Partnership to Align Phone System Data With CRM

M5 Networks has partnered with InsightSquared to create a solution that will allow customers to manage data generated from M5, along with data from other systems, in InsightSquared’s business intelligence product.

The solution, which will be made available in Q2 of 2012, will help customers

• manage data from their business phone system and other applications in one interface;
• visualize trends in voice and data to understand the “why” of spikes and valleys in activity;

save time, effort and money by eliminating the need to manually generate reports or hire data analysts; and

• identify actions that will positively impact efficiency and revenue.

“Most telephone systems can tell you how many calls your team is making,” noted Brent Barbara, VP of innovation and integration for M5 Networks, “but the important question is, are they the right calls?”

When you align phone system data with CRM, you get actionable intelligence that helps drive the business, he told CRM Buyer.

This partnership with InsightSquared will give clients a one-stop shop where customers can manage both sources in one easy to use interface, added Barbara. “For example, you can see the calls along with the activities your sales team is logging for faster analysis and management.”

SugarCRM Gearing Up for SugarCon

The sixth annual SugarCon will be taking place April 23 to 26 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. This year’s theme is “Explore the Possibilities of CRM.”

The lineup includes SugarCRM CEO Larry Augustin; Guy Kawasaki, cofounder of Alltop.com and former Apple chief evangelist; Paul Greenberg, president of The 56 Group and author of CRM at the Speed of Light; Paul Gillin, technology journalist and thought leader in new media; and Michael Fauscette, lead, IDC Software Business Solutions Group.

Attendees will have access to live, hands-on training in practical techniques to deepen connections with customers and make sales, support and marketing teams more productive.

More than 80 breakout sessions will be offered through eight tracks. These will highlight customer success stories, unique and innovative integration stories, user tips, and upcoming product releases.

Matt Braman, vice president for information technology and administration at Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Life, and Steve Kasinetz of ATCORE Systems are among the channel partners and customers who will be sharing their success stories at the event. Their presentations will focus on innovations in leveraging mobile and social CRM to boost college student engagement tracking, Braman told CRM Buyer.

“We’ve built a very unique solution using the SugarCRM platform and have done things with Facebook integration that others haven’t,” he said. “In fact, we have increased information records about students by 1000 percent since we started. We’re happy to be at SugarCon to share ideas and strategic directions for the technology.”

Firms Lagging in Social Net Data Collection

A new study focusing on the latest social media and business intelligence findings was presented at the 2012 SHARE ExecuForum in conjunction with SHARE in Atlanta.

SHARE is an independent, volunteer-run association providing IBM customers with user-focused education, professional networking and a forum to influence the information technology industry.

Seventy-five percent of organizations are not collecting data from their social media networks, according to the study. However, although adoption rates for social network data use appear low today, organizations plan to begin monitoring and analyzing it over the next one to five years.

The study was based on a global sample of 711 respondents from North America and Europe-Middle East-African countries.