From the First Contact

Medium sized companies once got relatively little attention from sales automation vendors. Large companies were well served by the big-time CRM suppliers and major consulting firms, while small businesses could make do with contact management-based systems. But not much was available for firms with 100 to 500 users. That's changed recently with the introduction of several good products aimed squarely at the mid-range.

Client Management Software (CMS) from ON!contact Software Corp. is an example of a program designed to help medium-sized enterprises keep their marketing, sales and customer service on track.

CMS is an excellent fit for companies looking for easy-to-use, feature-rich automation in which all users across the entire enterprise can work on one system for sales, marketing and customer service. Companies should consider CMS if they are looking for software that can be integrated with third-party applications (such as financial management and ERP) to enable true enterprise-wide sales and workflow management. What's more, CMS can be customized to mirror a company's exact business methodologies and requirements.

Keeping Track of Contacts
This program's powerful enterprise-centric view gives you great flexibility when managing contacts. The main screen is based on the enterprise, and you can see all contacts associated with the entire enterprise. Vital enterprise information is also maintained in the left-hand portion of the main screen - including the enterprise name, address, city, state, zip, phone, fax and Web address. For your convenience, the Web address is integrated with a Web browser so you can automatically bring up the enterprise's Web page. In the right-hand column of the main page is the contact tree; the view of the individual contacts can then be expanded to show other information, such as contact title, phone and fax number. Enterprise history, contact history, attachments, opportunity management and profiles are some of the other tabs that come standard with CMS.

You can enter an unlimited number of contacts, and the data entry logic can be customized for ease of use and data validation. The program has a zip code database that automatically completes the city, state and country codes fields. Fields can also be set with security measures to prevent changes.

CMS has robust, customizable features for scheduling - you can schedule one activity at a time or assign one activity to many contacts simultaneously. The software is easy to navigate, so you can quickly move from one record to another.

Working Your Opportunities
Designed for a team selling environment, the software's Opportunity Management System (OMS) is a customizable module that lets you configure an opportunity, set objectives, chart the organizational hierarchy, track interest levels, identify a competitor's position, share activity data and send important reminders between various team players.

Each business opportunity can be tracked for source, interest, opportunity type, opportunity worth, opportunity status and likelihood of closure. OMS can also track when the opportunity was opened, where it is located, when the opportunity is expected to close and when it actually does.

If you have sales opportunities that involve a variety if contacts, this software can track that, too. for example, a particular sales opportunity might involve players from ABC software company and XYZ consulting firm. With OMS, you can track all the contacts associated with the opportunity as well as the different rules they play in the opportunity, be it strong influence or decision making.

The OMS also tracks opportunity workflow steps. Depending on the type of opportunity, specific workflow steps can be automatically assigned to an individual or to a sales team. As these steps are completed the percent to closure can be automatically updated. With this workflow tracking, sales management can have a more meaningful indication of the true percentage to closure, since it's tied to performance on the opportunity.

When an opportunity reaches 50 percent potential to close, the software's Agent can automatically send an email to the sales manager noting that the opportunity should be reviewed for further action. Another useful Agent is the OMS Wizard Agent, which is invoked when a new opportunity is defined. The Wizard brings users through a set of screens and prompts them to enter appropriate information to effectively define a new sales opportunity. Again, Agent technology can be invoked from anywhere in the OMS.

Making an Impact on Sales
One of CMS' guiding principles is effective Sales Cycle Management (SCM). Combined with Client Management Software Agent technology, SCM is a direct vehicle for putting your sales methodology into an automated application on an enterprise-wide basis. SCM and CMS Agent technology do much more than just automate sales cycles, however. Together they can also serve as a prompting and chaining system, improving the system's usability and saving your staff time and effort. This application complements and reinforces the actions you take, guiding you through every stage of the sales process and preventing leads from falling through the cracks. Because no two sales are alike, you can also easily tailor the application for individual opportunities.

Because an automation system is only as good as the data you enter, this software's prompting feature pulls you through the entire sales process so that consistent and accurate information is obtained without having to remember what to do next. Prompts ensure that all activities, and notes regarding those activities are entered into the system. Prompts can be created anywhere in the application to pull you to the next appropriate steps a workflow or sales process. There are many areas where command shortcuts can also be customized to your specifications, using the toolbar, tabs, right mouse click and command buttons available on any screen.

Chains, for their part, allow you to control the sequence of activities that take place throughout the sales cycle. By setting up a chain, the system automatically schedules the next activity. For example, you could set up a chain related to an activity or result code. Once a call is entered into CMS, that activity can trigger a chain for information to go out later that day and for a call to be scheduled 10 days later as a follow-up.

Customer relationship management software review

It is undeniable that the most critical activities in any company revolve around customer relationship management (CRM), because your company's reputation rides on every contact. However, effective CRM pulls many diverse company resources into play to provide the service and attention necessary for successfully closing sales and meeting customer needs -- creating the potential for an integration nightmare.

Answering this call for help is OnContact Software's recently released OnContact Client Management Software (CMS) 4.0, which promises to seamlessly integrate your company's resources with a single front-office application for your marketing, sales, and customer-service needs. In fact, this update to CMS adds the capability to define custom workflows and consolidate all of a customer's interactions in a single view -- along with flexible integration options and a problem-tracking and reporting module.

The workflow and customer-view enhancements are critical to solidifying the services aspect of your CRM implementation. For example, a customer calling for help on a malfunction knows well the history that brought him or her to this point -- and has a reasonable expectation to find a similar awareness on the other side of the line. If your customer service representatives fail to demonstrate awareness of this history, there's potential for permanent customer dissatisfaction.

Providing this high level of service can't be done using traditional transaction-oriented applications, because they lack the capability to flexibly handle ongoing relationships and workflow. So the addition of workflow and consolidated customer views is critical.

In my tests of CMS 4.0, I was very impressed by its exceptional flexibility to embrace dissimilar technical environments and to convey targeted information exactly where and when it is required.

As a front-office solution, CMS doesn't compete with Web-based and client-driven software from Inference, Edify, ServiceSoft, Serviceware, Primus, and Moss Micro. But tight integration with existing resources such as enterprise resource planning systems, myriad databases, and Microsoft's Outlook gives it the depth of some high-end solutions from Baan, Onyx, and Siebel.

Tackling implementation

Installing a front-office automation product such as CMS is not a simple task: In addition to the trivial operation of installing the software, you need to integrate its functionality with your existing technical infrastructure -- and organizational working habits.

For example, your salespeople need access to customer transaction histories, which implies links to existing databases and applications. Also desirable is e-mail, computer-telephony, and fax-systems integration.

Thus, setting up a CRM system can mean creating a new vision for your company's data and technological gears, with the objective of providing better customer service. Turning your transaction-oriented data into this new, service-oriented view requires a coordinated effort among affected departments, the IT personnel, and quite possibly a helping hand from the vendor.

Once those critical logistic needs are satisfied, you can turn your attention to building (or importing) your contact database and defining that mesh of relationships and processes that your company's policy and workflow demand.

CMS provides the necessary tools to facilitate this initial setup, including tools for importing contact information from an existing database or attaching the information to the corporate e-mail system. However, some of these tools are not very user-friendly and may be best tackled with vendor assistance.

I tried -- without success -- to import data from one of my databases, and after a sequence of frustrating dead-ends, I called the vendor for help. Once I explained my problem, I was politely but firmly reminded that some customizations require vendor-provided training and know-how. I had a similar experience trying to integrate Microsoft Outlook with CMS.

However, linking CMS to your company's pipes will probably be a one-time event. Whether you choose to train your staff or use vendor support, it requires additional time and cost that you should plan for.

Key customization tools

The good news is that using two key components -- Agent Designer and Forms Painter -- was a completely different experience than the initial setup. Agent Designer and Forms Painter define sequences of operations for an activity and the subset of data from the corporate database that you want to associate with it.

The combination of Agent Designer and Forms Painter gives CMS the flexibility to work by your company's rules -- a key strength. These two components provide you with a high-level, GUI-based programming language that you use to create all of the necessary logic and the data associated with your customer relationship activities.

For example, using Agent Designer, you can create an agent to schedule a follow-up call or generate an automatic e-mail message to the account manager every time a client calls for technical support.

