January 2007 Archives

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music has rolled on to the Dave Holland Quintet:

Graham Technology, a provider of customer-oriented business software and services, has announced that it has been selected by Standard Bank of South Africa to provide a contact management product for its front-office contact center.

SBSA operates across 17 African countries and 21 countries outside of Africa. It is the largest South African banking group ranked by assets and earnings and employs more than 40,000 people worldwide.

The bank is currently undertaking an enterprise contact center consolidation program, and Graham Technology’s software will provide the bank’s front-office contact center with advanced contact management capabilities.

Mike Hughes, managing director, Graham Technology, said landing "yet another large international customer" is "another great validation of our company’s strength in the contact center CRM market."

As part of a joint project team, Graham Technology and global IT services firm, Dimension Data, will roll out the product in a phased approach, with delivery in the first quarter of 2007.

The deal also further cements the strong relationship between Graham Technology and Dimension Data in the South African market, and hopefully adds impetus to the recent trend towards improving customer experience in the country.

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Tenrox, a vendor of workflow-driven Project Workforce Management products, has furthered its relationship with Microsoft after executing an agreement that allows Tenrox to offer the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 under the Microsoft ISV Royalty licensing program and Services Provider Licensing Agreement.

Under this new agreement Tenrox will release a new version of its Project Workforce Management software that uses the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 feature set for a product that can be hosted or deployed on premise.

"Tenrox Project Workforce Management for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an integrated product that connects the sales team to the project and service delivery teams," said Brad Wilson, General Manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Microsoft.

"We have been monitoring the evolution of Microsoft CRM and CRM Live over the last few months and are excited about introducing the combined project workforce/CRM offering to our international customer base," said Randy Urquhart, Director of Product Marketing at Tenrox.

Urquhart said he thinks the market shift towards "a project-driven approach to work delivery" and the emphasis on customer relations and satisfaction levels makes this a "compelling" offering.

"Improved customer relations, project delivery and workforce management is paramount for companies that want to emerge as leaders in their respective market sectors," he observed.

Combining Tenrox's Project Workforce Management with Microsoft CRM is being marketed by Tenrox officials as a way to give an organization's sales team and project workforce a 360 degree view of "customers, engagements, and up-to-the-minute information on project status including key milestones, billing and invoicing information, projects/service contracts that are nearing completion, issues and risks, and scope change requests that could trigger new sales opportunities."

Microsoft CRM licensing under this agreement is now available from Tenrox. Tenrox is currently seeking to partner with Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation companies to build awareness and expertise to support the launch of the new product.

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Financial Objects, a tech and CRM vendor for banking, wealth management and energy, has announced "strong uptake from the private client sector" for its wealth management products in 2006.

In its first year of entering the market, the company secured 14 new customers for its activebank Wealth Management Application Suite. Recent contract wins include Concorde Bank, Russian Commercial Bank, ADM Securities Ltd, The Family Office and institutions based in Luxembourg, the Baltics, the Middle East and the UK.

This momentum has continued in 2007, company officials say.

"Today's wealth generation is more financially intelligent than ever and private clients expect a high level of service," said Alois Pirker, senior analyst of Aite Group, LLC. "To be successful in this buoyant market, providers of wealth management products need to recognize the requirements of both wealth managers and their customers."

By providing integrated CRM and asset management capabilities on a single platform, Financial Objects' hopes to increase its market share.

The level of integration of these products means end users can access CRM, portfolio management, risk management, performance measurement and client reporting capabilities in a single system.

"Wealth management is an important sector for us," said Stewart Foster, director, Activebank division at Financial Objects.

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QuickArrow, Inc., a vendor of Professional Services Automation and management products, announced their 13th consecutive quarter of revenue acceleration, with fourth quarter revenues 48 percent higher than in the same period last year.

"2006 was a banner year for QuickArrow. We grew our user base by 47 percent," said QuickArrow's CEO, Elizabeth Davis.

She added that "half of all our new business is coming from client referrals and we had a retention rate of 95 percent."

Louise K. Allen, QuickArrow's Vice President of Product Strategy, said the company invested heavily in technology and product innovation in 2006. "In May, we introduced our second generation web services API and enhanced our reporting capabilities. Our Winter '06 Release added AJAX-enabled usability upgrades, and vendor invoice reconciliation capabilities that support SOX compliance."

The company's efforts paid dividends, with 79 new clients signing to add over 7,000 new users in 2006. The company also received The Service & Support Professionals Association's "SSPA Recognized Innovator Award" for its approaches to cutting operational expenses and increasing productivity for professional services organizations.

Ron Jennings, QuickArrow's CFO, credited the "beauty of the SaaS Recurring Revenue model" for their ability to predict their revenue and growth trends "several years out."

In 2007, QuickArrow plans to expand their SharedSuccess CRM and Client Support Programs, including an ongoing series of educational client webinars, the inception of Regional User Groups throughout the U.S. and in EMEA, and their annual SharedVision Conference, which provides services professionals a forum to network with industry leaders and analysts, share ideas and best practices, and view QuickArrow's upcoming product innovations.

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Interesting person died yesterday, Sidney Sheldon. While you might remember him, if at all, as a writer of trashy -- albeit highly successful -- novels, he's one of the very few writers to have won an Oscar, Tony and Emmy for his script writing.

He also created and produced the classic I Dream Of Jeannie show, and while producing The Patty Duke Show Sheldon, in his own words, "did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and we've selected a progressive sequencing of jazz CDs, getting off the ground with Hank Mobley's sturdy Soul Station, gathering speed with Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners, then diving into the Dave Holland Quintet's Conference of the Birds, finally launching into orbit with a personal favorite, Jaco Pastorius' self-titled CD.  Might finish off with some Sinatra for re-entry:

ProfitLine, a vendor of outsourced telecom expense management, has announced its participation in the AOTMP Certification Course. 

AOTMP is a telecom management best practice organization providing best practice standards, educational content and resources, and professional certification programs.

The focus of the collaboration between ProfitLine and AOTMP, according to ProfitLine officials, is to "achieve a common body of knowledge and language among ProfitLine's auditors to provide uniformity in knowledge content, expertise and best practices."

"Uniformity in process means the client is served efficiently and consistently," explains ProfitLine Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Business and Client Development, Andreas Schenck.  "The more standard the process is, the shorter the cycle time for example in applying credits resolving billing error disputes, so our clients benefit sooner."

Processes are designed to work efficiently for auditors and customers alike, Schenck says, adding "It puts all of our auditors on the same playing field and results in unvarying service expectations among our clients."

As part of AOTMP's certification program, individuals must complete five days of "boot camp" training, complete a skills-based project and pass a certification exam which includes competency in the wireless arena. 

Focusing on three telecom management disciplines -- Organization & Resource Management, Financial Management Strategies, and Technology Selection & Negotiations Practices -- the wireless and wireline certification training shares step-by-step methodologies that enable telecom professionals to effectively overcome time, resource and budget constraints. 

These Certified Telecom Management Professionals are also provided with a complete set of reference tools, containing process maps, procedural instructions and human and informational resources.

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Foundry Networks, Inc., a vendor of end-to-end switching and routing products, has announced that the London Internet Exchange, one of the largest global Internet Exchange Points, has installed its BigIron RX-16 Series backbone switches. 

The increased switch capacity is required as the volume of carried Internet traffic is growing 50 percent year-over-year, Foundry officials explain. Today LINX handles more than 116 Gigabits of traffic per second. 

LINX is a not-for-profit organization owned by its content delivery and Internet Service Provider members, offering peering between all the parties to exchange Internet traffic in order to reduce costs and provide more direct routing of traffic. 

Membership has exploded in the past four years, up from 120 to over 230 organizations today, with 18 percent growth in 2006 alone.  This makes it one of the largest IXPs, and among the best for international reach with LINX members coming from over 30 different countries around the world, with access provided to over 50 percent of the global routing table.

A long-standing customer, LINX has consistently powered its networks with various Foundry switches over the years and was one of the first organisations to purchase its 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) switches in 2002. 

"With demand for GbE and 10-GbE port connectivity outstripping the capabilities of our existing infrastructure, we knew we'd have to buy new chassis to cope," said Mike Hughes, chief technology officer for LINX.  "Switch technology has jumped a great deal recently."

Such high-speed connectivity is required by the LINX as it needs to keep pace with demands placed on it by members and maintain headroom capacity to deal with sudden upturns in Internet usage or massive failures in the Internet elsewhere in the world. 

The BigIron RX series switches also enabled LINX to cope with the shift in the type of traffic commonly handled today, namely real-time applications like voice and video, which are sensitive to congestion on the network. "Our testing showed that, compared to the competition, the BigIron RX switches have very low jitter," Hughes said.

"If there was an outage at LINX, which went on long enough, it would mean that network operator routers would start reconfiguring their forwarding tables and there would be a ripple in the pond effect, which would in turn slow Internet traffic down. MRP2 means that you don't drop the stone in the pond in the first place."

Hughes says "we're often re-building the aircraft in flight -- enhancing the network and moving customers with us at the same time. This is crucial since higher density switches will always be needed as capacity demands keep escalating. We'll need even higher density 10-GbE switches to keep up with this. In three years time, I'll be looking for a box the same size as the current BigIron RX but with the same number of 100 GbE ports as there are 10-GbE today."

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Continuous Computing, a vendor of integrated systems and services that enable telecom equipment manufacturers to deploy Next Generation Networks, has announced its partnership with Raza Microelectronics, Inc,, a vendor of processors for communications and consumer applications.

This partnership accelerates the delivery of the highest performance, lowest latency AdvancedTCA packet processing products available today, thereby offering telecom equipment manufacturers what they call "significant performance and time-to-market advantages" in providing "content-aware" routing, traffic management, and security solutions to their customers.

Continuous Computing has selected RMI's XLR Processor architecture based on its unique multi-core, multi-threaded, power-efficient design, Raza officials explain, adding that the XLR Processor serves as a key enabling technology underlying Continuous Computing's entry into the deep packet inspection arena.

The processing capability of the XLR Processor Family complements a wide range of Trillium and third-party software options for increased performance. The innovative XLR732 processor consists of eight MIPS64-compatible cores with 32 processing threads, designed for maximum throughput and workload efficiency.

Optimized Trillium protocol software running on the XLR732, Continuous officials say, will "be able to perform significantly better than protocol software running on other types of packet processing architectures."

