January 2009 Archives

First Trace's Kinnosa, Microsoft CRM and Intermedia, 2009's Online Marketing, Netbook (Dis)satisfaction?

January 21, 2009 1:22 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Charlie Parker's eponymous album. Look it up:
 
Now this is serious: A benchmark analysis of consumer reviews of netbook laptops collected from consumer electronics review Web sites has been released by Biz360, a vendor of market and media intelligence products.
 
Seeing as how First Coffee swears by his netbook, could I be... wrong?
 
One of the consumer research study's findings indicates that consumer advocacy for the Netbooks category "lags behind consumer advocacy for all laptops."
 
Evidently Biz360 analyzed over 20,000 online opinions, culled from review consumer electronics sites such as Amazon, Best Buy, CNET, Newegg, PC World, Circuit City and CompUSA for the period May 15, 2008 through November 15, 2008. The company's Opinion Insights social media measurement product was used to analyze the online comments.
 
"While performance is the #1 attribute driving laptop advocacy, the performance Net Advocacy for the Netbooks product category is predominantly negative," the study found.
 
"Net Advocacy" is Biz360's proprietary metric that factors the positive and negative sentiment of individual comments, as well as the impact of the source of each comment, to yield an indicator of a product or brand's referral value in the marketplace. This process is automated by the Opinion Insights product, which lets companies compare advocacy scores of different brands, models, product attributes and features.
 
For laptop manufacturers, four key product attributes accounted for more than 70 percent of all online opinions: performance, display, features and accessories, and general opinions.
 
While Acer is the Q408 top-seller in the netbook product family, Acer ranks lowest in Net Advocacy among the six laptop brands: "The Acer's Aspire One series had a 34 percent lower Net Advocacy than the average Net Advocacy of all laptop brands," company officials say. Acer's Aspire One series, like almost all netbooks, is regarded by the majority of their new owners as not technically performing up to their expectations.
 
Yeah, well this reporter wouldn't trade his Acer Aspire One for any of those laptops. Well, maybe for the latest 'n' greatest Macbook. Maybe I can ask Walter Mossberg if he can send me of the leftovers he has from all those reviews he does.
 
See, when one factors "cost" in with all those other considerations listed above, the Acer shoots pretty close to the top of the list. Much like if you're sitting around designing the ideal wife or husband, after you get done with all the fun stuff - "owns a brewery," "loves kids" - toss "likelihood of marrying me" in. Recalculate.
 
See what I mean? It's fine to sit around technolusting for ideal laptops, but toss in "price" and "convenience" and see where the numbers end up. I'll stick with my Acer One, thank you very much, unless you're buying.
...
 
SaaS vendor Intermedia, specializing in messaging and collaboration products, is now offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as a hosted service through its private label channel partners.
 
This offering extends Intermedia's reach within the productivity and collaboration space, offering a customer relationship management (CRM) product to its existing hosted Exchange e-mail and collaboration, SharePoint collaboration platform and Office Communications Server instant messaging and presence services.
 
"Unlike other one-size-fits-all hosted CRM offerings," company officials say without naming names, Intermedia's hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 "is customizable to the specific needs of the individual end customer."  This level of customization is possible, the company explains, "because each CRM customer is guaranteed its own virtual dedicated server."
 
CRM has become a business critical application "because optimizing and tracking the sales process has become more and more important to increasing sales and growing customer relationships," said Serguei Sofinski, Intermedia's CEO.
 
In addition to customization benefits, Intermedia's Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is integrated with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, a feature touted by company officials as "allowing a minimal learning curve and quick return on investment."
 
It can be synchronized with e-mail, tasks, contacts and calendars. Users can also export data into Excel for fast analysis and reporting.
 
Intermedia is headquartered in New York City with offices in Sunnyvale, California, London, England and St. Petersburg, Russia.
...
 
First Trace has released Kinnosa 4.1, described by company officials as a tool "for engineering document management of CAD files and design processes."
 
Enhancements have been added to Kinnosa's service-oriented architecture to improve Engineering Enterprises' visibility of data, collaboration among distributed teams and automated business processes.
 
"Document management problems only get worse when firms are forced to lay off people," says Terry Simpson, President of First Trace, adding that Kinnosa 4.1 is intended to help eliminate process breakdowns, enhance collaboration, and "begin generating quantifiable ROI."
 
Company officials maintain that Kinnosa's service-oriented architecture and open data repository make it "the most adaptable software product for managing engineering files produced by CAD tools from Autodesk, SolidWorks and Bentley Systems." Application add-ins place Kinnosa functionality into the menu bar of CAD tools and Microsoft Office programs.
 
The First Tracers say Kinnosa's content searching capabilities have been improved with this new release, not in small part with the addition of Search Folders and Saved Searches, added so users can create and reuse custom searches based on document types, properties, and other criteria. "Files are still stored in their original location, but Search Folders are an easy way to organize, search and view files, without complicating data management," explains Simpson.
 
Company officials are marketing to the straitened economic times, where firms are trying to do more with less. First Trace officials feel that products that eliminate or automate manual processes are gaining popularity, so they're selling a Kinnosa 4.1 which includes additional Workflow Services to manage and automate real-world business processes, such as design, collaboration, review, release and publishing activities.
...
 
The year 2009 will see companies "continue to invest significantly" in online marketing, although less than half (47 percent) of marketers actually use analytics to measure their campaigns, according to the sixth Alterian Annual Marketing Survey.
 
Online marketing investment is predicted to increase for the sixth consecutive year as organizations begin to look to social networks as well as e-mail, SEO and pay-per-click advertising, the study found, adding that "alarmingly, only 47 percent use analytics to measure the success of this activity."
 
A quarter of those surveyed cite analyzing results as the hardest part of any campaign.
 
David Eldridge, CEO Alterian, says that while it's "refreshing to see results that show businesses investing in areas that can directly drive sales," what's "less encouraging" is "the low number of marketers who use analytics to evaluate and refine their campaigns."
 
The survey collected responses from more than 1,500 marketers, agencies, marketing services providers and systems integrators on spending and investment priorities for the industry over the coming year.
 
Despite the widespread coverage of the death of offline media and marketing, "only a fifth of those surveyed are predicting a reduction in offline marketing investment, with 38 percent predicting it will actually increase," the study found: "Online direct marketing is also set to see healthy growth this year, with nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of organizations citing planned increases in budgets."
 
Marketers are still using multiple applications to do their job, the study shows, with around a quarter of respondents using more than seven applications on campaigns: "With more than half of those surveyed (51 percent) using between three and six applications it means that a vast majority of marketers are attempting to analyze data from disparate systems, with little or no integration."
 
"Multichannel marketing is commonplace in 2009, but the challenge for marketers is to measure the value and draw results across these various systems in order to provide a true picture of ROI back to the business," Eldridge said, adding "this seems to be a tough challenge for many organizations as they continue to market in the dark."
 
The survey also provided interesting insights into the importance of a website in the overall marketing mix. One-fifth of respondents claimed that their website was only 'basic' and not at the core of its marketing activity, but with increased investment predicted in online marketing channels, companies need to better understand the importance of the website in effectively underpinning its online presence. This demonstrates a need for companies to better understand the channels available to them before investing their marketing funds.
 
Eldridge concluded: "Online marketing offers organizations almost limitless ways of engaging with their customers and prospects, but in the rush to make the most of these new technologies some businesses are getting the basics wrong. Marketers must not forget that their own website is the destination that many of their activities drive customers and prospects to, and they need to be extracting the maximum value this cornerstone of any forward-thinking company's marketing activity."
 
Notes to Editors
The Alterian 2008 Survey polled a total of 1,545 marketing professionals. The annual survey, now in its sixth year, was conducted in North America and the United Kingdom in October and November 2008 through a dedicated website landing page and hardcopy in-person interviews at the 2008 Direct Marketing Association Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, the 2008 Ad:tech Exhibition in New York and the 2008 Interactive Marketing Show in Manchester.
 
Bob Barker, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Alterian will be presenting the full results of the 2008 Annual Marketing Survey in a global webinar on 22nd January 2009 at 4pm UK time. Please click on the following link to register for the webinar: www.alterian.com/news__events/events.
 
If you are interested in receiving a copy of the full survey report, please email
 
About Alterian
Alterian (LSE: ALN) empowers marketers with an integrated marketing software platform combining database, online and operational marketing applications on a shared data infrastructure. The Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform makes it practical and cost effective for marketers to use actionable insight to execute an integrated marketing strategy across online and offline channels.
 
It is the unique integration of analytics, content and execution through Alterian's industry leading tools, such as the Alterian Messenger email platform, and the award winning Alterian Content Management web solutions, which enables marketers to drive a seamless, multichannel customer experience.
 
Alterian's analytically-led software is delivered to approximately 1,000 marketing departments, across 26 countries, and an international network of more than 100 business partners, including marketing services providers, agencies and systems integrators. Its partners, such as Accenture, Acxiom, Allant Group, Cap Gemini, Carlson Marketing, Experian, Epsilon, InfoUSA, LogicaCMG, Merkle, Ogilvy One and Euro RSCG Worldwide, deliver Alterian software alongside their own domain and services expertise to help market leaders such as Princess Cruises, General Motors, Zurich, Astra Zeneca, HSBC, Limited Too, AEGON, Avis, Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment, Dell, Amnesty International and Vodafone integrate marketing processes and drive competitive advantage. For more information about Alterian, products within the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform or our Partner Network, please visit www.alterian.com.
 