CMS agents can contain conditional logic based on data fields selected within Forms Painter. The agents are automatically triggered when the user selects an activity associated with that agent. For example, you can design a view showing the history of all customer contacts, and a SQL query associated with that agent will extract the history from your database.

How to make knowledge stick

One of the criticisms that challenge IT staff most often is that they indulge too much on the technology at the expense of the information content. That criticism appears to have some merit if we consider that the gigabytes of information stored in our corporate databases are often held captive by inflexible access rules that make unscheduled requests difficult to satisfy.

However, solutions such as CMS bring that enslaved knowledge out to where it is most needed: the front end of your company, where stores of information can be put to work for your sales, marketing, and support departments.

Once I completed the necessary piping to my existing infrastructure, I had immediate access through the user component of CMS to information that could be easily shaped to serve a new purpose: customer service.

CMS' view of a company's data revolves around the concept of "enterprise." You view and define each of your customers via an Enterprise window in which obvious transactional data, such as name, location, and addresses, walk hand-in-hand with a company profile. The company profile is where you store marketing data such as industry classification, number of employees, and dollar sales.

Again, the content and the format that CMS displays in each window can be easily personalized to your company using the administrative tools. In addition, you can program CMS to import or display data from your existing databases.

Enhanced customer view

I was able to quickly insert a new client record into the system thanks to an easy-to-use GUI that takes advantage of drop-down fields to speed up data entry and even make corrections as you type. After completing my record, a prompt asked for contact information.

Entering a new contact triggered CMS to propose an activity window, where I could schedule an action to follow up on that contact. My options let me define the activity (phone call, e-mail, etc.), assign a person responsible for that activity, set up an automatic e-mail message at the completion of the activity, and link that activity to a marketing campaign or a sales opportunity.

In minutes, I had a new Enterprise window with my customer's basic information and the contact, along with follow-up activities that were already scheduled. This integration is where solutions such as CMS shine: It brings together a wealth of information that you can use to serve your customers better.

CMS 4.0 also offers a support module called CMS Service to record technical support calls using the same enterprise-oriented philosophy. You can easily activate the new module with a simple right-click of your mouse on the Support tab in the customer's Enterprise window, which opens up the Incident window. From the Incident window, you can easily enter the details of each incident, assign a solution for the problem, and suggest a sales opportunity.

For example, in my hypothetical PC reseller scenario, repeated support calls for a PC that failed to restart graciously after a power failure suggested the opportunity to sell an uninterruptible power supply to that customer -- for the benefit of the sales personnel.

CMS STREAMLINES STRUCTURAL'S EXTERNAL INTERACTIONS WITH CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS

BACKGROUND: Structural is a worldwide manufacturer and supplier of composite pressure vessels. Founded in 1954, Structural has worked to exploit the new technology involved in fiberglass product manufacturing. By developing a patented molding process, which revolutionized the use of small pressure vessels in water treatment markets, Structural rapidly became the word leader in the production of pressure vessels made from composite materials. This technological leadership led to an expansion toward larger, commercial-sized vessels as well as to other markets where engineered plastics and composites could help provide improved product performance.

PLATFORMS: Microsoft SQL Server is the database, Microsoft Windows NT Server is the server and Microsoft Windows 95/98 is the client operating system.

PROBLEM SOLVED: Disparate groups in Structural's front office were using various contact managers, such as Act!, GoldMine and Simin, for their account management needs. Structural could only use its contact managers to record simple information on an individual level with no collaboration among other users. Structural needed to replace its contact managers with a network and Internet customer relationship management (CRM) solution that would enable all users to collaborate and communicate company-wide. Structural also needed a front-office solution that could be easily integrated with its back-office enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and customized to meet its advanced CRM strategies.

PRODUCT FUNCTIONALITY: Client Management Software (CMS) from ON!contact has streamlined Structural's external interaction with prospects and customers and its internal communication among its sales, marketing and customer service departments. Users and teams of users can now collaborate with each other on projects, marketing campaigns, sales opportunities, quotations and customer service. The configurator functionality of CMS enables Structural to create, execute, track and collaborate on product quotations for prospective and existing customers. Structural's remote sales representatives plan to utilize eCMS, ON!contact Software's new Web-based CRM solution, available in December 1999.

STRENGTHS: CMS is extremely flexible ? Structural could easily integrate it with its ERP system; customize it to meet specific CRM needs; synchronize information from Structural's corporate headquarters to satellite offices and field users throughout North America, Europe and Asia; and implement it company-wide to unite sales, marketing and customer service functions in one application suite.

WEAKNESSES: The current CMS application is not entirely Web-based. However, eCMS will be available in December, 1999.

SELECTION CRITERIA: CMS was selected because it is a company-wide system, has the ability to synchronize globally to satellite offices and field users, has high functionality and was easily integrated with Structural's ERP system. The major advantages CMS has over other products is ease of customization, ease of integration with back-office ERP systems and ease of facilitating global synchronization to satellite offices and field users.

DELIVERABLES: Structural uses CMS to create direct mail campaigns for new business prospects, provide existing customers with better service through greater access to service history and assign sales representatives to new accounts based on territory and postal code. CMS has been particularly helpful in configuring quotations. Integrating the CMS application suite with the ERP system enabled Structural to compile and execute over 1,339 configured quotations in just 16 months, which generated more than $31,215,000 in business.

VENDOR SUPPORT: Prior to implementation, ON!contact Software equipped Structural with a project manager to serve as the key contact throughout all aspects of the implementation. Since implementation, ON!contact Software has consistently been available for support needs and onsite demonstrations of new versions of CMS. ON!contact Software frequently contacts Structural, as it does with all customers, to survey them on customer service issues that may need immediate attention or improvement. The best part of working with ON!contact Software is the company's responsiveness. To stay completely accessible, ON!contact Software provides toll-free telephone, e-mail, Web-based and remote diagnostic support.

DOCUMENTATION: ON!contact Software's user manuals are comprehensive and easy to follow. The manuals are filled with illustrations that clearly outline every function of the application suite.

How to Launch New IT Consulting Practice

In the new era of internet marketing the problem of severe competition comes into the first position. If you look back into 1990-th you will find high tech companies using traditional sales techniques: purchasing local and regional businesses contact lists, making cold calls and then trying hard sales closing techniques, such as "selling to the top" - IBM style, selling to VITO (very important top officer), etc. It did work those old days. We would dare to announce that these days are gone and these techniques are now obsolete.

We launched Microsoft Business Solutions VAR business nationwide without any money/investment in 2002 and now we are present in major US business metros, have international satellite offices in Brazil, Russia and Europe.

Below we would like to share our techniques

1. Internet Marketing - in contrast to the old believe that you can cheat out internet search engine and place your web site on the top position, we state that this is virtually not possible. But the paradox is in the fact that internet is the major marketplace. So - you have to spend most of your sales efforts on the internet. There is no direct answer about the preferred method - all the methods should contribute and be tried out

2. Concentrate on your product line - your customers and prospects should see and recognize the expert in you, reading your publications. In our case - we stake on Microsoft Business Solutions Products: Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Navision and Microsoft RMS. We are publishing ezines on the weekly basis and trying to keep our forum answered on the daily basis.

3. Create your partners and subcontractors network - when you are small and short of resources the best you can do to speed up your expansion is to partner with other market players who could help you open the door to new prospects and close the sales.

4. Pay your people and subcontractor - There was popular technique of trying to negotiate down the price and do not pay in time. This game is not good, but it is acceptable in the case of huge corporation. When you are small - you can not play this card - your partners will not do business with you in the future.

Another CRM System Overview

eCRM Overview

eCRM — Internet customer relationship management — is an extension of activity we refer to today as customer service. If you are in business, any type of business, you are already involved in customer service.

You're engaged in customer service, for example, if customers or constituents contact you by any means to ask questions. You provide customer service by giving them the answers they need. Another side of the industry is technical support, where customers contact a company to get technical information about using a product or service.

In this section of the RightNow Web site, you can learn about Web-based or online customer service — eCRM — and why RightNow is positioned in the industry for superior service. When you go online, customer service becomes a whole new animal. If you understand the whats and whys of the industry, you can make better business decisions and appropriate eCRM product purchases.