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SAP's been in the news for their CRM recently, but they don't want you to forget about their ERP. SAP AG has announced that more than 1,000 customers are live on mySAP ERP 2005, the latest release of SAP’s enterprise resource planning application.

The milestone marks "the fastest adoption rate of an ERP release in the history of the company," SAP officials claim. Organizations in diverse industries around the world --the company cites Higher Education Press, China; The Department of Water Resources, State of California; Technische Werke Ludwigshafen AG, Germany; and Palfinger AG, Austria -- are using what SAP calls "the industry’s first business process platform."

Generally available for customers since May of 2006, the latest version of mySAP ERP together with SAP NetWeaver serves as a business process platform customers may adopt at their own pace.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is John Prine's "Sweet Revenge:"

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems has announced the addition of Phone/Mate, what it's calling "a salesperson productivity tool" within its CRM module, Customer/Mate.

Available as an option, Phone/Mate is powered by Toll Free Edge, Inc., a vendor of voice software applications.

Phone/Mate is described by Auto/Mate officials as "a tool for tracking inbound and outbound sales calls," allowing the dealership sales management team to "create salesperson accountability, increase salesperson productivity, and measure advertising campaign results."

"One of the biggest problems dealers have is salesperson productivity," said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate Dealership Systems and former dealership General Manager. "As all dealers know it's not what you expect it's what you inspect."

Must be a car industry thing.

Phone/Mate, he said, "helps managers identify areas in which the salespeople are effective and areas that require improvement. By implementing this knowledge on a day to day basis, managers can help their salespeople become more successful."

The way it works is throughout the day, managers can see that the salespeople are making their calls since Phone/Mate will automatically update call status within the manager's view on Customer/Mate CRM. In addition, managers can run reports showing how many calls were completed, length of calls, and then specify parameters of certain calls to be selectively listened to, such as all calls longer than five minutes.

Listening to recorded calls can tell a manager how salespeople are interacting with their prospects or customers. Recorded calls can then be played back in training scenarios for the staff to help them improve phone techniques.

"Instead of asking, What did this person do today? Phone/Mate allows managers to ask, How can we improve what this person did today?" said Esposito.

Customer/Mate CRM can be set up to track and record all inbound sales calls, helping managers evaluate ROI on advertising dollars.

Assigning a unique toll free number to every advertisement, whether on the television, print, yellow pages or Internet, allows the results from each ad to be tracked and recorded. The system even analyzes the reports for the dealer, making it easy to identify where marketing dollars are best spent.

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In other automotive CRM news, AutoSurvey, a vendor of customer loyalty products, has announced it has renamed the company from AutoSurvey, Inc. to Vital Insight Group, LLC.

AutoSurvey was formed to market its namesake customer loyalty application to automotive dealers. Recently, company executives decided to differentiate between the product name and company name due to plans to consolidate the company's additional product lines under one entity.

"AutoSurvey remains our flagship product, but the interest from other industries for similar customer service solutions could not be ignored," said Jason Tryfon, President of Vital Insight Group. "The expansion into other markets benefits our automotive clients as we'll be combining several development teams and growing several product lines under one roof, adding increased functionality, support and Research & Development."

Vital Insight Group, LLC is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona with Canadian operations, Vital Insight Group Canada Inc., located in North York, Ontario. The company also maintains a regional based office in Los Angeles.

In 2006, Vital Insight Group experienced tremendous growth. In less than one year, the customer base for AutoSurvey grew from less than 100 automotive dealers to more than 1,000, and company revenues have quadrupled.

"Customers like the fact that dealer principals are involved as part of our team and can explain how the product functions and how they should build the program for their particular needs," said Tryfon by way of explanation, adding that "if a dealer wants a change, it's done immediately, not in one week or two weeks."

Through its partners, AutoSurvey has certified interfaces to more than 45 DMS products, easing integration concerns for auto dealers.

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There seems to be a theme at work here, as Ownersite Technologies, a developer of Web-based and mobile applications designed to "increase vehicle safety, reliability and value for consumers, and provide expanded CRM capabilities for automotive service providers," according to company officials, has announced that it has formed a partnership with myEZCarCare.

The partnership is supposed to combine "the utility of Ownersite's consumer model with the capabilities of its OEM model," and integrate it with "myEZCarCare's business model to provide additional marketing and customer loyalty functionality, co-branding opportunities, and prepaid preventive maintenance options."

MyEZCarCare is designed, company officials say, to "align the needs of the consumer, auto dealer, and auto finance company."

MyEZCarCare's innovative, technology-based prepaid car care maintenance system offers a range of plans and benefits -- from oil and filter change programs to comprehensive multi-year plans which cover all preventive maintenance.

All plans come with the Electronic Glove Box, developed with Ownersite Technologies, which provides reminder notices, online maintenance records, recall alerts, various reporting and expense tracking tools, loan and lease payment reminders, online vehicle resources, a personal web page for the consumer's vehicle, and much more.

In commenting on the value proposition that this partnership offers, Ownersite's Founder and CEO, Steve Eppinger, said "people are keeping their vehicles longer, so maintaining safety and residual value are important."

This partnership, he added, "combines the technology capabilities of Ownersite.com with the finance and auto expertise of the team behind myEZCarCare. The two services share similar foundations."

Ed Bourgeois, CPA, Founder and CEO of myEZCarCare and a guy who never hears any Karl Marx jokes, said the program "helps build loyalty and provides ongoing marketing opportunities for dealerships and financial institutions. Also, prepaid maintenance best assures that a vehicle will be maintained, protecting vehicle value."

MyEZCarCare will be sold through multiple channels, including franchise dealerships, select high-end independent auto dealerships, financial institutions that finance new or used vehicles, vehicle leasing companies, Internet vehicle sales channels, fast lube locations, direct mail, alliances with major consumer organizations, automobile warranty and insurance companies, and credit card marketing programs.

The pilot program was launched last month in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri markets. The program will roll out on a national basis in the coming months.

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In keeping with the theme of the column today, how much of the fact that Toyota's so much more successful in America these days, more so than traditional American car makers, has to do with the fact that they care a lot more about customer satisfaction?

Just asking.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Beatles' White Album. For some reason I just never really got into these guys, despite liking most of the music around them -- First Coffee's a fan of the Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, Van Morrison, The Kinks et al, but never really warmed to The Beatles.

Oh I've heard all their stuff, I respect them and all that, but I rarely think "Hey, let's listen to The Beatles." Maybe if I just put all the albums from Rubber Soul through Abbey Road -- which I have, the way people keep Bibles in their house but never read them -- on the changer and played 'em all through in one shot I'd have a different perspective.

Xactly Corporation, a vendor of automated on-demand sales compensation management, has announced that they are working on a strategic alliance with RightNow Technologies.

Motivating sales and service staff is "a critical component to any customer experience strategy," Xactly officials say, adding that "focused and well compensated sales representatives are more likely to provide the high touch experience customers expect."

"Xactly Incent is an excellent complement to RightNow's offerings," said Christopher W. Cabrera, Xactly founder, president and CEO. "By teaming with RightNow, Xactly will be able to provide clients with on-demand sales, services and compensation management."

Xactly's contention is that giving sales and services personnel with real-time visibility into their sales compensation and performance will help organizations better align sales teams.

The combination of Xactly Incent's rules-based, services-oriented architecture, and RightNow's solutions is being marketed as a way to "help organization clients in such diverse industries as high technology, telecom, travel and hospitality, public sector, education and financial services build compensation plans that are specific to their organizations," according to RightNow officials.

For example, RightNow Service customers will be able to design variable compensation plans for service or call center employees based on the key performance indicators that mean the most to their business success such as response time, call volume, new versus completed cases, call resolution or average handling time.

"Today's customers have unprecedented choice and control," said Greg Gianforte, CEO and founder of RightNow. "Superior customer experiences are the only definitive way to retain and expand relationships with customers. Compensating and motivating sales and service staff is a step in delivering these types of stellar interactions."

Prior to the advent of Xactly Incent, company officials say, companies "had to rely on spreadsheets to manage sales compensation or alternative enterprise products which were simply too expensive, time consuming and difficult to implement for all but the largest companies."

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Happy Auckland/Nelson Anniversary. I love these calendar books that have weird holidays from around the world.

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Zoho, which sells Web applications, and Omnidrive, a Web storage platform vendor, have announced a technology partnership that provides users of the Omnidrive platform the ability to view, edit, share and publish office and other types of documents from directly within Omnidrive using Zoho products.

The announcement of the partnership comes at the same time that Zoho and Omnidrive both launch web service API's that will allow other applications to directly integrate and operate with the two platforms.

Users of Omnidrive will now be able to double-click on any supported document from within the Omnidrive web interface to directly edit documents using Zoho applications.

Omnidrive allows a user to store all their files online, and with this partnership users are no longer required to download their documents to view or edit them. The supported Zoho applications include Zoho Write, a word processor, Zoho Sheet, an online spreadsheet and Zoho Show, a web-based presentation editor. The supported document types range from Word documents and HTML pages through to PowerPoint presentations.

The product integration, according to Zoho officials, marks "the first time that a storage provider and a provider of Web office applications have partnered to provide a full desktop-like experience on the Web.

The way company officials describe it is "Omnidrive's ability to aggregate storage and to provide access from anywhere together with the first-class office applications from Zoho combine to form an environment where users can now access, collaborate and publish common files with just a Web browser."

Omnidrive and Zoho officials like to say they have "beaten Google, Microsoft and many other larger companies to be the first to provide an end-to-end product for users." From the ability to easily link files from the desktop with Omnidrive, through to the advanced editing capabilities of the Zoho applications, this collaborative effort marks what they consider "a big step forward for the role of the Web in enabling better access, collaboration and sharing of documents."

Traditionally, Omnidrive officials say, "storing files online has served little purpose other than backup or simple access handled by a Web browser. At the same time Web applications are now able to closely emulate the desktop experience, but have never been able to easily tap into a users existing files. Omnidrive has bridged this gap by providing an active online storage solution that can read and write to desktop and Web applications, allowing users of those applications to easily tap into their existing repository of files that were previously stuck on their desktops."

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SAP AG officials have announced that Bowe Bell & Howell, a manufacturer of document processing and postal products, will replace competing products with mySAP Customer Relationship Management to "help drive process efficiencies across its service organization and deliver a more intimate level of customer service."

