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SAP
3999 West Chester Pike
Newtown Square PA 19073
US

PH: 800-872-1727
Visit their Web site: www.sap.com
 
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Profile

Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. Founded in 1972, SAP (which stands for "Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing") has a rich history of innovation and growth as a true industry leader. SAP applications and services enable more than 183,000 customers worldwide to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. With revenue (IFRS) of €12.5 billion for the year 2010, SAP has more than 55,000 employees and sales and development locations in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Product Description

Unlike other CRM software, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, part of the SAP Business Suite, not only helps you address your short-term imperatives – to reduce cost and increase your decision-making ability – but can also help your company achieve differentiated capabilities in order to compete effectively over the long term

SAP has helped best-run companies in more than 26 industries to achieve excellence in all aspects of customer relationship management.

With SAP CRM, your organization can capitalize on customer insight, improve front-line efficiency and effectiveness, streamline critical business processes across customer touch points, and quickly adapt to changing business and customer needs.

Get a complete picture of SAP CRM capabilities. View the solution map.
Whitepapers, Archived Webcasts and Sponsored Content
  • 360 Customer View
    Learn about SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) which can help you develop and execute customer-driven strategies by providing a simple and powerful foundation to support collaborative end-to-end processes.
  • How to Achieve a Great and Profitable Experience
    Discover the elements of a positive customer experience, the challenges of developing and maintaining a positive customer experience, and the impact of new technologies on this experience.
This company is listed in the following categories:
AnalyticsChannel ManagementConsumer Packaged GoodsCustomer Service/Call Centers
EducationEnterprise CRMFinancial Services/BankingGovernment
HealthcareInsuranceIntegrationManufacturing/Automotive
Marketing AutomationNon-profitPharmaceuticals/ChemicalsProfessional Services
RetailSales AutomationSMB/Mid-market CRMSocial CRM
Sports/EntertainmentTechnologyTelecommunicationsTransportation
Travel/Hospitality
Articles Mentioned
SAP Enhances its Predictive Analytics Software
Enhancements include tighter integration with other SAP solutions, greater flexibility in modeling.
 Posted 13 Jun 2013
SAP Eyes B2C Commerce in Hybris Buyout
SAP co-CEO says move "asserts our will in the CRM marketplace."
 Posted 05 Jun 2013
Ariba Helps B&H Get Discovered by Quality Buyers
Electronics mainstay boosts business leads using the commerce network.
 Posted 01 Jun 2013
SAP Furthers Push into Cloud-Based, Predictive Solutions
Announces new people, customer, money, and supplier strategy.
 Posted 15 May 2013
Using Data for a Personalized Customer Experience
SAP says it can fuel "business-to-business-to-consumer" interactions.
 Posted 14 May 2013
InvisibleCRM Partners with SAP on Enhanced Integration and Interfaces
Through the new OEM agreement, the two companies will increase ease of use and interactions for people on the go using SAP CRM.
 Posted 10 May 2013
InsideView Launches InsideView for Marketing
Cites growing demand to attribute marketing efforts to revenue performance.
 Posted 07 May 2013
SAP Releases Mobile App for Utilities
The solution lets consumers report outages, pay bills, and more.
 Posted 30 Apr 2013
Lithium Enhances Social Customer Experience Platform
Launches Social Intelligence analytics product, expands partner communities.
 Posted 25 Apr 2013
PROS to Offer SAP HANA with Its Big Data Application for Sales
The company expands its partnership with SAP to enable real-time analysis of sales efforts.
 Posted 25 Apr 2013
SAP Brings Analytics Platform to Mobile Devices
The latest rapid-deployment solution for business intelligence can be up in running in three weeks or less.
 Posted 23 Apr 2013
SAP Releases Visual Intelligence Personal Edition
The software helps users make sense of spreadsheet data.
 Posted 20 Mar 2013
SAP Updates Customer OnDemand Solution
Enhancements enable businesses to create more personalized customer experiences.
 Posted 05 Mar 2013
SMBs Seek Enterprise-Class Predictive Analytics
Simple and adaptive solutions can reduce costs and improve profitability for small companies.
 Posted 01 Mar 2013
StackMob Boosts Enterprise Mobile Strategy
The evolution of the enterprise app store is the impetus.
 Posted 21 Feb 2013
Altitude Builds an Oracle/Siebel CRM Connector
The solution brings together CRM data with multiple means of customer contact.
 Posted 04 Feb 2013
SAP to Acquire Ticket-Web
The deal brings a sports CRM and management component to SAP.
 Posted 31 Jan 2013
NextPrinciples Debuts Social Analytics and Engagement Platform
Insight-To-Action lets businesses integrate social conversations into CRM systems.
 Posted 23 Jan 2013
Will SAP Make Companies More "User-Centric?"
At global news event, SAP debuts its high-speed Business Suite.
 Posted 10 Jan 2013
Mobile App Developers Face Benefits, Pitfalls in 2013
Maintaining customer satisfaction is key to mobile app storefront success.
 Posted 02 Jan 2013
5 Emerging Sales Productivity Tools
New social, mobile, and collaborative tools help sales teams close more deals.
 Posted 01 Jan 2013
Vendors Grow Their Partner Ecosystems
The integrated cloud app platform will be at top IT trend for 2013.
 Posted 01 Jan 2013
Salesforce.com Socializes Sales Performance Management
Weds Work.com with Sales Cloud; debuts native game mechanics.
 Posted 18 Dec 2012
SAP Updates BusinessObjects Mobile
Enhancements include improved dashboards and greater integration with other SAP products.
 Posted 18 Dec 2012
Birst Bolsters Predictive Analytics for Sales
Predictive analysis of transactional data improves sales performance.
 Posted 13 Dec 2012
Knoa Software Raises $7.5 Million in Venture Funding
Investment will build out enterprise application solutions.
 Posted 04 Dec 2012
Commerce Investments Are Set to Surge
E-commerce moves beyond Web-store hosting to managing customer data, orders, and inventory across the enterprise.
 Posted 01 Dec 2012
SAP Releases Predictive Analytics Software
New application lets companies derive insight from big data.
 Posted 28 Nov 2012
To Be Social with Customers, Look Inside Your Organization
Proper engagement will require cross-enterprise change and strategy.
 Posted 27 Nov 2012
Lattice Engines Raises $20 Million in Venture Funding
The infusion of cash will help the big data applications provider accelerate growth and expand its product portfolio.
 Posted 27 Nov 2012
Essentials for Building a Consumer Mobile Service
When launching a service, don't neglect long-term plans.
 Posted 16 Nov 2012
SAP Puts CRM in the HANA Cloud
SAP 360 Customer solution leverages in-memory computing, cloud, mobility, and collaboration tools.
 Posted 13 Nov 2012
The Cloud Changes Everything in Oz
Contact centers in Australia will shift to more cloud-based solutions starting in 2015, according to a Frost & Sullivan report.
 Posted 07 Nov 2012
Social Adds to CRM's Appeal
Nucleus Research's Value Matrix highlights new functionality and integration capabilities.
 Posted 06 Nov 2012
SAP Adds Social Offerings
The offerings take advantage of technologies acquired during the SuccessFactors acquisition.
 Posted 01 Nov 2012
Webalo Gives Boost to Enterprise Mobility
General release of The App for Enterprise seen as solution to key hurdles.
 Posted 23 Oct 2012
SMEs Look to Technology Like Mobile Apps, Social Media to Grow
Despite uncertain economic conditions, companies are still focused on expansion.
 Posted 18 Oct 2012
SAP Rolls Out Business Planning and Consolidation Mobile App
New app offers financial planning and analysis capabilities.
 Posted 16 Oct 2012
SAP Releases New Analytics and Sales Updates
Technology enhancements make business and sales data more easily accessible.
 Posted 27 Sep 2012
Oracle Recognizes the Need for Change
Mark Hurd is no stranger to big success. In his five years as president and CEO of HP, he was credited with righting the company's financially struggling ship. Now, starting his third year as president of Oracle, he is steering yet another big ship on a completely new course.
Posted 25 Sep 2012
Moxie Releases an Enhanced Knowledge Spaces
Widgetized customer experience portal enables personalized, on-brand customer experiences.
 Posted 18 Sep 2012
Unified Unveils SocialConnect Solution
The product is aimed at connecting social marketing campaign activity with CRM systems.
 Posted 14 Sep 2012
MicroStrategy Releases An Update to Its BI Software
MicroStrategy 9.3 adds increased support for 'R' analysis language, improved connectivity to Hadoop and SAP HANA, and a Google-like search experience.
 Posted 13 Sep 2012
IBM Brings Analytics to Social Business Processes
Companies can use the new IBM Connections software to apply analytics to social business initiatives.
 Posted 12 Sep 2012
The Future of CRM According to Vendors
Execs share thoughts on customer trust, brand experience, and social CRM.
 Posted 14 Aug 2012
SAP Releases CRM Solution for Government Contact Centers
SAP CRM rapid-deployment solution for citizen contact center is part of the SAP Urban Matters program.
 Posted 02 Aug 2012
SAP Releases Sentiment Analysis Solution
SAP rapid deployment solution for sentiment intelligence with SAP HANA lets users analyze social networking sites, online communities, wikis, blogs, and other sources.
Posted 02 Aug 2012
The 2012 CRM Market Leaders
Posted 01 Aug 2012
Playing Moneyball in the Cloud
Look to baseball's example when it comes to building a productive workforce.
 Posted 27 Jul 2012
Redefining Engagement in the Social Age
Emphasize peer gravity to grow your customer base.
 Posted 27 Jul 2012
QuestBack Rolls Out Listen & Act Engagement Tool
New social media tool integrates with CRM systems, includes survey capabilities.
 Posted 25 Jul 2012
FusionOps Extends Reach with Three SAP Partners
The companies add self-service, pre-built dashboards, and analytics to their portfolios.
 Posted 24 Jul 2012
SAP Adds Analytics to BusinessObjects Suite
Upgrade includes enhanced analytics and self-service features.
 Posted 20 Jul 2012
SAP Introduces Net Margin Analysis
New tool reveals hidden B2B expenses.
 Posted 16 Jul 2012
Solve the Master Data Management Equation
Offering personalized and rewarding service requires up-to-date and accurate data shared across the enterprise.
 Posted 01 Jul 2012
Squirro Delivers a Complete 360 Degree Customer View
App curates relevant information from Web, social platforms, and business systems for smarter prospecting, competitive analysis, and more.
 Posted 27 Jun 2012
Peoplefluent Enhances User Experience with VMS Version 6.0
Upgrade includes candidate comparison feature, drag-and-drop widgets, and interactive icons
 Posted 18 Jun 2012
SuccessFactors Debuts Mobile, Social Features for Business
Proliferation of mobile devices in enterprise is a driving force
 Posted 07 Jun 2012
Business intelligence and Analytics Are Getting Hotter
More companies are wising up to these applications' benefits.
 Posted 01 Jun 2012
Webtrends Offers Advanced Analytics for SAP Web Channel Experience Management
Webtrends Advanced Analytics is now certified for integration with SAP applications to provide rich insights into campaign effectiveness, commerce, and online customer service.
 Posted 30 May 2012
Oracle Acquires Cloud Marketing Platform Vitrue
The software maker that once dismissed cloud computing picks up another cloud vendor.
 Posted 23 May 2012
SAP to Buy Ariba for $4.3 Billion
Acquisition bulks up cloud offerings and combats competitors
 Posted 23 May 2012
SAP Continues to Build Out HANA
Newly announced integrations and support agreements make the platform even more versatile.
 Posted 16 May 2012
SAP Unveils Accelerated Cloud Strategy
SAP adds critical components to SuccessFactors suite to boost its cloud offerings.
 Posted 15 May 2012
Knoa Software Releases Knoa EPM Version 7.0
Offering provides complete user experience management for customers leveraging SAP solution-based environments.
 Posted 15 May 2012
SAP Moves in Mobile
The company advances applications in the cloud, and expands mobile device management, mobile device support, and platform and application development.
 Posted 14 May 2012
Sybase 365 Launches Updated Business Intelligence Service for Mobile Operators
Offering includes enhanced reporting features, analytics, and new segmenting capabilities
 Posted 09 May 2012
Game On: Gamification Strategies Motivate Customer and Employee Behaviors
The things that make games so compelling "can equally make employees, partners, [and] customers addicted to your B2B or B2C offering."
 Posted 01 May 2012
Sybase 365 Launches Push Messaging Service
A strategic partnership with Urban Airship provides the technology for targeted, context-aware push notifications.
 Posted 25 Apr 2012
Bazaarvoice Announces New Integrations, Product Capabilities
New partnerships with Responsys and SAP and expanded social data offerings
 Posted 12 Apr 2012
Message Systems Launches "Momentum for CRM" Software
New product offering gives Oracle's Siebel CRM users enhanced messaging capabilities
 Posted 11 Apr 2012
SAP Goes After Predictive Analytics Software Market
New software offers advanced analytics, integration capabilities
 Posted 09 Apr 2012
Turning Unprofitable Customers into Profitable Relationships
Figure out what your customers want.
 Posted 23 Mar 2012
SAP Expands Hosted Offerings
The company releases SAP Business One OnDemand and expands cloud capabilities in BusinessByDesign.
 Posted 06 Mar 2012
Selectica Releases Guided Selling Solution
The cloud-based offering is designed to improve sales effectiveness.
 Posted 01 Mar 2012
The 2012 Service Leaders
Posted 01 Mar 2012
Social CRM Off to a Strong Start
2012 could prove favorable for capital investments and growth in the social sphere.
 Posted 01 Mar 2012
Are the CRM Wars Really Over?
High usage doesn't equal high satisfaction.
 Posted 01 Mar 2012
SAP Embraces Cloud, Mobile Solutions
The company's new focus includes product enhancements that center around mobility, hosted offerings, analytics, and databases.
 Posted 15 Feb 2012
SAP to Arm SMBs with Real-Time Analytics
New offerings deliver in-memory analytics through the SAP Hana platform.
 Posted 07 Feb 2012
Badgeville Launches Enterprise Cloud Connector Program
The gamification platform provider announces a suite of cloud-based integrations, beginning with JIVE, Omniture, and Salesforce.com.
 Posted 27 Jan 2012
Scribe Syncs Data via Scribe Online
Enterprises, partners and ISVs on receiving end of improved integration.
 Posted 19 Jan 2012
IBM Brings Analytics to Social Business
Organizations can now apply analytics to the social business initiatives.
 Posted 17 Jan 2012
SAP to Provide Retailers with Real-Time Data
New BusinessObjects application gives retailers a deeper understanding of the merchandise and customer lifecycle.
 Posted 17 Jan 2012
Infor Launches New Marketing Suite
Multichannel campaign management tools, analytics let marketers deliver comprehensive messages.
 Posted 17 Jan 2012
Are CRM's Worst Years Behind It?
Cloud technologies and social networking will drive future demand
 Posted 01 Jan 2012
When Disruption Is Good
Subscription services lead the business revival
 Posted 01 Jan 2012
BDI Pharma Implements SAP Operating System
Biotech firm touts improved efficiency, distribution through transition.
 Posted 29 Dec 2011
SAP and NetBase Partner on Social Media Apps
Joint solution offers enhanced social media monitoring and analytics
 Posted 12 Dec 2011
Past Is Prologue for CRM
We look at the major events of this year in the CRM industry for hints of what's to come in 2012.
 Posted 01 Dec 2011
SMB Hosted CRM Market Set to Triple by 2015
Rapid growth in the SaaS CRM market is paving the way for "Social CRM" adoption, says AMI.
 Posted 01 Dec 2011
Altitude Software Releases Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Connector
The latest release unleashes productivity in sales teams with contact automation and improves the customer experience with unified contact history.
 Posted 29 Nov 2011
DoubleDutch Offers Freemium Version of Mobile CRM App
New HYVE Sales free and premium offerings enable mobile collaboration and pipeline management for sales teams of all sizes.
 Posted 16 Nov 2011
Salesforce.com to Acquire Model Metrics
With Model Metrics, Salesforce.com adds mobile and social expertise to accelerate the shift to the social enterprise.
 Posted 15 Nov 2011
Accenture Rolls Out Private Cloud Solution in Support of SAP Applications
The new solution leverages new SAP technologies to lower costs and boosts performance.
 Posted 09 Nov 2011
Leveraging the Power of Web 2.0 to Engage the Social Customer
What business owners need to know about social CRM
 Posted 02 Nov 2011
SAP Updates Business One Package
Newest version includes improved campaign management and material requirements planning.
 Posted 27 Oct 2011
SAP Unleashes Real-Time Analytics in the Cloud
SAP provides freedom to analyze data at a lower cost with SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand Solution
 Posted 19 Oct 2011
HP and SAP Accelerate Cloud Deployments for Clients
SAP CRM rapid-deployment solution delivered via HP Enterprise Services' cloud platform enables increased availability, speed of business information.
 Posted 06 Oct 2011
All I Know Is That I Don’t Know Nothing
Blending knowledge management with customer service is critical
 Posted 01 Oct 2011
U.S. SMB SaaS CRM Market Set to Triple by 2015
Rapid-growth in the SaaS CRM market is paving the way for "social CRM" adoption, says AMI.
 Posted 30 Sep 2011
SAP Releases New Business Intelligence and Enterprise Information Management Solutions
Versions 4.0 of the SAP BusinessObjects solutions have real-time, social, and mobile capabilities.
 Posted 16 Sep 2011
Turbocharging CRM with Good Data
But only one-third of companies are using high-octane information
 Posted 01 Sep 2011
Call Center Software Opens A Window of Opportunity
Blinds.com improves bottom line and organizational efficiency with new phone systems
 Posted 01 Sep 2011
Net Atlantic Expands CRM Integration for StrongMail On-Demand
Email senders can now create and track email campaigns with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage CRM and Sage SalesLogix.
 Posted 25 Aug 2011
CRM Recovers with Low-Cost Options
Being agile in today's competitive market enables organizations to better respond to customers' changing needs.
 Posted 21 Jul 2011
Global CRM Market to Grow by $1.3 Billion in 2011
Oracle generates biggest share of $16.5 billion in annual revenue
 Posted 20 Jul 2011
The 2011 CRM Market Leaders
Posted 09 Aug 2011
SAP Updates BusinessByDesign
New release includes language support for Spanish, added professional services capabilities, and greater flexibility and integration with SAP Business Suite software.
 Posted 05 Aug 2011
Oracle to Buy InQuira
The deal creates a comprehensive CRM solution with advanced knowledge management capabilities and integrated self-service.
 Posted 29 Jul 2011
Should All Companies Head to the Cloud?
A CRM point solution is a CRM point solution
 Posted 29 Jul 2011
SAP Releases Sales OnDemand
Collaboration tools are among the features in this new application.
 Posted 08 Jul 2011
FinancialForce.com Unveils Integrated Cloud Solution
Selling, tracking, and billing automated by FinancialForce for Media.
 Posted 28 Jun 2011
IDC Forecasts Global CRM Market to Grow by More Than $1.3 Billion in 2011
Prediction highlights IDC's Worldwide Semiannual Customer Relationship Management Applications Tracker.
 Posted 22 Jun 2011
SAP Releases New Crystal Server and BusinessObjects Software
The releases are part of SAP's goal to bring customers of all sizes powerful, easy-to-use analytics solutions.
 Posted 14 Jun 2011
SaaS CRM Deployments Fuel Competition
Researchers rate Microsoft and Salesforce.com as leaders within the Value Matrix, while Sage and SAP are ones to watch.
 Posted 02 Jun 2011
Mobile CRM: The Quiet Explosion
Growth is sparked by the iPad's popularity among businesses and the ability to send actionable insights to sales reps
 Posted 01 Jun 2011
Peer Power
Online communities foster customer loyalty by doing what traditional contact centers cannot
 Posted 18 May 2011
Customers Show the Power of SAP
HANA brings the speed of real-time computing to companies all over the world.
 Posted 19 May 2011
SAP's Business Model Is Built on Collaboration
SAP puts the focus on the customer, on-premises, on-demand, and on-device.
 Posted 18 May 2011
SAP Expands Its Agreement with Verizon
The companies will jointly market and sell Verizon's Managed Mobility portfolio.
 Posted 11 May 2011
The Suite Life Cements Customer Service
CRM director Ven Bontha describes Cemex's transition to SAP CRM
 Posted 15 Apr 2011
Customer Experience Professionals Association Launches
A new global trade group is formed to provide members with extensive research, education, and networking opportunities.
 Posted 29 Apr 2011
Bringing Problems to Your Customer Service Team
If your customers don't bring YOU their problems, then where do they bring them?
Posted 15 Apr 2011
Verizon and SAP to Offer CRM in the Cloud
Users will have access to SAP CRM from desktops and mobile devices.
 Posted 17 Mar 2011
SAP Previews Sales OnDemand
New application will offer sales professionals new ways to collaborate with teams and manage customer information.
 Posted 01 Mar 2011
The 2011 Service Leaders
Posted 01 Mar 2011
Beagle Research Selects the Top Marketing Videos
Salesforce.com video tops the list of Beagle's first Short Tale Awards.
 Posted 22 Feb 2011
Vivisimo Releases New Customer Experience Optimization Solution
Industry research underscores the immediate need for a consolidated, real-time view of information across all data sources.
 Posted 18 Feb 2011
What’s Next for Third-Party Support?
Oracle lawsuits against SAP and Rimini Street signal a fork down the road
Posted 31 Jan 2011
Gartner Releases Its Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management
The 2010 MQ report reveals that MDM is quickly approaching mainstream.
Posted 08 Dec 2010
Gartner Releases Its Magic Quadrant for BPM Suites
Gartner's MQ report reveals that more and more organizations are adopting BPM as a discipline.
 Posted 07 Dec 2010
Forrester BI Wave Crammed With Leaders
The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms '10: Eight vendors qualify as Leaders in this year's report as industry-wide BI functionality and information management functionality improves.
