Biographical Information

Lauren McKay

Lauren received her BA in Journalism from the University of Missouri. While at university she held several roles at Vox Magazine, which, according to its Web site "was named the best magazine produced by college students in the whole darn country." Some of her roles at Vox included department editor and contributing writer. Lauren also served as the education reporter at the Columbia Missourian in the Fall of 2005. Most recently, after moving to New York, she worked as an editorial intern at Working Mother Media.

Articles for Lauren McKay

Communication Is the Way to a Customer’s Heart

A food processing equipment company finds that success tastes best when sales and service are served on the same plate

Reigniting the Engine with Service Software

Fairbanks Morse Engine implements a CRM system that unites its customer records and tracks its engine service requests

Collecting Feedback Makes Cents

A financial services firm invigorates its VOC program to better understand its business—and its customers

In One Channel and Out the Other

Sonos shoots for perfect pitch with its social media and self-service support capabilities

Most Vendors Embrace Social CRM

A study evaluates the performance of leading vendors

Locking Up Data To Unlock Leads

Astadia and Salesforce CRM help a data-hosting firm increase annual revenue by 200 percent to 300 percent

Eye on the Customer

Are consumers comfortable with or creeped out by online data collection tactics?

Sifting Through the Rubble

Oracle's massive annual gathering garners a lot of press—both good and bad

Surface-to-Air Missives

A travel service for military personnel uses SMS and live chat to ensure its customers can communicate

Anywhere Is Everywhere

After years of unfulfilled promise, CRM and mobile technology are finally making a move.

SMBs Mature with the Mobile Cloud

AMI-Partners research indicates that SMBs are steadily turning to mobile applications to cut down on computing costs and address the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce.

How Socially Intelligent Are Business Intelligence Vendors?

In Part 2 of its study, Evoke CRM study ranks the most social CRM companies on the Web.

SAS Takes Care of the Conversation

With the launch of Conversation Center, the company adds another module to its Social Media Analytics platform.

The 6 Goals of Social Media Marketing

Social media usage report reveals that for marketers social media is now a strategic initiative, good content is king, and video will be the hottest social channel.

How Social Are Social CRM Vendors?

Evoke CRM study ranks the most social CRM companies on the Web.

The 4 Commandments of Brand Advocacy

A Deloitte study uncovers the changing face of brand advocates and the necessary steps companies must make to get influential consumers on their side.

SugarCRM Releases "CRM Made Simple"

With the general availability of Sugar 6, the open-source vendor zeroes in on a new interface, productivity enhancements, and new partnerships.

NGenera Rebrands as Moxie Software

A few years following the acquisition of Talisma, nGenera unites its collaboration and customer interaction product sets on one platform.

For Many, Social Media Still an Experiment

A Harvard Business Review survey shows the immaturity of business activity in the space.

PivotLink Prepares Business Intelligence for Retailers and Online Marketers

With new industry- and department-specific capabilities, PivotLink expands its BI prowess.

Crossing the E-Commerce Chasm

As consumers become more and more connected, even leading companies are struggling to keep up.

Pega Adds Social to CPM

With its latest release of Customer Process Manager, Pegasystems aims to make customer interactions more meaningful and customer feedback more actionable.

Lithium's Social is "Suite"

The Social CRM player rolls out a fully integrated suite of social tools, complete with commerce, support, and brand-awareness-specific offerings.

Facebook Flounders in Customer Satisfaction

American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report '10: FoxNews.com and Google take top honors, while popular social networking sites leave members wanting more.

A Healthy Dose of User Adoption

UnitedHealthcare overhauls its CRM program to embrace an on-demand solution that users will actually use.

Proactive: Take the Initiative

Proactive CRM enables organizations to cut costs, minimize risk, protect their brand, and improve customer experiences.

Market Focus: Healthcare—A Healthy Dose of Social Media

One provider shows how to join consumers in social networks without compromising a secure relationship.

A CRM Showdown in Times Square

Executives from four of the industry's top vendors share the same stage—but not the same views.

Monogamy in the Marketing Marketplace

destinationCRM.com Exclusive: A partnership ends when a reseller of Eloqua marketing software refuses what it calls a vendor ultimatum.

What's the Most Popular Industry on Social Networks?

A study by Performics and ROI Research indicates that customers are talking all across the social Web — about brands in verticals ranging from automotive to travel.

Socialcast Extends Its Reach

SocialcastReach, the latest update to the company's collaboration platform, extends the collaboration effort to other enterprise applications.

5 Steps to a Thriving B2B Community

Web 2.0 Expo '10 — Day 3: A marketing executive from Philips, the largest consumer group on LinkedIn, shares what it takes to run a healthy community.

Take Back Your Business — With Data

DataFlux Ideas '10: CEO Tony Fisher identifies the three potholes on the highway to data management success.

What Will Become of the Web?

Web 2.0 Expo '10 — Day 1: "The world we need is one we've never yet seen," declared Tim O'Reilly at his bi-annual technology event.

4 Problems with E-Commerce — and How to Solve Them

Web 2.0 Expo '10 — Day 2: A keynote presenter reveals how data can help modern companies overcome their "used-car salesman" personas.

Salesforce.com Rolls Out Chatter 2

Oracle OpenWorld '10 — Day 3: Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff unveils new features of his company's enterprise social network product.

The Hospitality Suite

Hotels are finding a home away from home in social media, and boosting the customer experience in the process.

5 Years Later, Oracle's Fusion Apps Finally Near Release

Oracle OpenWorld '10 — Day 1: Kicking off its mammoth conference, Oracle makes a few hardware announcements, tackles the cloud, and sheds more light on 2011's Fusion Platform.

Oracle CRM On Demand Turns 18

Oracle OpenWorld '10 — Day 2: The latest version of the company's software-as-a-service application adds modules for "best-in-class" marketing and business planning as well as a preview of CRM technologies to come.

Retired and Retried

A unit of Prudential Financial invests in Salesforce.com to revive a lethargic sales and customer retention program.

Sage Beefs Up Services in Sage Act! 2011

With interface improvements and the introduction of an integrated information service, one industry thought leader remarks that he is "massively impressed."

Salesforce.com Outshines Competitors on Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation

Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation '10: The top sector of the annual market assessment also includes Microsoft and two Oracle offerings.

Salesforce Puts Jigsaw Together with CRM

The cloud computing company brings its newly acquired data services piece in-house with Jigsaw for Salesforce CRM.

Does Social CRM Need Gartner’s Seal of Approval?

Despite unveiling three reports on social software, some in the industry question whether the research giant has done justice to a still-exploding sector.

ICentera Directs a Solution to the Indirect Sales Channel

ICentera, a provider of sales enablement solutions, releases a specialized product designed for channel partners.

Mzinga Adds Analytics and New Features to OmniSocial

With its latest launch, the social solution provider brings forward new reporting dashboards, mobile applications, and social network interoperability.

3 Reasons High-Tech and Communications Need Social Media for Survival

An Accenture in-depth survey reveals that while customer service investments in the two industries may be up, consumers remain less than thrilled with their experiences.

The CRM Elite: Sweetening the Deal

Making a meal of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, JellyBelly cuts down on churn and boosts revenue

The CRM Elite: Communing with Customers

Business products provider CDW ups sales thanks to a Communispace-powered environment that turns customers into stakeholders

Market Leaders: Data Quality

Market Leaders: Enterprise Suite CRM

Market Leaders: Midmarket Suite CRM

Open Text Updates Its Social Set

The socially evolved ECM player expands its social media and productivity services, adding a no-cost microblogging tool to its offerings.

DataFlux Takes the Lead in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools

Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '10: IBM, Informatica, Trillium and SAP BusinessObjects follow the leader in the research firm's annual evaluation of the market.

Jive, Lithium Lead Another Social Scene, the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Externally Facing Social Software

Magic Quadrant for Externally Facing Social Software '10: The research firm's third social report says the EFSS market is "young but developing quickly." "Expect social CRM to split into several [markets] as the technologies mature," says one report author.

