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December 2007

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CRM Hits 'n' Highlights from 2007 -- From Our Readers

December 31, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is First Coffee's Favorite Album from 2007, not necessarily an album released in 2007, but what First Coffee reckons was his most-played album of the year … envelope please …

Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me (1957). Nobody puts this album as among Sinatra's "greatest" works, that's reserved for the likes of In The Wee Small Hours or Only The Lonely, great albums to be sure, but rather despondent, and Frank can do despondent to the point where you're reaching for the bottle yourself. But he's always been at his best having fun, and on no album does he have more fun than Come Fly With Me. You can hear the smirks and behind-the-hand smiles all over this one, and unlike cotton-candy fun albums, you can listen to it over and over and over until your wife yells at you to put something else on.

And First Coffee's Favorite Book Read in 2007 is The Road to Serfdom by F.A.



CRM Hits 'n' Highlights From 2007 -- First Coffee on Salesforce.com

December 31, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is First Coffee's Second Favorite Album from 2007, not necessarily an album released in 2007, but what First Coffee reckons was his second most-played album of the year… envelope please… Tom Waits' Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (2006).

A fairly stunning collection of outtakes, studio orphans and cuts that for whatever reason never made it on an album. You could slice this up into two or three albums, each of which would rank in the top half of all Waits albums. There's so much good stuff here moaning about what was left out is a minor quibble.

And First Coffee's Second Favorite Book Read in 2007 is State of Fear by Michael Crichton (2004). Along with Crichton's accomplished plot craftsmanship, always interesting and always credible, he completely -- completely -- destroys the anthropogenic global warming pseudo-religion.



CRM Hits 'n' Highlights from 2007 -- First Coffee on Starbucks

December 29, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is First Coffee's Third Favorite Album from 2007, not necessarily an album released in 2007, but what First Coffee reckons was his third most-played album of the year… envelope please…

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue (1959). The jazz album you're most likely to hear in a restaurant or put on when a "friend" comes over for an evening. Its unobtrusiveness is frequently misunderstood, however. This is the furthest from elevator or background music jazz has ever produced, the fact that it gets so many repeated listens is due to how good it is, not how bland it is.

And First Coffee's Third Favorite Book Read in 2007 is Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power by John Steele Gordon (2004).



Redknee Acquires Argent, CRM Webinars from AMC, CCID Predicts China 2008 Trends, NETadmin Picked for SSP

December 28, 2007

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is… you know, there were a lot of good albums released in 1966 that still hold up today, weren't there? Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, The Beatles' Revolver, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, The Byrds' Fifth Dimension, The Medical Mission Sisters' Joy Is Like the Rain, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton, The Kinks' Face to -- huh? Hold on, go back a couple. The Medical Sister what?

The Medical Mission Sisters, a group of nuns singing songs composed by Sr. Theresa Winter which stand up today alongside anything else coming from that time.

CRM Sync From Axle, Gartner Rates StayinFront 'Positive,' Shoptech Releases Webview 7.1, USOnyx and LiveChat, Genting and WorldCard in Vietnam

December 28, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is First Coffee's Fourth Favorite Album from 2007, not necessarily an album released in 2007, but what First Coffee reckons was his fourth most-played album of the year… envelope please…

Lou Reed's Live In Italy (1984). I admit, I was skeptical at first that any Lou Reed live album could top Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Reed's classic live album from the Druggy 70s. Live In Italy doesn't have guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter's blazing pyrotechnics, but it does have punk/jazz veteran Robert Quine, probably the most interesting guitarist Reed's worked with. Throw in bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Fred Maher and it's Reed's best backing band ever.

CRM’s Customer Effective in NYC, 19 Tech Predictions, SWK, SAP, EMC to Acquire DSC, CDC Joins OAGi

December 27, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is an album just barely nosed out of First Coffee Top Five of 2007, Louis Jordan’s Let The Good Times Roll: The Anthology 1938-1953.   EMC Corporation, a vendor of information infrastructure products, and Document Sciences Corporation have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement whereby EMC will acquire publicly-held Document Sciences Corporation in a cash transaction valued at approximately $85 million.   Document Sciences Corporation sells document output management software for communications to customers, partners and suppliers. The acquisition “complements and extends EMC’s position in the transactional content management marketplace,” a segment of enterprise content management, according to the DSCers.   The board of directors of Document Sciences Corporation approved the transaction with EMC based, in part, upon the recommendation of a special committee of the Document Sciences board of directors.

