Caiman.com's Awful CRM, Quorum's X-Sellerator, MKS and Mitsui, LogicTree

David Sims : First Coffee
David Sims
| CRM, ERP, Contact Center, Turkish Coffee and Astroichthiology:

Caiman.com's Awful CRM, Quorum's X-Sellerator, MKS and Mitsui, LogicTree

By David Sims

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Bill Evans Trio's performance at the Village Vanguard, released on albums like Waltz For Debby:

Boy, an article about Caiman.com's terrible CRM is the gift that keeps on giving. After publishing a column on it last year I still get e-mails from people saying they've been ripped off, ignored and otherwise reamed over by the online company.

Here's the latest:  
 
Dear David,

I too was a victim of Caiman.com just recently. I purchased a book, in new condition, and when it came it was curled badly because they had failed to wrap it with some cardboard support. The book is a small paperback children's book which is inherently pliable and requires additional care in packing, not just throwing it in a bubble wrap envelope. 

Unfortunately, the book was to be a gift, amongst others, for my granddaughter for her birthday. Caiman has, thus far, ignored my request for redress on the subject. 

I am afraid that they will not do anything. Please advise others, once again, of this terrible customer service. 

Darlyn McLaughlin
Grandmother/shopper

And you know what they say: When you hack off the grandmother shoppers, you're in trouble. Why Amazon.com continues to allow this outfit to run its operation on its site First Coffee has no idea, it certainly doesn't raise anybody's opinion of Amazon.com.

Canada-based Quorum Information Technologies Inc. has announced today the signing of five more dealership customers to XSELLERATOR.

Awright, now that's the kind of product name we need more of in this business. Forget these boring anodyne names, we want names that sound like superhero weapons from 1950s comic books and TV cartoons. The X-Sellerator! The Custo-Phaser! The Electro-Profitometer! The Rival-Crushator!

One of the five is Quorum's second DaimlerChrysler branded pilot in the United States to sign-up, and the other four dealerships are signing up to General Motors' Integrated Dealer Management System -- two of these dealerships are in Canada and two are in the United States.

Quorum has now signed a total of 38 dealerships to its IDMS offering. As one of only two approved GM IDMS suppliers in North America, Quorum's IDMS product is XSELLERATOR software, an integrated, Windows-based DMS that automates and streamlines automobile dealerships' Sales, Service, Parts, Accounting and CRM processes.

"It's great to add a second DaimlerChrysler pilot in the United States, and it fits right in with our plans to expand our XSELLERATOR offering to other manufacturers," said Maury Marks, President and CEO of Quorum, "We also continue to see interest growing in our IDMS offering among GM dealerships, which is resulting in more sales."

First Coffee wonders why the general counsel in corporations is almost always a woman. It's true here in Istanbul as well as in America. Is it a way to get a woman in "senior management," check off that informal quota, without letting her actually do any managing?

MKS Inc. has announced that Mitsui Knowledge Industries Kabushiki Kaisha ("Mitsui" to his friends and family) has selected MKS Integrity for application lifecycle management and IT Service Management process control and metrics.

Also announced today, Mitsui and MKS have established a strategic partnership where Mitsui will provide its customers in the Japanese market with ALM products based on MKS Integrity, and supply consulting, implementation and customer support in Japan for MKS Integrity.

Mitsui's initial implementation will enable Mitsui to automate its project and quality control processes into MKS Integrity, and run a project end to end from requirements gathering through design, development, test and release, enforcing process adherence and ensuring that all documents and approvals are in place as the work moves across the application lifecycle. (Pause for breath.)

MKS Integrity enables Mitsui to coordinate project work across multiple locations in Japan and China, enabling Mitsui to use "best value skills, without risking control or quality," according to company officials.

MKS Integrity provides control and access to work for each project role and team member, collecting time spent on each project task in a non-intrusive manner. MKS Integrity provides metrics for management and auditors.

In addition to improved team productivity and application quality, MKS officials say, this visibility and traceability "enable management to control quality, cost and schedule and also confirm adherence to process."

Based on this experience with MKS Integrity, Mitsui as an MKS strategic partner will provide advice and consulting to large Japanese organizations on how to use MKS Integrity to increase quality, productivity and control through automation of ALM and ITSM processes.

Deloitte has named LogicTree to the Technology Fast 50 Program for Maryland, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in the state by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP.

Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2001–2005.

Andrew Harrs, Deloitte's southeast regional managing partner for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry Practice called LogicTree "one of the very few to accomplish such a fast growth rate over the past five years."

LogicTree provides contact center products that use speech recognition to automate complex customer service tasks. The BTSLogic Information Services Division sells to service providers and telecom carriers’ world wide.

These products include Speech Enabled Directory Assistance, the Speech/Multi-Modal Services Suite, and the Information Services Hub. The Transit Division’s TransitSpeak solutions help riders plan trips or get bus schedule information over the phone.

LogicTree's CEO Fred Korangy credits the "passion" of his employees and the company's dedication to their personal development with the company's 3,095 percent revenue growth from 2001–2005.

Yes, that's not a misprint, LogicTree's revenues increased 3,095 percent from 2001 to 2005. This made LogicTree the third fastest growing Maryland company recognized by Deloitte and the seventh fastest in the two states comprising the Washington DC metropolitan area (Virginia and Maryland).

"Sustaining high revenue growth over five years is an exceptional accomplishment," Harrs said. "We commend LogicTree for making the commitment to technology and delivering on the promise of market longevity."

To qualify for the Technology Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 2001 and $5,000,000 in 2005, be headquartered in North America, and be a company that owns proprietary technology or proprietary intellectual property that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues; or devotes a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology.

If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.



Featured Events