IBM Captures Datacap for Content Management

In what one industry analyst calls a "good move and a very good choice," IBM expands its content management and business workflow capabilities by purchasing data-capture vendor Datacap.

On the Scene: Sage Insights ’10 -- Sage Succumbs to Cloud Computing

One of the last vendors to dive into on-demand, Sage partners with Amazon.com for SalesLogix Cloud

The 5 Ms of Social Insight

CRM Evolution '10 — Day 1: "Social will be like air in 2011," says Altimeter Partner Ray Wang in presenting the top use cases for social CRM.

The View from the CRM C-Suite

CRM Evolution '10 — Day 2: Four of the industry's top CRM executives square off for the first time ever to share perspectives on the ever-changing world of CRM.

The 6 Hidden Dangers of Social Media

CRM Evolution '10 — Day 3: Companies are eager to make their presence known on the social Web, but they must remember to look before they leap.

Amdocs Gets Semantically Intelligent

Tapping into the Franz AllegroGraph 4.0 database, the vendor shares its plans to invest in semantics to unite personalization and predictive analytics with CEM.

NetSuite Sweetens E-Commerce with Social

The cloud computing business software provider looks to new partnerships to integrate friends into the shopping experience.

Microsoft Puts a 2011 Face on Dynamics CRM

At its Worldwide Partner conference, the vendor presented partners with an application marketplace and a slew of new capabilities for Microsoft CRM users.

Oracle Brings Out Business Intelligence 11g

"Oracle BI is definitely back," comments one industry analyst.

Advising Consistency

Financial services firm Raymond James Financial gently offers its more than 5,000 advisors and associates a CRM interface they're familiar with.

Connecting the Disconnected

Professional services firm Ceridian brings its independent salesforces under one CRM roof.

Changing the Deal

Sigma Financial turns sales into something more than spreadsheets.

CRM Is No Longer a Four-Letter Word

Why the badge is finally one worth wearing.

Jive and Lithium Top Gartner's First-Ever Magic Quadrant for Social CRM

Magic Quadrant for Social CRM '10: The analysis firm whittles down a list of 140 vendors claiming to offer social CRM to a final set of 20.

4 Ways to Boost Customer Experience

A new Forrester Research report reveals methods to make customer experience projects matter to companies and consumers.

Chatter for One and All

The cloud computing vendor moves forward with its "Cloud 2" and announces general availability of Chatter, its social networking and collaboration platform.

7 Named Leaders in Forrester Wave of CRM Suites for Midsize Organizations

The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Midsized Organizations '10: In his annual evaluation, analyst Bill Band identifies the top-performing options for midmarket CRM.

7 Surf Atop the Forrester Wave of CRM Suites for Large Organizations

The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Large Organizations '10: Forrester Research names the seven top-performing vendors at the enterprise level.

Salespeople Need Performance Management, Too

With Cloud9 Analytics Performance Management, the vendor promises contextual analysis for line-of-sales people, and future integrations with Oracle, NetSuite, SAP, and Microsoft.

Marketo Tries to Make CMOs Merry

With the launch of the Marketo Revenue Cycle Analytics product portfolio, the marketing automation player helps marketers prove ROI.

5 Lessons Digital Marketers Have Yet To Learn

Internet Week NY '10 / Conversational Marketing Summit '10: Speakers from Twitter, Google, Moxie Interactive, and Starbucks reveal new ways to connect with customers.

No One-Stop Shop for Social

Info-Tech Research Group evaluates the incumbent players and outlines opportunities surrounding the convergence of CRM and social media.

Learn Before You Leap

Leapfrog, a maker of educational products, gives its customers something to jump up and down about: an online community powered by Lithium Technologies.

Crashing the Community

Nestlé feels the crunch when its own social network turns from semi-sweet to dark.

Crafting a Community

Companies can corral as many customers as they like, but any true community has to truly benefit its members—customers and companies alike.

Collaboration Vendors Convene on Info-Tech's Landscape Evaluation

The research firm makes sense of the top teamwork providers.

Allegiance Pledges to Be Social

The enterprise feedback management vendor's Engage 7 adds social media to its toolbox of surveying options, unveils a new interface, and introduces text analysis.

Sage Sells Solutions, Not Products

Sage Insights '10: Company executives convey Sage's commitment to customer experience and to uniting the brand's business solutions.

Sage Sends SalesLogix to the Cloud

Sage Insights '10: After months of readying partners, Sage announces the June availability of SalesLogix for the Cloud.

SMBs Still Unsure of Social Media

AMI-Partners report shows that small and midsize business usage of social media is growing, but they don't consider it a strategic process.

Coremetrics Puts a 2010 Face on Analytics

With the latest launch of its Coremetrics Analytics 2010 application, the Web analytics vendor brings forward a smarter user interface, a new mobile app, and a host of new features.

The Sant Corp. and Kadient Join Forces for Sales Enablement Excellence

A merger will bring together the two private companies -- and will provide a better workbench for bringing together sales and marketing.

A Is for Adoption

A provider of contact center solutions implements CRM to eliminate shelfware and to use tools the company already had in place.

Google Bets on Buyers' App-etites

Within the search giant's Apps Marketplace, small and midsize application providers can integrate with cloud-based offerings.

Required Reading: Funneling the Future

The flatter the world, the further the reach of the empowered customer. In his new book, Flip the Funnel, Joseph Jaffe explains how that may finally bring down silos once and for all.

It's Not Your Relationship to Manage

Just as you finally come to grips with CRM, the customers themselves have turned the tables—and now they're managing you.

From Infection to Deflection

An antivirus company turns pro-self-service.

Microsoft Targets Innovation for "Dynamic" Businesses

Microsoft Convergence '10: At this year's business solutions event, the Microsoft team announces extensions to CRM Dynamics Online and previews the next generation of Microsoft CRM.

Attensity Buys Biz360 for Social Media Monitoring

With a goal to "open up the enterprise," the semantic analytics company purchases the global listening solution provider for an undisclosed sum.

Pegasystems and RightNow Added to Leaders in Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers

Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers '10: New players join Oracle Siebel, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com as the market seeks to empower agents and deliver next-generation service.

Salesforce.com Makes Jigsaw a $142 Million Piece of the Puzzle

In a definitive agreement, the software-as-a-service pioneer will absorb the provider of crowdsourced business data.

The Social Customer Wants Authenticity — Unless You're Fake Steve Jobs, Of Course

SugarCon '10: Keynote speakers impart their wisdom to attendees, with the key message to become "a company like me" for every customer.

With SuiteCloud 2.0, NetSuite Tries to Clear the Cloud of Myths

SuiteCloud '10: Distinguishing the real from the fake, CEO Zach Nelson announces some very real deals around cloud-to-cloud integration, vertical extensions, and code-less workflow development.

CEO Says SugarCRM's "Not in the Cloud Business, It's in the CRM Business"

SugarCon '10: With the launch of Sugar 6, the open-source CRM pioneer promises to deliver a "new generation of CRM software bred for the Web — for speed, simplicity, and interoperability."

Oracle Releases a Social Services Suite

The mega-vendor makes a handful of CRM announcements and heads into two new verticals.

Salesforce.com Extends Chatter Across the Cloud

CloudForce 2010: Pushing Sales and Service further into the "Cloud 2," introducing Chatter for Force.com, and unveiling a Chatter-specific AppExchange, Salesforce.com continues to embrace social media, collaboration, and the "Facebook Imperative."

Maximizer Rolls Up Its Mobile, Desktop, and Web Offerings

Version 11 continues along the path of "mobilizing the workforce" and introduces a new all-inclusive licensing option for SMBs.

nGenera's Nine Lives

CIM Version 9 brings forth social media monitoring, community integration, and new support functions all wrapped up in the company's notion of the "social customer."

Going Green, Saving Green

No matter what your company's environmental motivations may be, the bottom line is still the bottom line.

