Biographical Information

Lisa Picarille

Articles for Lisa Picarille

Market Watch: Marketing Tools Emerge as Comprehensive Solutions

Vendors are combining MRM with campaign management to leverage a broad spectrum of functions, including planning, execution, and measurement.

Cummins Revs Up Its Marketing

Cummins had an undisciplined process for direct communications with customers, virtually no direct marketing via email, and customers could not provide feedback.

Market Watch: Improving Self-Service Results With Search Capabilities

Search capability in self-service are powerful, but companies need to monitor its effectiveness.

The Art of War

Midmarket companies are now spoiled for choice.

Hosted CRM Moves to the Mainstream

A new Beagle Research Group study says the demand for hosted CRM has exploded over the past 12 months, and mainstream users are now adopting these solutions.

CRM Vendors Spring Into Action

PeopleSoft, Onyx, and SAP are starting Q2 with updates to several existing applications, and are adding some new products.

Missteps in Midmarket?

Company size may not be the real indicator of potential CRM adoption.

Customer Support Makes for Compelling Entertainment

In the real world, bad CRM really isn't all that funny.

A Method to March Madness

Business analytics software predicts NCAA Tournament teams.

Salesnet Expands its ASP Model and Gets a Cash Infusion

The moves are part of the company's plans to expand, evolve, and increase its presence as an ASP delivering a variety of CRM solutions.

Siebel Pumps Up Partnerships and Its Midmarket Presence

Siebel strengthened its partnerships with two industry heavyweights and made moves to secure some ground in the midmarket.

Sales Pros Focus More on CRM, Less on Managers

The lackluster performance of sales managers prompted 43 percent of respondents to say that their managers need better sales management skills.

CRM Helps Professional Services Firms Obey the Law

Whether the compliance relates to personal privacy issues, spam, homeland security, federal, state, and local laws, healthcare, or securities, CRM solutions providers need to be aware of the issues.

Email Campaigns Are Plagued by Volume

Harte-Hanks's report examined 2,626 B2B permission-based email campaigns--more than 17 million messages--in the telecommunications and high-tech markets.

Outsourcing Goes Bite-size

Based on its recent report, "Predictions for Outsourcing in 2004," Gartner now estimates the number of enterprises overall that enter into new outsourcing relationships will increase by 30 percent in 2004.

Effective Sales Requires Better Training

Peak Sales Consulting's survey shows that more effective training for sales and marketing groups is likely to help organizations meet their sales goals.

Concerto and Melita Complete Merger, and Delist from NASDAQ

The merger is expected to give existing customers access to a wider selection of CIM solutions, along with a beefed-up global support infrastructure.

The BPM Market is Expected to Grow 15 Percent

Real revenue and market potential for BPM is at the business level, enabling new business strategies, reducing operating costs, and improving process performance.

Compensation Apps: Go for the Best

Best-of-breed ICM fares better than that of ERP vendors.

Reporter's Notebook: Oracle AppsWorld

CEO Larry Ellison's keynote concentrated on how CRM has continually failed to deliver on its promise of that complete customer view.

Trend Watch: Social Networking Is the Newest Link in the CRM Chain

Business software providers are looking to cash in on the social networking hype by applying the concept to corporate sales.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

CRM can help transport companies to reach new heights, drive profits, and bring them closer to their customers. Here, the stories of three companies that use CRM to do all this and more.

Mobile CRM Helps Smith & Nephew Reps

Smith & Nephew needed a solution that would make its global sales force more productive, accurate, and responsive to customers.

Oracle Stresses Its Commitment to Customers and Apps

Talk of Oracle's ongoing hostile takeover efforts of rival PeopleSoft was noticeably absent from day one of Oracle's annual AppsWorld conference.

Software Firms Modify Models to Woo SMBs

A new META Group study shows that software providers are modifying their business models in an effort to attract small and midsize business users and expand their market share.

Software's Future Depends on Standards

IDC states that 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey on standards agreed that the future of software depends on them.

The Secret to Successful Outsourcing

Outsourcing solutions are evolving toward integrated business and technology solutions; competitive differentiation will center on vertical expertise and alignment.

SAS Expands Its Retail Offerings

Analytics developer SAS Institute this week unveiled plans to beef up its presence in the retail industry via the creation of new software solutions, along with the formation of two new units.

PeopleSoft Pulls Out of J.D. Edwards User Group Meeting

PeopleSoft, which completed its acquisition of J.D. Edwards in July in a deal valued at $1.7 billion, inherited the seven-year-old Quest user group, but has backed out of the Quest Midwest Conference.

Vendors Team Up for Java Development

The Jave Tools Community group charge is to make standard Java technology APIs friendlier for tool development.

