Biographical Information

Articles for Joshua Weinberger

CRM on Twitter: October 2010

CRM on Twitter: September 2010

Influential Leaders: The Opt-Out Dropout

Mark Zuckerberg, cofounder and CEO, Facebook

Influential Leaders: The Statistician

Michael Wu, principal scientist of analytics, Lithium Technologies

Influential Leaders: The Dynamic Solo

Brad Wilson, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Business Solutions, Microsoft

Influential Leaders: The Engager

Brian Solis, principal, FutureWorks, and cofounder, Social Media Club

Influential Leaders: The Insider

Ray Wang, partner, Altimeter Group

Influential Leaders: The People Person

Doc Searls, fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, head of ProjectVRM

Influential Leaders: The Go-To Guy

Bill McDermott, co-CEO, SAP

Influential Leaders: The Chatterbox

Marc Benioff, cofounder, chief executive officer, and chairman of Salesforce.com

Rising Stars: The People(Soft) People

With one of CRM's elder statesmen at the helm, Workday's performance management may become the next wave of CRM technology

Rising Stars: The Collaborative Executioner

Focusing on the concept of "business execution," SuccessFactors knows that what happens in the workplace extends to the marketplace

Rising Stars: The Content Contender

The veteran in this year's class, Open Text knows that customers consume content

Rising Stars: The Hotspotter

Already drawing the attention of global brands, Foursquare is at the forefront of location-based (and social gaming) CRM

Rising Stars: The Social Mailman

With the purchase of CoTweet, email marketing specialist ExactTarget is ready to deliver results

Rising Stars: The Small Fry

For small businesses looking to connect, BatchBlue Software has some connections of its own.

Rising Stars: The Smartest Upstart

Some of the industry's brightest analysts hope to reach new heights at Altimeter Group

Rising Stars: The Easy Listener

A standout in the vast arc of social listening, Radian6 allows users to take a first step toward engagement

CRM on Twitter: August 2010

CRM Evolution '10: All the Links You Need

CRM Evolution '10: Your one-stop shop for all the links, coverage, and blogposts of this year's conference by the staff of CRM magazine and from around the Web.

The 2010 CRM Market Awards — Hall of Fame: Paul Greenberg

The Social Godfather: The role of president and founder of consultancy The 56 Group LLC may be his day job, but Paul Greenberg is also author of industry bible, a prolific writer — and connected to everyone.

CRM On Twitter: July 2010

CRM: Then and Now

Over the last 15 years, CRM projects and plans may have changed dramatically, introducing new angles and complex combinations, but the overarching goal of improving the customer relationship has remained a straight shot.

CRM on Twitter: June 2010

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.

CRM On Twitter: May 2010

Manifestos Are Conversations

More than 10 years after upending the balance between companies and customers, the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto reflect on its creation—and its lasting influence.

CRM on Twitter: April 2010

The denizens of the twittersphere tend to be passionate people already, and the social, political, and cultural sensitivities of the environmental movement only serve to add fuel to that fire.

CRM on Twitter: March 2010

Analysts are an opinionated bunch—especially in the Twittersphere.

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.

Required Reading: Indecisions, Indecisions, Indecisions

The author of "How We Decide" discusses the essential role of customer indecision.

CRM on Twitter: February 2010

The word on the street.

Required Reading: Greenberg at the Speed of Light

The author, thought leader, consultant, and industry expert chats with Managing Editor Joshua Weinberger and Associate Editor Jessica Tsai to reveal why he wrote the book he swore he'd never write.

The Curse of Noitavonni

The pursuit of the new is, itself, nothing new. So why do we—and customers—seem to value it so highly? This month, we take an in-depth look at the promise—and price—of innovation.

CRM on Twitter: January 2010

The word on the street.

CRM on Twitter: November 2009

What does the Twittersphere think of Salesforce.com?

CRM on Twitter: October 2009

CRM on Twitter: December 2009

The word on the street about CRM.

After the Revolution

Salesforce.com was careening toward bankruptcy. Even Marc Benioff secretly feared his company's days were numbered. But then revenues picked up — and the revolution began in earnest. He's shown he can topple an industry — but can he lead one?

The Cloud Pleaser

Marc Benioff has upended the CRM industry with his vision, service, marketing prowess, and tenacity

Salesforce.com's Secret Weapon

V2MOM: The management process that Marc Benioff calls "the glue that binds us"

Required Reading: Don’t Worry, Be Creative

CRM on Twitter: September 2009

How United Airlines learned that customer dissatisfaction + social media = a first-class pain.

