 FEATURE WHITE PAPER
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11/22/05 - Microsoft CRM Update - Part 3
As promised, I will share a summary of the reader responses about Microsoft v3.0 that is due for general availability next month. While the solution is not yet available, Microsoft wrote a note to me over the weekend saying they have had an early access programs in place for several months. They claim to have trained around 4,000 worldwide partners over the past 8 weeks.
In short, there is a renewed sense of optimism about Microsoft CRM. One response stated, "Microsoft CRM 3.0 is light-years beyond the 1.2 version with respect to flexibility and extensibility." Another said, "I think with their Small Business Edition, their hosted CRM capabilities, and their natural support for .NET, Outlook and Office integration, they're going to be a hard solution to beat."
I only heard from Microsoft partners - no end-users yet since we are ahead of general availability (GA). On one hand, you could say that partners might be a bit biased. On the other hand, you could say they might know more about Microsoft's weaknesses. Next quarter, I'll ask the end users to weigh in.
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
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TODAY'S NEWS (more)
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Netage Solutions announced the availability of Dynamo Enterprise 4.4 - an upgrade to the platform underlying the Dynamo suite of products for investor, deal, and contact management. The new version delivers new features in several areas: deeper Outlook integration, mail merge process optimization, hedge fund transactions data import, and a number of additional reports.
eGain announced that it has achieved optimized status in PartnerWorld Industry Networks and chosen IBM as a preferred partner to deliver on-demand solutions for customers in the telecommunications industry.
Intervoice announced three new solutions for use with Microsoft Speech Server; these new solutions are the Intervoice Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Telephony Interface Manager (TIM), the Intervoice Business Reporting Suite and the Intervoice Alert Monitor. These solutions speech-enable key enterprise business processes and allow a new age of integration and collaboration between the consumer and the enterprise through the convergence of voice solutions and enterprise data.
Service Excellence Research Group (ServiceXRG) finds that while IT self-service options and delivery have made great strides, the next evolutionary phase will not occur until providers adopt consistent definitions for self-service effectiveness and excellence. Its 119-page report, "Self-Service Excellence - a Roadmap for Achieving Self-Service Success" covers the end-to-end success factors for developing and executing a successful self-service strategy. The report notes that while self-service was designed to off-load the heavy volume of easy, or rote service calls from expensive telephone support queues, self-service tools and strategies must move beyond reactively sharing information on how to fix a problem and start to apply that knowledge to identify and fix problems before they impact customers' businesses.
Convergys announced an alliance with ClickFox, a pioneer in providing Customer Behavior Intelligence (CBI) solutions for optimizing the customer experience across multiple channels. The alliance between Convergys and ClickFox combines customer management expertise, analytic capabilities, and technology to deliver a solution for assessing, optimizing, and implementing multi-channel customer experience improvements.
Salesforce.com announced that Misys Banking Systems anticipates receiving a complete return on Salesforce Service & Support investment in less than 12 months. Misys Banking Systems deployed Salesforce Service and Support to create a single view of its global customer base.
Biznet has launched new metropolitan services, based on Nortel optical Ethernet technology to meet corporate customer demand for high-performance, high-bandwidth business applications. Nortel's Indonesia distributor, PT Harvest Perdana Kompakindo and its reseller PT Adi Multi Kreasi, deployed the system which has also been integrated with Biznet's existing IP service offerings.
Witness announced that it has once again received top honors for its technology leadership in the customer care market. The company received the ICCM and ACCE Best of Show 2005 honors and Customer Inter@ction Solutions' 2005 TMC Labs Innovation Award.
Pegasystems announced it has been selected by Computer Sciences Corporation as part of a team led by MemberHealth Inc. to help the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) establish one of 10 national prescription drug benefit plans in accordance with the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), Part D.
Siebel announced that the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department has selected Siebel Enterprise Case Management and Siebel Public Sector Case Management Analytics to provide a framework for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of its case management and to enable the seamless transition of cases between its business areas.
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 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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| CRMAdvocate Stock Index |
| CRMSI | 44.91 |  | 2.50% |
| Dow Jones | 10,820.28 | | 0.50% |
| Nasdaq | 2,241.67 | | 0.65% |
| S&P 500 | 1,254.85 | | 0.60% |
| Top Gainers |
| NCR | 30.6 | | 0.85 |
| Verint | 38.27 | | 0.60 |
| Sykes | 12.9 | | 0.59 |
| Top Losers |
| Astea | 13.06 |  | -0.73 |
| West Tel | 40.49 | | -0.52 |
| NICE | 44.06 | | -0.51 |
| Complete Stock Index |
| As of close 11/21/05 | |
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Winners, Losers of Corporate Image 2005 - Corporations that develop clear messages and clearly communicate their stories to both the internal organizations and the external forces are the real players. The rest are either still discovering who they are or just making stories as they go along or periodically falling flat on their faces.(ABC Namebank)
|  | | Disaster Planning for the Contact Center - While business continuity planning may seem like a daunting task and the time better spent on more current critical needs, the day after a disaster should never be a starting point to reflect on what should have been done.(Contact Center Today)
| | | Oracle Says DOJ Has Cleared Proposed Siebel Acquisition - "We are extremely pleased with the DOJ's decision and we believe we are on track to close the deal in the first quarter of next year," said Oracle spokesperson Bob Wynne in a statement.(CRMBuyer)
| | | RightNow Tries To Woo Siebel Customers - "When you have nervous customers, you'll have companies that want to soothe them, and in doing so, win them away," said Yankee Group analyst Sheryl Kingstone. "If there are cases where Siebel can't comfort its customers that everything will be okay after the acquisition, another company could get those customers."(CRMDaily)
| | | Companies Find Faster Call Resolution Key to Cost Center Profitability - As companies face a backlash against offshore call centers, or are simply finding it was not the right solution for their particular business, they are bringing service back to the U.S. This doesn't need to be cost-prohibitive however. Nearly 80 percent of the time and cost of providing customer service is spent on service resolution.(CRMToday)
| | | The Failed Search for a Single View of the Customer - Organizations continue to struggle to improve customer satisfaction.(Intelligent Enterprise)
| | | A fine pair for SMBs: CRM and e-commerce - A little more than a year ago, when Oriel Wines opened for business, the people there knew they would need an integrated, one-stop shop for back-office, front-office and e-commerce applications.(SearchCRM)
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