Ideal CRM System

Sales & Marketing Overview

Many times a company has a product or service that is really great but somehow doesn't end up being as profitable as hoped, or planned. We analyze products and markets as opportunities from our own unique perspective.

All activities listed below can, and should be, identified as part of a whole process. Selling is the process of moving the product out the door and exceeding plan. It's also about listening and understanding, identifying, and making the fit where it maximizes profit. We endeavor to provide sales and marketing solutions encompassing all aspects, or subsets, as desired.

Market Analysis

In this process we identify the product/service being sold/used, what/who it's being sold to, it's uses, the economics of it all, macroeconomic forces, lifecycles, situation assessment, plan of action, benchmarks. Results include valuable data gathering and observations, reports, conclusions, and recommendations.

Market Development

Identification of markets and qualified prospects, generation of sales leads, brand development and marketing.

Marketing Material & Content

Generation of marketing materials in print, and electronic media.

Sales

Development of contracts, and closing the deal.

Project Management

Managed implementations. Verification of contract terms, development of project milestones, follow-through.

Territory Management

Care and feeding of strategic and non-strategic market segments.

TRACKWeb CRM (V 6.0)

Scalable Completely customizable Easily configurable Intuitive to use Fully web-based Complete e-CRM solution

Soffront TRACKWeb CRM V 6.0

Soffront is a rapidly emerging leader in the e-CRM market, offering sales force automation help desk management, defect tracking, and knowledge management solutions for companies of all sizes. More than 45,000 users and over 2,500 corporations worldwide, including several Fortune 500 companies, have selected Soffront's products to meet their software needs.

TRACKWeb CRM is a set of four tightly integrated components: defect tracking, help desk management, sales force automation, and knowledge management. These fully web-based components can be used individually or as a completely integrated turnkey customer relationship management solution, which enhances communication and collaboration across all your business units to bring effectiveness in strategic decision making and creating focus on the customers' needs.

You may end up paying the same amount of money for implementing a product that only performs a single function. In order to meet your other business needs, such as, help desk management, customer management, marketing and sales automation, you may have to deploy three or more different products that do not interact with each other. Thus, you may end up paying three times as much as TRACKWeb CRM and settle for much less functionality. TRACKWeb CRM on the other hand, offers an all-in-one enterprise solution for all your business requirements. TRACKWeb CRM helps you build one source of data for defect tracking, help desk, sales automation and Knowledge Base. Thus, all the data is cohesive, all the applications communicate with each other, there is no data redundancy, there is no need to manage three separate databases, and you get comprehensive business reports. Now, you do not have to train your IT staff and users on three different software applications. There is a single data repository to manage and there is no need for client-side installation--simple is better.

The TRACKWeb CRM application has been built from the ground up by harnessing the latest web technologies to provide you the most robust solution available within the industry--the solution which is 100% customizable and 100% web-based. Since it is completely web-based, your customers, partners, or employees from all around the world have immediate access to key information via a Web browser.

TRACKWeb CRM provides a vital communication link that connects your sales, customer support, product development, and marketing function to your customer. TRACKWeb Defects, TRACKWeb Help Desk, TRACKWeb Sales, and TRACK Knowledge Base are all designed to work in concert for enhanced collaboration and information sharing across functional areas.

Soffront's products are very well known within the industry as being the most customizable and easy-to-use, and Soffront still holds ground on these two core competencies. With the introduction of version 6.0, Soffront has set a new milestone for easy-to-use and truly customizable web-based sales automation solution.

TRACKWeb CRM is now easier than ever to use, and simple enough to customize by your own staff. TRACKWeb CRM offers an intuitive user interface in conjunction with common Web navigation styles--virtually eliminating the product learning curve. Most frequently used actions and recently visited records are always accessible on the Speed Bar. TRACKWeb CRM also offers single click access to setup action, queries, and reports.

Robust reporting capability built into the TRACKWeb CRM help monitor, manage and communicate the effectiveness of the sales organization. The application includes several predefined, easy-to-modify text and graphical reports and offers full functionality to create custom reports. The application allows you to create forecast reports and standard or ad hoc reports over any time period. Both text and graphical reports can be exported to any Microsoft Office applications, such as, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, for presentations, analysis and executive reporting.

TRACKWeb CRM is offered with industry standard templates as an out-of-the-box solution, and also gives you full customization ability. In this industry, where most products offer limited customization ability, but claim to offer fully customizable application, the question to ask is, "Who can customize the application, and how much can be customized?" TRACKWeb CRM is the only customizable product that can be easily customized by your own IT staff--end-to-end. If you have limited IT resources, Soffront offers full consulting services to tailor the application to meet the unique requirements of your organization. And since the product is easy to customize, the job is done quickly and cost effectively.

Contrast this with other products that are either not customizable, have limited customizability, or offer proprietary technology that require extensive programming and hefty consultation fees to make the product usable for you. When you need to adapt the product to the changing requirements of your organization, the other products that may initially seem less expensive, actually end up costing much more in the long run.

SOFFRONT SOFTWARE, INC. ANNOUNCES TRACKRULES

Soffront Software, Inc. today announced that it has added a new product to its family of tracking software. TRACKRules, a flexible rule definition system, is currently available to extend the power of TRACK and TRACKWeb. TRACKRules allows a system’s administrator to define complex conditions which activate both mail notifications and field updates, thereby ensuring proper maintenance and execution of business rules, process flow, and communication.

"This product was designed and made available because many of our large customers worldwide expressed the desire to extend the power of our tracking databases to include the ability to define and execute complex rules and triggers based on an action or non-action," said president of Soffront Software. Inc. "Their demand for a complete and flexible rule definition system has led Soffront to develop TRACKRules."

TRACKRules features include:

• an easy-to-use interface for defining complex rules,

• the ability to base rules on present as well as past data,

• an interface for starting and stopping the rule checking system,

• an interface for viewing and printing details of all rules, and

• a notification capability using cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, and Internet mail.

TRACK is used by thousands of companies worldwide to track and manage all aspects of development and technical support, thereby solving the problem of haphazard reporting and tracking of software and hardware problems. TRACKWeb is the first web-enabled, customizable defect tracking tool that allows developers, vendors, customers, and users to easily access and submit defect information and feature requests through their web browser, such as Netscape Navigator™ or Microsoft Explorer™.

"TRACK software is the only product available in the industry that will allow customers to view, edit, query, report, email, change history, and customize via the Internet or Intranet on multiple platforms," explained Soffront Software's president. "Now TRACK products, which are known for their flexibility and ease-of-use, have even more features that improve and increase usability."

TRACKRules is currently available and is priced at $1,995. TRACKRules server runs on Windows 95, Windows NT Server/Workstation. It requires TRACK for Windows/95/NT and supports dBaseIV or Microsoft SQL Server databases.

TRACK 4.0 is an easy-to-use database that provides a tool for organizations to rapidly enter a comprehensive record of a defect and the description of the environment in which the defect occurred. The database is then used to keep accurate, detailed records of all aspects of the defect throughout the entire process of fixing it.

TRACK client runs on Microsoft Windows, 95, and NT; and the server software can be installed on all Windows and OS/2 supported networks. dBaseIV is included as the default database and can support hundreds of users. Additionally, TRACK server can be installed on a LAN and can be connected to a company’s existing Microsoft, Oracle, or Sybase SQL databases. Multi-user network and floating licenses and site licenses are available. TRACK 4.0 is currently available and sells for $595.

TRACKWeb 4.0 raises technical service and support to a higher level by providing better access to information, product knowledge, and defect fixes from the Internet or Intranet. TRACKWeb allows Intranet users to access the database using Macintosh, UNIX, and others with a Web browser. The customer receives real-time confirmation that the defect is being worked on, along with additional status information, as it becomes available.

TRACKWeb 4.0 client runs on Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer and TRACKWeb server runs on Microsoft NT Server or NT Workstation. TRACKWeb 4.0 server is currently available and is priced at $1,995. TRACKWeb clients are priced at the same price of TRACK 4.0

Soffront Software Inc. is a leading supplier of software database programs designed to track all aspects of your development and technical support such as bug reports, code changes, test cycles, support calls, releases, documentation, and system configurations. Founded in 1992, the company designs, manufactures, and markets TRACK, TRACKWeb, and TRACKRules software. More than 20,000 licenses have been sold to organizations worldwide to solve their tracking and analysis needs. The company sells its products through a direct sales force and distributors in the United States and Canada and through an international network of value-added resellers. Soffront is funded by private investors.

