SplendidCRM, Tableau for Microsoft CRM Analysis, Nutrihand Food CRM

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SplendidCRM, Tableau for Microsoft CRM Analysis, Nutrihand Food CRM

By David Sims
David at firstcoffee d*t biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Raveonettes "Whip It On:"

Tableau Software, a vendor of visual analysis software, has announced Tableau for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, described by Tableau officials as software for analyzing CRM data.

The new product, scheduled for general availability on April 17, 2007, is designed for use by information workers in all job functions and industries. Tableau for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, according to company officials, "enables people to summarize and analyze CRM data with an intuitive interface," and generates visual displays and reports.

This is the latest product from Tableau Software designed to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and be installed in minutes. It has a drag and drop interface, letting users create ad hoc pipeline analyses, sales trends, won/loss reports and others, as well as standard business performance summaries and dashboards.

There are no canned templates or charting wizards in the product. Christian Chabot, Tableau's CEO and co-founder, said frequently CRM data contains "trends, outliers, and relationships that are not easy to coax out" of canned reports and templates.

"There is tremendous value in the data stored in our customers' CRM systems, but they struggle to find tools to help them make sense of it," said Scott Kostojohn, Principal at Madrona Solutions Group, a certified Microsoft CRM Partner based in Seattle.

Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives users "access to the full range of CRM data," Tableau officials say, adding that users "can begin to create visual displays and reports within minutes of installation. In addition, the integration enables people to drill down to the underlying data tables for closer inspection."

Linking from a Tableau display or report to the information referencing a prospect, account, or opportunity in the CRM system can be done with one click.

The product does let users create interactive dashboards "when any visual display or report is selected and placed in it via the drag and drop interface," company officials explain.

As a good Microsoft Gold Certified ISV, Tableau will sell the new product through the Microsoft Dynamics Certified Partner channel. The company expects to have 25 partners signed and trained by the product launch date.

Tableau Software is a privately-held company based in Seattle.

SplendidCRM Software, Inc., a vendor of what company officials describe as "Microsoft-centric Customer Relationship Management (CRM)" products for open-source use, has announced it is making its flagship platform available to enterprise software system integrators under a "highly affordable" licensing arrangement. 

The plan computes fees based only on those persons using and/or developing the application at the integration company.  It's called their "Free-Runtime and Free-Hosting License."

Unveiled in 2005, SplendidCRM is an open-source CRM application building on the design of SugarCRM while adding "value to the equation," company officials say, through its "Microsoft-centric design philosophy that uses a pure Microsoft  technology stack."

The license to system integrators includes two distribution methods -- a runtime license enabling integrators to sell the application via CD or download, and a hosted, on-demand license for the Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

"CRM has become a platform application for companies and organizations of virtually all sizes. Our product allows providers of enterprise applications to build on this platform under remarkably affordable terms," noted Paul Rony, president of SplendidCRM, saying the product is pitched "for integrators seeking to provide Software as a Service."

Like SugarCRM, SplendidCRM supports marketing, sales and customer support, and includes tools for team collaboration, reporting, and administrative/platform management.

SplendidCRM Open-Source and SplendidCRM Professional have identical features, but the Professional version includes the SQL source code, which is typically needed when integrating.

Also included in the Professional version is the source code for the SplendidCRM Plug-in for Outlook 2003, which lets users create contacts and archive e-mail related to a lead, account or opportunity, synchronize contacts and synchronize their Outlook calendar.

Privately-held SplendidCRM is located in North Carolina's Research Triangle.

Nutrihand, Inc., whose Internet-based services are used as a specialized CRM for food manufacturers, healthcare providers and payers, has announced "the achievement of outstanding customer retention and higher revenue results with its online wellness platform" after seven months in the market.

A large food manufacturer "started using Nutrihand to deliver their meal and fitness planner," and their customer retention "increased in more than 15 percent in just one week of usage.," Nutrihand officials say, adding that the "added value applications" created specifically for their brands "motivate frequent returns with average sessions of 45 minutes at a time, 3 to 5 days a week."

The Nutrihand Wellness Platform can be customized per partner's requirements, and the Single-Sign-On technology allows partners to connect to the services securely and is transparent to partners' consumers/patients. The product provides planning, tracking, analysis and reporting tools for meals, fitness and medical information.

Its large database includes nutritional facts for tens of thousands of foods and exercises' caloric burn-out, diet and fitness plans for weight loss, diabetes, celiac disease and others.

It also provides a HIPAA compliant link in real-time, between professionals and their clients/patients. Universities are using the platform to teach nutrition to their students as well as to reduce and manage their healthcare costs.

The product is designed to give marketers "the capability to understand clients' behavior, increase retention and loyalty, while delivering services the customers really like and use," says Soraya Bittencourt, Nutrihand founder and CEO and the creator of Expedia.com.

Nutrihand, Inc. develops health management services and solutions with their Wellness Platform for consumers, healthcare professionals and business. Founded in 2004 and privately held, Nutrihand is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Those of you getting impatient with the pace of the war in Iraq, demanding we should just throw in the towel and surrender, might want to bear in mind that it was only today in 1864, three years after the Civil War started, that Ulysses Grant was given command of the Union armies.

The war, which had been going miserably for the vastly militarily superior union until then, was highly unpopular in the North, with the media vociferously objecting. President Lincoln's approval ratings were down around those of gangrene, but after putting Grant in charge the war was won within a year.

As with the Iraqi war, there wasn't exactly a blueprint and stepsheets for how to go about such a war. Lincoln had to make it up as he went along, learning from his mistakes, but never giving up.

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