As postal legislation and the dynamics of the global marketplace continue to challenge mass mailing customers, BB&H sells modularly designed document management products and services to help companies organize paper-based and digital mail communications.

The company will roll out mySAP CRM initially within its North American service organization, and later extend the implementation through parent company operations worldwide.

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Smart Online Inc., a vendor of Software-as-a-Service for the small business market, has announced the release of its newly enhanced Web-based Accounting product.

Smart Online’s full suite of software, including its comprehensive accounting application, is designed to enable small businesses to have a real-time view of financial activities.

The Smart Online Accounting application now includes a number of new features such as an easy-to-use set up wizard to enable small businesses to create and maintain their accounting information while having their business data backed up regularly.

“Small businesses need the ability to manage their accounting and financial activities without the hassles of having to make an expensive purchase, then install, and finally have to manage traditional accounting applications,” said Michael Nouri, president & CEO, Smart Online Inc.

Smart Online’s Software-as-a-Service Accounting application is designed to enable small businesses to securely create and maintain accounting books, process invoices, payments, deposits, and manage the user’s bank accounts.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the North Mississippi All-Stars' Electric Blue Watermelon:

Infor, a vendor of enterprise software, has announced that Folksam, a Swedish insurance company, has chosen Infor CRM Epiphany to implement its five-year CRM plan.

Infor CRM Epiphany will enable Folksam to "implement an advanced user interface for an ambitious CRM strategy that commenced in 2003," according to Infor officials.

The project's initial phase focused on data warehousing, analysis and process development. The deployment of Infor CRM Epiphany sales, service and inbound marketing will be "supported by one system with one comprehensive customer view, enabling Folksam to completely implement all defined CRM processes and realize the full benefits of the strategy," Infor officials say.

"Folksam is a mutual company, meaning that our customers are also our owners," said Staffan Magnehed, CRM director, Folksam, saying the company's CRM strategy is "about increasing sales and improving the customer experience by collecting feedback from our customers/owners on how to improve products and services."

For example, he says, a better CRM system would benefit the company and the customer by "helping people identify new insurance needs."

"Infor CRM Epiphany provides a single view of the customer and quick access to back-office information," said Patric Timmermans, director, CRM product marketing, Infor. "By managing all aspects of a specific customer relationship at each contact, Folksam can sell more products and maintain high customer retention rates."

Swedish insurance company Folksam was founded in 1908 and handles more than 18 million insurance contracts. The company has approximately 3,700 employees and settles 600,000 claims every year from some 100 offices throughout Sweden and insures every second family home, every second person and every fourth car in Sweden.

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Sales Simplicity Software, a sales automation, contact management, and CRM tool for production homebuilders, has announced that it achieved 35 percent year-on-year growth in 2006.

With the new year barely underway, Sales Simplicity has already seen enough sales activity that "will easily double the company's size again in 2007," according to company officials.

Given the current slowdown in the home building sector, Sales Simplicity officials consider their success "that much more remarkable."

Sales Simplicity is engineered to provide CRM, internet lead management software system in the home building sector. With the current interest that Sales Simplicity is generating among builders, Sales Simplicity is poised to move dramatically up-market in 2007, with the addition of marquee customers among the Builder 100.

Pre-integrated into BuilderMT-Timberline, JD Edwards, Corrigo, Punchlist Manager, Builderfinish, FAST, and Envision, Sales Simplicity has more than 175 builders as clients.

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FYI: PacificNet, Inc., a Chinese Customer Relationship Management (CRM), mobile internet, e-commerce and gaming technology vendor, has announced that the company and its public accounting firm, Clancy and Co., P.L.L.C., have decided to terminate the relationship effective January 19, 2007.

The audit committee of the company is currently interviewing and negotiating with several potential audit firms in connection with the upcoming audit for the year ended December 31, 2006.

The change in auditors was driven by the growth and business expansion of the company -- company revenue climbed from less than $1 million in 2001 to nearly $60 million in 2006, company officials say -- whose operations and financial reporting requirements have outgrown the resources of its prior auditors.

There were no reportable disagreements between the company and Clancy & Co., P.L.L.C. on any matters related to accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, PacificNet officials say.

"In light of recent experience with meeting SEC reporting deadlines, and also with respect to the proposed timetable of the current 2006 audit, the company determined it prudent to seek other audit firms," said Victor Tong, President of PacificNet.

We are currently developing a comprehensive Document Management System to better prepare for our future expansion. Going forward, each of these endeavors will streamline and centralize our accounting operations, hopefully leading to smoother and more timely overall audits."

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ViryaNet has announced that the Building Commission of Victoria Australia has purchased additional licenses to expand its use of the ViryaNet products.

Commission officials say with this roll out, the entire Building Commission will use ViryaNet’s product as its CRM tool, which will be enable a 360 degree view of customer.

The Building Commission, located in Melbourne, is a statutory authority that oversees the building control system in Victoria, and regulates building practices.

The Commission selected the ViryaNet product for its Compliance and Conciliation Group, and now, through the acquisition of these new licenses, will deploy the product to its Technical Services Group.

Using ViryaNet's solutions, Building Commission hope to be able to better use its existing workforce, cut response times to customers, and lower operations costs through improved communications, better customer service, and optimized workforce productivity."

ViryaNet is used to manage customer interactions, schedule and dispatch its workforces, manage cases, receive real-time reports from field engineers who use mobile technology, unite all of the systems and applications across their operations, and accommodate real-time business monitoring.

In so doing, the product will unify disparate customer data and databases into a single view of the customer. The CRM function will allow tighter control of the Building Commission environment and eliminate the duplicate customer data that exists within the organization.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the sound of my son's violin practice. The one thing I swore up and down I'd never let a kid do, learn violin. Oh well. Probably my fault -- he liked my Irish music.

Keeping up with the products out there, Queplix, a vendor of commercial open source software for customer care, has announced that its flagship product, QueWeb Customer Care, has been in successful production for more than three years at John Deere, the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural and forestry equipment and vendor of lawn, grounds and turf care equipment.

Bet you didn't know Deere not only also makes construction equipment and engines used in heavy equipment but provides the financial services and other related activities that support its core businesses.

QueWeb, according to Queplix officials, has enabled John Deere to migrate its existing Dealer Technical Assistance Center from a legacy system to a Web-based platform, while still preserving all customizations, core functionality, and the look and feel of its previous application.

John Deere's DTAC is used across the company's Agriculture, Construction & Forestry, Commercial & Consumer Equipment, and Power Systems divisions to support a global network of nearly 8,500 dealers, their field service technicians and Deere DTAC analysts. Users can directly track equipment trouble tickets, search for customer support history, and find documented solutions to product problems via the DTAC in multiple languages.

DTAC was originally built on the Quintus eContact software, which later became Avaya's Interaction Center (AIC) Business Application suite. When Avaya discontinued its line of business applications, John Deere had to move to another Web-based platform.

The company also wanted the new system to be Java-based to ensure the stability, extensibility, and longevity of the DTAC system.

So after evaluating several vendor offerings, John Deere found that Queplix's QueWeb software, with its open source design, meant that "we could keep development and intellectually property internal to the company," said Al Reagan, Manager of Customer Support IT for John Deere.

Reagan added that another benefit of QueWeb was "its ability to completely replicate our previous system on a more flexible, Web-based platform -- from the core functionality, to our existing data, to the user interface."

Following the successful deployment of DTAC solution, John Deere has since expanded usage of QueWeb in multiple internal and external customer-facing departments.

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If Roger Federer isn't the most dominant athlete in his sport on the planet I don't know who is, it'd have to be somebody in some sport you've never heard of. He's a better tennis player than Tiger Woods is a golfer, Peyton Manning is a quarterback and Kobe Bryant is a basketball player.

He's better now, in his prime, than Michael Jordan, Roger Clemens, Jack Nicklaus and Joe Montana were in theirs. He's better at his sport than Pele, Edwin Moses or Al Oerter were at theirs. He's a better tennis player than Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano were boxers. The only athlete whose dominance ever came close to Federer is Wayne Gretzky, and the fact that Gretzky could so completely dominate a team sport is incredible.

Check that: Johnny Weismuller. Yes he's remembered today primarily as the actor who first played Tarzan, but he was an Olympic swimmer who retired from the sport never having lost a race.

But is he the greatest tennis player ever? I tell you what, I'd love to see the primes of Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Rod Laver and Roger Federer play a round-robin. The first guy to win four matches there would be the best tennis player ever. My money'd be on Federer first, Agassi second.

When you play Federer you're not upset if you lose. You're not going to win the match. What'll make you happy in the post-match interview is if you've managed to win a set. That's a successful outing against Federer. If he gets any better guys'll be proud of how many games they've won against him.

With the decline of boxing as a serious sport tennis is the last pure mano-a-mano sport left. Just you and a racket against one other guy with a racket. No teammates to take up your slack or cost you the match. Officiating has no impact on the outcome. You're not competing against times or stroke counts or judges but a person.

Two guys walk out on the court, one walks off a winner, one walks off a loser. There's no clock and the outcome is always in doubt until the last stroke of the match. There's no garbage time, no clock-killing. It's the closest thing to sword fighting in sports today, the sport most demanding of an athlete's total physical, mental and emotional abilities.

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Seagull Software has announced that SVB Silicon Valley Bank has extended to the company a $4 million revolving line of credit for general corporate purposes in support of Seagull Software's business plans.

This new credit facility replaces a $2 million working capital line of credit established in 2004.

The company has not used either line of credit to date, but company officials say they're "pleased to have this resource" at their disposal.

"Silicon Valley Bank is one of the top financial institutions for the technology sector and they have been an excellent financial partner to Seagull Software for almost three years," said Don Addington, CEO and president for Seagull Software. "They have a clear understanding of the fast-paced tech environment and have provided us with ready access to capital," he added.

Seagull Software specializes in technology that transforms legacy applications into SOA-compliant Web services. The LegaSuite software platform includes integration, GUI, workflow and terminal emulation technology.

LegaSuite is based on open standards including Web services, XML, J2EE and .NET. The company's technology is in use in more than 10,000 business and government organizations in over 30 countries worldwide, and by millions of end users.

Earlier the company reported that the LegaSuite 5.0 platform has been certified to run on the SAP NetWeaver platform, earning the “Powered by SAP NetWeaver” qualification. With LegaSuite, legacy applications become standard SOA services that can be invoked by SAP NetWeaver, and these services can now be accessed through the SAP NetWeaver Portal.

