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I'd like to continue on the idea of modernizing our sales processes. Part of this modernization has been the focus on de-spreadsheeting selling. As we all know it started with sales force automation, or SFA, but the trend is alive and well and, if anything, gaining momentum ...

The front office computing market continues to impress me despite the fact that I have been covering it for so long ...

Taking credit is something we human beings love to do even when we might not have a great deal to take credit for -- unless there's bad news and then no one wants to own up ...

"Apex Code and industry defining features like intelligent work flow and multi-instance development environment provide clarity to enterprise CIOs by enabling them to focus on innovation, not infrastructure," said Denis Pombriant, managing principal of Beagle Research There is...

It's just a hunch, but I think that NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson will not have the same problems with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) regarding his IPO (initial public offering) that Marc Benioff had a couple of years ago when he took Salesforce.com public ...

Over the last three weeks I have received an intensive course in what it means to be The Customer, and I really liked it ...

Ten years ago Joe Pine defined customer experience in "The Experience Economy" and as is typical for big ideas, it took several years for it to ferment and bubble up to the mainstream. During that time, it's been amazing to see how we've turned customer experience into something different from what I think Pine intended ...

On my way out of Fenway Park the other night, I found a credit card on the sidewalk -- an American Express platinum card to be specific. There was no big moment of indecisiveness on my part about what to do with the card because I would expect anyone finding one of my cards on the street to act responsibly and I expect you feel the same ...

Earlier this year, we did a study of attrition in the call center. We wanted to know why even good or great call centers have such persistently high rates of attrition, especially when on-boarding new agents. On-boarding is the process that starts with hiring and continues through training and the initial experience of dealing with customers ...

It's hard to avoid comparisons between Microsoft and Salesforce.com this week. While many see a zero sum game being played out in which Google plus Salesforce.com somehow equals a diminished Microsoft, I think there's more ...

As you may know, I have been writing about on-demand computing for close to 10 years. The other day a reader sent me an interesting e-mail that I think sums up what a lot of other people are thinking. The note reads, in part, "We've all read the same books, we all know who Clay Christensen is and none of this surprises us. So why are the big players letting themselves go down the same well-worn path?"...

Paul Greenberg has one of the most prolific and wide-ranging minds in the CRM business. He wrote the CRM bible, CRM at the Speed of Light, which is now in its third edition. He lectures constantly, educates, and writes and publishes just about everywhere in the CRM world ...

A miracle year comes along very rarely, though any single year could be one depending on the subject matter. For example, as a member of Red Sox nation, 2004 will always be a miracle year for me, because my team won the World Series after 86 years of futility -- the Cubs are still waiting for theirs ...

Little is known about the two companies' long-term plans, though, and theories about where they might take this relationship are highly speculative, Denis Pombriant, founder and principal of Beagle Research, told CRM Buyer "It could be about CRM -- Google has ambitions in this...

Sage Software is having its annual Insights user meeting this week in Orlando, Fla., and I am filing this piece from there. More than 3,000 partner representatives are in attendance, which accounts for a broad array of products that include ACT!, SageCRM, SageCRM.com, and SalesLogix on the front-office side, plus a blizzard of accounting and ERP (enterprise resource planning) products for the back office...

Do we still need venture capitalists in the software industry? Sounds like a no-brainer, but the question also reflects the disruption that is taking place in enterprise software -- initiated by Salesforce.com and accelerated with its unveiling of a company incubator in San Mateo, Calif ...

"This is not so much a CRM announcement as it is a technology announcement," Denis Pombriant, principal with the Beagle Research Group, told CRM Buyer. "I look forward to learning more about what all this technology means for the CRM user." An evaluation version of SplendidCRM...

"These are the types of big vendor announcements to give end users a sense of what the future holds for them as they continue down a path with companies that are strategic partners," Denis Pombriant, principal of the Beagle Research Group, told CRM Buyer Where It's Headed...

H&R Block, another of the nation's largest tax providers, was not affected by any such problems. "We have had extremely heavy volume, but no issues at all," Denise Sposato, a spokesperson for the company, told the E-Commerce Times Last-Minute Confusion...

Oracle's announcement seems rather defensive in light of Salesforce.com's recent deal with Adobe to include Adobe Flex tools in its hosted offerings, Denis Pombriant, principal with the Beagle Research Group, told CRM Buyer "From these two announcements, I would say there is a...