The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. Hey, sometimes you need the classics, and this is as good as they get:
Lots of news from the recently-concluded Salesforce.com Dreamforce Conference, which may have slipped past the turkey and cranberry and football games. So as you finish off those leftovers, we'll finish off these:
ZenKraft used Dreamforce to announce the availability of ZenKraft Shipmate - FedEx for Salesforce CRM on the AppExchange.
The product adds FedEx Shipping integration within Salesforce CRM and is built natively on the Force.com platform, meaning it runs on the same platform running Salesforce.com's apps. It also uses the familiar look and feel of Salesforce CRM.
It's billed as a way to let customers ship any mail or package to any Salesforce CRM Lead, Contact, Account or Opportunity through FedEx. It also calculates FedEx rate estimates, generates FedEx shipping and return labels, tracks FedEx shipments and more.
ZenKraft also placed as a finalist in the Force.com Forty Innovation Showcase.
Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer, Salesforce.com, said products such as what ZenKraft demonstrated during Force.com Forty will "help users simplify shipping all within Salesforce CRM. It's this value that becomes apparent during the Force.com Forty competition."
"This has been a true asset to our operations team and has made our lives a lot simpler in regards to shipping. You don't need to have intimate knowledge of the FedEx system," says Minh Pham of TargetCast Networks.
"Salesforce CRM helps you sell, FedEx helps you ship. The Force.com platform let us build the marriage between the two without having to host our own servers," says Zeel Jadia, founder of ZenKraft.
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It's billed as a way to let customers ship any mail or package to any Salesforce CRM Lead, Contact, Account or Opportunity through FedEx. It also calculates FedEx rate estimates, generates FedEx shipping and return labels, tracks FedEx shipments and more.
ZenKraft also placed as a finalist in the Force.com Forty Innovation Showcase.
Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer, Salesforce.com, said products such as what ZenKraft demonstrated during Force.com Forty will "help users simplify shipping all within Salesforce CRM. It's this value that becomes apparent during the Force.com Forty competition."
"This has been a true asset to our operations team and has made our lives a lot simpler in regards to shipping. You don't need to have intimate knowledge of the FedEx system," says Minh Pham of TargetCast Networks.
"Salesforce CRM helps you sell, FedEx helps you ship. The Force.com platform let us build the marriage between the two without having to host our own servers," says Zeel Jadia, founder of ZenKraft.
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Dreamforce also saw the release by Virtual Mobile Technologies of Smobi, a customizable cross platform mobile product, which is now available on the Salesforce.com AppExchange.
The product's developers say, quote, "Smobi ext device compatibility providing more users with a rich, fully customizable mobile solution for Salesforce CRM." Basically, from what First Coffee can tell, the product's geared for the mobile market, and is made to allow mobile access for European, Middle East, African and other markets where, Smobi officials say, "device manufacturers like Nokia have a majority market share."
Smobi is compatible with "the entire range of mobile devices, including entry level," company officials say, adding that "this enables the extension of Salesforce CRM to emerging markets that have limited access to desktop Internet and high-end mobile devices. We believe that this could significantly increase functionality for NGOs operating in these markets and increase the competitiveness of Salesforce CRM for companies based in emerging economies."
Smobi has full access to Salesforce CRM ยท NIST validated security (FIPS), and is compatible with "almost all mobile phone manufacturers," according to company officials, like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC, Blackberry and Samsung. The Android and iPhone editions are "coming soon," officials say.
Smobi is available for download and test drive at the AppExchange.
The product's developers say, quote, "Smobi ext device compatibility providing more users with a rich, fully customizable mobile solution for Salesforce CRM." Basically, from what First Coffee can tell, the product's geared for the mobile market, and is made to allow mobile access for European, Middle East, African and other markets where, Smobi officials say, "device manufacturers like Nokia have a majority market share."
Smobi is compatible with "the entire range of mobile devices, including entry level," company officials say, adding that "this enables the extension of Salesforce CRM to emerging markets that have limited access to desktop Internet and high-end mobile devices. We believe that this could significantly increase functionality for NGOs operating in these markets and increase the competitiveness of Salesforce CRM for companies based in emerging economies."
Smobi has full access to Salesforce CRM ยท NIST validated security (FIPS), and is compatible with "almost all mobile phone manufacturers," according to company officials, like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC, Blackberry and Samsung. The Android and iPhone editions are "coming soon," officials say.
Smobi is available for download and test drive at the AppExchange.
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CRM manager, which describes itself as a software-as-a-service implementation and integration firm, has announced the doubling of its customer base since 2008, signing agreements with more than 100 new customers in 2009.