IT Investments in E-commerce Are Thriving

New research from Forrester Research estimates that e-commerce budgets will outpace the rest of IT budgets through 2008.

Building Relationships Grows Revenues

The company needed a CRM system that could help track customers for life, track sales leads and opportunities, and manage marketing campaigns to attract new customers.

The Goldilocks Syndrome

Following are three stories of how perseverance led to CRM success--and that's no fairy tale.

Vertical Focus: How Auto Dealers Drive Relationships

Automakers using CRM are getting savvier about their customers, which are essentially the dealers. Dealers using CRM are also getting a better handle on their customers and prospects.

Legislation to Drive BPM Market Growth in 2004

Many businesses are relying on BPM applications to help them comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX).

Sales Strategies Undermined by False Assumptions

Six common mistaken beliefs are widespread among sales leaders--each of these common misconceptions undermines a successful sales group.

A New Survey Shows Distinct Ways To Reach Minorities

Forrester Research this week released "Marketing to America's Ethnic Minorities," a Consumer Technographics report that identifies key differences in technology adoption, media consumption, and receptiveness to marketing among Asians, blacks, English-speaking Hispanics, and whites.

Business Objects Completes Its Acquisition of Crystal Decisions

Business Objects says it will issue approximately 26.8 million ordinary shares and will pay approximately $307.6 million in cash to former Crystal Decisions stockholders.

SMB Customers Are Key to CRM Health

Leading application and service providers like Siebel Systems, IBM Global Services, SAP, Accenture, and PeopleSoft are trying to shift into the expanding SMB space, but smaller CRM vendors, partners, and resellers are better positioned to take advantage of the boom.

Web Self-Service Is On the Rise

According to the study, Web self-service transactions have grown 116.8 percent from 2002 and now account for three-quarters of all support transactions.

Pivotal Mulls Buyout Bids As Onyx Pulls Out of Race

Onyx isn't waiting around to see the results before making a move: It announced today a program to migrate Pivotal customers to Onyx, which enables customers to trade their existing Pivotal licenses for licenses of Onyx Enterprise CRM 4.5.

Marketers Are Looking for Best Match Platforms

Marketing automation software, which grew out of CRM, allows marketers to plan, target, deliver, and measure direct-to-consumer marketing communications, across both online and offline channels.

Five Ways to Be a Good Customer

What every CRM project leader must do when dealing with internal staff, vendors, integrators, and consultants to ensure the CRM initiative is truly fruitful.

User Buy-In Boosts Sales

The deployment began in May; the plan is to roll out the new system to 1,200 users over the next year.

Noisemakers Versus Newsmakers

Industry pundit Paul Greenberg says he finds it ironic that CRM is supposed to be about making customers happy, when the CRM players are at each other's throats.

Market Watch: Collaborative Selling

Collaborative selling proponents claim it helps companies realize higher close rates, shorten the sales cycle, and gain higher-value deals.

The Local Number Portability Hype Didn't Match Reality

Initial interest in porting telephone numbers didn't match the hype surrounding the Federal Communications Commission's recent mandate.

An Unhealthy Relationship

According to the report, health insurance carriers are lagging in customer service and support.

A Customer Satisfaction Study Shows Some CRM Surprises

A recently released study from HYM press showed that customers' satisfaction with 14 leading CRM software systems and vendors is based on a variety of things, including functionality, customizability, and financial stability.

Optimism for 2004 Tech Recovery Is Increasing

The 2004 increases are being driven by projected demand among midsize (100 to 999 employees) and large organizations (1,000 or more employees).

IT Spending Recovery Seen in 2004

A combination of technology advances, architectural changes, market forces, and best practices will make for a good recovery for IT in the near future.

CRM Leads IT Spending Index

The increase in CRM spending was tempered, however, by slightly down numbers for new spending on network equipment and services.

Analyst Firms Report Q3 Earnings in Line with Estimates

The market research and analyst firms, which have significant CRM practices, recently posted earnings that indicate a slight uptick in the tech market.

User Buy-In Makes All the Difference

Travelex's SFA and CRM pieces were not integrated with the processing system, so the sales group refused to use it; Travelex decided to trash its system in favor of another solution.

Teamware Market Is Poised for Growth

The Meta Group Tuesday released a report showing that the market for collaboration and document management tools is poised to explode.

Free CRM Can Ad Up

The company is targeting small businesses with between two and 100 workers, a different strategy from the current group of ASPs that is beginning to make headway in larger companies and the enterprise space.

Nearly Half the U.S. Workforce is Using Mobile Devices

Mobile technology coupled with CRM lets the corporate office receive timely field intelligence collected by mobile professionals, and mobile technologies help sales representatives and field service workers stay current with their accounts and customers.

