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| Call Center? That's So 2004 |
By Manjeet Kripalani, Louise Lee and Nichola Saminather
Americans, it seems, hate calling a help desk or customer service number to find an Indian on the line. Well, guess what, America? India doesn't particularly want to talk to you, either. As India's top companies get more sophisticated at taking over outsourced work from U.S. and European multinationals, they're finding that the lowest end of the business -- call centers -- just doesn' t pay anymore. "Call centers have become commoditized," says B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
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| Convergys 2Q profit rises 56 percent |
| Convergys Corp., which provides customer care, human resources and billing services, said Thursday its second-quarter profit rose by more than half, percent due to revenue growth in its customer care, international information management and employee care segments.
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| Art Technology Group swings to 2Q profit |
| Art Technology Group Inc., an e-commerce, marketing and customer care software company, said Tuesday it swung to a profit in the second quarter due to improved sales in both its product license and services divisions.
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| CDC withdraws buyout offer for Onyx |
| CDC Corp., a Chinese technology company based in Hong Kong, said Tuesday it is withdrawing its $5 per share cash offer for Onyx Software Corp., which makes customer relationship management software
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| Hyperion And Informatica Corporation Forms OEM Partnership |
| A global OEM partnership has been formed between Informatica Corporation (Nasdaq:INFA), a provider of enterprise data integration software and services, and Hyperion (Nasdaq:HYSL) a Business Performance Management (BPM) software company.
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| Onyx says proxy firm recommends M2M deal |
| Onyx Software Corp., a provider of customer relationship management software, said Friday that an independent proxy advisory firm has recommended shareholders vote for its $92 million acquisition by holding company M2M Holdings Inc. at a special shareholders meeting on Aug. 1.
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| Spurned suitor CDC sues Onyx Software |
By DAN RICHMANP-I REPORTER
Bellevue's Onyx Software Corp. triggered a lawsuit from suitor CDC Corp. Monday after its board urged shareholders to reject CDC' s hostile tender offer of $5 per share.
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| Wireless: Hot or Not? |
by Marshall Lager
It may be misleading to say that this article is about hot wireless technologies, since many sources think nothing is particularly new in the industry. Whether or not that' s true, the space itself is hot. Mobile technologies are experiencing a groundswell of market interest and growth. One of the reasons for this is the next-frontier nature of wireless--just as the notebook PC started as an inferior-but-portable younger sibling to the desktop, wireless devices are coming into their own as full-featured business tools after an apprenticeship as a piece of extra kit.
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| SugarCRM to unveil commercial portal in July |
By China Martens
Open-source CRM (customer relationship management) software vendor SugarCRM Inc. said Monday that it plans to officially launch its commercial portal, SugarExchange, in early July.
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| A Case Study in 21st Century Marketing |
| Overall, the marketing pilot described in this article bore out the original thesis that a campaign architecture bringing together improved targeting techniques with customized, highly personalized messages and offers would deliver response rates far in excess of those typically generated by orthodox direct campaigns.
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| New Bidder Courts CRM Specialist Onyx |
| Customer relationship management (CRM) pioneer Onyx Software is the subject of a new acquisition bid, this time by CDC Software, which owns Onyx' s old rival Pivotal.
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| Microsoft Picking Up CRM Customers from Its Rivals |
| ...they have an excellent new version that' s finally there." The integration with Microsoft applications prompted Wilson Language Training Corp. in Oxford, Mass., to replace its Siebel 6.0 CRM software with Microsoft CRM 1.2 in January 2005, said Brian Kretchman, technical development manager at the provider of teacher training resources. Despite the cost of the ...
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| Oracle Acquires Telephony at Work |
| With the addition of Telephony at Work, Oracle will be able to unify contact center technology and CRM software, reducing the cost and complexity of integrating disparate contact center and CRM data, and offering a range of deployment options. "Traditionally, CRM applications and telephony components have been delivered as separate, stand-alone applications requiring extensive computer-telephony integrations between ...
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| Telephony@Work purchase to extend Oracle's CRM software |
By Jeremy Kirk
Oracle executives sought to allay customer concerns on Tuesday over its product road map, saying it won' t force them off older products brought into its arms after its buying spree of CRM (customer relationship management) vendors.