EDL and Citrix, SMB CRM From AIO, Leo and Sage, Rangam and Microsoft, Teleperformance in France

January 20, 2009 1:19 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the soundtrack to the movie version of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway musical Showboat. When the show appeared on stage in 1927 it was the first time white and black performers had appeared together on stage as equals, singing with each other.
 
It's regarded by many as the most important musical in the history of American theater. For my money it's got the best song in Broadway's repertoire, "Ol' Man River," and I'll take William Warfield's version on this the 1951 soundtrack. Yes Paul Robeson Jr. has the better voice and owns the song; Warfield's is the better arrangement:
 
EDL Consulting, an integrator working with CRM and other products, has announced the launch of integrated customer care for Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems.
 
Citrix Online now has the ability to consolidate all of their customer interactions within Salesforce.com and manage the activities required to provide a quality customer experience.
 
The objective of the initiative, company officials say, is to streamline the support process for Citrix Online's eCommerce customers through case management using Salesforce.com's Customer Service app, automated call distribution via Interactive Intelligence, customer satisfaction surveying using Vanguard Vista and enterprise integration using Oracle's Fusion product back to Citrix Online service delivery platforms.

Tim Maskrey, Sr. Manager Service Operations, Citrix Online Division, said the project went to a go live in ten weeks.
 
The infrastructure put in place allows agents to recognize customers requesting support and is intended to provide visibility into support and operational data agents use on customer issues. EDL put in place a product that lets agents modify certain support parameters for customers and keep a history of the changes for further reference.
 
Citrix Online is based in Santa Barbara, California, with satellite offices and data centers around the world. Customers, so company officials claim, include "100 percent of the Fortune 100 companies and 99 percent of the Fortune Global 500." One wonders who the brave holdout is.
The company's annual revenue in 2007 was $1.4 billion.
...
 
 
Company officials say they've been working to expand their services and products with new offerings that bring a number of resources for small businesses - being able to host small business Web sites, host small business e-mail, set up and maintain small business networks and computers.

Offering what company officials say is "immediate availability of new CRM and business management software," AIO offers either hosted or on-premises products.
 
AIO stands for All In One.
...
 
Rangam Consultants has have attained Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program, with listed competencies in Advanced Infrastructure Products and Custom Development Products.
 
Gold Certified Partner status recognizes "expertise and impact in the technology marketplace in each of these fields," according to the Rangamians. As a Gold Certified Partner, Rangam has demonstrated expertise with Microsoft technologies. Partners receive benefits, including access, training and support.

The consultancy is a multiple service provider in the information technology, scientific and engineering fields selling technical and non-technical staffing and consulting services to support information processing, ERP/CRM, scientific research, records management, network monitoring, data recovery, environmental, health and telecommunications support services.
 
It claims "various government and Fortune 500" clients.

"Customers are looking for partner companies that can bridge the gap between their business demands and technology capabilities," says Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft. "Microsoft recognizes Rangam Consultants as a new Gold Certified Partner for demonstrating its expertise providing customer satisfaction using Microsoft products and technology."

As one of the requirements for attaining Gold Certified Partner status, companies have to declare a Microsoft competency. These competencies are designed to help differentiate a partner's capabilities with specific Microsoft technologies to customers looking for a particular type of product.
...
 
Leo Software, a vendor of property information management and reporting systems for commercial real estate, has announced a distribution agreement with Strategies Group of Suwanee, Georgia.

Strategies Group sells to real estate and construction companies throughout the Southeast, offering accounting and business software products including Sage Timberline Office, Sage Master Builder and Sage CRM Solutions.
 
Strategies Group will sell and support Leo Software both as a integrated application with the Sage Timberline Office commercial real estate accounting system and as a standalone product that may be integrated with any real estate application.

Craig Trussell, Strategies Group vice president, sales and marketing, said "there's really nothing else like Leo available for property management and leasing companies."

Leo Software is an online property information management and reporting system focused on the issues of vacancy management and tenant retention. Its Stacking Plan feature visually summarizes a building's leasing status in one view that links to a variety of information and documents associated with the building and specific suites.
 
Basically the software flags critical dates and upcoming events such as notifications, impending changes, options or obligations in leases. It also creates lease abstracts, event calendars, marketing materials in the form of micro sites, and a variety of management reports.

Strategies Group claims over twenty years of experience and 1,700 active clients throughout Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. It offers products including Sage Timberline Office, Sage Master Builder, Sage CRM, Sage Accpac ERP and Deltek Vision.
 
Leo Software is headquartered in suburban Chicago.
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Teleperformance, a vendor of CRM and outsourced contact centers, has announced the grouping of its activities in France.
 
In November 2008, the project was presented to the staff representative bodies of the companies concerned: Cash Performance, Comunicator, Infomobile, TechCity Solutions France, Teleperformance France, Teleperformance Midi-Aquitaine, Teleperformance Nord, Teleperformance Rhone-Alpes.
 
The new entity will be called Teleperformance France.
 
The operation is being performed via two distinct legal operations carried out simultaneously: All of the companies listed above were merged under one single management structure, while four operational companies were created and set up on a regional basis: Teleperformance Nord-Champagne, Teleperformance Centre-Est, Teleperformance Centre-Ouest, Teleperformance Grand-Sud.
 
And if you flunked French in high school, as First Coffee did, take an educated guess what they mean. Me, I'll go for the Champagne.
 
The reasons given by company officials for the set-up of this new organization include the abilities to serve customers better, present companies with new products, provide employees with new prospects and strengthen Teleperformance's position in the French market.
 
Since its creation in 1978, Teleperformance has generally preferred to grow by multiplying its geographic locations and by expanding its skills. Company officials say teleperformance now has over 20 percent of the market share in France.
 
By grouping its contact centers within four new entities, company officials say, Teleperformance France hopes to increase its internal mobility, facilitate the sharing of expertise and improve its execution speed.
 
This new organization will have no impact on employment, company officials say, adding that it will, in fact, "open up new career prospects for employees." The firm currently lists over 12,500 employees dedicated to the French market.
 
In 2008, the Teleperformance Group achieved $2.6 billion in revenues. The group operates nearly 79,800 computerized workstations, with more than 88,000 employees across 248 contact centers in 46 countries using 66 different languages and dialects.
 
 

KinetiCast, Lloyd James Group, Infusionsoft Guarantee, OpenAir's PSA, Sage's Business Partner Status

January 19, 2009 4:48 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the second cup of coffee this morning, and the music is the debut album from It's A Beautiful Day, a band out of the San Fran psychedelic scene who released one stone-cold classic album, the cleverly-titled debut It's A Beautiful Day in 1969, then self-immolated. Imagine an acid rock band fronted by a former symphony violinist, David LaFlamme, with a strong complementary female vocalist and you have a pretty good idea of the band. They re-emerged, of sorts, with a fine live album, Live In Seattle in 2003, but seem to have sunk back into oblivion, having said their piece on their first album, really:

Coxsackie, New York-based - and how often does one do business with a firm based in Coxsackie, New York? - KinetiCast, which sells SaaS multimedia presentation software for sales and marketing, has announced that Affiniscape Merchant Solutions, a credit card processing company, has chosen KinetiCast's multimedia presentation software to "enhance its marketing efforts to lawyers and law firms around the country," according to the KinetiCastians.

The Law Firm Merchant Account was developed and customized for attorneys to accept credit card payments from clients. Due to special credit card processing requirements in a law firm, AMS chose to use KinetiCast's online presentations to help market and educate their potential clients "with a more visual approach," according to AMS officials.

"KinetiCast has allowed us to get in front of our time-sensitive attorneys," said Janelle Benefield, Business Development at AMS.

AMS found that the KinetiCast online presentation software allowed the sales representatives to engage their clients on an individual basis and gauge their response through tracking and analytics. The tracking features allows the user to see which clients have viewed the presentation and which parts they viewed the most, so they know what is most interesting to the recipient. The presentation can then be added to the Website.

AMS officials say they plan in 2009 to use the KinetiCast technology to go after additional vertical markets.

Plans start at $10 a month. Founded in 2007, KinetiCast is based in New York's Tech Valley.

...

Jackpot UK announced today that it is handing over the management of its customer list to Lloyd James Group.

The consumer list, which is being made available for the first time, is composed of people who have won prizes or made payments for other items they have bought through Jackpot, a UK promotional and gaming firm.

Jackpot's portfolio covers games and promotional events across the entertainment industry. Respondents, who are 55 per cent female, generally play the games by calling or texting a premium rate number or writing to a dedicated PO Box where they are asked to leave their address. Jackpot officials say they generate 10,000 to 15,000 new records each month.

Lynn Stevens, Managing Director at Lloyd James Group, said with a 0-12 month list size of more than 218,000 individuals, the Jackpot UK list is "a real prize for any marketers wishing to target consumers with niche interests and gaming hobbies."