UpShot Users Wooed by Rivals

UpShot's hosted rivals are offering migration paths for customers who are unhappy with Siebel's acquisition of the company.

Siebel Acquires UpShot and Motiva

Siebel Systems CEO Tom Siebel said the company's motive for acquiring UpShot is similar to acquisitions it's made in the past, which is, "within a very short time to establish a commanding lead" in its target market.

Siebel Hits Third Quarter Earnings Mark

Siebel Systems Wednesday announced earnings that met Wall Street estimates and said it expects revenues to stay on the incline through next quarter.

Guerilla Marketing versus the 800-Pound Gorilla

Guerilla marketing is in full swing, with a twist, in the CRM space.

Siebel Touts CRM For Everyone

Siebel Systems its announced on-demand hosted-CRM application, and emphasized the company's efforts on lowering the total cost of ownership for its CRM products.

OneSource Embeds Critical Data

OneSource Information Services debuts a family of business intelligence modules designed to maximize the productivity of customer-centric functions and organizations.

Kawasaki Drives Customers, Dealers to Web

Click Commerce was the only vendor that didn't think Kawasaki's needs were identical to those of the automotive industry.

Top Execs + CRM = Success

CRM is about changing the mindset of your employees to focus on customers. Companies can only do this if customer-centricity begins and is embraced at the C level.

Vertical Focus: Professional Services

Outsourcing for Strategic Value, Not to Cut Costs

A new Accenture study shows that businesses are shifting away from outsourcing as a cost cutting measure and instead viewing outsourcing as strategic value proposition.

Do Not Call List on Hold

Oklahoma Federal Judge Lee R. West ruled on Tuesday that the FTC overstepped its authority in creating the national list.

Teradata Looks to Better Deal With Data

CRM, along with analytics, is becoming increasingly important as Teradata expands its data warehousing focus to drive customer value.

Echopass, Genesys, and Salesforce.com Deliver Integrated Contact Center Solution

The solution, which is available immediately, is aimed at small and midsize businesses.

Oracle Income Up, License Sales Down

Some industry watchers claim that Oracle's downturn in software licensing revenues indicates that anticipated overall IT spending recovery is not at hand; others are holding steady with previous ratings on the company.

Technology Use By Uninsured Consumers on the Rise

Forty-four percent of uninsured consumers who plan to apply for health insurance in the next year say they will do so online.

Business Objects Upgrades Its Analytics Suite

Business Objects Enterprise 6.1 provides enhanced performance and analysis features.

Data Quality Market to Grow at 30 Percent

Meta Group's "Data Quality Tools Evaluation Report" states that data quality-adoption rates are expected to expand 20 to 30 percent annually during the next three to five years.

Vertical Focus: Government

A recent study reveals that 92 percent of surveyed government executives consider it either "important" or "very important" to deliver "superior" service, but 90 percent of the respondents say their agencies are not yet delivering that superior service.

The 2003 Market Leaders (Part 1)

CRM magazine scrutinized CRM suite vendors and related categories to uncover the top-five leaders in each category: enterprise CRM, mid-market CRM, analytics, contact center outsourcers, and consulting firms. The results are based on a combination of weighted criteria, including revenue and revenue growth (last four completed quarters, ended March 30, 2003), market share, customer wins, and reputation for customer satisfaction.

The 2003 Market Leaders (Part 2)

CRM magazine scrutinized CRM suite vendors and related categories to uncover the top-five leaders in each category: enterprise CRM, mid-market CRM, analytics, contact center outsourcers, and consulting firms. The results are based on a combination of weighted criteria, including revenue and revenue growth (last four completed quarters, ended March 30, 2003), market share, customer wins, and reputation for customer satisfaction.

Intuit Plunges Into CRM for SMBs

The product focuses on simplifying the way users track customers and related projects, manage customer information, and provide customer service.

Marketing Applications for the Masses

All businesses could benefit from more sophisticated marketing tools, and that these tools offer the greatest potential for return on investment.

Primus Announces Earnings, Acquisition

Under the terms of the stock-and-cash deal, Primus will purchase Broad Daylight for 2,090,000 shares of Primus common stock, plus cash equal to the value of 110,000 shares of Primus common stock.

Siebel's Shrinking Partner List

CRM--market leader Siebel has seen its cadre of consultants and technology partners decline from about 700 two years ago to only about 360 today.

UpShot Countersues Salesforce.com

Online CRM provider UpShot earlier this week countersued rival Salesforce.com and asked a federal court to stop Salesforce.com from using misleading information on its Web site and in its sales literature.