Posted 01 Dec 2010
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Marketing Management Remains Leader-less
MQ for EMM '10: Infor gets booted from an MQ for EMM that looks similar to the past two reports.
Posted 01 Dec 2010
Forrester Wave Report Reveals Key Trends in Customer Service
The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites Customer Service Solutions report evaluates 19 of the leading CRM suite solutions
 Posted 01 Dec 2010
SAP Announces 10 New BusinessObjects Applications
DEMO Fall '10: SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott announces the launch of new applications and champions SAP's partnership ecosystem.
Posted 30 Nov 2010
SAP to Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion in Damages
A three-year-old copyright dispute concludes as a jury orders SAP to pay Oracle $1.3 Billion
 Posted 24 Nov 2010
Infor Makes the Latest Move in the CRM Shuffle
Six weeks after resigning from Oracle under a cloud of controversy, Charles Phillips is handed the reins at Infor.
 Posted 04 Nov 2010
A CRM Showdown in Times Square
Executives from four of the industry's top vendors share the same stage—but not the same views.
 Posted 04 Nov 2010
Salesforce.com's Chatter Combines Social and Mobile
The software-as-a-service pioneer promises general availability on mobile devices by the end of this year.
Posted 15 Sep 2010
Salesforce.com Outshines Competitors on Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation
Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation '10: The top sector of the annual market assessment also includes Microsoft and two Oracle offerings.
 Posted 15 Sep 2010
SAP Promises a "Leading" Mobile Platform in 9 Months
Top executives from SAP and its recent Sybase acquisition deliver a corporate roadmap.
Posted 13 Sep 2010
Retired and Retried
A unit of Prudential Financial invests in Salesforce.com to revive a lethargic sales and customer retention program.
 Posted 22 Sep 2010
Multiple Changes in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management
Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management '10: Microsoft and Portrait Software are in, Infor CRM Epiphany and Market2Lead are out.
 Posted 31 Aug 2010
DataFlux Takes the Lead in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools
Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '10: IBM, Informatica, Trillium and SAP BusinessObjects follow the leader in the research firm's annual evaluation of the market.
 Posted 19 Aug 2010
The View from the CRM C-Suite
CRM Evolution '10 — Day 2: Four of the industry's top CRM executives square off for the first time ever to share perspectives on the ever-changing world of CRM.
 Posted 07 Aug 2010
CRM Magazine Announces Winners of 2010 CRM Market Awards
CRM Evolution '10: As CRM magazine's annual conference gets under way, the ninth annual awards honor companies, customers, and industry visionaries for successes in the CRM marketplace over the previous 12 months.
 Posted 02 Aug 2010
Managing to Succeed
Sales reps seem to get most of CRM's attention—but what about their bosses?
 Posted 11 Aug 2010
Navigating the Vendor Landscape
A leading analyst firm assesses the CRM marketplace.
 Posted 11 Aug 2010
SAP's Surprising Spring
In the wake of corporate upheaval, the German giant welcomes thousands of customers to its annual gathering.
 Posted 11 Aug 2010
CRM on Twitter: August 2010
Posted 11 Aug 2010
The 2010 CRM Market Awards - Introduction
Join us in in congratulating the vendors leading the marketplace across 10 categories; eight Rising Stars making their presence felt; eight Influential Leaders inside and outside CRM; a long-overdue induction into the CRM Hall of Fame; and, best of all, four companies using CRM to connect with their customers.
 Posted 11 Aug 2010
Influential Leaders: The Go-To Guy
Bill McDermott, co-CEO, SAP
 Posted 24 Aug 2010
Rising Stars: The Content Contender
The veteran in this year's class, Open Text knows that customers consume content
 Posted 24 Aug 2010
Rising Stars: The People(Soft) People
With one of CRM's elder statesmen at the helm, Workday's performance management may become the next wave of CRM technology
 Posted 24 Aug 2010
Market Leaders: Enterprise Suite CRM
Posted 24 Aug 2010
Market Leaders: Business Intelligence
Posted 24 Aug 2010
Market Leaders: Data Quality
Posted 24 Aug 2010
Cloudy Horizons for Business Applications
The perfect storm for productivity improvements and cost savings.
 Posted 29 Jul 2010
Oracle Brings Out Business Intelligence 11g
"Oracle BI is definitely back," comments one industry analyst.
 Posted 16 Jul 2010
Aberdeen Retail Summit Revisits Familiar Topics
Aberdeen Group Retail Summit '10: Two keynotes offer new insight into the impact of social and mobile marketing.
 Posted 09 Jul 2010
CRM Is No Longer a Four-Letter Word
Why the badge is finally one worth wearing.
 Posted 14 Jul 2010
4 Keys to Online-Community Success
What many marketers overlook — and why.
 Posted 30 Jun 2010
7 Surf Atop the Forrester Wave of CRM Suites for Large Organizations
The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Large Organizations '10: Forrester Research names the seven top-performing vendors at the enterprise level.
 Posted 30 Jun 2010
7 Named Leaders in Forrester Wave of CRM Suites for Midsize Organizations
The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Midsized Organizations '10: In his annual evaluation, analyst Bill Band identifies the top-performing options for midmarket CRM.
 Posted 30 Jun 2010
Enabling the Long Tail of the Channel
B2B social networking and online media can maximize channel business.
 Posted 28 Jun 2010
Salespeople Need Performance Management, Too
With Cloud9 Analytics Performance Management, the vendor promises contextual analysis for line-of-sales people, and future integrations with Oracle, NetSuite, SAP, and Microsoft.
Posted 20 Jun 2010
Did Web Analytics Just Become One of IBM's Core Values?
Big Blue acquires Web analytics firm Coremetrics for an undisclosed sum, hoping to leverage software-as-a-service and social networks.
 Posted 16 Jun 2010
Reaching Customers Through the Cloud
The way products are designed, launched, and serviced will never be the same.
 Posted 27 May 2010
SAP Declares "ByDesign Is Here" (Sort Of)
SapphireNow '10: SAP's co-CEOs deliver back-to-back keynote addresses celebrating not only their first 100 days at the helm, but also the general availability of on-demand offering Business ByDesign 2.5 — two months from now.
 Posted 19 May 2010
SAP Insists "Mobile Is the New Desktop"
SapphireNow '10: SAP executives explain the recent Sybase acquisition and set a date for the general availability of on-demand software Business ByDesign 2.5.
 Posted 19 May 2010
New Challengers Added to Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence
Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence '10: Smaller vendors gain traction, but 75 percent of the market remains controlled by the top five vendors, with Oracle on top yet again.
 Posted 17 May 2010
SAP Acquires Sybase in $5.8 Billion Deal
The German software giant says it will now be able to offer enterprise software and next-generation business intelligence on mobile devices.
Posted 15 May 2010
IBM Extends its Integration Portfolio by Acquiring Cast Iron Solutions
Based on its belief that the cloud computing market will continue to grow, IBM acquires a SaaS leader.
Posted 15 May 2010
Boarding the Cluetrain
Transparency and authenticity are the cornerstones of trust between a company and its customers.
 Posted 11 May 2010
It's Not Your Relationship to Manage
Just as you finally come to grips with CRM, the customers themselves have turned the tables—and now they're managing you.
 Posted 11 May 2010
Scheduling Solutions Are Vital
Meet urgent cost-cutting requirements—and still serve corporate customers.
 Posted 27 Apr 2010
Pegasystems and RightNow Added to Leaders in Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '10: New players join Oracle Siebel, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com as the market seeks to empower agents and deliver next-generation service.
 Posted 25 Apr 2010
Kodak Added to the Picture in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management
Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management '10: Increased interest in MRM introduces three new companies to this year's report — but Oracle is shown the exit.
 Posted 25 Apr 2010
With SuiteCloud 2.0, NetSuite Tries to Clear the Cloud of Myths
SuiteCloud '10: Distinguishing the real from the fake, CEO Zach Nelson announces some very real deals around cloud-to-cloud integration, vertical extensions, and code-less workflow development.
Posted 21 Apr 2010
SAP Slips StreamWork Into the Cloud-Based Collaboration Current
In the first major move since its recent restructuring, the German giant makes a play for the Enterprise 2.0 space — and beyond.
 Posted 01 Apr 2010
Going Green, Saving Green
No matter what your company's environmental motivations may be, the bottom line is still the bottom line.
 Posted 06 Apr 2010
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure Gets Rebuilt
Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure '10: As the market weathers a second year of overall decline, Avaya now holds approximately half the global market share by revenue.
 Posted 12 Mar 2010
RightNow Challenges Cloud Competitors
CEO Greg Gianforte introduces the vendor's new Cloud Service Agreement and calls out CRM competitors for not delivering on the true promises of software-as-a-service.
 Posted 05 Mar 2010
CRM's Hearty Appetite
Mergers and acquisitions ramp up at the start of the new year as vendors expand roadmaps and look for ways to fulfill promises.
 Posted 10 Mar 2010
CRM on Twitter: March 2010
Analysts are an opinionated bunch—especially in the Twittersphere.
 Posted 10 Mar 2010
The 2010 CRM Service Awards: Service Leaders -- Workforce Optimization Suite
Posted 11 Mar 2010
SAP Releases "BI for the Rest of Us"
With its version of SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, SAP targets the "casual user" with an integrated toolset that spans both on-demand and on-premise technologies.
 Posted 26 Feb 2010
DataFlux Unifies Its Tools
With DataFlux Data Management Platform, the SAS subsidiary unites its data quality, data integration, and MDM product sets into one overarching platform.
Posted 26 Feb 2010
Open-Source Business Intelligence: 5 Times Bigger by 2012
Two research reports outline the drivers of growth for open-source business intelligence -- and what customers can expect as the market matures.
 Posted 16 Feb 2010
After CEO Ouster, Plattner's Plea: "Please Trust SAP. We Have Not Forgotten You."
Announcing the exit of Chief Executive Officer Léo Apotheker, SAP returns to a "Co-CEO" format, appointing Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe to split leadership duties.
 Posted 08 Feb 2010
Informatica Snags Siperian for $130 Million
"This acquisition rounds out our MDM strategy beautifully," says Informatica's CMO.
 Posted 02 Feb 2010
Google Wave Makes a Splash in CRM
Google Wave isn't the first to wade into real-time collaboration, but the tsunami of buzz may drown the competition.
 Posted 11 Feb 2010
Helping Hands
The nonprofit sector needs CRM more than it knows, but its relationships are with donors, members, or activists—and technology is rarely a cause worth fighting for. Will the low cost of on-demand solutions finally allow nonprofits to embrace CRM?
 Posted 11 Feb 2010
Profiting from the Nonprofits
The for-profit world should heed the hard-won lessons of the nonprofits
 Posted 11 Feb 2010
Informatica and IBM Lead Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools
Big Red squeezes onto the Leaders Quadrant and an open-source player joins the evaluation for the first time.
 Posted 23 Jan 2010
Forrester Waves In Cross-Channel Campaign Management
In response to the demand for cross-channel marketing functionalities, the research firm publishes its first report covering this trend.
Posted 19 Jan 2010
SAP Sets Sustainability in Motion
With the launch of Business Objects Sustainability Performance Management, SAP wants to provide companies with holistic views into their sustainable strategies and actions.
Posted 19 Jan 2010
5 in the Lead in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management
With single-digit growth and the addition of several new niche players, ECM continues to thrive.
 Posted 19 Jan 2010
On the Scene: Gartner CRM Summit '09—Trust Is the New Differentiator
Big brands and consumers alike see a newfound value in trust.
 Posted 01 Dec 2009
Market Focus: Energy/Utilities: A Lightbulb Moment for Customer Interaction
Can a proactive consumer strategy help North America find the impetus it needs to reinvest in customer-facing technology?
 Posted 01 Dec 2009
Re:Tooling -- Sales Compensation Management: Always Be Selling
Streamline and automate how sales professionals are compensated so they can focus on what they do best: selling.
 Posted 01 Dec 2009
Salesforce.com Brings Social to the Enterprise
Dreamforce '09: The software-as-a-service pioneer unveils what it calls its fourth cloud -- the Collaboration Cloud -- as well as a product called Chatter.
 Posted 27 Nov 2009
A Salesforce.com by Any Other Name
What do you do when your brand no longer reflects your offerings?
 Posted 01 Nov 2009
After the Revolution
Salesforce.com was careening toward bankruptcy. Even Marc Benioff secretly feared his company's days were numbered. But then revenues picked up — and the revolution began in earnest. He's shown he can topple an industry — but can he lead one?
 Posted 01 Jan 2010
UC Takes a Village, Says Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications
Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications '09: New research finds no single vendor can adequately address a company's UC needs with one solution.
 Posted 04 Nov 2009
RightNow and eGain Hold the Lead in Gartner Magic Quadrant for E-Service Suites
Gartner Magic Quadrant for E-Service Suites '09: The increasingly saturated market seeks to solve a common problem: disintegrated customer experience.
 Posted 03 Nov 2009
Chordiant Focuses on Improving Customer Lifetime Value
The vendor's pair of new solutions are geared to make an impact quickly -- just what companies need, according to analysts.
 Posted 27 Oct 2009
SAP Calls on Companies to Embrace "The New Value"
SAP World Tour '09: Morning keynote addresses challenge attendees to take charge — or risk failure.
 Posted 21 Oct 2009
The 2009 Influential Leaders - The Cloud Commando
MARC BENIOFF
COFOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SALESFORCE.COM
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Rising Stars - InsideView
Aggregating the Data
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Elite - ShipServ Sets Sale
Despite the economic storm, a maritime-industry e-marketplace stays afloat with Marketo lead management [Marketing Automation]
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Elite - ISS Belgium Sweeps Up Sales
A services company makes a clean start with Microsoft Dynamics CRM [Sales Force Automation]
Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Market Leaders - Data Quality
CRM magazine's eighth annual Market Leader awards rate the top five companies in 10 categories.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Market Leaders - Business Intelligence
CRM magazine's eighth annual Market Leader awards rate the top five companies in 10 categories.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Market Leaders - Sales Force Automation
CRM magazine's eighth annual Market Leader awards rate the top five companies in 10 categories.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Market Leaders - Midmarket Suite CRM
CRM magazine's eighth annual Market Leader awards rate the top five companies in 10 categories.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
The 2009 Market Leaders - Enterprise Suite CRM
CRM magazine's eighth annual Market Leader awards rate the top five companies in 10 categories.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
Microsoft’s Million-Member March
Milestones and roadmap promises at the vendor's Worldwide Partner Conference '09.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
CRM Market Grows for Fifth Straight Year
Posted 01 Sep 2009
Do You Accept the Terms of Engagement?
Eager to play with social media, employees of CRM vendors are finding themselves burdened by new rules
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
Re:Tooling -- Mobile Service Applications: Beyond the Contact Center Walls
Lucrative return on investment is driving companies — and vendors — to look more closely at mobile service applications.
 Posted 01 Sep 2009
CRM Magazine Announces Winners of 2009 CRM Market Awards
Companies, customers, and industry visionaries honored for successes in the CRM marketplace over the previous 12 months.
 Posted 24 Aug 2009
Oracle's Other Half Lands in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation
Magic Quadrant for SFA '09: The research firm evaluates two fewer vendors this year, and promotes Oracle CRM On Demand to join corporate cousin Siebel CRM in the top quadrant for the first time.
Posted 19 Aug 2009
Infor Delivers CRM to IBM System i Users
The move looks to help the install base of 14,000 integrate basic CRM functionality with existing Infor ERP systems.
 Posted 14 Aug 2009
Forrester Gives a Welcoming Wave to Complex Event Processing
Citing heavy demand, the research firm unveiled its first-ever evaluation of nine vendors in the rapidly maturing space.
 Posted 13 Aug 2009
Knoa Provides a Comprehensive View of Business Application Use
The company's Global End-User Monitor product promises to provide monitoring of all applications for end-users.
 Posted 12 Aug 2009
Still No Leaders or Challengers in Gartner's EMM Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant for EMM '09: Enterprise marketing management vendors continue to face slow adoption rates in an economic downturn.
 Posted 10 Aug 2009
Mashups Make You Smarter
A new Forrester Research report encourages organizations to embrace self-service business intelligence and mash it up to get even more intelligent.
Posted 05 Aug 2009
On the Scene: Clarity Is SAP’s New Enterprise
SAPPHIRE '09: SAP executives stressed the emerging need for transparency among all enterprises. Did the message ring true?
 Posted 01 Aug 2009
Intelligence in the Cloud
Business intelligence software defined a certain stage of maturity with CRM data by making that data actionable. Now on-demand BI promises to do the same for on-demand CRM — by making it affordable.
 Posted 01 Aug 2009
LucidEra: The End of an Era?
Industry experts—including some LucidEra investors and competitors—speculate on the reasons behind the fall of an on-demand business intelligence pioneer, and LucidEra customers talk about how they'll cope with the loss.
 Posted 01 Aug 2009
Re:Tooling -- Predictive Analytics: Keeping a Step Ahead
To cope with the recession, more organizations are looking to predictive analytics for answers.
 Posted 01 Aug 2009
Worldwide BI Revenue Reached $8.8 Billion in 2008
Growth in business intelligence software continues despite economic pressures.
 Posted 29 Jul 2009
CRM Market Grows for Fifth Straight Year
Software-as-a-service, analytics, and customer retention technologies help lead the way, according to a new Gartner report — and SAP retains the market-share crown.
 Posted 23 Jul 2009
Microsoft Makes a Million (or Two)
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference '09: The tech giant hits two major milestones: a million members of its partner network and a million customers for Dynamics CRM.
 Posted 18 Jul 2009
A New Leader Emerges in Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM for Customer Data
Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM for Customer Data '09: As vendors continue to invest in master data management initiatives, Initiate Systems joins IBM and Oracle in this year's top segment.
 Posted 18 Jul 2009
nGenera CIM Goes Tactical
Bolstering search, integration, and queuing, the company looks to emphasize hard ROI and customer satisfaction in its latest release.
 Posted 09 Jul 2009
Matching Pie Slices to Plates
As more vendors enter the on-demand CRM arena, profit may be harder to come by. Is consolidation the answer?
 Posted 01 Jul 2009
Branching Out Toward Data Management
Forest-product supplier Weyerhaeuser builds out its master data management strategy with Siperian.
 Posted 01 Jul 2009
Re:Tooling -- Partner Relationship Management: Rousing from a Slumber
The PRM market—often seen as a quiet backwater—may be entering a revival, particularly among B2Bs.
 Posted 01 Jul 2009
Business as Usual within Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools
Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '09: Five leading vendors hold their ground, despite a slight slip by SAP.
Posted 27 Jun 2009
Interactive Intelligence Ups Its IQ with Process Automation
The vendor's latest offering looks to deliver a clear vision for unified communications — a vision that centers on productivity enhancements.
 Posted 23 Jun 2009
Amdocs and TOA Aim for a More Holistic Customer Experience
A global partnership between the two companies is indicative of a growing trend, according to one pundit.
 Posted 19 Jun 2009
Strategy and Social Media: Everything’s Social (Now)
You may not know what you're doing — but your customers do. If the time to act is now — does that mean it's too late to plan?
 Posted 01 Jun 2009
CRM Characteristics for the Midmarket
Smaller enterprises demand a different approach.
 Posted 27 May 2009
Hot New BI Vendors Keep Things Cool
Gartner unveils its 2009 "Cool Vendors" in business intelligence and performance management.
 Posted 25 May 2009
CIO vs. CFO: The C-Suite Deathmatch
SAPPHIRE '09: Experts attempt to dispel stereotypes about the battles that rage over technology-purchasing decisions.
 Posted 20 May 2009
Speed and Clarity Drive SAP's Success
SAPPHIRE '09: Keynote addresses by several SAP executives reflect the company's desire to quickly deliver business value for companies during the downturn.
 Posted 14 May 2009
SAP Promises "Innovation You Can Trust"
SAPPHIRE '09: SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker lays out his company's roadmap to navigate the economic crisis. "The only antidote to uncertainty is clarity," he says.
 Posted 12 May 2009
Attensity Group to Tackle Unstructured Data
The three-company roll-up aims to enhance customer service by using voice-of-the-customer feedback.
 Posted 08 May 2009
On-Demand Is In Demand within Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Campaign Management
Magic Quadrant for MCM '09: A tough economy calls for tough, but cheaper, solutions.
 Posted 06 May 2009
Low Costs Drive the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '09: Microsoft and Salesforce.com join Oracle as Leaders in the analyst firm's annual assessment.
 Posted 01 May 2009
Twitter on CRM
CRM vendors are beginning to find ways to put the microblogging marvel to work -- for themselves and for their users.
 Posted 01 May 2009
In More Ways Than One
Companies recklessly adding new channels for service outreach risk damaging the customer experience.
 Posted 01 May 2009
Social Media: The Five-Year Forecast
Social media has only just taken off, says Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang -- and his "Future of the Social Web" report says social networks and marketers will have to change their strategies. "Bad things will happen," he says.
 Posted 27 Apr 2009
Oracle Takes a Shine to Sun Microsystems
In a transaction valued at $7.4 billion, Big Red scoops up the software-and-services provider after Sun's failed negotiations with IBM.
 Posted 20 Apr 2009
ISM's Top 15 Arrives -- and Exceeds 15
ISM Top 15 '09: The consultancy reveals its annual list of the best companies and products in CRM.
 Posted 13 Apr 2009
Market Focus -- Telecommunications: Bundled Offerings, Better Retention?
As service providers expand their combined multimedia packages, customer service requires attention.
 Posted 01 Apr 2009
The 2009 CRM Service Awards: Rising Stars -- Parature: Gaming the System
On-demand customer service provider Parature expands from interactive gaming to target firms of all sizes.
 Posted 01 Apr 2009
Re:Tooling -- Knowledge Management: Knowledge (Management) Is Power
The need for knowledge now permeates the enterprise.