Generation Green

Why Gen Y and the Millennials are greener than you'll ever be.

Market Focus: Consumer Packaged Goods — From Organic Goods to Sustainable Ones

A saturated market for organic packaged goods has sprouted a new demand: sustainability.

Turning Green on the Ocean Blue

10 Efforts to Make You Green (With Envy)

Think a green initiative is either too lofty a goal or too difficult to pursue? These 10 companies would be quick to disagree.

Classroom in the Clouds

An Arizona State University outreach program cuts costs and carbon by going virtual.

A Google Guru's Tips for Web Analytics

Search Engine Strategies '10: Avinash Kaushik's four tips for making your metrics matter.

PivotLink Brings Business Intelligence to the Business User

With the launch of its ReadiMetrix product family, the on-demand BI vendor hopes to deliver "insights-as-a-service."

Confirmit Broadens Its Horizons

The latest launch from the enterprise feedback management vendor involves a flexible application toolkit, PowerPoint integrations, and more-intuitive designs.

InQuira Puts Its Knowledge Solutions in the Cloud

With InQuira OnDemand, the vendor debuts online versions of its Web Self-Service and Contact Center Solutions.

Pegasystems Collects Chordiant for $161.5 Million

Two months after rejecting a bid by CDC Software, customer experience management vendor Chordiant strikes a deal with a leader in the BPM space.

Jive's Bright Idea

With Jive Ideation, the social business software provider integrates idea management into its portfolio.

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: Service Leaders -- Enterprise Feedback Management

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: Service Leaders -- Outsourcing

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: Rising Stars -- Communispace (The Dance Partner)

Communispace does a nifty two-step, providing clients with private communities and then helping to glean information from participants.

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: Rising Stars -- LiveOps (The Home Team)

LiveOps' solutions for outsourcing and workforce management enable contact centers to employ work-at-home agents.

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: The Service Elite -- Infusionsoft

With an online environment designed by Helpstream, Infusionsoft's own customers are able to provide community-based support.

The 2010 CRM Service Awards: The Service Elite -- New York Life

A Verint Systems deployment gives New York Life's Tampa-based contact center agents something to stick around for.

Drive-By Poaching

At least one analyst firm saw consolidation as an opportunity for creative recruiting.

CRM's Hearty Appetite

Mergers and acquisitions ramp up at the start of the new year as vendors expand roadmaps and look for ways to fulfill promises.

M&A & CRM

A timeline of the tumult: The industry's shaken, but that may be a sign that the something's stirring. Here's a chance to look at the big picture—and to remember that not all deals pan out as intended.

RightNow Challenges Cloud Competitors

CEO Greg Gianforte introduces the vendor's new Cloud Service Agreement and calls out CRM competitors for not delivering on the true promises of software-as-a-service.

RightNow Brings Cloud Monitoring to the Suite

With its February '10 release, the customer experience vendor deepens its social functions, bridges communities, and expands monitoring features.

Infusionsoft Goes 2.0

With its latest updates, the email marketing provider helps its small business customers take their CRM efforts to the next level.

BlueKiwi Offers Up Free Versions

The social business software vendor updates its platform and introduces a freemium model.

DataFlux Unifies Its Tools

With DataFlux Data Management Platform, the SAS subsidiary unites its data quality, data integration, and MDM product sets into one overarching platform.

SAP Releases "BI for the Rest of Us"

With its version of SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, SAP targets the "casual user" with an integrated toolset that spans both on-demand and on-premise technologies.

Conversationalists Flood the Social Scene

Reports point to the emergence of a new social group and help marketers act upon the various segments of online participants.

Open-Source Business Intelligence: 5 Times Bigger by 2012

Two research reports outline the drivers of growth for open-source business intelligence -- and what customers can expect as the market matures.

Demandbase Shines Up Its Stream Product

With real-time alerts and notifications, the lead generation solution provider helps users be even more proactive when it comes to Web site activity.

The 3 Threats to Social CRM

Accenture's Social CRM report reveals the trio of obstacles to overcome when developing a social strategy.

How to Exceed What Customers Want

Net Promoter Conference '10: Satmetrix CEO encourages companies to move beyond the "zone of tolerance" to redefine customer experiences.

Extreme Loyalty Requires Extreme Commitment

Net Promoter Conference '10: Three companies reveal the secrets to delivering high-quality customer experience.

Adding the Persona Touch

With an eye on the user experience, some brands are inviting imaginary friends to the party.

The New-Age Home

Aided by SiteSpect, a specialist in elder-care placement boosts Web conversions and better addresses client needs.

After CEO Ouster, Plattner's Plea: "Please Trust SAP. We Have Not Forgotten You."

Announcing the exit of Chief Executive Officer Léo Apotheker, SAP returns to a "Co-CEO" format, appointing Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe to split leadership duties.

IBM Acquires MDM Player Initiate Systems

After weeks of rampant speculation -- and just six days after Informatica and Siperian dashed to the altar -- IBM and Initiate finally tie the knot, adding yet another variety of master data management to Big Blue's arsenal, and extending its reach into the healthcare and public sectors.

Informatica Snags Siperian for $130 Million

"This acquisition rounds out our MDM strategy beautifully," says Informatica's CMO.

Gartner Predicts the Future of Sales and Marketing

The analyst firm gives its CRM forecast for upcoming years.

Cegedim Dendrite Acquires SK&A Information Services to Expand Global Database

The purchase allows the life sciences CRM vendor to increase the breadth of its OneKey healthcare data.

Siperian's Last Dance: A Customer-Driven Module for Financial Services

With its Extended Customer View for financial services firms, the MDM vendor — acquired today by Informatica for $130 million — puts the emphasis on relationship-based insights.

Information Wants to Be Disrupted

Information Industry Summit '10: Panelists share their secrets to shaking up the information industry.

Knitting Together a Community of Enthusiasts

With podcasts, a blog, and social network participation, Lion Brand Yarn weaves itself into the fabric of the customer experience.

This Year's 'Swell Set

The 2009 Groundswell Awards congratulate cutting-edge companies mastering social media.

Market Focus: Insurance — Pursuing a New Policy

The insurance industry is slowly shifting from traditional to trendy.

Where Does Innovation Come From?

Perhaps more than ever, it's a good idea to look for good ideas? But where are they hiding?

Informatica and IBM Lead Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools

Big Red squeezes onto the Leaders Quadrant and an open-source player joins the evaluation for the first time.

ZoomInfo Finds a Fresh Way to Collect Contacts

With the introduction of FreshContacts, the business database service provider allows users to gain access data for free -- so long as they trade in their business contacts.

Radian6 Gets Sentimental

The social media monitoring company announces new sentiment analysis technology for its customers.

SAP Sets Sustainability in Motion

With the launch of Business Objects Sustainability Performance Management, SAP wants to provide companies with holistic views into their sustainable strategies and actions.

Retailers and Hotels Top the 2010 Customer Experience Index

In Forrester's Annual survey, Barnes and Noble, Marriott Hotels, and Hampton Inn and Suites deliver the best experiences.

Five Application Development Trends for 2010

Forrester outlines the top changes professionals should make and look out for when moving toward new applications.

Accel-KKR Purchases Kana

A private equity firm's acquisition moves the customer experience management player out of the public sphere.

Compensation Management with a Real Payoff

Open-source software provider Ingres commissions Xactly to automate incentives.

Deciding to Compete

Economist Intelligence survey indicates that agile decision making is vital to operational efficiency and success -- yet most firms' ability to make good decisions needs improvement.

Electronic Health Records Get a Check-Up

Hypatia Research evaluates the state of EHRs among healthcare facilities and outlines roadblocks to adoption.

BlueKiwi Enhances its Hub

The social collaboration platform provider puts out a new release geared toward community managers.

Microsoft, IBM, and Jive Get Together Atop the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software

Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace '09: Gartner narrows its scope and crowns leaders for the first time, but notes that the market is still immature and there are "no safe bets yet."

