By David Sims

David at firstcoffee d*t biz

 

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Jim White’s Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See:

 

BCG Systems has implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP for 5C Image Services, a division of Rentwear, Inc., a business uniform and apparel rental company.

 

5C Image Services provide both regional and national companies with apparel rental for their locations. 5C Image Services staff members do the research needed to partner with local apparel rental companies in each location to service the client. The company then provides centralized billing for every location’s rental needs.

 

5C Image Services decided on Microsoft Dynamics GP, based on a recommendation from business associates.

 

In order to quickly capture invoices coming from dozens of local rental services nationwide with minimal handling, and bill those amounts back out to the customer, 5C implemented a customized version of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Portal.

 

The rental service organizations access the Business Portal through a secure login to upload a spreadsheet with their billing amounts. They are also able to attach PDF images of their original invoices, for the national customer to review.

 

Royalties and fees are deducted from the amounts collected from customers and the balance paid to the local supplier. In order to track these complex calculations 5C is using Ethotech, a commission tracking add-on available for Microsoft Dynamics GP.

 

With the fully-integrated system up and running, one person is able to manage the process of billing clients, collecting remittances, and paying commissions, making the service economical to provide.

 

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Sage Software has announced that its Sage SalesLogix v7.2 and SageCRM v6 products have each received Info-Tech Research Group’s Decision Diamond Award for CRM market leadership.

 

Info-Tech Research Group’s Decision Diamond assessments position Sage SalesLogix as a Mid-Market CRM category leader and SageCRM as a Small Enterprise CRM category leader based on evaluation criteria including “ease-of-use, features, architecture, support and pricing, and vendor viability and strategy,” Info-Tech officials say.

 

Info-Tech assesses vendors in the technology marketplace, ranking them by the strength of their offering and their strategy for the enterprise. The firm cited intuitive interfaces and dashboards, codeless customizations and a full range of mobile and disconnected deployment options among strengths of the Sage CRM Solutions family.

 

“We are impressed with the investment Sage Software continues to make in its entire CRM product portfolio, and by the consolidation of their CRM products and strategy under a single general manager,” noted Timothy Hickernell, Associate Senior Research Analyst with Info-Tech Research Group.

 

In June Sage announced an enhanced organizational structure for its Global CRM Group, led by Joe Bergera, Executive Vice President and Global General Manager for Sage CRM Solutions. The new structure brings together global product management and technology strategy functions that overlay product delivery teams based in North America and Europe.

 

The structure is designed to increase scale of operations, accelerate time-to-market and create strategic synergies across Sage CRM Solution product lines, Sage officials say.

 

. . . .

 

CRM vendor Infusion Software has announced that it has been ranked in Inc. magazine’s list of 500 fastest growing private companies in America. The Phoenix-based provider of Infusion CRM software posted a 917.8 percent three-year growth rate, earning it a ranking of 258 on the list based on its rapid growth and increasing revenue.

 

Inc., geared towards small and medium-sized businesses, releases an annual Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. Infusion is the only small business CRM software provider on the Inc. 500, which can be found in the September issue.

 

“We are truly honored to be recognized by Inc. magazine among such great companies,” said Clate Mask, president of Infusion Software. “Our growth is fueled by the increasing demand for Infusion CRM, a business software program that represents a new breed of CRM designed specifically for the underserved small business market.”

 

To be eligible for the list, a company must be headquartered in the U.S., independent and privately held through its fiscal year 2006, and have had at least $200,000 in net sales in the base year of 2003, with 2006 exceeding 2005 sales.

 

Companies are ranked on cumulative three-year sales growth from 2003 to 2007.

For a complete list of the Inc. 500 Award winners, please go to: http://www.inc.com/resources/inc500.

 

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British Telecom, in partnership with Tierlinear Ltd. has announced the beta launch of BT BizBox, a set of free, simple to use, Web-based business productivity tools for small businesses.

 

Designed to streamline inefficient and time-consuming tasks, BT BizBox is a Web-based software product designed to “improve a small business’s efficiency by providing managers and employees with one effective system to track customer contacts and perform essential business functions,” according to company officials.

 

BT BizBox provides a user-friendly dashboard, giving small businesses the ability to manage a contact list, create invoices and provide fully detailed quotes for customers. BT BizBox also allows for the management of documents, calendars and employee information and keeps detailed records of meetings.

 

BT BizBox also includes integrated communications capabilities such as “Click to Call” and “Click to SMS” functionality based on BT’s Web21C Web services.

 

Built to open standards using open source technologies, BT BizBox is integrated with best of breed web services from BT and other third parties. BT BizBox is hosted on highly scalable servers with a carrier class network providing 99.99 percent uptime and availability. All BT BizBox data is encrypted and backed up daily.

 

During the beta period, BT BizBox is provided as a free service on www.bt.com/beta.

 

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Two years ago First Coffee wrote a column about the customer service practices of Caiman, and has since received more e-mails about that one column than all the rest put together. Another comment came in today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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