Keeping Track With TRACK for Windows

The Enterprise Standard Database
For Tracking Bugs, Feature Requests, Calls And Much More

• If you want to fulfill your obligations to your customers, you need to keep track of all of their problems, complaints and requests.
• If you want to improve your product, you must keep track of everything that goes wrong, so that you can be sure that you have fixed it.
• If you want your projects to succeed, you have to keep track of what everyone is supposed to do and how well they are doing it.
• If you want to improve your development process, you must learn from the past, and constantly improve what you are doing.

TRACK is a very powerful and robust client/server database that will help you to keep track of all these details. TRACK will make sure that everyone knows what's going on and what they're supposed to do about it. TRACK will be able to monitor virtually everything you need to know to succeed.

Although TRACK was developed as a bug-tracking system, Peter Coffee of PC Week said that he preferred the term "quality assurance support system." That's because TRACK is not only used in developing new product, but because it is used throughout the product's life. Every complaint and every customer request can be used to improve your product if you have an effective system like TRACK.

It doesn't matter how large your organization grows to be. TRACK can streamline communications and problem solving need in the largest multinational corporation located around the world. TRACK automatically and effortlessly connects the right people associated with development, quality assurance, release control, project management, engineering, sales, technical support, training and public relations.

More than 12,000 corporate customers worldwide have selected TRACK after thoroughly analyzing their alternatives. Unlike other systems, TRACK is flexible, uses industry standard databases and is backed by Soffront's unparalleled technical support.

A Ready-To-Use Package That You Can Easily Customize

To start using TRACK, all you have to do is install it. Right out of the box, TRACK's built-in screens will help you keep track of most of the details that you need. You'll be able to enter details about defects, your system configurations, the customers, who's going to fix the problem, the progress being made and much more. The default data fields and forms are all that you will need to immediately improve the way you handle bug reports.

However, as your need changes, you will want to keep track of many other details. TRACK makes it extremely easy to create custom fields, forms, views and reports to capture and communicate any additional data that you need. The powerful Form Layout editor allows you to create, place, size and align fields with a point and click interface that minimizes administrative overhead. Then in a single step, TRACK updates the database, queries, and reports to fit your new customized structure.

TRACK is so easy to customize that you will eventually use it to keep track of almost any detail that is relevant to your business. TRACK provides eleven different field types, which can be calculated fields, or which can automatically notify other users, for example. TRACK has the power to establish one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships between records on different tables with a linking button.

TRACK can therefore be used as a central repository for keeping track of ALL your information about customers and the products you are providing for them. TRACK will help you become far more customer-driven by linking your development, quality assurance, help desks, training department, technical support specialists, sales department and users for the life-cycle of your products.

Customizing TRACK will give you more control over your data entry, security, distribution and use than building an in-house system which you must maintain and enhance. In fact, the people who appreciate TRACK most are those who have previously written and maintained their own in-house systems.

A User-Friendly Product, Easy To Use At Every Level

Our goal in designing TRACK was to create a product that hundreds of people in an organization could use effectively without even reading the documentation. Customers tell us that we've succeeded.

For example, TRACK has powerful and intuitive search capabilities. With virtually no training, users can do an ad hoc search for the information they need directly on the current screen using the Query by Example method. With the Query Builder dialog, it's even simple to learn to build the most complex search expressions with wild cards and relational operators.

TRACK lets you automate the process further for nontechnical staff. As the TRACK administrator, you can create, save, and share custom queries and reports with any group of users. Any user who knows how to use Windows can effectively use TRACK with no further training.

Automatic Notification Eliminates Weak Communication Links

In most organizations, project coordination depends on regular and appropriate communication between people who are already too busy. It can be challenging to keep track of who needs to know what at every step. Poor management of communications can neutralize the work of the most brilliant engineer.

Included in the standard TRACK package is an E-Mail notification feature which can be used to coordinate the work of large organizations. By automatically notifying both local and remote users, TRACK replaces localized bug tracking systems in individual areas. In this way, it solves many of the communication problems that can arise between users that are separated geographically.

TRACK selectively notifies the right people about new bugs and important updates using its own mail system, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Mail, cc:Mail, or Lotus Notes. It even automatically checks for duplicate mail entries so that no one gets redundant notifications.

With TRACK, you will no longer be kept in the dark _ and neither will anyone else be. If you need to know, you will.

Create Powerful Presentations With Flexible Reporting Options

At Soffront, we realize that the power of the information you gather depends on how well you present it. So TRACK provides you with the right tools to present the facts clearly in the format that you need.

Right off the shelf, you can quickly produce, preview and print several useful predefined reports. However, it is also simple to target your presentations more precisely by customizing your report formats.

TRACK gives you complete control over which fields to include in the report, including query and sort fields. It does not limit you to any predefined set of fields, and you can arrange them in any way that suits your need. Then TRACK does the rest of the work, managing all of the design and formatting details with ease.

You can use TRACK, for example, to create reports that break down defects by severity, the methods used to find them and who found them. You can classify defects by the product or by the module within the product. You can use any field _ including your own custom fields _ to classify the defects.

TRACK's versatile reporting options include summary, tabular, detailed, graphical trend, and distribution reports. TRACK is integrated with Crystal Reports, a popular and powerful third-party reporting package. Finally, you can view multiple reports side by side for easier analysis.

Monitoring Change With Track and Your Version Control System

When combined with your version control system, TRACK keeps track of what went wrong, how you fixed it, what went right and other results of your development work. With this information, you can accurately forecast what you're going to do next and how long it will take.

TRACK integrates with several leading version control systems to track detailed information: MS SourceSafe, MKS Source Integrity, and Intersolv PVCS. It associates bugs with code changes, for instance, so you know which source-code files were modified to fix which bug. When you reopen a closed entry for reexamination, TRACK automatically retrieves appropriate versions of any associated files.

TRACK picks up where most version control and change management systems leave off in monitoring the development process and identifying patterns of weaknesses in the projects. This significantly shortens product development time and reduces defects in the product.

In addition, by recording exactly what happened during the development and testing of a project, TRACK substantially improves development forecasting. When you go into a planning session with hard statistics supplied by TRACK, it's far easier to accurately estimate how long future releases will require.

Track's SQL Interface Eliminates Size Limits

When you first try TRACK, you will be using its internal dBaseIV database. TRACK's database engine is fast and optimized, and can support well over 100 users in a LAN.

However, as your use of TRACK grows, you may want to interface with a SQL server, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. Or perhaps you may already have a SQL server system, and you may need to interface with it to protect your financial investment in it.

TRACK makes interfacing with various SQL servers effortless. TRACK's growing number of SQL Server support makes it an increasingly robust system that will continue to support your needs beyond the year 2000.

Simple To Administer

For the system administrator, installing TRACK is easy and straight forward. Setting up server and clients takes minutes, and setting up the license is done by entering the license number. You can install upgrades on the server and simply download them to client systems via the network.

It is also simple to import and export selected data to or from external databases or to regularly merge and synchronize TRACK data from multiple sites.

TRACK's security, based on granting user group permissions, allows you to control who has access to specific data items, who can delete records, who can submit changes and who can add values to a choice list.

Finally, TRACK enables you to easily monitor who is working on a given project and to estimate when it will be completed. At any given time, you can monitor which users are actively logged in, and it is easy to examine how users have changed a record in the past by viewing the record change history.

These features provide TRACK administrators with precise information about all aspects of the project's current status in a relatively effortless manner.

Try the Most Up-To-Date Demo Today -- FREE!

Microsoft CRM - Typical Customizations

Microsoft CRM was designed to be easily customizable. Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit (MS CRM SDK) which you can download from Microsoft website contains descriptions of the objects or classes, exposed for customization. It has sample code in C# and partially in VB.Net. In Visual Studio.Net you can analyze all the classes, used by Microsoft developers to create MS CRM - you will discover that most of them are not documented in MS CRM SDK. Microsoft will not support your customization if you use undocumented class or do direct SQL access to CRM database.

Let us describe you - programmer, software developer typical cases of MS CRM Customizations.

