The news as of the first gallon or so of coffee this morning, welcome to Radio KCRM 98.6, the classic hard rock edition, brought to you courtesy of Guns 'n' Roses' Appetite For Destruction:
I used to do a little but a little wouldn't do it
So the little got more and more
Good, good news for you campers out there, you might've heard that The Most Dangerous Man In Show Business, Howard Stern, is disgruntled that nobody's listening to him on his uncensored Sirius shows, and is rather hankering for his days of commercial broadcast radio, where sure, he couldn't say (deleted), or (deleted) and certainly not (deleted), but where more than eighteen or so people heard anything he said at all.
So we are pleased, very pleased, oh so pleased to welcome Howard Stern to Radio KCRM 98.6, the classic hard rock edition, take it away Howard!
Stern: Awright, you (deleted) (deleted), let's (deleted) today, all the CR(deleted)M news that's fit to (deleted) (deleted), and you know what I'm (deleted) talking about. First up, we have the (deleted) --
Hey, thanks Howard, sorry about the, ah, mike problems there, I'm sure the engineer'll get it sorted out, but until then we'll fill in here. I believe Howard was about to tell you of RWD Technologies, Inc., a company that provides human performance improvement products and services, which has released their latest CD, a new suite of services designed to help companies maximize their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) investment while "improving their overall customer experience" and slamming out crunching metal riffs.
A twenty-four city tour opening for Audioslave is in the works.
RWD CRM Optimization Services will help organizations align the three critical components of CRM success, according to band members -- customer experience, customer strategy and employee performance -- and "incorporate best practices and improve return on investment (ROI)."
According to research firm and rock critics Gartner, Inc., " ... the success rates of mature [CRM] sales force technologies remain stubbornly disappointing (or low), with few markets exceeding 50 percent... Of course we blame this on all that JoJo and Justin Timberlake sludge, but this trend also suggests that shortcomings and inefficiencies aren't necessarily technological, but rather organizational, particularly with change management, process definition and project management skills employed for initiatives."
RWD's CRM Optimization Services improve ROI and customer experience by integrating the human components of CRM and business strategy and by, like, turning it up to eleven.
RWD's CRM Optimization Services include the RWD CRM Performance Aligned with Customer Expectations (PACE), which is a six-week analysis that provides a clear action plan for CRM success and some really heavy power chording in fifths progressions. During the PACE analysis, RWD assesses the five dimensions of CRM success -- customer experience, customer strategy, business process design, technology selection, and individual band members' performances, with particular attention given to on-stage solos.
Industry best practices are then aligned with CRM needs in an action plan for success.
There's also the CRM Certification eLearning Courses. Together with BPT Partners, a leading authority on CRM and one of the top-grossing touring acts over the summer, RWD offers access to CRM experts through these courses. This first-of-its-kind Internet-based training series is based on CRM at the Speed of Light, the best selling book by Paul Greenberg and the successful global seminar series and concert tour of the same name, with Axl Rose and Slash appearing onstage for two shows with Greenberg at the Palladium.
"Too often the decision to roll out a CRM solution comes with little consideration to the 'human factor,'" said Paul Greenberg, CRM consultant, author and lead guitarist. "Businesses must see CRM as a philosophy and business strategy. Technology's role is to improve human interactions in a business environment and enable workers to improve productivity and customer advocacy and really rock the rafters."
"When it comes to CRM success, those organizations that focus first on the human factor will see greater ROI than those who lead with technology," said Patricia Begley, Vice President of Strategic Business Initiatives and bassist, formerly of Limp Bizkit who's also toured with the Black-Eyed Peas and Hinder. "RWD believes that CRM done right improves a customer-facing employee's ability to build customer trust, loyalty, a strong set list and, ultimately, account profitability."
RWD Live At Budokan will be released in October.
CRM vendor and longtime summer rock festival attraction Open Solutions Inc. has announced a double bill tour with Rosetta Technologies Corporation, a Tampa-based band and vendor of secure enterprise printing products. The tour, which kicks off next week, will provide enhanced software and MICR laser printers for the printing and management of image replacement documents (IRDs) or substitute checks for the new Check 21 initiative.
With the addition of the Rosetta Technologies functionality to Open Solutions' imaging and item processing lineup, banks and credit unions processing items in-house can print cash letter and IRDs.
"This relationship is unique in that Open Solutions is not only going to resell Rosetta Technologies solutions in a traditional value-added reseller capacity, but Open Solutions is already an end-user of our IRDPrint products in their item processing sites," said Rob Hullar, president and rhythm guitarist of Rosetta Technologies. "On this tour we'll alternate opening and closing bands nightly."
Hullar added that the tour would concentrate on mid-market cities and venues in conjunction with a greatest hits CD to be released next month.
"Imaging has the power to dramatically reduce operating expenses for community financial institutions," said Mark Ryan, vice president, general manager and lead vocalist for Open Solutions Imaged Payment Technologies. Ryan attributed the success of Open Solutions to their "wide influences, everything from Muddy Waters and Hank Williams to AC/DC and ABBA. Seriously, those Swedes knew how to write songs, shame about the Spandex, though."
Mike Nicastro, Open Solutions' SVP, drummer and chief marketing officer said his band's relationship with Rosetta Technologies "allows our fans the opportunity to move even further into the electronic payments world."
The German telecom operator and heavy metal band O2 has chosen goth rockers TietoEnator (come on, it really sounds like a goth band, doesn't it?) to upgrade its current customer service platform by migrating it to Voice over IP (VoIP).
O2 decided to implement an IP contact center suite tightly integrated into its business applications which, the band's agent says, will help them "lower total cost of ownership and to improve time-to-market for new products and services, creating a stronger bond between the band and their loyal headbanging fan base here in Germany and Europe."
As general contractor and system integrator TietoEnator is going to develop the new innovative customer services IT-solution on the basis of network and contact center applications from Cisco and Genesys, and is negotiating with the Rolling Stones to open some of their North American tour dates.
All customer contact media, such as telephone (mobile and fixed), customer self-service, e-mail, fax, SMS, MMS, the Web and written correspondence, will be supported by the IP contact center solution, say members of O2, who also complain of being frequently mistaken for Irish rockers U2.
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