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Kintera, Inc. has announced it has expanded its social constituent relationship management (CRM) platform to incorporate online fund accounting within Kintera Sphere.

Described by company officials as "the first software as a service fund accounting solution tailored for nonprofits," Kintera Sphere Fundware is designed to give nonprofits and donors "enhanced social accountability and transparency."

Kintera provides nonprofits with an SaaS product for their organizational needs, such as fundraising, donor management, advocacy, wealth screening, e-communications, and now, fund accounting, for what officials say is "a comprehensive product suite with online fund accounting integrated into the platform."

"Kintera is rounding out its social CRM offering by launching an integrated online fund accounting solution… and paving the way for nonprofits seeking greater social accountability to donors and the public," said Harry E. Gruber, Kintera CEO.

Kintera Sphere Fundware is designed to track the flow of funds from end to end, integrating with such business applications as e-commerce, utility billing, grants management and donor management. The new fund accounting product will be available both as SaaS and client-installed, with the first phase of the product available in the first quarter 2007.

Kintera FundWare v7.5, Kintera's existing server-based fund accounting software application, will be available in the second quarter 2007.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Weather Report's Heavy Weather and Return To Forever's Romantic Warrior: Few...shun!

Lagan, a provider of enterprise software dedicated to providing public services to constituents, has reported a successful year-in-review from the City of Minneapolis' first year in 3-1-1 Call Center operation.   

You might as well know this is something First Coffee is in favor of, citizen contact centers designed to streamline interactions with municipal authorities, get actual potholes filled and garbage picked up with one phone call.

In such systems, put in place in Chicago, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Hampton, Virginia among others, the city takes on the onus of making sure the call gets routed to the right department, instead of making John Q. Taxpayer run the maze of "Sorry, that's not this department's responsibility" calls all morning.

A 3-1-1 system lets you call in once, explain your problem, and the operator takes it from there. Chicago even gives out case tracking numbers, so you can call back to check on the progress of your complaint and any operator will be able to pick up the thread. Honestly, it's one of those things you wonder why they didn't do fifty years ago.

With an average of 1,363 calls and 150 e-mails per day, the City of Minneapolis has made what Lagan officials like to characterize as "significant and steady progress" since its public launch on January 4, 2006, and is "well on its way to streamlining city inquiries into two main portals: 3-1-1 for non-emergency and 9-1-1 for emergency."

Because that's one main reason 3-1-1 is important -- people were getting so frustrated with impenetrable city bureaucracies that they were resorting to calling 9-1-1 to report non-emergency issues like the garbage hasn't been picked up or there's this massive pothole in my street, simply because 9-1-1 was the only place where they could talk to a live city employee.

This overburdened 9-1-1 systems, took valuable time and resources away from emergency calls, and kicked a few rears into finding an answer. Generally 3-1-1 systems work remarkably well, First Coffee hasn't heard of any that have been abject failures. Of course we don't get e-mailed too many of those press releases to begin with: "Acme Anvils would like to report the complete failure of their…"

Results seen in 2006 for the Minneapolis 3-1-1 system include 343,428 - 3-1-1 calls answered and resolved, from 60 percent to 72 percent improvement in 1^st Call resolution and 90.3 percent of calls taken in 20 seconds.

Oh, by the way, guess what was the most frequently requested service request? Graffiti removal. Don't ever let anybody tell you most people don't care about graffiti, or that it's just a charming aspect of urban life, or that it's the essential expression of disempowered this or that bushwa. It's ugly, obnoxious and people hate it.

Minneapolis 3-1-1 is letting the city track and respond to citizen requests for relief of non-emergency concerns like -- this is Minneapolis -- snow and ice removal. Using Lagan's 3-1-1 software solution, the City of Minneapolis was able to offer its citizens multiple communication channels including, phone, e-mail and online.

"One of our main goals is to ensure that the citizens of Minneapolis have access to the information that they need, using their 'touch-point' of choice, and that their experience is handled efficiently and professionally," said Don Stickney, Assistant Director for Minneapolis 3-1-1. 

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We seem to be on call center news these days, but hey, go with what's hot: Digisoft, a TouchStar Software company, has announced the release of new version upgrades for its call center software products Telescript 6.0 and eTelescript Release 33.

Digisoft sells call center solutions, CRM applications and call transaction management systems. ETelescript is a browser-based version of Telescript that provides clients with an Internet-based call center capable of connecting agents anywhere in the world.

Company officials say eTelescript Release 33 is compatible with the latest Microsoft technology including Internet Explorer 7 and SQL Server 2005. Digisoft clients will "benefit from the new release with improved script testing options, additional control over data, remote printing options, and easier ways to create and manage appointment scheduling with external offices and sales representatives," they say.

Yeah, make it compatible with Firefox, the browser people who can choose their own browser use, and First Coffee's impressed.

Digisoft is releasing its 6.0 upgrade of its Telescript product in January 2007. The newest version was developed based on feedback from Digisoft clients, and provides greater performance with restructured licensing, and an updated platform using Microsoft .NET.

Many limitations from prior versions have been removed. Telescript 6.0 can be integrated with eTelescript to enable local and remote agents. V.6.0 supports Crystal 11, and the new version also offers the feature of mail merge e-mails to be generated and distributed through the server, eliminating the need to install and configure Microsoft Office components on individual workstations.

ETelescript was presented with the 2005 CIS Technology Excellence award for CRM Excellence by Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine.

Digisoft was acquired by TouchStar Software in 2005. TouchStar is headquartered in Denver, and has offices in New York City, Davenport, Iowa; Manchester, England; Manila, Mumbai and Durban, South Africa.

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Autonomy Corporation plc has announced its Meaning Analytics Warehouse, what company officials are calling "a new IDOL module and the first data warehouse to perform bulk analysis and mining of the vast amounts of information contained in the enterprise including video, voice, e-mail, applications, databases and hundreds of other file types by understanding the concepts, context and patterns contained in the information."

"Our philosophy is focused on deriving meaning from the vast amounts of data that resides in organizations and then presenting that data to business intelligence and other key applications to deliver business insight," said Mike Lynch, CEO Autonomy.

The Meaning Analytics Warehouse module works by indexing, transforming and analyzing this information based on its meaning and relationships. It builds on and complements Autonomy's established IDOL platform -- which allows enterprises to search and process relevant data in real-time across all data types -- with the addition of historical bulk analysis capabilities.

This new capability is intended to make mining of information from all information sources readily available for applications including top end business intelligence, electronic discovery, security and surveillance, and other applications requiring insight created as a bi-product of real-time or transactional systems.

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If you're interested: MyFax has announced what company officials say are "several new enhancements" to its Internet fax services for businesses allowing users to send and receive faxes using e-mail accounts and the Web. Evidently there are "new account services including improved accessibility to information, additional reporting features, and integration with the customer relationship management software, ACT!"

Available to more than 2.5 million registered ACT! Users, including 35,000+ corporate customers, is a new add-on that allows ACT! users to send and receive faxes directly within the application. Users can send the same document to one or more ACT! contacts, use mail merge with ACT! templates and track faxes sent through the CRM database.

MyFax is available for $10 per month or $110 per year. This price includes 100 outbound pages and 200 inbound pages per month. Volume pricing is also available.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

A second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is… the sound of the wind in the windows here in Istanbul, where it's pret-ty windy about now:

Ascendix Technologies has achieved certification of Real Estate Advantage for Microsoft Dynamics CRM V3.0 Test for ISV Solutions.

The certification was achieved last quarter and was administered by VeriTest. The program identifies applications that successfully integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM V3.0.

The testing and verification program ensures that applications integrate with CRM V3.0 in a supported manner, maintain the stability of the program, do not restrict any of the core functionality, and continue to function when service packs or upgrades to the base product are applied.

VeriTest also confirmed that Real Estate Advantage adheres to all published specifications as outlined in the CRM V3.0 Software Development Kit.

"We worked very closely with the Microsoft ISV team to make certain our product has the native look and consistent feel of Microsoft CRM, yet meets the complex demands of the commercial real estate professional," stated Todd Terry, Managing Partner and CTO of Ascendix.

Terry added that these professionals "have to manage much more than just customer relationships," saying Microsoft CRM can be an appropriate platform for those in real estate to manage tenants, properties, leases, vendors and financial data, as well as the traditional marketing, opportunity forecasting, issue management and workflow inherent to the CRM platform.

Ascendix will be unveiling the Real Estate Advantage through a series of regional product launch events, with locations tentatively set for Dallas, Irvine, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Boston. The first launch event is slated for February 6th in Dallas.

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Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and independent software vendor Compass Technology has announced an expansion of its own partner opportunities by launching a channel partner program to distribute its end-to-end fundraising software suite for nonprofits.

This suite, which includes Compass CRM for Fundraisers, Compass Analytics for Fundraisers, and Compass Personalized Marketing for Fundraisers, is built on Microsoft tools and technologies and is designed to help nonprofits manage and grow donor relationships, increase fundraising results, and operate more efficiently.

Compass is specifically recruiting current Microsoft partners. Compass Channel Partner Program Manager Susan Turner is spearheading the outreach and recruitment.

Turner previously managed a group of nonprofit-focused partners for Sage Software's Nonprofit Solutions Division.

"Our goal is to selectively develop an elite group of partners that currently serve the nonprofit sector," Turner explains, saying the selected partners "must know the unique needs of nonprofit organizations and have expertise in fundraising and donor management. We are looking for resellers that know the space, have a true sense of partnership, and want to take our next generation of fundraising software to market."

The first partner training and authorization class will be held in Virginia Beach in mid-April.

She claims what's unique about this particular partner offering is that "for the first time, VARS who service the nonprofit community, particularly with fundraising and donor management software, will have a fully scalable product offering that not only meets customers' needs, but also allows partners to earn generous margins and service dollars for their firm."

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First Research Inc., a vendor of what company officials are calling "industry intelligence" products, has announced that Citizens Business Bank has incorporated First Research into its sales process. Citizens Business Bank associates will access First Research directly through a link within its newly acquired CRM system.

Citizens Business Bank is a "relationship bank" for businesses and professionals in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the Central Valley areas of California with business financial centers serving seven counties.

The bank provides services for both businesses and individuals in addition to financial advisory services.

"We are now using First Research to educate our sales force about our customers' and prospects' industries, enabling us to create and maintain the lasting relationships that Citizens Business Bank is committed to building in this community," said Jay Coleman, executive vice president, sales and service division.

