07.08.04
What
Do CRM Users Need? Just Ask Them
CRM is all about customer communication. So it's not surprising that
many CRM vendors formalize that interaction using customer advisory
boards that have direct input into product development. These boards
benefit the participants as well.
Rod Ely, systems development manager and systems architect for Green
Mountain Coffee, who sits on PeopleSoft's Product Advisory Council,
says the revelations from the meetings are pure gold. "Twice a year
I get a strategic update: Here's where they are and where they're
planning to go," he says. "It helps us on our strategic plan."
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The Whole Article
SMBs
Wave of the CRM Future
CRM software vendors are scrambling to get a piece of the action as
SMBs increase spending, but no one has a commanding lead yet. SMBs
tend to stick with the brands they know best, according to recent
research by Yankee Group. But even Microsoft has only 9-12 percent
of the SMB market in business software.
The small to mid-size business (SMB) market remains ripe for CRM software
sales , according to data collected by AMR Research. Next year, SMBs
will increase their I.T. spending by 6.6 percent, and customer-management
capabilities will be at the top of those companies' wish lists.
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The Whole Article |
Microsoft's
CRM foray gets mixed response
There has been a mixed response to Microsoft Corp.'s foray into the
customer relationship management (CRM) market with users frustrated
by a slower-than-expected development path.
Microsoft now expects to have Version 2 of its CRM software ready
in mid-2005, more than two years after it released the first version
in the U.S.
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The Whole Article
CRM
suppliers launch self-service analysis software
Two CRM suppliers have launched product updates to help retailers
analyse customer behaviour on self-service web sites and automated
call handling services.
ClickFox and E.piphany have added customer service and marketing features
to their product suites to help companies mine the vast amount of
customer data produced by IT systems.
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The Whole Article
Deploying
CRM Analytics Software
First developed in the early 1990s by Siebel Systems as a management
tool for sales personnel, customer relationship management (CRM) technology
has since morphed to include campaign-management applications, call-center
software, and customer self-service programs.
Despite years of declining interest in CRM, and despite its miserable
track record — just 16 percent of projects result in a positive ROI,
according to Boston-based AMR Research — spending on CRM products
is now on the rise. The hottest segment in the market is customer
analytics — tools that dissect consumer-buying patterns, suss out
preferences, and predict future behavior. AMR reckons that sales of
business-intelligence/analytics products will top $9 billion this
year, up from $7.7 billion in 2001.
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The Whole Article
Sage
offers CRM options
Sage is poised to launch an online customer relationship management
(CRM) suite in the next few months to give firms more options for
deploying its software.
However, the head of Sage's mid-market division said there was still
little demand for hosted CRM software in the UK, as take-up is hampered
by the unreliability and high cost of telecoms carriers.
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The Whole Article
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http://www.crmnewz.com/2004/0708.html |
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