Search Results

Think of this scenario: You're shopping for a new home and instead of guiding you into a single-digit fixed-rate mortgage, lenders try to persuade you that an adjustable mortgage indexed to your income makes more sense. Structuring mortgages like that makes no sense, and it's making less and less sense to purchase software that way ...

Quoting systems must deliver. Too often quoting workflows are pushed to the back of the development timeline when, in fact, that's what the channel partners need the most. Don't stop at being able to create MS-Word and Adobe Acrobat files, really go after quotes that make a commitment you can deliver on. Don't be satisfied with quotes that are nearly accurate; push to make the quotes accurate every time -- a tough but good goal to go after. If you do that, your company's credibility with resellers will skyrocket. Earn Respect It's not the destination of your reseller conference, not the giveaways or the feel-good presentations from product marketing, sales, product management, or even the special guest speakers -- it's the execution and the ability of your company to make and keep commitments to the channel that really matters. Don't bribe your way into a channel strategy; earn your way into your reseller's respect. Without that, you can do all the events, all the Web seminars, all the conferences -- and your competitors will still win the channel with better day-to-day execution and a healthy reserve of fulfilled expectations and commitments, all based on a channel management strategy that serves rather than just sits there. It's time to get out and serve the channel, not with bribes, but with solid performance using the applications you invested in. Louis Columbus, aCRM Buyer columnist, is a former senior analyst with AMR Research and isfounder of LWCResearch, a firm specializing in CRM, sell-side e-commerce, salesand product configuration and guided selling. ...

Let's face it. For many companies, the level of service to customers is lacking across the entire spectrum of their customer base, and service to internal customers is even worse ...

CEOs of hardware companies are giving themselves an extra drop. Any hardware company you track has an interesting story to tell about outsourcing right now. The most recent 10Ks filed with the SEC talk about the many costs and huge investment in outsourcing, yet the CEO talks about offshore manufacturing like it's effortless. Somewhere between these two extremes is the truth, and it leans more to going over engineering, quality, service and manufacturing processes over and over again like any golfer practices his or her swing. Outsourcing really is like golf. Like golf, companies struggle with performance and are anxious about little improvements. Like golfers, there is always a recasting of the toughest round in the best possible light. Experience Curve Across the board this earnings season, no one knows how many outsourcing mulligans CEOs of software, hardware and services companies took. But there is one certainty: Come next quarter after another round, the CEOs will all be back, and some might tell us about the experience curve they have been down and lessons learned. But for most, it will be a description of how they got their outsourcing strategy pin high. Nothing comes for free, and, especially for manufacturing companies, the lessons can be costly and enduring. Bottom line: Outsourcing's allure is the same as golf: freedom to hit away and play the game as you specifically want to. Ironically both outsourcing and golf make you earn that freedom, and for hardware manufacturers, it's better to own up to your handicap now, and don't mulligan away the future. For software companies, outsourcing is like the course you always wanted to play -- and in the case of CRM, the path is proven and worth a round. Louis Columbus, a CRM Buyer columnist, is a former senior analyst with AMR Research and is founder of LWC Research, a firm specializing in CRM, sell-side e-commerce, sales and product configuration and guided selling. ...

Companies looking at new CRM, order capture and even distributed order-management systems tend to give too much credibility to the vendors outside their company first, dismissing their own internal resources. ...

Look long enough at any company's Web site, C-level presentations, earnings conference calls or marketing efforts, and you'll find the phrases like, "customer-centered," "The customer comes first always," and "The customer is the center of the business." ...

Let's face it: CRM continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of enterprise applications. It doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves. ...

It's time to leave behind the hype of each new application release and get fundamental about what you are doing with your CRM strategies in the first place. Here's the bottom line: You will only be able to reach your goals if the processes that feed your CRM applications with verifiable, reliable, real data are functioning ...

Trying to make the disjointed pieces of Siebel's product strategy fit together is comparable to deconstructing a kaleidoscope and trying to create a mosaic from the pieces of randomly shaped colored glass. You'll get a colorful picture that's more abstract art than realism. ...

"Cisco is recognizing ... that fighting DDoS is such a prevalent need in their customer installed base and permeating their own distribution channel. They are all about customer satisfaction first," according to Louis Columbus, a senior analyst at AMR Research Columbus said in...

"The real news with PeopleSoft is continued discussion of their acquisition of J.D. Edwards," agreed Louis Columbus, a senior analyst at AMR Research, in an interview with the E-Commerce Times. "It has galvanized their customer base into a new level of customer loyalty, and you can't discount that."

"Military standards for ruggedization have always been an attractive market for manufacturers," AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told TechNewsWorld ...

"Military standards for ruggedization have always been an attractive market for manufacturers," AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told TechNewsWorld. "The fact that combat efforts are now more coordinated than ever before electronically is invigorating the need for ruggedized electronics equipment."

"I think it's perfect for the traveling CMO, marketing VP [or] CEO that isinvolved closely with any branding, marketing or sales strategies wherequick approval cycles are critical," AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told TechNewsWorld. "The BlackBerry has established itself as a very necessary part of the global productivity landscape."

"The WebStation is entirely consistent with the Linux approach of driving for a very low cost of ownership," Louis Columbus, senior research analyst at AMR Research, told TechNewsWorld. "This type of device can only serve to drive up the market share on the desktop, clearly the toughest of areas to gain leadership."

When it comes to the ultimate server, though, AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told the E-Commerce Times that "Hewlett-Packard's rx5670 is a prime example." Brian Cox, product line manager of business critical systems at Hewlett-Packard, told the E-Commerce Times that until...

For example, AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told the E-Commerce Times that dot-com mania brought integration to center stage. "Integration is king. That was a huge lesson," he said. Enterprises found that to develop a comprehensive e-commerce strategy, their applications...

AMR Research analyst Louis Columbus told the E-Commerce Times that he believes eBay and PayPal arrived at a fair price. However, he noted, "Paying more would have been pushing the ROI envelope." ...

"It has really caught on in the last 12 months," Louis Columbus, an analyst with AMR Research, told the E-Commerce Times. He noted that XML has become somewhat of a de facto standard Columbus said that for enterprises to get the most out of order-management applications, a key...

"Trying to regulate and control the mechanisms by which people gamble or do other illegal, immoral acts with the aid of the Internet is like trying to regulate who uses what freeway at a given time of day," Louis Columbus, an analyst with AMR Research, told the E-Commerce Times...