Recently launched Bidvest Bank, a leading provider of specialised foreign exchange and banking services in southern Africa, through its retail brand, Rennies Foreign Exchange, has implemented Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to improve services to clients.
Microsoft Gold Certified partner, IS Partners, was responsible for the implementation.
Bidvest Bank is unique in that its niche success includes foreign exchange, trade finance and related activities.
The CRM solution encompasses contact management, sales force automation and basic case management components to address the bank's key objectives of improving customer retention and profitability, as well as customer growth and efficiencies.
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 has provided a central repository of client-based information to be used by staff and executive management. Sales and marketing staff, for example, are primarily responsible for capturing client contact and related information into the CRM system," says Heath Turner, CRM director at IS Partners.
Bidvest Bank's product sales stages include client contact, application documentation, credit evaluation and facility documentation. The processes involved in the various sales stages have been automated for each product category, such as credit and non-credit, for example.
Basic case management has further ensured that any queries and service-related issues can be captured against a client and assigned to the staff member responsible. Excel templates have also been provided for data take-on, and have been populated from the bank's source systems.
"All Bidvest Bank's transactional data resides in two core systems. These include the treasury, derivatives and capital markets system and the debtors and collections management system," explains Turner. "The CRM system is fully integrated to ensure new or updated customer information, which resides in the CRM system, can be directly uploaded to the operational systems."
Gavin Bower, Director Treasury and Corporate Banking at Bidvest Bank, says: "The Microsoft-based CRM solution offers ease-of-use, a good fit within our existing environment, a lower total cost of ownership as well as the ability to customise the application to our specialised requirements.
"IS Partners demonstrated to our satisfaction that Microsoft CRM would meet or business objectives and deliver value, while their methodology ensured a sizable project such as this could be more successfully implemented in smaller, manageable stages."
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Microsoft CRM for Law Firm
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Frank Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me album, the cover of which ol’ Frankie always hated because, as he said, it “looks like a United Airlines ad:”
Microsoft Dynamics CRM and CRM4Legal by Client Profiles Inc. have been chosen by Reed Smith LLP, one of the 20 largest law firms in the world, to provide CRM technologies and consultancy services.
The technology and services from Microsoft and Client Profiles are designed to “complement and enhance the firm’s ongoing commitment to advancing its reputation as a global leader in client service among law firms,” according to company officials.
Reed Smith has more than 1,500 lawyers in 21 offices in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. In 2007, Reed Smith was named to the BTI Client Service A-Team, ranking fourth among law firms in the United States for developing and maintaining superior client relationships, according to company officials.
Gregory Jordan, firmwide managing partner at Reed Smith and chairman of the senior management team and executive committee, said the firm is partnering with Microsoft and Client Profiles “on a firmwide, global CRM initiative to use technology to help us identify new opportunities for strengthening, broadening and deepening our existing client relationships. The technology will also enable the firm to streamline our methodology for integrating new attorneys that join laterally or through combinations with other firms.”
CRM4Legal for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to provide the firm with a global, firmwide database that combines contact data, relationship information, client-matter specifics, practice group specialties, lawyer experience and competencies, opportunity management, client plans and analysis, as well as key financial information.
. . . .
CRM and ERP vendor NetSuite and CyberSource, a vendor of electronic payment and risk management products, has announced that CyberSource has become NetSuite’s global payment strategic partner.
NetSuite officials say they have “integrated support for CyberSource’s global payment acceptance services, risk management products, and payment security services,” which they contend gives NetSuite customers “a strong set of payment tools.”
CyberSource eCommerce payment management services available to NetSuite’s customers worldwide include support for credit cards, debit cards and electronic checks, fraud prevention services and token-based, secure storage service, which NetSuite officials say “helps keep sensitive payment data out of merchants’ daily business operations.”
“NetSuite has long been in on-demand ERP, CRM and eCommerce applications,” said Carolyn Brackett, vice president, channels and alliances at CyberSource. “As their customers seek to grow their businesses, CyberSource will provide payment products to help NetSuite customers capture and keep more of that revenue.”