Do You Know Your URLs?

Not every marketing effort includes a campaign-specific Web address -- but some of the ones that do aren't doing a very good job of connecting to the main brand.

CRM on Twitter: August 2009

The end of on-demand business intelligence provider LucidEra, captured on the public tweetstream.

CRM on Twitter: July 2009

CRM on Twitter: June 2009

Social media thought leaders, twittering about social media.

Twitter on CRM

CRM vendors are beginning to find ways to put the microblogging marvel to work -- for themselves and for their users.

CRM on Twitter: May 2009

How have retailers fared in the twitterverse?

CRM on Twitter: April 2009

Customer service tweeps speak for themselves.

CRM on Twitter: March 2009

Government 2.0 comes to the Twitterverse.

CRM on Twitter: February 2009

The recession casts a cold shadow over the Twitterverse.

CRM on Twitter: January 2009

Cloud computing gets the Twitter treatment.

CRM on Twitter: December 2008

Entellium's crisis played out on Twitter, live.

CRM on Twitter: November 2008

The financial crisis -- and the customer service issues it raises -- makes itself felt on Twitter.

CRM on Twitter: October 2008

Customer experience tales across the Twitterverse.

IBM Launches a SaaS Center of Excellence

destinationCRM Exclusive: The consultancy gathers its resources and expertise in software-as-a-service CRM -- and stresses that SaaS may not be right for everyone.

CRM on Twitter: September 2008

The twitterverse opens up on open-source CRM.

CRM on Twitter: August 2008

Some recent tweets about CRM software.

CRM on Twitter: July 2008

The microblogging site is rapidly becoming a destination of choice for the Web 2.0-savvy, and users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 are certainly among them.

CRM on Twitter: June 2008

As Twitter, the microblogging site, explodes in popularity, CRM has become a common topic. To bring the Web 2.0 world full-circle, we'll be highlighting a few choice tweets.

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.

Salesforce.com Brings Utility Computing to On-Demand -- But Not to CRM

The Force.com platform becomes the first software-as-a-service offering to allow pay-per-login pricing, but the company's CRM applications aren't included.

On the Scene: Oracle OpenWorld 2007

The company wows its users with new products and new plans for the future.

CRM Market Set to Double

Recent studies predict the global CRM market will double within six years, and suggest explosive growth in CRM adoption across every segment -- especially on-demand CRM.

Oracle Salutes ''Acquired Innovation''

At Oracle OpenWorld 2007, executives emphasize the benefits of having made 41 acquisitions in 45 months: "We've become the IPO market for the enterprise software industry."

NetSuite: A Not-So-Quiet Quiet Period

The on-demand provider fills its pre-IPO days with the announcement of SuiteBundler, a feature-and-function packaging system for resellers to maximize delivery of services.

Oracle Offers to Buy BEA Systems

On the heels of the SAP-Business Objects deal, Larry Ellison's company makes a multibillion-dollar move of its own.

Infor Takes a Breather from Building Its Better Mousetrap

Software conglomerate tells analysts to expect no further acquisitions--for now.

Analyzing Web Analytics for CRM

The DoubleClick/Omniture agreement brings renewed attention to the power of the technology.

Siebel Buys edocs for $115 Million

The CRM giant's acquisition of the electronic billing-systems provider aims to strengthen Siebel's stable of front-office offerings.

DoubleClick to Abandon Web Analytics

A partnership with former rival Omniture will bring together clients of both companies.

CRM Contributes to Homeland Security

A New York State county plans to use mySAP CRM for first responders.

Shoppers Are Dreaming of a Multichannel Christmas

Holiday consumers continue to prefer offline purchasing.

Kmart and Other Retailers Revamp Their Web Sites

The key to recent redesigns lies in uniting bricks and clicks.

Mail Order Expert C&H Clubs' CRM Delivers

Company President Kris Calef talks about variety, value, and growth.

Blue Cross Blue Shield--Rhode Island Improves its Bedside Manner

CRM united the company's information, which was had been housed in different systems.

Don't Manage Relationships, Optimize Them

Chris Twogood is one industry veteran who has his eyes on where the industry is headed.

Quality Decisions Rely on Quality Data

According to the results of a new survey conducted on behalf of Teradata, 75 percent of senior executives at U.S. companies said that the number of decisions they have to make each day has increased over the past year.