She credits the multi-channeled way that Jackpot targets its consumers, which includes direct response TV and scratch card inserts in newsstand titles and third party mailings, for resulting in "a very affluent list. This is an excellent opportunity for gaming firms as well as charity, personal banking, financial services, travel & leisure, automotive, mail order and publishing companies."

Lloyd James Group has had pretty good year, adding the Jackpot appointment to an ever-expanding list and media management portfolio, which includes Homebase Spend & Save, Debenhams, Bauer Media and HBoS.

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Infusionsoft, a vendor of marketing automation software for small businesses, has announced that it will guarantee to double the sales of any small business that signs up for its Web-based marketing automation software.

Infusionsoft officials say they want to make their product "more accessible to a wider small business audience" in 2009, and that this promo is "a risk-free way" to kick that off.

As of now Infusionsoft customers who sign up for Infusionsoft Pro or Deluxe editions receive the Infusionsoft "Double Your Sales" Guarantee. This official DYS Guarantee evolved from a test trial successfully completed last summer by customer All About Spelling, Inc. "as a result of Infusionsoft's Edge of Success contest," according to the Infusionsofties.

The experience with All About Spelling and numerous other Infusionsoft customers in doubling sales also led to the creation of the Infusionsoft Double Your Sales Club, with membership extended to those businesses that doubled their sales using Infusionsoft. Members will be recognized with perks such as advanced training, free materials and discounts.

"Infusionsoft has been gearing up to offer a guarantee to increase sales, and now we are thrilled to confidently promise doubled sales," said Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft. "2009 will be the year of the entrepreneur."

Infusionsoft officials say the firm has tripled its customer base over the last two years, as well as releasing an upgrade to its core product and adding $7.9 million in Series B financing in 2008, on top of an 80 percent increase in revenue.

The privately held, Inc. 500 company, based in Gilbert, Arizona is funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures and vSpring Capital.

...
 

OpenAir, a NetSuite company and vendor of on-demand professional services automation software, has announced a host of changes to its PSA software.

The company has also announced a number of new joint customer wins -- including Bluewolf Group, Resort Technology Partners, NPower NY and M62 - for their work as Salesforce.com integrator. OpenAir, company officials say, brings together the capabilities of customer relationship management and PSA.

With the demand for OpenAir Professional Service Automation Software from Salesforce.com users, company officials felt it was time to "develop its integration platform." Most recently, OpenAir added the ability to specify a task designation when pushing Salesforce.com cases into OpenAir. This new functionality is intended for organizations using Salesforce.com cases for ticket tracking.

OpenAir customers can push their Salesforce.com prospect records to OpenAir via a single sign-on interface and create a project to correspond with each closed opportunity. Company officials say this lets them eliminate the need to re-enter data into OpenAir.

 As a software reseller and systems integration firm, Bluewolf Group both uses and sells OpenAir's advanced software products. "The integration between OpenAir and Salesforce.com provides us with the marriage of two of our critical business systems," said Eric Berridge, co-founder of Bluewolf.

...

As part of what company officials describe as "an ongoing initiative to achieve a breathtaking customer experience," Sage has appointed nine Business Partners with Customer Development Center status.

Recognition is intended to "highlight the continual efforts DMC Software channel into customer service and their level of expertise in the Sage 200 product area," according to the Sagians.

As featured on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mike Ramsay, Managing Director of DMC Software, said that while customer service is integral to any businesses success, "the title Sage Customer Development Center supports this and identifies DMC Software as being better placed to handle Sage 200 support, development and migration from Sage 50 Accounts products."

At the end of January Sage are due to release the latest version of Sage 200, Sage 200 2009. The new edition of Sage 200 has what Sage officials say is improved usability and functionality, and is "the result of customer and business partner feedback, incorporating the input of focus group wish lists."

New features include secure online payment handling facilities, user workspace to provide information at a glance, compliance with VAT regulations surrounding deposit handling, help files in a new Web-based interface and an improved Project Accounting module, as well as tighter synchronization between Sage 200 CRM and other modules.


In addition to the Sage 200 Suite, DMC Software offers independent Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Accounts products as well as professional services.

If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.

Boomi and Ingres, DynamicExchange Wiki, DataForceCRM Guarantee, Convergys and Vivo, Xactly Results

January 19, 2009 4:46 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Dexter Gordon's Dexter Calling, more of his sweet jazz sax sound from the string of great albums he did in the early 1960s: 

FYI: The DynamicsExchange CRM AnswerCenter Wiki is here.

It's described by its developers as "filling a gap in bringing Web 2.0 and Social Web technologies to the time consuming trouble-shooting aspects of implementations and eases the ongoing education of users, and administrators."

Pause for breath.

Like a normal wiki anyone can use or contribute new posts or edit posts. The Wiki has a posting approval process to keep out objectionable unrelated content or inappropriate self-promotion. Most contributions come from technology communities where issues are discussed and not necessarily resolved, but in the CRM AnswerCenter Wiki only a precise question and the concise answer are posted, its developers say, "saving substantial time on the current multiple searches and reviews, posting and waiting, and searching more."

The Wiki is optimized for easier search and advanced search functionality to reduce time to answer.

DynamicsExchange.com has been in development for over a year by Microsoft's Dynamics CRM Gold Partners, according to the Microsofties, and still in beta, is described by them as "dedicated to the deployment of better tools for the access, review, implementation, support, purchase, development, and maintenance of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM enterprise software platform."

The new community site is said to benefit from the latest Web technologies and philosophies and, most importantly, independence from Microsoft having sole responsibility for global community wide knowledge, product, and service availability. Contributing and accessing anything on DynamicsExchange is free, even partner recognition advertising.

The president of a founding partner of DynamicsExchange.com, Darryl Henderson, says that since this is a beta announcement "we're not ready for a rush of users just yet, just more partners to provide usability feedback and contribution, including their promotional content."

 

The partner portal is scheduled to enter beta by the end of January, allowing all partners access to community visitors.

...

Boomi has announced that Ingres Corporation, a vendor of open source database management software and support services, has selected Boomi AtomSphere for its Software-as-a-Service integration technology.

AtomSphere will be used to integrate internal business applications including finance, human resources and analytics for Ingres, according to the Ingressors. The company has adopted a strategy of using only SaaS and open source products for its internal business systems. 

So the company needed a SaaS integration product for its portfolio of SaaS and open source applications.  Doug Harr, CIO at Ingres, said Boomi was "a natural choice," as it "epitomizes the value of SaaS and true multi-tenant products. Just a few years ago, we would have had to pay $100,000 or more for an enterprise grade integration platform like this or spend tens of thousands on writing custom code."

After implementing its initial integration processes Ingres is eliminating manual processes, duplicate data entry and data synchronization errors.

Bob Moul, Boomi's president and CEO, said working with Ingres "is a natural fit as our views and strategies on using pure SaaS technology are perfectly aligned.

...

DataForceCRM, which makes sales lead management software and CRM software, is coming out with a promotion guaranteeing results or "customers get money back, no questions asked," company officials say.

"CRM users have struggled with low return on high per user costs," according to DataForceCRM officials, who add that in their view, "a great product, offered for a fair price, will add value and win market share."

Hard to argue with that logic. Company officials say most online CRM is priced at $65 per user per month or higher these days - "and the buyer of CRM often needs other modules that jack the cost even higher." DataForceCRM is offering Enterprise CRM for ten bucks per user per month, guaranteeing results "or your money back."

Each client is set up a dedicated server for flexibility, security and performance, company officials say, adding that campaign creation and tracking are provided "to make sure marketing spend is invested wisely. Rich e-mail and mail merge features are provided" as well.

There are Lead and Opportunity Management modules, and the Customer Support feature includes trouble ticket tracking and a customer portal in the user pricing. There's also order management, which company officials claim is "not available in most CRM, including partner and vendor management, quoting, orders, invoicing and PO generation."

Lots of other features as well, including Outlook and Office plugins. The company sells a commission and revenue module for manufacturing companies and manufacturer's representatives to import and track point of sales data and commission data including orders and shipments as well.

...

Convergys Corporation has announced that long-standing client Vivo has extended its five-year partnership with Convergys with a new two-year contract to provide production operations support.

The vendor's consulting and services team is also working with Vivo on two other projects aimed at "growing Vivo's national footprint" and "ensuring the operator's ability to support future growth." Vivo is a wireless carrier in the southern hemisphere with more than 43 million subscribers.

Under the terms of the two-year contract extension, Convergys will continue to manage its product in the production environment, supporting postpaid subscribers with provisioning, activation, customer care, dispute resolution, finance, collections, rating and billing, usage, customer interfaces, and the launch of new products and services.

"Vivo remains focused on its goals of serving its customers well while growing its business in the competitive Brazilian market," said Jean-Hervé Jenn, Convergys President International.

Vivo offers phone calls all over the country, according to Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações. The firm also develops projects like the pioneer program of recycling cell phones, batteries and accessories, which since its launch has collected more than 1.5 million items.

Through the Instituto Vivo, the company invests in initiatives geared to the cause of socio-cultural inclusion of persons with disabilities and education.

...

Xactly Corporation, a vendor of on-demand sales performance management, has announced what company officials are calling "the third straight year of record revenue, with significant gains in customer growth."

