Biographical Information

Articles for Jean Thilmany

At Bark & Co., Customer Service Goes to the Dogs

With Zendesk's help, a ‘dog bot' fetches answers for customers of the canine treat provider

T-Mobile Sends a Message with Text Support

The "Un-carrier" turns to LivePerson to fuel customer text conversations ahead of industry trends.

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.

CRM for One: Catch 'Em While They're Young

With its Entrepreneur edition, Maximizer Software targets the sole proprietor -- and the midsize business that proprietor may become.

Compensation Beyond the Contact Center

One study finds many technology companies link employees' salaries with customer satisfaction.

Don't Call It Centric CRM

Update your Outlook: The CRM software provider has changed its name to Concursive Corp., and its flagship CentricCRM product becomes Concourse Suite.

Sales Hits the Road

Three CRM vendors have released applications for mobile devices in recent days. What's the payoff for the sales representative?

Microsoft Hires Callidus Leader

Callidus Software President and CEO Robert Youngjohns is heading to Microsoft, but will his stance against multitenant on-demand offerings follow him?

Siebel Users Can Now Be Xactly Motivated

Xactly's compensation management software will give Siebel CRM On Demand users a quick look at future commissions.

ADP Hopes To See Deal with Centive Pay Off

The benefits-administration company looks to increase sales performance through Centive's incentive compensation management.

Sales Incentive Software Set to See More Sales

The market for incentive compensation management continues to expand, as more companies recognize its ability to drive growth.

CRM Market Set to Double

The global CRM market will double within six years, according to a new Datamonitor report.

Dragging the Contact Center into the 21st Century

Contact centers can't be stodgy. They need to keep up with the kinds of technologies -- email and IM -- their younger customers rely on.

Omniture Set to Acquire Visual Sciences

The pool of Web analytics providers continues to shrink.

iPhone: The 800-Pound Gorilla Spawns a 300-Page Bill

By sending exhaustively detailed iPhone bills, service provider AT&T could be trying to head off expensive customer-care calls.

Readily Readable

A marketing company slashes the time and effort it spends creating reports with the help of performance management software.

Contact Centers Slip in Outsourcer Rankings

The quality is still there for call center vendors, but other outsourcers are challenging their position, according to a consultancy's new research.

Mobile Data Revenue Could Triple in Asia-Pacific

Indonesia's broadband market will grow by 45 percent per year for the next five years, according to research, leading growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mobility Matters Most in Online Marketing

A new study reveals how marketing agencies are tackling emerging technologies. While mobile devices top the list, YouTube isn't far behind.

Ranking Government Service

Singapore and Canada get top marks for their customer service, says a new Accenture report that ranks 22 governments' customer service programs.

OutStart Pushes Pertinent Sales Info

OutStart's knowledge sharing software aggregates CRM, Web, and expert information that salespeople can call on round the clock.

Vettro Takes the Road with Siebel

Vettro 360 software makes Siebel CRM On Demand available on mobile devices at speeds Oracle can't match, says an industry analyst.

Is Anybody Out There?

The makers of computers and other high-tech devices are finally getting around to answering their emails, one study finds; retail still rules the roost in response.

The Quality Goes In Here, Too

Systems that measure and improve quality have a place beyond the traditional factory floor, according to a new study; most sales and marketing departments can benefit from quality analytics.

Custom Fits

Whether off the shelf, on demand, or built in house with open source software, companies will need to customize their SFA systems

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.

Beyond Office 2007

Despite a strong market with several options, small businesses are still warming up to the idea of online personal productivity software.

Talking Heads

Virt2go wants to virtualize the sales force by offloading the heavy lifting to Web presentations; analysts think it might be part of the future of sales.

Salesforce.com Takes SOA Offsite

The company, in keeping with its "No Software" motto, announces its plan to offer service-oriented architecture on demand.

Virtual Customer Contact

BT Group and Avaya's hosted contact-center technology gives customers the option to ramp up, scale down, and distribute offsite centers; the service could prove a telco's greatest strengths are its applications.

Nuance Looks to Go Mobile

Though it's a sharp departure from its usual acquisitions, the maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software buys BeVocal, which hosts voice-automated customer service solutions.

Aprimo's Midsection Marketing Muscle

A new marketing suite should bring small and midsize players into the marketing management game by delivering enterprise marketing management features to them over the Web.