 Posted 01 Apr 2009
9 Vendors Lead Gartner Magic Quadrant for BPM Suites
Magic Quadrant for BPM Suites '09: Established players continue to thrive as the space continues to evolve.
 Posted 13 Mar 2009
Making Relationships Matter
As LinkedIn grows, what does the future hold for enterprise social networking?
 Posted 01 Mar 2009
We the People
After years of lagging behind, government agencies are now expected to provide the same level of service as their private-sector counterparts. Can they catch up?
 Posted 01 Mar 2009
Aprimo and Unica Top Gartner Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management
Magic Quadrant '09: This year's roundup shows continued investments -- and more than a few shakeups.
 Posted 24 Feb 2009
Megavendors Look Smart in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence
Magic Quadrant '09: This year's edition shows the biggest players dominating the BI Platform market.
Posted 09 Feb 2009
xTuple Looks to Expand into New Markets
The open-source provider's new release -- with more than 300 enhancements -- looks to dig deeper into CRM.
 Posted 02 Feb 2009
Outsprinted
Telecom giant Sprint cuts telecom contact centers.
 Posted 01 Feb 2009
IBM Thunders into Cloud Computing
IBM announces cloud-based services within LotusLive, plus integration with CRM players, social networking, and mobile applications.
 Posted 26 Jan 2009
Keeping Your Financials Intacct
The provider of on-demand financial applications launches its Winter 2009 product.
 Posted 23 Jan 2009
The True Definition of UC
New research shows confusion among users over what unified communications really means.
 Posted 13 Jan 2009
The Shots Heard ’Round the World
A turbulent economy is driving some on-demand vendors to reduce fees. Is a price war looming in software-as-a-service?
 Posted 01 Jan 2009
Market Focus: Insurance—Technology Helps Insurance Weather the Storm
The industry knows how to write policies, but can it create efficient policies for its own business processes?
 Posted 01 Jan 2009
Feedback: January 2009
Readers talk about home agents, new consultants, and business architects.
 Posted 01 Jan 2009
The Google-ization of CRM
In the rush toward cloud computing, the company that began as a mere search engine is rapidly becoming the go-to source for low- and no-cost office productivity software. Handling customer information, though, requires special attention.
 Posted 01 Jan 2009
Shake Your Moneymakers
Here are three areas in which technology can help your organization sell better.
 Posted 01 Jan 2009
Discover the Agile Business Within
How data discovery improves agility.
 Posted 24 Dec 2008
Scoping Out SFA for Consumer Goods
Gartner's most recent MarketScope looks at how businesses in the consumer world are using sales force automation.
 Posted 23 Dec 2008
Few Changes in Gartner Magic Quadrant on Contact Center Infrastructure
Alcatel-Lucent joins some familiar faces in the Leader space: Aspect Software, Avaya, Cisco Systems, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Interactive Intelligence, and Nortel Networks.
 Posted 22 Dec 2008
Sprint: Please Hold for Silence
Sprint Nextel will close contact centers in response to lower demand for customer service while increasing its marketing efforts.
 Posted 18 Dec 2008
Business Objects Ups the Ante on On-Demand BI
SAP's business intelligence division strengthens its abilities in data warehousing and data exploration with its latest BI OnDemand release.
 Posted 17 Dec 2008
SugarCRM Shows a Web 2.0 Sweet Tooth
New in-the-cloud services and social feeds in Sugar 5.2 puts it on par with traditional CRM leaders, says one analyst.
 Posted 11 Dec 2008
Voxeo Acquires VoiceObjects
The voice platform vendor helps itself to a portfolio of self-service applications.
 Posted 10 Dec 2008
Market Focus: Energy/Utilities -- Empowered Consumers Are Ready to Flip the Switch
Utilities have to contend with customers seeking more control of their power consumption.
 Posted 01 Dec 2008
Transparency
Web 2.0, social media, customer feedback, conversations. Transparency is the new currency in CRM—but are you really ready to let your customer behind the curtain?
 Posted 01 Dec 2008
Former Oracle Executive to Join SAP
A year out of the spotlight, John Wookey is back on the scene, except now he's playing on a different side.
 Posted 11 Nov 2008
Wikis Grow, Podcasts and Social Bookmarking Slow
Forrester Research reveals an Enterprise Web 2.0 growth chart.
 Posted 10 Nov 2008
NetSuite Saps a Competitor and Shows Growth
The popular on-demand CRM and ERP provider takes a bite out of yet another company's customer base.
 Posted 06 Nov 2008
Feedback: November 2008
Readers sound off on the real reasons behind poor service.
 Posted 01 Nov 2008
Companies Catch the Customer Experience Wave
New research from Forrester unveils the top vendors for companies yearning to achieve experience-based differentiation.
 Posted 23 Oct 2008
SAP Retains Market-Share Lead in CRM
Gartner report shows the Wonder of Walldorf still on top—but a lawsuit and other troubles loom.
 Posted 01 Oct 2008
IBM's Vision Cited in Gartner Data Integration Magic Quadrant
Data Integration Magic Quadrant '08: Informatica and SAP-Business Objects join Big Blue as the leading integrators.
 Posted 30 Sep 2008
Mobile CRM Finds a Permanent Home
A 2007 Rising Star delivers a browser-based CRM suite that stays true to its wireless roots.
 Posted 03 Sep 2008
Still No Masters in Gartner's 'MDM for Product Data' Magic Quadrant
The latest assessment of master data management for product data covers 11 vendors -- and reveals no leaders. Is product data that much harder than customer data?
 Posted 03 Sep 2008
Oracle and SAP Surf Side-by-Side in Forrester Wave on Enterprise CRM
Forrester Wave on Enterprise CRM Suites '08: Forrester Research's latest on big-business CRM shows close competition between the two, with Microsoft coming on strong.
Posted 02 Sep 2008
Oracle Integrates CRM On Demand with Siebel
In an effort to unite on-demand and on-premises CRM, Oracle takes responsibility for product integration -- a move that looks particularly appealing for partner channel management.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
Nine New Vendors Join Gartner's E-Commerce Magic Quadrant Report
Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce '08: Veteran firms IBM and ATG top the field -- but the field itself is twice as big as it was last year.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
Socialized CRM
CRM has never prioritized the individual salesperson—but social networking changes all that.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
Market Focus: Financial Services -- Keeping Your Money on Their Minds
Compliance, mobile banking, data in the cloud—financial services firms have a lot to deal with when it comes to CRM.
Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Table of Contents and Introduction
CRM magazine announces the winners of its 2008 CRM Market Awards.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Influential Leaders -- Introduction
The visionaries shaping the CRM industry.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Influential Leaders -- Bill McDermott
The Rock: Bill McDermott -- president and chief executive officer, SAP Americas & Asia Pacific Japan.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Enterprise Suite CRM
With Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft finally assimilated, Oracle takes its place atop the throne.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Midmarket Suite CRM
In a largely untapped market, Salesforce.com finds itself firmly in the winner's circle for the third consecutive year.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Business Intelligence
SAS Institute takes the crown for the fourth year running as business intelligence evolves from reporting, analytics, and dashboards into a wealth of complexity.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Data Quality
Despite an increasingly blurry line between data quality and data integration, SAS Institute's DataFlux wins yet again.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Open-Source CRM
In this category's Market Award debut, the first-ever title goes to SugarCRM.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Consultancies
As a new player sits atop the category for the first time in years, consultancies are facing "a necessary shift to compete in the new SaaS world," according to one analyst.
 Posted 01 Sep 2008
Forrester Waves to Midmarket CRM
Forrester Wave: Midmarket CRM Suites '08: Despite consolidation, buying CRM software for the midmarket segment is still a major headache.
Posted 29 Aug 2008
Eloqua Opens Up With Web Services
New application programming interfaces aim to increase flexibility and ease integration with CRM systems -- particularly sales and marketing solutions.
 Posted 26 Aug 2008
Maximizing Mobility for the SMB
Maximizer Software announces a branding strategy for its Mobile CRM product.
 Posted 25 Aug 2008
CRM Magazine Announces the Winners of the 2008 CRM Market Awards
Companies, customers, and industry visionaries are honored for successes in the CRM marketplace over the previous 12 months.
 Posted 20 Aug 2008
Sage Act!s on Customer Feedback
Act! by Sage 2009 keys in on user requests, aiming to improve their experience.
 Posted 12 Aug 2008
Forrester Wave Finds Initiate Systems and Siperian at the Center of Customer Hubs
In addition to those two vendors, Dun & Bradstreet's Purisma and Oracle UCM remain near the top of the research firm's latest report.
 Posted 11 Aug 2008
Forming the Platform
On The Scene: Gartner AADI & Gartner Enterprise Architecture -- Now's the time to decide upon a business process platform.
 Posted 01 Aug 2008
Market Focus: Education -- Making CRM Mandatory for University Administration
Why higher-education spending on CRM is set to almost double by 2012.
 Posted 01 Aug 2008
Wouldja Look at That?
Vendors and users both now have an unprecedented degree of control over what a CRM application can look like. How should that power be used?
 Posted 01 Aug 2008
CRM Searches for Search
The technology to locate information may be readily available, but can CRM systems uncover their own buried treasure?
 Posted 01 Aug 2008
Four BI Vendors Crest the Forrester Wave
Forrester Wave '08: The latest report on enterprise business intelligence shows SAP's BusinessObjects property in a tight race with three other respected vendors.
Posted 08 Aug 2008
SFA Vendors Come and Go in Gartner Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant for SFA '08: Gartner's latest sales force automation report shows some movement, including some dropouts, as the research firm focuses on big business; Oracle and Salesforce.com top the field.
 Posted 05 Aug 2008
SAP Retains Market-Share Lead in CRM
Market intelligence from Gartner shows the Wonder of Walldorf still on top in CRM, ERP, and supply chain.
 Posted 04 Aug 2008
SAP's TomorrowNow to Shut Down but the Jury's Still Out
As Oracle extends the allegations over the SAP subsidiary's illegal downloading, the German juggernaut faces an uprising over its plan to increase maintenance costs.
Posted 04 Aug 2008
IBM and Oracle Lead Gartner's 'MDM for Customer Data' Magic Quadrant
The scope of master data management widens -- and Gartner alters its report name to reflect the change.
Posted 21 Jul 2008
Entellium Builds a CRM Suite to Rave About
The vendor launches two new products for its Rave suite aimed at "true" small businesses, and hooks up with Boomi as an integration partner.
Posted 15 Jul 2008
CRM Market Continues to Soar for a Fourth Straight Year
Gartner sees 23 percent growth in 2007, and also finds social networking becoming a disruptive force in the CRM industry.
 Posted 10 Jul 2008
SAP Looks to ‘Change the Game’
On The Scene: Sapphire 2008 -- One analyst believes the latest from the German juggernaut propels the company squarely back into the CRM 2.0 battle.
 Posted 01 Jul 2008
CRM to the Max
Mobile WiMax will transform the way consumers interact with technology -- but only if it's widely available.
 Posted 01 Jul 2008
No Leaders Yet in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Marketing Management
Magic Quadrant for EMM '08: Until buyers are using EMM solutions as platforms, vendors can't be marked for their ability to deliver.
Posted 07 Jul 2008
Growth Trend Continues for CRM
A new report from AMR on customer management indicates double-digit market growth is here to stay, though the economy remains a concern.
 Posted 01 Jul 2008
DataFlux Has the Edge in Gartner's Magic Quadrant on Data Quality Tools
Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '08: Business Objects, IBM, Informatica, and Harte-Hanks' Trillium Software join the SAS Institute unit in the top box.
 Posted 20 Jun 2008
NetSuite BOSes Its Way into Manufacturing
Will on-demand ring a bell in manufacturing? The SaaS pioneer rolls a new vertical integration off the assembly line, and its partners are also building for the industry using NetSuite's Business Operating System platform.
Posted 12 Jun 2008
NetSuite Inhales OpenAir
The popular on-demand CRM vendor puts its cash to good use in snatching up professional services automation developer OpenAir.
 Posted 02 Jun 2008
The Second Coming of Web 2.0
"Web 2.0" has been the subject of much buzz -- especially in CRM. What's beyond that buzz, and how can you make it work for you?
 Posted 01 Jun 2008
Oracle Scores Twice in Gartner's Field Service Magic Quadrant
Siebel and the Oracle E-Business Suite are ranked in a recent Gartner Magic Quadrant; ClickSoftware and TOA Technologies are visionaries.
Posted 30 May 2008
Companies Still Miss the Mark on the Complete Customer Experience
A new study maintains that while many companies claim they're crafting quality customer service, most still fail to deliver.
Posted 21 May 2008
Talisma Acquired by nGenera
The relative newcomer -- a provider of "business-innovation platforms" -- looks to add Talisma's customer-interaction software to its rapidly expanding platform.
 Posted 21 May 2008
ISM Announces Its Top 15 Lists for CRM
ISM Top 15 '08: The CRM consultancy anoints its annual crème de la crème of the industry, and divulges emerging and prevalent industry trends.
Posted 09 May 2008
Unica Tops Gartner Magic Quadrant for MCM
Magic Quadrant for MCM '08: As consumers move online, so should marketers -- and standalone best-of-breed marketing vendors continue to lead the way in the multichannel campaign management.
 Posted 07 May 2008
SAP Seeks to Tie Up Loose Ends
SAPPHIRE '08: Relying on services-oriented architecture, SAP co-CEO Henning Kagermann believes his company can now help businesses "close the loop" between strategy and execution.
Posted 06 May 2008
CRM Is All About Teamwork
SAPPHIRE '08: At SAP's annual user conference, the opening keynote address stresses the value of teamwork and its importance to any CRM investment.
Posted 05 May 2008
SAP + RIM = CRM2Go
Introducing a rebuilt version of its CRM application to run natively on Research In Motion's BlackBerry mobile devices, SAP aims to give companies universal access.
 Posted 02 May 2008
Serving Many Masters
Customer data and business data must be controlled through master data management.
 Posted 01 May 2008
Is CRM Too Hard for Microsoft?
On The Scene: Convergence 2008 -- Redmond's mighty software maker finally has what it needs for a great CRM program -- but is it too late?
 Posted 01 May 2008
Vendors Go Virtual for Feedback
On The Scene: SAP CRM 2008 -- Online communities are another way to get into customers' heads.
 Posted 01 May 2008
destinationCRM Dashboard: May 2008
Posted 01 May 2008
Market Focus:
Retail/Consumer Packaged Goods -- Price Check, Aisle 5
Everyone's talking about "the R word" -- Recession! -- and for the first time in a long time, price is competing head-to-head with service.
 Posted 01 May 2008
7 Steps to SOA Success
Services-oriented architecture--and the Web services it supports--is one of today's hottest software trends. It's also one of the least understood
 Posted 01 May 2008
SaaS Offers More to Manufacturers
Software-as-a-service solutions are now available for the industry's complex applications.
 Posted 25 Apr 2008
Teradata's Growing the Family
From entry-level to enterprise-level, Teradata's solution just got more affordable.
Posted 22 Apr 2008
On-Demand CRM Primed to Shock and Awe the On-Premise World
In the battle for software supremacy, new research predicts the on-demand CRM market will grow more than six times faster than its on-premise counterpart through 2010.
Posted 17 Apr 2008
Salesforce.com Comes to Town
Just a quarter of the way through the year, the company's 'SaaS' tank is full and ready to go.
Posted 16 Apr 2008
SaaS CRM Helps Olympic Swimmers in the Shallow End
Small and medium businesses increasingly turn to the Web for applications that fit.
Posted 10 Apr 2008
Business Intelligence Is Mission-Critical, for CRM and Others
Gartner Business Intelligence Summit '08: By 2009, 90 percent of mission-critical projects will depend on data warehouse information to drive higher revenues or lower costs.
 Posted 02 Apr 2008
There's No Stopping CRM
New research from Gartner predicts strong market growth continuing through 2012, despite the coming economic downturn.
Posted 02 Apr 2008
Most Web Visitors Can't Get the Help They Need
A new study finds that the majority of consumers visit a company's Web site to research products and services -- but less than half say the information to be found there meets their needs.
 Posted 28 Mar 2008
Contact Centers Aren't Yet Ready for Web 2.0
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '08: Foreseeing a "revolutionary" future for the contact center customer service market, the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for the sector extends the multiyear Oracle/Siebel winning streak, and highlights the continuing value of niche players for verticals.
 Posted 27 Mar 2008
Want Customer Loyalty? Improve Customer Experience First.
Recent reports from Forrester find an increasing emphasis on customer experience -- and a payoff in terms of customer retention.
 Posted 25 Mar 2008
SAS Gets Structured for the Unstructured
SAS Global Forum '08: At its annual users conference, SAS unveils a new acquisition, once code-named "Apollo."
 Posted 18 Mar 2008
Should Microsoft Quit CRM?
Microsoft Convergence 2008: While some analysts leaven criticism of Microsoft's Dynamics offerings with restrained praise, one recent report suggests the company "continues to lag rivals significantly" and should give up on CRM entirely.
Posted 14 Mar 2008
Customer Satisfaction Is Just the Beginning
According to statistics from a newly published study, organizations are realizing that "customer satisfaction" means far more than just "happy customers."
 Posted 13 Mar 2008
Microsoft's Latest Convergence Theory
Microsoft Convergence 2008: CEO and President Steve Ballmer outlines his company's approach to business applications, expands a partnership, and drops some hints about strategy.
Posted 13 Mar 2008
Marketing: It's Nothing Personal
A report from the CMO Council reveals that personalization is a marketing force that isn't being fully utilized -- yet.
 Posted 12 Mar 2008
Apple Takes a Bite Into Enterprise CRM
With Salesforce.com's announcement of an iPhone-specific application, will Apple finally tackle the corporate world?
 Posted 07 Mar 2008
5 Steps to Successful Web Content Management
AIIM '08: Analytical findings reveal certain trends when mapping out Web content management (WCM).
 Posted 07 Mar 2008
9 Essential Strategies to Improve Customer Experience
SAP CRM 2008: As advertising budgets shift to online efforts, customer care is where the money is.
 Posted 06 Mar 2008
SAP Refocuses on "Fun"
SAP CRM 2008: SAP's overarching theme of "customer co-innovation" goes beyond its newly launched CRM offering, according to company executives.
Posted 04 Mar 2008
Do You, Bagel, Take This Balela?
Preserving cultures in America is a growing phenomenon -- one that marketers would be wise to address.
Posted 01 Mar 2008
Everything Is Social
The word is everywhere now: social networks, social frameworks, social platforms.
 Posted 01 Mar 2008
Market Focus: Automotive -- Detroit: Driven to Distraction
Facing fierce competition from imports and a weakening economy, the automotive industry targets long-term customer satisfaction.
 Posted 01 Mar 2008
In Search Of...
New technologies make searching for internal documents as easy as surfing the Web. What's that got to do with CRM?
 Posted 01 Mar 2008
Salesforce.com Rises on Adobe's Hot AIR
With the help of Web-application powerhouse Adobe, Marc Benioff -- Salesforce.com's founder, chairman, and chief executive officer -- brings his company's Force.com platform to the corporate desktop.
 Posted 25 Feb 2008
Boosting CRM Adoption
Using customer loyalty data to inject new life into your CRM system.
 Posted 22 Feb 2008
Oracle Explores the Power of One
Single-tenant architecture for the on-demand world gets a powerful enterprise advocate in a new edition of Oracle's Siebel.
Posted 20 Feb 2008
Oracle Hyperion's Performance Manages to Top Gartner's CPM Magic Quadrant
In the research firm's annual look at the consolidation-ridden corporate performance management space, Oracle's Hyperion acquisition was the only one that made the cut -- literally.
 Posted 19 Feb 2008
In Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery, F5 Really Delivers
Looking at the network-technology vendors specializing in serving up the technology of others, Gartner gives glowing marks to just two out of 13.
 Posted 18 Feb 2008
The Suite Spot: Former Pure-Play Vendors Dominate BPM Magic Quadrant
Former pure-play business process management (BPM) providers lead the market, now that they've grown into full-suite offerings.
 Posted 15 Feb 2008
MicroStrategy and Microsoft Move Up in Gartner's BI Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant '08: The research firm's assessment of the business intelligence sector shows the two vendors joining SAS Institute, Oracle, Cognos, and Business Objects in the top segment.
 Posted 12 Feb 2008
Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo!
After repeatedly failing to come to terms on a friendly merger in 2006 and 2007, Microsoft's hostile advances for the No. 2 search company won't be spurned as easily this time. What does the proposed deal mean for CRM?
Posted 04 Feb 2008
SAP Susses Out 2008
With financial results in hand and Business ByDesign humming along, the vendor offers some thoughts on what's coming next.
Posted 01 Feb 2008
Are You Ready for SaaS?
You may think you are, but the truth is this: Size matters.
 Posted 01 Feb 2008
CRM Drives Down-Market
SAP and Microsoft make big moves to embrace smaller customers.
 Posted 01 Feb 2008
Always On
The new generation of consumers, clients, and customers is perpetually connected -- to the Internet, to you, and to each other. What can Web 2.0 do for you?
Posted 01 Feb 2008
Worldwide Outsourcing Market to Grow 8.1% in '08
A new Gartner study reveals strong growth in the overall outsourcing market -- but even stronger growth in the business-process outsourcing most critical to CRM.
Posted 30 Jan 2008
Open Source as a Driver for CRM Innovation
The upside is a high level of flexibility.
 Posted 28 Jan 2008
Infor Markets a New Marketing Module
The software conglomerate's Infor CRM Epiphany Outbound Marketing 7.1 offers industry-specific features for retailers.
 Posted 25 Jan 2008
IBM Acquires an Apt App
Big Blue snaps up AptSoft, a provider of software designed to help companies make real-time decisions.
 Posted 24 Jan 2008
Will Marketing Platforms Ever Outperform?
A new Forrester Wave reveals vendors boasting growing functionality, but a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution remains elusive, even for leaders Unica and Aprimo.