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| Beyond E-Commerce Is R-Commerce |
| name. He was part of the family. Your customers want someone who can help them in their specific requests and make technology personable. Use data mining, CRM (customer relationship management) software and data collection technology to get to know your customer. Then use that information for their good. Think like Sam Drucker
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| It's Hard Out Here For a Manager |
by Marshall Lager
It seems like I've been in something of a rut with this column lately, focusing on what not to do, on who doesn't need CRM, and that sort of thing. Let's recap: January was New Year' s resolutions for slacker businesses. March detailed outsourcing plans for the ethically challenged. April ripped into tax accountants and the IRS--fortunately my taxes were done before that issue hit desks. And May hailed a businessman who had absolutely no need for the CRM goodness we usually preach. Do you see a pattern emerging here?
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| Kintera Launches Social CRM System |
| of belonging, instant gratification, emotional release, and sense of social impact, according to the company. Delivered via the Kintera Sphere software as a service platform, Kintera CRM is the foundation of the social CRM system and enables nonprofits to centrally record and manage the most important aspects of their relationships to provide constituents with an improved
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| Oracle Unveils CRM OnDemand |
| ...Systems Inc. The new version marks the first use of the Oracle moniker on the Siebel offering. The database company completed its acquisition of the hosted CRM vendor in January. Oracle CRM OnDemand Release 10 offers updated customization capabilities, improved sales and service features, and enhancements targeting the life sciences and financial services ...
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| Microsoft to deliver CRM in China |
By Steven Schwankert
Microsoft is joining with channel partner CDC to deliver various applications in China using the software-as-a-service model, Microsoft announced Wednesday.
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| Small-Business CRM: Hosted or In-House? |
| ...deploying software by merely attaching a connection to the vendor providing the service. What' s more, some analysts see a trend developing in which employees more readily use CRM features when access is hosted. Traditionally, one of the drawbacks of CRM software has been a reluctance by staff to use sales-automation programs. But the use of hosted services ...
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| Connecting with Your Customers |
| ...an off-the-shelf package. This provider should also be able to add in stages as a client's needs grow or budget becomes available." CRM that works well is CRM that works the way people already do, says Microsoft's Green. "It' s essential that CRM solutions are easy to use and adaptable." Microsoft CRM 3.0, launched in ...
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| Cisco Updates Joint CRM System |
| ...and midsize businesses in mind, integrating it with an improved version of Microsoft's Dynamics CRM and bringing it to the screens of Cisco IP phones. Cisco' s Unified CRM Connector works with Dynamics CRM to streamline contact-center functions. The software creates automatic screen pop-ups with caller information, provides click-to-dial capability, captures call information and creates customer records. It ...
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| Are Customers Happier as a Result of CRM? |
| ... While Truss' comments relate more to self-service CRM tools -- think Web sites that allow you to pay your own bills or automated telephony systems -- and CRM is a wider process than that, CRM software vendors are prepared to admit Truss has a point. And they' re not being overly generous -- if ...
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| How to Drive the Right Customer Management Software |
by Syed Ali
More companies wanting to leverage their sales and marketing strategies, strengthen their workforce, and use the best tools available as they battle to win new customers and keep current ones are making CRM software choices. The question is: Which choice is right?
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| Market Focus: Systems Integrators: VARs Vary in Customer Care |
| The hero of most CRM implementation stories is usually the integrator that recommends the best course of action, installs and customizes the applications, and trains personnel in their use. So, what happens when the integrator is the one with the problem? It happens a lot more often than you might think.
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| SAP Brings Marketing to Hosted CRM |
| At its annual Sapphire user conference in Orlando, SAP AG demonstrated a new SAP marketing component that has been added to its SAP CRM On-Demand service. SAP officials said the company also plans to update users on the status of its service-oriented architecture platform, Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA), and its ...
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| Six Simple Rules For Successful Self-Service |
| Chances are it's been about 20 years since you' ve stood in line at your bank to get cash from a teller. ATMs offer such convenience—and are so much more efficient for banks—that no one can fathom going back to the old days. Ever since then, companies have been eager to tap into the free labor pool of customers who can be convinced to help themselves. Through self-service, organizations have been able to reduce labor costs, increase revenue from orders of out-of-stock items or increase the loyalty of customers who appreciate speedier service.