Teradata Upgrades its CRM Product

The new 5.1 release includes improved integration with Windows architecture.

Hot Seat: Should CRM Focus on Maximizing Top Customers or Boosting the Profitability of Others?

Some loyal customers may be only marginally valuable today, but enormously valuable tomorrow.

Metrics Should Define Results

Operational goals require effective operations--and that's where systems metrics come into play.

Eversheds' Partners Buy In

The U.K. law firm needed vital information to be visual and accessible to all.

CRM Remains on the Corporate Agenda for Late 2004

Forrester had forecast a 7 percent growth rate for CRM in 2004.

SalesLogix and Salesforce.com Expand Their Customer Service Offerings

These are very different announcements: They're both targeting customer service, but Salesforce is targeting the call center, as compared to focusing on premise-based trouble tickets.

Quality Care May Not Be Enough for Offshore Contact Centers

Age may be the single most reliable predictor of who will tolerate overseas assistance and who won't.

Market Watch: Database Marketers Mine for Perfect Customer Segmentation

Database marketing has quickly become integral to many organizations' CRM operations.

Averting Customer Data Loss

Violations, more often than not, are the acts of a company's own employees; Mother Nature is a very different kind of external threat.

PeopleSoft to Offer $100,000 Credits for Some New Licenses

PeopleSoft will offer credits of as much as $100,000 to customers willing to upgrade certain versions of its software before the end of 2004.

Hourly Service Worker Turnover Remains a Challenge

An Aberdeen report compiles responses from 223 companies that hire employees paid by the hour, who represent nearly 60 percent of the overall job market.

Email Marketers Suffer a Drop in Revenue

It's been a difficult year for email marketers, particularly with the enactment of the federal CAN-SPAM legislation.

What Users Want

The limitations are not in the tool. They're in our application of the tool.

Talisma Broadens Its Reach in the Contact Center Market

The biggest news is the acquisition of eAssist.

Secrets to Hiring the Best Support Staffers

According to a new report by the Service & Support Professionals Association, it's possible to predict during the recruiting phase who the top performers might be, and hire accordingly.

Insurance Industry Shows Low Regard for Customers, Study Asserts

Some firms can be cavalier with customer contacts; others are slow to respond to online service requests.

Online Sellers Still Lack Customer Visibility

Online retailers are reaching a crossroads in terms of gauging customer satisfaction, according to a recent study.

Multichannel Customers Are More Profitable, Analysts Say

Conventional wisdom regarding multichannel customers has been off target.

The 2004 Market Leaders

The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.

The 2004 Market Leaders (Part 2)

The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.

Hot Seat: Will Price Win the Battle for the Customer?

Is a hosted-or-on-demand-offering price war is looming? If so, what will vendors do to differentiate themselves and their services?

PADI Worldwide's CRM Plans Surface

PADI Worldwide unified sales, accounting, membership, and training and education to make members more self-sufficient and reduce customer service calls.

IBM Acquires Content Management Vendor Venetica

IBM stated in its announcement of the deal that Venetica will become part of the IBM Software Group's Data Management unit.

CRM Is a Priority Overseas

The responses to the surveys reflect what [executives] think on the subject and where it fits into their business plans.

The 2004 Market Leaders (Part 1)

The time has come once again for CRM magazine to reward excellence and achievement among vendors in the CRM industry. CRM vendors have individually and collectively worked to build confidence in the discipline, and those efforts are paying off. According to AMR Research, companies are still making modest-but-measurable increases in their spending on customer management tools and strategies, to the tune of an additional $600 million in spending expected for 2004. Interest is strongest among midmarket and SMB firms, which we classify as those companies under $1 billion and under $100 million in annual revenues, respectively. But there was plenty to stir things up this year. Read on to see what companies prevailed from 2003, and how others are leaving an indelible mark on the industry.

Online Consumers Are Becoming More Sophisticated

Online consumers have become more educated and sophisticated over the past year.

RightNow's IPO Marks the Firm's Passage Into Maturity

RightNow has always been very user-focused, making product decisions based on what existing customers want. As it begins to target larger deals in new verticals, there will be more market-driven development.

NetSuite Intensifies Its Focus on SMBs

The newly rechristened application is the ASP's first step as it moves forward with broad plans to expand into smaller markets.

