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SugarCRM and BroadVision have teamed up to integrate their respective products -- SugarCRM's namesake CRM app and BroadVision's Clearvale enterprise social networking platform -- to give users a fuller view of what is happening in the enterprise, the companies announced this week. This is not a full...

Millennial Media announced on Tuesday that it will acquire competitor Jumptap in a stock transaction worth approximately $225 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Jumptap shareholders will receive approximately 24.6 million shares of Millennial Media. The combined company will be able to offer...

As an onslaught of mobile video ads threatens the digital advertising landscape, it's sobering enough to realize that more than a few brands are not fully prepared. Even more concerning, however, is that our wireless infrastructure is not ready for it, either. Perhaps worst of all, consumers do not ...

Nice Systems has introduced a Contact Center Video Recording platform to its Nice Interaction Management suite. While not in great demand yet, this feature surely will draw more interest if customer service and regulatory trends continue on their current trajectory. The feature allows organizations ...

Before they contact a prospect, smart salespeople check the CRM system to see what the customer record says. That's what CRM is there for, from a sales perspective: to give sales the background information it needs to have the best chance at closing a sale. However, the picture of the prospect paint...

Zozi, which connects customers to activity-related adventures or trips -- say sailing lessons or rock-climbing tours -- rolled out a CRM system earlier this year that is an offshoot of an acquisition the startup made at the end of 2012. The name of the CRM system is "Zozi Advance," and it is a build...

I've been having so much fun lately that I may have missed something, but let me ask -- have we already reached the end of the customer experience trend? I think CX still has a lot of life in it, but let me play devil's advocate for a moment. "CX" is a nebulous term and idea, and its discussion lead...

Mobile marketers beware: A new ad format is poised to become very popular -- and there are questions whether the mobile ecosystem will be ready to handle it. That format is online ads. Of course, it is a channel that has been around for a while, and mobile sites have adapted to it. However, "it's re...

After several months in beta, SugarCRM and Colosa have made generally available a new Sugar module that lets users design business process workflows inside SugarCRM. The application, Colosa's flagship BPM and Workflow Suite called ProcessMaker, was launched into beta back in April, but the companies...

If you want glamour, status and prestige within your company, go out and get new customers. If you want to stay in business, specialize in keeping the ones you have happy and loyal. Customer retention isn't flashy, and it doesn't earn extra pats on the back from executives or big promotions -- which...

Apple's iPhone may frequently be viewed as the leader in the smartphone category, but it's actually two Samsung devices that got the highest scores in a recent smartphone customer satisfaction study from American Customer Satisfaction Index. Specifically, Samsung's Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II ti...

CBS viewers who get their broadcast TV service via Time Warner may have felt a little bit like the characters in summertime drama Under the Dome in the last 24 hours or so. Specifically, as part of a battle over retransmission fees, the cable giant on Monday briefly pulled CBS from its lineup in sev...

Social customer service has now become a key point of contact between brands and their customers. Consumers, particularly within the Millennial demographic, take to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks when they have a problem with a company. Sixty percent of 18-24 year olds go to social medi...

A subtext to the marketing automation explosion is analytics. Having a CRM system might make you wonder why marketing automation is needed at all, but the reasons boil down to analysis and improved data collection. Let me share some information from a new marketing study. First, the data: We asked m...

Businesses depend on their customers, and it would make sense that good customer service would translate into loyalty and sales, but high-tech vendors don't seem to have gotten the message. The average customer experience rating for tech vendors fell from 58 percent to 52 percent since last year, in...