Archive

I have been wracking my brain for an adequate metaphor to describe the situation that has developed in the CRM world and in enterprise software in general. It started about two years ago when Larry Ellison of Oracle looked at the enterprise software market and decided that SAP could conquer the wor...

Five9, an on-demand provider of customer interaction management, has introduced a new application aimed at addressing the most troublesome portion of agent-customer communication: the inbound call. Five9 Virtual Call Center Inbound is essentially a repackaged application carved out of the company's ...

Both Oracle and Siebel have developed a reputation for maintaining a hard line on pricing. Now that they are merging, buyers of CRM and related software are apprehensive about how the consolidation will affect pricing. In one bleak scenario, Oracle becomes even more rigid, causing CRM pricing to spi...

There is greater demand than previously thought for a hybrid software-as-a-service product, suggests a Yankee Group survey scheduled for mid-February release. To assess sales and marketing effectiveness, Yankee Group, in conjunction with WebSurveyor, recently polled 315 sales and marketing executive...

It was no surprise that IBM and SAP joined ranks to promote SAP's on-demand CRM product a day after the Oracle-Siebel deal concluded. It's very clear that the consulting, database and applications powerhouses have a common interest in opposing the California based Axis of CRM represented by Oracle-S...

My Web survey of SAP users is producing some interesting results. More than any other factor, customer references influenced buyers to choose SAP, quelling their concerns about the potential risks involved in taking that step. In fact, at this point in the survey, 80 percent of respondents said they...

SAP has unveiled its hosted customer relationship management application, putting an end to the recent flood of speculation about when it would arrive and what it would look like. Called SAP CRM on-demand solution, it is a hybrid application that allows users to move to an on-premise system with lit...

SAP and its partners plotted new mid-market strategies at the company's 2006 Field Kick-Off Meeting, or FKOM, which drew to a close in San Antonio, on Wednesday. In addition, SAP partners used the conference as a launchpad to introduce a slew of vertical and micro-vertical applications. On Thursday,...

Google has been in the news a lot lately and not for the kinds of things that the financiers on Wall Street like to see. Last week it was revealed that Google, alone among major search engine companies, is resisting a government request to provide a representative sample of searches to help Washing...

Oracle's US$5.85 billion acquisition of Siebel is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, after a scheduled vote by Siebel shareholders to approve the transaction, which was first announced in September. The wait has given Siebel users a chance to contemplate what the future may bring under Oracle pare...

Managed care is facing a fundamental shift in the way it handles member relations. Historically, payors invested little in developing solid relationships with individuals. This was a logical arrangement as employers selected and paid plans, so sales, service and marketing resources were dedicated ...

Dell has indicated it will continue to expand its ties in the Indian outsourcing market, building on the contact center and R&D operations it already has established. Its most recent initiative? Plans to establish a customer contact facility in Gurgaon to complement its existing operations in Ba...

Customer data integration (CDI) hubs continue to become a strategic driver for organizations who need to gain unified views of their customers across their sales and distribution channels for multiple product lines. However, while CDI initiatives have become one of the top five priorities for most ...

Siebel, it is clear, has been on a tear to close out what is likely to be its last quarter as an independent company as strongly as possible. Announcing robust fourth-quarter revenues, CEO George T. Shaheen credited "the market opportunity in customer facing solutions and business analytics, the imp...

The mantra of selling solutions has taken enterprise software by storm and nowhere is this more prevalent than CRM. Honestly, it seems like the more challenging and difficult it is to sell into specific sectors of CRM, the more "solution-selling" is being invoked. This newfound religion is truly t...