BatchBlue Announces Sales Application for Small Businesses

The online social CRM product allows salespeople to create deals, link up with social networks, and organize customers with unique SuperTag functionality.

Intuit Gets into Customer Management

From hodgepodge to homogeneity, Intuit provides a new home for customer information.

EarthLink Connects to a World of Loyalty

Analyzing churn helped the Internet service provider improve not just the targeting of its messages, but its overall customer retention as well

Information Overload

Your data is multiplying, your channels are extending, the chatter is never-ending. You're already having trouble keeping up with the stream of information. What happens when that stream becomes a flood?

On the Scene: Gartner CRM Summit '09—Trust Is the New Differentiator

Big brands and consumers alike see a newfound value in trust.

Moving from Dial Tone to DM

Web 2.0 Expo '09: Keynote speaker Chris Brogan converses with attendees on the art listening and what really to do on Twitter, aka the Serendipity Engine.

5 Ways to Fail

Web 2.0 Expo '09: Panel of 2.0 entrepreneurs hash out the most common routes to failure, paths to recovery, and acceptance of "I Can Has Failure."

LIFT Your Social Efforts to the Next Level

Sage Summit '09: Brent Leary conveys to Sage attendees why CRM is turning into SCRM - and why hash tags matter.

Jive Jumps Forward with SBS 4.0

The social business software player announces a new version of its platform, connects communities, and makes a play for the iPhone.

Online Retail Makes Marketers' Dreams Come True

Ad:Tech '09: Sites such as Walmart.com prove there's more to e-commerce than just shopping carts.

Now's a Bad Time to Be "Antisocial"

Ad:Tech '09: eMarketer CEO relays social statistics and strategies and highlights a social customer case study.

Sage Answers the "So What" Question about Software Trends

Sage Summit '09: Company executives describe the response to key industry trends, such as social media, cloud computing, and globalization.

Cloudy, with a Chance of Reign

Salesforce.com made software-as-a-service its trademark—can lightning strike twice with cloud computing?

Consumers Care About Needs, Not Channels

Forrester Consumer Forum '09: In order to interact with the multi-channel customer, companies must recognize changing consumer behaviors, expand reach on multiple channels, and embrace digital tools.

How to Create a Customer Experience Framework

Forrester Consumer Forum '09: Analyst provides three steps for making the customer experience matter.

The Vendor Vultures

CRM providers are like scavengers these days, eager to poach from a competitor's client list.

Market Focus: Pharmaceuticals -- CRM Undergoes an Experimental New Treatment

An older CRM vertical gets a new dose of on-demand technology.

StayinFront Prescribes an On-Demand Offering

With StayinFront EdgeRx, The vendor diagnoses a new hosted CRM version for its life sciences customers.

What Marketers Can Learn From "Mad Men"

Social Ad Summit '09: How to make connections contagious and promote customer's passions. Deep Focus's Ian Schafer shares secrets behind the "Mad Men Yourself" campaign.

7 Rules for a Smart Social Strategy

Mediabistro.com's UGCX '09: A Forrester Research analyst outlines the impact of social media on business.

Time to Get Pragmatic about Enterprise 2.0

Industry thought leaders -- Hinchcliffe & Co., Asuret, and Socialtext -- join forces to drive success in enterprise social computing projects. Plus, Socialtext calculates an announcement of its own.

Oracle Finally Puts the Spotlight on Fusion Apps

Oracle OpenWorld '09, Day 4: The final conference keynote featuring CEO and Founder Larry Ellison pumps up the crowd with a few surprise guests and a sneak peak at Fusion Apps.

3 Game-Changing CRM Strategies at Oracle OpenWorld

Oracle OpenWorld '09, Day 2: Executives detail Oracle's broad strategy as a systems provider, and its head of CRM delves into transforming technology at the application layer.

Oracle Reinvigorates Mobile and Social CRM Offerings

Oracle OpenWorld '09, Day 3: One executive calls Oracle CRM On Demand not only Big Red's fastest-growing software-as-a-service application, but its fastest-growing application — period.

8 Reasons to Revisit Your ECM Strategy

AIIM ECM Seminar: "We are at a tipping point," said industry president, telling attendees that the time is now to establish an Enterprise Content Management plan-of-action.

Mzinga Marries Its Social Software Offerings

The release of OmniSocial unifies the company's collaboration, social media, and community products.

Mistaken Metrics

They say you can't manage what you can't measure. But what if you're using the wrong ruler?

Your Metrics Are Outdated

Times are changing — and so should your metrics.

Analytics Are Just the Ticket

In-depth analysis of online activity helps Rail Europe get its Web operations back on track.

Visible Technologies Keeps an Eye on Use Cases

The social media monitoring company extends its truCast Suite and segments its capabilities based on user needs.

How to Survive the Customer-Specific Web

Gartner CRM Summit '09, Day 1: CRM analyst Michael Maoz says not only are consumers losing trust in corporations, but they are managing more aspects of the relationship.

E-Commerce Can Save Your Business -- or Sink It

Gartner CRM Summit '09, Day 2: Analyst Gene Alvarez emphasizes the strategic importance of expanding e-commerce with the power of Web 2.0 technologies.

6 Steps to Influencing Customers and Building Trust

Gartner CRM Summit '09, Day 3: Connecting with customers relies on the power of influence.

Salesforce.com Finally Finds the Contact Management Space

The company brings forth its fifth option for CRM users, Salesforce Contact Manager, geared toward the smallest of businesses.

Salesforce.com's Second Stab at Service

The company releases Service Cloud 2 with innovation around Knowledge, Answers, and Twitter.

RightNow Buys Social Networking Platform Player HiveLive

The CRM vendor scoops up a social networking and community platform provider for $6 million to expand its social CRM offerings.

SMBs Find the Beef in BI Deployments

Aberdeen Group fleshes out the top reasons for business intelligence investments among small-to-midsize businesses.

SMB Interest in Managed Services and SaaS Ripens

AMI-Partners reports 100 percent growth in interest among small-to-midsize businesses in managed software and services.

Act! Gets Even More Social in 2010

A new version of Sage's contact and customer management software sports a redesigned interface, social media capabilities, and e-marketing functionality.

Collaboration Software Vendors Come Together on Forrester Wave

Microsoft and IBM do the most sharing, with Novell playing close behind.

Study Shows More "Babble" on Twitter Than Promotion

Despite an uptick in business activity, Pear Analytics says the majority of Twitter posts contain "Pointless Babble."

5 Strategies for Creating a Competitive Edge

CRM Evolution '09: CRM consultant shares tips for barreling through the economy and thriving in a post-recession world.

The 2009 Elite - ISS Belgium Sweeps Up Sales

A services company makes a clean start with Microsoft Dynamics CRM [Sales Force Automation]

The 2009 Rising Stars - Facebook

Friending Consumers

The 2009 Rising Stars - Visible Technologies

Making Social Media Matter

The 2009 Influential Leaders - The Casual Cobbler

TONY HSIEH
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ZAPPOS.COM

The 2009 Influential Leaders - The Aggregator

GUY KAWASAKI
AUTHOR, COFOUNDER, ALLTOP

The 2009 Influential Leaders - The Fast Follower

ANTHONY LYE
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR CRM, ORACLE

Do You Accept the Terms of Engagement?

Eager to play with social media, employees of CRM vendors are finding themselves burdened by new rules

The Secret to Continuous Customer Management

CRM Evolution '09 — Day 2: Altimeter Group Partner Ray "R" Wang clues conference attendees in on how customer data can lead to a connected enterprise — and why B2B is dead.

Social CRM Showdown

CRM Evolution '09 — Day 3: Two sets of panelists take the stage to confer on social CRM — where we are now and where we may be headed.

How to Sell More, Grow Your Business, and Defy the Economy

CRM Evolution '09 — Day 1: Sales and strategy luminaries offer tips for staying above ground -- and prospering -- during the downturn.

