December 8, 2004

CUSTOMER WINS Salesforce.com has announced several new customers, including pharmaceutical services provider Quintiles Transnational, Staples, and manufacturing testing-products supplier MTS Systems Corporation. Quintiles' worldwide sales and marketing teams plan to use Salesforce.com's technology to increase repeat sales and track customer interactions, but the company has already started its enterprisewide implementation--an expected 2,000-user deployment. Innovex, Quintiles' unit that provides pharmaceutical and biotech companies with sales and marketing services, has been employing solutions from the on-demand vendor since August 2002. After implementing a Web-based SFA tool, Staples Contract Division opted for Salesforce.com to support 1,500 users nationwide. "It offers a more feature rich product, proven scalability, and the professional service organization necessary to support our multithousand user, enterprisewide deployment," says James Dorman, vice president of marketing and sales administration at Staples Contract Division. Additionally, MTS Systems has rolled out Salesforce.com for the company's Test Segment. The testing products supplier's implementation includes full integration with its ERP back office system. The BBC has selected Nielsen/NetRatings with SageMetrics to provide Web analysis for its bbc.co.uk Web site. With its Web-analytics initiative the BBC hopes to improve Web-traffic reporting, improve its respond rate to ad hoc requests, and increase its options for measuring visitors to the BBC Web site. NEWS Selectica has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire I-many, a business solutions provider for enterprise contract management and corporate commitments. The $70 million deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2005. CosmoCom has announced that EDS Israel is using the CosmoCall Universe platform to provide hosted contact center services. Implementing the IP-based solution will allow EDS to create a single contact center on-demand (CCOD) platform capable of supporting all of its outsourced centers. NEW PRODUCTS Talisma has launched NetAgent 6.6, a multichannel interaction management solution for contact centers. Enhanced functionality includes an improved agent and supervisor interface equipped with enhanced search capabilities, visual service level indicators, and enhanced reporting. Telephony improvements include multiline voice conferencing and screen pop countdown. The British Army, a current Talisma customer, is considering the new version, based on NetAgent Email, NetAgent Chat, and NetAgent CTI. LiveTime Software, a provider of J2EE-based service-desk software, has announced the availability of LiveTime Help Desk and LiveTime Support version 3.1. Enhancements include broader search capabilities, improved workflow for greater Active Directory compatibility, and measuring service level agreements in hours or minutes. The solutions are designed to allow outsourced service providers to manage their vendors from a central viewpoint and vendors to service their customers within their own portal. Both can, however, use the central knowledge repository and escalate problems to the main service provider seamlessly. Related article: Midmarket Champions Best Software and Salesforce.com are the leaders in the SMB space, according to a new survey.