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| Salesforce.com Takes CRM on the Road |
| ...Salesforce.com' s purchase this week of mobile-application specialist Sendia created a great deal of buzz in the enterprise-applications world. While other companies have attempted to take customer-relationship management CRM tools to the mobile world -- to help workers on the road access and update their customer databases remotely -- Salesforce.com is seen as a market leader whose moves ...
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| NetSuite Introduces New On-Demand CRM Tools |
By Jack M. Germain
Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, said the trend toward switching to on-demand software for business applications is already in progress across an array of industries. "Most people believe SaaS is a CRM-only phenomenon, and while NetSuite' s CRM deployments have been widely reported, the truth is that almost all applications will be delivered as a service," he said.
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| Pitfalls To Avoid When Choosing CRM Software |
| What is customer relationship management software, exactly? The answer to that question is different depending on whom you ask. For many companies, CRM equals sales force automation (SFA). Others use the term CRM to describe customer support management, field service, contact center, or marketing automation. Confusion or miscommunication
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| Saratoga Announces Saratoga CRM 6.5 |
| Saratoga Systems, a provider of CRM solutions, has released Saratoga CRM 6.5, the company's latest version of Saratoga Systems' Customer Relationship Management CRM software (formerly iAvenue). The new release includes several enhancements and more powerful integration ...
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| Get Your CRM to Work the Way You Do, Not The Other Way Around |
| In his book, CRM at the Speed of Light, Paul Greenberg faces the question, how do you avoid lagging and ultimately the loss of customers when they are moving lightning fast, demanding constant changes in the speed required to complete their transactions? The answer, Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Most businesses and business owners are familiar with the potential functionality of this solution-the challenge is getting your team to use it.
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| Bringing Clarity to your Supply Chain Decisions |
| Insight provides value by transforming data into useful information and presenting it in meaningful ways to the right person. It takes an objective-driven approach by providing profiles that allow a person to view only the information they need to achieve a specific objective.
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| Bringing Clarity to your Supply Chain Decisions - Part One |
| Software vendors often market their applications using a wide array of buzzwords and acronyms. Even in a relatively focused area such as Supply Chain Management (SCM), there are literally dozens of terms used to describe an application without really helping a potential customer understand what it does. Part One of this featured guest article from Randy Marble of Blue Sky Logistics
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| Microsoft tweaks CRM to improve hosting |
By China Martens
Microsoft is due to improve the hosting capabilities of its customer relationship management application with the global release of a new version of its Dynamics CRM 3.0 software Monday.
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| Microsoft Unveils Hosted CRM Software |
By Elizabeth Millard
"Many hosted providers do a lot of handwaving about customization and verticalization, but then customers find out that some of the software may actually be more horizontal," said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft CRM. "With our model, it has the maximum amount of customization, much more than in a typical hosted CRM environment."
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| Company Sued Over Selling E-Mail Addresses |
| New York' s attorney general sued an Internet company Thursday over the selling of e-mail addresses in what authorities say may be the biggest deliberate breach of Internet privacy ever.
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| Plaxo Scales Back Automatic E-Mail Feature |
| Veteran e-mail users probably recall getting a message - or several - from someone they hardly know asking for updated contact information. These messages, derided by some as spam, helped Plaxo Inc.
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| British Airways to Close 4 Call Centers |
| ST. JOHN' S, Antigua - British Airways PLC will close its four call centers in the Caribbean due to reduced demand for the services and to the growth of the Internet, a company official said Wednesday
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| Don't Miss the Opportunity To Create a WOW! Experience |
| Many people seem to have just discovered customer experience, as if it's something new. It isn' t. Every time a customer deals with you, he or she is having an experience. It may not be a WOW! experience, but it is an experience
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| Hosted Contact Center Subsector Growing Fast |
By Erika Morphy
Last year was a tipping point for the hosted CRM industry in that many more companies, including enterprise-sized firms, became comfortable enough with the delivery model to make substantial investments in the technology.