Oracle's Other Half Lands in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation

Magic Quadrant for SFA '09: The research firm evaluates two fewer vendors this year, and promotes Oracle CRM On Demand to join corporate cousin Siebel CRM in the top quadrant for the first time.

Quantivo Couples with the Amazon Cloud

The behavioral analytics provider boosts scalability, flexibility, and affordability with its new deployment model.

Forrester Gives a Welcoming Wave to Complex Event Processing

Citing heavy demand, the research firm unveiled its first-ever evaluation of nine vendors in the rapidly maturing space.

Get Ready for the EFM Upswing

Hypatia Research discusses the importance of enterprise feedback management and the future of the market.

Mashups Make You Smarter

A new Forrester Research report encourages organizations to embrace self-service business intelligence and mash it up to get even more intelligent.

Are You Ready to Zwitch to Zoho?

The productivity suite provider integrates email and CRM, beefs up its Projects application, and entices Salesforce.com users to switch over.

Microsites to Serve Microsegments

Brands from Dell to Office Depot are slicing customers into ever-tinier segments—and learning the dos and don'ts along the way.

Healing the Sick

Facing regulatory requirements, spiraling costs, and an aging (and ailing) customer base, the healthcare industry looks to CRM to balance a pair of age-old doctrines: First, do no harm—and physician, heal thyself.

Patience for Patients

Improved surveying techniques improve a hospital's patient centricity.

After Swallowing SupportSoft, Consona Conveys Renewed Roadmap

CRM player plans to integrate proactive service offerings and to focus on point solutions.

8 Factors Impacting ECM

AIIM report details traits of today's Enterprise Content Management industry.

A New Leader Emerges in Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM for Customer Data

Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM for Customer Data '09: As vendors continue to invest in master data management initiatives, Initiate Systems joins IBM and Oracle in this year's top segment.

Allegiance Acquires Inquisite

The enterprise feedback management vendor scoops up an online-survey software player.

SPSS Collects, Collaborates, and Deploys — All in the Name of Analytics

With new versions of PASW Data Collection and PASW Collaboration and Deployment Services, SPSS helps analysts and business users alike manage the voice of the customer.

Small Businesses Take On the Twittersphere

Inbound marketing vendor HubSpot offers a new social media monitoring solution and gives advice to small businesses toying with Twitter.

The New Qualities of Trillium's Data Quality

The Harte-Hanks software division's Version 12 refreshes real-time validation capabilities, business-rules sharing, and dashboard interfaces.

Big Red Roundup

Oracle releases financial results, announces the departure of an influential leader, and creates news around its Fusion Middleware Apps.

Radian6 Listens to the Demand and Integrates with Salesforce.com

The listening platform provider brings social media analysis to the CRM world.

Consulting the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Service Providers

Magic Quadrant for CRM Service Providers '09: The market for CRM consulting and solution implementation services grew in 2008, but the next year will bring challenges for all providers, including the foursome Gartner rated tops: Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, and IBM Global Services.

Small Businesses Show Social Networks Some Love

AMI-Partners research indicates that small businesses aren't as slow to get social as some have contended. What's driving adoption? The blurring of the lines between professional and personal uses of social networking.

Dialing into Knowledge

For The Carphone Warehouse, the key to quality service is empowering agents with consistent and organized knowledge.

Whuffie Doesn’t Grow on Trees

Forget money: Trust, transparency, and value represent today's social currency.

Required Reading: Cashing In On Social

Author Tara Hunt explains how The Whuffie Factor can be a company's saving grace.

Simplementation: 10 Tips to Smooth Your CRM Initiative

Since roadblocks on the implementation superhighway often come down to human factors, we've collected 10 of the most common and the most costly — to help you avoid them.

Your Social Media Reputation Is Visible

Social media monitoring vendor Visible Technologies launches TruReputation and expands its search reputation management offerings.

Business as Usual within Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools

Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '09: Five leading vendors hold their ground, despite a slight slip by SAP.

iCentera Enlivens Sales Enablement

Portal software provider builds upon its sales enablement offering with version 6.0 and taps into what one analyst calls an "emerging market" in the process.

4 Steps to Immediate Customer Engagement

Mediabistro Circus '09: Social media maven Steve Rubel shares insight into marrying brands and consumers displaying "selective ignorance."

The Social Media Monitoring Cheat Sheet

An Aberdeen Group study suggests it's not too late to begin tapping into social media to manage your brand reputation online. Not yet, anyway.

10 Steps to Social Media Success

Internet Week '09: Brand Exposure event shows companies how to join the conversation.

The 4 Hidden Costs of Business Intelligence

A new Aberdeen Group report contends that BI could cost your organization more than you think, but some investments can help avoid budget blunders.

Strategy and Social Media: Everything’s Social (Now)

You may not know what you're doing — but your customers do. If the time to act is now — does that mean it's too late to plan?

Social Shepherds

If you expect employees to stay within the lines, you need to draw the lines first.

A Travel Company’s Tweet Deals

Quality time — and high-quality engagement — on Twitter helps CruiseDeals.com extend its brand and develop leads.

The Data Quality Conundrum

Fewer than half of all organizations have a defined strategy regarding customer data, according to research by Experian QAS.

Hot New BI Vendors Keep Things Cool

Gartner unveils its 2009 "Cool Vendors" in business intelligence and performance management.

Demandbase Provides More Tools to Capture Ripe Leads

The provider of lead-generation solutions unveils Demandbase Professional 2.0 to help B2Bs target the right people at the right time.

Sage Expands Its Social and Cloud Computing Plans

Sage Insights '09: Executives revisit the Sage CRM 2010 roadmap with insight into what CRM users want -- and are ready for.

ExactTarget Sends Social Email -- and Receives $70 Million in Venture Capital

The email marketing vendor brings social capabilities to the inbox, and has reasons of its own to celebrate.

Sage Sketches Out Future Strategies: Branding, Social CRM, Integration, and Mobility

Sage Insights '09: Executives outline the future for Act! by Sage, SalesLogix, and Sage CRM products, and discuss the company's "transformational year."

Oracle Gets Down to E-Business With 12.1 Release

The latest edition of E-Business Suite offers a medley of enhanced capabilities, from compensation incentives to supply chain management. Also, Oracle waives first-year Extended Support costs for some customers.

I Want (and Get) My MTV!

Akamai Technologies needed to step up its Web-content delivery efforts on behalf of the music television network.

Skittles: A Rainbow of Social Media Marketing

The candy brand integrates its messaging across Twitter, Flickr, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and elsewhere on the social graph.

Decisions, Decisions

Neither your best guess nor your gut instinct is good enough anymore. Fortunately, with enterprise decision management, the technology and methodology now exist to help you reach a better conclusion.

Jigsaw Cleans Your Cloud

The online business directory's new Data Fusion product targets issues of data quality.

Web Analytics Standards Still Suffer

New research points to a growing but immature market, populated with "a great mass of junior analysts who…can get quite confused about the depth of all these issues."

Enterprises Restructure Mobile Strategies

Aberdeen Group reveals that, as technology budgets are slashed, organizations are deploying new methods to meet the mobility demand and to appease "pro-sumers."

LucidEra Makes an Impact with Spring '09 Release

With its latest edition, the software-as-a-service business intelligence vendor touts usability over features.

Oracle Takes a Shine to Sun Microsystems

In a transaction valued at $7.4 billion, Big Red scoops up the software-and-services provider after Sun's failed negotiations with IBM.

SMB Software Market to Resume Positive Growth in 2010

Software spending among small and midsize businesses is now expected to grow at an annual rate of 6 percent during the next five years -- with software-as-a-service leading the charge.

Siperian Directs Business Users to Master Data

The MDM vendor releases a new application to empower business issues with data management.

SPSS Rebrands Its Analytical Offerings

The vendor updates its software for data mining and text analytics, ditching the "Clementine" brand name for "PASW," an acronym for "predictive analytics software."

