 FEATURE WEBCAST (more) |
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"CRM's Secret Sauce - Everything You Need to Know About CRM"
Gary Lemke, Founder and Publisher, CRMAdvocate
Ah CRM . . . So much investment, so little return. Even today, a great divide exists between the promise and the benefit of CRM. Why? The answer is a paradox of simplicity and complexity - that is, the straightforward desire for customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention against an unyielding realization that not all customers act the same. Nor are all customers valued equally. This webcast is the first in a series on a single strategic focus and metric that can catapult your organization to the next level of revenue growth and profitability. Listen now to learn more.
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TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK (more)
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Oracle has agreed to acquire business applications software vendor Siebel Systems in a deal valued at approximately $5.85 billion, the companies announced this morning.
Verint announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with MultiVision Intelligent Surveillance Limited to acquire the company's networked video security business. The acquisition of MultiVision's networked video security business will provide Verint with local product development, customer support and solutions that are focused on the regional requirements of the Asia Pacific market.
Witness introduced a SIP-enabled recording solution for IP telephony-based contact center environments. It is designed to lower the total cost of ownership through the support of high availability and high capacity systems, improved robustness through workflow and database support, as well as protocol command forwarding to support multi-site systems.
Primary Matters announces the release of their newly enhanced hosted version of the Primary Matters Guide. The Guide is an activity-based planning, budgeting and business impact analysis solution.
Salesforce.com announced the AppExchange, an on-demand application sharing service. With AppExchange, customers will have access to new applications that potentially bring the benefits of salesforce.com to an entire business, letting them manage and share all of a company's information on demand.
Teleformix announced a new Screen Capture module that enhances ECHO's existing digital and VoIP recording solution. ECHO's Screen Capture module compliments a robust suite of quality assurance, agent training, and analytics modules providing an all-inclusive Performance and Customer Relationship Management solution.
Jacada announced the general availability of Jacada Fusion Agent Portal, a desktop solution that optimizes workflow processes across business systems within a contact center, providing a single point of access to systems and resources to improve agent satisfaction and the customer experience.
Concerto Software announced it is extending Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) functionality in several of Concerto's principal products with new releases scheduled to be launched in the next two quarters.
Adobe announced it is working with eGain to create new solutions for enhancing secure customer interactions through integration of Adobe LiveCycle Policy Server and eGain Service 7 software. The first solutions based on the integration are planned to address more secure electronic statement delivery and account enrollment applications.
InStranet and salesforce.com announced the availability of InStranet for AppExchange. InStranet for AppExchange integrates with Salesforce to provide executives knowledge on-demand, such as sales and servicing information, to increase productivity across all customer touch points, such as contact centers and Web self help.
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9/16/05 - Does Bigger Mean Better?
In the context of the Siebel/Oracle acquisition, we know we have a bigger Oracle. But do we have a better Oracle?
Oracle is a lot of things to a lot of companies. For one, they may be the de facto database platform which is very important to many CRM applications. Second, they may be the enterprise application provider of choice either by choice or acquisition. But how is a bigger Oracle better? Until proven wrong, I don't think a bigger Oracle is better for CRM.
With three disparate CRM platforms (four if you count the CRM part of JD Edwards), Oracle is now busy trying to create a story that makes sense. That will be question number one at OracleWorld next week. I will be at another conference so if you attend please let me know what you think of the Oracle CRM roadmap.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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 Research Notes (more)
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Why Oracle CRM Is Only the 4th Choice - An Independent Survey and Perspectives from Global / China Experts on Oracle(GCCRM)
|  | | How to Complete the Customer Self-Service Picture - Enterprise Reporting has become a critical component of Customer Self-Service. This is especially true in service businesses where customers place a premium on information and online information delivery, and account management is increasingly becoming the most efficient (and desired) way to interact with and serve them. (Actuate)
| | | Optimizing Online Service to Build Effective Customer Relationships - Customer service plays an important role in the shopping decisions consumers make across sales channels. As their satisfaction with online service wanes, online buyers turn to staff-intensive, phone-based service, and will make purchasing decisions based on past service experiences. Amid elevated stakes for high-value buyers, consumers are seeking improved access to knowledgeable service staff and speedy resolution of their increasingly prevalent service issues. Consumers will continue to find phone and e-mail to be the most satisfying channels for service resolution. (ATG)
| | | Microsoft Enters the Contact Center Market - One of the biggest challenges in creating a Contact Center has been the diversity of components needed to build a center.(Ventana Research)
| | | Witness Completes Acquisition of Blue Pumpkin - Witness Systems finalized their takeover of Blue Pumpkin Software. This event is part of a consolidation and expansion trend withing the Contact Center marketplace which enables focused vendors to increase the footprint of their solutions.(Ventana Research)
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 White Papers (more)
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CRM Integration Across Marketing, Sales and Service - Many companies fail to appreciate the importance of developing specific, well-defined, and integrated business processes focused on the customer. This paper covers eleven key customer-focused processes and success factors associated with implementing process change.(Siebel)
