News in Brief

To integrate and consolidate eight help desks nationwide, and to develop a solutions knowledge base to establish troubleshooting standards and service best practices, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has standardized its IT help desk support on Siebel System Inc.'s eGovernment Applications, the company says. The help desk support programs are located within the FAA's Aviation Systems Standards group, known as AVN. There are three basic building blocks for CRM success, according to the study "Customer Focus: A Step-by-Step Guide to CRM Implementation," conducted by Best Practices LLC. They are: 1) Identify points in the company's business strategy where CRM can deliver maximum value. Highlight these opportunities through internal marketing of customer-focused programs; 2) Prioritize customer-centric programs based on potential for early wins and immediate positive impact on business. Dedicate resources necessary to ensure success and then execute a staged implementation to all parts of the business; 3) Set goals based first on leading indicators of customer satisfaction and then on customer retention and profitability. Measure performance and communicate results to ensure accountability. Eighty percent of CIOs earn a base salary within a $200,000 to $300,000 range, and 56 percent of this total falls within a $200,000 to $250,000 range, say the results of a CIO compensation study conducted by executive placement firm Spencer Stuart. The study, based on a sample of 818 CIOs, reveals that CIOs within the financial services industry receive the highest average compensation at $459,123--a total of 13 percent more than the next highest paid group of CIOs, from the consumer goods sector. A second year of free use of its online CRM service is what Salesforce.com recently provided to Easter Seals Inc. Easter Seals is using Salesforce.com's sales force automation and customer service and support applications to log local affiliate progress, communicate in real time with other project managers, address issues quickly, and report on progress. Treating grassroots local affiliates as customers of the national organization, supported by Salesforce.com's donation, is already showing substantial benefit as Easter Seals furthers its nationwide Web initiative, the organization says. Augmenting their CRM solutions was the impetus behind a new partnership between Firstlogic Inc. and Akibia Consulting. According to company releases about the agreement, Firstlogic will integrate its information quality solutions into the CRM solutions that Akibia develops for its various customers.