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| It May Cost More Than You Think |
by Jim Dickie
This year CSO Insights started tracking a number of new metrics related to how sales forces are leveraging technology to optimize the performance of their sales teams. The effort is part of our 12th annual Sales Effectiveness Research project, and at this article' s deadline we had responses from more than 775 companies. A couple of red flags were raised during a preliminary review of the data that are worth passing on to CRM project teams. The most pressing issue pertains to accepting claims from CRM technology solution providers about how long it will take to get the systems up and running, and how much it will cost. When vendors and solution providers speak about costs and implementation times you should trust, but verify.
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| Microsoft CRM 3.0 Aims for SMB Market |
| With the rollout of Microsoft CRM 3.0 now underway, expectations are running high that this is the version that will finally push Microsoft far into the small and medium-sized CRM vendors' turf. "This is the first time Microsoft CRM is ready for prime time," Yacov Wrocherinski, president and CEO of Infinity told CRM Buyer
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| Salesforce profit rises on subscriptions |
| Salesforce.com has posted a higher quarterly profit as subscribers for the company' s Web-based sales and customer service software surged 76 percent from a year ago.
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| Microsoft sweetens license model with SugarCRM |
By Elizabeth Montalbano
Microsoft has signed up the first commercial open-source vendor for its Shared Source licensing program, the company is expected to announce Tuesday at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco.
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| Salesnet moves closer to full CRM suite functionality |
China Martens
Hosted application vendor Salesnet is moving closer towards offering a full CRM (customer relationship management software) suite with the latest version of its software, released Monday. Salesnet 25, the new release, expands the focus of the software to include the automation of marketing functionality along with its long-standing sales process management capabilities.
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| SAP merges North and South American sales |
| Business application vendor SAP AG is merging its North American and Latin American business operations into one organization in a move aimed at increasing sales and market share.
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| Microsoft Partner Rolls Out .Net SCM for SMBs |
| Microsoft partner ODS Software on Monday rolled out a .Net Framework-enabled supply chain application first created for Fortune 100 customer Weyerhaeuser Inc. as a commercial product for small and midsize businesses.
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| Vendors Unveil New Supply Chain Software |
| Oracle Corp., Lawson Software Inc. and i2 Technologies Inc. all have either shipped an updated supply chain management (SCM) system or plan to ship one over the next month.
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| RFID and Supply Chain Visibility |
| AutoID Labs, the successor to the Auto-ID Center, centered at MIT and other locations worldwide, works to create a global system for tracking goods using a single numbering system called the Electronic Product Code. The project is supported by many major cpg and retail companies, along with technology providers.
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| Starting a Trucking Company |
| One of the most popular types of logistics company to start is a trucking company.
The first decision is really about scale, do you want to be a single owner operator with your own rig? Or do you want to set up a larger operation where you organize a number of owner operators into a larger trucking firm?
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| Introduction to Logistics and Supply Chain Management |
| Logistics Gains Prominence
Logistics became a topic for discussion in the Business World in the 1960's and 1970's and rose to prominence in the 1980's. It was truly in the 1990' s; however, that Logistics began to garner the appreciation it deserved. In the twenty-first century and beyond, the creation of a sleek, flexible and effective supply and value chains will no less than define the success or failure of organizations and perhaps even entire business types
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| Compliance, SCM Driving Renewed Master Data Management Market, Says IDC |
| A renewed focus on information governance should push the market for master data management to $10.4 billion by 2009, according to IDC market research. Master data management software and services support business goals such as compliance and supply chain efficiency. It is a set of processes that create and maintain a single view of products, customers, accounts or locations across the enterprise -- or across enterprises -- through a physical or logical hub.
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| i2 Technologies Moves Into SCM |
| A company most recognized for its integration capabilities, i2 Technologies is moving into the SCM (supply-chain management) arena. The company announced Tuesday its namesake Supply Collaboration/Lean Replenishment module designed to help companies better manage supplier interactions
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| Edge Dynamics Targets Pharma Supply Chains |
| Edge Dynamics, an SCM (supply chain management) vendor specializing in the pharmaceutical space, on Monday launched CCM (Channel Commerce Management) 3.0, a new edition of its software for regulatory compliance and transaction management among manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other trading partners.