 Posted 18 Jan 2008
Oracle and BEA Systems Settle on a Price
Three months after the initial $6.7 billion bid, the juggernaut of enterprise computing pays $8.5 billion for its rival in the middleware market.
 Posted 17 Jan 2008
Amdocs Tries to Digitally Connect with Communications Providers
With Amdocs CES 7.5, the company looks to usher in a new era in which consumers control the purchasing process.
 Posted 16 Jan 2008
Big Changes in Solutions for Small Businesses
Consumerization, software-as-a-service, and several other industry developments are affecting how application vendors approach smaller organizations.
Posted 15 Jan 2008
SFA for the Consumer Goods Industry Comes of Age
New research cites positive changes, and sees a maturing market that still has fragmentation.
 Posted 02 Jan 2008
Top 25 CRM News Stories of 2007
As 2008 arrives, a look back at the most popular online stories of last year.
Posted 01 Jan 2008
Quality Really Is Job No. 1
The "single version of the truth" is impossible without tools to ensure data quality.
 Posted 01 Jan 2008
Market Focus: Manufacturing -- Customers, Meet Your Makers
Thanks to increased adoption of CRM, manufacturing is putting things together.
 Posted 01 Jan 2008
CRM Managers Should Listen for a Change
AMC Technology resumes its telephony, contact center, and CRM integration webinar series; targeted programs will help attendees focus on specifics.
 Posted 26 Dec 2007
How Marketers Use Business Intelligence Intelligently
When it comes to deploying BI in marketing, best practices can light the path to "information nirvana."
 Posted 24 Dec 2007
The Best Companies Do Better with BI
Strong companies get more out of business intelligence than weaker ones do.
 Posted 21 Dec 2007
NetSuite Takes Stock, and Sells It
The on-demand CRM vendor posts a big IPO, suggesting the tech market is still buoyant.
 Posted 20 Dec 2007
Microsoft Unleashes a Titan
The much-anticipated Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 makes it to market in time for the close of Q4 2007, to the sounds of analyst praise.
 Posted 18 Dec 2007
Are CRM Systems Too Complex for the SMB?
"Getting staff to use the software" remains the biggest challenge for the small and midsize CRM user.
 Posted 17 Dec 2007
SAP's Year-End Model Sports a Facelift
SAP Influencer Summit: The German giant's SAP CRM 2007 -- with a new user interface -- sneaks in under the calendar-year wire.
 Posted 04 Dec 2007
Business Objects Gives SMBs an Edge
New feature to the company's Edge series promises to address the financial concerns of midmarket companies.
Posted 03 Dec 2007
Mastering Customer Records
How services-oriented architecture will shape the future of CRM: Part One in a four-part series.
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
The Dark Side of the Search Engine
Will a sage oracle sap your nice salesforce?
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
SAP's Midmarket Design
SAP Business ByDesign is the company's new on-demand midmarket product; much of its success hinges on SAP's channel strategy.
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
A Shift in SAP's Growth Strategy: Buy Big to Get Bigger
The company's planned acquisition of analytics powerhouse Business Objects represents the largest in company history.
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
Market Focus: Energy/Utilities -- Speaking Truth to Power (Companies)
Analytics are increasingly leveraged for insight into customer behavior.
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
It's All Coming 2.0gether
As 2007 ends, and 2008 looms ahead of us, patterns are beginning to emerge: The future of business may not be in the hands of the executives, but those of the customer instead. And yet, hasn't it always been that way?
 Posted 01 Dec 2007
Installed Software Strikes Back
After years of software-as-a-service rising ascendant, economic pressures may be favoring on-premise software again.
 Posted 29 Nov 2007
Banks Again Seek to Improve CRM
An industry traditionally at the forefront of CRM continues to make the effort to master customer interactions.
 Posted 27 Nov 2007
Will the Sun Come Out for TomorrowNow?
Employees gone, lawsuit still unresolved, but despite SAP and TomorrowNow's predicament, third party maintenance seems to be on the rise.
Posted 26 Nov 2007
Business Intelligence's Intelligent Leap
Not every step toward a best-in-class BI deployment is going to be a smooth transition.
 Posted 21 Nov 2007
Integrating CRM and ERP
Why it makes sense to unify now.
 Posted 20 Nov 2007
Oracle Salutes ''Acquired Innovation''
At Oracle OpenWorld 2007, executives emphasize the benefits of having made 41 acquisitions in 45 months: "We've become the IPO market for the enterprise software industry."
 Posted 13 Nov 2007
Sales Configuration Vendors Are Splitting and Tangling
Recent market research from Gartner shows overall consolidation but with divisions appearing between specialists and megavendors.
 Posted 13 Nov 2007
IBM Acquires Cognos
The $5 billion deal marks ongoing consolidation in the Tier One business intelligence market; a "significant change" in IBM's direction, one analyst notes.
 Posted 12 Nov 2007
CRM Market Set to Double
The global CRM market will double within six years, according to a new Datamonitor report.
Posted 06 Nov 2007
Gartner Magic Quadrant Puts Together Data Integration Leaders
As the market for these tools continue to evolve, vendors continue to push towards a consolidated solution set.
Posted 02 Nov 2007
CRM Remains a Fertile Market
New research points to explosive growth in CRM adoption across every segment -- especially on-demand CRM.
Posted 02 Nov 2007
Market Focus: Technology -- The Simple Truth about Complex Manufacturing
Tech firms need CRM as much as any other company--and sometimes even more.
 Posted 01 Nov 2007
Checking the Pulse of the Contact Center
Contact center performance management provides a holistic view of agent performance; use that data to spur desirable behaviors that will help reps beat center and corporate goals.
 Posted 01 Nov 2007
Teradata Tops Gartner Magic Quadrant for Database Management
Big-name companies populate the Leaders Quadrant as vendors and customers alike look to leverage data warehouses as mission-critical applications.
 Posted 26 Oct 2007
NetSuite: A Not-So-Quiet Quiet Period
The on-demand provider fills its pre-IPO days with the announcement of SuiteBundler, a feature-and-function packaging system for resellers to maximize delivery of services.
Posted 24 Oct 2007
In Oracle's Star Wars, a Wookey Falls
The company's head of Fusion Applications is expected to leave, raising questions and concerns about the vendor's ability to deliver Fusion as scheduled.
Posted 19 Oct 2007
SAP Tucks-In Another Acquisition
The German software maker adds BPM functionality to its portfolio by acquiring Indian-based YASU.
 Posted 18 Oct 2007
Business Objects' Polestar Guides Information Search
The business intelligence vendor released an updated version of Crystal Reports at its user conference this week, along with the schedule for the release of a new information-search tool.
 Posted 17 Oct 2007
Forrester Wave Ranks Cognos and Oracle Tops in Performance Management
Forrester Wave on Business Performance Solutions, 2007: Forrester Research's ranking of BPM vendors provides a snapshot of a market in motion.
 Posted 15 Oct 2007
Oracle Offers to Buy BEA Systems
On the heels of the SAP-Business Objects deal, Larry Ellison's company makes a multibillion-dollar move of its own.
 Posted 12 Oct 2007
Sage Dismisses CEO
Facing challenges, the venerable midmarket vendor beheads its North American operations.
Posted 11 Oct 2007
Teradata's Call For Data-Driven Success
Partners '07: At its annual user conference, the newly independent vendor focuses on its core business with a new partnership and a series of new services.
Posted 10 Oct 2007
Teradata Stands Alone, and Not Alone
Partners '07: Fresh off completing its breakaway from parent company NCR, the vendor unveils an alliance with SAS and defines its product roadmap (including the long-in-the-works Relationship Manager 6).
Posted 09 Oct 2007
Interactive Intelligence Plugs in an Upgrade
The company will begin rolling out by year's end the latest version of its IP business communications software platform -- a release focused on security, integration, simplified deployment, and mobility.
Posted 09 Oct 2007
SAP to Acquire Business Objects
The friendly takeover folds new business intelligence capabilities into one of the leading enterprise software platforms; amidst differing opinions, rumors loom of a counteroffer from Oracle or IBM.
 Posted 08 Oct 2007
A SWITCH in the Top 10 Service Providers
New Gartner research details the strong growth and strengths of India-based service providers, and their inevitable arrival among the global top 10.
Posted 04 Oct 2007
Oracle Continues to Lead IDC's Analytics Pack
The analyst firm ranks the vendors by revenue and market share, and finds SAS Institute and Microsoft continue to make inroads.
 Posted 03 Oct 2007
Analyzing the Sales Process
We often find that CRM systems give sales managers numbers when what they really want is insight. Is CRM finally ready to demystify sales management?
 Posted 01 Oct 2007
The Chain Gang
Your CRM is only as good as your ability to deliver to your customers. So why not merge supply chain management data with CRM to gain a holistic view? It's not that simple.
 Posted 01 Oct 2007
Double-Digit CRM Growth -- But Double-Digit Failures and Double-Digit License Limbo, Too
Companies will shell out 16 percent more on customer management apps next year, but nearly one-third of companies have experienced failed implementations -- and 25 percent of all CRM licenses go unused.
Posted 26 Sep 2007
Consona Sizes Up the Manufacturing Market
The software vendor's ERP unit unveils both a product upgrade and a technology alliance aimed at bolstering its presence among SMB manufacturers.
Posted 25 Sep 2007
CDI Comes in All Shapes and Sizes
At the Gartner MDM Summit, one analyst explains how CDI differs by industry and type of customer, and how the CDI market continues to evolve.
 Posted 21 Sep 2007
SAP's Big Move Toward Smaller Businesses
The German giant's "A1S" product -- officially known as SAP Business ByDesign -- targets companies with between 100 and 500 employees.
 Posted 19 Sep 2007
The Dynamic Duo: SAP and Oracle Still Lead, But Oracle Offers More
Yet another market-share report tags the two vendors as the market's only leaders--but this one gives Oracle the edge in product quality. Overall, the CRM arena remains competitive.
Posted 12 Sep 2007
Infor Takes a Breather from Building Its Better Mousetrap
Software conglomerate tells analysts to expect no further acquisitions--for now.
 Posted 11 Sep 2007
Master Data Management: Debunking Mega-Vendor Hype
A flexible MDM platform delivers rapid return-on-investment.
Posted 10 Sep 2007
CRM's Expanding Horizon
Gartner predicts CRM software revenue will grow 14 percent this year to exceed $7.4 billion, as SaaS, sales, and foreign markets continue to drive the market.
Posted 06 Sep 2007
Cognos To Purchase Applix
The $339 million acquisition is the latest example of the convergence of business intelligence and performance management.
Posted 05 Sep 2007
SAP-Oracle Dispute Heats Up
Two months after the amended lawsuit, the leaders in enterprise software applications continue to battle it out.
Posted 04 Sep 2007
CRM Continues Its Climb
Salesforce.com and others prove that small oceans can still make big, big waves.
Posted 01 Sep 2007
Software, On and Off
A growing segment of on-demand providers is boasting of offline functionality. Is this an admission of failure, or a stopgap on the way to perpetual access?
 Posted 01 Sep 2007
Sizing Up the CRM Situation
Software-as-a-service, focus on customer retention and acquisition, and verticalization are factors enabling the market's healthy growth.
Posted 01 Sep 2007
The 2007 Market Awards: Rising Stars
Our Rising Stars this year don't fit any single mold--rather, they reflect the CRM industry's emerging trends, its continuing reach, and its ongoing aspirations.
Posted 01 Sep 2007
The 2007 Market Awards: Enterprise Suite CRM
The enterprise suite CRM market is at a critical point in its evolution.
Posted 01 Sep 2007
The 2007 Market Awards: Midmarket Suite CRM
The landscape among midmarket suite vendors is loaded with firms vying for increasingly limited technology-budget dollars.
 Posted 01 Sep 2007
The 2007 Market Awards: Marketing Automation
This has been the year of the end user in marketing automation.
 Posted 01 Sep 2007
SAP Escalates in India
The German software giant doubles the number of Indian outsourcers among its top partners, as part of its ongoing efforts to expand market presence in that country.
 Posted 30 Aug 2007
CRM Magazine Announces the Winners of the 2007 CRM Market Awards
Companies, customers, and industry visionaries were honored this week at destinationCRM2007 for successes in the CRM marketplace over the last year.
Posted 23 Aug 2007
Filling the Void in CRM Application Support
Keys to filling the gap between clients and CRM vendors.
Posted 20 Aug 2007
NEC's Buy o'Sphere Expands the Ecosystem
The Japanese-based vendor's purchase of Sphere Communications is a move to bolster its unified communications portfolio, according to one industry pundit.
Posted 10 Aug 2007
Business Processes Manage to Keep Growing
IDC predicts rapid growth for the BPM software market, which is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2011.
Posted 09 Aug 2007
SaaS Will Outpace the Rest of the Market
A recent forecast predicts software-as-a-service will be the dominant source of the market's revenue growth.
Posted 07 Aug 2007
Market Focus: Financial Services--Cashing In on Integration
Financial services companies must focus on shifting away from siloed processes across departments and channels.
Posted 01 Aug 2007
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Aug 2007
Making the Most of Marketing
Optimizing operations can intimidate the strongest of marketing departments, but with able people, good processes, and strong technology, the beast may be conquered, one bite at a time.
Posted 01 Aug 2007
What's in a Name? Oracle's Mixed Message With Siebel CRM On Demand
Oracle reverts to the Siebel moniker for the newest version of its CRM On Demand product, which features several usability, customization, and integration enhancements.
 Posted 25 Jul 2007
A Solid Connection at Last: IP Telephony Achieves a Majority in the Contact Centers
And two-thirds of the laggards plan on using some form of IP within two years, a new study finds.
Posted 24 Jul 2007
SaaS Rises in the East
The Asian market for on-demand software nearly doubled last year as awareness and adoption rates boomed; new report says satisfaction is high for CRM and other applications.
 Posted 23 Jul 2007
CRM Numbers Grow, But Also Mislead
The customer management applications market rose 8 percent in 2006, as it did in 2005; SAP and Oracle continue to lead, but their revenue figures don't tell the full tale.
Posted 13 Jul 2007
NetSuite iPhones It In
The on-demand CRM vendor announces full in-browser capabilities for use on the wildly popular new Apple device; CRM on the hip could make Apple the next big mobile business tool.
Posted 12 Jul 2007
Oracle's Smaller Slice of CRM's Bigger Pie
The worldwide CRM market grew 11.5 percent in 2006 to just under $6.5 billion in revenue; while SAP continues to dominate, Oracle Corp. sees both its revenue and its market share slip.
Posted 10 Jul 2007
Salesforce.com Joins Siebel Atop Gartner Magic Quadrant for SFA
Magic Quadrant for SFA '07: Oracle's Siebel has to share the spotlight in sales force automation, and additional challengers are closing in.
 Posted 05 Jul 2007
SAP Admits 'Inappropriate' Downloading of Oracle Documents
In response to a competitor's suit, German software giant acknowledges its subsidiary crossed the line.
Posted 03 Jul 2007
On the Scene: SAP Talks Enterprise SOA and Collaboration
The business apps juggernaut emphasizes its enterprise services strategy and the significance of coinnovation.
 Posted 01 Jul 2007
Market Focus: Healthcare: The Great Divide
The business of medicine and the care of patients are not the same thing; for both segments, customers is difficult to define.
 Posted 01 Jul 2007
NetSuite Dials a New Number
The on-demand CRM suite provider floats its latest version, combining analytics, back-office integration, and partner relationship management.
 Posted 21 Jun 2007
SAP Makes More Moves On Mobility
The business apps juggernaut has announced new and enhanced mobile applications intended to help companies extend SAP business processes to information workers through mobile devices.
 Posted 19 Jun 2007
Dirty Little Data Secrets
CRM's real truth requires enterprises to clean up -- reorganize -- customer information with data integration solutions, Web-services technology that integrates data applications.
 Posted 01 Jun 2007
Custom Fits
Whether off the shelf, on demand, or built in house with open source software, companies will need to customize their SFA systems
Posted 01 Jun 2007
SAP Loses Visionary Agassi Over CEO Rift
One analyst says that Agassi was "a charismatic and highly visible driving force for change."
Posted 01 Jun 2007
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Jun 2007
The Dead Pool: E- and Phone Service
Forget about both of them--a new study finds that for real customer service, companies will need to cover all channels across the enterprise.
 Posted 29 May 2007
SAP Zeroes In On the Contact Center With M&A
SAPPHIRE '07 International: The company acquires Finland's Wicom Communications; expect to see more large CRM firms buying contact center companies down the pike, according to one analyst.
 Posted 16 May 2007
Cisco and Salesforce.com Get Connected
The communications infrastructure vendor and the on-demand CRM provider announce Unified CallConnector, strengthening the companies' partnership.
 Posted 11 May 2007
SAP: Boosting Its CPM Credentials
SAP will buy OutlookSoft, putting more analytics tools into the hands of CFOs; the acquisition continues a consolidation war with Oracle.
 Posted 10 May 2007
An SFA Wave Hits a Crowded Beach
The latest Forrester Wave for sales force automation shows that Siebel still has what businesses want; a number of other vendors are challenging its primacy.
 Posted 03 May 2007
The Big Picture
How to connect the dots to reveal a complete image of new corporate performance management software solutions.
 Posted 01 May 2007
Market Focus: Government: Citizen Satisfaction
The public sector thinks differently about the C in CRM, as more vendors cater to this vertical's specific needs.
 Posted 01 May 2007
SOA Comes at a Cost
Companies look to develop best practices around the business processes and technology changes required with SOA as its popularity and use continues to soar.
 Posted 26 Apr 2007
SAP and Microsoft Will Duet Again
The two IT juggernauts are deepening their partnership by extending their blueprint for making available future versions of Duet software for Microsoft Office and SAP.
 Posted 25 Apr 2007
SAP Sounds Off on SOA and Collaboration
SAPPHIRE '07: The business software giant highlights its enterprise services strategy and champions the importance of business network transformation.
 Posted 24 Apr 2007
Gartner Slots Multichannel Campaign Management Vendors
Magic Quadrant for MCM '07: SAS Institute, Teradata, and Unica maintain positions as leaders in the space, while Oracle's Siebel Systems gets bumped up.
 Posted 11 Apr 2007
Software AG Is Set to Acquire webMethods
The deal may help Software AG's position in the SOA/BPM landscape, while moving it closer to its aim of being a billion-euro company.
 Posted 10 Apr 2007
PRM Rides the CRM Tide
Oracle and SAP are the big kahunas in the Forrester Wave for partner management, but there are numerous others to choose from among on-demand and specialty vendors.
 Posted 09 Apr 2007
BPM's Evolution
The market will see dramatic growth over the coming years, buoyed by a renewed interest in process management, as BPM vendors begin to leverage SOA.
 Posted 04 Apr 2007
Market Focus: Telecommunications: The Name of the Game: Personalization
Telecommunications companies have unparalleled access to their customers. Will this pave the way to a new era of personalized content?
 Posted 01 Apr 2007
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Apr 2007
The 2007 Service Leaders, Part 2
The customer care market in 2006 evolved at an enthralling rate, as providers of service-and-support technologies and services toiled to bolster their capabilities through strategic partnerships, head-turning mergers and acquisitions, and deepened research and development--all with the goal of helping companies provide stellar service. At the forefront of these developments are our 2007 Service Leaders--the contact center market's leading vendors in seven areas: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services, workforce optimization, quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a blend of weighted criteria comprising analyst ratings for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality or services, and company direction, coupled with financial strength throughout the past year evidenced by revenue and revenue growth.
 Posted 01 Apr 2007
The 2007 Rising Stars and Service Excellence
There are customer service technology vendors making dynamic acquisitions and expanding their broad product portfolios that don't necessarily fit neatly into one of the seven Service Leader categories. In keeping with that our third annual Service Excellence award recipient, M2M Holdings, made two smart deals that plunged it directly into the full-suite CRM and knowledge management arenas. Also, we present our second annual Rising Star awards, spotlighting under-the-radar tech providers that are making serious strides to deepen their competitive footprint.
Posted 01 Apr 2007
BI and PM: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Spending on business intelligence and performance management is expected to balloon as companies seek to bring financial data and operational metrics to the corporate masses, according to a new study.
 Posted 30 Mar 2007
Purisma Points to MDM
The vendor unveils the first of a series of point solutions designed to provide organizations with a point of entry into MDM initiatives, according to an industry analyst; version 3 of its flagship product arrives.
 Posted 29 Mar 2007
ISM Announces Its Top 15 (or 16 or 17)
ISM Top 15 '07: The CRM consultancy's annual awards reveal trends in process and technology, and laud the vendors that are driving them forward.
 Posted 26 Mar 2007
Oracle Sues SAP
Oracle has accused its chief rival of cracking into its computer systems in an attempt to steal copyrighted software; software maintenance fees are at the heart of the suit, according to an industry pundit.
 Posted 23 Mar 2007
The CRM Market Is Still Strong
The market continues to expand, albeit at a moderate pace, as vendors achieve strong growth in SaaS applications and vertically focused solutions.
Posted 22 Mar 2007
VoiceObjects and SAP: Over the Phone
Weaving speech-enabled apps into enterprise processes represents a transcendence of the contact center that will create more growth opportunities.
 Posted 15 Mar 2007
Siebel Continues to Fly Solo as a Leader
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '07: The vendor leads all evaluated companies in Gartner's annual report, while more than a dozen players chart as visionaries.
 Posted 07 Mar 2007
Oracle Is Set to Purchase Hyperion
The $3.3 billion acquisition would be Oracle's largest since Siebel, and continues Oracle's focus on BI while undermining rivals; more BI acquisitions are to come, according to analysts.
Posted 01 Mar 2007
Market Focus: Automotive: Adapting to Altered Buy Environments
Consumers buy cars differently from how they did a generation ago. Makers and distributors must respond to the changes or become last year's model.