CRM’s NetSuite IPO, Jesta, Great Plains CRM, Fifth Favorite Album and Book of the Year, Zack Bullish on Salesforce.com, Nazli Ekim, Teradata in India

December 27, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is First Coffee’s Fifth Favorite Album from 2007, not necessarily an album released in 2007, but what First Coffee reckons was his fifth most-played album of the year… envelope please…   Aimee Mann’s Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse (2004). Besides the nugget that warehouses evidently have patron saints, and one wonders what Ann did to earn such an honor, this album showed us that Mann can, in fact, perform all those terrific songs she’s been writing with sinewy, passionate abandon. There’s not a track here that’s not an improvement over its studio counterpart, and muscular renditions of “Long Shot,” “The Moth,” “Deathly” and “That’s Just What You Are” stand out. We always knew Mann could write great songs, with this set she shows us she — with a crack backup band — can put her heart into them as well.

CRM Blog Rankings, Datacap for Charity, CRM Loyalty Paper, eLoyalty Q4 Woes, iEnterprises and IBM, WebDA CRM for Auto Dealers

December 19, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger’s ragged duet Walk and Don’t Look Back, from Tosh’s Bush Doctor album. One thing you can say for ol’ Mick, he’s done more good duets than most prima donna rock singers — witness this track, and his pairing with Peter Wolf on Nothin’ But The Wheel, from Wolf’s stellar Sleepless album:   Datacap gets coverage in First Coffee for two reasons — well, three: One, they’re in my general galaxy. Two, they’re located in Tarrytown, New York, where I grew up — hello McKeel Avenue. Three, they do cool things, like involve themselves in the third annual Cycle Faster, which raised more than $18,000 in donations for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Pivotal CRM in India, A Christmas Carol, Salentica and Microsoft CRM, Urban Outfitters Picks Callfinity, DirecTV Mobile CRM, eLoyalty, Siperian

December 19, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Abbey Road:


CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of China's CDC Corporation, has launched its Pivotal Customer Relationship Management (CRM in the Indian market through its new franchise partner, CDC CRM Solutions Private.

CDC Software has said it will pay $20 million for investment in channel partners worldwide. CDC Software has taken a 19 percent ownership stake in CDC CRM Solutions Private Ltd. and the company will exclusively sell Pivotal CRM in India.

CDC CRM Solutions has announced a sale of Pivotal CRM to TTK Services, a person-to-person outsourcing company in India.



According to The Writer's Almanac, today in 1843 Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. The book, an instant bestseller, revived the entire tradition of Christmas, which was then on the decline in England.








CRM and Gambling Vendor PacificNet, Omnistar Joins HostSearch VAS, Zoho Extends to Offline, CargoWise Suggests IT Enhancements

December 16, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is a Steve Earle mix:   Omnistar Etools has joined HostSearch.com’s Value Added Service, it was announced today. The company offers a range of PHP software products that include an e-mail-marketing product and helpdesk CRM software.   Each of their products are Web-based, and do not require any additional software to be installed. The company is offering HostSearch Support Members who sign up for their products the special offer of a 10 percent discount on its full suite of products.   Established in 1997, HostSearch.com provides information about Web hosting providers and the Web hosting industry.

WiredContact CRM’s Sharp Increase, Rona Picks Cundari CRM, StayinFront and Motorola ISV, Kintera and Advizor, Oracle in Las Vegas, DocCheck

December 15, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Van Morrison’s live medley of “Shakin’ All Over/Gloria” with John Lee Hooker, from A Night In San Francisco:   WiredContact, a Web-hosted Customer Relationship Management service, has noted a sharp increase of around 90 percent in sales figures over 12 months, which the WiredContacters attribute to “its strategy to offer various tailored versions of the product to directly fit the needs of individual business sectors.”   Having recognized the market need for tailoring its technology to suit sector-specific requirements, WiredContact’s Vertical Market Applications (VMA) have “proven to be a hit with the channel in recent months,” company officials say: “Indeed the VMAs have played a major role in WiredContact’s development into the Financial Services, Recruitment and Education markets.”   The services provide added functionality for each sector in specific ways. For example, the Recruitment service enables the user to differentiate between clients and candidates, temps and perms. The educational version, CRM4FE, can discern between Delegates, Clients, Courses and Training Providers, which is especially useful in Colleges. The Financial Services module tracks policies, properties, proposals and prospecting.