. . . .
Salesforce.com has announced that Cort Software, a provider of human capital management products, has selected the full suite of Salesforce on-demand CRM applications and the AppExchange.
Cort officials say they were looking for help to “improve customer service and produced immediate cost-saving benefits, allowing the company to shorten customer response time with less staff dedicated to taking service calls.”
Mike Grigsby, director of marketing at Cort Software, said the vendor needed “a way to share information across our sales, marketing and service organizations so everyone could easily access customer data and react to opportunities. We have centralized all of our information for our customer facing staff as well as for our finance.”
Cort Software selected the Salesforce Platform to tailor its Salesforce SFA, Salesforce Marketing and Salesforce Service & Support applications. In addition, Cort Software downloaded a number of applications from the AppExchange including Account Intelligence, an AppExchange application from OneSource Information Services that delivers ready-to-use information on more than 16.5 million public and private companies and 18 million executives worldwide.
The Salesforce Platform also enabled Cort Software to integrate with Intuit Quickbooks and other legacy systems so that Cort Software’s sales representatives can determine a customer’s contract status and renewal dates.
. . . .
Contact center firm Convergys has donated $20,000 to Gawad Kalinga to support that organization’s programs and further its mission to eliminate poverty in the Philippines.
According to the Manila Sun-Star, Convergys “supports Gawad Kalinga’s vision for the Philippines: for the country to be a slum-free, squatter-free nation. By providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, and food for the hungry, the organization hopes to ultimately provide dignity and peace for every Filipino.”
“Corporate citizenship is a core value at Convergys Corporation. As a company and as individuals, we work to improve lives and build stronger communities. This investment in the betterment of our community is an important step toward creating a strong, healthy environment for our children, families, friends, and neighbors,” Marife Zamora, Convergys vice president and country manager, told the newspaper.
The Sun-Star reported that Zamora, along with other Convergys executives Clint Streit, Ivic Mueco, and Stephen Slade, presented the Convergys check to Danilo “Danny” Lagahid, Cebu Provincial Coordinator for Gawad Kalinga, at the opening of Convergys’ newest contact center in Cebu.
To date, “Gawad Kalinga has changed lives in over 900 communities throughout the Philippines. Through programs including, Shelter and Site Development, Child and Youth Development, Health, Productivity, Community Empowerment, Environment and Community Values Formation, Gawad Kalinga is working every day to make the Philippines a better place to live.”
Convergys’ six state-of-the-art customer care facilities in Metro Manila and two in Cebu City employ approximately 11,000 men and women.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM and CRM4Legal by Client Profiles Inc. have been chosen by Reed Smith LLP, one of the 20 largest law firms in the world, to provide CRM technologies and consultancy services.
The technology and services from Microsoft and Client Profiles are designed to “complement and enhance the firm’s ongoing commitment to advancing its reputation as a global leader in client service among law firms,” according to company officials.
Reed Smith has more than 1,500 lawyers in 21 offices in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. In 2007, Reed Smith was named to the BTI Client Service A-Team, ranking fourth among law firms in the United States for developing and maintaining superior client relationships, according to company officials.
Gregory Jordan, firmwide managing partner at Reed Smith and chairman of the senior management team and executive committee, said the firm is partnering with Microsoft and Client Profiles “on a firmwide, global CRM initiative to use technology to help us identify new opportunities for strengthening, broadening and deepening our existing client relationships. The technology will also enable the firm to streamline our methodology for integrating new attorneys that join laterally or through combinations with other firms.”
CRM4Legal for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to provide the firm with a global, firmwide database that combines contact data, relationship information, client-matter specifics, practice group specialties, lawyer experience and competencies, opportunity management, client plans and analysis, as well as key financial information.
. . . .
CRM and ERP vendor NetSuite and CyberSource, a vendor of electronic payment and risk management products, has announced that CyberSource has become NetSuite’s global payment strategic partner.
