Week in Review
Pivotal Corp. this week announced the general availability of its latest vertical offering -- which targets commercial banking. Built on Pivotal's three-tier, meta-data driven architecture, the company says its solution features comprehensive out-of-the-box commercial banking functionality, a highly adaptable data model, and robust customization tools -- all aimed at lowering the total-cost-of-ownership while enhancing performance and productivity. Several banking institutions have already signed up for the solution, the company says.
NetLedger Inc. , which produces Oracle Corp's Small Business Suite, has added advanced CRM features across the company's line. The company says these new advanced CRM features will extend NetLedger's integrated application services to small and midsize businesses needing sophisticated sales management, order placement, customer service, marketing automation, Web publishing, and accounting features.
BlueRoads Corp. has created a new product it is calling Channel-Side CRM, which caters to indirect sales organizations. The company says it has developed a multitier CRM system that contains a sales project tracking system, which captures customer feedback with the original vendor and presents the information to the reseller as a detailed report. The company also says it has developed a new forecasting algorithm to homogenize forecasting from hundreds and thousands of resellers.
The Reynolds and Reynolds Co. this week announced it has acquired Dealerpoint, an automotive retail CRM service built on Microsoft .NET technologies. Currently managed by MSN Autos (the Automotive channel of the Microsoft Network), Dealerpoint is licensed to car companies as a platform for their retailers' lead management programs. The platform is used to deliver sales leads to more than 4,000 Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Honda, Acura, and Isuzu dealers. The leads originate from multiple sources, including the car companies themselves and online third-party buying services. Reynolds says it will offer Dealerpoint to car companies and retail users as a core CRM service. According to the company, the acquisition supplements the company's existing contact management solution, which was introduced as part of the Reynolds Generations Series in 2002.
Demand chain management vendor HAHT Commerce Inc. has released three vertical modules of its HAHT Commerce Suite, version 7.1, for the chemical, consumer goods, and discrete manufacturing industries. The HAHT Chemical Suite includes quote management, auto-replenishment, and business intelligence functionality, as well as FaxPO functionality, which automatically converts faxed purchased orders into a company's ERP system, and support for Chemical Industry Data Exchange 3.0.The HAHT Consumer Goods Suite includes multiple packaging configuration functionality, new-product workflows, enhanced data analysis, electronic-to-paper print controls, and UCCnet Global Registry support. And the HAHT Discrete Manufacturing Suite includes catalog customization, cobranded site functionality, order history search, and personalized email alerts for channel partners.
Executive Changes
Baan, a division of Invensys PLC, appointed Tom Lowry vice president and general manager of Baan North America.
Spherion Corp. announced the appointment of Richard Lamond as senior vice president and chief human resources officer.
Sagarmatha Ltd., an Israeli provider of data mining and consumer personalization solutions, named Kevin E. McKenna its new head of US operations.