CRM from Vtrenz, Mover CRM for Moishe, Allbase Intros ERP, SoftBrands Announces Results, TelDig Connects to CRM

December 14, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners:   Stein Rogan & Partners has announced a partnership with Vtrenz, a marketing automation and lead management company, to “optimize demand for products and services for one of its flagship clients, TransitCenter.” Acquired by Silverpop in May 2007, Vtrenz does marketing campaigns, scores and routes leads to sales, and analyzes marketing results.

Tom Stein, president and CEO of Stein Rogan, said the Vtrenz partnership “has enabled Stein Rogan to take our demand generation and CRM practice to a new level of proficiency and sophistication.”

For TransitCenter, the non-profit organization behind TransitChek tax-free commuter benefits, which encourage mass transit and reduce traffic congestion, Stein Rogan created an acquisition campaign in concert with a Vtrenz-powered automated lead nurturing campaign using articles, white papers, telemarketing, surveys, and special offers.

“By implementing precision marketing, we’ve been able to identify and route high opportunity leads to the sales team,” adds Susan O’Sullivan, vice president of Marketing, TransitCenter. “At the same time, we can nurture ‘less sales-ready’ leads, moving them steadily to ‘sale-ready’ status.”

Precision marketing is “an area with huge upside for B2B marketers,” Stein observed, adding that the agency is in the midst of a second client implementation, and anticipates at least four more in 2008. …   Allbase, a vendor of online business products, has announced a Web-based Enterprise Resource Planning system designed for SMBs, allowing business owners to “manage all aspects of their operations in one system: accounting, CRM, inventory, marketing, scheduling, and more.”   Powerful business management products are “no longer exclusive to large corporations”, says Bert Johnson, president of the Allbasers. “The Allbase Suite combines the features of traditional ERP with the affordability and ease-of-use of online software.”   The Allbase Suite runs over any Internet connection and is available 24/7. The software is upgraded on a regular basis, providing features and improvements at no additional cost.







Michael Harvey, EVP of Centric CRM, on the Big Switchover

December 13, 2007

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is Tom Waits' Mule Variations album:

Recently Concursive Corporation, for its first major announcement after changing its name from Centric CRM, released a new version of its core software suite. The new application, Concourse Suite 5.0, "integrates CRM, Web site creation, content management and Enterprise 2.0 technologies into a complete front office product," according to Cent- … excuse me … Concursive officials.

Michael Harvey, EVP of Centric CRM, answered some questions for First Coffee before the big switchover:

FC: Why now for the name change?

MH: For some time, our vision and product development have been expanding beyond the bounds of traditional CRM. CRM traditionally focused on aggregating large amounts of customer data segregated into the three silos of salesforce automation, marketing automation, and customer service. For those who actually are familiar with the term CRM, it often brings to mind visions of large, late and over-budget IT projects enacted by big companies.

ConcourseSuite is a complete front office product that includes capabilities associated with traditional CRM, to be sure, but also includes capabilities like Web content management, enterprise content management, team collaboration, and even business to business networking.









CRM for Law Firm from Pivotal, Adenin's IntelliEnterprise Version 9, Dow Jones Client Solutions, SPSS and MarketBridge, Real Estate CRM, MORE from Pluris

December 13, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Emmylou Harris and Robert Duvall's duet on "I Love To Tell The Story" from The Apostle soundtrack:

CDC Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and a provider of industry-specific enterprise software and services, announced today that Cobbetts, a British regional law firms with offices in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester, has selected Pivotal CRM to "improve client understanding, promote best practices, streamline marketing activities, and capitalize upon untapped opportunities within the client base."

The move follows a none-too-shabby 26 percent rise in partner profits at the firm, which has a projected fee income approaching £65 million. According to Cobbetts, this success is partially driven by the firm's partner managed-client relationships approach. Using the Pivotal CRM, the Cobbettsians say, will give them a "holistic view of client activity, marketing, and case information in one intuitive system."

Kevin Goosman, Head of IT and CRM Project Manager, said they firm evaluated other providers, both enterprise and industry-specific, and the Pivotal CRM product "offers advanced functionality that can be configured for the way we want to do business."