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| i2 Technologies Moves into Next Gen SCM |
| i2 Technologies is releasing another piece of its next generation supply chain management suite. The company announced Tuesday its namesake Supply Collaboration/Lean Replenishment module designed to help companies better manage supplier interactions.
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| You Only Have One Supply Chain? |
| Here, two supply chains were indeed better than one. The company needed one supply chain for its bulky, inexpensive traditional products, and a second, completely different one, for its small, valuable electronic components.
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| The Impact of Demand-Driven Technology in the SCM Market: IBS |
| The Sweden-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) provider International Business Systems (IBS) (XSSE IBS B), while currently not a uniformly well-known mid-market global vendor, seems to be poised to change that situation. As the ERP and SCM markets suffered throughout the dismal last several years, IBS also felt a pinch of flat revenues at nearly $350 million (USD), but remained mostly profitable. This was a notable feat, especially with its ambitious product development effort is combined with the difficult competitive sales situation...
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| Truth and Trust: They Go Together |
| Q: We' ve lost trust. How do I regain the trust of my employees after six rounds of layoffs? How does my organization regain the trust of the community after we dumped toxic waste and covered it up? How does my management team regain trust of each other after a nasty political battle?
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| A calculated attempt to calculate CRM |
| A software integrator working with the open source application SugarCRM, a rival of Salesforce.com, has come up with an online calculator that compares the costs of the two CRM software offerings.
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| Supply Chain Innovation |
| What Is A Supply Chain?
The term supply chain represents the sequence of processes and activities involved in the complete manufacturing and distribution cycle - this could include everything from product design through materials and component ordering through manufacturing and assembly and onto warehousing and distribution until the finished product is in the possession of the final owner.
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| Achieving Supply Chain Productivity |
| What' s the biggest problem in supply chain management today?
It is that all too often, the mission of the supply chain organization is defined much too narrowly. In most companies, many of the most important elements of supply chain management actually lie outside the supply chain organization. They are managed by other departments or, more often, not managed at all
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| The Power of Effective Procurement and Strategic Suppliers |
| Senior financial officers are paying more attention to procurement costs—and with good reason. Because of challenging economic times, the intense focus on fiscal responsibility, and supplier contracts averaging $2 million and higher for a large portion of Fortune 500 companies, more and more companies are putting their procurement process under the microscope. While the purchasing function was once considered a back-office operation, it has steadily become as important as generating revenue.
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| Demand Chain Strategy - The Missing Link? |
| In recent years supply chain management has moved up the corporate agenda and is increasingly being cited as a reason for corporate success or failure. Poor on-shelf availability of products that consumers want, and excessive stocks of those they do not - have plagued high street names such as M&S, Mothercare, Boots The Chemists and, more recently, Sainsbury’s. As a result, supply chain management is now seen as a major competitive weapon. The complete alignment of sales and marketing, supply chain and process enablers is the key to success, argues Janet Godsell.
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| Route-to-Market Knowledge Builders |
| The past year might turn out to be a watershed one for supply chain analytics in the distribution market, certainly if RONA’s ambitious move is anything to go by. The hardware, home improvement and gardening distributor and retailer took its financials to a new level by introducing and integrating value chain analytics (VCA) software and activity-based management (ABM) software to create route-to-market cost modeling for its substantial supplier base. Such a system takes cost efficiencies to a new level, and it’s a model that will likely be adopted quickly by other companies that want to see their costs properly allocated and better accounted for.
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| Let CRM Drive Your Supply Chain |
| As Russ Hill, worldwide director of retail, consumer products, and distribution industry marketing at business intelligence provider Business Objects, says, "As retailers spend every day in 'survival mode,' the competition to gain insight that helps them understand who their customers are is increasingly intense.
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| Lucrative but "Risky" Aftermarket Business—Service and Replacement Parts SCM |
| Growing pressure to improve customer responsiveness and profits has lately changed the traditional role of service management for spare and replacement parts. As competitive pressures push more products to a commodity-like business model, many manufacturing companies are increasingly relying on customer service to retain or establish a competitive advantage. Many manufacturers and distributors are also beginning to recognize that there are significant revenue stream and ways to increase customer satisfaction in the aftermarket once their product has been sold...