Authenticity Is the New Authority and Less Is the New More

Web 2.0 Expo '09: Keynote speakers urge audience to connect with customers -- by telling stories and, above all else, by being honest.

The 4 Fail Whales of Social Media Marketing

Web 2.0 Expo '09: Social media thought leaders Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang, and Peter Kim discuss the barriers to social media marketing, and how to encounter them without going "over capacity."

"T" Is for Transparency

Web 2.0 Expo '09: Keynote speakers strike a common chord -- consumers want their corporations and their government to open up.

Social Support for Software

Vendors unleash a new round of community forums for their customers.

Social Media Marketing Can Succeed for Leaders -- and Laggards

A recent report reveals what even flawed marketers might achieve with efforts involving social media.

5 Strategies to Solve Your Search-Engine Sorrows

Search Engine Strategies NYC '09: Expert panel discusses the state of search -- and what marketers and consumers can do with it.

4 Rules to Recession-Proofing Your Brand

Search Engine Strategies NYC '09: In the current economic climate, even top-shelf brands need to be wary. "Marketing must move from passion to compassion," according to a presenter.

10 Steps to Terrific Twittering

Search Engine Strategies NYC '09: Top twitterer Guy Kawasaki explains how to use the microblogging site for marketing, and why "nobodies are the new somebodies."

9 Vendors Lead Gartner Magic Quadrant for BPM Suites

Magic Quadrant for BPM Suites '09: Established players continue to thrive as the space continues to evolve.

ZoomInfo Zooms In On the SMB

The company data provider focuses on bringing more intelligent data to the midmarket.

Recession May Be the Best Thing for BI

Gartner Business Intelligence Summit '09: Industry experts weigh in on aligning BI initiatives with business strategy.

5 Common Snags in Your BI Strategy

Gartner Business Intelligence Summit '09: BI remains a top priority, but one that often conflicts with reality.

Lithium Diagnoses the Community

With its latest release of Insights, the community platform provider establishes metrics and methodology to show the health of communities.

Zuora Subscribes to Facebook

On-demand billing vendor Zuora takes its Z-Commerce platform to the social networking cloud.

Making Relationships Matter

As LinkedIn grows, what does the future hold for enterprise social networking?

CRM and the iPhone

Mobile CRM has been around for years, but Apple's handheld device has upended everything. Now vendors are rewriting applications, companies are rethinking the BlackBerry's seeming stranglehold, and users are wondering what's next. The answer may be nothing less than a CRM revolution, and a chance for Apple to enter the enterprise.

A Tough Transition Made Easier

Assisted living is a growth industry, but one suffering from information overload.

Aprimo and Unica Top Gartner Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management

Magic Quadrant '09: This year's roundup shows continued investments -- and more than a few shakeups.

Welcome to the Customer Data Revolution

Predictive Analytics World '09: A former Amazon.com executive shares the steps required to manage today's customers.

5 Ways to Cut Costs with Predictive Analytics

Predictive Analytics World '09: With a goal of operational excellence, you can target the right customers and save money along the way.

Listen and Ye Shall Hear: 2009 Forrester Wave on Listening Platforms

Forrester Wave on Listening Platforms '09: The analyst firm listens closely to a market segment that used to be known as brand monitoring.

RIM Shows Off BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0

BlackBerry Media Event: The smartphone provider describes the release as "the easiest upgrade ever."

Oracle Bolsters Business Intelligence Roadmap

Oracle BI Forum: Blending BI and performance management can lead to operational and management excellence.

Demandbase Builds Professional Demand

A provider of software for lead generation and Web analytics releases a new product to further segment and target prospects.

Megavendors Look Smart in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence

Magic Quadrant '09: This year's edition shows the biggest players dominating the BI Platform market.

Confirmit Sets Its Sights on the Horizon

The enterprise feedback management vendor broadens its multichannel reach and releases a new on-demand platform.

Gartner Gives BI a High 5

The research giant unveils five predictions for business intelligence in 2009.

6 Metrics for Marketing in a Recession

Gartner analyst shines a little hope on the downtrodden marketer: Try spending to save, but be sure to get quick results.

From A(erospace) to Z(oology)

Technology provider National Instruments caters to a community.

Spend Your Way Out!

Counterintuitive as the notion seems, sometimes the only way out of a financial crunch involves spending more to make more. But how do you make your spending more strategic?

That’s (Not) Entertainment

Playboy and other entertainment companies make cuts—but hope to keep the brand alive.

IBM Thunders into Cloud Computing

IBM announces cloud-based services within LotusLive, plus integration with CRM players, social networking, and mobile applications.

NetSuite's OpenAir Opens Up to Salesforce.com

The provider of professional services automation -- now a NetSuite company -- announces closer integration with Salesforce.com.

Forrester Waves to the Top Providers of Community Platforms

The research firm compares the top vendors in the space.

Three Tiers for Infusionsoft

The small-business CRM provider unleashes Basic, Deluxe, and Pro editions.

12 Technology Predictions for 2009

Analysts weigh in on content management trends for the New Year.

Incentives at the Speed of Lightpath

Sales compensation helps a communications provider close deals more quickly.

Strategy Will Squash the Recession

A Forrester analyst reveals a five-part plan to deploy successful applications -- and to defy the downturn in the process.

30,000-Foot Views of the Cloud

A few insights on the subject from various thought leaders.

Market Focus: Insurance—Technology Helps Insurance Weather the Storm

The industry knows how to write policies, but can it create efficient policies for its own business processes?

The Google-ization of CRM

In the rush toward cloud computing, the company that began as a mere search engine is rapidly becoming the go-to source for low- and no-cost office productivity software. Handling customer information, though, requires special attention.

Business Objects Ups the Ante on On-Demand BI

SAP's business intelligence division strengthens its abilities in data warehousing and data exploration with its latest BI OnDemand release.

Small Businesses Want to Get Social, Too

Research indicates that the use of social networks among small businesses will double over next 12 months.

SaaS and CRM: 30 Percent Penetration by 2012

Gartner points to the continued evolution of software-as-a-service implementations.

Why Customers Are Sick of Healthcare

Consumer Health World '08: Consumers are cost-ignorant with healthcare -- and yet always want too much.

The Prescription for Healthcare? Consumers.

Consumer Health World '08: Health 3.0 involves an alignment with the consumer Web, but as much as consumers are clamoring for personalization, adoption still lags.

Intuit and Others Bid on Bankrupt Entellium

The Entellium saga continues as it files for bankruptcy protection, and competing vendors look to pick up the SMB solution provider's pieces.

Maximizer Maximizes Its Mobile Operating Options

The CRM vendor's mobile solution is now available for Nokia phones and other smartphones running the Symbian operating system.

Online, Black Friday Was a Letdown

A survey by Coremetrics shows a general decline in e-commerce holiday-shopping results -- but several verticals saw a surprise lift.

Transparency

Web 2.0, social media, customer feedback, conversations. Transparency is the new currency in CRM—but are you really ready to let your customer behind the curtain?

Holiday Humbug

Will the Grinch steal retail's favorite season?

A Newsletter Employs New Tactics

CareerBuilder.com, the largest job-search and employment Web site, aims to ease subscribers' search burden.

Marketers Pounce on Social Networking, But Users Shy Away

An IDC survey indicates that few users pay attention to advertising on social networking sites; more than half say they find ads there "annoying."

No Leaders Yet in Gartner's Social Software Magic Quadrant

Magic Quadrant for Social Software '08: New report shows an immature and clustered marketplace for collaborative and social tools.

Sage Adds a Little Spice to Its Roadmap

Sage Summit '08: Sage CRM General Manager David van Toor fields questions on social CRM, the recession, and collaborative communities.

Sage Keeps the Economy in Mind

Sage Summit '08: Keynotes reveal inaugural customer awards and encourage customers to fight through the recession like champions.