Market Watch: Midmarket CRM

Everything from phased deployments to optimizing business processes to implementing self-service to the rise in hosted solutions is being spurred by companies' desire to cut costs.

CRM Scores With Sports Fans

The average cost of taking a family of four to an NBA game passed $280 this year, according to Team Marketing Report. When you drop that kind of money for an event, sports is about more than the thrill of victory.

No Means No

Companies need to balance the potential of bringing in more revenue with overly aggressive tactics that might send a customer running to a rival.

ROI in Progress

CRM Leverages the Enterprise Information Integration Market

The benefits of EII range from improving the real-time characteristics of business intelligence to easing mergers and speeding development of enterprise portals and e-business integration applications.

Microsoft CRM Goes Global

Microsoft announced plans to accelerate the release of an international version of Microsoft CRM; to revamp MS CRM's licensing agreements; and to change its certification process for resellers.

CRM to Boost Tech Spending

A recent Aberdeen Group study reveals that enterprises are expected to increase their technology budgets by an average of 3.4 percent over the next six to 12 months, and CRM-related applications are helping to fuel the growth.

When is the Customer Wrong?

Identifying valuable customers using CRM solutions is key, because it allows retailers to target them with increased service levels, this generating more revenue.

Fickle Financial Customers Require Advocacy

New research claims there is a critical shift in the consumer mindset.

Communications Providers Are at Crossroads Over Adding New Services

The study focused on 147 call center managers and senior executives from 24 wireless, wire-line, cable, and satellite companies.

Dirty Data Impacts Profitability

Two-thirds of the companies surveyed across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom say that customer satisfaction and loyalty within their organization is suffering due to the bad data.

Oracle Stands Firm on PeopleSoft Bid

If the deal goes through, CEO Larry Ellison originally said he plans to jettison all of PeopleSoft except programmers and development staff.

The Third Implementation's the Charm

To date, 40 of Outstart's 95 workers are using Salesnet; 25 of those 40 are sales reps (15 inside sales, the rest field sales), the remainder is business partners, Outstart executives, telemarketing folks, system engineers, and some workers in the finance department.

CRM World Domination

Whether existing Western CRM giants or new, localized CRM providers prevail, expansion into emerging markets is good news for the overall state of CRM. It's even better news for global businesses looking at CRM solutions to help improve customer relations and increase revenue.

Poor Business Decisions Equal No Measurable CRM ROI

New study is a compilation of previously unpublished research from 21 of Gartner's CRM analysts.

Global Outsourcing Is on the Rise

Outsourcing incentive stems from lower wages and reduced turnover in other countries, which translates to less hiring, staffing, and training expenses, plus fewer productivity lags as new agents are brought up to speed.

Making Dollars and Sense of CRM Revenue

Vendors like Oracle, SAP AG, and J.D. Edwards sell not only CRM, but also enterprise business software, which often gets totaled in with CRM sales.

CRM Gets Predictive

Business Objects Tuesday announced it has integrated its business intelligence solution with Salesforce.com to allow customers to perform advanced reporting and ad hoc analysis of customer trends and sales pipelines.

J.D. Edwards, IBM Partner for SMB Solutions

Vertical offerings couple J.D. Edwards applications with IBM's consulting services and architecture.

Siebel Euro Conference Highlights Banking, Utilities

Developed with IBM Siebel showed off its next-generation CRM bank-teller application, aimed at speeding up banking transactions by giving tellers an expanded set of information and tools in a highly intuitive interface.

Baan Sold to Investment Group

Baan executives say the merger with SSA will create a stronger company focused on manufacturing software sales.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

When it comes to CRM size matters, but that doesn't mean bigger is better.

Do-it-Yourself CRM

The system is called OSCAR (Optimus Solutions Customers and Relationship Manager), and is used for all of the company's contact management and sales force automation.

PeopleSoft Dives Into the Mid-Market

A Slice of the Good Life: San Francisco--SymphonyRPM

Murphy's Law

Kanisa Buys Ask Jeeves's Enterprise Unit

Kanisa announces plans to acquire the enterprise software division of Web-search company Ask Jeeves Inc.

Inefficiencies Lead to Contact Center Overspending

Enkata Technologies claims that contact center inefficiencies account for up to 30 percent of business's annual customer care expenses.

CRM Services to Grow in 2004

The evaluation of CRM services market focuses on commercial and nonprofit organizations attempting to improve client or constituent relations via strategy formulation, software selection, software implementation, business process improvement, training, and deployment.

Companies Need a Better Grasp of Outsourcing Costs

Leveraging the expertise of an experienced advisor can reduce internal staff costs and the external legal fees by as much as half.

