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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.