Week in Review: May 2

In the News... NetLedger this week announced that it is partnering with a number of vendors to provide CRM solutions targeting various vertical industries, including biotech, agriculture, residential sales and construction, document management, and electronic data interchange. The company says the integrated solutions will still be hosted online and that users will not need to install or download any additional software in order to start using the new vertical solutions. Onyx Software yesterday announced an agreement with Getronics to jointly market and deliver CRM to financial services firms in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, Getronics will integrate Onyx CRM functionality with Getronics' industry leading branch banking, call center, and Internet banking solutions. The companies will be seeking to optimize financial services firms' ability to upsell and cross-sell using CRM, Michael Kerr, president of business solutions & consulting at Getronics, said in a statement. Research firm Enkata recently found that among the top 15 health insurance companies, as much as 40 percent of customer issues are not resolved during the first contact. According to Enkata's research, a significant percentage of repeat contacts are related to claims adjustment issues. The company says that by investing in solutions that can find the exact cause of these repeat contacts, business process changes can bring about faster resolution time and higher customer satisfaction. Kana yesterday announced results of a survey that found that 60 percent of participants from the high technology sector are considering deploying a self-service knowledge base as their next step in improving customer service. Earnings Update Onyx Software also announced this week financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2003. Revenue for the first quarter of 2003 was $14.2 million, compared to $14.6 million in the first quarter of 2002. Reported net loss for the first quarter of 2003, including restructuring charges, was $3.4 million, compared with a net loss of $6.6 million in the first quarter of 2002. The company says its cost cutting measures should make the company profitable in the near future, but Onyx has not publicly stated when it expects to turn a profit. RightNow Technologies announced its 17th consecutive quarter of revenue growth this week. Sales for the first quarter of 2003, ended March 31, were up 7 percent from the fourth quarter in 2002 and up 29 percent from the comparable period a year ago, the company says. ICT Group reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2003. Revenue increased 6 percent to $76.6 million compared to $72.3 million in the prior-year period. "In the first quarter of 2003, our CRM services business continued to grow rapidly," John Brennan, chairman and CEO of ICT Group, said in a statement. "Revenue from our CRM services business increased 28 percent for the period and accounted for 54 percent of total company revenue, compared to 44 percent in last year's first quarter." Autobytel, which makes customer-centric solution for the automotive industry, reported net income for the first quarter ended March 31, 2003 of $0.9 million, or $0.03 per share. This compares to a net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 of $(18.5) million, or $(0.59) per share. It is nearly double the net income reported for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2002, when net income was $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share. Revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2003 totaled $20.3 million, versus revenues of $20.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 and fourth quarter 2002 revenues of $20.0 million. Rainmaker Systems, an outsource provider of sales and marketing programs for service contracts, reported net revenue for the first quarter ended March 31 of $10.4 million, up 22 percent from $8.5 million in the first quarter of 2002. Consulting firm Sapient reported revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2003 of $43.8 million, an increase of 5 percent from service revenues of $41.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2002. Net loss was down significantly, totaling $3.8 million in the first quarter of 2003, compared to $53.3 million in the first quarter of 2002. Unipress, which creates automated help desk solutions, saw a 44 percent rise in revenue, and announced more than 100 new clients in the first quarter ended March 31. The company credits its success to the idea that mid-market companies and departments within large enterprises are reevaluating their costly, high-end technology solutions and realigning processes with a tool that offers more flexibility and requires less investment and maintenance. Executive Changes Sento Corporation announced the appointment of Chris Wells to the position of senior vice president of sales. Amdocs ClarifyCRMthis week announced that Alex Hawker was named vice president of sales and general manager of the EMEA region. Braun Consulting has added Todd Nash to the firm as its newest vice president.