SEC Probe Spurs New Analyst Meeting Policy at Siebel

The decision comes on the heels of Siebel's disclosure that on Friday it had received an inquiry from the SEC regarding a possible violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure.

PeopleSoft Continues Vertical Push

All three of the EPM for Industries solutions will be available in the fourth quarter of 2003.

And the Winner is... Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com grabbed the Codie for Best Software Service, and for the second year in a row the ASP was named Best Customer Relationship Management Program.

Verdict Is In: Customer Service Prevails

The firm has two components to its customer service call-back policy, the 2 Hour Call Back Guarantee and the 2 Hour Call back Challenge.

CRM Scores Big with Sports Franchises

Having a winning season always boosts ticket sales, but most attendees concur that it takes more than a winning record to keep filling the stands.

Overly Ambitious

As the vice president of marketing for Hewlett-Packard, Overly is in his Indianapolis office by 4:30 a.m. every business day. Yes, every day. And on weekends Overly is up before the sun to cram in several hours of work from his home office, on both Saturday and Sunday, before spending time with his family.

Batting 1.000

Six years ago the White Sox organization realized that if it could get a better handle on its fan base--particularly season ticket holders and those looking for group tickets--it would lead to more sales and better customer retention.

CRM in Action: Centralize Valuable Sales Data

Market Watch: SFA

Developers Jump on Microsoft CRM Bandwagon

CRM Earnings: A Mixed Bag

Big players falter, while smaller firms flourish.

PeopleSoft Mounts New Push Into Mid-Market

PeopleSoft, best known for its enterprise business software, is aggressively courting companies squarely in the mid-market with today's announcement of 13 new products aimed at businesses with annual revenue between $50 million and $500 million.

CRM: The Suite Spot

Over the next two years companies will shift away from smaller tactical CRM implementations to larger suite implementations, market research firm Meta Group claims in a recently released study.

CRM Success Stories Are Abundant

Highly publicized cases of past CRM failures are no reason to condemn an entire category of technology.

etalk Uses Local Partners for Latin American Push

etalk Corp., which provides performance monitoring tools for call centers, is expanding its business into Latin America with the help of local business partners.

Keep Customers Happy

One of the best ways for a company to increase customer satisfaction is to make sure there is a thorough understanding throughout the organization of what customers really want, then use that information to follow up with actions, solutions, and resolutions.

CRM in Action: Increasing Partner Loyalty

Study Shows CRM Spending to Rise in 2003

The report claims that CRM spending will increase in 2003, and that CRM users are generally more satisfied with their sales force automation applications than with customer service and marketing CRM applications.

Siebel Leads Gartner's B2B Magic Quadrant

Siebel Systems has been positioned in the Leader quadrant in Gartner's Business-to-Business CRM Suite Magic Quadrant for 2003, and has a top ranking in two of four of the Gartner Group's Magic Quadrants.

SAS's 2002 Revenue Rises 4.4 Percent

SAS this week reported its fiscal year-end 2002 financials, and for the 26th consecutive year the company showed revenue growth.

Janna Financial Users Have Migration Options

Siebel said its acquisition of Janna was a move to integrate Janna's technology into the Siebel eBusiness Applications; industry watchers say it is common practice at many companies to eventually drop support for acquired products.

Mover & Shaker: Sheldon Tkatch, senior IT manager, Garrett Aviation Services

Oracle CRM in Bloom in 2003

HOT PROJECTS: Travel & Hospitality

Seattle-based travel site Expedia.com uses E.piphany E.6 for its analytics capabilities, to orchestrate its email campaigns, and to act as a de facto workflow tool for its call centers.

Is it Time to Defect?

Switching CRM vendors is a tough, but often wise, decision.

J.B. Hunt's Agents Haul Its CRM Load

J.B. Hunt improved communications between its drivers and dispatchers, between on-the-road drivers and their families, and between the company itself and its customers.

Resellers Flock to MS CRM

Microsoft is attempting to leverage its momentum with resellers, VARs, and systems integrators to attract potential customers to its recently released CRM offering at a series of seminars, called Microsoft Business Solutions Insight, to be held around the United States.

UpShot Gets Personal

The functionality, called MultiProcess Management, lets individual UpShot XE users create a view that suits them using a drag-and-drop configuration tool.

Jeeves Powers Novartis Search Engines

Using Ask Jeeves's technology customers can find answers to questions like "What Novartis products treat cancer?" or "Where can I find information on a product free-trial offer?" and be directed to the appropriate answer or trial prescription.

Credit Card Issuers get CRM

The scalable customer service software is part of Pegasystems Inc. PegaCARD Services suite of products and an evolution of Pegasystems' card services technology first made available in 1989.