Goosman specifically cited improvements in the firm's ability to enable them to ensure that all interactions, feedback and action points are visible to all parties interacting with a particular client, and to identify and act on cross-selling and up-selling opportunities with clients in practice areas.



Dow Jones & Company has introduced new capabilities offered by its services division, Dow Jones Client Solutions, which focuses on integrating job-specific information for corporate, media and financial clients. DJCS combines three former business units -- Factiva Consulting Services, Factiva Taxonomy Services and MarketWatch Licensing Services -- into one consulting-services practice.

According to IDC, most business professionals spend upwards of 25 percent of their work week looking for internal and external information.













CRM Change for Finnair, ReachForce Awarded Profiling Patent, AdventNet's Desktop Central, Opera in China, Oracle's Foundation Pack

December 12, 2007

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is Tom Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park:"


ITC Infotech, a global IT services company, has implemented a CRM based loyalty product for Finnair, Finland's largest airline. The Infotechers say Finnair is the first airline in the world to move away from a legacy based frequent flyer program to an analytical CRM product.

The new loyalty system for automating Finnair Plus, the loyalty program for Finnair customers, is expected to improve the effectiveness and usage of Finnair's loyalty program as well as reporting, analysis and decision support.

Tom Källström, Vice President, eBusiness Development, Commercial Division, Finnair said the loyalty program has gone live.

Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director, ITC Infotech, said delivery of the loyalty product to Finnair was part of a five-year multi-million dollar contract signed with Finnair in 2006. ITC Infotech is involved in implementing Finnair's frequent flyer loyalty program, e-ticketing and other operational application systems.



ReachForce, a vendor of on-demand software and data services for targeted lead generation, has announced it has been awarded a new technical and intellectual property patent for its Web-based lead generation system using data pre-emptive profiling.

The current patent awarded is Patent Number 7,275,083, and refers to a Web-based system that generates customer leads through the use of pre-emptive profiling. The system is based on an application service model, with its programming accessible to users of the system through web browsers and the Internet.

Suaad Sait, CEO of ReachForce, said by delivering predictive analytics software and custom leads data services, "we are continuing on our vision of eliminating the billions of dollars of waste in B2B marketing and selling caused by extreme inefficiencies in the availability and quality of data."

ReachForce's current U.S.
















CRM Training from Biz IT Pro, Satuit CRM at Great Lakes, SAP and Nakisa, Talisma and Royal Bank of Canada, OSA and Open Source CRM

December 12, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a greatly beefed-up iPod shuffle mix -- a couple days ago I found out how to further compress songs on my iPod without a noticeable loss of sound quality.


Since I had been importing off CD is AAC format to iTunes the songs were taking up 20, 50 90 megs. I switched to different settings, the songs sound just as good, and Elton John's "Funeral For A Friend," for instance, went from taking up 122 megs to taking up 14. The average Frank Sinatra song, of which I have close to two hundred, went from about 30 megs to about 5.

The upshot is, I had 1,800 songs on my iPod three days ago and 144 megs of free space. I currently have over 4,000 songs and over 7 gigabytes of free space -- and this is after putting on not only most all the pop songs I have, but as much jazz, classical and audiobook as I want.


CRM from Jenzabar for Roxbury CC, Utility Co.’s Connected Office Tech, Conad Picks Nokia, Maximizer CRM on African Luxury Safari

December 10, 2007

By David Sims David at firstcoffee d*t biz   The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is “Preachin’, Prayin’ and Singin’” by Flatt & Scruggs, from a great bluegrass gospel collection, Best of Bluegrass: Preachin’, Prayin’ And Singin’:   The Utility Company, a single-source provider of technology, communications and business management products for small and medium-sized businesses across North America, has announced the latest enhancements to its Connected Office Technology-as-a-Service Program, including an “integrated, hosted customer relationship management (CRM) and accounting system.”   Connected Office 3.0 is a single-source product addressing technology for SMBs focused on IT (network, desktop, security and storage), business applications, Web/Internet, copier/printer and telecommunications.   Mark Scott, president and founder of The Utility Company, said the he wanted to “bring more technology” to customer, in “a utility service model — hosted, virtual, fixed-fee services.”   Connected Office 3.0 is available for a monthly fixed fee per user through Utility Service Providers across North America and includes 1-866-My-Utility Live Helpdesk, which “proactively support users with secure remote access to network and desktops for on-demand service and training,” company officials say.   There’s also Remote Monitoring and Management with network, desktops/laptops, security, voice-over-IP systems, multi-function printers and data-back-up 24x7, as well as lots of other stuff, such as network/security assessment, emergency support, on-site maintenance and end-user training.   There’s also a nifty business technology assessment — “to quickly determine what you are spending on technology and how you are using your investment,” company officials say. …   Italy’s Conad has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks as a partner to provide hosting and charging services for its new mobile operations, according to Conad officials.   The supermarket chain will start as a mobile virtual network operator in 2008. Nokia Siemens Networks will fulfill a contract with Conad of Italy to manage its system and provide hosting services.