Andy Atkins, Founder and CEO of CRM manager, attributed part of the success to the fact that companies of all sizes are "become more versed in the immediate value of cloud computing," and are looking for products which "go beyond traditional sales and marketing" tools.
With Salesforce.com, Atkins says, "we have added expertise beyond SFA to include service and support solutions, portals, integration services and Force.com platform development. In addition, we entered into a strategic relationship with Google to provide implementation and consulting services for their Google Enterprise Apps."
Andy Atkins, Founder and CEO of CRM manager, attributed part of the success to the fact that companies of all sizes are "become more versed in the immediate value of cloud computing," and are looking for products which "go beyond traditional sales and marketing" tools.
With Salesforce.com, Atkins says, "we have added expertise beyond SFA to include service and support solutions, portals, integration services and Force.com platform development. In addition, we entered into a strategic relationship with Google to provide implementation and consulting services for their Google Enterprise Apps."
Atkins says his company has also entered into partnerships with many AppExchange providers who offer applications that integrate with Salesforce.com.
This product line expansion and the building of expertise in these areas, company officials say, has allowed CRM manager to expand their customer base "beyond the traditional corporate or mid-market accounts... servicing divisions of enterprise accounts in the region, including an expanded vertical market focus on technology, chemical and healthcare industries with specific concentration on healthcare providers and device manufacturers."
The company is "developing several new Force.com applications for the AppExchange," Atkins says. "It's an exciting time for our company."
With what Atkins called a "substantial emphasis" on cost management and increasing pressures on technology budgets due to the economy, a large number of companies are also turning to CRM manager for consulting "in order to enhance and evolve their cloud applications," he notes: "Nearly 70 percent of our customers are currently participating in our ongoing consulting plan."
This product line expansion and the building of expertise in these areas, company officials say, has allowed CRM manager to expand their customer base "beyond the traditional corporate or mid-market accounts... servicing divisions of enterprise accounts in the region, including an expanded vertical market focus on technology, chemical and healthcare industries with specific concentration on healthcare providers and device manufacturers."
The company is "developing several new Force.com applications for the AppExchange," Atkins says. "It's an exciting time for our company."
With what Atkins called a "substantial emphasis" on cost management and increasing pressures on technology budgets due to the economy, a large number of companies are also turning to CRM manager for consulting "in order to enhance and evolve their cloud applications," he notes: "Nearly 70 percent of our customers are currently participating in our ongoing consulting plan."
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GoodData announced at Dreamforce that Enterasys Networks has deployed GoodData for Salesforce CRM via the AppExchange. The product provides on-demand reporting and analysis for Salesforce CRM marketing, sales and service data.
It's billed as a way to enable users to "trend their sales pipeline over time, analyze their customer data across modules, and visualize results with customized reports and dashboards."
Vala Afshar, Vice President, Global Technical Services, Enterasys, says "it's simple -- the more people that access the metrics that drive our business, the better we perform as a company." Enterasys, the network infrastructure and security division of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, is using GoodData for sales pipeline analytics.
Vala Afshar, Vice President, Global Technical Services, Enterasys, says "it's simple -- the more people that access the metrics that drive our business, the better we perform as a company." Enterasys, the network infrastructure and security division of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, is using GoodData for sales pipeline analytics.
With GoodData, Enterasys executives, sales leaders and users alike can access customer analytics through dashboards within Salesforce CRM. Enterasys officials say they'll be extending GoodData to analyze marketing leads and campaigns as well as service tickets "to get a deeper analytical view" of their customers.
Roman Stanek, Founder and CEO, GoodData, says "everybody should have access to customer analytics."
GoodData officials like to refer to their company as "the first business intelligence company born in the cloud."
Roman Stanek, Founder and CEO, GoodData, says "everybody should have access to customer analytics."
GoodData officials like to refer to their company as "the first business intelligence company born in the cloud."
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Satuit Technologies officials have announced that Sanderson Asset Management has deployed SatuitCRM to "facilitate client relationship management for the company's global institutional and private customers."
SatuitCRM officials say the product provides Sanderson's client services team in the U.S. and the U.K. with "a centrally-located system that supports the company's international growth goals, making it easier to track and service clients more consistently and efficiently between offices."
Sanderson officials say they wanted a CRM product to tie together the company's disparate data silos in the U.K. with new repositories being created in Sanderson's U.S. office -- "without draining limited IT resources." Prior to implementing SatuitCRM, Sanderson's client service representatives worked in multiple application environments, including ACT! and Outlook, making it difficult to find and share information.