| | | Hammering the Siebel Communications Server - To a Call Center agent, "Siebel" really means a desktop and everything that supports it (application servers, databases), a phone and everything that supports it (switches, routing, IVRs and telephony infrastructure), and the link between the two worlds - Computer-Telephony Interface, or CTI. CTI is not manufactured by Siebel but the perceived health of your "Siebel" application is intimately related to the health of the CTI integration.(Empirix)
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Oracle Set To Purchase Siebel for $5.85B - With sales growth tapering off in Oracle's core business of database software, company CEO Larry Ellison set out in 2003 to become a more formidable force in business applications through acquisitions.(CRMDaily)
| | | Focus On Customer Experience - A growing number of businesses are spending more time and money on technology to improve virtually every aspect of customer interaction.()
| | | Don't Blame CRM When Your Customers Aren't Happy - Look at Your Processes - Enterprises need to stop trying to combat customer service issues with technology. For example, a Call Center manager approaches an IT manager and says, "We need a database" because the organization does not have a central location to keep all of a customer's information.(Ultimus)
| | | Why Inputs Just don't Equal Outputs - There has been a simple mistake. The simple mistake has been to confuse inputs such as money, time, leadership, commitment, technology and re-engineered processes with outputs such as changes in behaviors, increased customer loyalty, retention, bigger sales pipeline and improved profitability.(AMT)
| | | Do Customers Like You? Depends on How You Ask - A recent survey by the Customer Respect Group found that only six of the 100 largest U.S. companies deliver an excellent online experience to consumers. One of the goals of this and many other surveys, whether conducted by third parties or in-house, is to pinpoint what creates repeat business. However customer satisfaction is measured, the value of the results depends on asking the right questions.(CIO Magazine)
| | | Out with Old, In with the New: New Metrics No Contact Center Manager Can Live Without - We live and die, thrive and suffer by the numbers in the contact center. Our representatives receive incentives, bonuses are handed out and recognition of the contact center throughout the organization occurs when it "meets its numbers."(Customer Relationship Metrics)
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 Case Studies (more)
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Stellar Call Centres Improves Operational Effeciency - With Verint' ULTRA suite of Contact Center Actionable Intelligence Solutions, Stellar Call Centers increased the effectiveness of its quality management program, improved operational efficiency and enhanced the value of its offerings. This has translated into better service for customers and a sharper competitive advantage.(Verint Systems)
| | | Barrie Hydro Adds Energy to its Help Desk with LiveTime - The implementation of LiveTime Help Desk has allowed Barrie Hydro to benefit from built-in reporting.(LiveTime)
| | | Bank of America with IEX - Customer satisfaction scores have exceeded the bank associates goals as a result of using adherence scores as an incentive for identifying behavior that exceed team goals.(IEX Corporation, a Tekelec Company)
| | | Witness Helps 4 Wheel Parts - By deploying eQuality ContactStore for IP within its Cisco converged voice and data environment, 4 Wheel Parts has been able to achieve the following results * Increased agent monitoring efficiency by 30 percent * Increased sales and order volume by eight percent * Enhanced training and development program.(Witness Systems)
| | | MessageOne Improves Salesforce.com with InsideScoop - Sales users are no longer spending time to copy and paste date into Salesforce.com. Instead, they get all the research they need for companies and contacts right at their fingertips.(InsideScoop, Salesforce.com)
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February 27 - March 01, 2006: Linking Customer Feedback to Business Results - Looking for new ways to get more actionability out of your customer data? Interested in innovative ideas for responding to your customers to drive business improvement and profitability? Welcome to IIR's 10th annual Linking Customer Feedback to Business Results.
| | | September 18-20, 2005: Contact Center Technology Summit Information - A NEW Conference Designed for IT & Telecom Professionals Supporting Contact Centers co-locating with the Annual Call Center Exhibition (ACCE).
| | | September 19-21, 2005: Annual Call Center Exhibition (ACCE) - The Global Gathering Place for the Contact Center Industry! A MUST ATTEND for all call center executives and professionals.
| | | Sept 26-29, 2005: Loyalty World - Inspiring loyalty is more than building a rewards programme. It's about providing customers with a truly unique and interactive experience that will develop an emotional connection with your brand.
| | | Oct 26-28, 2005: Help Desk Professionals - This event is dedicated to the advancement of the Technical Support Professional. The program will feature the industry's top speakers who will share with you current trends, templates and hands-on experiences.
| | Oct 9-12, 2005: SSPA Conference - The Service & Support Professionals Association is leading the way in identifying and promoting innovative business and delivery models to help you shape the future of your service and support organization during the SSPA Conference in New Orleans. At this content-rich conference you'll find the new ideas and strategies you need to improve operational efficiency and maximize revenue. Keynotes presented by Cisco Systems, IBM and HP offer insider's view of the service and support models of these industry leading companies. The breakout session speakers include service and support executives from McAfee, ADP, Cognos, Computer Associates, EMC, SpikeSource, Xerox who also share innovative approaches to meeting customer needs in this ever changing industry.
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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 42.39 |  | -0.80% |
| Dow Jones | 10,558.75 |  | 0.13% |
| Nasdaq | 2,146.15 | | -0.15% |
| S&P 500 | 1,227.73 | | 0.05% |
| Top Gainers |
| eLoyalty | 7.5 | | 1.00 |
| RightNow | 15 | | 0.70 |
| HP | 27.87 | | 0.37 |
| Top Losers |
| NICE | 44.51 | | -1.27 |
| Epicor | 12.69 | | -0.55 |
| SPSS | 22.31 | | -0.48 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 09/15/05 | |
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