Oracle Updates Sales and Marketing CRM Modules

The modules being upgraded, Oracle Sales, Oracle Marketing, Oracle Partner Relationship Management, and Oracle e-Commerce, either create or expand functionalities across most of the company's selling platform.

IDC Predicts $11.4 Billion in CRM Application Sales in 2008

Siebel Systems and SAP lead on the list, with Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Amdocs clustered closely behind.

Sales Effectiveness Relies on Knowledge Management

One key to achieving effectiveness, the report says, is sharing institutional knowledge.

Contact Center Market Absorbs IP Telephony

The current IP telephony standard, known as H.323, will need to be replaced for the real uptake to begin.

SAP Hires Away Senior Siebel Exec

Patrick Bakey is to be SAP's senior vice president and general manager of its North American CRM business unit.

Welcome to the Unwired City

Grand Haven, MI--a "hot city"--is the nation's first fully wireless municipality, compliments of a city-wide wireless network.

Selecting the Right Services Partner(s)

Consultants and integrators complement each other--the key is to play to each party's strength.

School Districts Use CRM to Balance the Needs of Their Constituents

For the full CRM benefits to be realized, schools will have to expand their focus, tracking the full life cycle of each student, from kindergarten through graduation.

Hot Seat: CRM Success Means More Than Avoiding Failure

Articles Editor Joshua Weinberger asked industry experts what it takes to be successful in a CRM initiative.

CRM Supports Internal Customers, Too

The company now has control over its order process, and soon will be able to get rid of its legacy billing system entirely.

CheerStix' Plan for Better Client Contact

The burgeoning company needed a better way to keep in touch with clients.

A Real-Time Timeout?

According to a new study, although the number of companies using at least some real-time data has increased over the past year, many are learning that not all decisions need real-time data.

The Price of Personalization

The real coalition of the willing, though, tends to comprise the youngest customers.

Salesnet Attends to Its Own Customer Relationships

Anthony Nelson, formerly a consultant at Scient and a global Web strategist at software vendor PTC, will fill the new C-level role.

Salesforce.com Announces Summer '04 Release

The summer release of the company's core product touts more than 100 new features.

New Onyx CEO Settles In

Janice Anderson says she's spent part of her first month assessing the competitive landscape.

CRM Market Expansion

According to the study, the industry continues to sputter in generating license revenue.

Offshoring: Not Such a Grand Exodus After All

The survey found that offshore outsourcing is limited, but that those companies that have opted for it are committed to the practice long term.

Has SAP Finally Caught Up to Siebel?

The study "The Customer Management Applications Report, 2003--2008" states that both SAP, which has $8.8 billion in overall revenues, and Siebel show about $1.3 billion in CRM revenue.

Where in the World Are Your Customers?

Geolocation has already begun to impact various aspects of marketing and sales, from lead generation to paid search results.

Customers for Life

Capture the mythical creature known as The Lifelong Customer.

What Do CRM Users Need? Just Ask Them

It's not surprising that many CRM vendors formalize interaction using customer advisory boards that have direct input into product development.

Ingrian Networks' Strategy for Successful Data Access and Integration

The biggest issue was the initial process of migrating historical marketing information.

The Sweet Taste of Success

The company's knowledge base has remained essentially static, aside from a few regular promotional events, which means efforts to maintain or update the FAQ can be kept to a minimum.

5 Ways to Ensure CRM Success

According to the results of a recent survey conducted by IBM Business Consulting Services, the quality of your technology won't be the deciding factor in predicting whether your CRM project will falter or thrive.

FrontRange Solutions Plans to Go Public and Go Hosted

McCloskey says that over the past nine months FrontRange has taken significant steps to change its corporate perspective regarding GoldMine, deciding to step up research and development.

On-Demand CRM: Is it Right for Every Company?

As with any CRM deployment, potential users still need to weigh the relative merits before deciding if on-demand is appropriate for their organizations.

The Hidden Costs of Hosted CRM

A recent Gartner research note states that companies that engage an ASP are perhaps overawed by the low initial price tag and don't consider the necessary ongoing costs they may incur as the relationship period extends.

Cutting Through the Confusion

The real distinction comes from the possibility for change down the road. Clients start with hosted or on-demand CRM with the intent of switching to an on-premises application later.

Twice as Many Online Newsletters Expected in 2004

The number of newsletters in an online format has nearly doubled over the past year, while the print-only format is actually in decline.