Recently, the bank has introduced new technologies to improve their sales process. By incorporating First Research, relationship mangers hope to improve their access to the industry information needed to" successfully engage customers and prospects to build long-term business relationships," bank officials say.

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Sand Technology, Inc., a vendor of intelligent enterprise information management products, has announced that it has joined the Business Objects Technology Partner Program.

As part of the agreement, Sand and Business Objects will collaborate on sales and marketing initiatives. The two firms have already worked together on projects for more than a half dozen customers in multiple industries.

The combination of Sand/DNA products with the business intelligence and enterprise information management software in BusinessObjects XI Release 2, results in products marketed as enabling organizations to "meet all their data management needs and service level objectives," according to Sand officials.

"We have worked together on a worldwide basis for some time, and we are now making it official," said Linda Arens, Vice President of Global Alliances and Marketing at Sand. "We see many synergies between our companies, as we work with many of the same partners."

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Dow Jones has announced details of its plans to enhance Factiva SalesWorks for salesforce.com's AppExchange to use features now available in Salesforce Winter '07.

Salesforce.com customers will be able to get "a sales intelligence tool that includes improved navigation and the ability to produce company and executive lists for prospecting and upselling of accounts," according to DJ officials. The updated version of Factiva SalesWorks for AppExchange will be available in March 2007.

Factiva SalesWorks enhancements for salesforce.com's AppExchange allow users to generate lists of company or executive leads from within the Salesforce interface. Companies can be filtered by location, industry or company ownership, and executive information can be sorted by job title, company location and industry.

Additionally, users have access to the latest news, financial report or stock price that can be surfaced within an account or prospect record.

Factiva SalesWorks provides content from news providers such as Dow Jones and Reuters and business information from Reuters Fundamentals, D&B, Datamonitor, ZoomInfo, Hemscott, Standard & Poor's, Mergent, Investext, Thomson Financial, Jobson's, Marquis Who's Who, Freedonia, IBISWorld Business Information, MarketResearch.com, and others.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Jim White's Wrong-Eyed Jesus:

Today's Fun Fact: It was on this day in 1849 that gold was discovered on Sutter's Mill in California, triggering the Gold Rush, the event that more than any other opened up the American West, supplied the North with the revenues to fight and win the Civil War, provided the San Francisco professional football team with a name and gave a business opportunity to a young Bavarian immigrant who figured out how to make tough canvas trousers for miners, who up until then had to make do with normal street pants which ripped easily in the tough terrain. His name? Levi Strauss.

At its annual conference to report full-year fiscal results, SAP AG has revealed further details, but not many, about what they call "a next-generation product and an additional business model" that will, company officials promise, "reshape the way midsize companies purchase, adopt and finance software applications."

At the conference, SAP CEO Henning Kagermann outlined plans to introduce what company officials characterized as a new midmarket product offering "breakthrough innovations" in "faster, lower-risk implementation, continuous adaptability and easier user adoption."

Complementing SAP's existing portfolio for midsize companies, the product will use what's being described as a new "enterprise service-oriented architecture by design" platform and will be available to customers through on-demand and hosted delivery.

SAP officials say they want to more efficiently reach untapped midmarket segments, and this new product is how they want to do it. The company detailed plans to invest in an additional business model which will operate in parallel with its established business.

The new product will deliver the benefits of enterprise SOA under a new "try-run-adapt" model using the Internet and telesales, and can be managed entirely remotely, from day-to-day operations to upgrades.

The product is beginning initial market validation, and SAP plans to introduce more details about the product road map and its associated components at an event later in the current quarter, Kagermann said.

Earlier this month, SAP introduced the enterprise SOA-based version of its SAP All-in-One products, aimed at midsize companies, which comprise more than 65 percent of SAP customers. Now, with the additional, "enterprise by SOA design" product, SAP will address a $15 billion market which in the eyes of the German software vendor, remains "underserved by existing business applications."

SAP's recently formed global SME unit, headed by Hans-Peter Klaey, will oversee the go-to-market strategy, organizational alignment and multi-channel delivery for the new product.

Kagermann said the combination of "a largely untapped market, a game-changing product and an innovative business model represents an additional business for SAP. The investment we are making in internal organization, infrastructure, and delivery channels will ultimately pay off in sustained lower cost of ownership over the long term for our future midmarket customers."

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ICentera, a vendor of on-demand CRM portals for sales, partner and customer communications, has announced the immediate availability of iCentera 4.1.

ICentera's "Portals for Mortals" enable anyone in an organization to create customized and branded portals for any internal or external audience. The latest version of iCentera delivers enhanced Web 2.0 capabilities, allowing enterprises to deliver and govern rich-media portals customizable with a variety of Internet applications such as Google calendars, maps, blogs, forums or RSS feeds.

The product features deeper CRM integration in the form of support for deeper integration with CRM products such as salesforce.com with the ability to embed iCentera applets within salesforce.com.

Designed for marketing and sales "mortals," iCentera is "used as a vehicle for dynamic content, two-way communication, collaboration and relationship building with multiple audiences through marketing event portals, sales intranets, and partner and key account portals," according to company officials.

New in the 4.1 version include application mashups letting users customize portals by embedding any on-premise application or web application, such as Google calendars, Yahoo! maps, VoIP, and IM, within portals.

It includes Web 2.0 functionality  in delivering multiple Web 2.0 features including blogs, RSS feeds, configurable portal pages and "functionality widgets." In addition, icExchange Community provides the free exchange of templates, communication best practices, and user directories in a way that is easy to track, manage and govern.

Company officials also point to increased collaboration and communication features letting users communicate on-demand both internally and externally with new features, including IMing content creators, increased chat capabilities and forum creation.

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RezOvation, a vendor of property management and website booking engine software, has announced a major product upgrade and the addition of more than 100 new clients in the fourth quarter of 2006.

RezOvation launched its GT product last summer, and is announcing the release of RezOvation Desktop 7.0 for "updated connectivity software including new versions 4.0 of the RezOvation Booking Engine, GDS Connect and Credit Card Connect," according to company officials.

"We've added countless features, dramatically increased performance and reliability, and rewritten major connectivity interfaces to insure our customers have the best products in the industry," said John Banczak, chief operating officer. "In addition, new management was brought in to improve product quality and customer service."

The customer service team was increased to five full-time tech reps, a new state-of-the-art internal phone system was installed -- virtually eliminating hold times for priority customers -- and the Salesforce.com CRM was put into place to make sure customers get fast and thorough service.

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And just in time for the Super Bowl comes the announcement from ticket CRM vendor TicketSage, Inc. of the release of TicketVERIFY, an anti-scalping product designed to "improve venue security and put venue managers back in charge of their ticket inventory by detecting the unauthorized resale or transfer of live event tickets in as little as two seconds at the point of entry," according to company officials.

Five years in the making, TicketVERIFY works with all major ticketing systems to quickly detect if a ticket has been resold or transferred outside authorized channels. The venue can then choose to handle the ticket according to company policy. At their discretion, the venue can immediately revoke the ticket holder’s license, or charge a transfer fee to a credit card directly from the TicketVERIFY device.

The TicketSage CRM, marketing and ticketing product is in its sixth release.

Developed to tighten security loopholes in unauthorized resale channels, the TicketVERIFY product uses a combination of patent-pending software, processes, and hardware to detect all resold or transferred tickets without false positives.

TicketVERIFY shifts control of ticket inventory back to the venue, cutting down unauthorized secondary market resellers, scalpers and brokers. Ticketing companies can use the technology to ensure that ticket transfers occur on a platform that is within their control. Concert promoters and teams can better regulate pricing and fan access to the best available seats.

The company is looking to license the anti-scalping product to ticketing companies, event producers and venues wishing to tighten security and eliminate scalping.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the coffee break today, and the music is, at this random moment in the iTunes shuffle, David Bowie's "Modern Love:

Voxify has announced that John Gengarella has joined the company as President and CEO. Gengarella has worked in CRM and high tech for over twenty years.

He joined Siebel Systems in 2002 as General Manager of Siebel's Travel, Transportation and Hospitality business unit. He also led operations for Siebel's vertical applications development group up through the acquisition of Seibel by Oracle.

In a related announcement, Voxify has announced that Carol Snell has been appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board. Snell has "more than three decades of executive management, operations, sales and marketing experience," according to Voxify officials.

Prior to this appointment, Snell served as an active member of the Voxify Board of Directors. She joined in 2002.

At Oracle Gengarella served as Vice President of Operations for Oracle's CRM Applications Division, leading business operations for the $1 billion business unit.

Carol Snell, Voxify's Chairman of the Board, said the hire was part of Voxify's efforts to "extend our position as the front-runner in the speech self-service market."

Prior to Siebel Gengarella was CEO of several technology organizations, including Pineapple Systems, a CRM software company targeting the hospitality industry, and MyBiz Technologies, a hosted CRM product serving the online auction market.

Gengarella has also served as a strategy consultant at Deloitte Consulting, a mergers & acquisitions associate at Price-Waterhouse, and started out his career as an engineer at Lockheed Missiles & Space Company.

…

CDC Mobile, a vendor of mobile value-added services in China and a business unit of CRM vendor CDC Corporation, has announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Hancast Corporation, a South Korean mobile Internet content provider.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hancast will provide CDC Mobile with popular South Korean mobile games, videos, music and fashion advertisements for exclusive distribution in China.

The growing popularity of South Korean entertainment in China is a social phenomenon often referred to as the "Korean Wave." From music to video games, fashion to television drama, these entertainment products has created a huge demand for immediate updates and access. By providing millions of mobile subscribers with the latest wave from South Korea, CDC Mobile aims to expand its presence in the market for mobile entertainment in China.

According to China's Ministry of Information Industry, at end of November 2006, mobile subscribers in China surpassed 455 million and the mobile penetration rate reached 33.9 percent. According to China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MII, the VAS market value is now more than 10 percent of basic telecom services, which amounts to more than $7 billion.

"The enormous size of the current mobile market provides us with a significant growth opportunity," said Peter Yip, CEO of CDC Corporation, despite what he called "the current slowdown in the overall Service Provider sector."

In addition to enriching its mobile entertainment content, CDC Mobile is also investing in the 3G marketplace. As previously announced, CDC Mobile is investing up to $100 million in its 3G content partner program targeting leading 3G content providers and aggregators in North Asia and Europe as well as the creation of new original content for the 3G marketplace.