In the 12 months ending December 31, 2008, Xactly claims more than 140 percent increase in recurring revenue and an 87 percent year-over-year increase in total revenue. The company also added to its customer base, with a third of existing customers adding new modules or subscribers, and increased its total number of subscribers by 84 percent.

Christopher Cabrera, president and CEO, Xactly, said the company had a renewal rate of 90 percent, adding that "more than one third of our customers added subscribers or additional Xactly modules in 2008."

 

In 2008 the vendor secured $30 million in new financing, launched the fourth generation of its flagship Xactly Incent on-demand sales compensation management application and introduced an application for using non-cash incentives, called Xactly Rewards.

 

Q&A With Joel Bomgar, Bomgar Corp. CEO & Founder

January 19, 2009 4:41 PM | 0 Comments

DS: When you were an IT rep, you say, you were "amazed" at the time you spent traveling and on the phone. Tell us when you realized there was a better way.

JB: When I looked at the price of GoToAssist and WebEx Support Center and saw that both have high monthly fees. I evaluated their respective features, and it became clear that in order to find the product I wanted to use, I would have to build it.  I also really wanted to own the technology, not rent it, which is what you had to do with all the solutions offered in this space.

 DS: What did you think of the early remote tech support tools and products that were available?
 
JB: As a former IT technician, it frustrated me to no end that the products and vendors on the market at the time had never put enough focus into the remote support technology market to make their products strong. They got their products to the point where they thought they were "good enough" and then got what I call "executive A.D.D.," where executives have a constant urge to do anything other than what they are currently doing. That is usually when they start introducing new products, acquiring other companies, trying to sell their company, or trying to merge with someone. This disease is also called the "grass is greener syndrome" where you constantly think some other market is hotter and looks better than whatever market you are in. Due to a lack of focus and execution, neither vendor had a very strong product - and they still don't, to this day, over five years later, so I set out to create the product I really wanted.
 
DS: Are you saying there wasn't anything suitable for your needs?
 
JB: Apart from the mediocre products built to support end user computers, I could have tried to use the myriad of point-to-point "old school" remote control tools like Timbuktu, pcAnywhere, VNC, Carbon Copy, Remote Desktop, etc., but all of these products required a pre-installed software client, which usually wasn't present on the end-users' PC, and they didn't work elegantly over the Internet, which was what I needed since all of my customers were remote. Those two fatal flaws kept me from even trying to make the old-school point-to-point technologies work.
 
DS: When did you feel comfortable enough to leave your job and strike out with your own company?

JB: With a simple one-page website and cost-effective Google advertising I brought in $25,000 in about two and a half months over the summer of 2003, selling the technology I had created to other support engineers like myself. The decision to sell the technology instead of use it was driven by the entrepreneurial bug so many have. It was a pretty easy decision to dedicate all my time and resources to try to get Bomgar Corporation off the ground.
 
DS: Describe your coffee-drinking habits throughout the day.

JB: You'll never believe this, but I'm actually not a coffee drinker. I've been told that my energy level is already so intense that if I injected any caffeine or sugar into the system I'd be likely to explode. Maybe when I'm 80 or 90 and start to slow down, I'll pick up the habit. Until then, I'm bouncing off the walls without any help!

DS: You're right, I don't. So what's the tradeoff companies make in using remote tech support instead of receiving an on-site visit?

JB: Receiving support virtually usually means the support is faster, because the rep can connect right away. It's more competent because the rep is best-equipped to fix your problem, and more secure because everything is logged and auditable. There really isn't any significant trade-off, and most customers like it better overall.
 
DS: Are there reasons other than cost savings that account for remote tech support's growing popularity?
 
JB: I'd have to put efficiency as the #1 driver. The efficiency of doing support virtually versus on-site or pure phone-based support is huge.

Apart from efficiency, security is a key driver as well. When you do support virtually, you can record every aspect of the support interaction. When someone is on site, you have no idea what they actually did or what they saw sitting on someone's desk.

Collaboration is another huge upside. When you are on site, it is just you. When you are doing support virtually, you can invite another tech support rep from anywhere in the world to look over your shoulder and assist you.
 
Also, you can work on multiple systems simultaneously when you are remote. On site you end up staring at a progress bar most of the time. When you are working virtually, you can handle three or four systems at a time.

Customer satisfaction goes way up as well. You are able to respond to incidents immediately rather than schedule an on site visit.

DS: What instances would you recommend companies not use remote tech support?

JB: Certainly there are instances where you need "face time" with your customers, so it does make sense to show up every now and then to keep the relationship in good standing. Normally a yearly on site visit with your best customers is recommended. Apart from that, doing everything remote really works a lot better.

DS: Is there a certain kind of support rep more suited to remote work than on site work?

JB: No. Every support rep can benefit greatly from the ability to work on remote computers or from remote locations.
 
DS: The ideal vacation is...
 
B: Somewhere without cell phone reception! My wife and I have recently traveled to the Middle East (Israel, Jordan, and Egypt) as well as to Japan. In both cases I could have made my BlackBerry work, but I just turned it off instead of going through the trouble. A real vacation just isn't going to happen as long as the BlackBerry is on. I'd rather take vacations "off the grid". As long as I'm off the grid, I like beautiful places -- mountains and beaches.

DS: You're at a cocktail party.  Someone says "Oh, I like it when the tech guy comes out, he can usually fix other problems, too."  You say...

JB: Wouldn't it be great if the tech guy could be everywhere at one time? Rather than fix problems one-by-one, what if he could connect simultaneously to all the systems that needed help and resolve all the issues at one time? Also, what if your tech guy didn't have to schedule a time to show up on site, but could connect to your systems the moment you called? Wouldn't that be a total support nirvana?
 

Composite Software, Melissa and Clairvoyix, Treehouse's 2008, Bridgeline, TDWI

January 19, 2009 4:39 PM | 0 Comments

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a fine old Eric Clapton rocker, "Tulsa Time." It's hard for me to call Clapton the greatest rock guitarist ever, as many would like to do. Jeff Beck was more brilliant, Jimmy Page harder, Steve Howe more technically accomplished, Jimi Hendrix more inventive, Eddie Van Halen flashier and the best guitar attack in all rock is the Keith Richards-Ronnie Wood two-headed monster for the Stones. Clapton? Probably the best mix of all the above in one package:

Composite Software has announced that the nation's fourth largest bank, Wachovia Corporation (well, fourth largest after its merger with Wells Fargo & Company), has selected its Composite Information Server.  Wachovia officials say the Composite software will be put in its Corporate Investment Banking line to help with holdings and offerings information for customers. 

Composite's data virtualization layer is intended to simplify "the complexity of accessing siloed and disparate data sources," according to the Compositians, who say the technology "reaches data where it is" and "federates the disparate data into services and views." 

 The server's ability to "cache our data from multiple federated sources" was one of the key selling points, according to Sid Vyas, managing director, Corporate and Investment Banking Technology, Wachovia.  "Our data federation platform supports product and client data as well as the transaction data reporting and analytics."

When dealing with data integration, "there is a difference between art and execution," adds Sanjay Mishra, director of data architecture at Wachovia. "We need to get the execution right."

Additionally, Composite Software's technology plays an integral role in service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives that support delivery of best practices in shared services.  These initiatives will accelerate applications' time to market, therefore realizing their business value sooner.

Founded in 2002, Composite is a privately held, venture-funded corporation based in Silicon Valley.

...

Melissa Data's Data Quality Suite has been adopted by Las Vegas-based Clairvoyix, a consumer data management and direct marketing firm.

Melissa officials describe the toolkit as a contact data verification product.

 Clairvoyix performs data hygiene and data enhancement services, counting La Quinta Inns and Suites - described as "limited-service hotels," First Coffee wasn't aware that was a service category. I guess it pretty well describes what to expect, though.

Mike Schmitt, CEO of Clairvoyix, said one factor in choosing Melissa was that the company "has the highest value-to-price ratio in the industry." Schmitt added that his company's clients "see the benefit of targeted marketing, especially in a down economy."   

 Clairvoyix integrates the Data Quality Suite into the marketing automation product it provides to its clients. For La Quinta Inns and Suites, Clairvoyix manages the complete history of guest records while capturing a file of guest checkout records nightly. The company "verifies, validates and standardizes the checkout data at night, in a lights out, automated environment that is part of their Software-as-a-Service marketing automation product.

...

TreeHouse Interactive, a vendor of on demand partner relationship management and other technology products, has announced it closed 2008 with a 35 percent increase in annual revenue and a 30 percent expanded customer base.

TreeHouse officials believe companies are looking at the SaaS model more seriously than ever these days. According to a CMS Watch 2009 IT predictions report cited by the TreeHousers, companies will "look more to their SaaS product providers to offer a full suite of tools and capabilities."

"While economic conditions are challenging in today's market, our customers are more concerned than ever about market penetration and how to expand sales through their partner network," said Erich Flynn, CEO of TreeHouse Interactive.

In a down economy, company officials believe, firms look for tools that can increase revenue and market penetration without increasing costs. What happens many times is they simply turn to their existing partner sales channel to try to do this without incurring the direct costs associated with adding dedicated sales people. TreeHouse's Reseller View product would probably be attractive to companies looking to shave costs by automating partner applications, deal registration, and other scalable partnership management duties.