Women Are Less Tolerant of Bad Customer Service, Survey Says

A new survey indicates there are some significant differences in the responses of men and women to bad customer service interactions.

Customers Feel a Decline in Quality of Service

A large number of respondents--85 percent--say a single bad experience will turn them off forever.

The Never Ending Battle for Data Quality

The tolerance for bad data drops as the importance of the data rises.

Salesnet Enters the Vertical Market

The new offerings are in the areas of advertising/media sales, commercial lending, and telecommunication services.

Onyx Names a New CEO

Janice Anderson has been named the company's new CEO and chairman of its board of directors.

Contact Centers Begin the Switch to IP

A recent report states that there's an increasing tendency toward using VoIP, and they suggest that a major turning point may have arrived.

Saugatuck Study Says CRM Technologies Are the Last to Be Outsourced

According to the survey, 70 percent of respondents are at least aware of the pay-as-you-go model for enterprise software, but only 20 percent say they are already using it.

Ensuring the Success of Insurance Companies

CRM vendors have come around to a new way of addressing the needs of insurers.

Build Customer Relationships--Just Don't Call It CRM

Ultimately getting buy-in from both management and users will take a successful pilot.

The Next Chapter of CRM

The biggest obstacle to date has been the difficulty in formulating the single view of any given customer.

CRM Simplified

New technologies, from Web services to wireless broadband connections, are opening doors that previously had been bolted shut.

Call Center Spending: More on People Than Technology

The study claims that U.S. banks will spend $1.9 billion this year on contact center technology, while spending $5.2 billion on personnel.

PeopleSoft's New Partnerships and Products

Much of the news trumpeted at the conference has far-reaching implications for CRM specialists and enterprise application users overall.

PeopleSoft Announces Enterprise CRM 8.9

The updated version has solutions for customer portfolio management, partner relationship management, a more robust analytics function known as Prescriptive Analytics, and more.

PeopleSoft CEO Conway Says Fighting Oracle Has Cost Millions

PeopleSoft President and CEO Craig Conway said Tuesday at a press conference that PeopleSoft has spent "between $12 and $15 million" per quarter defending itself against its rival's overtures.

Oracle Lowers its Offer for Rival PeopleSoft

The revised offer brings the overall price tag down from approximately $9.4 billion to approximately $7.7 billion.

Poor Call Center Technology Can Impact Customer Loyalty

Most contact centers use one-dimensional metrics like time-to-respond or number-of-calls-handled to gauge success or failure. That's simply not sophisticated enough.

Siebel Systems Appoints a New Director

Lost in the news that Tom Siebel was stepping down as CEO of the company he cofounded was the announcement of John White's appointment to Siebel Systems' board of directors

Siebel Systems' New CEO

Tom Siebel steps aside, but will remain chairman of the company's board of directors.

The Five Key Differentiators Between CRM Failure and Success

The global survey claims that only 15 percent of current CRM projects are fully successful, but that the success rate can be improved to as high as 80 percent through proper business process methodology and prioritization.

Retailers Keep Moving Catalogs Online

The number of print-and-online catalogs has exceeded the number of catalogs available only in print.

Salesforce.com One Step Closer to IPO

Hosted CRM vendor Salesforce.com plans to raise as much as $85 million in its initial public offering (IPO), according to papers filed on Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Siebel Unveils a New Product Suite, an Acquisition, and an Alliance

Version 7.7 of Siebel's product suite comes nearly a year after the most recent significant release, 7.5.3.

New Study Highlights Online Self-Service Flaws Among Retail Banks

Customers relying on the Web sites of the top U.S. retail banks are unlikely to have a satisfactory experience, according to a new study by the Allen Bonde Group, a market research and management consulting firm based in Wellesley Hills, MA.

Salesforce.com Announces Spring '04 Release

Salesforce.com announced Spring '04, the latest edition of its CRM application, which includes more than 150 new features, a new point-and-click customization tool called Salesforce.com Studio, and an update to its sforce programming platform.

Onyx Buys Into Business Process Management

Onyx Software aims to enhance its suite by acquiring BPM technology

Consolidation in Billing and Customer Care Market Nearly Over, Research Reveals

The billing and customer care market is nearing the end of its consolidation cycle, and the handful of players still standing are likely to begin looking to expand horizontally into other areas, according to a new research note by The Yankee Group.

Siebel Announces Analytic Offering for the Pharma Industry

Siebel's new analytic offering for the pharma industry allows for offline remote analysis of customer data.