The Week in Review: June 4, 2004

In the news... Edocs announced that it has acquired Brightware, a business unit of Firepond that delivers eService software solutions for inbound email response management, knowledge management (KM), and chat. Under the acquisition edocs is responsible for more than 40 new customers in the areas of finance, telecommunications, consumer goods, transportation and travel, retail, energy, and technology. With the Brightware suite edocs acquires the Answer email response-management system, the Converse real-time chat management assistant, and the Concierge KM solution. Customer Service Group has launched the official Customer Service Week Web site, www.CSWeek.com, to prepare for this year's Customer Service Week, October 4 through October 8. The Web site provides information to help managers plan, organize, and staff an event, and includes information on companies celebrating, sample agendas from successful celebrations, email bulletins, ready-to-use puzzles, and interactive email thank-you postcards. The national event recognizes the importance of customer service and customer service staff, and is being also being sponsored this year by the International Customer Service Association and the Help Desk Institute. Deals of the week... Infomill Limited announced that Barloworld, an independent global distributor of lift trucks, will integrate its PartsArena Mobile system with the SAP Mobile Asset Management solution. Witness Systems announced the deployment of its eQuality software solutions in eight hotel-reservations chains owned by the Accor Reservation Services Group, a Paris-based global hotel and service industry group. Global betting exchange BETDAQ has implemented Talisma's Multi-channel Customer Interaction Suite to provide its 40,000 active users with multiple channels of customer communication. Dendrite International announced that three Japanese pharmaceutical companies--Sanofi-Synthelabo K.K., Maruishi Pharmaceutical, and Nihon Medi-Physics--have selected the company's j-forceNET sales effectiveness solution. Informatica announced a license agreement with the Center for Agribusiness Excellence at Tarleton State University, bringing the company's customer base to 2,000 customers. Tarleton State will use Informatica's software to support national crop-insurance analysis. Executive changes... Astute Solutions announced the acquisition of the Syman Solutions Group, a provider of sales force automation solutions. Gregory Miller, president of Syman, will be appointed COO of Astute Solutions, and will be responsible for business development, marketing, sales, professional services, and customer support operations. Miller's history includes his former roles as president of Symix, and founder of both SalesSoft and the Syman Solutions Group. New products... NetSuite launched a new set of Enterprise Resource Planning features for back-office application software via the Internet. The features include revenue recognition, allocations, advanced budgeting, advanced billing, and substantial multicurrency capabilities. For wholesalers and distributors, other functionalities provide assistance for lot tracking, advanced inventory commitment, inventory reordering, and special orders. Saratoga Systems released iAvenue Wireless, a solution that provides mobile connectivity to enterprise information, including data within Saratoga Systems' iAvenue CRM suite and most back-office databases, to a BlackBerry Wireless Handheld. iAvenue Wireless provides users with access to reports and data at any time; and the capability to track shipments, verify billing and invoice status, enter order criteria on site, track customer support cases, and access inventory data. Rockwell FirstPoint Contact announced the availability of its FirstPoint Enterprise product leveraging Cisco CallManager. The VoIP solution for enterprise level contact centers features priority queuing; real-time intelligent announcements on position in queue or wait time; simulation/modeling tools to test routing sequences and troubleshoot configuration; comprehensive reports; and dynamic business rules administration to respond and adjust to real-time conditions. DWL launched its DWL Customer version 5.0. The solution features an enhanced event management functionality for defining and detecting customer events so that specific notification messages and unique message content can be sent based on the event. The technology also provides upgraded functionality in customer relationship profile management, including enhancements to grouping and hierarchy relationship management. Kefta, a provider of customer interactions solutions, released a new version of its Interaction Manager technology. The upgraded version features deeper user profiling, to track relevant information of online visitors across time and all Web and email interactions; wider communication across mediums; and enhanced implementation and change management. DataDelta has introduced a patent-pending tool to analyze Business Rule Butterfly-Effects and provide effective Customer Data Integration for accurate single customer views. "When users attempt to improve accuracy by adjusting [complex business rules], even small changes can cause amazingly complex and surprisingly widespread changes--what we call Business Rule Butterfly-Effects," according to Ed Allburn, founder of DataDelta. IT Portfolio has developed a hosted CRM solution called ProfIT for small and medium-size enterprises. ProfIT allows users to contact customers via customized Web mail based on specific characteristics, such as their type or length of contract, the type of equipment or supplies they use, or their last purchase date. The solution also generates reports and proposals, and is compatible with standard industry databases.

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