Spotlight Features

Implementing a tag-based Web analytics solution is rarely the slam-dunk that vendors imply. Depending on how your site is structured and how dynamic your content is, tagging can range from fairly straightforward to fiendishly complex. How can you tell which experience you're likely to be in for? Thi...

Identifying a paradigm shift is most easily done in hindsight because separating a fad from a long term trend is something that requires a bit of historical perspective to get right. About the only professionals who make it a habit of prognosticating about changing trends are economists and, as the...

Recent data out of McKinsey & Co. reveals that offshore outsourcing providers have only captured 10 percent of a potential US$300 billion business. One opportunity for new growth is IT services. Business processes outsourcing will continue along the curve it has established, but McKinsey predict...

Too often, a company chooses a customer relationship management/sales force automation solution that just does not fit. Each company has unique sales and marketing needs, so a "One-Size-Fits-All" CRM solution is not the best approach. An expensive Armani suit is worthless if it is not tailored to fi...

In many companies, marketing is experiencing a resurgence and new relevance, a rejuvenation if you will towards aligning closer to customers than ever before. What's most encouraging about this is the fact that strategies based on dated cause-and-effect relationships with clients are, through the u...

Last week I mentioned a white paper I wrote a couple of years ago that addresses some of the changes we can expect to come from the on demand development and deployment paradigm and I thought it would be interesting to examine some of the main points here. The title of the piece is "The New Garage" ...

Apple Computer announced internally on May 29 that it is pulling back from plans to establish a customer support facility in Bangalore, India. The news regarding Apple's Indian subsidiary Apple Services India was released publicly on Saturday. Apple has not announced plans to downscale its outsourc...

Acquisition agreements are the most important legally binding documents in the acquisition process, but their role is frequently misunderstood. They structure the deal and allocate liabilities and responsibilities among buyers and sellers. The commercial terms of an acquisition agreement are usuall...

Even at post-tech bubble prices, adopting a CRM system requires a sizable commitment for any firm. Many of the companies making these investments, though, still are not realizing the maximum value for their money due to common missteps before and after the implementation. Some firms, for instance, a...

Some weeks there's just more to write about than other weeks. It's like the weather -- sometimes there just seems to be more of it than other times. Take last week, for example. Just north of Boston some communities received as much as 19 inches of rain. The last few days in CRM have had the sam...

The impetus for CRM development was business-to-business's need to capture customer and prospect information, note sales, marketing and service contacts, and nurture relationships through better communication internally and externally. These solutions, however, don't lend themselves easily or often ...

When RightNow Technologies announced plans to acquire Salesnet, executives at Art Technology Group mulled over how the deal might impact them. In the first quarter, the company had launched two on-demand customer service applications -- ATG Answers OnDemand and ATG Customer Care OnDemand -- that co...

More and more of the companies that are either piloting or actively pursuing Service-Oriented Architecture frameworks to support their business strategies are aiming to accentuate, strengthen and streamline selling and service strategies. Cutting the costs surrounding database and data warehouse con...

Earlier this week, RightNow Technologies announced its acquisition of Salesnet, an on-demand vendor known for its highly specialized sales methodologies. It was a coup for the Bozeman, Mont.-based vendor, says founder and CEO Greg Gianforte, for a number of reasons -- not least because it lopped a y...

Remember demand? It was always seen with supply and it was used to make markets until some wise guys told us that the two could go their separate ways. If you keep all things constant except for supply you can run the table, or so they said. It reminds me of the old joke about the poet, the engin...