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Amdocs, a vendor of software and services to enable integrated customer management and what they like, trademarkedly, to call "the intentional customer experience," has launched Amdocs 7, what company officials are calling "the first industry-specific software suite that allows service providers to offer access to any service, over any network, at any time and on any device."

Company officials say this is made possible by "the move to next-generation networks and the convergence of voice, video, data, content, and entertainment."

Results of a survey commissioned by Amdocs, also announced today, indicate that providers expect big revenue jumps from such convergent services and plan to boost spending to deliver a superior customer experience.

With revenue from convergent services expected to grow more than 20 percent over the next two years, the modular Amdocs 7 suite is being positioned on the market as making it "easier and more cost-effective for telecoms, broadband cable and satellite providers to launch these next-generation services, bundle them and offer incentive pricing to customers."

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Tacton Systems, a Swedish vendor of product configuration software, has announced that it will launch and demonstrate TactonWorks in early February at a conference in New Orleans.

Conference attendees will see how TactonWorks and SolidWorks allow manufacturers to "automatically configure complete assemblies and drawings to meet customer specific requirements," according to company officials.

As a SolidWorks Solution Partner, Tacton has embedded their product configurator into the SolidWorks Window, letting engineers interactively engineer-to-order a complete 3D assembly simply by defining the customer's requirements, and reviewing how the design changes for each selection.

Engineers can define the configuration rules in a point-and-click environment, using configuration constraints. The Tacton Configurator integrates with ERP systems as well as CRM, e-commerce, PLM, and CAD.

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FTS, a vendor of Business Control, Billing and CRM for communications service providers, has announced that it has acquired North American customers and personnel from Systems Integrator Danet, Inc. 

FTS is purchasing the customers' contracts from Danet, a Systems Integrator with experience in implementing and supporting Leap Billing RC (formerly RevChain), FTS' North American-specific billing product. 

This handover of responsibility further strengthens FTS' North American profile as the company grows the number of communications service providers it supports in the region.

FTS is also acquiring personnel from Danet, which FTS officials say will "build up FTS' North American Professional Services capabilities," as the employees have decades of experience of implementing and supporting Leap Billing RC. 

Company officials say the acquisition is part of FTS' strategy to grow both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Following the successful acquisition and integration of US based Viziqor Solutions, Inc., this deal is considered by FTS to further strengthen its North American footprint.

"This is a rare opportunity to hire systems integration specialists that are experts in our software," said Shaul Ganel, President of FTS' North American Division. He added that the additional systems integration personnel will help the company deliver "an end-to-end service to our customers, helping them through the entire lifecycle of the implementation process."

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a great rendition of "Don & Dewey" from It's A Beautiful Day's Creed Of Love live album. Pretty muscular guitar and bluesy harp for a late '60s/ early '70s San Francisco prog band:

Back from a long research weekend in Florence, great city if you enjoy running into a lot of American expat English teachers, the only recommendation I'd make to anyone going there is if you're looking for a great home-style trattoria for dinner, run literally by Mom and Pop, where all the focus is on the reasonably-priced food and wine and not chintzy décor, try Trattoria La Burrasca on the Via Panicale near the Mercato Centrale.

I've never had better tortellini anywhere at any price, and my friend, who's lived in Italy for years, said it was the finest lasagna he's had.

Okay, so what's been going on since I've been out of action…

Datelined "Lisbon, Portugal" comes the announcement that Altitude Software, an independent contact center vendor, has announced the availability of Altitude uCI 7.5, the latest release of the contact center suite.

The Altitude uCI 7.5 is the latest release of the contact center software with fifteen years of service. The latest release enables contact centers to" embrace change, profit from virtualization, increase productivity and grow proactive customer service practices," according to company officials.

According to a recent study published by tech researchers Gartner, multisite organizations in industry verticals such as the financial services sector are "consolidating their use of contact center technologies -- focusing on improving service delivery, while optimizing the costs associated with customer interaction."

This has evidently driven a focus on "more effective use of established technology through improved desktop applications delivery, better initial call screening, more use of scripted customer interactions, self-service automation and multichannel contact management," according to their "Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, EMEA, 2006" report written by Terry Wright, Steve Blood, Bern Elliot last March.

The uCI 7.5 release has native IP supports for distributed operations -- including home-based and remote agents -- and streamlining IT investments and optimizing human resources, company officials say, adding that the tool gives managers the tools to "centrally design and implement flexible service-delivery models that profit from increased agent productivity."

Company officials break down the suite's benefits in a couple areas:

Virtualized operations. The Altitude IP Contact Center provides businesses with a SIP-based multi-channel contact center, allowing centralized management and configuration as well as intelligent routing, monitoring and reporting capabilities for several contact center deployment options, such as "on-demand"  contact center, home or remote agents and multiple sites centrally managed or on customer premises.

Reinvented customer service. The Altitude uCI 7.5 suite has what company officials call "proactive customer care," which lets contact centers use outbound calling to proactively contact affected customers/groups "when service disruptions are anticipated," or "pursue customer satisfaction follow-up after service fulfillment."

…

Sage Software has announced a marketing partnership with Real Estate Promoter, a vendor of search engine marketing technology and lead capturing services, to offer real estate professionals the ACT! by Sage Premium for Real Estate contact and customer management product with Real Estate Promoter's online lead conversion services.

The products, now being offered together as a discounted bundle by Real Estate Promoter, are described by Sage officials as able to "enable higher volume online lead capturing and efficient sales opportunity management for real estate agents and brokers."

"Whether in fast or slow markets, real estate agents need easy access to customer information as well as support to efficiently find leads and turn them into sales," said Joe Bergera, ACT! senior vice president and general manager.

Real Estate Promoter's search engine marketing and lead capturing services are designed to generate Web site placement and qualified traffic via the top 20 search portals including Yahoo, Google and MSN, where evidently one finds "highly-targeted, early-market home buyer and seller leads for agents."

Real Estate Promoter also offers Hybrid Website services that allow agents to promote themselves in their local marketplace and market their services online.

Visitor-to-lead conversion rates on the Real Estate Promoter Hybrid Websites range from 12 to 18 percent, according to the company's own estimates.

Real Estate Promoter is offering tiered discounts on the purchase of ACT! Premium for Real Estate when purchased with one of its Real Estate Promoter traffic building services or Hybrid Website systems.

…

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. has announced the release of the bizhub vCare Device Relationship Management system.

To relate well to your devices.

Bizhub vCare is a new software system developed by Konica Minolta Business Technologies based in Tokyo, and it's designed to enhance customer care through efficient management of Konica Minolta multifunctional devices (MFP -- print, copy, scan, fax all in one system).

Consisting of a bizhub vCare Server and bizhub vCare-enabled MFPs, the system allows for the interchange of data between the bizhub vCare enabled MFPs and the bizhub vCare Server via the Internet.

Features of bizhub vCare include automated meter readings, service alerts, supply warnings, parts life alerts and MFP firmware reporting.

Because bizhub vCare collects all MFP counter and status information, company officials say, "the system improves first-service-call effectiveness; delivers proactive service; and facilitates intelligent supply management."

…

Arise Incorporated, a vendor in the home-based virtual call center industry, has launched from what was formerly known as Willow CSN, Incorporated.

Company officials say Arise will" continue to offer virtual business services for well-known brands in the consumer goods, retail, travel, and financial services industries."

Arise provides home-based businesses with "the freedom to answer calls, e-mail and provide interactive chat services," officials say, specifically "home-based businesses known as Virtual Services Corporations."

In the last year, Arise has worked with Fortune 100 companies such as Home Depot, Walgreens, and TIME Customer Service, along with 13 other new client relationships. 

Arise offers certification courses needed to become an Arise Certified Professional in customer services, sales, and technical support. Virtual Services Corporations employ Arise Certified Professionals, who can choose how often they work and for which companies. 

As Willow CSN, Arise worked in the home-based call center industry in 1997. Over the last 12 months, company officials say, Arise "experienced immense growth and today serves four of the Fortune 20 corporations, 15 Fortune 500 companies and a roster of 40 total clients." 

The company was founded as Willow CSN (before Neil Young joined the firm) in 1997 and is based in Miramar, Florida.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the afternoon cappuccino, as First Coffee will be traveling until Monday afternoon this will have to last you until next Tuesday, and the music is the Woodstock soundtrack.

What's that? "Which one?" Isn't it past your bedtime, sonny?

CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and a provider of enterprise software applications, has announced that The 401(k) Company has chosen the Pivotal Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suite of software applications.

CDC officials say it's because of its industry-specific functionality, which will allow 401(k)'s employees to "develop deeper insight into their clients' needs, preferences, and influencers," accompanied by tools that will help automate multi-step processes, track performance and, the hope is, provide better team collaboration.

A subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Financial Services, one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world, the 401(k) Company is focused on employers' defined-contribution plans. The 401(k) Companies provide clients with such services as record keeping, plan consulting and compliance, employee communications and trustee services. The company also interfaces with fund providers to administer plans.

The 401(k) Company will use the Pivotal CRM for Financial Services application to create a single view of client information, minimize multiple silos of information, facilitate universal insight and improve cross-departmental communication and coordination, while ensuring exceptional customer care.

The company hopes Pivotal CRM will also help them institute a "corporate memory" to better understand historical information and improve operational efficiency by streamlining manual processes.

"We chose Pivotal CRM because it… fits the unique requirements of our industry, right out of the box, while also offering the flexibility to customize to our individual needs," said Michelle LeCates, senior vice president, Plan Consulting, The 401(k) Company.

…

JMsolutions, whose Web-based products and services are geared towards automotive dealers, has acquired the business of DealerUps, Inc., an automotive software company, which specializes in customer relationship management (CRM).

The DealerUps CRM acquisition allows JMsolutions to expand its RetailSuite product offering of beginning to end integrated solutions, thus providing dealers with an array of technology products and services.

With a software system that tracks customer information and purchase preferences, the DealerUps CRM product supports the first stage in a dealer's sales process. JMsolutions is also pitched to dealerships looking for process improvement and a tool for lead management, desking software, consulting, and other services.

"The DealerUps CRM enhances JMsolutions' mission of helping dealers achieve greater success through innovative products and services," said JMsolutions President Scott Barrett, adding that it uses his company's AAX used vehicle inventory management product and ProFi F&I Menu product.