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| RFID middleware market evolving |
| RFID middleware spending is growing steadily, but mostly for pilots, and the software remains immature, with potentially serious weaknesses, according to a story by Frontline Solutions, citing data from recent reports by Frost & Sullivan and AMR Research.
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| RFID kit |
| Barcoding Inc. has released several RFID kits that will allow companies to comply with RFID mandates, including those from Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense.
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| Build Success Into Your CRM System |
| One of the most important aspects of implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system is ensuring that it meets the expectations of a variety of audiences within your company. Top managers want to be sure they will get a positive return on their investment in this new system.
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| More than Software: Making CRM Work |
| Who hasn' t seen or heard about the ultimate CRM solutions being offered by software vendors today? Modular systems designed to support rapid customization for your business needs Analytic engines that allow you to "slice and dice" market data a million different ways for any number of your customers Web phone, real-time video and other advanced interfaces that offer your customers new ways to ask questions and/or request service.
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| Relationship Management in the real world |
| In the age of commoditisation, service has become the sole differentiator. With the increasing globalisation of business, companies need to accept that relationship management is the one factor that sets successful companies apart from their competitors. [ spokesperson ], [ position ] of [ company ], looks at some of the requirements and benefits of real CRM.
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| Why CRM/SFA Projects Fail |
| CRM best practices today. As such he' s by definition one of the most knowledgeable on biggest pitfalls. You see as many CRM projects as Jim has (over a thousand and counting) and you see a lot of shrapnel sticking out of charred hulks.
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| SCM Blasts Off into Space |
| With a recent $3.8 million NASA award to MIT for research on "interplanetary supply chain architectures," SCM is soaring to new heights of visibility
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| The Tao of Supply Chains |
| The CIO of a national distributor says the lessons he gleaned from a 2,500-year-old Taoist philosopher helped him come up with a low-cost inventory system that worked.
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| SugarCRM offers support to open-source users |
By China Martens
SugarCRM on Wednesday introduced Sugar Network, a bundle of software, online training, and support for users of the open-source version of its CRM (customer relationship management) software. The company also officially unveiled the next release, Version 4.2, of its commercial and open-source SugarCRM products.
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| Consignment Stock: An Innovative Approach to Inventory |
| The relationship between companies and their suppliers is more important than ever in today?s dynamic and selective marketplace. To create and maintain competitive advantage, companies must collaborate with their suppliers in the search for innovative ways to handle pivotal issues such as inventory policies and management.
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| Connect Demand With Supply |
| The CIO's next big challenge will be figuring out how to bridge the company' s sometimes conflicting CRM and SCM objectives
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| Don't let your SCM software be the weak link in your supply chain |
| Not that you'd take any commitment to a supply chain management solution lightly, but isn' t it important to make the best choice anyway? Choosing an application to handle your supply chain management (SCM) system is one of the most crucial decisions your company can make.
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| Making I.T. Work: Naked Goes the Enterprise |
| The pressure for greater enterprise transparency is coming from all directions. CIOs can't resist the concept; they can only manage the execution. And they' d better do it well.
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| IBS–Slow but Steady (and Demand-Driven) May Win the SCM Race |
| International Business Systems (IBS) (XSSE IBS B) is a Sweden-based global provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) industry-specific software solutions and other accompanying services for companies embracing IBM-based technologies. Since the early 1990s, IBS has achieved some success in transitioning from mainly being a Scandinavia-based solutions provider to a player in the broader European, Asia-Pacific, and North American markets. It now has an international network in over twenty countries...
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| Salesforce.com: the next Microsoft? |
| Summit Strategies President Tom Kucharvy argues in a new report that the application service provider could pull it off. New Salesforce.com products are giving enterprise developers the tools to create entirely new applications atop the company' s online, ondemand Salesforce and Supportforce applications.
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| Small Is Beautiful |
| Plans to invest in CRM this year are skipping the big enterprise systems and going for modular software purchased from smaller vendors or built in house. Could this trend breathe new life into internal IT departments? Let us know what you think.
