CRM

If you knew you could apply a number of best-in-class lead generation processes proven to close five times more deals than average processes, would you do it? Seems like a no brainer, doesn't it? But in reality, many companies continue to implement lead generation processes that can be considered av...

Listrak has incorporated new features into its email marketing platform that give its users analytic and behavioral targeting capabilities. It also has brought more oomph to its shopping cart abandonment dashboard by developing more granular metrics for it. Those are the top changes for the latest r...

It's often said that CRM is always a work in progress. Never mind the fact that I'm the one who's often saying it -- it's true, if you're doing it right. You should always be looking for areas where you can coach your people, adjust your processes, and fine-tune your technology. However, thinking ab...

Marketo upgrades or somehow tweaks its revenue performance management application roughly every other month, but its latest release is special. Specifically, many of the features included in this release have been more than a year in the making, said Gaurav Kotak, senior director of product marketin...

A legal dispute between Oracle and erstwhile client Montclair State University illustrates that despite the steady evolution of ERP technology and implementation methodologies, these projects can still turn ugly. The two have filed suits against each other over a failed project, called the "Bell Tow...

Business Process Management provider AuraPortal has added a new module to its product lineup -- Marketing Campaigns, or MC. It is based on template-oriented pattern processes -- as all of AuraPortal's applications are -- which means it can be easily tailored by end-users. MC is able to follow up on ...

The idea of taking CRM into the field has been around for a decade -- long enough to lull many people into ignoring it in favor of newer, flashier and more social ideas. But this isn't the time to take your eye off mobile CRM. The technology is about to emerge as a force that will boost adoption, in...

DemandResults is getting set to release version 2.0 of its SEO for Salesforce.com app. This iteration builds on the premise of the first app, founder and CEO Howard Brown said, which was essentially a basic insertion of Google Analytics into the Salesforce.com platform. In this upcoming version, set...

I've written several CRM Buyer Guides in the last four years, and the buying process I recommend hasn't really changed much. Unlike people who leap into the technology right at the outset, I always advocate a period of self-assessment for the company -- in other words, a thorough internal examinatio...

Most of the people I talk to think of a business model as the way a company makes money. We certainly agree on that. One's business model can encompass numerous things, like product mix, marketing and sales plan, how you sell -- direct, channel, retail -- and lots more. One thing that usually mis...

It's long been discussed that marketing and sales need to "get along." But the reality is that marketing and sales actually need to work smoothly together along a defined lead management process. The lack of this cooperation costs companies more than wasted leads. It increases sales costs and reduce...

Aplicor rolled out Cloud Suite 7 last month -- the latest update to its flagship suite -- with some significant changes. One, the user interface, backed by new Microsoft Silverlight technology, is now completely customizable depending on the end-user's needs. Two, it has completely integrated the CR...

In long-distance navigation -- like in a boat or an airplane -- if you're going to make an error, it's better to make it later than to make it early on. A half-degree mistake can multiply itself into hundreds of miles over the course of a long voyage, but the same error made toward the end of the tr...

SAP is holding Sapphire, its annual user meeting in Orlando, this week. Sapphire is one of the premiere events on the IT tradeshow calendar, along with Microsoft Convergence, Oracle Open World, Sage Insights and Salesforce.com's Dreamforce. These events each draw tens of thousands of people from a...

The Kaden Group has launched a new social CRM application, PartnerOption.com. The startup is hoping to carve out a niche by targeting small businesses with a product that combines free CRM functionality -- for now -- with an organized, easily portable business social network focusing on sales leads,...