Biographical Information

Articles for Steve Bell

CRM Vendors Strategize the Mid-market

Sage's Interact buy emphasises the growth of CRM in the small to mid-sized space. But can Sage and others deliver on the wild expectations?

Making Real-Time Marketing Work

Struggling to untie your customers' potential? Then real-time marketing could be the solution to your problems. eB-21's Steve Bell investigates its use of analytic applications and discovers some daunting obstacles along the way.

UK Perspective: Is Personalization Practical?

There remains sound business logic to the concept of personalisation. However, for the time being, it has been relegated to the technology equivalent of a B-list celebrity. A very sad fate indeed for one that fleetingly reached the dizzying apex of stardom.

Will e-Business Bring the UK's Post Up to Speed?

The UK's Post Office is embracing e-business, with an ambitious plan to track all customer contacts. TBC's Steve Bell weighs up its chances of success.

Rapp: A CRM Strategy Beyond Technology

German CRM pundit Professor Dr. Reinhold Rapp rails against companies throwing technology at problems, insisting that customer segmentation should come first.

Deutsche Bank Pulls Out of Broadvision Deal

Deutsche Bank and American Airlines eschew Broadvision following claims of poor service and the use of a programming language that many industry pundits believe will become redundant.

Closing the Customer Connection Gap

The successful integration of channels promises to bring within reach a truly service-orientated CRM holy grail. So why are fewer than 1 percent of European call centers Web-enabled?

Dot Bombs Highlighted in New Survey

Laura Ashley's careful move into e-commerce reflects its faith in a market which has been dented by some well-publicised dot com crashes.

CRM Consulting or Insulting?

While the larger consultancies have, in recent months, been making moves to change both their structure and traditional approach, in the skills-starved front-office area it is often the client which loses out.

The Customer Service Pit

Dr. Jenny Dougmore advocates implementing a new customer service operation in small steps, easing the transition to a smooth-running solution. She tells Steve Bell how customer service can provide the foundation for a building "of architectural merit."

Measuring Sales Performance

An analysis of how sales force automation software is improving sales performance metrics for companies. Includes two case studies.

How Seth Godin "Got" Permission

Yahoo's Seth Godin embraces the concept of "permission marketing"--an alternative approach to "interruption marketing" in which consumers are actually asked whether they want to be marketed to or not. Godin's theories, which are fully developed in his book Permission Marketing Turning Strangers into Friends, and Friends into Customers, are summarized.

Overcoming the Obstacles to Successful Cross-Selling

Cross-selling has been vaunted as the big CRM idea, companies must change their culture, technology and processes to optimize cross-selling opportunities.