 Posted 01 Mar 2007
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Mar 2007
SAP Acquires Pilot Software
The German software giant purchases the management software provider to make good on its promise to embed more analytics in its offerings; more acquisitions will follow, according to the CEO.
 Posted 21 Feb 2007
Gartner Combines Two Magic Quadrants
Magic Quadrant for E-Commerce '06: ATG and IBM WebSphere Commerce top the new quadrant, an examination of vendors delivering B2B and B2C e-commerce offerings.
 Posted 14 Feb 2007
Microsoft Brings Analytics to the Desktop
The software giant releases a BI platform for Dynamics CRM in an effort to hand business intelligence to the Excel-using masses.
Posted 14 Feb 2007
Manufacturing a Speedy Delivery
The globalization of markets and economies is forcing manufacturing firms to improve their SCM and ERP solutions in an effort to get products that satisfy customer demand to market faster.
Posted 07 Feb 2007
Enterprise CRM Is Three Sheets to the Wind
A new Forrester Wave on enterprise CRM finds Oracle and SAP to be riding at the crest, while a number of competitors stock the sea with solid options.
 Posted 06 Feb 2007
SAS Tops Gartner's BI Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant '07: The market will experience more growth as the technology includes more users within an organization while application and suite providers enhance their own offerings.
 Posted 01 Feb 2007
Market Focus: Professional Services: Servicing the Law
Companies are now paying CRM vendors for complete comprehension when it comes to regulatory software products.
 Posted 01 Feb 2007
Oracle Boosts Siebel CRM
The latest version delivers improvements to a number of key applications, and includes certification with Oracle Fusion Middleware.
 Posted 31 Jan 2007
Oracle Makes Intelligence Accessible
The latest release of Oracle Business Intelligence Suite includes new visualization and reporting capabilities, intended to broaden the ways workers access BI.
 Posted 29 Jan 2007
SAP Updates Its Midmarket Strategy
A new version of SAP All-in-One addresses an increasingly important customer segment; an analyst questions value of "simplified" CRM.
 Posted 25 Jan 2007
Infor Is the Top Performer in Performance Management
A research report rates 11 vendors and their products in the performance management space, giving users a sense of where to turn to improve business results.
 Posted 22 Jan 2007
High-Tech Wages Are On the Upswing
The supply and demand talent dynamic for technology-based industries is one of the main factors behind expected growth in wages in 2007, a talent and outsourcing services provider says.
 Posted 03 Jan 2007
SaaS and Web 3.0
Pointing the way.
Posted 01 Jan 2007
Nobody Can Stop the Shopping
CRM project teams will continue to purchase technology throughout 2007.
 Posted 01 Jan 2007
Market Focus: Manufacturing: Money for Future Muscle
CRM investment continues to increase in the vertical as companies turn to PRM, analytics, and order management to get a tighter grasp on customers.
 Posted 01 Jan 2007
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Jan 2007
Customer Hubs Get Hot
Forrester Wave on Customer Hubs, 2006: As more attention turns to customer hubs, the continuing development makes it difficult to see clearly into this space; a new Forrester Wave takes a focused look at vendor offerings.
 Posted 28 Dec 2006
Three Tiers for ISV Partnerships
ISV partnerships in the past have been strictly tech-driven, but a new study reports that marketing and sales capabilities are also becoming important attractors in these relationships.
 Posted 12 Dec 2006
Extending ERP Throughout the Enterprise
As ERP end users demand greater functionality from their solutions, companies are having to weigh the difference between richer functionality and future integration woes.
 Posted 06 Dec 2006
CRM's Expanding Vista
Many CRM vendors, including Microsoft with its own CRM offering, have tailored their solutions to mesh with the anticipated new operating system.
 Posted 01 Dec 2006
Salesforce.com Releases ApexConnect
The on-demand provider unveils a family of tools to address integration woes, though one industry pundit says integration issues are as much a state of mind as they are an IT dilemma.
 Posted 28 Nov 2006
Diverse Options Are Still Available in SFA
SaaS and mobile options continue to grow while buyers can choose from best-of-breed or suite vendors, according to Gartner; SFA will grow more than 13 percent annually through 2010.
 Posted 27 Nov 2006
Sterling Eats Up Front-End Functionality
Sterling Commerce announces its acquisition of Comergent Technologies to marry Comergent's order capturing capabilities with Sterling's order fulfillment software.
 Posted 21 Nov 2006
CRM Vendors Get SOA Happy
Leading CRM software vendors are looking to build out service oriented architecture to increase the flexibility of solutions, which will lead enterprises slowly but steadily to integrate SOA.
 Posted 14 Nov 2006
EDS Will Acquire GEMS
The deal will help expand EDS's capabilities in the SAP CRM market and help provide stronger capabilities for enterprise-level customers installing or planning to install SAP applications.
 Posted 13 Nov 2006
Oracle Powers Up Its Utility Offerings
The acquisition rampage continues as the software behemoth acquires a CIS vendor for an undisclosed sum; the CIS market is ripe for acquisition.
 Posted 06 Nov 2006
Companies' ERP Wallets Will Get Fatter
Budgets will grow by 12.3 percent next year, thanks to factors like healthy IT spending, enhanced functionality, and continued interest from SMBs and midmarket companies.
 Posted 02 Nov 2006
Hyperion Does Some Autumn Cleaning
The BPM software provider announces the launch of Hyperion System 9 Release 9.3, which focuses on data cleansing and integrity, as well as integration.
 Posted 31 Oct 2006
CRM Investments: Working With What You've Got
The market will continue to grow, but new license revenues will drop as companies focus on product enhancements and getting value from prior investments.
Posted 25 Oct 2006
Connectors for Dynamics CRM
Microsoft reveals tighter integration with other enterprise applications; an analyst wonders if will it will be a big enough selling point.
 Posted 20 Oct 2006
Europe Will Up IT Spending
It will be a cautious spend that won't match the U.S.'s expected 2006 layouts, but European IT's 2007 growth rate will be larger.
 Posted 18 Oct 2006
Xactly Ties SCM to Data Management and Analytics
Two new products address the growing popularity of integrating on-demand apps with other solutions and analytics.
 Posted 02 Oct 2006
The 2006 Influential Leaders
The six powerful, visionary people hailed here have dominated the CRM industry in 2006 like no others. This year we add something historic--the first female Hall of Fame entrant.
 Posted 01 Oct 2006
The 2006 Market Leaders, Part 1
They say that timing makes champions. These eight winners in as many categories (plus up-and-comers in our One to Watch boxes) prove the adage as they join more than a score of industry leaders in a year of opportunity-making industry changes.
 Posted 01 Oct 2006
The 2006 Market Leaders, Part 2
They say that timing makes champions. These eight winners in as many categories (plus up-and-comers in our One to Watch boxes) prove the adage as they join more than a score of industry leaders in a year of opportunity-making industry changes.
 Posted 01 Oct 2006
The 2006 Elite
Satisfied customers, soaring returns on investment, cool runnings of both back- and front-end office processes--meet the CRM-enabled companies that planned implementations the way they should be done.
 Posted 01 Oct 2006
SAP Gets Its Demand On Again
SAP meets its formal product road map with the release of SAP Service on-demand and an upgraded version of SAP Sales on-demand.
 Posted 26 Sep 2006
CRM Magazine Announces the 2006 Market Award Winners
The recipients were named at the destinationCRM 2006 Conference dinner last night in San Jose.
 Posted 19 Sep 2006
Hosted or Housed?
The decision to implement one or the other CRM-solution model is a complicated one--here, a rundown of significant financial aspects to consider.
 Posted 01 Sep 2006
Microsoft: Expecting a Live Baby
Has the software giant's on-demand application incubated for too long?
 Posted 01 Sep 2006
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Sep 2006
SCM's Use Broadens Throughout Enterprises
The market continues its moderate growth as enterprises developed new strategies and tactics to integrate SCM with other enterprise applications.
 Posted 31 Aug 2006
Product Roundup: VoiceCon Fall 2006
Avaya updates its VPNremote phone and IP multimedia contact center offering; NEC unveils a managed IP telephony service for SMBs; Verizon Business furthers its push into IP with three offerings; and more.
 Posted 25 Aug 2006
CRM Is Back on the Glory Road
The market experiences its second consecutive year of growth and enters its "second wave," according to one industry analyst.
 Posted 17 Aug 2006
Secret of My Success: Connecting On-Demand With On-Premise
OKERE integrates Symbol's global sales force.
 Posted 07 Aug 2006
Sales Compensation is Back, Baby!
The market is experiencing growth for the first time in years as vendors introduce new delivery models and applications to drive strategic value.
 Posted 04 Aug 2006
Euro CRM Growth Continues At a Reduced Rate
SAP continues its dominance of European sales as Salesforce.com and Microsoft see the most growth.
 Posted 02 Aug 2006
Try It, You'll Like It
Nailing sales end-user buy-in has been a long-standing challenge for organizations that decide to implement a CRM system. Here, how to gain compliance and what to watch for.
 Posted 01 Aug 2006
The Maturation of MRM
Marketing resource management is growing up--and adding muscle to ROI--as companies seek to codify strategies and track marketing budgets.
Posted 01 Aug 2006
Market Focus: The Public Sector--Eye on the State
Local and national governments are turning to CRM to satisfy the citizen-as-consumer.
 Posted 01 Aug 2006
Statistically Speaking
Posted 01 Aug 2006
On the Scene: SAPPHIRE '06: SAP Continues Its Enterprise SOA Push
The enterprise software company underscores its on-demand CRM capabilities while continuing with its enterprise services architecture approach
 Posted 01 Aug 2006
Secret of My Success: PRM Goes VARs(ity)
A software manufacturer finds that Siebel functionality fits.
 Posted 01 Aug 2006
Customer Demand Demands Performance Measurement
Most manufacturers aren't using the technology available to them to improve customer satisfaction while improving operational efficiency.
 Posted 24 Jul 2006
SAP Offers Customers Benchmarking Aids
The business software vendor teams up with its user group to develop meaningful metrics for call centers; other benchmarking tests are on the way.
 Posted 21 Jul 2006
Siebel Rules the Magic Quadrant for SFA
Magic Quadrant for SFA '06: Salesforce.com is the challenger and SAP the visionary, while Onyx and SSA Global take time off to cope with changes.
 Posted 20 Jul 2006
VoiceObjects Opens Its Ears Wider to Personalization
The company refreshes its flagship product with per-caller personalization, an application execution environment, Web services support, and multimodal support.
 Posted 18 Jul 2006
Salesforce.com Drops a Hot Summer Jam
The CRM leader releases its 20th generation--Summer '06; a connector for SAP R/3 marks another move toward enterprise customers.
 Posted 17 Jul 2006
A Praxical Move for SAP
The German software vendor buys partner Praxis to build up SAP's e-commerce and SFA strengths; one analyst says this will play "a key role" for SMBs.
 Posted 10 Jul 2006
For CRM, ERP, and SCM, SAP Leads the Way
The on-demand delivery model, focus on the midmarket, and continued consolidation are some of the common threads in these markets today.
 Posted 05 Jul 2006
Wireless: Hot or Not?
Devices and platforms and applications abound--here's what you need to pay attention to
 Posted 01 Jul 2006
Practical Presto!
Customer clarity is an analytical wand's wave away with new marketing automation apps.
 Posted 01 Jul 2006
Sending Out an SOS for SOA Help
Enterprises will need to look to third-party providers for SOA assistance as they continue to migrate to this increasingly popular approach.
 Posted 29 Jun 2006
NetSuite Goes National With CompUSA
The companies forge the first partnership to make on-demand business software available through a retail chain.
 Posted 27 Jun 2006
The First PeopleSoft Enterprise Release 9 Product
The enterprise software giant keeps its commitment to deliver new PeopleSoft functionality, while continuing to keep its eye on SOA.
 Posted 27 Jun 2006
CRM Expansion Continues
Worldwide, CRM software realized about 14 percent growth in 2005; drivers include consolidation, vertical market solutions growth, and midmarket growth.
 Posted 14 Jun 2006
Gluing Office to Enterprise
A new family of Microsoft solutions promises to make the integration between the software company's desktop offerings and enterprise solutions more seamless and cost-effective.
 Posted 13 Jun 2006
IBM Tops Gartner's CDI Hub Quadrant
Big Blue becomes the first vendor to land in the leaders circle of a CDI hub quadrant, but must improve its ability to execute.
 Posted 07 Jun 2006
Dialing Up Financial Services
Amdocs tailors a dynamic focus on banking solutions.
 Posted 01 Jun 2006
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Jun 2006
KANA Leads Forrester's E-Service Suite Wave
The e-service specialist earns high marks for the breadth and depth of its offerings, but the company must continue to improve how it works.
Posted 31 May 2006
NetSuite Launches ''SAP for the Rest of Us''
The company adds new ERP functionality to its popular on-demand suite, making it difficult for SAP to catch up in the race for the midmarket.
Posted 24 May 2006
Intuit Owns the Back End
A report on ERP and accounting software places the QuickBooks publisher at the head of the SMB segment; Microsoft and Oracle have pull with the midmarket.
 Posted 22 May 2006
SAP Takes a Dual Approach
SAPPHIRE '06: The company highlights its hybrid on-demand/on-premise CRM offering, while persistently promoting its enterprise services architecture strategy.
 Posted 19 May 2006
SAP Targets Enterprise SOA
SAPPHIRE '06: Amid "the industrialization of software," the German juggernaut continues its service-based strategy.
 Posted 17 May 2006
SSA Global Gets Grabbed
Infor buys the enterprise software provider to create the market's third-largest software maker, competing directly with Oracle and SAP.
Posted 16 May 2006
Companies Still Grapple with Effective CDM
Crafting a well-defined customer data management initiative is essential to supplying a holistic view of the customer.
 Posted 12 May 2006
Gartner Hears CRM Accents Across the Pond
Magic Quadrant '06: This year's European CRM service provider quadrant reveals Accenture and IBM BCS as the strongest implementation partners.
 Posted 11 May 2006
The World Is Not Enough
IT spending throughout Asia, Europe, and North America will continue to rise throughout 2006, with strong focus on security and business intelligence.
Posted 04 May 2006
Siebel Leads the FSM Quadrant Again
Oracle's Siebel field service management functionality is deemed the space's leader, but may struggle to maintain that status as part of a larger conglomerate.
 Posted 02 May 2006
The State of the CRM Market
The most successful customers will leverage the industry's foundation.
 Posted 01 May 2006
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 May 2006
Oracle Takes Next Steps to Fusion
Rollouts and road maps are signs of Oracle's emphasis on enhancing existing product lines as the company deepens its SOA initiative.
 Posted 26 Apr 2006
Siemens Courts the Enterprise
The technologies, products, and services provider for wireless networks unveils functionality for the enterprise contact center.
 Posted 25 Apr 2006
Business Process Wheels Need a Strong Hub
A new Forrester study on order management cycles shows vendors from all parts of the sales process performing strongly, including some smaller players.
 Posted 24 Apr 2006
Oracle Fulfills Demand Again
The latest release in the CRM On Demand series, version 10 delivers custom-fit functionality for operations of all sizes.
 Posted 20 Apr 2006
Oracle Will Acquire Portal Software For $220 Million
Purchasing the billing and revenue management solutions provider should strengthen Oracle's go to market offerings for the communications and media industry, and bolster its apps focus.
 Posted 12 Apr 2006
Performance Management Spending Will Increase
Companies are working on standardization; budgets will increase as organizations look for ways to extend BI and analytics throughout the enterprise.
Posted 10 Apr 2006
NetSuite Episode 11: Revenge of the Suite
The new version marries AJAX to business process customization, adds new verticals, and heats up the suite wars.
 Posted 06 Apr 2006
Oracle Versus SAP: The Gathering SOA Storm
Forrester peeks into the future of enterprise applications, and discovers that it's up to the customers.
 Posted 03 Apr 2006
SAP's On-Demand Vision
What can customers gain from the software giant's hosted offering?
 Posted 01 Apr 2006
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Apr 2006
The 2006 Service Leader Awards, Part 2
The contact center industry was hot in 2005, as providers of customer service and support technologies and services strengthened their commitment to delivering first-class service. Many of the industry's players made their presence felt with forward-thinking mergers and acquisitions, while others upped the ante by growing from within and extending strategic alliances. We honor the industry's top-three leaders and one company to watch in the following categories: computer telephony integration, interactive voice response, Web-support services (formerly the Web self-service category), workforce optimization (formerly the workforce management and optimization category), quality monitoring, agent-facing universal desktop, and outsourcing services. The results are based on a weighted formula that includes analyst assessments for customer satisfaction, depth of functionality, and company direction, as well as fiscal health over the course of 2005.
 Posted 01 Apr 2006
Microsoft Brings IT Together
At its Convergence conference, the software giant touts real-time integration and a hosted CRM offering.
Posted 28 Mar 2006
Oracle Looks to Get More Out of Data
The company introduces a new suite of BI tools for companies of all sizes, and in the process, looks to compete against SAP and Microsoft.
 Posted 24 Mar 2006
Aprimo Is Still First in the Quad
The latest Gartner MRM ranking hails the company as the industry leader, but visionary competitors are on their way.
 Posted 16 Mar 2006
SAS Buys a Build Out in the MRM Market
The BI giant acquires Veridiem to help expand its marketing offerings; now it may better compete with Unica, according to one analyst.
 Posted 16 Mar 2006
It's Siebel in the Service and Support Leader Corner
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service and Support (CSS) Applications '06: The company maintains its Magic Quadrant dominance, although the emergence of a full customer service suite is still some time off.
 Posted 03 Mar 2006
ISM Reveals Its Top 15 Award Winners
ISM Top 15 '06: A survey of top vendors shows providers will continue to expand their on-demand and SMB offerings.
 Posted 01 Mar 2006
The Risk of Investment
Identifying and minimizing risks needs to be part of the ROI equation.
 Posted 01 Mar 2006
Siebel and SAP Dominate Western European CRM
Siebel continues to rely on its CRM applications and SAP on its ERP offerings to land customers, but both companies will have to continue to improve their wares to keep customers.
 Posted 24 Feb 2006
SMBs Demand Integration
Seamless operation and single databases lead the list of requirements for SMB success; on-demand products are the most popular in the segment.
 Posted 23 Feb 2006
SOA Simple
CRM examines service-oriented architecture and its growing impact on the applications landscape.
 Posted 01 Feb 2006
MarketScope: CRM's Professional Look
Professional services firms' adoption of CRM has been low; analytics functionality and the hosted model may help raise it.
 Posted 01 Feb 2006
Siebel Shareholders Approve the Oracle Takeover
Customers must wait--now that the deal is complete--for their applications to continue fusing.
 Posted 31 Jan 2006
SAP's On-Demand CRM Valentine
The hosted app will launch in February; the company outlines its midmarket plans for 2006, and sees strong 2005 revenue numbers.
 Posted 27 Jan 2006
Fusion Is Heating Up
Oracle updates progress and road maps for its SOA middleware platform one year after its inception.
 Posted 19 Jan 2006
Gartner Releases Its BI Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant '06: The analyst firm expects the business intelligence market to experience sustained growth as the technology includes more users within an organization.
 Posted 11 Jan 2006
Dangling the Carrot: Drive Your Sales Force to Profitability
Selecting and implementing the proper sales compensation tool to drive and motivate your sales force is more important than ever.
 Posted 01 Jan 2006
CRM: The Past and the Future
Born of contact management applications 25 years ago, enterprise software systems have come a long way.
 Posted 01 Jan 2006
MarketScope: Manufacturing: CRM's Next Makeover
Analytics can reinvigorate the industry now that consumers are consuming again.
 Posted 01 Jan 2006
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Jan 2006
Secret of My Success: Hughes Network Systems
Broadband satellite network provider Hughes turns to Perseus Development to take customer satisfaction surveys to the outer limits
 Posted 01 Jan 2006
2006: A Gut-Check for IT Vendors
Providers will be forced to adapt due to the emergence of new players and services, such as Google and open source technology.
 Posted 27 Dec 2005
Oracle Has a Q2 Earnings Drop
The company meets expectations, but industry experts say it is beginning to focus more on its business applications line.
 Posted 16 Dec 2005
The Year in (P)review
Looking back, and to the future: CRM trends and events to watch.
 Posted 01 Dec 2005
Oracle and Siebel: What Does It Mean for Customers?
End-users are looking for answers as they wait for the planned acquisition to close.
 Posted 01 Dec 2005
Consultants Are Standing By
Siebel and Oracle partners try to relieve customer headaches.
 Posted 01 Dec 2005
The Competitive Threat
SAP, Onyx, and others look to seduce leery customers.
 Posted 01 Dec 2005
Quotables: All About Oracle
Culled observation and opinion.
 Posted 01 Dec 2005
IT's $6 Billion Spending Spree
SOX-compliance spending in 2006, as in 2005, is expected to hit the $6 billion mark; dissimilarities appear in how spending will be segmented.
 Posted 29 Nov 2005
Mobile CRM Is Making Moves
The market is expected to outstrip the growth rates of traditional CRM, with the U.S. market faring substantially stronger than its European counterpart.
 Posted 28 Nov 2005
SAP Will Acquire Khimetrics
Consolidation continues as SAP strengthens its position in retail, finance, and consumer goods with the purchase of the demand management software developer.
 Posted 22 Nov 2005
Forrester's Top ERP Vendors
The evaluation emphasizes the importance of flexibility in both simple and complex licensing models as business needs change.
 Posted 14 Nov 2005
Oracle Loses Another CFO
Greg Maffei quits after just four months; analysts say he may have started at the wrong time.
 Posted 04 Nov 2005
Acquisition Predictions
Oracle's plan to acquire fallen CRM star Siebel Systems begs the question: Which company is next?
 Posted 01 Nov 2005
What Is SOA?
The basics behind service-oriented architecture.
 Posted 01 Nov 2005
Wonders of a Wireless World
Third generation--3G--technology is finally arriving after years of mishaps and delays.