Driving ASP Innovation

Choi says her main responsibility is to understand the problems of customers and find ways to provide solutions to those problems.

The ABCs of Global CRM

CRM is making it as easy for international companies to share information among offices scattered across the globe as it is for them to share it with coworkers down the hall. The secret to mastering this in your company is to follow these 10 essential guidelines.

Charitable Groups Profit From CRM

Nonprofit organizations need CRM as much as for-profit businesses do.

No Holds Barred

CRM vendors are pulling out all the stops to boost sales.

Early Users Encouraged by Microsoft CRM

J.D. Edwards Unveils CRM 2.0

New version of CRM focuses on integration and mobile SFA features and boasts 175 enhancements.

CRM Earnings Upbeat

CRM vendors report some sunny financial news as a major earnings reporting week comes to a close.

Oracle Upbeat About Flows and Flowers

Oracle Corp. took over San Diego this week for its annual Oracle AppsWorld conference. The thrust of the conference has been to update developers, partners, and users about the company's financial health; there were also some slices of CRM-related news.

Microsoft CRM Sent to Manufacturing

Microsoft Corp.'s Business Solutions CRM 1.0 was released to manufacturing.

E.piphany Embeds Web Servers

E.piphany Inc. announced that popular Web-application servers from IBM and BEA Systems Inc. will be embedded directly into E.piphany's E6.

Sales Force Turnover Rose in 2002

Sales Performance International conducted a study that gathered input from major sales organizations at 113 companies, the majority of which have global sales teams and are focused on selling technology or financial services.

Consultants, Integrators Prep for MS CRM

When Microsoft's highly anticipated customer relationship management package release finally ships there is likely to be a slew of third-party enhancements and add-ons.

Closing the Gap

Brother International Corp. is using CRM to build relationships with indirect end-user customers.

CRM in Action: Boosting Channel Sales

Closing the Gap

Brother International Corp. took action to unify all its U.S. call centers, which have a total of 200 agents in a handful of states, including California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Tennessee.

Preview 2003--What's in Store for CRM? (PART 2)

CRM magazine interviewed more than 30 industry leaders and surveyed about 100 readers to uncover what they expect to and predict will happen in the industry in the coming year.

Preview 2003--What's in Store for CRM? (PART 1)

CRM magazine interviewed more than 30 industry leaders and surveyed about 100 readers to uncover what they expect to and predict will happen in the industry in the coming year.

Microsoft's MS CRM Launch Delayed

Microsoft Corp.'s much-anticipated Microsoft Business Solutions CRM will miss the 2002 delivery mark set by the company and instead be available in "early 2003."

Communication Translates to Profits

Using CRM, Bernina speaks the language of both dealers and customers.

MS CRM Spurs Mudslinging

A handful of CRM players are going on the offensive by releasing public statements discrediting Microsoft's forthcoming product.

365 Days of CRM

A review of CRM news and trends from 2002.

Onyx Updates Customer and Partner Portals

Onyx Software Corp. Wednesday started shipping updated versions of its customer and partner portals that have been rebuilt on XML standards.

Process Versus Product

Executives on a recent panel say flawed practices and operations within companies, not CRM technology, are to blame for CRM failures.

Reynolds and Reynolds Acquires Networkcar

Reynolds and Reynolds announced Monday it would up its 10 percent minority stake in Networkcar Inc., and purchase the privately held San Diego-based company.

Call Center Technologies Are in Demand

A new study predicts that vendors of the five core component technologies used in call centers will see steady growth over the next five years.

Black and Blue: Onyx CRM to be Hosted by IBM

For $85 per user, per month, customers will have access via a browser to Onyx's offering, which will be hosted by IBM at one of its data centers around the world.

IBM Maps out Mid-Market Plan

If anyone needed more evidence that the mid-market is the CRM sweet spot, IBM's aggressive plan to stake a claim and spend more than $100 million in marketing should be proof enough.

CRM Software: No Free Lunch

Several developers this week announced they are giving away software, but users will still end up opening their wallets to pay required licensing or maintenance fees.

The Customer is (Sometimes) King

Is corporate America really giving customers the royal treatment, or is that just a fairy tale told by those who rule the CRM kingdom?

Hiking up Sales

Analytics helps BackcountryStore.com boost its bottom line

UpShot Adds Outlook Integration

A two-way integration enables Outlook users to have all the information from email move into the UpShot CRM system and vice versa by simply clicking on the specific email.

BEA Integrates Real-Time Information Across the Enterprise

BEA Systems Inc.'s Liquid Data for WebLogic lets users search emails, spreadsheets, databases, and other corporate data sources for information related to a specific project or topic, the company says.