The contract will see Nokia Siemens Networks supply Conad with convergent charging products and hosting services from one of its hosting centers, according to the Conadians.

CRM From Auto/Mate, Why Your Christmas Bonus Might Be A Lump of Coal, Lexnet Releases ManuLogic, Cornerstone Picks ExactTarget, QuickArrow Winter ‘07

December 10, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the underrated sax player Hank Mobley’s solid jazz album, Soul Station. Nothing flashy or fancy, but thoroughly enjoyable, inventive jazz with Art Blakey, Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers:     Waiting for your Christmas bonus? We here in the ranks of the self-employed don’t have to worry about such things. But incentive compensation and commission expert Leslie Stretch of Callidus Software, is here to offer his insight on bonuses this Christmas season.   The man’s expertise: Over 1.8 million salespeople, brokers, and channel representatives have their sales performance managed by Callidus Software’s products, including those of such organizations as 7-Eleven, AIG and Wachovia.   The good news, as Stretch sees it, is that bonuses are increasingly becoming performance-related, as companies index them closer to company performance to motivate workers.

CRM in Dubai, Concentra Picks PipelineDeals, CDC Launches SaaS for Life Sciences, EGain Wins CIS Product of the Year, Open Solutions' CRM in Credit Union

December 6, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Rolling Stones' Some Girls:



Algosaibi Information Systems, a vendor of end-to-end IT products, teamed up with Sage, a vendor of ERP, HRMS & CRM products to host a CRM seminar in Dubai featuring CRM veteran Michael Walters discussing the emerging trends and opportunities and best practices in the CRM industry.

The theme of the event was "CRM for Manufacturing and Distribution Companies." The half-day event offered a series of presentations and gave "the attendees the chance to gain insights into the CRM product Saleslogix from Sage" through demos and presentations, according to Algosaibi officials.

Michael Walters, Managing Director of True Integrated Marketing, spoke on customer-centricity, the need for 360 degree view of customers espoused by CRM and the business benefits expected to be delivered by CRM systems in terms of revenue, costs and competitive advantage.

"CRM delivers lifetime values and manufacturers and trading organizations can build lasting relationship their customers and maximize their profitability by implementing effectively the right CRM systems," Walters said, adding that with "a three-dimensional view of customer segments that you serve, the products that you sell and the channels through which you distribute will aid you better in the decision-making processes and in differentiating yourself from the competition."

The interactive session focused on the expectations of the manufacturing companies in migrating to CRM, and discussed the key challenges faced by them while going in for a CRM implementation.







CRM Update From SAP, Sand and Inforte's SAP NetWeaver Deal, Jenzabar and Kintera Partner, IET Solutions and Avante, Varonis Picks Marketbright

December 5, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Guns 'n' Roses' Appetite For Destruction:


SAP AG has introduced what the SAPpers are calling "the next evolution of SAP Customer Relationship Management," a component of the SAP Business Suite."

With "an eye toward empowering the growing business user market," this product is "designed to be simple and powerful to solve real business problems," SAP officials say. The announcement was made at the fifth SAP Influencer Summit, held in Boston.

The product features "new capabilities" such as trade promotions management, business communications management and pipeline performance management. The latest release also has "a dynamic new user interface," company officials say.

"The next generation of CRM applications will be designed to use Web 2.0 style user interfaces to appeal to sales, marketing and customer service professionals," said Ed Thompson, VP Distinguished Analyst, Gartner. "But they will also be able to support multiple other different user interfaces with a clear emphasis on usability and ease of configuration."

Company officials say they were mindful of a recent Economist Intelligence Unit study, "Improving Customer Relationships," finding that what companies want, what they really, really want -- hey they're back on tour, all right?