DealerUps, Inc. was founded in 2000 by Ted Rubin and David Lampert. They will join JMsolutions and continue to be based outside of Orlando. The company's remaining associates, who are located throughout the country, have been extended offers to join JMsolutions as well.

…

British Airways, UK's largest international scheduled airline, which flies to over 550 destinations worldwide, will begin testing Effective Mobile's suitability to upgrade and manage its cellular communications with its Executive Club members.

In other words, there's no danger of First Coffee encountering the product during my travels this week. The last time I got into one of those VIP clubs was in Dubai when we had a nine-hour layover. I walked in one of them, I forget which one, and asked for an application form. They gave me one, and I said "I'll sit at a table and fill it out," herded the family through and spent the nine hours in relative comfort.

Mrs. First Coffee tut-tutted at how declasse and rude that was, but I notice she stayed and rather enjoyed the free drinks and buffet.

The airline plans to use Effective Mobile to send information and special offers to Executive Club members in real time, directly to their mobile phones, and allow members to make their reservations on their mobile phones as well.

"Not only will the airline be able send real time messages and offers to members of its Executive Club, Effective's Mobile module will also allow Executive Club members to make their reservations directly on their mobile phones, whenever and wherever they are," notes Rojo.

…

Salesforce.com has unveiled Winter '07, the upgrade to its CRM: "All components and applications created with Apex code and the Apex on-demand platform will be able to be shared via Salesforce's AppExchange directory, enabling all the innovation that Apex unleashes to benefit the entire on-demand community," Marc Benioff, Salesforce's chief executive, said.

Look for a beta for its Apex code to be made available later this year.

Navatar Group and salesforce.com have announced the availability of Navatar Group's Institutional Desk CRM in the Financial Services category on salesforce.com's AppExchange.

Navatar Group's Institutional Desk CRM provides what company officials describe as "an integrated on-demand CRM for research, sales, trading, and marketing functions within a capital markets firm."

Built on the Apex on-demand platform, the Institutional Desk CRM is being marketed as a tool to help optimize client relationships, improve sales and increase commissions. The base version is free of charge.

And Cognos, a vendor of business intelligence and performance management products, has announced two initiatives to provide joint Cognos and salesforce.com customers with what company officials say is "a more complete and consistent view of enterprise information for making better business decisions and driving improved performance."

The salesforce.com news just keeps on comin'. Right90, a vendor of sales planning products, has announced the certification and availability of the Right90 Demand Forecaster for salesforce.com's AppExchange.

The tool provides a real-time view of sales forecasts, variances, risks and opportunities. By using the capabilities of salesforce.com's Winter '07 release and the Apex on-demand platform, Right90's integration to the Salesforce suite of on-demand CRM applications can deliver rapid results for all types of manufacturing companies.

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

What's the number one VoIP conference in terms of attendance? What's the leading VoIP expo for exhibitors in terms of lead generation? And which VoIP industry event will feature special attractions for service providers, resellers, and the enterprise and SMB market, as well as an overview on the future of IP Telephony? Answer: INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO EAST, January 23–26, 2007. See you in sunny Ft. Lauderdale!

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Clash's Sandinista!:

INeoMarketing has announced the release of its new suite of lead management automation (LMA) products, a package that includes the PluraPage, PluraCom, and PluraPage+ software applications.

These applications provide customized marketing communications delivered through personalized microsites that "nurture customer relationships" and serve to "increase the quality and quantity of leads for sales departments," according to company officials.  

According to Laura Ramos, a vice president at Forrester Research, B2B marketers "can no longer afford to emphasize lead volume over lead quality. This practice reduces sales efficiency, increases costs, and fuels the gap between sales and marketing."  

To develop its lead management tools, that gauge the buying stage of the customer and act accordingly, iNeoMarketing produced its iNeoMarketing software suite consisting of the PluraPage, PluraCom and PluraPage+ products. These applications generate customized and personalized microsites, landing pages, and marketing and communications (marcom) materials in response to any click from an outbound marketing campaign or upselling/cross-selling effort.

Additionally, the entire software suite exists independently of the IT department, allowing the marketing team to manage the leads without the need for IT support resulting, so the thinking goes, in a faster response time to more qualified sales leads.
 
In designing its LMA suite, iNeoMarketing wanted to create a product that would focus on the quality of the lead as opposed to generating sheer numbers of leads. The suite is designed to generate customized and personalized microsites, landing pages and marcom materials supposed to convert more opportunities, nurture the customer relationship and "help foster a dialog between the company and the client," company officials say.  

So if the customer has not reached a conclusion about a purchasing decision after reviewing the available materials, he or she can return to their personalized web page for additional information that will help drive them towards a purchasing decision, instead of simply forcing the customer to choose on the spot.     
 
While the PluraPage, PluraCom, and PluraPage+ do not require an existing CRM system, they can be integrated seamlessly into a company’s CRM database such as salesforce.com.  Additionally iNeoMarketing’s PluraPage issalesforce.com certified and can be located on the Salesforce AppExchange.  And for companies with no existing CRM infrastructure, employees can track leads through a secure, password protected on-line account.

…

The Timken Company, a global manufacturer of bearings and alloy steels, has reported success in reducing the amount of time a customer waits in queue by 25 percent using the Virtual Contact Center with VoIP from Nortel.

With $5.2 billion in annual sales in 2005 and operations across 27 countries, Timken has nine contact centers in North America but the company previously had no way to unify its contact centers to have them work as one team, company officials say, adding that Nortel's Virtual Contact Center allows Timken's agents to "interact as if they were co-located to present one face to the company."

Timken customers access a flexible contact center that routes their calls through menu choices to the most appropriate agent. Since the call is not limited to the resources or time constraints of a specific location as it once was, wait times for Timken customers are significantly reduced.

Company officials report a "25 percent to 40 percent improvement" in customer responsiveness, without having to increase staff.

"Prior to implementing Nortel technology, our call centers could not quickly and efficiently share resources or skill sets across our call center sites," said Rick Mowery, Timken section manager for Network Design and Engineering, adding that real-time displays "help keep agents from being surprised by a queue that is backing up because they can see it in real-time, giving us a great grasp of who we're getting calls from and how many calls are in the queue."

"With its products ranging from use in elevators at the Eiffel Tower, to the Mars Rover, and to Air Force One, it is essential for Timken to ensure timely, reliable support for its customers," said Dave Murashige, general manager, Multimedia Applications, Nortel."

Timken is also using Nortel's Remote Gateway 9150 and Nortel Remote Gateway 9115 to support IP telephony (VoIP) services for all their branch offices. This makes it feasible for some of their workers to telecommute and connect securely to the virtual contact center network from their home offices.

…

NeoSynergy, LLC and MotorAlley, LLC have announced a joint venture to enable consumers to use the Internet to buy directly from car dealers.

Unlike current buying services, the joint venture connects consumers directly to the eCommerce- enabled dealer to reduce marketing costs, overhead and hassle. The joint venture combines NeoSynergy's auto manufacturer-to-dealership (B2B) Web-based enterprise business system with MotorAlley's powerful automotive dealer-to- consumer (B2C) portal to create what company officials are calling "a holistic online vehicle-buying and service system."

But it doesn't eliminate dealerships. The idea is that consumers communicate directly via the Internet with the dealer's business management system -- all the online transactions take place in real-time. Consumers find the "Best Deals" via MotorAlley and then register to "Buy Direct," select a financing method, apply for a lease or loan, make a credit card down-payment to hold the vehicle, and arrange with the dealership to have it delivered or a time to go into the dealership to sign the paperwork and drive their new vehicle home.

NeoSynergy's enterprise software service comprises two parts: First, Darwin eXchange's Web browser interface powers MotorAlley.com's Buy Direct pages and is the door to the dealer's virtual vehicle sales and service departments. Second, Darwin eXtended Enterprise's functioning dealership- customer management system serves as the engine for managing the virtual and/or physical dealerships.

These two services then work together in real time, creating an enterprise B2B2C application. As a consumer shops and buys a vehicle via MotorAlley, the dealer sees the results immediately in DarwinEnterprise. NeoSynergy's factory communications has completed the real-time supply side information link with vehicle manufacturers and third party service providers to support dealer and consumer online buying processes.

Consumers, in effect, build the dealership's customer relationship management (CRM) because they create their own customer record in Darwin eXtended Enterprise as they register to purchase on the MotorAlley website. eXtended

…

And just to brighten your day, industry observer Dan Tynan has compiled a list of "the 25 worst tech products of all time." Yes, Microsoft Bob makes an appearance, but only at #7, suggesting that Mr. Tynan has a much stronger stomach than most of us.

Much in here is what you'd expect -- Internet Explorer 6, the "portable" Macintosh that weighed about 16 pounds, the "world's smallest Windows XP computer," so small you couldn't read anything on the screen, and the magnificently bad IBM PCjr.

Some barely registered a blip on its freefall from launch to the dustbin of history -- if you blinked you might have missed the Apple Pippin, CueCat or DigiScents' iSmell. Others were more tenaciously bad -- RealNetworks' much-cursed Real Player, and the Microsoft Windows Millennium edition ("ME," the "Mistake Edition.")

But AOL as #1? Okay, I've never subscribed, but is it really the worst tech product of all time? This is a world which has seen the Syncronys SoftRAM, after all. What's so bad about AOL, besides the "awful software, inaccessible dial-up numbers, rapacious marketing, in-your-face advertising, questionable billing practices, inexcusably poor customer service, and enough spam to last a lifetime" Tynan mentions, that is?

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

Here's a second cup of coffee, there appears to be a lot in the pot this morning so drink up, campers. Music's Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited:

Altico Advisors, a Microsoft Certified Partner headquartered in Massachusetts, has announced that all proceeds from the Year End Class conducted every December for Altico's Microsoft Dynamics GP clients have been donated this year to the New England Baptist Hospital.

"There are a lot of incredibly worthy causes that we could support, so choosing just one is always a difficult task. This year we chose an organization that was close to our heart and had personal meaning for us," says Rich Maloney, who is Altico Advisors' CEO, Chairman of the NEBH Finance Committee and Vice Chairman of their Board of Trustees. "This act of annual giving is another way of supporting the communities we serve."

Yeah, First Coffee lets them talk that way here when they're doing something good like this.

Established in 1893, New England Baptist Hospital is a nonprofit, adult medical/surgical hospital, known nationwide for its pioneering excellence in orthopedic surgery. NEBH performs more complex orthopedic procedures than any other hospital in Massachusetts.