Sanderson officials say they wanted a CRM product to tie together the company's disparate data silos in the U.K. with new repositories being created in Sanderson's U.S. office -- "without draining limited IT resources." Prior to implementing SatuitCRM, Sanderson's client service representatives worked in multiple application environments, including ACT! and Outlook, making it difficult to find and share information.
Paul Carter, Operations Manager for Sanderson Asset Management, said SatuitCRM is "focused on our industry, and its hosted delivery model made it easy to implement across our U.S. and U.K. offices."
Carter described the database as "intuitive.... In addition, our impression of Satuit's team is positive." SatuitCRM is built specifically for asset management professionals.
"We are delighted to have Sanderson as a client and look forward to continuing to provide an information platform to support their expansion," said Karen Maguire, CEO of Satuit Technologies.
Sanderson Asset Management Limited was formed in October 2000 as an independent investment firm offering international equity services, principally to US institutional investors. SAM is controlled by its current employees, the company is independently owned. Satuit has offices in the United Sates and the United Kingdom and serves clients in more than a dozen countries.
"We are delighted to have Sanderson as a client and look forward to continuing to provide an information platform to support their expansion," said Karen Maguire, CEO of Satuit Technologies.
Sanderson Asset Management Limited was formed in October 2000 as an independent investment firm offering international equity services, principally to US institutional investors. SAM is controlled by its current employees, the company is independently owned. Satuit has offices in the United Sates and the United Kingdom and serves clients in more than a dozen countries.
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Customer Relationship Management vendor Concentrix has been recognised as the Sage CRM Business Partner of the Year by Sage UK.
Customer Relationship Management vendor Concentrix has been recognised as the Sage CRM Business Partner of the Year by Sage UK.
The award, Sage officials say, acknowledges Concentrix's commitment to Sage CRM, "along with its expertise and strong annual sales of the mid-market product." The achievement was announced at a gala dinner held by Sage in Newcastle. First Coffee keeps hearing about these gala dinners, never seems to get invited to any.
Ian Dawkins, Concentrix Managing Director, mentioned Sage CRM's features and CRM functionality "which make it a key product for Concentrix."
Concentrix has deployed the software in organizations throughout the UK, providing a range of implementation services, project management, training and after sales support. The company's team of in-house developers has also produced a membership management system based on Sage CRM, plus a number of bespoke and add-on applications for the product.
Concentrix has been a fully accredited Sage Business Partner since 2004. As well as Sage CRM Business Partner of the Year, Concentrix achieved a place in the Sage Circle of Excellence for the company's "service and feedback from customers," company officials say.
Founded in 1999, Concentrix sells products based on recognized best-of-breed software products. As well as providing Sage CRM, Concentrix also offers the Sage 200 suite, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and FrontRange's GoldMine software. It's an accredited Sage Business Partner, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and a FrontRange Premier Partner.
Concentrix is based in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire and has satellite offices in Bristol and central London.
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Continuing with the Sage theme, Brisbane, Australia-based Markinson, a specialist business software selling to small and mid sized businesses, was recognized for its "outstanding sales efforts" at the 2009 Sage Business Partner Awards, winning Highest Revenue for Sage SalesLogix CRM in Australasia.
Continuing with the Sage theme, Brisbane, Australia-based Markinson, a specialist business software selling to small and mid sized businesses, was recognized for its "outstanding sales efforts" at the 2009 Sage Business Partner Awards, winning Highest Revenue for Sage SalesLogix CRM in Australasia.
Sage Business Partner Awards recognise top performing partners across Sage's partner community in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
No doubt the award was presented at yet another "gala" dinner, to which current New Zealand resident First Coffee was, also, not invited.
The award caps "a big year," according to Markinson officials, with the company "ramping up growth with its acquisition of CRM specialist, Adexio, earlier this month, as well as building out its partner network" with vendors such as Sage to extend its solutions suite. Whiting attributes the company's sales results to a growing demand, especially in the SMB market, for business management systems.
The award caps "a big year," according to Markinson officials, with the company "ramping up growth with its acquisition of CRM specialist, Adexio, earlier this month, as well as building out its partner network" with vendors such as Sage to extend its solutions suite. Whiting attributes the company's sales results to a growing demand, especially in the SMB market, for business management systems.
"The tougher economic environment over the past months has provided a wake up call for many businesses prompting them to review their system requirements and 'future proof' their operations by putting in place the right platforms and applications to support long term growth," Whiting noted.
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