Convergys and Gartner, Enpirion and Oracle, Kaleidico, ProTracker, CWR Mobility, Maximizer Software

David Sims : First Coffee
David Sims
| CRM, ERP, Contact Center, Turkish Coffee and Astroichthiology:

Convergys and Gartner, Enpirion and Oracle, Kaleidico, ProTracker, CWR Mobility, Maximizer Software

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is The Kinks' Something Else:

Convergys has announced that it has been positioned by Gartner in the Leaders quadrant of the first ever "Magic Quadrant for CRM Contact Center BPO for North America," released in late 2009.

Gartner officials say they evaluated providers on "their ability to execute, criteria for which included product/service and customer experience." Gartner also looked at providers' "completeness of vision," they say, including "innovation, business model, market understanding and marketing, product, industry, geographic and sales strategies" in making its determination.
So as you can see, friends, it's pretty well determined.

Andrea Ayers, President, Customer Management, Convergys, credited the company's position in the quadrant to their "leadership, execution abilities, and investments in our portfolio, which includes agent-assisted care, automation, self-service, and analytic services." 

Gartner's evaluation also encompassed each provider's set of offerings for CRM programs, including the ability to provide such things as advisory, consulting and migration services, "insight across industries," technology advisory and integration services for both voice and multichannel care such as Web chat, e-mail response and Web self-service as well as what Gartner officials called "a comprehensive set of business process services across CRM functions, including customer selection, acquisition, retention and extension."

As a single-source vendor Convergys sells analytic services, technology and agent services for the customer experience and relationships.
...
To "streamline sales and marketing throughout its growing business," worthy goals indeed, Enpirion, an analog semiconductor company with expertise in power management, has standardized on an Oracle Accelerate solution fromBizTech for Oracle CRM On Demand Release 16.

Enpirion was started in 2001 by power management technology alumni from Bell Labs. Things progressed, and by 2008 demand for Enpirion's high density power systems embedded chips increased, company officials say, to the point where they were putting pressure on its "time and resource-strapped" sales and marketing organization.

Obviously what was needed was a revamp of its internal technology footprint. Enter Oracle, with Certified Advantage Partner BizTech to replace its existing homegrown database of spreadsheets.

As a midsize company, Enpirion doesn't have sackfuls of cash to blow on unnecessary resources or will-o'-the-wisp investments. Enpirion and BizTech used the Oracle Accelerate program to get a CRM implementation to meet their business needs today "and well into the future." Oracle CRM On Demand has been adopted across Enpirion's sales and marketing.

BizTech led Enpirion's Oracle E-Business Suite ERP implementation. BizTech officials say the project gave Enpirion the functionality required to accelerate demand creation and design in engagements, fit into the daily workflow of Enpirion's sales and marketing employees regardless of location and produce business reviews and reports.
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The Internet -- surprising, we know -- continues to be the top destination for consumers shopping for products and services. Yes yes, you knew that, but evidently it's the hot place to check out mortgage and real estate financing as well.
It might even be more popular, but Kaleidico officials say the experience is "often frustrating, with over 60 percent of customers never getting responses to their inquiries." Evidently somebody doesn't want 60 percent of the business that comes knocking.

Kaleidico sells lead management software, and the vendor has announced that it is working with Google on its AdWords Comparison Ads feature, giving advertisers participating in Google Comparison Ads a way to receive, distribute, and immediately respond to every inquiry.

"Kaleidico has been in the lead management and Internet lead generation business for a long time," said Bill Rice, CEO of Kaleidico, "and nothing closes an Internet lead more consistently than immediate follow-up."

The integration of Google's Comparison Ads and Kaleidico's Sales Manager is intended to give the online shopper "the simple and responsive experience they are accustomed to when using other Google services," Kaleidico officials say: "Sales Manager connects advertisers to interested customers who've requested to be contacted via an anonymized phone number, and helps them discipline their immediate follow-up to every lead."