1. Integration with SQL Server application. If you have legacy system on MS SQL Server - let's say you are transportation company and have in-house developed cargo tracking database. Now in MS CRM you want lookup the shipments for the customer (or account in CRM). This is SDK programming and calling SQL stored proc to retrieve cargo info. Instead of SQL Server you can have other database (ORACLE, MS Access, PervasiveSQL to name a few) - you can access multiple Database platforms via ADO.Net connection from your .Net application, which is easily integrated into MS CRM Account screen.

2. Email capturing in MS CRM. You have customer with email Bill@customer.com. Now you want all the emails that you receive from customer.com domain to be attached to Bill who is account in CRM. This is more difficult customization - you have to create MS CRM SDK web service, that one will be creating email activity and call it from COM+ application - Microsoft Exchange event handler (ONSYNCSAVE database event sink). This example maybe complicated with the following requirement. Imagine that Bill, instead of answering to your email (sent from CRM and processed by CRM-Exchange connector) sends you new message from MS Outlook. Then this email will not follow into MS CRM (because it doesn't have GUID in the header and so is ignored by CRM Exchange connector). If you want to capture these emails - you have to do it in Microsoft Exchange event sink. There maybe scenario when you want to capture and analyze in the sink all the outgoing emails - this is even more complex - you have to place the sink on transport event.

3. ASP Application integration. You have legacy ASP application, where you capture orders from your customers and you want these orders be transferred to the CRM as activity. Here you understand that ASP doesn't deploy Active Directory security - and the best way is to create HTTP handler and call it from your ASP page. This HTTP handler in turn will call MS CRM SDK web service with predefined (web.config) Active Directory credentials.

Some cautions. Never create your custom SQL objects (like stored procedure, SQL view, table) in MS CRM database. Instead, create your own database and place your objects there. When you see the first caution - you will never try to alter existing CRM objects, like adding new field to the table.

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Lockbox Processing

Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses and being matured ERP has advanced, but still very simple in use modules and features: Lockbox Processing for Accounts Receivables, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Multicurrency etc. We'll try to cover these features in the series of small articles to help decision maker and end user understand the feature and how does it work to make a decision to purchase additional nice modules. In our opinion large corporation, which had to use ERP with rich functionality in the past, doesn't have to do it in our new time. There are few reasons to switch to cheaper ERP, the most important are: database platform reliability improvement - nowadays MS SQL Server does excellent job and has most of the former instability and maintenance issues resolved. The second reason - MS Windows server is now close to be considered as a solid rock and you do not have to reboot it on the regular basis to fix all the types of "memory leaks", etc. OK, lets review Lockbox processing:

* Customer Matching. This is rather the question about generic lockbox application - which basically imports text file, received from your bank and matches them with customer invoices, debit memos and miscellaneous charges. The question typically sounds like this - in our Great Plains CustomerID is different from bank customer ID. This is right, but each check has Bank Account Number and Bank Routine Number, identifying the customer, all you need to do is - carefully review first processing and enter this customer info, or open it here: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox Bank Details - and next time you get check from this customer - lockbox will catch and identify it. This is true even in the case of hand written check.

* Invoice Number Matching. This is a bit tricky question, and you can't catch invoice number from hand written check. However when we are talking about large businesses - these checks have invoices printed. If you bank has so-called Automatic Clearinghouse (ACH) lockbox file format - it can provide invoice number line if the check is issued by corporate or midsize established business. In the case of ACH header will have prefix 6 and line prefix 4.

* No Invoice Number Matching. This is still OK if you have a lot of small customers with one or few outstanding invoices. In this case - use autoapply method. You can have variety of apply criteria: None, Document Number (when you have ACH), Due Date/Oldest Document, Due Date/Oldest Invoice (other than invoices you apply manually), Document Date, Specific Invoices (and you specify them in the list)

* Additional Considerations. Virtually if you have corporate account in any bank - lockbox processing module does the job - because you map lockbox file at your will in Lockbox Maintenance screen: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox

* Customization Options. Lockbox is Dexterity piece, so it is in the hand of Dexterity Developer, if you need to improve it for your corporation. VBA Modifier and Continuum are also available. Also feel free to use new tools, such as Extender or eConnect.

Microsoft Great Plains Nationwide Remote Support

ERP Consulting industry is on the way to serve clients nationwide and even worldwide, when the client is multinational corporation. There are several reasons to specialize in remote support. In this small article we'll give you these reasons and the advantages of remote installation, customization, integration, programming, reporting.

* Remote Support Technologies. These technologies are well known and we will just mention them: VPN, Citrix, Remote Desktop connection, Microsoft Terminal Services, Web Sessions, PCAnywhere (however the last one should be avoided if possible)

* MS SQL Server Platform. This means that in the case of data repair, upgrade, testing, - it is relatively easy to backup DYNAMICS and companies databases, install them on MBS partner server, do the job and then restore the results in the client's production environment.

* Dexterity Customization Technology. Dexterity uses chunks to integrate customizations, you, as dexterity developer can test your customization in your test environment and then deliver and integrate final version of the chunk.

* Standard Reporting. Microsoft Business Solutions recommends Crystal Reports as reporting tool of choice.

However there are additional reasons to seek remote support in the case of large corporation of medium size business. Let's look at them:

* Microsoft Business Solutions Partners specialization. Specialization allows Nationwide MBS customization & implementation partner serve specific industry: aerospace & defense, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, healthcare, apparels, wholesale & retail, beverages, distribution & logistics, freight forwarding & transportation, biotechnology, etc.

* Customization Partners. Each vertical market requires MBS partner to be experienced with business processes implementation via GP custom logic. Writing proper specification form the customization is probably 70% of the success.

* Cost Reduction. This is also important for both - client and GP partner. Usually remote support partner has US based lead developers and project manager and uses excellent programmer in such countries as Philippines and Brazil where developers have excellent Dexterity source code programming experience.

CRM News: Must Read: Vista: Changing the World One PC at a Time

Hello!

SaaS vendors welcome SAP to the hosted midmarket party
InfoWorld - Jan 26, 2007
"As well as validating the hosted approach, both Francis and Nelson also believe that whatever SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle come up with will trail what their companies already offer because those vendors lack the eight years of experience both firms have already gained in SaaS. "They're offering on-demand as a loss-leader product," Francis said, with the three vendors tending to position their hosted applications as more of an on-ramp to their main applications business, their on-premise software families. As part of its midyear . Oracle, meanwhile, sees SaaS as applicable to all its applications but expects to put more focus on its on-demand operations at some unspecified point in the future.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/01/26/HNmidmarketsap_1.html

CRM News: Must Read: Vista: Changing the World One PC at a Time
CRM Buyer - Jan 29, 2007
CRM Buyer features CRM product information, reviews and comparisons. It is an independent source updated each day... Everyone seemed to realize the world was changing, and PCs would never be the same. On launch, people lined up around the block to get in, and this was the first and only time an OS was given the same kind of treatment that a game system or a hot toy like Tickle Me Elmo or the Cabbage Patch Kids received. Microsoft was a star, Bill Gates was a rock star, and Windows 95 was a best seller. Windows 98 to XP SP2PCs were changed, and for the rest of the '90s, PCs gradually became kind of boring. There was a huge focus on enterprise and, for much of this time, it seemed the industry had almost forgotten about the user. Growth was good, but it laid a foundation for a market collapse in the next decade. In addition we (well, Al Gore) discovered the Web, and we gradually moved from processor-centric computing.
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/must-read/55422.html

EBay Posts Big Q4
Forbes - Jan 25, 2007
“We are pleased with such strong financial results and look forward to making Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system widely available to all customers next week. ”In the second quarter of 2005, Microsoft had reported earnings of 33 cents per share. That was during the launch of Xbox 360, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3. One year later, these products have contributed over $1 billion of revenue growth, the company said. More On This TopicCompanies:.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/01/25/ebay-internet-update-markets-equity-cx_rs_0125markets16.html?partner=moreover

