Hot Growth Areas In CRM

Despite the economic downturn, certain sectors within CRM are showing signs of steady strength. RightNow, for example, a provider of eService solutions expertise, such as Web self-help solutions, announced today its 15th consecutive quarter of revenue growth and its cash-flow-positive status in the quarter ended September 30, 2002. "Our successful results are particularly heartening in this challenging economic atmosphere. But, RightNow's success is more than numbers--it represents hundreds of successful customers who are using our solutions to deliver satisfaction to their customers," CEO, chairman and founder Greg Gianforte said in a statement. "We continue to meet our financial goals and in this quarter have further strengthened our company's stability and viability for a strong future." RightNow exceeded revenue expectations during its third quarter of fiscal year 2002, recording a 34 percent increase in revenue year-to-year. During the three months ended September 30, 2002, RightNow added 46 new customers to its stable of more than 1,000. New customers include Dupont, John Deere, Nikon, and State of New York Department of Taxation. Year-to-date RightNow has added more than 150 customers and implemented more than 320 implementations. According to Paul Stockford, chief analyst at Saddletree Research, based in Scottsdale, AZ, that is nothing and suggests that workforce optimization companies are surpassing RightNow's growth rate. "IEX (a Tekelec company based in Richardson, Texas) reported 56 consecutive quarters of revenue growth," he says. He adds that other companies in the workforce optimization/workforce management sector are booming. "Blue Pumpkin recently reported $40 million in revenue, which represents 10,000 percent growth." Some workforce optimization/management companies include RightForce Workforce optimization. "I've been championing the workforce optimization sector, because it's the next growth area. It maximizes the ability to gather data and analyze data in the call center," Stockford says.