Oracle has introduced a new single-tenant option for its Siebel CRM customers. In contrast to the typical multitenant architecture, Siebel's Single Tenant, Enterprise Edition gives customers a path to connectivity via a fully dedicated database, middleware and application instance of Siebel CRM On D...

Earlier this month SugarCRM announced that it had secured $20 million in a new financing round, bringing its total funding so far to $46 million -- a significant accomplishment for several reasons. If SugarCRM is not familiar to you, it's not a new Caribbean restaurant in SoHo. I never bothered to f...

RightNow has enhanced its retail industry-specific app with chat and feedback functionality -- changes that give users more outreach options to customers using self-service channels. "With this app, retailers can incorporate feedback into chat," said Susan Meriwether, VP of product marketing, "to ma...

Even in a recession -- if in fact we've crossed that line -- there is still significant economic activity. For example, according to the most recent data I can find, the U.S. economy generated about $13.13 trillion in activity in 2006. That's also known as the "GDP" or gross domestic product. Absent...

"Opportunity computing" is a term that Danny Kolke, founder and CTO of Etelos, has coined -- or at least introduced into general use in the CRM community, thanks to his recent blog post, "Utility v. Opportunity." A partner recently asked Kolke about Etelos' move into the utility computing business.

Salesforce.com has released its Spring '08 update, building on the Content and Ideas modules that debuted in its Winter '07 edition and boosting standard customer relationship management functionality. The primary purpose of the Content and Ideas applications is to give users more tools to manage un...

An increasing global customer base is driving companies to provide "follow-the-sun" customer support services. In order to enable this level of support, agents are now being located in any part of the world. The challenge is to merge technologies and provide seamless, accurate and real-time customer...

Amdocs has introduced a new lineup of service offerings designed to help its customers make the transition to marketing their own products and strategies in the digital medium. Amdocs began realigning its product portfolio in this direction last year, when it introduced the Customer Experience Syste...