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| AT&T Wireless Self-Destructs |
| The story of a botched CRM upgrade that cost the telco thousands of new customers and an estimated $100 million in lost revenue. Hard lessons learned.
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| Getting to Know Them |
| Tackling CRM is a huge challenge for companies across all industries. Here's how four of this year' s winners are able to gather and mine customer data for real value.
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| Sweet Deals or Bitter Meals? |
| Should you agree to be a poster reference in return for preferential treatment? Two CIOs take opposing sides in this ongoing debate.
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| You Are What You Watch |
| Just as the advertising sector swings into an apparent rebound, another threat looms large, for the entertainment and advertising industries. Americans are rushing to purchase digital personal video recorders, (the best-known brand is TiVo) so they can zap those pesky TV commercials right out of their lives.
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| Real-Time One Domino at a Time |
| Real-time data can prevent distortions in product demand forecasts. But as Network Services' CIO learned, it isn' t something that can happen all at once.
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| No Frills Wireless |
| Charged with keeping tabs on retail displays, Chuck Latham Associates turned to PDAs and custom software.
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| Identity Crisis |
| Identity management projects promise big returns, but be prepared for long, complex implementations.
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| Is CRM a Safer Investment Now? |
| Analysts agree that the new Siebel onDemand offering makes it easier for companies, large and small, to test out CRM. As always, however, there is a downside.
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| Point & Counterpoint on CRM/Email Marketing |
| E-mail has changed the way we work and communicate. But have organizations really changed their existing processes to take full advantage of this powerful sales channel? We share our views…
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| The Ideal Supply Chain Is Within Reach |
| The U.S. economy is experiencing a productivity boom last seen in the post-World War II era. The last boom was fueled by the widespread deployment of mass production systems, the automobile, and their pervasive impact on the way we live. This new one can be linked to the widespread deployment of technology and information and, at last, their pervasive use throughout business and society. Economists and futurists argue persuasively that we are at the beginning of the deployment phase of the technology revolution, and that if it plays out, we will see an unprecedented boom cycle.
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| CRM’s Weakest Link: Data Quality |
| Data quality is key to the success of any Business Intelligence project. Bad data ultimately means failure. Due to their very nature, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) projects are typically high profile projects. This article provides some guidelines for ensuring data quality.
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| 300 Brands, One Strategy |
| When your reach is as vast as Procter & Gamble' s, building a worldwide view of your customers is a matter of thinking globally and acting locally.
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| 'Hard' KPIs Not Enough |
| In Customer Relationship Management (CRM), non-monetary factors must not be ignored when the return on investment (ROI) for a CRM project is calculated
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| The Shelfware Boondoggle |
| A recent Gartner study reports that of the CRM software licenses purchased in 2002, an embarrassing 42 percent remains unused, at an estimated waste of $1 billion to $1.27 billion.
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| Future Results Not Guaranteed |
| When it comes to real demand forecasting, computer software isn' t there yet. Existing products simply cannot exercise the kind of rational analysis or judgment at which human beings excel.
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| Mid-market CRM: The Newest Battlefield |
| Vendors that traditionally catered to the under $1 billion crowd may find themselves squeezed between the enterprise giants and scrappy little vendors like Saleslogix.
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| Fundamentals of Value |
| THE MISSION OF THIS column has been to help readers understand how to create value through IT.
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| All for One View |
| Vanguard has always served its customers virtually. By 1998, customers were using Vanguard.com to open and manage accounts.
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| Customer Retention is the (new) Name of the Game |
| Cell phone companies can throw all the money they want at sophisticated CRM systems and targeted marketing campaigns. But if they do not have the basic courtesies and common sense skills to keep customers happy, they are destined to fail.
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| Forward Thinking About Reverse Auctions |
| ONLINE REVERSE AUCTIONS look like a silver bullet that cuts costs quickly using e-business tools. Reverse auctions are fixed-duration bidding events hosted by a single buyer, in which multiple suppliers compete for business.
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| Pain-Free CRM |
| By taking the time to integrate data for its online CRM system, a regional health plan has succeeded where other large insurers have stumbled.