The goal for the advertisers using Google's new Comparison Ads was "to make our software feel like a seamless part of Google--simple to implement, simple to use, and best practices for lead conversion already in place," Rice said.
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We like including unusual business locations whenever they crop up, and today's winner comes from Hampton, New Hampshire, home of ProTracker Software, a vendor for the financial services industry, which is introducing ProTracker Cloud, a hosted remote client relationship management tool.
 
"Without security there is no privacy," says Warren J. Mackensen, President of ProTracker Software. "Many states have enacted privacy laws that require a written information security program."
 
ProTracker Cloud builds on the ProTracker Advantage product, a contact, client and practice management program. ProTracker Cloud provides a hosted offering that includes the ProTracker Advantage client relationship management system, Microsoft Office 2007 (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint), and Microsoft Outlook for e-mail.
 
All come standard with ProTracker Cloud and are accessible using a Web browser.

Mackensen says ProTracker Cloud has "two-factor authentication" to ensure data security: "Financial advisors can now connect with secure access to their client and appointment information anywhere, 24/7, from their laptop." The authentication is based on user name and a "strong password," he says, plus a physical security key "similar to a car door clicker."
ProTracker Cloud supports personal digital assistants and smart phones as well. Download a free, 30-day demo: www.protracker.com.
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Here's another off-the-beaten-track business locale: From Nijmegen, The Netherlands, comes the news that CWR Mobility has released version 4.2 of its flagship product CWR Mobile CRM.
The product's a mobile tool for Dynamics CRM, with a client roster including Danone, Nestle, Hitachi and Sanofi Pasteur, according to company officials.
 
What's new in 4.2, you ask? Among other improvements are a native mobile CRM client for BlackBerry and iPhone, evidently since the company realized everybody except Melinda Gates has one. CWR Mobile CRM 4.2 is availablevia a global network of certified partners, and online in the USA and Canada.
 
There's also improved security, a software development kit, power management and remote application management.

Erik van Hoof, CEO of CWR Mobility, says "we want to give our customers the freedom of choice, so we built mobile CRM clients for BlackBerry and iPhone as well as an Express version which supports mobile Web browsers. All clients have full Dynamics CRM capabilities while having the look and feel of the device it runs on. Our new Express version also runs on Android, Palm Pre and any other internet enabled Smartphone."

CWR Mobility is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, BlackBerry Alliance Member and member of the iPhone Enterprise Developer Program. The CWR Mobile CRM clients are available on the Apple App Store, BlackBerry App World and Windows Mobile Marketplace.

Erik van Hoof: "We have built CWR Mobile CRM on the same pillars as Microsoft CRM: it fits your people, fits your business and fits your environment."
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CRM vendor Maximizer Software has launched a marketing drive to bring the business benefits of CRM to franchise operators.
 
Three cheers.
 
Maximizer Software, according to company officials, gives franchisees "a holistic view of their customers and prospects," through access on site, over the Web or via smartphones and mobile devices. Its CRM product is billed as a way to bring together information "from all data sources within the franchise operation, as well as from outside if needed, to allow customer-facing employees to make decisions, identify opportunities and track customer activity."

"Franchises are a popular way to start out in business and appeal to those who want to buy into an established brand," says Mike Richardson, Managing Director EMEA, Maximizer Software, adding that Maximizer CRM can "revitalize franchise operations that have been trading for a number of years, reducing workload by automating business processes."

Company officials say the system is strong on customer service case management for tracking, management and resolution of inbound call issues and field service cases, including collaboration across organizational boundaries: "Trouble tickets can be generated following a phone call or by incoming e-mail, and managers can choose from a range of standard reports."

MaxMobile CRM is available on smartphones and mobile devices. Maximizer CRM also takes care of extracting and transferring financial data from the system through integration with accounts packages such as Sage Line 50, MS Dynamics and QuickBooks.


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