October 4, 2005

IN THE NEWS Deltek announced plans to acquire Wind2 Software, a firm serving project-driven professional services firms. The acquisition is designed to strengthen the ERP vendor's role in the professional services market, while adding approximately $10 million in revenues. The acquisition will add 3,000 customers to Deltek's existing base of 8,000 clients. NEW PRODUCTS KnoahSoft, a provider of multichannel and BPO offshore outsourcing services, has released its Cisco-certified KnoahsARK agent performance management software suite. KnoahsARK is equipped with recording, remote monitoring, screen capture, analytics, and additional customizable quality tools all delivered via a Web-based solution designed to enable contact centers to improve productivity, quality, and cost management. RightNow Technologies has released RightNow Telephony Application Programming Interface (RTAPI), a set of integration tools that help RightNow telephony partners and customers build best-or-breed, voice-enabled CRM environments based on RightNow's on-demand CRM applications. RTAPI will link CRM applications to voice and call center infrastructure to streamline customer interactions. DatStat announced its official launch into the Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) market. The company's flagship software offering, DatStat Illume, will provide analytic capabilities, cross-survey information gathering, security controls, and customized research and support services to the enterprise survey aggregation and feedback process. Centive has released Centive Compel, its on-demand sales compensation management software, featuring integration with Salesforce.com to enable sales representatives and mangers to forecast compensation based on opportunities within Salesforce.com's CRM system. Centive Compel automates all sales compensation in one centralized system that provides the accuracy, flexibility, and IT-independence lacking in homegrown and Excel-based sales compensation systems. OpTier, a provider of transaction workload management solutions, has released a new version of CoreFirst. The new version has enhanced performance alerts and more granular reporting as well as stronger control over service levels, according to the company. A key component of this latest release is broad support for pervasive enterprise platforms, including SAP NetWeaver Application Server, SAP NetWeaver Portal, and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise Database. ON THE MOVE SSA Global has appointed Michael Lawrie, former CEO of Siebel, and Howard Cohen, former CEO of Gtech, to its board of directors. Experian appointed R.C. Crompton vice president of sales for the catalog/retail vertical in its marketing services business unit. Loyalty Lab, a provider of retail CRM solutions, has appointed David Hendricks to the position of vice president of sales. Related articles: SSA's Global Road Map: Compliance and an Epiphany RightNow and KANA Court Customers