 Posted 01 Nov 2005
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Nov 2005
October 21, 2005
SAP reports positive Q3 results; Experian reveals a tool for better B2B prospecting; Voxify appoints a new marketing vice president; and more.
 Posted 21 Oct 2005
ERP and Hosting Vendors Spur Market Shifts
Oracle and SAP will lead the enterprise applications market; AMR Research avers hosted apps and new global markets will contribute to the space's growth.
 Posted 17 Oct 2005
Siebel Reveals Its Next-Gen Approach
The soon-to-be acquired company unveils a new strategy and architecture as SAP baits a safe passage program hook for Siebel's customers.
 Posted 17 Oct 2005
October 14, 2005
SAP announces its 28-piece play for midsize enterprises; Oracle targets sales contracts; Maximizer announces Q3 results; and more.
 Posted 14 Oct 2005
IT Spending To Tumble, Then Rise 2007-2010
Slowdowns in economic growth, coupled with hesitancy to adopt new technology, will temporarily stall investments; high energy prices are partly to blame.
Posted 14 Oct 2005
Where's the SOA Train Headed?
An AMR essay draws parallels between SOA and the client/server boom; ERP vendors have control of the aggregated services in the short term.
 Posted 07 Oct 2005
Master Data Management
Studies and service offerings point to the need for better information herding.
Posted 06 Oct 2005
October 4, 2005
Deltek acquires Wind2Software; KnoahSoft releases KnoahsARK; and more.
 Posted 04 Oct 2005
Back to Double-Digit Growth
There will likely come a time when not one, but all vendors in the large enterprise category offer a hosted solution.
 Posted 01 Oct 2005
destinationCRM Dashboard
Newsbriefs from some recent articles appearing on destinationCRM.com.
 Posted 01 Oct 2005
The 2005 Influential Leaders
Influential leaders are those who pave the way for others to follow. They are often the first to market with a strong CRM product or strategy, are often the best at delivering a product or strategy, or have such industry clout that their actions reverberate widely in the market.
Posted 01 Oct 2005
The 2005 CRM Market Leaders, Part 1
The CRM industry over the course of the year grappled with well-publicized mergers and acquisitions, executive turnover, and product line restructuring. Still, the industry's impact--especially in the small and medium business markets--is growing more pervasive across industries and within organizations. With an eye on ROI, companies are benefiting from lower startup costs, shorter implementation times, ease of use, and more robust analytics, from both the on-demand (hosted) delivery model and on-premise solutions. Spearheading these developments are the 2005 CRM Market Leaders--read on to see how they are driving the market and how they stack up against the competition.
Posted 01 Oct 2005
The 2005 CRM Market Leaders, Part 2
The CRM industry over the course of the year grappled with well-publicized mergers and acquisitions, executive turnover, and product line restructuring. Still, the industry's impact--especially in the small and medium business markets--is growing more pervasive across industries and within organizations. With an eye on ROI, companies are benefiting from lower startup costs, shorter implementation times, ease of use, and more robust analytics, from both the on-demand (hosted) delivery model and on-premise solutions. Spearheading these developments are the 2005 CRM Market Leaders--read on to see how they are driving the market and how they stack up against the competition.
Posted 01 Oct 2005
Vendors Offer Oracle Customers Migration Deals
Recent industry acquisitions have confused users about what the future holds, spurring two competitors' switch-to-us promotions.
 Posted 29 Sep 2005
September 27, 2005
Concerto and Aspect seal the deal; SAP teams with IBM and Siemens for new analytics tools; and more.
Posted 27 Sep 2005
CRM Magazine Announces Its 2005 CRM Leader Awards
Congratulations to this year's award recipients. Their hard work this past year has helped organizations streamline many of their business processes and significantly improve their customer relationship efforts.
 Posted 23 Sep 2005
September 20, 2005
HP teams up with multiple BI providers; Perseus launches an improved EFM solution; AIM appoints new vice president; and more.
 Posted 20 Sep 2005
CRM New License Revenue Grows Again
A shift from penny-pinching to business growth and the appeal of hosted solutions are contributing to a license-revenue upswing.
 Posted 14 Sep 2005
Oracle Will Buy Siebel
Ellison and company look to bolster their portfolio to counter SAP as industry consolidation continues.
 Posted 12 Sep 2005
Dynamics--Microsoft's Midsize Business Tools
The next-gen offering will be a natural extension of personal productivity programs.
 Posted 07 Sep 2005
Anatomy of a Successful CRM Implementation
Five criteria every organization should address.
 Posted 01 Sep 2005
Email Response Times Lag Still
Companies are undervaluing the channel as more customers seek support.
 Posted 01 Sep 2005
Statistically Speaking
Posted 01 Sep 2005
DestinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Sep 2005
A New ERP Market: The Federal Government
There will be a consolidation of 'redundant' IT systems by the OMB; ERP providers should tailor their solutions to meet the demands of the federal government.
 Posted 30 Aug 2005
August 26, 2005
Business Objects finishes its SRC Software acquisition; FrontRange Solutions reports positive revenue results; and more.
 Posted 26 Aug 2005
The 2004 CRM Apps Market: Double Digits
A strong need to increase revenue drove the surge, with the hosted model enjoying a 105 percent growth rate.
 Posted 24 Aug 2005
CRM Software: A Customer Loyalty Problem
The CRM industry has the lowest loyal-customer base in the U.S. for the software industry; Microsoft and SAP are the sole CRM software-loyalty leaders.
 Posted 22 Aug 2005
August 19, 2005
Salesforce.com shows record fiscal results; ClientLogic strengthens its Latin American presence; Baseline Consulting hires a new senior manager; and more.
 Posted 19 Aug 2005
Siebel Continues to Lead Enterprise Deployment
The company is losing some ground, however, to SAP and Oracle, which show slight gains as their license sales have grown.
 Posted 18 Aug 2005
DestinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 17 Aug 2005
SAP's New Hosted Model?
Customer needs, technology, and pricing structure are focal points for its upcoming, to-be-defined solution; analysts express confusion about the offering.
 Posted 15 Aug 2005
August 5, 2005
NetSuite launches a customization toolkit for NetFlex; Knova's financials look positive following its merger; Voxify appoints a new vice president of sales; and more.
 Posted 05 Aug 2005
The CRM Industry Is Here to Play
Customer-driven opportunities foster growth in the applications market.
 Posted 02 Aug 2005
Three Trends to Watch
Business process management, flexible hosted solutions, and return on customer will drive business decisions.
 Posted 01 Aug 2005
Energizing Customer Relationships
Utilities are finding ways to improve service through automated technology. The result is increased ROI in the field, at the call center, and across the business.
 Posted 01 Aug 2005
destinationCRM Dashboard
Posted 01 Aug 2005
Do It Yourself
Self-service done right--in the right enterprise--can return some real benefits. Here, a review of the five top vendors with robust, integrated solutions
Posted 01 Aug 2005
July 29, 2005
DR-CAFTA passes; FrontRange upgrades its contact center solution; SAP adds a new exec to head the financial services industry; and more.
 Posted 29 Jul 2005
Siebel Takes Fiscal Short Steps Forward
Sales execution concerns and closing fewer megadeals hamper the company's growth.
Posted 27 Jul 2005
Earnings Roundup: July 22, 2005
Microsoft, SAP, and Amdocs all report strong growth; Informatica has record profits; and more.
 Posted 22 Jul 2005
Siebel Tops Forrester's Wave for Enterprise CRM
Leading vendors SAP, Oracle, and Amdocs also are focusing more on integration and verticals.
 Posted 19 Jul 2005
Enterprises Are Profiting From PMPO
Pricing solution deployments are budgeted at up to $5 million for large companies in this relatively untapped market.
 Posted 15 Jul 2005
SFA and Marketing Automation Show Even Growth
The leading vendors attracted new customers in 2004; hosted options are in demand.
 Posted 14 Jul 2005
2006: Customer Management Spending Will Rise Again
Manufacturing is expected to see the largest gain; money will be spent in areas that include online sales/e-commerce, Web self-service, and IT outsourcing.
 Posted 12 Jul 2005
Oracle Acquires ProfitLogic
The takeover gives the world's largest database software maker a shot at being the leader in the retail market space.
 Posted 06 Jul 2005
The BPM Market Is Growing Faster Than Expected
Hyperion far outpaces its competitors in revenue share as the space continues to expand into different verticals.
 Posted 05 Jul 2005
You Got Your PRM in My CRM
How are the changes that channel management systems and their providers are experiencing going to play out?
 Posted 01 Jul 2005
Oracle Reports Strong Q4 Results
SAP is still gaining market share in North America, say one analyst, who nonetheless thinks 'everything at Oracle is going according to plan.'
 Posted 30 Jun 2005
Big Blue and Siebel Bolster Their SOA
IBM announces a services-oriented architecture initiative geared toward business partners, ISVs, and SIs; Siebel and IBM extend their partnership to offer a developer kit.
Posted 29 Jun 2005
Cognos Faces Forward
Expanded services, best practices, and partnerships are showcased at the company's user conference.
 Posted 27 Jun 2005
June 24, 2005
Avaya and XO Communications offer a new product suite; SAP acquires an enterprise manufacturing supplier; Knova names a new CFO; and more.
 Posted 24 Jun 2005
SAP Snatches Up Competitive Talent
The company is gaining Silicon Valley expertise as it navigates North America and battles Oracle and Siebel.
 Posted 23 Jun 2005
Companies: Tailor Wireless to Workforce Demands
The Collaborative Technologies Conference provides best practices and words of caution for mobile workforces.
 Posted 22 Jun 2005
SMBs' Rising Backbone: The Global ERP Market
On-demand offerings may be the answer for cost-averse small businesses.
 Posted 21 Jun 2005
June 17, 2005
Frost & Sullivan announce APT award winners; TechTarget aims to increase sales with new application; and more.
Posted 17 Jun 2005
Convergys Is Buying Deloitte's F&A BPO Business
Adding account control may lower the outsourcer's customer acquisition costs.
 Posted 17 Jun 2005
Aprimo Acquires DoubleClick's EMS Unit
The company is looking to broaden its EMM functionality; the acquisition is seen as a 'good for the industry' move.
 Posted 15 Jun 2005
Siebel Shareholders Demand Action
The company unveils a plan to improve its financial performance and tries to ease investor worries.
 Posted 08 Jun 2005
BI Tools to Manage Real-Time Response
Additions to Business Objects' operational BI platform still require integration, but address the trend of operational and tactical analytics.
 Posted 06 Jun 2005
What's Your Response to Industry Consolidation?
With mergers and acquisitions accelerating, consider these four strategies for protecting your company.
 Posted 01 Jun 2005
Sizing Up Salesforce.com's New Partnerships and Product
The on-demand vendor is positioning for greater expansion into the enterprise market.
 Posted 25 May 2005
SAP Unveils Its BI Black Box
SAPPHIRE '05 International: The software giant, HP, and Intel combine efforts to produce an appliance that allows more employees to tap into analytic
 Posted 20 May 2005
SAP Goes Vertical
SAPPHIRE '05: SAP releases the latest version of its CRM suite, but analysts cite the company's 'failure' to deliver a hosted application.
 Posted 19 May 2005
A New Business Blueprint Stars at SAPPHIRE '05
SAPPHIRE '05: SAP touts its NetWeaver platform/partnership concept as the next evolution in CRM, blending innovation with best-of-breed capabilities.
 Posted 19 May 2005
SMBs Are Shopping For ERP and CRM Solutions
The market remains fragmented, so leading vendors must drive home the value of offerings to command market share.
 Posted 11 May 2005
Microsoft Streamlines the Call Center
A new desktop environment--likely "productized" from a custom tool, according to one analyst--integrates desktop applications for call center workers.
 Posted 03 May 2005
Enhance Your CRM Strategy With Targeted Email Marketing
5 guidelines to abide by when choosing to integrate email into your CRM suite.
 Posted 02 May 2005
The Way to Mendocino
Microsoft and SAP's first joint product will link a new platform to Microsoft Office applications; analysts say it's nothing new.
 Posted 27 Apr 2005
April 25, 2005
Edmonton Airport Authority uses Avaya; Best Software exec resigns; and more.
 Posted 25 Apr 2005
Earnings Roundup: April 22, 2005
SAP reports strong first-quarter earnings; Epiphany suffers losses; and more.
 Posted 22 Apr 2005
SAP Targets BPO
SAP looks for HR BPO providers to turn to its ERP platform; partners will continue to build out service delivery platforms based on HR BPO value propositions.
Posted 20 Apr 2005
Siebel's CEO Resigns Following Poor First Quarter Earnings
George Shaheen, the new CEO, acknowledges the importance of product suites remaining fresh, as analysts question the company's management structure.
 Posted 13 Apr 2005
E-Service Providers Ride the Forrester Wave
Leaders include eGain, iPhrase, KANA, and KnowledgeBase, with RightNow and ServiceWare designated as strong performers.
 Posted 08 Apr 2005
Siebel Enchants Gartner's CRM CSS Magic Quadrant Again
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service and Support Applications '05: Lack of industry breadth keeps Amdocs out of the leaders box.
 Posted 06 Apr 2005
The 2005 CRM Service Leaders--Part I
CRM magazine presents the Service Leaders awards to the most impressive providers of customer care architecture, technology, and services who have worked tirelessly over the past year to improve their capabilities so that contact centers can go about their crucial business more efficiently and effectively than ever before.
Posted 01 Apr 2005
The 2005 CRM Service Leaders--Part II
CRM magazine presents the Service Leaders awards to the most impressive providers of customer care architecture, technology, and services who have worked tirelessly over the past year to improve their capabilities so that contact centers can go about their crucial business more efficiently and effectively than ever before.
Posted 01 Apr 2005
March 24, 2005
Northern Kentucky University aces CRM with CIBER and SAP; Ricoh turns to BEA Systems; NetSuite and Coremetrics appoint new execs; and more.
 Posted 24 Mar 2005
March 22, 2005
Oracle acquires Retek; Del Monte Foods to implement Cognos; Steve Roop joins Vontu's executive team; and more.
 Posted 22 Mar 2005
Consultancy Unveils Top 15 CRM Award Winners
Surveys of top vendors reveal the need for in-house implementations and to go wireless.
 Posted 21 Mar 2005
March 18, 2005
Oracle ups the ante for Retek; Kevin Martin is named new chairman of the FCC; Onyx appoints a new CFO; and more.
 Posted 18 Mar 2005
March 17, 2005
Nortel Networks signs a contract with the city of San Jose for a converged network; SAP boosts its cash tender offer price to software maker Retek; and more.
 Posted 17 Mar 2005
March 16, 2005
SAP links up; Nextance appoints a new vice president of professional services; Apropos Technology announces a new product/services bundle; and more.
 Posted 16 Mar 2005
Big Blue Will Acquire Ascential
IBM looks to expand its reach into the data integration space, with plans to fatten its BI and data management functionality.
 Posted 14 Mar 2005
March 2, 2005
The United Way of fundraising; META Group says that Oracle's loss is Siebel's gain; ATG announces ATG On-Demand; and more.
 Posted 02 Mar 2005
February 28, 2005
USF chooses RightNow; SAP and Retek sign a merger agreement; SalesCenter releases SalesCenter 3-D; and more.
 Posted 28 Feb 2005
February 25, 2005
SITEL GmbH taps IEX's workforce management solution; Verint colors The Orange Group's contact centers; NuTech Solutions leads to time reduction for Beiersdorf AG; and more.
 Posted 25 Feb 2005
February 8, 2005
Unica announces monster customer win; Envision Telephony releases third- and fourth-quarter results; Avaya makes available new service; and more.
 Posted 08 Feb 2005
February 2, 2005
Staples is leveraging KANA SRM; Mercury Interactive agrees to a multiyear deal with SAP; Salesforce.com announces Developer Program for Microsoft Office; and more.
 Posted 02 Feb 2005
February 1, 2005
Cincom Systems goes ape over a new customer; SAP purchases DCS Quantum; Autobase announces a new release; and more.
 Posted 01 Feb 2005
Enterprise CRM: Change Is Inevitable
Vendors, strategies, and focus are all certain to evolve in 2005.
 Posted 21 Jan 2005
January 26, 2005
Motive empowers Japan's ACCA Networks; SAP announces fourth-quarter results; Channel Intelligence releases Commerce Data Syndication; and more.
 Posted 26 Jan 2005
January 24, 2005
Oakwood Homes selects MicroStrategy; EDS Agility Alliance adds three partners; and more.
 Posted 24 Jan 2005
January 20, 2005
Atos Origin acquires KPN's CRM business; SalesLogix signs Big River Telephone; Aderant announces its upcoming CRM suite; and more.
 Posted 20 Jan 2005
January 12, 2005
SBC and Hewlett-Packard team up to improve IT; Antepo and Jive Software announce a partnership to improve instant messaging; SAP and Microsoft announce the availability of Portal Development Kit for Microsoft; and more.
 Posted 12 Jan 2005
January 11, 2005
Nextance hires KANA board member as CFO; SAP announces strong U.S. license growth; ResponseTek signs large Canadian credit union; and more.
 Posted 11 Jan 2005
The 6 Most Overlooked Customer Touch Points
Think the only impressions your company makes are through branding, sales calls, and customer service? Think again. Mishandling interactions like reference management and billing can cause customer defection as quickly as a poor contact center experience
 Posted 13 Dec 2004
CRM Contributes to Homeland Security
A New York State county plans to use mySAP CRM for first responders.
 Posted 17 Dec 2004
December 10, 2004
EdGenuiti clinches a new customer and supports a new server platform; Salesforce.com engages a political figure; SAP adds telecommunications vertical support for mySAP users; and more.
 Posted 10 Dec 2004
Service Isn't Just About Being Nice, It's About Resolving Issues
KANA launches a new application designed to help contact center agents resolve customer concerns more quickly and accurately.
 Posted 08 Dec 2004
It's Not Business As Usual
As the CRM industry reinvents itself, 2005 promises both new opportunities and new challenges.
 Posted 19 Nov 2004
Taking Charge
Let us introduce you to the dynamic new top executives in the CRM industry.
 Posted 15 Nov 2004
Statistically Speaking
Twenty-one percent of North American companies and 33 percent of European companies are planning new CRM investments by the end of December 2004. --Forrester Research and Forrester Business Technographics
 Posted 15 Nov 2004
Hot Seat: What CRM trend will have the biggest impact in 2005?
Posted 15 Nov 2004
Salesnet and UniPress Software Announce an Alliance
The vendors look to cover both the sales and service worlds with their new partnership.
 Posted 04 Nov 2004
Customers' Changing CRM Expectations
SAP Americas CEO lays out what customers should expect from CRM vendors.
 Posted 01 Nov 2004
Wires: News and Technology for October 29, 2004
Hyperion announces new software; Databeacon releases Databeacon Analyst; and more.
 Posted 29 Oct 2004
In the Money: Vendors Announce Quarterly Earnings
Many CRM providers, including the leading enterprise players, are experiencing strong growth.
 Posted 28 Oct 2004
The Impact of VoIP on the Customer Service Experience
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) promises to simplify the integration of phone, email, and Web for e-business communications.
Posted 18 Oct 2004
Wires: News and Technology for October 15, 2004
ATG introduces Adaptive Customer Outreach; Cognos strengthens Deloitte relationship; SAP releases ad management tool tested at WaPo; and more.
 Posted 15 Oct 2004
Siebel Caps User Week With Stronger Earnings and Refined Service Offerings
Siebel Systems' unexpectedly strong business represents performance above financial analyst expectations, but not above Siebel's own track record.
 Posted 08 Oct 2004
Software as Service Is Evolving Slowly But Surely
The report is the premiere entry in a series of papers Summit plans on the on-demand and hosted software markets.
Posted 07 Oct 2004
Anytime Is the Right Time for CRM
I thought CRM was right for a company that considers it "customers" to be the facilities it maintains, because they are the recipients of this firm's services.
 Posted 20 Sep 2004
Hot Seat: Can a Single Vendor Satisfy an Organization's Complete CRM Needs?
Posted 24 Sep 2004
Siebel Leads Enterprise CRM Rankings
Siebel takes the top honor as the CRM Leader, with other eight firms clustered in the Challenger segment.
 Posted 23 Sep 2004
What Follows Loyalty Leaders? Growth.
Loyalty leaders in the IT industry experienced significant growth levels compared with their counterparts.
Posted 22 Sep 2004
Transactions: Customer Wins for September 14, 2004
BCE Elix, and the city of Montreal announced the launch of telephone applications that provide Montrealers with an enhanced, 87-ACCES automated telephone-service system, and more.
 Posted 14 Sep 2004
Oracle Wins Antitrust Suit
Among the challenges in store for Oracle is bitter opposition from PeopleSoft management and directors, who have generally refused to negotiate with Oracle.
 Posted 10 Sep 2004
CRM Magazine Reveals the Winners of Its 2004 CRM Leader Awards
The Awards recognize superior performance in ROI excellence in customer companies, individual achievement, and vendor leadership.
Posted 01 Sep 2004
The Siren Call of the Midmarket
Midsize companies are increasing their uptake of CRM, while large, international enterprises are cutting back.
 Posted 01 Sep 2004
Heard and Overheard
CRM industry leaders talk the talk.
 Posted 01 Sep 2004
The 2004 CRM Elite
Six companies that set out to get measurable results, then met or surpassed their expectations.
 Posted 01 Sep 2004
The 2004 Market Leaders
The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.
 Posted 01 Sep 2004
The 2004 Market Leaders (Part 1)
The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.
 Posted 26 Aug 2004
The 2004 Market Leaders (Part 2)
The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.
 Posted 01 Sep 2004
High-Profile Project Flameouts, Or Temporary Setbacks?
Two unfortunate situations have captured center stage at the end of summer 2004.
 Posted 26 Aug 2004
CRM Is a Priority Overseas
The responses to the surveys reflect what [executives] think on the subject and where it fits into their business plans.