According to Simplyhired.com, a job search engine and recruitment advertising network, the number of marketing automation and demand generation jobs have increased 262 percent in the last 18 months. So yes, companies are still investing in areas that will advance the sales and marketing process for stronger pipelines.

...

Research announced by The Data Warehousing Institute is said by company officials to indicate what they term "an increasing adoption of columnar databases as the platform of choice for data warehousing and analytic applications."

Company officials attribute the rise to the products' ability to deliver fast query response and  "compress and provide access to large amounts of detail data."  

According to Philip Russom, senior manager, TDWI Research, a common complaint that TDWI hears from BI workers is that their data warehouse platform consists of a traditional DBMS and SMP hardware, both designed for transaction processing, not data warehousing. "Users are spending a significant amount of time and energy tweaking transactional platforms to get adequate performance for the type of queries and data volumes common in today's data warehousing environments," he said.

He says the search for something different "has led many of them to explore columnar databases, especially when they can be deployed in a Massively Parallel Processing architecture."      

"It is clear why companies are adopting columnar database technology. Our survey research aligns with TDWI findings and indicates that more than 50 percent of companies have significant performance and scalability issues with their data warehousing and business intelligence applications," noted ParAccel Vice President of Marketing Kim Stanick.

...

Bridgeline Software, a vendor of SaaS-based Web application management software and apps, has announced that a Midwest utility company has launched a new public site developed by Bridgeline Software on iAPPS Framework and iAPPS Content Manager.

The iAPPS Framework and Product Suite are SaaS products that unify Content Management, Analytics, eCommerce, and eMarketing capabilities.

Targeted to a customer base that includes homeowners, businesses, and contractors, the site provides users with a place to pay bills online and access other self-service tools, as well as learn about various energy efficiency tips to help reduce household energy usage.

The site's energy efficiency section includes energy saving programs, do-it-yourself project information, and other resources. Company officials say the energy-efficient house interactive tool available on the site "allows users to see how they can realize energy savings at home in a real-world setting and apply those techniques to their own energy profile." The site also includes dedicated content and tools for the commercial user such as rebate information.

There's also integrated functionality like online bill pay, offered in both English and Spanish on the site.

Bridgeline Software is headquartered near Boston with additional locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Washington, D.C., and Bangalore.

Last week Bridgeline announced that what company officials refer to as "a leading National Football League franchise" selected Bridgeline to develop an eCommerce application for their online business and the public Web site.

And speaking of the NFL, here's what you need to know for this weekend's games: Arizona has two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, the greatest wide receiver on the planet. Philadelphia has Donovan "Choke" McNabb and the genuinely fearsome Brian Westbrook. Edge: Cardinals. Both Pittsburgh and Baltimore have terrifying defenses, whereas the Steelers have Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback the Ravens have wunderkind rookie Joe Flacco. Edge: Steelers.

Chordiant and BSkyB, Genesys Survey, CRM for CAM, Lasso for the Waldorf, Dominion's Dealer

January 19, 2009 1:15 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Elton John's live album Here and There. Maybe you haven't listened to this album in a while. Maybe you don't own this album. Maybe you've never heard this album. Maybe you don't know who Elton John... nah. But maybe you can't understand why he's been around for, what, going on forty years now when the average life of the average pop music act is measured in months.
 
This album's a good intro to Elton's music - his best songs from his most fertile creative period, basically from the debut album to 1975's Captain Fantastic, played live with one of the more underrated backing bands ever, a crack professional outfit at the peak of their powers, especially on the Madison Square Garden cuts. His songwriting is solid as an oak and he's always a compelling live act, which is why he's weathered changing styles so well - he can always turn out a good tune and breathe life into them on stage, here he does both:
 
Chordiant Software has announced that British Sky Broadcasting has chosen Chordiant Decision Management, Recommendation Advisor, and Contact Center Advisor in its customer contact centers. The Chordiant product, called Merlin, is used Sky customer contact centers.
 
Possessing Next-Best-Action recommendation functionality, Merlin lets Sky reps personalize product propositions for individual customers. Chris Angell, head of real-time marketing at Sky, said the company is now "able to develop strategies covering our core sales and retention activity."
 
Chordiant Decision Management comprises a suite of predictive and adaptive decision applications designed to let users develop Next-Best-Action strategies. These strategies are composed of "models that predict and react to individual customer expectations, propensities and behaviors," said the company, "combined with intuitive, sophisticated business rules and segmentation schemes."
 
This combination forms "decision logic," centrally deployed in the run-time environment for batch decisioning, real-time decisioning or both, across any channel.
 
Basically, the product lets managers assess what is known about the customer from current and previous interactions and recommend the next best action to be taken. These actions can take the form of personalized product packages, advice, questions or explanations. "At no point during the contact do recommendations or actions need to be scripted," officials say, adding that the product "guides the conversation, determining and adapting actions in real-time based on customer responses and mood."
...
 
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company, has revealed in a new survey on performance management that businesses "need a new set of strategic metrics to retain customers and drive sales."
 
The research cited by Genesys officials shows that while British firms are more likely to adopt strategic metrics than other regions to better assess customer service delivery and retention, there is still work to be done. Contact centers are largely operational and use traditional metrics, such as call duration or average speed to answer, to assess the customer experience.
 
Only 30 per cent measure revenue per call, which survey officials say "would provide more useful customer intelligence."
 
Almost a third of UK businesses surveyed -- 31 per cent -- are taking actions to address performance management and reporting in the next 18 months, the survey found. The global survey was carried out for Genesys by independent research company, Equation, and polled employees ranging from CEOs to customer service professionals at 927 companies in 47 countries.
 
"A downturn can be an opportunity for an organization to gain a competitive advantage. Some companies will certainly have to close their doors, but those with more focused efficiency strategies, meaningful employee performance measurements and customer-related targets, have the potential to thrive in the current climate," commented Keith Pearce, Marketing Director, EMEA, at Genesys.
 
The research found that a large number of businesses still don't measure revenue from customer care interactions. Although 77 per cent of UK respondents said that the contact center plays a role in revenue generation, only 33 per cent of customer service professionals and 28 per cent of C-level executives said their customer service is measured on revenue per call.
 
Pearce said the research shows that a higher proportion of UK businesses (55 per cent) track customer expectations compared to only 48 per cent in other regions, with over 28 per cent of companies in the UK planning to link business drivers with customer behaviors.
...
 
Lasso Data Systems, a vendor of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products for the real estate industry, has announced that Mariner Commercial Properties will deploy Lasso CRM to market and sell the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel & Residences Philadelphia.
 
Based in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, Mariner Commercial Properties is a Philadelphia developer. Its latest high-profile project is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel & Residences Philadelphia, a 58-story high-rise located in the heart of Philadelphia's Center City, scheduled for completion in 2012.
 
"In developing projects like the Waldorf-Astoria, our partnership with Lasso will help us accomplish our marketing and sales objectives," explained Timothy J. Mahoney III, President & CEO, Mariner Commercial Properties.
Standing at 670 feet tall, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel & Residences Philadelphia will be the city's sixth-tallest building as well as its tallest mixed-use hotel and residential project.
 
Lasso Data Systems sells on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for the worldwide real estate market. Lasso is a privately held company headquartered in Vancouver.
...
 
Italian record company Creazioni Artistiche Musicali has chosen to implement Counterpoint Systems Customer Relationship Management.
 
The Counterpoint CRM system is designed to give record labels and music publishers the ability to provide their clients with Web-based royalty and summary statements, financial balances, label copy and other vital and timely information, according to the Counterpointers.
 
"Counterpoint is thrilled that C.A.M. have selected its CRM for Record Maestro to help the company interact with its artists online," said Amos Biegun, Counterpoint Systems' CEO.
 
Agostino Campi, Managing Director of C.A.M. said one of the reasons behind choosing CRM is that Counterpoint "have been supplying software to C.A.M. for many years. The two companies work closely together and think alike."
 
Counterpoint will showcase the latest versions of its industry-leading rights management and royalty accounting products from the 18th to the 22nd of January 2009 at Midem in Cannes, France.
 
C.A.M. is an independent music publisher and record label based in Rome specializing in film soundtracks. The company has produced over 2,800 scores to Italian and international motion pictures and TV films in its 45+ years of activity. C.A.M. works with more than 500 composers internationally.
 
Founded in 1987, Counterpoint Systems sells software products for rights management, royalty accounting and product licensing. It's headquartered London and has offices in Los Angeles, New York and Northern California.
...
 
Dealer Specialties, a division of Dominion Enterprises and a vendor of data and photo collection, inventory management and data distribution services, has announced enhancements to its inventory management tools to support dealers who prefer on-demand online inventory updates.
 
The Dealer Specialties self-serve tool, available with its Platinum package, lets dealers collect their own data, upload their own photos, have full VIN decoding for complete and accurate online listing and label details, order and print window labels, change pricing with real-time impact, use the pricing analytics tool, add marketing messages and more.
 
If a dealer gets behind on data and photo collection, Dealer Specialties "can provide a full-service 'catch-up' to keep inventory current. We believe this 'catch-up' offering makes our self-serve product offering most unique in the marketplace," says Al Hess general manager of Dealer Specialties.
 
