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.

 

The WiredContact CRM service is Web-based and “suitable for all levels of usage, from SME’s to Bluechip Enterprises,” company officials say. Originally a Web-based front end to ACT!, WiredContact can now work in conjunction with or independently of ACT! to provide a leading edge Customer Relationship Management service product.

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Rona, a Canadian retailer and distributor of hardware, home renovation and gardening products, has announced it has selected two new partners for its marketing communications and advertising — Cundari for a brand agency across Canada, and Saint-Jacques Vallee Young & Rubicam for Reno-Depot.

 

The Cundari Group will develop marketing communications for the Rona brand, including corporate brand creative, tactical and promotional programming, company officials say, including “Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) initiatives in support of our Air Miles reward program, as well as using Rona’s Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship.”

 

In addition, Rona has concluded agreements with existing partners Quebecor World to print its flyers and Transcontinental to distribute the flyers while CARAT maintains its mandate for media planning and buying as well as sponsorship management.

 

SVY&R has been selected as the marketing communication agency for the 15-store network of Reno-Depot in Quebec.

 

In addition, Rona has concluded agreements with two of its long-term strategic partners. Quebecor World and Transcontinental will continue to work with the company on its flyer program. Quebecor World will print the flyers for Rona’s banners across Canada and Transcontinental will maintain its role as Canada-wide distributor.

 

“As a proud Canadian company, we aim at building this same relationship with consumers from coast to coast,” explained Rona Senior Vice President of Marketing Michael Brossard.”

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StayinFront, a vendor of enterprise-wide (CRM) applications, has announced it has joined the Motorola PartnerSelect Independent Software Vendor Program.

 

Motorola’s PartnerSelect Program is to promote “long-term go-to-market relationships and ecosystem-partnering among independent software vendors, product and business partners, and professional service providers worldwide,” according to StayinFront.

 

As part of the program, StayinFront will focus on relationship development, application software and professional services by co-validating its CRM applications with Motorola’s mobile products, including the MC70 and MC50 Enterprise Digital Assistant.

 

StayinFront’s latest version, StayinFront CRM 10, enables organizations to gain the flexibility to deploy the product across multiple platforms, including LANs, WANs, Tablet PCs, and mobile devices.

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The City of Las Vegas has implemented Oracle BPEL Process Manager, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, to integrate various applications and business processes, as well as to provide a better experience for city employees.

 

The city worked with Innowave, a member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork, on the implementation, which was the most recent step in a citywide technology transformation. The city previously implemented the Oracle E-Business Suite to improve financial and human resources management, as well as Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to manage assets and maintenance.

 

The City of Las Vegas first used Oracle BPEL Process Manager to streamline business processes within its Water Pollution Control Facility, which treats wastewater generated by more than 650,000 residents and businesses in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

 

The facility recently implemented Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to enhance efficiencies in maintaining public assets and managing the respective city workforce. The city used Oracle BPEL Process Manager to integrate the utilities product with the Oracle E-Business Suite’s financial, human resources, payroll and purchasing applications — delivering a comprehensive view of the facility’s numerous infrastructure assets and enabling more strategic management decisions.

 

The City of Las Vegas is also using Oracle BPEL Process Manager to integrate its land management application with its Oracle back-office systems and is planning additional integration projects to improve efficiency citywide.

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Following the successful launch of the DocCheck Faces network in Germany, DocCheck, a community for medical professionals in Europe, is now making its social networking package available in other countries.

 

The Italian version is already online. English, Spanish and French versions will follow in January 2008. The English version is also aimed at the U.S. market. “Online market research, eMarketing, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) lie at the heart of DocCheck’s business model,” company officials say.

 

Within DocCheck Faces, medical practitioners can put their profile on show, set up their own forums and exchange news with colleagues. “Our aim is to establish a global community of healthcare professionals, thereby significantly improving international exchanges between physicians,” explains Dr. Frank Antwerpes, DocCheck’s CEO.

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Kintera has announced that Advizor Solutions, a leading provider of business analysis software, has joined the Kintera Connect partner program to “develop a product that will help nonprofits gain a better understanding of donor behavior and giving patterns.”

 

Once completed, the application will provide nonprofit organizations with interactive, customizable, and on-demand business analytics, Kintera says: Using Advizor Solutions’ Visual Discovery, nonprofits will “be able to graphically view robust analytics including gender, age, giving history, payment time and type, donation frequency, and donor campaign activity.”

 

Additionally, the interactive functionality of Advizor Solutions’ business intelligence software will enable nonprofit clients to drill down and personalize information gathered from Kintera’s donor management and fundraising products.

 

“The Kintera Connect platform enables us to create an integrated product that we believe will enable nonprofit organizations to raise money more efficiently,” said Doug Coswell, CEO of Advizor Solutions. “The idea to contact Kintera and join the program actually came from one of our nonprofit clients.”