 Posted 26 Aug 2004
Pitney Bowes Uses Wireless Technology for First Class Delivery
After years of running into roadblocks trying to ensure that its own service representatives could communicate effectively with one another while in the field, Pitney Bowes needed a new strategy.
 Posted 23 Aug 2004
Merger Storm on the Horizon?
Pure-play knowledge-base providers are seeing a need to compete with service-oriented companies.
 Posted 17 Aug 2004
IDC Predicts $11.4 Billion in CRM Application Sales in 2008
Siebel Systems and SAP lead on the list, with Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Amdocs clustered closely behind.
 Posted 13 Aug 2004
Success at a Steady Pace
SAP's application does not have the same amount of functionality as Siebel's, but in terms of what people actually use on a regular basis, they have reached functional parity.
 Posted 10 Aug 2004
SAP Hires Away Senior Siebel Exec
Patrick Bakey is to be SAP's senior vice president and general manager of its North American CRM business unit.
 Posted 04 Aug 2004
Selecting the Right Services Partner(s)
Consultants and integrators complement each other--the key is to play to each party's strength.
 Posted 02 Aug 2004
What's in it for Me?
Methods that will help encourage channel partners to buy in to the benefits of CRM.
 Posted 02 Aug 2004
Market Watch: Many Possibilities, One Price
Pricing optimization systems provide better customer segmentation, better deal-building engines, improved communication with management and pricing analysts, and better markdown strategies.
 Posted 02 Aug 2004
Heard and Overheard
"When CRM strategy is led from an ERP perspective, customers get treated like widgets, at best."
 Posted 02 Aug 2004
Enterprise CRM Providers Enjoy Different Fortunes
Some of the biggest names in enterprise CRM opened their books today, but told different stories.
 Posted 22 Jul 2004
CRM Market Expansion
According to the study, the industry continues to sputter in generating license revenue.
 Posted 14 Jul 2004
Has SAP Finally Caught Up to Siebel?
The study "The Customer Management Applications Report, 2003--2008" states that both SAP, which has $8.8 billion in overall revenues, and Siebel show about $1.3 billion in CRM revenue.
Posted 07 Jul 2004
Customers for Life
Capture the mythical creature known as The Lifelong Customer.
 Posted 01 Jul 2004
CRM: Alive and Kicking
As long as companies have customers they'll need strategies to manage those relationships; whatever name you prefer, in the end it's CRM.
 Posted 01 Jul 2004
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.
 Posted 01 Jul 2004
Heard and Overheard
Posted 01 Jul 2004
Integration Is the Linchpin for CRM Success
Florida wanted to ensure that is call center agents had the data they needed to most effectively serve taxpayers.
 Posted 29 Jun 2004
CRM's Future: Open Source?
Open source technologies are starting to crop up in CRM, from the server platform to the user interface.
Posted 21 Jun 2004
Keeping the Right Customers
Can companies use CRM as effectively to retain profitable customers as they can to escort unprofitable customers to the competition?
 Posted 08 Jun 2004
The Week in Review: June 4, 2004
Edocs announced that it has acquired Brightware, a business unit of Firepond that delivers eService software solutions for inbound email response management; Informatica announced a license agreement with the Center for Agribusiness Excellence at Tarleton State University; and more.
 Posted 04 Jun 2004
Ensuring the Success of Insurance Companies
CRM vendors have come around to a new way of addressing the needs of insurers.
 Posted 01 Jun 2004
How to...encourage channel partners to adopt CRM
It is vital to bring partners into the overall CRM strategy as completely as possible.
 Posted 01 Jun 2004
Dow Corning's Extreme Makeover
The new approach shook up a drowsy company, giving it a renewed spark and focus to face a more competitive landscape.
Posted 01 Jun 2004
5 Ways to Get More From Your CRM Investment
Here are the five strategies of five companies that have turbocharged their CRM initiatives.
 Posted 01 Jun 2004
Mobile CRM Is on the Go
New technologies are boosting the adoption of wireless solutions.
 Posted 24 May 2004
PeopleSoft CEO Conway Says Fighting Oracle Has Cost Millions
PeopleSoft President and CEO Craig Conway said Tuesday at a press conference that PeopleSoft has spent "between $12 and $15 million" per quarter defending itself against its rival's overtures.
Posted 19 May 2004
Uncovering Profitable CRM Practices
Should companies expect their CRM vendors to help them use CRM to determine who their most profitable customers are?
 Posted 18 May 2004
Pocket-Size CRM Choices Grow
In addition to BlackBerry, Sendia has plans to support other handheld data platforms, including the PalmOne Treo and certain PocketPC form factors, with Symbian as a possible future addition.
 Posted 18 May 2004
Bringing Six Sigma to Customer-Facing Business Processes
On its most basic level Six Sigma is an approach to eliminating defects through the application of statistical techniques to detect, correct, and improve variability in a process.
Posted 17 May 2004
SAP's Customer Commitment
CEO Kagermann says SAP will continue to find further ways to lower TCO, for example, through improved enterprise services offerings like inventory prioritization and planning, and will continue to offer the flexibility that should allow customers to better use SAP to help spur their growth.
 Posted 13 May 2004
Siebel Systems' New CEO
Tom Siebel steps aside, but will remain chairman of the company's board of directors.
 Posted 04 May 2004
Finding Diamonds in the Rough
CRM executives answer the question, Do companies that use CRM have a distinct advantage over companies that don't use CRM in uncovering who their most valuable customers are and then retaining them?
 Posted 03 May 2004
All Customers Are Not Created Equally
CRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon, moderator of the SuperPowers of CRM panel at the recent Frost & Sullivan Sales & Marketing Executive Summit, asked the panelists, Should companies offer stellar service to every customer, no matter what their true value to the organization?
Posted 19 Apr 2004
The Week in Review: April 16, 2004
Dendrite announced a partnership with SAP America; Salesforce.com announced that LogLogic has chosen to deploy Salesforce.com's Spring '04 CRM service.; RadioShack selects iPhrase; and more.
 Posted 16 Apr 2004
News in Brief
Posted 01 Apr 2004
Market Watch: Mobile Sales Is on the Move
Mobile sales solutions are a hot spot among CRM projects.
 Posted 01 Apr 2004
The Art of War
Midmarket companies are now spoiled for choice.
 Posted 01 Apr 2004
Breaking From Tradition
Perhaps the greatest impact on midmarket systems integrators has been the competition with vendors--SI firms are now battling with vendors over contracts.
 Posted 01 Apr 2004
How Profitable Are Your Customers?
Industry executives answer the question, Is it necessary to estimate a customer's lifetime value to determine their true profitability?
 Posted 30 Mar 2004
Siebel Scores Big in Gartner's Slew of Market Reports
The new report works much like Gartner's Magic Quadrant with regard to leader positioning--the main difference is vendors in the MarketScope are scored individually, and not ranked against each other.
 Posted 23 Mar 2004
CRM Vendors Spring Into Action
PeopleSoft, Onyx, and SAP are starting Q2 with updates to several existing applications, and are adding some new products.
 Posted 22 Mar 2004
Does Access to Real-Time Data Make a Difference in Customer Profitability?
Aggregating customer data in real-time across multiple applications, platforms, systems, and entire organizations can be more difficult than herding cats, but there is an alternative: an interoperating system.
 Posted 22 Mar 2004
DoubleClick Finalizes Its SmartPath Acquisition
DoubleClick finalizes its SmartPath Acquisition to expand its share of the marketing automation market.
 Posted 22 Mar 2004
Missteps in Midmarket?
Company size may not be the real indicator of potential CRM adoption.
 Posted 17 Mar 2004
New Product Spotlight: March 17, 2004
Onyx made available the Onyx Group Enrollment Manager; Cognos launched the Cognos ReportNet 1.1; Psynchronous Communications unveiled Gravity, a new Web-based tool suite for communications measurement, planning, and outreach; and more.
 Posted 17 Mar 2004
The Week in Review: March 12, 2004
Audentify and Stevens Communications have partnered to improve contact center performance for customers; AMR Research has cited Salesforce.com as the "clear leader in the subscription-based CRM space today and is increasing industry penetration and deal size"; and more.
 Posted 12 Mar 2004
The Week in Review: March 5, 2004
Inforte announced a definitive merger agreement; Salesforce.com announced its integration with WebEx Communications' WebEx MediaTone Network and more.
 Posted 05 Mar 2004
Winning CRM Companies Reflect the Industry's Growth
For the first time since the awards were created in 1992, ISM's Top 15 CRM Software Awards are divided into two categories: enterprise CRM and CRM for SMBs.
 Posted 04 Mar 2004
The 2004 Service Leaders--Part II
The Service Leaders were selected based on a combination of weighted criteria, including revenue and revenue growth (last four complete quarters ended September 30, 2003), market share, customer wins, and reputation for customer satisfaction.
 Posted 01 Mar 2004
CRM Strategy Is Taking Center Stage
At the recent Frost & Sullivan Sales & Marketing Executive Summit CRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon, moderator of the SuperPowers of CRM panel, asked the panelists, "What will be the most significant change to the CRM industry over the next twelve months?"
Posted 01 Mar 2004
News in Brief
Posted 01 Mar 2004
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.
 Posted 01 Mar 2004
Hot Seat: The Demand for On-Demand CRM
Hosted CRM is hot. Salesforce.com has topped 8,400 customers and 120,000 subscribers, NetSuite is doubling its sales team and expanding abroad, and RightNow Technologies has achieved 20 quarters of consecutive growth.
 Posted 01 Mar 2004
Siebel Tops Gartner's CRM Sales Suite Magic Quadrant
Siebel Systems continues to reign as the leader of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for CRM Sales Suite Vendors.
 Posted 19 Feb 2004
A New Gartner Report Announces Three Positive Ratings
The big winners were Best Software's SalesLogix, Onyx Software, and Salesforce.com.
Posted 18 Feb 2004
Why Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty are Not Enough
Customer-based measurements enable business leaders to not only understand the satisfaction and loyalty levels of key customer groups, but also help build programs and initiatives that foster stronger relationships with high-value customers.
 Posted 16 Feb 2004
Gartner Announces CRM CSS Magic Quadrant
Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service and Support Applications '04: In Gartner's recently released report, Siebel stands alone in the leader quadrant, while E.piphany and PeopleSoft are the two closest competitors in the visionary quadrant.
Posted 10 Feb 2004
SMBs Fear an Overreliance on Microsoft
Forty-three percent of respondents to the Yankee Group "SMB Infrastructure Survey" admitted a fear of becoming heavily dependent on Microsoft's products and services.
Posted 05 Feb 2004
Compensation Apps: Go for the Best
Best-of-breed ICM fares better than that of ERP vendors.
 Posted 04 Feb 2004
Merging for Midmarket Dominance
Will acquisitions now be the rule rather than the exception? Will larger firms like SAP AG and Oracle start a buying frenzy that will end up with an even more polarized CRM landscape? The answer is yes and no, according to many analysts.
 Posted 02 Feb 2004
Get Smart!
Analytics is increasingly a hot CRM trend, and vendors have been enhancing the tools that provide for wider deployments of predictive analytics capabilities with better results.
 Posted 02 Feb 2004
New Product Spotlight: January 28, 2004
NeoSpeech has developed VoiceNotify for auto dealers; Pegasystems has delivered three new BPM solutions; Kauri Business Systems has unveiled Procoll; and more.
 Posted 28 Jan 2004
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.
Posted 26 Jan 2004
SAP and Teradata Partner to Drive Analytics
Teradata and SAP AG have announced a partnership to deliver analytical solutions to specific vertical industries with high data-volume requirements.
 Posted 26 Jan 2004
ERP Vendors Do Not Have Strong Brand Awareness
ERP vendors have a weak hold on their customers' hearts, minds, and wallets, despite significant investments in marketing and branding.
 Posted 15 Jan 2004
CRM to Stay Flat in 2004
Some sectors like outsourcing will continue to be hot spots, but Forrester says the CRM market will remain flat for the year.
 Posted 08 Jan 2004
Vendors Team Up for Java Development
The Jave Tools Community group charge is to make standard Java technology APIs friendlier for tool development.
 Posted 07 Jan 2004
JD Edwards' Customers Are Happy With PeopleSoft
A new IDC survey reports that more than 80 percent of former JD Edwards customers either have a more favorable view of PeopleSoft as a software vendor to do business with, or they have not changed their perception of the vendor.
 Posted 06 Jan 2004
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.
 Posted 02 Jan 2004
The Hard Sell
Even with commitment-shy executives and change-fearing employees, it is possible to sell CRM into your enterprise successfully.
 Posted 02 Jan 2004
The Week in Review: December 12, 2003
Business with integrated sales, marketing, and customer services operations saw a 28 percent increase in customer satisfaction through CRM initiatives, according to market intelligence and advisory firm IDC; Aqueduct and ChannelWave Software announced that the two companies have merged and formed a new company called ChannelWave Inc.; and SAP AG has announced that Varian, a supplier of scientific instruments, vacuum technologies, and specialized contract electronics manufacturing services, has selected mySAP CRM.
 Posted 12 Dec 2003
Vendors Focus on Marketing
According to the latest report from META Group covering enterprise marketing portfolio management, enterprises are expected to focus more on the marketing component of CRM and to begin consolidating stovepiped marketing functions into marketing technology portfolios.
Posted 11 Dec 2003
Become a CRM Master and Commander
The book contains white papers, case studies, and customer profiles highlighting input from academics, analysts, consultants, end users, and solution providers.
 Posted 11 Dec 2003
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.
 Posted 10 Dec 2003
New Product Spotlight: December 3, 2003
Siebel has added a customer support module to Siebel CRM OnDemand, called Siebel CRM OnDemand--UpShot Edition; SAP AG has announced utility-specific functionality with the latest version of mySAP CRM; and Artisoft and Cynergy Software have announced an integrated solution that enables Artisoft's TeleVantage customers who are connected to Cynergy's Web-based help desk application; and more.
 Posted 03 Dec 2003
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.
 Posted 01 Dec 2003
The Culture of Integration
Business process fusion will drive stronger alignment of IT with core business processes, and provide linkage of operational and management processes with a true end-to-end scope.
 Posted 01 Dec 2003
Suite Success
The logical choice for Waters Corp.'s large implementation was to stick with a vendor it knew.
Posted 01 Dec 2003
A Winning Formula
Executives from five leading vendors speak out on collaboration between sales and marketing.
 Posted 01 Dec 2003
The Year in Preview
Two thousand three was a year of rebirth for the CRM industry. Trends took shape--and then took hold. It became increasingly clear that they are not fads. In fact, what are hot trends now will likely be considered business as usual by the end of two thousand four.
 Posted 01 Dec 2003
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.
 Posted 19 Nov 2003
SAP Reinforces Midmarket CRM Push
SAP has teamed with more than 300 channel partners to offer highly verticalized versions of Business One.
 Posted 18 Nov 2003
One Company, Two CRM Strategies
Two divisions that serve The Schwan Food Company's markets, Schwan's Home Service and Schwan's Food Service Group, have revamped their CRM strategies as part of Schwan's ongoing effort to keep customers satisfied and loyal.
 Posted 03 Nov 2003
Take My Advice--Please
The SuperPowers of CRM panelists at a recent Frost & Sullivan Sales & Marketing Strategies Executive Summit answer CRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon's 30-second CRM-advice question.
 Posted 03 Nov 2003
Heard and Overheard
Posted 03 Nov 2003
Vertical Focus: Consumer Packaged Goods
Posted 03 Nov 2003
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.
 Posted 29 Oct 2003
The Week in Review: October 17, 2003
SAP AG reported a slight slip in revenue for the third quarter ended September 30, but net income was up; Intalio is expanding into Europe; iPhrase Technologies announced that the Corporate Communications Broadcast Network has selected iPhrase to power its search functions; and ICICI OneSource announced Thursday the appointment of Raja Gopalakrishnan as regional director, North America.
 Posted 17 Oct 2003
Siemens Integrates With Microsoft
Siemens Information and Communication Networks is integrating its HiPath ProCenter Suites' real-time contact center capabilities with Microsoft Business Solutions CRM.
 Posted 14 Oct 2003
New Product Spotlight: October 8, 2003
Genesys Telecommunications and Microsoft have announced the development of a packaged integration that links Genesys' call center suite with Microsoft's CRM applications; SPSS has released Clementine 8.0; and IBM and Callidus Software announced on Tuesday a global strategic alliance to deliver comprehensive incentive compensation management solutions for the insurance, banking, and telecommunications industries; and more.
 Posted 08 Oct 2003
New Product Spotlight: October 1, 2003
SAP AG in partnership with Accenture rolled out its program to develop and deliver CRM solutions for banking and insurance firms on a global scale and its Powered by NetWeaver campaign; Teradata has released a new version of its analytics product for the retail industry; and Rockwell FirstPoint has expanded its SMB call center solution to include its Multi-Site Monitoring, Advanced Intelligent Router, Queue Optimizer, and Web Powered Agent applications.
 Posted 01 Oct 2003
New Product Spotlight: September 24, 2003
SAP AG has released its newest version of mySAP CRM; Art Technology Group has released the latest version of its self-service solution, ATG 6.1; and ChannelWave and Novell are partnering with the intent to provide CRM systems that are faster and easier to deploy, configure, manage, and extend securely across multiple sales channels.
 Posted 24 Sep 2003
Your Customers are Gold in a Down Economy
The best risk mitigation for a prospect is a satisfied customer.
 Posted 22 Sep 2003
The Week in Review: September 19, 2003
To compete North American and Western European IT services vendors must shift their domestic resource mix to meet three criteria; Dendrite International announced this week that it has established a fully dedicated pharmaceutical CRM-effectiveness business unit; and Concerto Software announced the appointment of Peter Nicol as vice president of the company's European and African operations.
Posted 19 Sep 2003
Oracle Unveils Grid Computing
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says the new server architecture can lower costs and provide increased reliability.
 Posted 11 Sep 2003
New Product Spotlight: September 10, 2003
ChannelWave Software has released ChannelWave 6; Kaidara Software introduced Kaidara Advisor 3.0; Surebridge announced new bundled pricing for CRM Online by Surebridge.
 Posted 10 Sep 2003
Business Objects Upgrades Its Analytics Suite
Business Objects Enterprise 6.1 provides enhanced performance and analysis features.
 Posted 08 Sep 2003
New Product Spotlight: September 3, 2003
SAP AG today announced complete details on the new intellectual property management (IPM) capability included in the recently announced new release of mySAP CRM; Expertcity has debuted an online ROI calculator; and Positive Software Systems has announced the commercial availability of ContactQ.
 Posted 03 Sep 2003
Don't Initiate CRM Until You Ask These Questions
CRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon had the opportunity recently to meet with executives at five of the largest CRM vendor companies. They discussed vendor accountability and the one question companies must ask their prospective CRM vendors.
 Posted 27 Aug 2003
The 2003 CRM Elite
*Winners were selected from among companies that either nominated themselves or were nominated by their vendors.
 Posted 01 Sep 2003
The 2003 Influential Leaders
Here, we spotlight customer-company and vendor executives who have made a significant impact in their company or on the industry in the past year. Additionally, we introduce our inaugural CRM Hall of Fame, and induct three industry luminaries.
Posted 27 Aug 2003
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.
 Posted 27 Aug 2003
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.
 Posted 27 Aug 2003
CRM Magazine Announces Its 2003 CRM Leader Awards
Many of the industry's top customer-company and vendor executives took part in the ceremony, which was followed by an interactive panel discussion.
 Posted 27 Aug 2003
PeopleSoft Aims to Simplify the Customer Experience
The product enhancements focus on three primary areas: packaged business-process integration, new and enhanced productivity-related features, and advanced synchronization with Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes.
Posted 25 Aug 2003
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.
 Posted 11 Aug 2003
The Week in Review: August 8, 2003
Datamonitor ranks European integrators, Ascential acquires Mercator, JMP says license sales to improve, and more.
 Posted 08 Aug 2003
SAP Adds to Its Vertical Offerings
SAP AG today announced it has released a new version of its mySAP CRM suite that has been specifically designed for the needs of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.
 Posted 04 Aug 2003
Vertical Market: Education
Posted 01 Aug 2003
New Product Spotlight
Interwoven has released Interwoven 6, which it says can boost the effectiveness of a company's CRM strategy; Pointsec Mobile Technologies has developed a new security system for sales and marketing professionals and their PDAs; Cognos has released Cognos Metrics Manager Version 2.
Posted 23 Jul 2003
Oracle Keeping At It
Even after PeopleSoft announced Friday that it has completed its acquisition of J.D. Edwards, Oracle still insists it will complete its hostile takeover of the combined company.
 Posted 21 Jul 2003
The Week in Review: July 18, 2003
PeopleSoft has completed its acquisition of J.D. Edwards; Green Beacon Solutions announced that it has entered into a marketing partnership with Narragansett Technologies; SAP AG reported a slip in sales for the quarter ended June 30; and Salesforce.com has added Peter Gassner to the company's executive team as general manager and senior vice president for sforce.
 Posted 18 Jul 2003
Microsoft CRM Gets POPular
Zeacom's screen pop capabilities can cut as many as 12 seconds from of each call, according to Zeacom CEO Miles Valentine.
 Posted 10 Jul 2003
Ellison: PeopleSoft Can't Survive
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison painted a grim picture of the competitive landscape, noting that SAP AG's dominance in the applications market would be hard to shake by any single vendor.
 Posted 10 Jul 2003
Lawson Gives Retailers Insight and Analysis
Lawson Software yesterday introduced its Retail Comp Store Metrics Data Mart and Store Operations to improve store level profitability.
Posted 03 Jul 2003
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.
 Posted 01 Jul 2003
Getting IT Together
Don't fall into the proprietary pitfalls when integrating. Just as packaged applications caused the scattered data silos and disparate operating systems, using proprietary software to integrate will open another Pandora's box.