"Our goal is to provide legendary service to our patients and to exceed their expectations every day," explains Debra Coleman, Vice President for Development and Chief Development Officer at NEBH. "We can quantify our success in a number of ways. For example, we were recently listed as a one of the top orthopedic hospitals in the country by US News & World Report for the 4th year in a row. And we consistently rank in the top 1 percent for patient satisfaction both in the greater Boston area and nationally."

Nice of her to say "patient" instead of "customer."

Normally, Coleman says, "donations come in as a result of our fund raising efforts. We were enormously pleased by Altico Advisors' unsolicited contribution and show of support. This is a great start to the new year."

Altico Advisors implements and supports business, financial, and customer management software solutions for mid-market companies throughout New England. Altico is a Microsoft Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and CRM systems for manufacturing, distribution, software development and service companies.

New England Baptist Hospital is a premier Orthopedic Center of Excellence, providing the highest quality medical and surgical care and performing more complex orthopedic procedures than any other hospital in Massachusetts.

Well done, Altico, a tip o' the pot to yer.

…

VoiceNation, which sells outsourced voice telephony and disaster recovery products, announced today the "Next" Initiative, a program to enable companies to "maximize the benefit they receive from voice communications by understanding the technology, options, and services available to them."

Resellers who sell VoiceNation's technology will also get a "completely new CRM application integrated with account provisioning, real time reports, and commission tracking," according to VoiceNation officials.
Focusing on fast-track technologies that will be hitting the marketplace over the next 180 days -- did you know about that? I sure didn't -- the Next Initiative is how VoiceNation will work with their client base to "ensure they are using the latest capabilities to build revenue for their business," is how VoiceNation officials put it.
Jay Reeder, President of VoiceNation, said the company is "rolling out several major breakthroughs in the next six months, and we wanted to have a plan in place to make sure our customers are able to keep pace."

The new voice communications technologies that VoiceNation plans to unveil include new voice platform with "toll-free mega-pop" that can handle 500-1000 simultaneous inbound calls, as well as personal communication assistant technologies with "presence management" capabilities. This enables one person to instantly know the status of another -- "at work," "in a meeting," "on cell," etc.

There's also Instant Messaging integrated with presence management to allow IM-based message status notification and incoming call announcements, a new Web-based user interface to control personal calling and status options as well as the new CRM application mentioned earlier.
        
"The Next Initiative is our way of protecting the integrity of our own research and development, so that it is never about what is flashy and trendy," Reeder said.

…

CRM vendor Autonomy Corporation plc has announced that it has been chosen to power the Swedish Armed Forces' new high-level technical architecture for its Command and Control System. The project is overseen by a joint venture company which includes Saab, Ericsson, IBM and Boeing.

What, not Volvo?

Autonomy was chosen, its officials say, for the technology's ability to "form a conceptual and contextual understanding of the meaning of a document and use this to perform advanced operations, such as automatic profiling, alerting, agents, query guidance, clustering and summarization."

The company's meal ticket has been its enterprise search capabilities, and in this case its dynamic hyperlinking and automatic, personalized channel generation were also particularly significant factors in the decision, if Autonomy's official statements are anything to go by, as the software will be used to capture and deliver findings from various research programs around the world.

Swedish military. First Coffee always thought Sweden was rather like a polar bears or wolverine, an entity with no natural predators in that if Russia or Germany really wanted it they'd have it by now. In such countries the "military" is usually one big off-book social welfare program, far more concerned with paying salaries, providing job training and keeping the official unemployment figures down than actually fighting anyone.

Autonomy's fully scalable and language-independent software will be used across vast repositories of documents in both Swedish and English. Employees will be able to track every document in the system, check for duplicate information and discover any shortfalls and missing information.

…

Gotta love Aussies. Here's a headline from Australian industry observer Brendon Chase: "Technology That Will Still Suck In '07."

Does your little CRM antennae go up? First Coffee's sure does. Let's see what Chase thinks… "Mobile phone coverage -- What? I can’t hear you. Hello? Okay I can hear you now. No, not now...How about I just call you later on a landline."

Yep, we'd agree with that one, here's another: "I can’t decide whether it’s the Linux desktop that will still suck in 07 or the end users who will fork out for Microsoft and Apple this year. I guess it’s a little from column a and a little from column b."

Hm, here's another one -- "Home networking for non-geeks – Over the Christmas period I was asked to help set up some friend’s and family’s network. Connecting two computers together, connecting to a wireless router, and setting up a secure home network on Windows is too difficult for the average punter."

Oh, and here we are: "CRM integration projects. As a programmer you’ll still be fixing these projects in 07 and reprogramming them in 08 to align business with IT.'"

Yeouch.

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

By David Sims
david@firstcoffee.biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the late Slim Dusty's "Losin' My Blues Tonight." Dusty's by far the most celebrated musician in Australian history, and his country sound is best described as what Jimmie Rodgers might sound like channeled through Hank Snow with a good country-rock bar band behind him. Much better than you'd probably expect, it's a shame this man never hit it big in the States:

Here's an interesting bit: First Coffee's seen CRM verticalized for just about any industry you can name off the top of your head, sport -- as in the athletes themselves -- is a new one.

Australia's New South Wales Institute of Sport will "embark on a new information race starting this week, with a new customer relationship management (CRM) system which will link the sporting data of more than 700 athletes in 28 different sports from across the state," according to industry observer Penny Jones.

Signing with Sydney-based Australian sports performance start-up Athletic Logic, Jones reports, "the institute will do away with two disparate systems instead putting all its money on a AU$50,000 customized CRM system called Athletrak."

Americans use CRM to track fans, ticket buyers and targets of sports merchandising. Using CRM to track the athletes themselves, well, if this is happening in America I haven't heard of it.

Last summer CRM vendor Sage announced that the Buffalo Sabres National Hockey League team implemented Sage CRM to automate ticket sales, customer service and marketing activities.

Over thirty Sabres employees access the CRM system to manage sales and marketing programs including the Sabres Insider and SabresKidz Clubs. The Sabres have measured a significant increase in ticket sales and a 20 percent reduction in customer service administration since implementing Sage CRM in 2004, Sage officials say.

“The greatest thing about Sage CRM is the way it ties everything together for us,” explained Tom Matheny, database marketing manager for the Buffalo Sabres. “Sales, marketing and our account services department all use the same information.”

That's the usual view of CRM in the sporting world -- how to treat fans as ATMs. It's nice to see the technology being used for the benefit of the athletes themselves. And if a man can dream, maybe, someday, to…improve the fan experience at sporting events in ways that don't translate into higher concession and merchandising sales? Sorry, sorry, I know, I… lost myself there for a second.

"Athletes, coaches and high performance service staff, including sport science, sport psychology, athlete career and education and medical, will use Athletrak to manage data on sporting progress, individual athlete's information, and research and testing along with accounting, payroll and administrative staff," Jones says.

Evidently the vendor, Athletic Logic, already "provides a similar system for every major Australian NRL, AFL and ARU club, and has made headway in the UK in recent times after deals with Manchester United and the International Rugby Board," but as Jones says, "this will be its first institute-based system."

Greg Baxter, NSWIS Communications and Technologies manager, tells Jones "we have a lot of coaches who work offsite around the state -- Athletrak plugs into the backend of SQL Server 2005, which means these people can run it off their notebooks without needing wireless or a LAN. When the coaches come back to the office they can simply download this information into the system -- which keeps the costs to us down."

…

Hosted CRM vendor SalesNexus, which also sells web-based contact management software, has added a new mobile tool to compliment its core product line, company officials say.

The new mobile tool, available only to current SalesNexus Premium Edition subscribers, is a web-based contact management software program that allows wireless synchronization of contacts and calendar to Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm PDAs and virtually any cell phone with an address book, officials promise.

Using the SalesNexus mobile contact management software program, sales representatives in the field can "access and update basic calendar and contact information, such as phone numbers and addresses, as well as unique business-specific information that can be customized based on the needs of the sales team," SalesNexus officials say. "Once the sales rep enters new or updated information, it immediately becomes available to the rest of the sales and support staff."

Craig Klein, President of SalesNexus, noted that "most sales organizations waste time with a lot of internal communication before responding to a client's needs. With information that's always up to date, anywhere, anytime, the entire team can take action without hesitation."

…

FTS, a vendor of Business Control, Billing and CRM products for communications service providers, has announced the availability of Leap Billing version 4.0, what company officials describe as "a carrier grade, next generation converged pre/post product for wireless, wire-line, cable, ISP, and multi-play service providers."

Comprised of integrated customer care and billing, Leap Billing version 4.0 is being marketed for its "flexibility in billing" and time-to-market for any communication service. The product is currently deployed or being implemented worldwide.

Company officials say it can help service providers "create additional revenue by billing for new multi-play services that cannot be billed using their current systems." They say it lets providers "increase customer satisfaction by empowering subscribers to control their own service package, modifying and provisioning without a customer service representative intervention," with "real-time event analysis, execution, and charging."

Version 4.0 introduces an Online Charging Engine which combines charging and business control capabilities with the "performance and robustness" for Prepaid IN systems.

Furthermore, the new version is equipped with a state-of-the-art voucher management system, allowing any customer, regardless of their payment method, to purchase and replenish with vouchers. The voucher management module provides complete voucher lifecycle management, including bulk and lot generation, ordering, distribution, and recharging accounts or specific services and content.

Yair Sakov, VP Marketing & Business Development, noted that by providing a single rating engine, a single CRM product and a single product catalog, Leap Billing Version 4.0 "offers true convergence on multiple levels."

…

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems has announced the introduction of a new feature in its Automotive Management Productivity Suite dealership management system. Dash/Mate can be used to select graphical elements, called widgets, that can display dealership vital statistics, and allows them to be viewed at-a-glance.

AMPS by Auto/Mate offers more than 20 fully integrated modules, including Sales, F&I, Fixed Operations, Accounting, CRM, Fleet Sales and more. Users throughout a dealership can use Dash/Mate to set up customized, graphical representations of particular metrics they are interested in.

For instance, a general manager might want to keep abreast of the number of vehicle sales each day to see if the dealership is on track for the month. Dash/Mate allows the GM to create a widget graphical element such as a bar chart, meter or thermometer, that can be displayed in AMPS at all times.

In other words, dashboard-style "idiot lights" for management.

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