2009 Holiday Retail Forecast: "It's Going To Be a Disaster."

A depressed shopping season may lead to a transformation of consumer behavior -- and the disappearance of several brand-name retailers.

Wikis Grow, Podcasts and Social Bookmarking Slow

Forrester Research reveals an Enterprise Web 2.0 growth chart.

Cloud-y Announcements Surround Salesforce.com

Dreamforce '08: Salesforce.com's partners capitalize on conference momentum with a number of new announcements and product releases.

Salesforce.com Doubles Down on CRM

Dreamforce '08: The SaaS vendor ups research funds for CRM, declaring this a critical time to listen to and invest in customers and employees.

Salesforce.com and Amazon.com: Superpowers Team Up in the Cloud

Dreamforce '08: Salesforce.com cofounder, Chairman, and CEO Marc Benioff announces the cloud company's foray into Web sites and its integration with Facebook and Amazon Web Services platforms.

Changing the Channel

A DirecTV reseller gets bigger, fast.

Virtual Spenders

Personas, avatars, and social communities will drive spending in 10 years.

Market Focus: High-Tech -- The Complexity Chasm

As high-tech companies seek new directions, is the customer experience falling through the gap?

The Matures Endure

They're sticking around longer—that means their spending money has to last as long as they do.

Small Business Marketing Software Gets a Makeover

Infusionsoft updates its marketing software with a user-intuitive, fuss-free interface.

The Buzz Around Business Architecture

Forrester says business architecture is coming to the fore -- and could raise interesting questions for technology departments.

B2B Marketers Still Hesitant to Get Social

Forrester report shows that B2B marketing, unlike its B2C counterpart, may be lax in diving into Web 2.0 business efforts.

Gartner Predicts Future Priorities

From "going green" to the consumerization of the enterprise, the research firm outlines factors that will soon shake up the workplace.

The Maturing of MDM

MDM Summit '08: Vendors and customers bemoan the growing pains of master data management -- and revel in its growth spurt.

Consona Rebrands and Integrates

Consona Connect '08: Say goodbye to the names Knova and Onyx -- the two are joining forces under Consona CRM.

Teradata Moves Beyond Intelligence

Teradata Partners '08: With product enhancements galore, the enterprise data warehousing company kicks off its annual conference with a commitment to collective intelligence.

The Problem with Buyers? They Have a Brain.

Teradata Partners '08: Regardless of what you ask, customers tend to be averse to opting in or out -- in fact, they often prefer not to opt at all.

As CRM Grows, Are CRM Users Grumbling?

Two studies offer different perspectives on CRM adoption -- and yet both see an opportunity for continued growth.

Oracle Snags Primavera

The acquisition means a greater project portfolio management breadth for Big Red's enterprise PPM suite.

The New Breed of CRM Consultant

With the days of never-ending on-premises engagements and limitless budgets long gone, CRM can no longer sustain the consultancies of yesteryear. But what kinds of professional services are still needed in today's CRM industry—and what kind of CRM are consultants selling?

Sprinting Toward Disaster?

The mobile-service provider runs into problems and looks to customer experience as a solution.

The Next Act! for an Acquisition

A valuable customer management system is worth saving.

IBM's Vision Cited in Gartner Data Integration Magic Quadrant

Data Integration Magic Quadrant '08: Informatica and SAP-Business Objects join Big Blue as the leading integrators.

Oracle Joins the Conversation

Oracle OpenWorld '08: The vendor introduces and expands Social CRM applications and an initiative to integrate social networking with CRM.

Oracle Enters the Hardware Business

Oracle OpenWorld '08: Partnering with HP and Intel, the software giant introduces not one but two servers.

The Innovation Clock is Ticking

Oracle OpenWorld '08: Intel's CEO addresses the fast-paced world of computing, an extended commitment with Oracle, and Green IT.

Oracle Buzzes for the Gold

Oracle OpenWorld '08: The vendor kicks off its annual conference with a Monday keynote filled with a laundry list of announcements, strategies, and roadmaps.

Social Media Is Sloppy

Gartner Web Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit '08: An active and collaborative community involves taking liberties and setting limitations.

The Industry According to Benioff

Gartner Web Innovation Summit '08: Salesforce.com chairman and CEO weighs in on the evolving software landscape and his CRM company's monumental leap onto the platform.

Go Ahead, Get Your Head in the Cloud

Gartner Web Innovation Summit '08: Computing on the Web today means community, collaboration, and consumerization.

Sage Applies Logic to User Adoption

SalesLogix version 7.5 offers extended Web access and customization features.

Analytics the Customer Can't See But Will Experience

SAS Institute broadens its customer intelligence with a new analytics solution.

The CRM Social Hour

Gartner CRM Summit '08: Key takeaways include building upon the customer experience and embracing social trends; 90 percent of attendees report CRM budgets have either remained the same or increased over the past year.

The Customer Experience Tattoo

Gartner CRM Summit '08: Industry analyst provides recommendations in keeping interactions with the customer skin-deep.

Lead(ing) the Revolution

Infusionsoft Marketing Revolution Tour: The marketing automation provider helps small businesses manage sales opportunities.

Appian Gets Mega-Friendly

Appian, a provider of business process management software, partners with enterprise architecture specialist Mega automates and streamlines business processes.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Influential Leaders -- Kevin Bandy

The Rethinker: Kevin Bandy -- partner & manager of directory sales and marketing transformation, Accenture.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Influential Leaders -- Sridhar Vembu

The Penny-Pincher: Sridhar Vembu -- chief executive officer, AdventNet, parent company of Zoho.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Rising Stars -- Trampoline Systems

Networking the enterprise.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Rising Stars -- Aria Systems

Sending the bill, from A(ria) to Z.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Elite -- Qualcomm

Swifter connections and speedier results with EchoSign and Salesforce.com.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Enterprise Suite CRM

With Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft finally assimilated, Oracle takes its place atop the throne.

The 2008 CRM Market Awards: Market Leaders -- Data Quality

Despite an increasingly blurry line between data quality and data integration, SAS Institute's DataFlux wins yet again.

CRM for Free? Concursive Gives It Away for a Year

The open-source CRM vendor offers a free yearlong trial of its ConcourseSuite 5.0 for businesses with up to 100 users.

Maximizing Mobility for the SMB

Maximizer Software announces a branding strategy for its Mobile CRM product.

Oracle and BEA: One Big Happy Family?

Oracle's BEA Welcome Event: The enterprise software provider shares its post-acquisition roadmap, and promises "no forced migration."

The Great CRM Debate: Mobility, Web 2.0, and Consumers of the Future

destinationCRM 2008: Closing keynote speakers tackle issues and the changing face of the CRM industry.

Wake Up! The New Customer Refuses to be Bored

destinationCRM 2008: Keynote addresses today's customer demands and what companies can do to keep them coming back.

Customer Emotion Management?

destinationCRM 2008: To build customer loyalty, make experiences memorable.

The Dangers of Out-of-Date Data

A new Forrester report points to more emphasis on real-time data warehousing -- and outlines five ways to go about it.

Compiere Changes Its Business View

The provider of open-source ERP and CRM products releases an upgrade with more analytic and greater integration.

IFS Has Designs on Designing for the User

With a nod to Apple's iPhone, the enterprise application vendor reconfigures the user interface for its business software.

Forrester Wave Finds Initiate Systems and Siperian at the Center of Customer Hubs

In addition to those two vendors, Dun & Bradstreet's Purisma and Oracle UCM remain near the top of the research firm's latest report.

Following the Lead[er]

Marketing pro Dan Kennedy and Infusionsoft offer marketing advice for small businesses.

8 Enterprise Strategies That Stick

CRM can be a tough animal to tame. We've gathered a handful of tunes that actually soothe the sometimes-savage beast.

Forming the Platform

On The Scene: Gartner AADI & Gartner Enterprise Architecture -- Now's the time to decide upon a business process platform.

Required Reading -- Training for Success

Physical and mental wellness can affect the quality of customer service.

