NetSuite Appoints Jakobsen, CRM Love for Caiman.com, MIG and British Red Cross

By David Sims

David at firstcoffee d*t biz

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the ear-pinnin', roof-shakin', house-rattlin' J. Geils Band live on Blow Your Face Out. If there was a better live ticket anywhere -- anywhere -- in the '70s than Geils, First Coffee wasn't aware of it. The J. Geils Band is one nostalgia reunion tour First Coffee's impatiently awaiting:

CRM vendor NetSuite has appointed Per Jakobsen as its new vice president of product management. NetSuite officials say Jakobsen is expected to spearhead the strategy, initiatives and operations of product management relating to NetSuite's accounting/ERP, CRM and e-commerce software suites, as well as lead the company's product management team.

Jakobsen was vice president of products strategy at Salesforce.com from 2005 to 2008, where he headed the team responsible for designing and launching a new financial services CRM vertical. Prior to that, he was VP of services and operations at Ventaso.

Jakobsen spent 10 years at Oracle in Denmark and the U.S.

Evan Goldberg, founder, chairman and chief technology officer of NetSuite, said Jakobsen is "a first-rate technology professional with a proven track record in the enterprise and CRM software industry."

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More comments posted on First Coffee's post concerning the CRM practices of online retailer Caiman.com, this one from Caiman customer "J.A.:"

I will never order from this company again! I placed my order as a gift for a family member who lives in the Midwest. I live on the West Coast. After placing my order, I received an e-mail from "Claire" who told me they no longer had the item in stock and didn't know when they would.

I responded and requested a cancel and refund. I then called the customer service phone number and spoke to a real person who told me they would have the item in stock that day and it would ship soon. After hanging up the phone, I received another e-mail from "Claire" stating my package was now in stock and had shipped (a mere 30 minutes after she sent me the e-mail saying it was out of stock).

Needless to say, the morons sent the package to me and not the intended family member in the Midwest. I am waiting to hear if they will provide me with a refund on my shipping costs, since they managed to send it to the wrong address. And did I mention that the "track your package" link showed the package being shipped to the Midwest address? Unbelievable. Will NEVER order from them again.

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The commercial training arm of the British Red Cross has signed up to MIG's Intelligent Marketing platform to employ digital marketing techniques to" increase sales of their nationwide first aid training courses," Red Cross officials say.

The commercial training arm delivers courses at over 170 centers and in company premises for more than 120,000 people per annum, representing a significant part of the U.K.'s work force.

It intends to reduce operational costs, Red Cross officials say, by "extended use of digital communications, including digital brochures, e-mail and text messages through the platform, which will integrate with its established CRM tool Consensus."

Red Cross officials describe it as "a strategic move away from traditional and reactive marketing to a more proactive approach," by which Red Cross officials "hope to build an ongoing relationship with both businesses and delegates."

Anne McColl, General Manager Red Cross Commercial Training, said the organization sees "both cost savings and increased intelligence from using digital marketing. We have invested significant amounts in the past in CRM products and we needed the products and expertise from MIG to help deliver a cohesive marketing program."

Conrad Morris Chief Operating Officer at MIG is leading the project and actively working with the team at Red Cross to develop the capability in house.

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From Caiman.com customer "Andy G:"

Up until this year - 2008, I've had excellent results with Caiman.com, but, that has changed. Shipping has always been good, but returns and information has become unbearable. Most recently, I ordered a DVD set -- described as such on Amazon. Right after the purchase, I began to doubt it was really a set due to the cost and the listed runtime. I immediately wrote them and asked to clarify so that I could cancel if necessary. Three days later my response was "your order has shipped."

When it arrived, it was not a set, but a single DVD. I wrote for a Return Authorization, explaining the whole situation. My response was short and abrupt and included information that was not part of the original listing -- they had obviously edited it.

I went to Amazon and sure enough, the one I had purchased from was gone. All of my invoices and Amazon records showed the 9 DVD Set as the ordered item though, so I wrote one more time. The response (now seven days after the order was delivered) "thank you. Your order shipped on xx/xx/2008." WTF. Obviously, a robot response.

I'll now try the phone numbers listed in this forum. AND I'll never use Caiman again.

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Knova, a Consona CRM product and vendor of knowledge management products, has announced that Verizon Wireless has chosen Knova as part of several initiatives attempting to enhance the quality of service and support provided to all of its customers.

Verizon Wireless has been using Knova since 2003 to provide service and support to its customers via technical support centers and to customers via verizonwireless.com. Verizon Wireless uses Knova Contact Center and Knova Self-Service products.

Knova will be rolled out nationally to all Verizon Wireless customer care representatives.

Vernon Villasenor, associate director of Verizon Wireless customer service, said his company is using "the effectiveness and flexibility of the Knova system."

"I'm confident Knova's best-in-class technology will help Verizon Wireless achieve faster, more cost-effective service resolution," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona Corporation, the parent company of Knova.

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