Microsoft Takes Manhattan
Forbes - Jan 30, 2007
As broadband Internet becomes an even more central component in the PC’s architecture, no one knows what the operating system will look like in five years. Meaning no one knows if Microsoft will have a major, big-deal Windows reboot ever again. Did I mention Microsoft is throwing a lot of money at this launch? On Tuesday morning, the software giant hired spandex-clad acrobats to drape Vista and Office logos on the side of a building. Then they took their guests to the swanky Cipriani banquet hall, across from Grand Central Station. Sitting in rows inside the old Bowery Savings Bank building, about 150 reporters and photographers dined on fare ranging from smoked salmon to spinach- and ricotta-stuffed cannelloni. (The sea bass was wonderful; the lamb chops were a bit dry.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/30/windowns-vista-launch-tech-intel-cx_df_0130windowslaunch.html?partner=msn

Independent Online Edition > SME
Independent - Jan 26, 2007
But, while acknowledging that it is facing increasing competition, it is seeking to become the world leader in its field and hence is aiming for dramatic growth. John Simpson, senior director, sales consulting at Oracle, says that one of the ways the company is going about this is by installing a customer relationship management (CRM) system. He says CRM is vital because acquiring new customers, looking after existing ones and making sure none are lost is vital for growth. MessageLabs is using it to help it focus on improving sales, marketing and client service by measuring, respectively, leads per member of the marketing team, deals per head of the sales team and tickets per head in the client service team. It is a sign of how even comparatively small companies are turning to the sort of technology that was once the preserve of the largest corporates in their attempts to become more competitive and to achieve ambitious growth plans. Moreover, high-technology companies are not the only ones recognising the benefits of using increasingly sophisticated software to help them run their operations. Software companies that have traditionally dealt with larger businesses, such as SAP and Microsoft as well as Oracle, are all seeing growing interest from smaller customers as it becomes more widely recognised that installing high-performance technology need not be as expensive as had been thought... It is a sign of how even comparatively small companies are turning to the sort of technology that was once the preserve of the largest corporates in their attempts to become more competitive and to achieve ambitious growth plans. Moreover, high-technology companies are not the only ones recognising the benefits of using increasingly sophisticated software to help them run their operations. Software companies that have traditionally dealt with larger businesses, such as SAP and Microsoft as well as Oracle, are all seeing growing interest from smaller customers as it becomes more widely recognised that installing high-performance technology need not be as expensive as had been thought. Many companies stick to CRM or some other distinct application, such as finance or human resources management. Indeed, CRM even has its own subset, called sales force automation (SFA), which has as its goal the streamlining of the entire sales process to make businesses more efficient, improve customer interactions, increase customer satisfaction and save time and money. Paul Fielder, applications sales manager with Explorer, an Oracle partner based in Leeds, says: “SMBs [small and medium-sized businesses] tend to buy software to solve specific problems. This means they end up with a lot of different systems, which makes it very difficult to get business intelligence.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/sme/article2184716.ece

Internet TV Is Finally a Reality Show
BusinessWeek - Jan 29, 2007
"The digital decade is happening," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told the audience at the Consumer Electronics Show in January as he unveiled the company's own IPTV offerings. "People want to do things with their content across multiple platforms. "At least Gates and other digerati are convinced that will be the case with a new generation of tech gear, software, and services. This time around, however, both consumer electronics companies and computer companies such as HP, SanDisk (.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070129_246549.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology

The INQUIRER Top 3 Hug-and-Make-Ups
Inquirer - Jan 26, 2007
So for all you star-crossed lovers out there, here you go with something for the weekend, The INQUIRER's Top 3Hug-and-Make-Up stories. Microsoft and Stac Electronics. Microsoft ramming the OS with a ton of utilities isn't new, kids. In 1993, itplanned disk compression for DOS 6. 0 called DoubleSpace but it had earlier talked to market leader Stac about licensingits Stacker software. Stac sued, Microsoft countersued and eventually, the arguing ended with Microsoft taking a stakein Stac and paying it royalties... Not very gentlemanly, is it?1. Tom Siebel quit Oracle because Larry Ellison didn't get CRM, or so the story goes. Siebelset up what turned out to be the 800-pound gorilla of the sector but when times got tough, Ellison's Oracle snapped upthe company in 2005. That's rough love for you. Now all eyes are turned to what Ellison will pull to bring downSalesforce. com, another company that is run by a former employee, Marc Benioff.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37243

Mac and Windows ...proprietary parts
CNET News.com - Jan 30, 2007
iPod iMac and probably iPhoneYet even for you the "Mac Defender" deep down a frustration has been building because with all the control over the hardware and software your Macs are not that much better then the PCs. Microsoft doesn't make hardware (nevermidnd the mice and the xBox) and yet they manage to tie in hundreds of different manufacturers together under a crapy beige box that is definetely not as sharp looking as a Mac. and yet this box can run anything you can through at it. Please don't argue about the work office environment, there are so many old legacy aps... that are no longer made but still work and the managers would not replace them, how about accounting software? quick books for mac is not going to cut it if you have a large payroll. how about a CRM database? Sure you can argue that there is a program like Final Cut Pro for video editing that has become popular and indeed it is a wonderful product, but with the intel chip ported this tool is going to be short lived on the mac only platform and nine out of ten of the major video production houses are running PCs. 90% of the TV you watch is edited in AVID, sure there is a Mac version but the real NITRIS system is built on the PC platform, can't evne touch the Games issue unless you are like stuck in 1999... that are no longer made but still work and the managers would not replace them, how about accounting software? quick books for mac is not going to cut it if you have a large payroll. how about a CRM database? Sure you can argue that there is a program like Final Cut Pro for video editing that has become popular and indeed it is a wonderful product, but with the intel chip ported this tool is going to be short lived on the mac only platform and nine out of ten of the major video production houses are running PCs. 90% of the TV you watch is edited in AVID, sure there is a Mac version but the real NITRIS system is built on the PC platform, can't evne touch the Games issue unless you are like stuck in 1999.
http://news.com.com/5208-12_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24558&messageID=233270&start=0

National Business Review (NBR) - Business, News, Arts, Media, Share...
National Business Review - Jan 29, 2007
That’s mighty, as in huge – it’s a wonder that it all fits on a single DVD, or two DVDs if you count the 64-bit version as well. But there’s something in there to please everyone, or offend everyone, depending on the mood of the observer. Admire the luscious Aero user interface, which at last makes those graphics coprocessors in modern PCs do some useful work. Or grumble that Apple has had something similar for years and even Sun has been playing with that stuff... ”Sean McBreen, director of Microsoft New Zealand’s developer and platform strategy group, sees Gadgets as likely to appear within corporate environments as well. Microsoft Dynamics (the old Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta and Navision) is already working on reporting Gadgets that will be able to provide managers with constant indicators of how their business processes are running. There’s also a Dynamics CRM Gadget on the way. “It’s a completely open platform, and I’m really excited by the number of independent vendors coming up with new ways to expose data with tools such as Gadgets. We’re expecting widespread adoption of this technology. ”






29-Jan-2007.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=17168&cid=3&cname=Technology

Da Vinci Twist at British Vista Launch
BusinessWeek - Jan 30, 2007
Vista was first made available to business customers back in November but the software behemoth has now officially launched the operating system to consumers, calling the debut its most important since Windows 95. Speaking at the launch, which was held at the British Library in London, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said: "This is a special occasion, we've worked hard to build a new software platform and we are so excited to see what people will do with it. Microsoft executives showcased elements of Vista including updated security and improved search technologies, as well as the new 'Ribbon' user interface for Office 2007. For more details on the functionality offered by the revamped Vista, see silicon. Microsoft revealed a number of businesses that will be using Vista's desktop 'Gadget' technology—i.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2007/gb20070130_602986.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_more+of+today's+top+stories

Take care.

Upgrading to Vista? Proceed with caution

Hi!

