Heard and Overheard

"It's a perfect storm for change in government that we haven't seen in fifty years. There are three forces: 1) declining budgets--31 states operate in deficits; 2) human capital challenges--50 percent of the government workforce is up for retirement in the next three to five years; 3) the drive for 24/7 customer service. Government agencies are under pressure to deliver service on citizens' terms, when, how, and where they want it." --Stephen Rohleder, group chief executive, government, Accenture "Companies tend to buy technology in a reactive way to solve a pain point. The challenge is to integrate those systems." --Zach Nelson, CEO, NetSuite "ROI is like the Loch Ness monster: We need it, but we don't know where to find it." --Chris Selland, managing director, Reservoir Partners "Organizations lacking customer information consistently across all channels and interaction points will negatively impact customer relationships, and ultimately damage their brand." --Steve Bonadio, senior program director, META Group "ROI is different for each company, so what is the priority for one may not be for another." --Robb Eklund, vice president, CRM product marketing, Oracle Corp. "Don't let vendors talk you into changing your processes to fit their product." --Cary Fulbright, senior vice president, worldwide marketing, Salesforce.com