Dealer Specialties will continue its core business selling products to dealerships across the country to manage and market their vehicle inventory.
 
The company is a division of Dominion Enterprises, and has an Internet distribution channel including GetAuto.com, Cars.com, eBay Motors, Overstock.com, Craigslist, Vast.com, CarTango, Manheim and more.
 
Dealer Specialties is a designated supplier of certified window stickers for General Motors, Acura, Honda, Toyota and Lexus; is a Value Added Reseller for the National Automotive Dealers Association
 

SageCRM v6.2, Wheaton College and WebGUI, Alterian and Jaguar, Accenture Report

January 15, 2009 6:31 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Scottish mopesters Belle & Sebastian's album "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant," because if there's anything sure to make your own day seem better it's listening to overpaid, over-privileged, underworked people whinge and moan about how dreary, boring and difficult their utterly pointless lives are. Especially when it comes with a snappy pop-rock sound cut in whole cloth from The Kinks' 1967-1969 golden years of Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society:
 
Sage North America has announced SageCRM v6.2, a CRM system aimed primarily at small and medium-sized businesses. According to the Sagians, version 6.2 includes new pre-configured and customizable screen themes, an editor capable of handling multilingual e-mail campaigns and "an enhanced graphical view."
 
The product is available today as a standalone CRM system, and as part of the Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite. It will be available in the Sage MAS 90 and 200 Enterprise Suite later this month.
 
David van Toor, senior vice president and general manager, Sage CRM Solutions North America, said the product lets organizations "outfit their CRM systems and access financial and operations data through ERP integration."
 
The new version has a branding toolkit to change the look and feel of SageCRM screens using provided themes, or administrators can customize or create whatever themes strike their fancy. Expanded relationship management is also on offer, company officials say, to "create and graphically view multiple relationships between primary entities such as a holding company and its subsidiaries, and many-to-many relationships such as multiple reps selling to an organization's various divisions."
 
Pricing for a standalone SageCRM system begins at $599 per user. Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981.
...
 
First Coffee did a double-take at this next news item: My alma mater, Wheaton College, a liberal arts college founded in 1860 by abolitionist Jonathan Blanchard, has chosen WebGUI to help with the library's administration.
 
The campus is home to nearly 2400 undergraduate and over 550 graduate students. Buswell Memorial Library is one of the largest, if not still the largest - it was when I was there - private college (not university) library in the United States. I don't see that factoid in the promo materials anymore so it's probably not the case anymore.
 
Wheaton was also ranked as having the second-best food service of any college or university in the country, just behind Harvard, and my friends, I can assure you that wasn't true when I was there. Back then we were happy when the Cap'n Crunch didn't run out during dinner.
 
Anyway, Buswell Memorial Library staff found that their previous content management system couldn't handle the demands on it anymore, research materials through online resources. So they started looking for a system with separation of site style and content to maintain a consistent site appearance no matter who managed the content. And of course, because it's a college you need a system easy enough for non-technical dolts such as us English majors to use.
 
They picked the WebGUI system, which is capable of dynamically generating links to electronic resources from existing databases, and allowing any customized code created in-house to be reused throughout multiple areas of their site.
 
Wheaties say the WebGUI is an open source product that can be integrated with the library's existing underlying database structure while still following standard programming and design principles. Primarily, WebGUI allowed the library to reuse MyLibrary data by doing little more than writing an SQL query.
 
MyLibrary is evidently a database designed by librarians for presenting library resources to library patrons. WebGUI's platform, Apache, and its programming language, Perl, were standards, a plus for the library since they could not afford to recreate or convert their existing database. No doubt because I don't contribute to the alumni fund.
 
An evaluation of content management systems was published in 2006 by Robbins, Engel and Bierman for the University of Oklahoma Libraries. In their results they suggest that the main challenge in building an intranet that is vital to employees within an organization, "...requires an organizational commitment to developing tools that are easy to use and vital for the development of the Web site." Yes, people pay for studies to learn such things.
 
Buswell Memorial Library's experience with WebGUI has led the entire Wheaton College community to adopt WebGUI as its campus-wide content management system.
...
 
Chicago-based Alterian, a marketing platform vendor, has announced that Jaguar Land Rover will use Alterian Content Management to manage its global Web sites. Jaguar Land Rover officials say they'll use the platform to, among other jobs, allow editorial control over local Web site copy "to be managed by business people, not the IT department."
 
The idea is to maintain "close control of global brand assets and campaigns with appropriate local control for regional variations" via "integration between the Alterian Content Management platform and Jaguar Land Rover's current CRM systems," according to the car makers.
 
Alterian Content Management offers a Web content management product for large enterprises to run intranets, extranets, Web sites and other digital channels. The Alterians say their product's multilingual capabilities "match with Jaguar Land Rover's need to simultaneously upload content in many different languages across their network of sites."
 
Alterian sells basically analytically-led software, with partners such as Accenture, Cap Gemini, Carlson Marketing and Euro RSCG Worldwide using it alongside their own products and services.
...
 
"Engaging citizens" and "collaborating with a wider network of service providers" can help governments improve the quality of the services and outcomes they deliver to their constituents, according to a new report from Accenture.
 
In the report, titled "Leadership in Customer Service: Creating Shared Responsibility for Better Outcomes," Accenture identifies a new imperative for governments to find "a stronger focus on the quality of the service transaction toward a new relationship" with customers and citizens, that "improves the relevance and transparency of government decision-making, service design and delivery," while fostering "a deeper trust of government."
 
The report finds that the need now is to redefine the relationship between public services and citizens, from one of dependency to one of shared responsibility.
 
When it comes to government, "stakeholders are more than just customers," says Greg Parston, director of Accenture's Institute for Public Service Value. "The notion that an individual's engagement with government is similar to a commercial one, in which taxes are paid in exchange for high-quality services, fails to address the full range of an individual's interactions with government as a citizen, voter and member of a local community, as well as a customer and taxpayer."
 
Accenture identified four practices that can help governments share responsibility for improved social and economic outcomes with their respective citizenry, build a more co-productive relationship between citizens and governments, and bridge the gap between expectations and reality:
 
Number one, use customer insight to meet people's specific needs and improve equality of outcomes. A "one-size-fits all" approach to service delivery is neither effective nor appropriate.
 
Two, engage citizens, service users and other stakeholders to define outcomes and design services. Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire and her staff have held citizen workshops, community leader meetings and a series of town hall events that have provided citizens and other stakeholders an opportunity to have a say.
 
Three, coordinate resources across and beyond government to deliver outcomes. See, this is the sort of thing you have to tell government.
 
And fourth, focus on improving transparency and accessibility of information, so that customers can hold governments accountable. The New York City government is championing accessibility, transparency and accountability with their 311 call center program, launched in 2003, the study found: "More recently, the new City-wide Performance Reporting system, an online performance measurement tool, was developed to give New Yorkers access to regularly updated performance data from city agencies."
 
If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.

Microsoft CRM and PowerObjects, Merkle and The Limited, Spanair and NeoMedia, Blackbaud, Infinite and Roundstone

January 15, 2009 6:28 PM | 1 Comment
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is the soundtrack for what promises to be a long, hard, slogging blue-collar working day, Creedence Clearwater Revivial's "Cosmo's Factory." CCR picked up their lunch pails and hammers to pound out as honest and hard a working day with their no-frills, stripped-down rock sound as reliably as a steelworker building a bridge, and that's what kind of day it's going to be here at the sprawling campus of First Coffee, so that's the kind of music we need - call it hard hat rock:
 
Mobile check-in has landed in airports across Spain following the introduction of a paperless ticketing service by Spanish carrier Spanair Airlines. Paper boarding passes, kiss 'em goodbye - company officials say they can be replaced by an electronic 2D barcode received via MMS and stored by the passenger's mobile phone.
 
The system is enabled by NeoMedia Technologies, which has to date installed its EXIO scanners in eleven Spanish airports. The scanners read the 2D codes on the phones at the airport terminal check-in desks and security points.
 
Based on returns from the service so far, Spanair thinks that 800,000 2D barcode mobile tickets will be issued in 2009. If so, that would account for ten per cent of its total ticketing transactions.
 
Spanair is kind of the canary in the coal mine for this sort of thing in Spain. The airline was the first in the country to offer mobile check-in, following the publication by IATA of a mobile boarding standard based on two-dimensional codes. The technology was piloted - get it? - in the airports of Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona.
 
After running the numbers some industry analysts think widespread adoption of mobile check-in can save the airline industry up to $500 million each year. Which will, no doubt, be reflected in lower ticket prices, more on-time flights, shorter lines at the airport, better coffee in the business lounge, tastier food on flights, more cheerful customer service marked by the extra mile and okay, I'll stop now.
 
Earlier this year industry analysts Juniper Research estimated that transport-based mobile ticketing will grow from 37.4 million transactions in 2007 to just over 1.8 billion by 2011, with some 2.6 billion mobile tickets in total being issued by 2011 to 208 million mobile phone users.
 
I scoff at airline food quality: I must say my last Emirates flight from Sydney to Auckland had the best meal I've ever had on a plane. First time I've ever eaten every bite on the tray.
 
Iain McCready, CEO of NeoMedia, said the scanners can be integrated into many different systems and used for a wide variety of mobile CRM products, including ticketing, couponing and loyalty, and payment systems.
...
 