CRM SaaS Uptake in Pharma, Pardot Prospect on AppEx, Salesforce in NY and SF, Customer Connect, Scgdomains CRM Txt, StayinFront and Salvation Army

December 4, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is but one of the many fine versions of the Grateful Dead's "Jimmy Row" to be had out there:


Datamonitor, which sells online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors, asked 300 users of customer relationship management (CRM) technology in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across North America and Western Europe to rate CRM vendors in five areas: product quality, customer support, service capabilities, vertical specialization, portfolio depth, and service levels.

Putting the survey responses with its own market research, Datamonitor points to an industry trend towards the on-demand delivery model. "Namely," Datamonitor officials say, "end users of such products are more satisfied with customer support and services provided by SaaS vendors rather than by traditional vendors."

The report states that "on-demand CRM vendors are making a lasting impact on the pharmaceutical CRM market. As such, Verticals onDemand is likely to play an important role in the new competitive landscape, offering an innovative product that seems to meet the industry's need like a glove."

Verticals onDemand, a vendor of Software-as-a-Service CRM products, is built on the Salesforce.com platform.






CRM's Selltis Gets Funding, AccessDiscovery Offered, iMagicLab's CRM Social Networking, Customer Effective Picks Mills Agency, Epicor Names Hackworth

December 3, 2007

The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is Josh Ritter's The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter album:


Access Data, a vendor of what the Datalians call "omnibus account transparency and enterprise sales reporting," and Discovery, a vendor of financial intermediary market data, have announced a joint offering called AccessDiscovery, to provide mutual fund companies with "a clear, concise picture of its most profitable financial intermediary clients and ideal prospects."

AccessDiscovery provides information letting mutual fund sales managers develop a profile for Registered Representatives, Advisors, Trust Officers, and other sales people that have the highest likelihood of selling their fund products. Client demographic information is combined with net sales results and provides access to this information via a fund firm's CRM system or hand held device.

The idea is to give mutual fund sales teams a clearer target of who they should be spending time with to expand the firm's share of wallet, as well as those individuals that should be called because they represent the best new business opportunity.

"The combination of Access Data and Discovery information, enables mutual fund wholesalers to spend all of their time on their best clients and ideal prospects," said Nicholas Stuller, President of Discovery. "AccessDiscovery is taking a lot of the guess work out of sales to financial intermediaries."

AccessDiscovery is an on-demand service using Access Data's technologies, and Discovery's repository of market data about financial intermediaries.

A testament to the popularity of this new offering is the fact that Charles Schwab Investment Management has already signed up for the service.

Access Data sells enterprise reporting and data management services for mutual fund companies and financial intermediaries. Their flagship product, Access Data SalesVision, provides financial services firms with a storage, analysis, and enterprise reporting product for compliance, finance and sales management.



Call it Carfacebook: iMagicLab has announced the public launch of a new social networking site designed specifically for car dealers, auto sales people, Internet sales managers and independent dealer employees.

IMagicLab Connect http://community.imagiclab.com is a free service allowing users to exchange ideas with their peers and participate in a discussion of issues affecting the automotive retailing industry.


















CRM Benchmarks Recognized, Quest Studies CRM Bespoke Code, Endeavor's SmartCatalog, Autonomy's Zantaz and E-Discovery Help, Tenrox 9.2

December 3, 2007

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a bracing dose of good, honest, basic, pounding, fun times rock'n'roll, a.k.a. Rod Stewart's 1969-1974 solo albums with Ron Wood, where the very DNA of rock'n'roll is to be found:

OEConnection has announced that its Customer Care center has been awarded the BenchmarkPortal certification, given in conjunction with the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University.

BenchmarkPortal is a source for Customer Relation Management (CRM) best practices information for call centers worldwide. This recognition, the OEConnectioneers say, means that the company's call center now qualifies as a "Certified Center of Excellence."

The certification is based on best practice metrics drawn from the world's largest database of call center information, the CCDQians say. Centers that attain certification do so on the basis of objective, quantitative data, which is audited and validated by researchers from BenchmarkPortal and the Center for Customer-Driven Quality.

"The achievement of the Center represents a contact center's delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient," said Dr. Jon Anton of the Purdue CCDQ.

OEConnection's certification was awarded following an audit benchmarking its call center against the best practices of comparable centers.









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