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| Integration the Right Way, the Wrong Way |
| Besides being giants of their respective industries, they share a similar organizational structure—at least with respect to how each company approached integration, says Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and author of Technology Integration: Making Critical Choices in a Dynamic World
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| Is Customer Loyalty Flying out the Window? |
| Over the years, the major airlines have spent buckets on building up customer loyalty, through frequent flier mileage programs and a level of service that distinguished them from the low-cost upstarts.
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| ASPs: The Next Chapter |
| Application service providers are increasingly viewed as a viable option in the CRM space, particularly for small and midsize companies.
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| Ironing the Kinks out of Cross-Sell |
| Now that telemarketing is on its deathbed, companies that rely on aggressive marketing have turned to a new Holy Grail: the captive cross-sell.
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| CRM Is Not for Micromanagers |
| AS PITCHED BY VENDORS, customer relationship management technology is a control freak' s dream. CRM systems promise executives every last excruciating detail on sales-force activity, customer service transactions and customer behavior.
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| Build the Business Case |
| CIOS HAD BETTER BE ABLE to swiftly implement effective IT solutions for their companies' customers. Fail at that and you're fired. But strategically savvy CIOs recognize that future rewards will come from implementing effective solutions for their customers' customers.
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| So What’s It All Mean? |
| Tacking on software that analyzes customer data may be the best way to achieve ROI on your CRM implementation.
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| What are the essentials for implementation of any CRM system |
| There are critical factors associated with successful implementation of any CRM system. Companies embarking on their first, second or nth generation of CRM automation software will need to ensure that certain issues are addressed carefully, since together, they will have an impact on CRM
project's success.
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| CRM, Has it lost its allure |
| Customer relationship management, the business concept not the technology, is as old as the first time someone decided to sell their goods to someone else. Thomas Watson, Sr., founder of IBM, developed the art of customer relationship management into a science. This is what made IBM great for so many years, and what Lou Gerstner brought back to Big Blue.
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| Farming out CRM |
| Outsourcing CRM applications makes sense for midmarket companies that can use a service such as Salesforce.com, or for companies where CRM is not a high enough priority to be done in-house.
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| Suspicious Minds |
| Collaboration among trading partners can unlock great value. Mistrust is the barrier. Here are six ways to build confidence.
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| New Value, Same Customers |
| A FUNDAMENTAL TENET in customer relationship management is that companies win by attracting and keeping their most valuable customers. This is a simple concept if you know who your most valuable customers are.
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| New Value, Same Customers |
| A FUNDAMENTAL TENET in customer relationship management is that companies win by attracting and keeping their most valuable customers.
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| Can' t Get No Respect |
| A new survey finds a majority of Fortune 100 companies shockingly unresponsive to online customers and their needs.
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| A CRM Success Story |
| The CEO of Boise Office Solutions suggests that giving customers greater economic value might just lead to a better ending.
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| Back to the Future: CRM Vendors in the Hot Seat |
| As they did in the early days, some CRM vendors are again doing their own implementations. Senior Editor Alison Bass notes other alternatives to the big implementers that companies are trying.
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| Drilling for Every Drop of Value |
| When ChevronTexaco stopped worrying about how much oil it could pump and started worrying about how much its customers wanted, it began driving cost out of its supply chain, increasing efficiency and transforming its business.
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| The Right Tool for the Job |
| In the CRM ring, which matters most? A rich array of functions, or the ability to be flexible and fast?
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| The 5 Keys to Supply Chain Success |
| Automating your chain is the most difficult software project you'll ever do. Get it right, and you' ll save your company huge amounts of cash. Get it wrong, and it will break you.
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| Customer Software Shakeout |
| IT' S A LITTLE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, BUT for the first several decades of the Age of Whopping Expensive Calculators we generally ignored customers.
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| Stitching Applications Together |
| Combining legacy data and modern access methods doesn' t have to be like surgery. With an integration team, it can be downright painless—for you and your budget.
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| Training and ROI |
| Statistics consistently reinforce that the biggest challenge in today’s contact center environment is agent training. Turnover continues to be high; new hire costs are on the rise—I’ve seen anywhere from $6500 to $10,000 quoted per agent!
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