Merkle, a database marketing agency, has announced it has been selected by The Limited to support its nationwide customer marketing programs.
 
The multi-year agreement calls for Merkle to provide a marketing database infrastructure, database marketing strategy, advanced analytics and other such customer insight for the retailer.
 
Sara Cisler, Director, CRM, The Limited, said the basic intent behind the move is to allow the clothier to "effectively promote our brand and improve customer loyalty."
 
Merkle uses a database marketing infrastructure called a Knowledge Center which will be used as the foundation for The Limited's marketing efforts. Merkle will partner with the vendor to use the database for testing, modeling and analyzing consumer data, with the goal being that it will "provide a view into customers, their preferences and their buying behavior over time," for the retailer's current customer marketing database of seven million customers.
 
David Williams, President and CEO, Merkle, noted that yeah, a strong brand and a high degree of customer loyalty are "extremely helpful" in the "current economy," marketers should also consider adopting "analytically driven marketing approaches," integrating data from multiple media and channels to divine customer preferences and behavior.
 
Merkle's a privately-held corporation headquartered near Baltimore in Columbia, Maryland with additional locations in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Seattle and Hagerstown, Maryland.
...
 
It's going to be pretty tough to bet against either the Baltimore Ravens or Pittsburgh Steelers in that AFC Championship game. Man, those teams play hard-nose football. First Coffee suspects it'll come down to Ben Roethlisberger having been there and Joe Flacco, as cool-headed as he's been all year, not having been. Whoever wins that game wins the Super Bowl.
...
 
PowerObjects, a vendor of Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management products, has announced PowerLaunch, described by the PowerObjectivians as a CRM deployment product. It's evidently a fixed-price product designed to help get a CRM system up and running, and includes configuration, training and consulting.
 
Jim Sheehan, COO of PowerObjects, said the product includes a business review consulting session to identify the information and processes that will be supported, system customization and configuration based upon the findings of the business review session.
 
There are also two pre-launch review and feedback sessions while system is being built to validate design, all sorts of in-house training and personal project manager readily available to support users on the go-live day, as well as a 30-day system review and adjustments.
 
 
How much would you pay for all this? But wait, there's more: You also get a collection of CRM system customizations and capabilities, including e-mail tracking, best practices to change navigation to allow users access to the right data and "mapping integration - customers will get a Web-based view of an address on a map," company officials say.
 
Now how much would you pay? Well friends, whereas a typical CRM deployment can take up to several weeks to months, PowerLaunch is designed to get a company up and running with CRM in as little as five days. And the price for the basic PowerLaunch product is $4,995. That's right, $4,995.
 
And the ginsu knives are still free.
...
 
Infinite Software Corporation has announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in Roundstone Systems based in Oakland. The combined organization will have over 100,000 installations in 56 countries, according to Infinite officials.
 
The Roundstone team "adds depth and knowledge of both the Bay Area market and HP servers," says Bruce Acacio, CEO, Infinite Software.
 
Roundstone Systems sells HP Enterprise Server products and services in Northern California. "We have built our business around HP's Enterprise servers," says John Fournier, President, Roundstone Systems, adding that for a partner, "Infinite Software just made sense."
 
Roundstone Systems will operate as an independent division of Infinite Software and anticipates no changes in staffing. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
 
Infinite is headquartered in Orange County, California and operates from offices in Asia, North America, South America and Europe. Its products are marketed under the brand names Infinite and LPS.
...
 
Blackbaud has announced that it will develop a custom product for The Kidney Foundation of Canada, who evidently wishes to create a "unified national CRM and Web presence."
 
"We selected the Blackbaud product to support bilingual peer-based online fundraising events for all of our branches," says Paul Shay, the foundation's national executive director.
 
The Kidney Foundation of Canada is dedicated to promoting kidney health through funding research, providing education and support, raising awareness, and promoting access to quality healthcare. It's comprised of eleven provincial branches, each operating its own fundraising events and autonomous Web sites, which as you can imagine led to some pretty inconsistent branding across branch sites.
 
With a capital campaign coming up, the foundation saw the need for a more unified image.
 
In 2008 the foundation started moving towards coordinating its CRM on a national level and is in the process of implementing a national Raiser's Edge database. It now also has a unified national Web presence with revamped branding and syndicated national content which lets individual branches post localized content.
 
If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.

InQuira and IGT, Bridgeline and the NFL, SugarCRM, Parature and Webs.com, CallFire Survey, the Walkman

January 9, 2009 1:31 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, which falls in that category of music that's good for background while at work but isn't elevator music. In fact, if you can cue it up in the office at the right time, you can build your work force's emotional intensity until by the time the seventh movement, Doppio Movimento and its lovely Shaker hymn melody rolls around, they're flying at their peak of productivity:
InQuira has announced that International Game Technology, a company selling computerized gaming machines and systems products, has selected InQuira to help improve their customer service.
IGT will use InQuira's Knowledge Management software platform and customer service application to try to get "faster, more effective support products" for IGT's Web self-service customers and call center agents, according to IGT officials.
InQuira's Knowledge Management platform includes support for support-oriented content through a workflow and publishing cycle, as well as intelligent search technology that "discerns user intents and applies approaches for matching searches to available content," according to the InQuirians, adding that the search module "analyzes all search words for relevance, not just the keywords."
The platform is expected by IGT officials to provide a knowledge base for Web self-service and agent-assisted support that lets customers do more in the way of self-serve and have less occasion to call center agents.
IGT sells stand-alone and networked gaming systems for casino operators. Their products include its MegaJackpots wide-area networks of games, linking casinos together for larger jackpots, including Megabucks, Wheels of Fortune and other multi-site casino games.
...
 
CRM vendor Parature says that Webs.com has selected Parature Customer Service software to manage their customer service and support. Webs.com is a social publishing platform that lets users build Web sites for an active community.
James Watson, Director of Customer Relations for Webs.com, says they wanted a new customer support system to correct an "inadequate process to provide customer support." As a Web-based company, according to the Paraturians, they wanted customer service software that was also Web-based, as pretty much anybody with an IQ over room temperature these days does.
One thing Webs.com wanted was the ability to make service or product announcements, or even answer a commonly asked question without accessing another application or requiring the assistance of another department, on a Web interface that looked like their presence, not a third-party fulfillment vendor.
Watson noted that Webs.com grew from fourteen products in 2005 to over fifty in 2008. "Volume isn't an issue for us, but efficiency is crucial," he said, adding that the company needs to be "able to present information in the knowledgebase and the rules based routing within the ticketing system."
Founded in 2000, Parature received the 2007 Product of the Year Award from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine and has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. For the past three consecutive years Vienna, Virginia-headquartered Parature has been on the Washington Business Journal's list of Best Places to Work.
...
 
A study performed by CallFire has shown that interest in at-home Virtual Call Center services has "nearly doubled" in the first week of operation of 2009.
Evidently weekly sales inquiries for at-home virtual call centers have increased year over year by over 52 percent. CallFire's new user sign up rate for Loan Officers, MLM agents and Insurance agents has also shown a 33 percent increase.
CallFire provides Web-based predictive dialing and contact management tools for at-home salespeople "who need to contact thousands of businesses," according to the CallFirers. You don't need First Coffee to tell you that Americans have chosen to supplement household income by embracing MLM and other work-from-home opportunities.
As you would expect, then, this interest has resulted in what CallFire officials characterize as "a noted increase in sales inquiries for Virtual Call Center services."
"Fluctuations of interest in Virtual Call Center products are a good barometer of our economic environment," thinks Dinesh Ravishanker, CallFire CEO and co-founder.
The company has released a free iPhone application called FriendCast. Salespeople using FriendCast can send personal voice messages to many clients: "The ad-supported service eliminates the time and hassle of making many phone calls and typing lengthy text messages while driving," company officials say, explaining that iPhone users can send a free voice-recorded personal message to many of their contacts at once.
...
 
Bridgeline Software, which sells SaaS-based Web application management software and award-winning Web applications, announced today that what company officials refer to as "a leading National Football League franchise" selected Bridgeline to develop an eCommerce application for their online business and the public Web site.
Through the deployment of Bridgeline's .NET-based eCommerce system, the team was looking to improve their overall online store and public site, and "grow the contribution of its online channel to its business."
Bridgeline officials do not identify this team. But if they're calling it a "leading" NFL team with a straight face, that pretty much eliminates the Oakland Raiders, Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams right off the bat. Borderline cases would be the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs or Seattle Seahawks. Beyond that, hey, let the speculation commence.
The Bridgeline's product provides a platform that allows store owners to personalize product offerings and offer other services. The dashboard technology provides an overview of the online store and offers data intelligence reports on sales trends, buyer demographics, and profit margins as well as system alerts on inventory levels, order fulfillment status, production issues, and shopping cart abandonment.
The team's new eCommerce system and public site now offers team stats, news, ticket information, message boards, and online shopping as well as interactive features. A polling feature was rolled out to query fans and track results, and player and cheerleader bios were tweaked up: "Misty is a biochemistry major at State U. with a minor in Medieval Germanic Sagas who hopes to work with children..."
Bridgeline Software is headquartered near Boston, with additional locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Washington, D.C., and Bangalore, India.
Hm, so okay, knock out Bangalore, and you still have seven possible NFL franchises in that list.
...
 
