Archive

I had meetings last week with each of the big three on-demand CRM vendors -- Salesforce.com, RightNow and NetSuite -- and made some observations. Sometimes I get complaints from some of them when I mention more than one in an article because they like to pretend that they are unique. My grudging con...

Oracle on Tuesday upgraded its self-service offering with the release of Siebel Communications Billing Manager 5.1.1 and Siebel Communications Billing Analytics 5.1.1 -- applications built on Siebel's acquisition of eDocs in 2005. New changes to the systems will give users increased online access to...

In looking back at the last few years for the CRM industry, 2001 was the year Siebel reigned supreme; 2002 was the year the recession took hold and companies held off on new CRM and other IT investments; 2004 was the year of mergers and acquisitions; and 2005 was the year those firms that remained s...

Oracle on Tuesday released a new Critical Patch Update addressing 51 security flaws across a variety of its products. The release was Oracle's ninth such quarterly update, and was the first to be preannounced. The release was initially announced last Thursday. Included among the patches are securit...

SAP has introduced the next version of its mid marketing application, All-in-One. In this version, mySAP ERP 2005 has been used as the platform allowing for better implementation and integration of the CRM and SOA tools, Doug Merritt, executive vice president and general manager for suite optimizati...

Axel Schultze is a serial entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. Perhaps that is not a very useful description since the valley seems to be littered with them, but Axel is, in my mind, an interesting case. His area of interest is the indirect sales channel, and he was the founder and first CEO of Bl...

Microsoft Dynamics is readying for this summer's launch of its next major CRM application -- a Software as a Service application that will be delivered on a multi-tenant platform. The rollout will enhance the competitive position of the division's CRM tools in the small and medium-sized businesses s...

Do you get the analytics you need to drive your Internet business? Is your design team data-driven? Does your whole marketing team understand how to measure its own success? If not, you're one of many organizations struggling to find a place for analytics within the organization. This isn't unusual...

SAP will miss revenue targets for the 2006 fourth quarter, according to its preliminary review of the quarter's results. Wall Street's expectations have been that the company's Q4 sales would increase by at least 15 percent, based in part on SAP's initial guidance for the year, which projected reven...

Auto manufacturers face stark choices over the next five to seven years, a period that is likely to see increasing bankruptcies and consolidations, according to KPMG's annual global automotive survey. Some 87 percent of executives said they think the bankruptcy rate will remain the same or slightly ...

Unlike in previous years, the big attraction for holiday shoppers in 2006 was neither advertising nor special offers, according to KPMG's newly released annual National Shopping Behavior survey. Rather, 81 percent of consumers surveyed said they shopped at stores that carried the items they were loo...

Whenever I think of New Year's resolutions, one of Mark Twain's best quotes comes to mind: "A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time." Resolving to change is really what customer relationships and serving customers is all about. How many times has ...

A new report finds that the banking specific business process outsourcing market is poised for significant growth. At the same time, vendors are realigning -- or aware that they must realign services -- in order to reflect changing directions in banks' customer service and business strategies. The r...

It is part of the American Experience to be always searching for self-improvement, and I think that contributes to our obsession with New Year's resolutions. I have made a few of my own over the years and 2007 will be no exception. In the last few days I have witnessed this urge to plan and improv...

Renault is marketing a car called the Logan -- a starter vehicle that retails for about US$6,300. A safety conscious consumer may pause before getting in -- but he shouldn't, or at least not more so than he would with any other car. Renault is not cutting corners in its manufacturing process. Instea...