UC: As Easy as A-B-C

A Canadian school district doubles its number of phones -- and still saves money.

CDC Release Pivots Around Microsoft Technologies

Pivotal CRM 6.0 makes the platform more familiar for users.

SnapLogic Offers Integration in a Snap

The open-source data integration company provides a SugarCRM Solution Pack to solve integration woes.

"White-Label" Social Networking to Hit the Enterprise

ABI Research predicts the industry will reach $1.3 billion within five years.

IBM and Oracle Lead Gartner's 'MDM for Customer Data' Magic Quadrant

The scope of master data management widens -- and Gartner alters its report name to reflect the change.

The Hidden Cost of Email

AIIM offers a return-on-investment calculator for email management -- and spotlights the problem that email has become.

Who's in Charge of Web 2.0?

Forrester says IT departments, not business leaders, are the ones pushing for Web 2.0 initiatives.

UC: Under Consideration?

A new Forrester report reveals an increased number of unified communications pilots -- but a low number of actual deployments.

Talisma Mashes Up the Enterprise

The customer interaction management vendor -- now an nGenera company -- partners with Denodo to offer data mashups.

The Marriage of Marketing and Content

Forrester says "persuasive" content management relies on having technology and marketing personnel understand each other.

Intridea 'Widgetizes' Customer Feedback

With CrowdSound, companies can put an ear to customer noise.

A Small Biz Blossoms

Orchid Book Distributers, an Irish seller of textbooks and training manuals, sprouts email newsletters from VerticalResponse.

CRM’s a Social Animal

On The Scene: Web 2.0 -- As enterprise social computing takes off -- and employees clamor for more -- CRM providers scramble to connect, as well.

Market Focus: Healthcare -- A Prescription for Satisfaction

As healthcare becomes more technologically advanced, are patients better served?

Jumping Into the SaaS Pool

It's no longer a matter of just testing the waters: Large enterprises are making a splash with software-as-a-service CRM.

The Modern Face of IT

Gartner advises technology departments to gear up for the next wave of modernization.

If MDM's So Great, Why Aren't Companies Mastering It?

Two recent reports throw a bit of cold water on master data management, despite significant benefits and business process gains.

Trillium Software and Teradata Join Forces

Teradata's reselling of Trillium DQ offerings offers a boost in master data management for enterprises.

DataFlux Has the Edge in Gartner's Magic Quadrant on Data Quality Tools

Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools '08: Business Objects, IBM, Informatica, and Harte-Hanks' Trillium Software join the SAS Institute unit in the top box.

Mindjet Connect Allows Users to See the Big Picture

The company's nonlinear, collaborative workspace product brings visualization to customer relationships and business projects.

Gartner Slows Down the Forecast for the Storage Service Market

A weakened economy leads to a reduced growth prediction, but IBM still remains on top.

The Future of Technology: It's All History

Gartner Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit '08: Industry experts share insight on the future of information technology.

Software Trends Take the Enterprise by Storm

Gartner Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit '08: Analysts weigh in on cloud computing, social networking, and the new face of AADI.

Business Intelligence Comes Out of the Back Office

Information Builders Summit '08: Analysts weigh in on the BI industry and a changing market.

Building on BI with Predictive Analytics

Information Builders Summit '08: Information Builders strengthens its WebFOCUS platform, delivering on cost-effectiveness and demands for analytics.

All Talk

Unified communications has the potential to drastically alter the business landscape -- assuming vendors really can get their collective act (and your communications) together.

Trouble in the Air

With chaos in the airline industry, is it any wonder customers find their faith anything but sky-high?

Linksys Gets Shaken, a Community Is Stirred

How Lithium Technologies' online community-based CRM solution saved Christmas.

Metastorm Forecasts Broader BPM Capabilities

Business process management provider releases new suite offerings.

Study Points to Enterprise 2.0 Perplexity

AIIM content management research shows steady Enterprise 2.0 growth--but also vague understanding of the topic.

SugarCRM Unveils its Data Center Edition

The open source CRM vendor moves to put customization and control in the hands of enterprise customers and partners.

Talisma Acquired by nGenera

The relative newcomer -- a provider of "business-innovation platforms" -- looks to add Talisma's customer-interaction software to its rapidly expanding platform.

MDM Gets Trendy in 2008

As master data management moves out of the early-adoption phase, Forrester Research forecasts trends for the year, reasons for failure, and recommendations for future success.

Will Bigger Be Better? HP Spends $13.9 Billion on EDS to Find Out

The hefty merger hopes to rival IBM, but provides little advancement in terms of CRM.

Studies Show Steadfast Social Networking Growth

Gartner and IDC reports show Enterprise 2.0 is growing among enterprises and a valuable resource for retailers.

ISM Announces Its Top 15 Lists for CRM

ISM Top 15 '08: The CRM consultancy anoints its annual crème de la crème of the industry, and divulges emerging and prevalent industry trends.

Infor's Taking-Care-of-Business Business Edition CRM

Infor releases a CRM software package designed to meet the needs of the midmarket.

Customer Confidence Fizzles to Lowest Level in 25 Years

Retailers beware: Survey blames inflation, unemployment, and smaller income gains for buyer burnout.

How UGC Can Benefit CRM

On The Scene: AIIM 2008 -- Fostering online communities and embracing user-generated content can provide great value for CRM.

Etelos Moves Forward With Reverse Merger

The SaaS and PaaS vendor becomes a public company in an unorthodox way, raising funds for further development of its Etelos Marketplace.

4 Steps to Winning Over the Community

Web 2.0 Expo '08: With interest in Enterprise 2.0 at an all-time high, it's time to get the people behind you.

Web 2.0: The Wrap-Up Edition

Web 2.0 Expo '08: Mashups and meshes and dashboards -- oh, my!

Keeping the Web Trendy

Web 2.0 Expo '08: Aiming to innovate is always in season.

Can I Call You Back Later?

A new study shows that even top Web companies slack when it comes to the phone -- But the delayed response time could be drastic sales matter.

SMBs Can Be Mobile, Too

Wireless data provider Mobile Data Now hooks CRM up to mobile devices.

Managers Jump Up and Down for Social Networking

Enterprise social networking takes flight with Trampoline Systems' newest release.

Zoho Brings Another Application to the Cloud

With yet another Web-based application -- Zoho Invoice -- the Zoho Suite extends its sweet offerings.

Where There's a WizKid, There's a Way

The fourth annual Beagle Research study outlines the year's seven coolest and most innovative industry solutions.

Avidian's Outlook is Simple

The CRM vendor enhances sales force features and contact management through intricate integration with Microsoft Outlook.

No VoIP? No Problem.

Unified communications software vendor Objectworld offers a UC platform that lets companies keep their existing phone systems.

CDC Hears the Demand for On Demand

The vendor ventures into the on-demand CRM waters by dipping its toe into one corner of the financial services market -- institutional asset management.

Bringing the Customer Aboard the Unified Communications Bandwagon

Contact center solutions vendor Aspect Software has a new UC strategy -- and the company says it starts with the customer.

Sage's New New Global Strategy

Sage Software's latest CRM shift promises one step up in mobility and another toward integration.

5 Steps to Successful Web Content Management

AIIM '08: Analytical findings reveal certain trends when mapping out Web content management (WCM).

The Future of ECM Is Simplicity

AIIM '08: With enterprise content management on the rise, users demand to have what's easy.

Genticity's New Customer-Facing Face: Customer1

The CRM vendor brings a new offering --- and name --- to the marketplace.

OpSource Sees SaaS Reigning In the Cloud

With its new OpSource Connect, the provider of software-as-a-service infrastructure sees mainstream acceptance of SaaS as a sign that the industry is primed to tackle integration now.

RightNow's Latest Release Puts Things in Context

The on-demand supplier of customer service solutions targets contact center efficiency.

Infor Markets a New Marketing Module

The software conglomerate's Infor CRM Epiphany Outbound Marketing 7.1 offers industry-specific features for retailers.