 Posted 01 Jul 2003
Salesforce.com, WebSideStory Partner to Provide Analytics
The two ASPs are partnering to provide clients with more detailed marketing capabilities.
 Posted 30 Jun 2003
Intentia Entices J.D. Edwards' Customers
Intentia yesterday announced its migration path for J.D. Edwards to Intentia's Movex Collaboration applications.
 Posted 26 Jun 2003
Salesforce.com's Brand and Upgrade Splash
The upgrades represent what CEO Marc Benioff says is Salesforce.com's most significant release since launching its hosted CRM product in June 2000.
 Posted 24 Jun 2003
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.
 Posted 23 Jun 2003
SAP's CRM Gem Upgraded At SAPPHIRE
The mySAP CRM 4.0 upgrade was introduced at SAPPHIRE '03, SAP's annual international customer conference in Orlando, FL.
 Posted 17 Jun 2003
Oracle Offer Aftermath
PeopleSoft's board of directors unanimously decided that the offer to buy PeopleSoft's outstanding shares of stock for $16 per share would be met with lengthy antitrust scrutiny.
 Posted 12 Jun 2003
CRM License Sales Down 25 Percent in 2002
Siebel Systems topped the list in terms of market share this year with 24.9 percent share; SAP AG holds the second-highest share at 15.9 percent, which is a 5 percent increase over 2001.
 Posted 12 Jun 2003
Analysts Address Oracle's Move to Buy PeopleSoft
If the deal goes through, some analysts say PeopleSoft's roughly 5,000 customers would benefit from a smoother migration path.
 Posted 06 Jun 2003
New Product Spotlight: June 4
Oracle says the first phase of the product integration will help companies better automate and manage telephone interactions; NetLedger says it's new tool can create Web sites on which products and prices are dynamically updated; RightNow Technologies has released a new hosting management platform.
 Posted 04 Jun 2003
PeopleSoft to Acquire J.D. Edwards
The combined company would have annual revenues of approximately $2.8 billion, and employ about 13,000 associates.
 Posted 02 Jun 2003
A Slice of the Good Life: Boston Analyst
AMR Research
 Posted 01 Jun 2003
PRM Is Not So Different From CRM After All
Channel partners are salespeople, too. It's time we recognize the relationship for what it actually is.
 Posted 02 Jun 2003
Hosts With the Most (Partners, That Is)
Posted 02 Jun 2003
PeopleSoft Dives Into the Mid-Market
Posted 02 Jun 2003
Are SAP Customers Happy with CRM?
The companies studied saw a median cash flow ROI of 55 percent over three years, with a breakeven of 22 months and considerable productivity gains across enterprisewide operations.
 Posted 22 May 2003
Is Less Better Than More?
Small CRM implementations are often more successful than large ones.
 Posted 01 May 2003
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.
 Posted 01 May 2003
The Cost of Isolated Data
Posted 01 May 2003
Siebel's Sales, Earning Drop
Siebel Systems posted an earnings drop of 92 percent and a revenue skid of more than 30 percent for the first quarter ended March 31. However, the dismal numbers were in line with what analysts and the company expected for the period.
Posted 24 Apr 2003
Siebel's New Challenger
Based on the Gartner eService Suite Magic Quadrant, a methodology that measures both a company's completeness of vision and its ability to execute that vision, Siebel remains the lone leader in the this arena, while RightNow has emerged as the lone challenger.
Posted 23 Apr 2003
Week in Review: April 18
Microsoft Business Solutions announces significant revenue growth, and other CRM news from the past week
 Posted 18 Apr 2003
SAP Profits Up, Sales Down
SAP AG today announced a mixed bag of financial results for the first quarter of 2003, ended March 31. Revenue was down, but earnings were up in the quarter.
 Posted 17 Apr 2003
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.
Posted 14 Apr 2003
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.
 Posted 11 Apr 2003
MetaGroup Ranks Top BI Companies
MetaGroup highlights the 19 leading companies in business intelligence in a recent report. The four leaders--Cognos, Business Objects, SAS, and SAP AG--were selected because of their robust product line and financial strength in the market.
 Posted 04 Apr 2003
The 10 Best Things to Do With Your Data
Follow these 10 steps and you'll have information that really means something, rather than just have a lot of data that confuses more than it informs.
 Posted 01 Apr 2003
Are CRM Consultants Objective?
In the current market of integrators owning shares in vendors, companies need to be aware of the basis for some recommendations.
 Posted 01 Apr 2003
Show Report: Hot Issues at Two Key Conferences
Posted 01 Apr 2003
Nucleus Research Deemed Presumptuous
Without a predefined set of mutually agreed upon metrics for a CRM implementation, or any large-scale implementation for that matter, failure cannot be accurately measured.
 Posted 31 Mar 2003
SAP Sharpens Its Focus on SMBs
SAP's new Business One is designed to aid smaller companies better access real-time data; company teams with American Express for distribution, service.
 Posted 27 Mar 2003
Quenching the Thirst for New Business
While SAP announces customer wins the water utilities sector, Orcom, an outsourcer of customer information systems (CIS) and billing services, has made available its first hosted service for water utilities.
 Posted 17 Mar 2003
A Room With a (Point of) View
Executives on the SuperPowers of CRM panel offer their opinions on where the market is headed and how to get there ahead of the pack.
 Posted 03 Mar 2003
Who's Minding the Mid-Market?
Mid-market CRM vendors are partnering with consultants to get your business. Here are 10 tips to help you select the right consultant for your needs.
Posted 03 Mar 2003
Is it Time to Defect?
Switching CRM vendors is a tough, but often wise, decision.
 Posted 03 Mar 2003
Best Software Brings its ACT! Online
Giving customers software that they have complete access control over and by making it fully compatible with existing ACT! programs has put Best in a good position to continue to turn good profits.
 Posted 28 Feb 2003
SAP's Goal: Unseat Siebel
The company has given no exact target dates or hard numbers, but it may be looking to see U.S. revenues increase to about 50 percent of total operations.
 Posted 25 Feb 2003
Week in Review: 2/21/03
Microsoft announced this week that its Microsoft CRM solution has gained some traction with resellers and company partners; ChannelWave Software will introduce an updated version of its flagship partner relationship management product; IntelliCorp has appointed George D'Auteuil Jr. to the position of chief executive officer; Precision Response has announced the promotion of Miguel Ramos to vice president of strategic planning.
 Posted 24 Feb 2003
Siebel Crowns Itself Analytics Leader
Siebel says it worked from press releases and 2002 earnings reports from competitors, filling in the blanks with published 2001 data and customer-analytics industry-growth projections; one industry analyst notes, however, that formal 10-K reports will not be available until March, and favors a more deliberate approach to declaring leadership.
Posted 21 Feb 2003
Top 15 CRM Products Announced
The top 15 CRM solutions are leading the pack by including features like wireless components, XML, Web services, and process-oriented architectures.
 Posted 20 Feb 2003
ICCM Tip: Make It Personal
Rogers' message was for organizations to focus on individual customers based on the information customers provide.
Posted 12 Feb 2003
Siebel Versus SAP
A numbers debate has some in the industry squirming around the question of declaring either SAP or Siebel the true leader, which should prove interesting if and when Siebel or another firm starts declaring CRM revenues in excess of SAP's numbers in an upcoming quarter.
 Posted 06 Feb 2003
Clean Data Improves Integration
Posted 02 Feb 2003
The Week in Review
A roundup of the top stories in the CRM world during the past week.
 Posted 31 Jan 2003
Siebel Integrates to IBM's WebSphere
Analysts welcome the long-awaited announcement of Siebel's integration into an open standards platform.
Posted 28 Jan 2003
Siebel Sees Sales, Earning Drop Amid Restructuring
Siebel Systems Inc. this week reported a loss of $38 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002.
 Posted 23 Jan 2003
Oracle: Back on Track?
Rod Johnson, vice president and general manager of the customer management strategies practice at AMR Research, sees reasons to believe that Oracle is poised to rebound in the second half of 2003.
Posted 20 Jan 2003
SAP and Microsoft Partner for Web Services
All SAP solutions to run on enterprise services architecture.
 Posted 16 Jan 2003
Vendors Focus on Retail
Self-service technology solutions are key for the retail industry, as they allow store managers to do a lot more than they could before.
 Posted 13 Jan 2003
SAP Starts 2003 With Layoffs
The layoffs account for approximately three percent of SAP's total U.S. workforce; no additional layoffs are on tap for SAP.
 Posted 08 Jan 2003
Market Watch: Enterprise CRM
Posted 23 Dec 2002
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.
 Posted 24 Dec 2002
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.
 Posted 26 Dec 2002
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.
 Posted 02 Jan 2003
Closing the Gap
Brother International Corp. is using CRM to build relationships with indirect end-user customers.
 Posted 02 Jan 2003
New & Noteworthy
Posted 03 Jan 2003
Salesnet Upgrades Dashboard Offerings
Users can drill down for more granularity, as they can click on any chart or graph to home in on specific data.
 Posted 30 Dec 2002
IBM's Door to SMBs
A portal solution bundled with Big Blue's hardware and software gives SMBs information to improve productivity and reduce costs
 Posted 09 Dec 2002
CRM's Must-Have
Microsoft Business Solutions is releasing its own CRM product.
 Posted 02 Dec 2002
Increasing the Value of CRM
Attendees of the NCR Teradata user conference got the inside scoop on how British Airways and others are integrating data to streamline costs.
 Posted 12 Dec 2002
365 Days of CRM
A review of CRM news and trends from 2002.
 Posted 13 Dec 2002
A Roller-Coaster Ride For CRM Stocks
Many CRM vendors and related companies saw their modest gains stripped away in Friday's early-morning trading, but research firm IDC expects the $875 billion dollar IT industry to recover from this low point, with a 2003 growth rate of more than 5 percent.
 Posted 22 Nov 2002
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.
 Posted 18 Nov 2002
SAP and Genesys Align For Greater User Support
Genesys Telecommunications Inc. and SAP AG are aligning their internal organizations so that either company can serve as a single point of contact on technical support calls for combined solutions.
 Posted 14 Nov 2002
Sybase Turns Data Into Economic Value
Sybase announced yesterday at a customer luncheon in New York that it aims to improve the flow, speed, and quality of data to employees is through its latest portal solution, called Enterprise Portal (EP) 5.0.
 Posted 30 Oct 2002
Integration: The Great CRM Bottleneck
Scott McNealy, chairman, CEO, and president of Sun Microsystems Inc., says that IBM and Microsoft are part of the integration problem, not the solution.
Posted 24 Oct 2002
Growth Strategies
Customers looking for an integrated CRM solution that connects to ERP and back-end systems helped CRM revenue.
 Posted 18 Oct 2002
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.
Posted 04 Oct 2002
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.
 Posted 02 Oct 2002
Genesys CEO: Mid-market Is the Market
Ad Nederlof unveils the call center vendor's major push.
 Posted 22 Oct 2002
The World According to Tom
Why he is not the king of the customer. Why SAP and Oracle are lying. And why the ASP model won't work.
 Posted 22 Oct 2002
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.
 Posted 22 Oct 2002
Siebel and IBM Combat Integration Woes
Siebel's highly anticipated UAN aims to facilitate CRM with back-office applications
 Posted 09 Sep 2002
Chordiant: An IBM Elite Partner
Chordiant joins the ranks of Siebel, PeopleSoft, and SAP by becoming an IBM Strategic Alliance partner
 Posted 05 Sep 2002
mySAP CRM's Portal Twist
Adds workforce management features; software converges on the portal; the people-centric approach
Posted 05 Sep 2002
Gold in the SMB Space
The SMB market is substantially undeveloped and to date far less competitive
 Posted 16 Sep 2002
Leaders of the CRM Pack
Posted 12 Sep 2002
Top Guns (part 1)
the 20 most influential people in CRM in the past year
 Posted 12 Sep 2002
Top Guns (part 2)
Posted 12 Sep 2002
Battle for Dominance
The enterprise CRM suite landscape is changing, led largerly by efforts in integration.
 Posted 12 Sep 2002
Leading the Niches
Analytics, PRM, and call centers all have notable vendors that support them. But classic CRM vendors are powerhouses in these markets as well.
 Posted 12 Sep 2002
FrontRange Runs On .Net
Mid-market companies show their wares at DCI
 Posted 30 Aug 2002
Tom Siebel: We'll Embrace .Net
Future applications will support both J2EE and .Net for enterprise CRM
 Posted 29 Aug 2002
Blue Martini Goes Deep
Expands on key manufacturing vertical with release 5; configuration and quoting; taking XML orders
 Posted 27 Aug 2002
Power to the Portal
Plumtree announces bundled solution for employee services, new partners give ERM an enterprise focus
 Posted 26 Aug 2002
E.piphany Completes E.6 Suite
Launches E.6 Service for call centers; allies Tibco for system-to-system integration; best architecture, says analyst
 Posted 22 Aug 2002
Email Management for mySAP CRM
AMC Technology develops products, connectors for SAP; email response management system is the latest CRM extension; third-party think tank
 Posted 14 Aug 2002
Integration Rules to Live By
Inforte offers advice on how to tackle front and back-office integration woes
 Posted 13 Aug 2002
Portal Player Turns to CRM
Art Technology Group unveils ATG6 Beta; online selling, marketing and customer support; "our portal connects with everyone," says exec
Posted 12 Aug 2002
IT Spending Stabilizes
Forrester: 82 percent of companies to maintain or increase budgets in second half of 2002; surprising traction for Web services
 Posted 06 Aug 2002
Comergent Tackles Transactions, Integration
Release 6 touts 300 APIs; CTO claims 300 percent growth in sales, low-cost Web services architecture; avoiding the PRM fate
 Posted 05 Aug 2002
SAP Lands Ford, Caterpillar
Massive deal to revolutionize OEMs' service parts delivery processes; touches thousands of dealers, millions of line items
 Posted 01 Aug 2002
Customers Really Matter
To Samsung's Peter Weedfald, CRM is a lifestyle, not a technology. Follow his 7 secrets of CRM, and he will lead you to the promised land of customer infatuation.
 Posted 01 Aug 2002
CRM, PRM, and Integration, Oh My
SAP's Peter Zencke takes us down the yellow brick road to the multichannel land of Oz.
 Posted 01 Aug 2002
Targeting Verticals
CRM vendors see huge opportunity in serving niche markets.
 Posted 01 Aug 2002
Customers Applaud mySAP CRM
SAPPHIRE '02: SAP delivers at its e-business conference, with an eye on ROI.
 Posted 01 Aug 2002
IBM to Buy PwC Consulting
Global services powerhouse would be created in $3.5 billion stock and cash deal; regulatory review likely, analyst says
 Posted 30 Jul 2002
E.piphany's Big Buddy
CRM suite vendor joins forces with IBM Global Services
 Posted 23 Jul 2002
CRM Market: Classic Consolidation
Meta Group rates the suite vendors; a few application domains show signs of maturity; presence and performance
 Posted 22 Jul 2002
PeopleSoft Slightly Off Analysts' Mark
Joins the rest of the CRM pack that has been hit hard by lackluster IT spending
 Posted 19 Jul 2002
CRM: In the Eye of the Hurricane
AMR study shows market a little light, but wind is picking up again
 Posted 17 Jul 2002
Chordiant, SAP Issue Warnings
European CRM vendors will not meet analysts' expectations
 Posted 12 Jul 2002
Blue Martini Teams with Tibco
CRM vendor touts deeper integration with ERP systems; takes aim at heavyweights SAP, JD Edwards, Oracle and PeopleSoft
 Posted 11 Jul 2002
Business Objects Snaps Up Acta
Business intelligence vendor picks up extraction, transformation and load (ETL) specialist for $65 million; hopes to build one-stop shopping
 Posted 10 Jul 2002
Global Marketing's Big Comeback
E.piphany puts global spin on marketing software; out-of-the-box features and multi-lingual support; "Borderless CRM"
 Posted 09 Jul 2002
Running Out of Gas?
As more customers embrace a new generation of CRM applications, some old standbys face uncertain futures.
 Posted 01 Jul 2002
Navision To Boost Microsoft CRM
Acquisition immediately gives software behemoth a global presence
 Posted 01 Jul 2002
The Host with the Most
Salesforce.com Evangelizes Software Services Model, Readies Offline Edition
 Posted 01 Jul 2002
Wireless CRM Beckons
Vendors and customers alike know it's coming; Frost and Sullivan points to 2004 and 2005 as peak growth years
 Posted 01 Jul 2002
Microsoft CRM Crystallized
Reporting and analysis tools integrated into Microsoft's first .NET business solution; legitimate and proven partnership, says analyst
Posted 19 Jun 2002
E.piphany, Genesys Join Forces
Integrate offerings to deliver real-time analytics and intelligent routing; arms contact center agents with latest customer info
 Posted 13 Jun 2002
mySAP CRM Is 'People Centric'
At its SAPPHIRE 02 conference, held at the Orange County Convention Center, SAP's top brass pushed their focus on CRM and addressed industry challenges including the threat of Microsoft Corp. entering the market.
 Posted 07 Jun 2002
SAP's SMB Strategy
Known as a dominant backbone enterprise resource planning (ERP) and high end customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) competitor, SAP is now looking to divide and conquer the SMB space with a pair of offerings.
 Posted 06 Jun 2002
SAP: Something for Everyone
Building on its open architecture message of November, SAP is migrating a broad range of applications into a better defined three-tier offering, which technically covers any company with more than a couple dozen employees. "SAP has to be for every size business," says Hasso Plattner.
Posted 05 Jun 2002
Learning from the Supply Chain
Selling complex products is as involved as the back-end supply chain process. But selling has not yet evolved into an optimized business process like supply chain, organizing all the parts to reduce costs and create greater customer value. Like back end inventory and logistics systems a decade ago, selling is typically a compilation of discrete activities and supporting technologies, beginning with receiving a sales lead and ending with placing an order.
Posted 17 Jun 2002
Strong Leaders, Strong Market
To be a strong leader in today's demanding business climate takes honesty, integrity, intelligence, perseverance, vision, strong-mindedness, and more.
 Posted 01 Jun 2002
No Fear
Craig Conway stands firmly behind PeopleSoft and the CRM industry
 Posted 01 Jun 2002
Up Close: Craig Conway
PeopleSoft Chief Executive and President Craig Conway interviewed by CRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Elliot Markowitz.
 Posted 01 Jun 2002
Customer or Capital: Who is King?
AMR analysts square off on whether companies should lead with CRM or SCM technology; TaylorMade-adidas makes its choice
 Posted 31 May 2002
Western Europe's SMBs Opening IT Wallets
A free-for-all is brewing in Western Europe's small to medium-business (SMB) arena, according to report released today from London-based researcher Datamonitor. And as vendors converge on the opportunity there, consolidation is inevitable.
 Posted 22 May 2002
Analytics Revealed
Patricia Seybold Group looks at key factors of CRM analytic applications; reports on the pros and cons of real-time analytics
 Posted 20 May 2002
Deloitte Expands SAP Partnership
Deloitte Consulting expanded its alliance with SAP AG to jointly deliver mySAP CRM solutions for Fortune 1000 and enterprise companies. Deloitte Consulting adds SAP to its list of other CRM vendors that it services including E.piphany, PeopleSoft, and Siebel.
 Posted 16 May 2002
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.
 Posted 15 May 2002
CRM: The Ties That Bind
The word is out: Integration is the key to unlocking CRM's potential. Everyone from vendors to consultants and customers claim they can do it -- but it's just not that easy, industry watchers say.
 Posted 10 May 2002
Microsoft Acquisition Underscores Midmarket Move
Buyout of Navision expands global presence.
 Posted 07 May 2002
AMR: State of the CRM Union
To this end, AMR released a report entitled, 'It Was the Best of Quarters, It Was the Worst of Quarters,' detailing CRM vendors' rocky financial performance in Q1 this year. On the upside, CRM vendors did a noble job of pulling out decent numbers in what is arguably the slowest-selling quarter of the year, according to AMR.
Posted 03 May 2002
CRM Turf Wars
CRM suite vendors are biting and clawing for sales in untapped international markets.
Posted 02 May 2002
Where's the CRM Suite spot?
Posted 02 May 2002
Gang War in the New CRM Promised Land
Posted 01 May 2002
Advertising Claims to the Contrary...
The CRM software field is expanding, not contracting.
 Posted 01 May 2002
Gartner Singles Out Companies With Winning CRM Strategies
Canada Post, Tipper Tie Grab Top Honors
 Posted 01 May 2002
Growth Target
Dow Chemical is using CRM to reach $60 billion in sales.
 Posted 01 May 2002
Len Chermack
Make Some Noise
 Posted 01 May 2002
Salesforce.com Goes Mobile
Posted 30 Apr 2002
Siebel's eFinance 7
Posted 24 Apr 2002
Baan's Nice Guy Image
Posted 18 Apr 2002
Baan's E-Biz Rise -- and Fall?
Posted 17 Apr 2002
SAP Chasing Siebel
Posted 11 Apr 2002
Pivotal Plants Mid-Market Flag
Posted 10 Apr 2002
How do you integrate online and offline CRM applications?
Posted 08 Apr 2002
Middlemen Flock to Siebel
Posted 08 Apr 2002
Coming to America, With a Little Help
Swiss CMS vendor Obtree looks to break into the U.S. market through OEM partners.
 Posted 12 Apr 2002
Siebel? Never Heard of 'Em
Many CRM services firms lag in brand recognition.
 Posted 12 Apr 2002
Microsoft's CRM Play Stirs Industry
Vendors line up in droves to partner with the software giant.
 Posted 12 Apr 2002
New Leader, New Strategy
Pivotal chief is poised for a mid-market takeover.
Posted 12 Apr 2002
CRM Drives the Real-Time Enterprise : What Lies Ahead?
What is the Real-Time Enterprise?
 Posted 30 Mar 2002
A Big Splash with One Toe
Posted 01 Apr 2002