We Blog CRM

In Favor of Open Source CRM

Piyush Bakshi — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:25:50 +0000

The idea of owning the code to your software, being able to tinker with it and customize it is a powerful motivator for most companies employing a self-respecting IT staff. Open Source offers a tantalizing promise of free/cheap software that can be personalized to your requirements. Simplicity is another advantage; sometimes companies are looking for something that does not have too many bells and whistles in it.

Two big enterprise customers of open source CRM are H&R Block which uses SugarCRM and IMA Financial Group, which uses Concursive. Since most of the code is open, the applications tend to be very customizable, run on any platform, and have a good, if not all-encompassing, feature set. SugarCRM, the largest player in the category, has added more mobile features than many of its commercial rivals.

Succeed with Mobile CRM

Piyush Bakshi — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:25:52 +0000

The proliferation of mobile communication devices that are now much more than just telephones has interested application providers. Mobile CRM can help traveling executives take timely decisions and furnish advice to demanding customers without having to rely on a data being relayed from an office.

Deploying a mobile CRM environment is a new experience for most businesses. The dynamics of the process are slightly different from those of a standard CRM deployment. A good piece here at MyCustomer explaining in detail about the best ways to succeed with mobile CRM.

Dunbar Armored Selects Microsoft CRM

Piyush Bakshi — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:27:05 +0000

Dunbar Armored, an armored car company headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, has selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 for its sales teams. Dunbar will use the CRM technology to integrate data that is generated in its 80 branches across the US. Microsoft scored over competing CRM systems on the basis of its role-based CRM capabilities.

The Microsoft offering will work alongside Dunbar’s existing systems that store customer information. The deployment of Microsoft will enable Dunbar to eliminate manual processes and working with spread sheets for obtaining information on prospects and customers. Planning and reporting scenarios, such as consolidation and budgeting, are offered through integration with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server.

Aberdeen Conducts CRM Best Practices Study

Piyush Bakshi — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:46:58 +0000

According to a recent study conducted by Aberdeen - “Tailor-Made CRM: Best Practices in Customization, Configuration, and Integration”, companies are making use of customizable applications and data collection technologies to customize and configure their applications so that these are tuned to company processes.An important finding was that “best-in-class” companies are much more likely to implement data integration for CRM than those that lag behind. CRM customization is driven by a desire to acquire and retain customers.

Best-in-Class companies said that they currently use data integration products (47 percent), contact management products (50 percent) and sales knowledge management products (38 percent) to “increase the effectiveness and functionality of the core CRM product.”

Etelos Release Product Upgrades

Piyush Bakshi — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:34:42 +0000

Etelos, Inc. has announced the release of updated versions of Etelos Projects™ (project management) and Etelos CRM™ (customer relationship management). The updated versions of these applications, including Etelos Projects for Google Apps, Etelos CRM, Etelos CRM for Google Apps, and Etelos CRM for iPhone™, are now available in the Etelos Marketplace™.

Etelos has added its proprietary Etelos Ad Serve™ technology to the free version of Etelos Projects. Already provided in the free versions of the Etelos CRM family of products, this technology allows advertisers to place highly targeted and demographically effective ads into the Etelos Projects application. Users get the benefit of a free version of Etelos Projects without being interrupted by irrelevant and obtrusive advertising.

Frontpages Offers Microsoft CRM 4.0

Piyush Bakshi — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:46:59 +0000

Frontpages Web Hosting Network has added Microsof Dynamics CRM 4.0 to its roster of hosted offerings. The company is a recent Microsoft Gold Partner and is latest offering will give customers an integrated on-demand CRM solution. The pricing is $99 for small business solutions, $495 per month for corporate and $4,595 per month for enterprise offerings.

Frontpage specializes in offering Microsoft-developed products such as SharePoint, Exchange, Project, PerformancePoint, Office Communications Server and SQL, along with dedicated server hosting.

Salesforce.com Recognized by Aberdeen Group

Piyush Bakshi — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:58:55 +0000

The Annual State of the Market report released by the Aberdeen Group has placed Salesforce.com as one of the top vendors. The report evaluates a 100 organizations and ranks them for providing value to the business community. The rankings were arrived at based on information provided by more than 5000 business decision makers.

Salesforce.com has been ranked number eight and it joins Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Sun Microsystems at the top of the list. Salesforce.com has been around for a decade and can rightfully lay claim to being the torchbearer of the SaaS brigade. Marc Benioff, ex-Oracle, started Salesforce.com in 1999.

SaaS CRM Best Practices

Piyush Bakshi — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:31:17 +0000

A May 2008 report released by Forrester offers insight into the best possible ways for getting the best out of your SaaS CRM. SaaS CRM, as we all know by now, has made the leap from being in the fringes to becoming a mainstream player. Forrester choses to reiterate the fact for us and bases its statement on research that yields encouraging figures for SaaS. Adoption for SaaS CRM is growing at double digit rates.

Best practice recommendations include -

Having the right business case that considers more than just the cost.
Involve IT to negotiate the right contract.
Learn about hidden costs.
Implement the right deployment procedures.
Implement data security best practices.

RightNow Technologies With a New Release

Piyush Bakshi — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:28:11 +0000

RightNow Technologies has a added multi-channel feedback features in its May ‘08 release of its on-demand CRM package. Essentially, a consumer feedback feature, the new feature incorporates online chat. This throws open several possibilities for web marketers. They can obtain consumer feedback in real time, customers can get issues resolved faster, surveys are attached with the chat platform, and the contact between and company and its customers becomes more personal.

RightNow CRM enables surveys during phone calls, via e-mail as well as on the Web. The chat feature will help RightNow CRM strengthen its position as an application friendly towards business-to-customer communication.

CRM Helps Create Layers of Value-Add

Piyush Bakshi — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:08:48 +0000

A very nice and succinct piece here that touches upon the manner in which businesses into commodity trading and those selling high-value goods can make use of CRM. CRM is now being used by businesses to add to the soft value that a consumer perceives in a transaction apart from the object/service he purchases and the amount he pays for it.

The value-adds act as important differentiators and allow businesses to create space for themselves in competitive scenarios. Product and price differentiation is no longer sufficient to draw in the customers. CRM helps by making sense out of data that is gathered from the customers and the information is used to tailor service around a customer’s likes and dislikes. The service sector finds it the hardest to do business on quantitative value alone and hence is pressed to come out with innovative value propositions for customers.