Microsoft Touts .NET to CRM Crowd

Microsoft Corp.'s Thatcher used this week's DCI conference in San Francisco to position the company's .NET architecture for delivering Web services as "a key linchpin" for CRM.

Dendrite Hits Q3 Earnings

Dendrite International Inc. reports third-quarter net income of $3.9 million, or 10 cents per diluted share, in line with consensus estimates.

Siebel Continues to Support J2EE

Wednesday Siebel Systems Inc. renewed its commitment to Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Java-based framework for facilitating interoperability. The announcement comes on the heels of Siebel's news on Monday that it will support Microsoft Corp.'s rival framework for delivery of Web services, .NET.

Microsoft, Siebel Rally Around UAN, .NET

On Monday Siebel Systems ended weeks of speculation that it would expand its partnership with Microsoft Corp. by announcing that the two software developers have formed an alliance to push a Web services agenda.

Microsoft Battles for Enterprise Acceptance of .NET

The mid-market is embracing the behemoth's architecture, but enterprise vendors are opting for Java-based development to implement Web services.

How Configuration Tools Build Sales

Growth Strategies

Customers looking for an integrated CRM solution that connects to ERP and back-end systems helped CRM revenue.

IBM Opts for Wintouch

IBM Corp. has selected Touchtone Corp.'s Wintouch eCRM suite as an alternative CRM solution for the IBM iSeries enterprise platform.

Happy Customer Service Week

National Customer Service Week '02: Started by the International Customer Service Association in 1988, NCSW was proclaimed a national event by the U.S. Congress in 1982.

CRM News In Brief

SAP AG this week appoints William R. McDermott; NativeMinds Inc. has appointed four executives to aide in the company's growth; Help Desk Institute and Robert Half Technology, launch the HDI Career Center.

KPMG Rebrands Itself

One of the largest consulting and systems integration firms is changing its well-known name. KPMG Consulting Inc., which has existed in one form or another for nearly 100 years, announced this week that it has become BearingPoint Inc.

E.piphany to Integrate Microsoft MapPoint

E.piphany Inc. this week announced that it is teaming with Microsoft Corp. on Web services that will result in the integration of Microsoft's a next-generation geographic mapping system with E.piphany's E.6 CRM suite.

J.D. Edwards Standardizes on IBM

J.D. Edwards & Co. recently announced plans to standardize its suite of business applications on IBM's collaborative business infrastructure.

Nucleus Research, Siebel Spat

Research firm calls on high-profile Siebel customers; many unhappy results; statistically insignificant, counters Siebel

Salesforce.com Targets Small Businesses and Workgroups

New product to deliver entry-level CRM to small business and workgroups; Salesforce.com leverages flexibility of ASP model

UpShot Adds Notification to CRM

User defined alerts breath new life into old push technology; mobile devices unlock messages; executive overkill, says critic

Oracle Eats Its Own Dog Food

The enterprise software firm completes an internal CRM rollout

Siebel Rings up Customer Wins

Global companies hop to CRM leader; more than 3,500 users; customer service is key

Mid-Market Mayhem

The mid-market is CRM's new land of opportunity--and a heated vendor battleground.

Nordstrom Picks Blue Martini for In-Store CRM

CRM-enabled point-of-sale devices keep information at retailer's fingertips

Siebel Upgrade Packed with Business Processes

Version 7.5 also offers better integration with other applications

Epicor Ships .NET Customer Support App

Customer Support software is the first in the company's suite of CRM applications built on the .NET framework

Siebel, Microsoft Let Reseller Agreement Run Out

Decision to end bundling deal called mutual; different market fits, no conflict with Microsoft CRM

Call Center Agents Wanted for Study

Researcher will use data to design application that determines and reduced employee turnover in call centers

Time for the Sixth ACT

A new version of the contact manager offers better integration with Microsoft Outlook and Excel and is packed with new features

E.piphany to Ship Call Center Software

Hybrid application combines sales and service features

Firstwave Champions .NET Framework

Partners with Extreme Logic, Microsoft's Partner of the Year, to deliver Web services and integrated applications

Online Doc Repository Aimed at Sales, Marketing

DocCenter provides Internet-based document management system for managing, printing, and sharing documents

Targeting Verticals

CRM vendors see huge opportunity in serving niche markets.