SAP looks to better serve information workers
InfoWorld - Jan 24, 2007
Moore expects that Microsoft will work on further integration between Office and its Dynamics ERP and CRM families. At present, he doesn't see much conflict between SAP's mySAP products and Dynamics. "We generally don't serve the same market," Moore said. "There is some overlap with Business One and All-in-One. "Business One is SAP's offering for small businesses, while All-in-One is aimed at the midmarket, both areas where Microsoft's Dynamics has an established presence.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/01/24/HNsapinformationworkers_1.html

Upgrading to Vista? Proceed with caution
InfoWorld - Jan 22, 2007
“I’m a cautious guy, and typically, I’d be doing the server upgrades first, one at a time, and follow those with the desktop upgrades. But Microsoft releasing three new platforms at once doesn’t happen very often. That’s put us in a spot, plus we were moving to Microsoft CRM as well. ” So at the moment, Connelly has separated his server upgrades from his desktop upgrades, but he is forced to roll out several new desktop platforms simultaneously while still testing a new server back end. “So far, it’s working fine, but it’s definitely a worry. ” The cautious perspective to be sure, but that’s not to say it can’t be done. Justin Ainsworth, senior IT manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing, is in the same boat but is taking the Redmond product blitz in stride.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/22/04FEvista_6.html

Salesforce.com goes from sizzling to merely hot
iT News - Jan 22, 2007
Oracle last month reported that new license sales of business apps in its fiscal second quarter rose less than it had predicted. And new rivals are coming on. Microsoft just released a preview version of CRM software it says can be updated to all customers simultaneously using "multitenant" technology. By midyear, Microsoft plans to host the software from its own data centers, putting it in direct competition with Salesforce. Meanwhile, online accounting software company NetSuite - owned in part by Benioff's ex-boss, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison - is preparing to go public. All of which raises the question of whether Salesforce will need to dip into its US$4. 7 billion market cap for an acquisition that can help it expand.
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=44651&src=site-marq

SmartCatalog™ Releases Powerful and Intuitive New Rule Manager
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Jan 19, 2007
com), a best of breed guided selling and configuration solution for CRM and eCommerce, announced today the full version release of the new SmartCatalog™ 6. In order to provide an easy, intuitive experience during the rule building process, the Rule Manger has been re-architected to utilize a tree view, drag and drop GUI along with a simple, easy to use, rule dialog builder. The new version will allow users to create rules in four easy steps and requires no coding or programming... In order to provide an easy, intuitive experience during the rule building process, the Rule Manger has been re-architected to utilize a tree view, drag and drop GUI along with a simple, easy to use, rule dialog builder. The new version will allow users to create rules in four easy steps and requires no coding or programming. The Rule Manager has been completely designed in Microsoft. 0 Forms Application and is written in Microsoft's C# language. The Rule Manager connects directly to any Product Catalog or database in order to retrieve the necessary variables required to build and execute complex rules. SmartCatalog™ enables companies to increase revenues and profits by making the quote-to-order entry process fast, easy and 100% accurate.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/1/prweb498713.htm

Salesforce ups the ante
InfoWorld - Jan 22, 2007
com delivered on its 2006 promise to give ISVs and corporate developers a new programming language called Apex with its. Apex will allow developers to build any kind of SaaS (Software as a Service) application on the Salesforce AppExchange platform... Because it is a fully hosted solution, Apex will also allow coders to create data models and automate business logic and user interfaces without needing to tune it to any specific hardware, database, or operating system. Denis Pombriant, principal at Beagle Research, called Apex part of the New Garage movement that is bringing innovation to the smaller ISVs and hit larger ISVs wedded to older architectures, Pombriant said. Like Siebel before them, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP are trying to co-opt the innovation, engaging with customers only to convert them. “That is the state we are in with these big companies. They are trying to blunt the impact by making it a checklist,” Pombriant said. But there are still many IT professionals voicing objections to deploying a SaaS solution. Pitfalls still exist from storing critical data offline and from the possibility of downtime which requires ironclad SLAs with punitive provisions for lack of service, Pombriant said.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/01/22/04NNwinter07_1.html

Tectura joins Serenic Navigator partner channel
Earthtimes.org - Jan 23, 2007
-based Tectura, Inc. has become a reselling partner for Serenic Navigator. Tectura is a leading Microsoft Dynamics partner and provider of Microsoft-based ERP, CRM, and technology solutions to mid-market companies, larger enterprises and their divisions. Tectura provides software, consulting, and IT implementation services to more than 5,000 clients in a multitude of industries, including not-for-profit. Through these services, Tectura delivers business process improvements, greater efficiency, and a clear competitive edge to clients in over 60 countries. Customers benefit from unmatched experience and a solid commitment from more than 1,750 dedicated Tectura employees with over 70 offices throughout 21 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. "We are thrilled to now represent Serenic Navigator, clearly one of the leading financial management products for nonprofit organizations," said Kathy Nohr, Dynamics NAV Practice Lead at Tectura.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,48570.shtml

CRM News: Government: SaaS App Growth Expected in Public Sector
CRM Buyer - Jan 19, 2007
CRM Buyer features CRM product information, reviews and comparisons. It is an independent source updated each day.
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/dzW3jFKNq4px4R/SaaS-App-Growth-Expected-in-Public-Sector.xhtml

E-Commerce News: Portals & Search: Yahoo Earnings Beat Street
E-Commerce Times - Jan 24, 2007
1 million unique visitors per month in the quarter, the firm said. Sterling Market Intelligence analyst Greg Sterling noted that Yahoo CFO Sue Decker -- who will soon leave that post to head the company's advertising business -- sounded a fairly conservative tone in looking ahead for Google. Yahoo has areas to build on as it wars with Google and, to a lesser degree, Microsoft, including strong foundations in local search and mobile search, which could be a key to unlocking the value of local search, Sterling said. Yahoo scored a victory when Google shut down its live-answer service -- Yahoo Answers now garners more than 90 percent of open ended search query traffic, which may be important in social networking settings, he added.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/As8eIpAfCfAd3r/Yahoo-Earnings-Beat-Street.xhtml

NewsFactor Network | Belgian Newspapers Take On Yahoo
NewsFactor Network - Jan 19, 2007
According to Copiepresse, Microsoft has been working with the newspaper group on a compromise solution. Representatives from Copiepresse, Google, and Yahoo were not immediately available for comment.
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Belgian-Newspapers-Take-On-Yahoo/story.xhtml?story_id=103009GRQQN6

Why Good Times Are the Most Dangerous
BusinessWeek - Jan 23, 2007
Times were indeed good, or so we thought. Then the bottom fell out. One February morning, our CEO handed me a letter from the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the organization empowered by major software companies like Microsoft (.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2007/sb20070123_476563.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_keith+mcfarland

Good luck!

Microsoft Debuts Multitenant CRM Offering to Partner Community

How's things?

Microsoft previews next version of Dynamics CRM
InfoWorld - Jan 11, 2007
Titan, which will probably be officially known as Dynamics CRM 4. 0 will be the first Microsoft CRM release based on a multitenant architecture and using a single code base to support three types of usage -- on-premise, hosted by partners or Microsoft. The Microsoft-hosted offering will be called Dynamics Live CRM, the third member of the vendor's growing Live software-as-a-service (SAAS) product family, joining Windows Live and Office Live. Multitenancy is the ability of a SAAS vendor to host multiple customers' applications on a single server instead of dedicating servers to individual customers. Since multitenancy requires fewer servers, it's a cheaper way for vendors to run their hosting operations and they can pass some of those savings to customers, offering them a less costly service. Microsoft plans to give around 300 of its partners early access to Titan in the first quarter of this year, increasing the number to reach more than 1,000 partners during the second quarter, Wilson said. The idea is to give partners time to get comfortable with the concepts of multitenancy and hosted software in general as well as to encourage them to start building extensions to Titan and providing Microsoft with feedback on the new version... "We want to make sure we do terrific job getting CRM Live up and running in North America and get all the operating kinks out," Wilson said. "We aim to move it out internationally as fast as we can. "Microsoft will offer an online marketplace as part of the CRM Live service where partners can offer users technology extensions and as a way to build a community, Wilson said. The marketplace is similar to what Salesforce. originally established with its AppExchange site, as a place where users could access add-ons to its on-demand CRM software. Like rivals SAP and Oracle, Microsoft is looking for ways to give more users more ways to access its CRM applications.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/01/11/HNmicrosoftnextcrm_1.html

