CRM

Microsoft and SugarCRM will team up to enhance interoperability between Microsoft Windows Server and SugarCRM products so users can take better advantage of the simplified administration available on the Windows platform. The companies made the announcement Tuesday at the Open Source Business Confer...

Retailers are finding that a blog that is supportive can translate into measurable new sales, but they are exercising caution, despite the word-of-mouth advantages blogging can bring. Blogging is a dual-edged sword: A well-trafficked blog that is critical can deliver a blow. Eva Yusa is not crazy a...

While sitting through technically complex webinars and presentations this week, I felt like raising my hand and saying, "May I be excused? My brain is full." Seriously, the level of technology and adroitness of world-class demo jockeys is both impressive and intimidating. Compound this with bondin...

Oracle reportedly is set to announce that it will cut more than 1,000 jobs now that its acquisition of Siebel has closed. Its US$5.85 billion purchase of the customer relationship management software company was finalized on Jan. 31, several months after the firms jointly announced the deal. It was ...

The business intelligence software market is poised for steady global expansion, according to Gartner, which projects a compound annual growth rate of 7.3 percent from 2004 to 2009. Growth will vary region by region, the research firm noted, with the more mature markets of North America and Europe e...

I have been wracking my brain for an adequate metaphor to describe the situation that has developed in the CRM world and in enterprise software in general. It started about two years ago when Larry Ellison of Oracle looked at the enterprise software market and decided that SAP could conquer the wor...

Both Oracle and Siebel have developed a reputation for maintaining a hard line on pricing. Now that they are merging, buyers of CRM and related software are apprehensive about how the consolidation will affect pricing. In one bleak scenario, Oracle becomes even more rigid, causing CRM pricing to spi...

There is greater demand than previously thought for a hybrid software-as-a-service product, suggests a Yankee Group survey scheduled for mid-February release. To assess sales and marketing effectiveness, Yankee Group, in conjunction with WebSurveyor, recently polled 315 sales and marketing executiv...

My Web survey of SAP users is producing some interesting results. More than any other factor, customer references influenced buyers to choose SAP, quelling their concerns about the potential risks involved in taking that step. In fact, at this point in the survey, 80 percent of respondents said they...

SAP and its partners plotted new mid-market strategies at the company's 2006 Field Kick-Off Meeting, or FKOM, which drew to a close in San Antonio, on Wednesday. In addition, SAP partners used the conference as a launchpad to introduce a slew of vertical and micro-vertical applications. On Thursday,...

Oracle's US$5.85 billion acquisition of Siebel is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, after a scheduled vote by Siebel shareholders to approve the transaction, which was first announced in September. The wait has given Siebel users a chance to contemplate what the future may bring under Oracle pare...

Siebel, it is clear, has been on a tear to close out what is likely to be its last quarter as an independent company as strongly as possible. Announcing robust fourth-quarter revenues, CEO George T. Shaheen credited "the market opportunity in customer facing solutions and business analytics, the imp...

The mantra of selling solutions has taken enterprise software by storm and nowhere is this more prevalent than CRM. Honestly, it seems like the more challenging and difficult it is to sell into specific sectors of CRM, the more "solution-selling" is being invoked. This newfound religion is truly t...

Along with its preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter, SAP gave the markets notice that its hosted-CRM application will be available in February. CEO Henning Kagermann made the revelation during an analyst briefing on Wednesday morning. As with previous quarters, SAP's earnings reflect...

The vast majority of SAP applications get sold because there is an ERP instance somewhere in the organization to tie back to. Rarely, if ever, in the years of doing primary research on SAP's customer base, would I find a reference to one that had just come on board for its channel management applic...