Nice Beefs up with Thales Acquisition

Maker of multimedia recording solutions spends $54 million to buy customer facing apps developer

Oracle's Outsourced Apps Push

Here come the new ASPs; behind the scenes at Oracle; credit an IPO that never happened

Microsoft Sets CRM Pricing Record Straight

Software giant corrects error in press release on pricing per seat for its high-end version

PeopleSoft Slightly Off Analysts' Mark

Joins the rest of the CRM pack that has been hit hard by lackluster IT spending

CRM: In the Eye of the Hurricane

AMR study shows market a little light, but wind is picking up again

First Peek: Microsoft CRM

Shows off Beta 1 with clear mid-market message; pricing, packaging unveiled, resellers line up

Alorica Rolls out Helix 2002

New version offers mobile and warehouse functions to field service reps

CRM Success Needs Management Support

A recent survey of Fortune 1000 executives attributes CRM failure to inadequate support from top management

HP, Deliotte Team on CRM Services

Hewlett-Packard Co. and Deloitte Consulting Thursday shared details of an alliance to design, build and integrate the key services needed to implement CRM solutions, as well as the outsourcing services to manage these offerings.

SalesLogix Going Mobile

Interact Commerce Corp., a developer of mid-market CRM offering and SalesLogix unveiled a partnership with Vaultus Mobile Technologies Inc. to bring its users a mobile CRM solution for Pocket PC handheld computers.

Blue Martini Pours it on in Japan

Company makes move to expand in rapidly growing Japanese CRM market; NetYear execs join sales team, Masushita goes from client to partner

Ask Jeeves Targets Enterprises

Ask Jeeves Inc. is unveiling today a new product that enables customers to connect their enterprise data systems to Ask Jeeves to enhance customer efficiency via natural language Web self-service.

Microsoft, WebTone Target Banking

Expanding on its four year old partnership, Microsoft Corp. and WebTone Technologies Inc. said they will now work together to deliver enterprise customer interaction applications to the banking industry.

J.D. Edwards Conference Finds Users a Mile High

At its annual user conference, held this week in Denver, J.D. Edwards & Co. introduced an updated version of its family of products and services, new partnerships, and several customer wins and implementations.

New Eloquent Offering Addresses Mobile Users

Eloquent Inc. Monday unveiled an add-on package to its flagship LaunchForce software that lets users access sales information in the form of synchronized audio, video and Microsoft PowerPoint-based content on handheld devices.

Taking CRM to the Bank

Market researcher, Datamonitor surveyed the retail banking, insurance and investment sectors across Europe about IT spending strategies for 2002 and found that CRM is a high priority for all the sectors, but only banking will continue to make considerable investments this year.

Aprimo Completes $12 Million Funding

Enterprise marketing solutions provider, Aprimo Inc. said it has raised $12 million in its fourth round of funding in order to continue product development and marketing.

Equal In The Eyes Of CRM

Both high-tech firms and traditional organizations reap the rewards of implementations

Wyse Decision

Why one company is approaching global CRM with a less-is-more philosophy.

Hillco

CRM in Action

National Semiconductor

CRM in Action

Europe Is CRM Hotbed

The United Kingdom leads the geographical pack with 29 percent of respondents saying they plan to implement a CRM solution. Spain was second with 33 percent, followed by Scandinavia with 40 percent, Italy 38 percent, France 29 percent, and Germany 16 percent.

Acquisition of Telera to Strengthen Genesys VoiceXML Plan

To help deliver web content by telephone, Genesys Laboratories Inc., a subsidiary of Alcatel, Wednesday unveiled an agreement to acquire Telera, a maker of extensible markup language voice solutions.

Arbitrel Joins Sales Logix Partner Program

Interact Commerce Corp., maker of CRM offering SalesLogix, said that Arbitrel Inc. has joined the SalesLogix Technology Partner Program.

Genesys CEO Offers ROI Challenge

Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcatel held its annual Gforce user conference in San Francisco this week with a focus on its customers.

Microsoft Acquisition Underscores Midmarket Move

Buyout of Navision expands global presence.

Lanier Implements StayinFront's CRM Solution

Visual Elk seen as key to corralling remote salespeople

Reporter's Notebook: PeopleSoft Pulls Out All the Stops at Leadership Summit

Microsoft CRM: Friend or Foe?

The software titan has dominated nearly every market it has entered. Will CRM be any different?

An Rx for Pharma CRM

Oracle Corp. and Dendrite International Inc. this week announced completion of a jointly developed CRM solution for the pharmaceutical market.

Goldmine Adds Links to Outlook

Genesys, Kanisa Team on New Customer Services

Banks Need to Cash in on Customer Data

ServicePower Embraces Online Seminar

Oracle Vet to Lead Salesforce.com Japan

Contact Centers Look to Web

Aberdeen Begins CRM Success Study

S1 Acquires Irish CRM Firm

Pivotal Plans Global Expansion

Coherity is Born, Lands HP Deal

Seybold Expansion into India Premature

New Name, New Deals From Coherity

Suite Dreams

Hilton's customers can rest easy knowing the hotel chain has no reservations about delivering outstanding service.