Microsoft Debuts Multitenant CRM Offering to Partner Community
CRM Today - Jan 15, 2007
“We can deliver the right CRM solution for different companies based on their size, their business requirements, their user roles and their IT capabilities. If their needs evolve over time, we can grow with our customers, and provide them with a CRM platform that fits their needs for the life of the business. ”
Availability
The “Titan” release of Microsoft CRM and the new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service are targeted for mid-2007. The Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service will initially be available in North America; plans for international expansion of the service will be announced at a later time... today announced that it is previewing the next major release of Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM – code-named “Titan” – with a broad range of partners through the company’s Technology Adoption Program (TAP). The new version introduces an advanced multitenant architecture, and uses a single code base to support on-premise deployments as well as software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments through hosting partners and through the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. It also uses a single code base to support on-premise deployments as well as software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments through hosting partners and the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. The “Titan” release is an evolution of the popular Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3. 0 product, and will offer a smooth upgrade path for existing on-premise and SaaS customers. It reinforces Microsoft’s long-term strategy to provide customers with the power of choice, with the ability to choose on-premise or SaaS deployments and access rich CRM capabilities within Microsoft® Office Outlook®, through a Web browser, and from a broad range of mobile devices.
http://www.crm2day.com/news/crm/121073.php

Salesforce.com launches Winter 07 release
InfoWorld - Jan 16, 2007
com launches Winter 07 release | InfoWorld | News | 2007-01-16 | By Ephraim Schwartz. com released its Winter 07 upgrade to its CRM software as a service on Tuesday, with immediate availability. But customers waiting for the release of one of its key components, the Apex programming language, will have to wait a little bit longer... html","leftColumn"); Calling Apex a developer preview, with Beta not promised until "later this year" Salesforce. com is trying to extend its reach by establishing itself as a "platform" company, according to Ariel Kelman, senior director of platform product marketing, not unlike other major enterprise platform vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/16/HNsalesforce_1.html

SAP paints new UI face for mid-market
VNUNet.com - Jan 17, 2007
Although the software is available in the UK withimmediate effect, users will have to wait up to six months for the more advancedProject Muse interface that was first shown off last June. Project Muse is thecodename for a new GUI that taps Adobe Flash and other tools to create a richerfront end. The user-interface changes are in line with broader efforts to demystify SAPby offering simpler tools for accessing data. SAP has a partnership withMicrosoft called Duet that builds bridges between Office applications and SAPback-end data, for example... Project Muse is thecodename for a new GUI that taps Adobe Flash and other tools to create a richerfront end. The user-interface changes are in line with broader efforts to demystify SAPby offering simpler tools for accessing data. SAP has a partnership withMicrosoft called Duet that builds bridges between Office applications and SAPback-end data, for example. SAP will also apply its Best Practices portfolio of horizontal and verticalbusiness scenarios so that firms can mimic the activities of peers and largeroperations. “It’s a very strong market for SAP and the challenge for these customers isto keep the functionality of [enterprise SAP installations] but keep thedeployment time down to two to three months,” said Dale Vile of analyst firm.
http://www.vnunet.com/itweek/news/2172792/sap-paints-ui-face-mid-market

Enterprises Bridge the Gap Between CRM Systems and Survey-Based Data...
CRM Directory (press release) - Jan 14, 2007
The software also ensures customer feedback is reliable and uses security mechanisms from cookies to complex ballots to prevent multiple submissions. 0 can be integrated with various enterprise database solutions such as Microsoft's SQL Server, Active Directory and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Zumbrunn added that, in 2007, Data Illusion plans to roll out an updated version of Feedback Server that can integrate with CRM systems from Siebel, Oracle, SAP and SalesForce.
http://www.crmdirectory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=632&Itemid=59

SAP Business One Support Chicago, IL - Alba Spectrum
24-7PressRelease.com - 24-7PressRelease.com (press release) - Jan 13, 2007
This feature makes MRP application very attractive for European companies: German, Italian, French, Spanish, who establishes subsidiaries in the USA
� eCommerce and Web Based CRM. These modules are in process of being incorporated into SAP Business One set of modules. When CRM is fully available in web interface - it will be very strong competitor to Microsoft Dynamics CRM - Microsoft Dynamics GP Great Plains tandem, however with lighter functionality and potentially more easy implementation and deployment

Alba Spectrum, supporting Microsoft Dynamics, SAP Business One clients in USA and Brazil, Oracle E-Business Suite customers in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. We would be happy to help you with cross platform integrations: SAP-Oracle-Microsoft Dynamics, cross platform data conversions, when you are switching from one of the major ERP platform to the competitor - supporting both Microsoft and Java worlds. In Chicago area we support clients in Naperville, Aurora, Wheaton, Joliet, Downers Grove, Lisle, Alsip, Villa Park, Lyons, Chicago downtown, Cicero, Schaumburg, Springfield, Batavia, St Charles, Warrenville.
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=22931

IT-Director.com - CommuniGator - small but perfectly formed!
IT-Director.com - Jan 11, 2007
They have a web-based solution, which keeps to the essentials of e-marketing. As such it enables people who have no wish to become IT technicians to create, execute and measure highly effective closed loop campaigns. In essence if you are a marketer who feels comfortable with Microsoft Outlook, then Communigator will enable you to generate collateral, identify targets, execute the campaign, manage the closure and measure the effectiveness. The outcome, if you follow their lead, will be a highly targeted campaign with a double digit response rate, and customers who are more likely to become advocates than if they were mass marketed to with bland offerings on a hope and see basis. Communigator should not be seen as just being about emails, they are about all of the digital channels which can be used as touch points with customers and prospects. The solution is configurable, so that customer preferences can be recognised. It is designed to target receptive customers with quality messages at times when they will be happy to receive the message... It comes as no surprise to find that these solutions are being looked on with great interest by the British Tourism industry, facing as it does the vagaries of the British weather. Obviously using such devices also opens up the opportunity for two-way interactions in real-time, which creates new opportunities unavailable with traditional channels. The solution is not a standalone silo, but is intended to be used to augment and complement many of the key CRM solutions found in the mid market. This is the niche for Communigator at present, so users of solutions such as Sage (who also OEM the product), Microsoft, and Siebel, amongst others, will find that the digital marketing solution is designed to fit. They will also find that Communigator can provide the professional services that are required to help ensure that the solution is integrated and adopted as part of the workflows of an effective marketing organisation. Because Communigator believe that they are capable of ensuring that people do see the sort of returns that have always been spoken of with digital marketing, they encourage people not to take up their offer of providing the solution on an outsourced basis, but encourage people to bring it in-house. To date, Communigator have developed predominately in the UK, based on a solid collection of finance, tourism and high-tech companies, but this is a solution with wide appeal.
http://www.it-director.com/technology/applications/content.php?cid=9129

Burglar-Proof Windows?
BusinessWeek - Jan 11, 2007
This is a good thing. Microsoft, similarly, tried to clean up its act in 2004 with a major upgrade to XP called Service Pack 2, and again with Internet Explorer 7 last fall. But Windows has always been promiscuous about loading software from dubious sources without asking questions. Vista won't install anything, from any source, without explicit permission. (You can turn account control off in a control panel, but it's not wise.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070111_523048.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_more+of+today's+top+stories

Salesforce says it's beating, mirroring Microsoft
MarketWatch - Jan 16, 2007
Chief Executive Marc Benioff casually trashed rival Microsoft Corp. Tuesday, while acknowledging that his own company is following the footsteps of the software giant. While dismissing Microsoft's announced move into Salesforce's on-demand software turf, Benioff also said that his firm is akin to Microsoft (.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/salesforce-says-its-beating-mirroring/story.aspx?guid=%7BA7713533-8E00-4506-A0EA-525F1935AAA7%7D

Tech stocks finish mixed; Symantec falls sharply - MarketWatch
MarketWatch - Jan 16, 2007
Intel, while expected to show declines in sales and profit compared to the year-earlier period, is also expected to show some improvements related to restructuring and new product releases. Tech bellwether Microsoft Corp. also saw a slight gain in its shares Tuesday, rising to $31.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/tech-stocks-finish-mixed-symantec/story.aspx?guid=%7BE44BF1AE-EE94-4C25-BDB7-E3D9310F2154%7D

JIT? What ever happened to compiled byte code?
CNET News.com - Jan 15, 2007
Don't see Fortress as yet another language to write business software in. And that doesn't include the 4GLs like Informix, 4Js, Sybase's tool, etc... It will be interesting to see what Fortress can and can't do. Most likely the performance gains won't be noticed until you start having multi-core and multi-cpu desktops en mass.
http://news.com.com/Suns+Fortran+replacement+goes+open+source/5208-7344_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=24206&messageID=228161&start=0

See you later.