CRM Guide for Dynamics 4.0, Callidus and Covad, Tribridge Gets Productive Gap, Clarity’s Airlines, ProTrak and CorrectNet

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CRM Guide for Dynamics 4.0, Callidus and Covad, Tribridge Gets Productive Gap, Clarity’s Airlines, ProTrak and CorrectNet

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Israel Kamakwiwo’ole’s Facing Future:
 
Callidus Software, a vendor of Sales Performance Management products, has announced that Covad has selected and implemented the Callidus On-Demand services to “manage sales performance and incentive compensation programs for its internal and external sales channels,” according to company officials.
 
Under the agreement Covad will use Callidus On-Demand for its approximately 1,000 internal sales representatives and external dealers in North America.
 
Joseph Le Chevallier, vice president finance and corporate controller at Covad, said the product will improve the company’s “compensation payment accuracy, timeliness and Web-based visibility.”
 
To date, Callidus has signed contracts for its hosted on-demand services covering more than 44,000 payees, “more than any other provider of on-demand SPM software,” the Callidians claim.
 
“We are very pleased to welcome Covad,” said Jeff Saling, vice president of Callidus On-Demand. Saling noted that Callidus’s SPM products are used by six of the top 10 U.S. banks, four of the top five U.S. health insurers and three of the top five U.S. telcos.
 
. . . .
 
Tribridge, a Microsoft consulting firm with offices across the United States, has acquired Austin, Texas-based Productive Gap, a vendor of Microsoft Dynamics CRM products, products and services.
 
“The launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 makes this acquisition particularly timely, as it heightens the demand for dedicated, experienced Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultants,” says Tony DiBenedetto, Tribridge chairman and CEO, noting that the deployment of CRM products nationwide has doubled in each of the past two years.
 
Spun off in January 2007 from Onsite Computer Solutions, Productive Gap and its team members had been working with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business platform since its beta release in 2002. Productive Gap Co-founder Ed Benson, master certified in CRM, joins Tribridge’s CRM division as a senior manager.
 
Benson said his company is “pleased to join Tribridge because of the marketing support they can provide our intellectual property.”
 
The Productive Gap acquisition is one of a series of Tribridge acquisitions that has resulted in the Firm’s growth to 150 employees with plans for additional expansion this year. Tribridge is headquartered in Tampa.
 
. . . .
 
Clarity Systems, a vendor of corporate performance management (CPM) products, has announced the recent signings of five airlines as customers, including JetBlue Airways, Eos Airlines and British Airways, for the Clarity 6 and Clarity Financial Statement Reporting products.
 
The airline industry certainly faces serious performance management challenges. “Managing an airline’s performance using spreadsheets is too cumbersome and slow,” the Claritians say, explaining the airlines’ purchases of Clarity 6.
 
“Clarity 6 lets managers view and analyze their past performance so they can make more confident forecasts,” said Joseph Gigliotti, supervisor of systems and strategy, JetBlue Airways. “There are capacity restrictions in many airports, and routes have to be negotiated and published in advance. With Clarity 6, we can forecast the number of flights per day and determine the fuel and baggage capacity requirements that are most appropriate for each flight.”
 
Block hours, assigned seat miles, capacity and turn-around time and fuel hedging are planned in advance by airlines. With Clarity 6, JetBlue Airways will automate their existing manual process to track crucial financial data while reducing entry errors. Eos Airlines, operating on a Microsoft platform, will use Clarity 6 to help them continue using their existing Microsoft spreadsheet models, Clarity officials say.
 
“Profitability has been a challenge for the airline industry for a long time now. Rising fuel prices, higher labor costs and the need for more security have impacted the bottom lines of all airlines” observes Paul Hill, COO, Clarity Systems.
 
Clarity 6 keeps airline budgeting, forecasting, and planning in a single, Web-based and Excel-like software product that uses an airline’s existing databases and financial models.
 
. . . .
 
CorrectNet, a vendor of information delivery and reporting applications for investment management firms, and ProTrak International, a vendor of CRM products for investment management, have announced an out-of-the-box integrated product for hedge funds.
 
The turnkey product gives hedge funds Web-based information delivery of information for investors, as well as prime brokers, fund administrators and other counterparties.
 
The offering creates a product integrating client relationship management (CRM) data in ProTrak with CorrectNet’s Web-based reporting and data aggregation services. At the front end, a hedge fund’s investor relations group can now use ProTrak’s CRM to manage investor access and reporting to their CorrectNet Web portal: Changes or adjustments can be made directly from ProTrak, “eliminating the need for duplicate copies of investor records and data,” according to the ProTrakkers.
 
“Hedge funds are struggling to meet the demands of investors, particularly institutional investors, for greater transparency and more frequent and customized reporting,” said Bob Miller, CEO of CorrectNet. “Content stored in a firm’s CRM systems needs to be integrated with core reporting and information delivery platforms.”
 
“We see this partnership as a win-win for all of our clients,” said Simon Koziel, President of ProTrak International. ProTrak and CorrectNet will roll out the new product immediately to clients.
 
. . . .
 
Sonoma Partners, a firm which implements and customizes Microsoft CRM products, has announced the publication of Working With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, a guide to Microsoft’s newest release of the software.
 
Authored by Mike Snyder and Jim Steger and published by Microsoft Press, the second-edition book targets those looking to install, customize, or enhance Microsoft CRM. It contains information on customizing forms, configuring security roles, tracking e-mail and writing reports, among other topics.
 
The book can be ordered at Amazon.com and will debut at Convergence, Microsoft’s top event for its Dynamics line of business software, scheduled for March 11-14 in Orlando.
 
Sonoma has also announced the coming availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Step by Step, also written by Snyder and Steger and published by Microsoft Press.
 
Step-By-Step, their first end-user guide to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, is planned for release in Summer 2008. DreamWorks has reportedly acquired the film rights, and Kate Blanchett is said to be interested in the project.
 
“The 4.0 release builds on the stability of the existing platform and includes added value via additional enhancements, such as duplicate checking, an import data wizard, user generated reporting, and secure access via the Web,” Snyder said.
 
“One of the key chapters in the new book discusses Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s enhanced workflow capability,” Steger remarked. “The ability for administrators and users to create workflow rules allows them to use the system more effectively.”
 
Snyder and Steger have completed over 100 Dynamics CRM implementations.
 
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