Is it true? First Coffee saw the headline and couldn't believe it... is... is the Walkman still around?
Sure enough there it is: "Enjoy music the way you want it with the W508 Walkman phone," reads the news. Oh joy.
Now I can tell my kids no, Dad's not going senile. There's nothing that sends my kids' eyes rolling, smirking behind their hands or wondering if they'll have to institutionalize the old man faster than my calling an iPod a Walkman. As in, "Hey I'm going to drive to Warkworth, anybody seen my Walkman?"  Forehead smack. Here it comes.
(snicker )"Sure Dad, I think you left it in 1981."
I remember how my dad used to call the refrigerator the "icebox," blue jeans "dungarees" and Ajax "Bab-O." I'd get that uncomfortable, sinking feeling - "Dad's failing fast." To see that same look in my kids' eyes, well. Makes you feel as old as the first time you signed a check or used the phrase "when I was in college" did.
"The W508 Walkman phone builds on our iconic Walkman range and the W380," says Alexandre Cardon, Global Product Marketing Manager (music) at Sony Ericsson. "For those who like to express their style and individuality through their mobile phone we've brought our creative design team in to design stylish changeable covers so that W508 offers a truly interactive and individual experience."
Yeah yeah, marketing fluff, I know, but honestly, I can't tell you how good, how... vindicated I feel, knowing the Walkman's alive and well into 2009. Out of sheer gratitude, fluff away.
Evidently it now has "Shake control and Gesture control," according to Sony officials, who describe them as functions that allows users to "become your own DJ with just a flick of your wrist -- raise the volume or set the shuffle function by giving your phone a quick shake."
Hm, didn't know you could have a "shuffle" feature with cassette tapes...
The W508 also includes such Walkman features such as SensMe, "for matching your mood to the music and touch keys on top to play, stop and skip tracks. A 3.2 megapixel camera, HSDPA and 1GB M2 card completes the W508 offering," Sony officials say.
Here's one feature I sure wish my old Walkman had: "Can't get that song out of your head but have no idea what it's called? Use TrackID with text search and you'll have the answer at a touch of a button," the marketing info says. Ever feel a complete moron trying to sing a line from a song so a friend can identify it for you? No? I'm the only one?
Okay, so it's not the clunky old cassette player we all thought was so streamlined in 1978. Still, the shake to get to the next song and adjust volume features do sound cool.
And it still exists. Guess what my kids are each getting for their birthday? That's right - and when they lose them, as they do everything, I'll be right there when they ask "Hey Dad, seen my Walkman around?" You'll hear me laughing from wherever you are.

NFinanSe's Reloadable Card, Bella's Field Service, New Infusionsoft Line, Arada and Atheros, Convergys

January 9, 2009 12:51 PM | 0 Comments
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing, an album which really doesn't suck all that much worse than anything else released in 1979, not the finest year in music history, Rust Never Sleeps aside:
 
Okay, this isn't straight CRM news but it's First Coffee's philosophy, open to verification, that those involved in CRM, the vast majority anyway, are actual human beings who have other components to their lives, such as home, family and forwarding e-mail jokes.
 
To that end, in First Coffee's never-ending efforts to provide added value, we're reporting on nFinanSe reloadable prepaid debit card. Features include the ability to be immediately used, text messaging notification of transactions and balances and free customer service.
 
It's billed - get it? - by the nFinanSeians as "a lower cost electronic payment option for the 73 million unbanked and underbanked consumers in the country." In other words, folks who, for whatever reason, find standard credit cards aren't for them.
 
Now it isn't your maxed-out credit card we're thinking of here, but your teenage daughter's. She lives day-to-day on a cash basis with no banking relationship anyway, maybe she'd be better off with a reloadable card.
 
"Banks are now slashing the number of new credit cards, reducing credit limits, decreasing services and limiting options," says Jerry R. Welch, Chairman and CEO of nFinanSe, adding that you can find and reload the card in Dollar General locations and Winn-Dixie grocery stores. The company promises "an additional 10,000 retail locations during the first half of 2009."
 
Of course the thing you have to watch with these cards is the fees. Some prepaid providers charge as much as $9.95 - $14.95 for the purchase of a reloadable prepaid card, $4.95 in monthly maintenance fees, $4.95 to reload cards and as much as $2 for a customer service call. NFinanSe is trying to compete on price, charging $5.95 for the card, carrying a monthly maintenance fee of $2.95, a reload fee of $2.95 and what it claims is "free customer service."
 
Check the fine print, of course, but these cards can be good deals. First Coffee wishes he had had one of these instead of a full-fledged VISA card straight out of college.
...
 
Bella Solutions, a vendor of Web-based Field Service software, is announcing the launch of version 4.2, with customization for field service companies to integrate the software into their current business process, "eliminating the need to change the way they do business," company officials say.
 
How, you ask? My friend, "field technicians no longer have to physically visit the office or warehouse or drive inefficient service routes. Bella connects the field technician to the back office systems and customer data." Voila.
 
In addition, a customer portal feature was added to let Bella clients use online service requests and updates. Customers get real-time access to check job status and history or whatever, and can leave feedback. Field service organizations simply automate this process if they think that may help maximize their technicians' time in the field.
 
Scheduling and dispatching field service and sales resources while managing operations is trickier than most service organizations think it's going to be. We know of organizations still relying on paper and telephone-based processes to link field service and sales resources with the office. Hilarity ensues.
 
As you know it requires field resources to visit an office or call office staff on the phone to receive dispatch instructions. And at remote service sites nobody's shocked when the resources don't have ready access to the information required to complete the service call on the initial visit. What the Bella product is marketing is a way for field service organizations to automate their processes, in the hopes of reducing office costs and increasing field productivity.
...
 
Infusionsoft, a vendor of marketing automation software for small businesses, has announced the introduction of an entirely new tiered product line in the hopes of making Infusionsoft accessible to a larger entrepreneur and small business audience.
 
Customers will now be able to choose one of three Infusionsoft editions. Previously, the vendor offered a single standard product and pricing structure, but they hope that by offering editions with tiered functionality, a range of e-mail and database limits and corresponding pricing, their products will be more attractive to a larger range of small businesses.
 
The all-inclusive Pro edition, which most closely resembles the original Infusionsoft offering, comes with  pre-loaded templates and the highest limits the vendor offers on e-mail volume and database size. Customer service and support, as well as the look and feel of the software, will remain the same across all editions.
 
Clate Mask, CEO of Infusionsoft, pointed to his company's "own history as a boot-strapped small business" as giving them insight into what such firms need.
 
The new offerings range in functionality from basic follow-up marketing, which includes Infusionsoft's e-mail marketing automation engine, to advanced modules for more sophisticated marketing efforts, as well as invoicing, billing and e-commerce features.
 
Editions also vary in terms of e-mail and database limits, as well as levels of professional support services, which include set up and activation. All editions are offered via the Software-as-a-Service model.
 
Infusionsoft released a major upgrade to its core product and added $7.9 million in Series B financing in 2008. The privately held firm based in Gilbert, Arizona is funded by Mohr Davidow Ventures and vSpring Capital.
...
 
Arada Systems, a vendor of WLAN software, has announced the availability of its Loc-Air technology platform, described as an 802.11a/b/g-based, low-power, wireless design for applications including RFID, sensor networks, security devices and consumer electronics.
 
The new product uses Atheros' ROCm technology for mobile WLAN. The Loc-Air complete hardware and software product from Arada Systems is being billed by company officials as "the world's first RFID 802.11a/b/g product," capable of delivering "up to 10 years of operation on a standard double-AA battery."
 
The product targets a new range of sensor applications for Enterprise, SMB, and verticals including security, medical, and automotive tolling. The production-ready reference design has Atheros' 802.11a/b/g WLAN technology with a tuning range of 2.3-2.7GHz and 4.9-5.95GHz, as well as Atheros' single-chip GPS technology, an accelerometer, and a temperature sensor that can be customized.
 
Arada's entry into the RFID market is seen as a way to expand the adoption of WLAN-based locationing applications in "a wide array of markets, including healthcare, transportation and security," according to Amir Faintuch, vice president and general manager of the mobile business unit for Atheros.
 
Arada is headquartered in Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale, with development centers in India's Silicon Valley in Bangalore.
...
 
CRM vendor Convergys Corporation has implemented a human resources services contract for a Fortune 50 Company. The "go-live" took place January 2 in ten countries in multiple languages in Latin America, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
 
Convergys used what company officials call its "transform-then-transfer" approach to redesign the client's global HR processes, then implemented an SAP HRIS platform including corresponding manager and employee self-service portal. The Convergians say service centers in Jacksonville, Florida, São Paulo and Kuala Lumpur, as well others have also begun to support the client's employees.
 
"This is the second major HRM implementation we have completed in the last five months," said John Gibson, President, Human Resource Management, for Convergys. Earl Shanks, Convergys' Chief Financial Officer, noted that the project "keeps us on track to deliver approximately $200 million of free cash flow in 2009." Non-GAAP financial measures, bear in mind.
 
If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First CoffeeSM accepts no sponsored content.
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