NetSuite officials say they have “integrated support for CyberSource’s global payment acceptance services, risk management products, and payment security services,” which they contend gives NetSuite customers “a strong set of payment tools.”
CyberSource eCommerce payment management services available to NetSuite’s customers worldwide include support for credit cards, debit cards and electronic checks, fraud prevention services and token-based, secure storage service, which NetSuite officials say “helps keep sensitive payment data out of merchants’ daily business operations.”
“NetSuite has long been in on-demand ERP, CRM and eCommerce applications,” said Carolyn Brackett, vice president, channels and alliances at CyberSource. “As their customers seek to grow their businesses, CyberSource will provide payment products to help NetSuite customers capture and keep more of that revenue.”
. . . .
Salesforce.com has announced that Cort Software, a provider of human capital management products, has selected the full suite of Salesforce on-demand CRM applications and the AppExchange.
Cort officials say they were looking for help to “improve customer service and produced immediate cost-saving benefits, allowing the company to shorten customer response time with less staff dedicated to taking service calls.”
Mike Grigsby, director of marketing at Cort Software, said the vendor needed “a way to share information across our sales, marketing and service organizations so everyone could easily access customer data and react to opportunities. We have centralized all of our information for our customer facing staff as well as for our finance.”
Cort Software selected the Salesforce Platform to tailor its Salesforce SFA, Salesforce Marketing and Salesforce Service & Support applications. In addition, Cort Software downloaded a number of applications from the AppExchange including Account Intelligence, an AppExchange application from OneSource Information Services that delivers ready-to-use information on more than 16.5 million public and private companies and 18 million executives worldwide.
The Salesforce Platform also enabled Cort Software to integrate with Intuit Quickbooks and other legacy systems so that Cort Software’s sales representatives can determine a customer’s contract status and renewal dates.
. . . .
Contact center firm Convergys has donated $20,000 to Gawad Kalinga to support that organization’s programs and further its mission to eliminate poverty in the Philippines.
According to the Manila Sun-Star, Convergys “supports Gawad Kalinga’s vision for the Philippines: for the country to be a slum-free, squatter-free nation. By providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, and food for the hungry, the organization hopes to ultimately provide dignity and peace for every Filipino.”
“Corporate citizenship is a core value at Convergys Corporation. As a company and as individuals, we work to improve lives and build stronger communities. This investment in the betterment of our community is an important step toward creating a strong, healthy environment for our children, families, friends, and neighbors,” Marife Zamora, Convergys vice president and country manager, told the newspaper.
The Sun-Star reported that Zamora, along with other Convergys executives Clint Streit, Ivic Mueco, and Stephen Slade, presented the Convergys check to Danilo “Danny” Lagahid, Cebu Provincial Coordinator for Gawad Kalinga, at the opening of Convergys’ newest contact center in Cebu.
To date, “Gawad Kalinga has changed lives in over 900 communities throughout the Philippines. Through programs including, Shelter and Site Development, Child and Youth Development, Health, Productivity, Community Empowerment, Environment and Community Values Formation, Gawad Kalinga is working every day to make the Philippines a better place to live.”
Convergys’ six state-of-the-art customer care facilities in Metro Manila and two in Cebu City employ approximately 11,000 men and women.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Business Objects Ships BusinessMiner
First Data Mining Tool Aimed at -- and Accessible to -- the Mainstream Business User
San Jose, Calif. -Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJY), the world's leading provider of integrated query, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) tools, today announced that it has begun shipping BusinessMiner, the first data mining tool aimed at -- and accessible to -- the mainstream business user.
BusinessMiner is a powerful desktop data mining tool that helps non-technical business users automatically find previously undetected relationships in their business data.
"With BusinessMiner, Business Objects is continuing to expand the range of functionality that they offer to their users," said Herb Edelstein, president of Two Crows Corporation, a leading data mining consulting firm. "As one of the leaders in end user query and reporting, Business Objects has been carrying out a systematic expansion of its target market- first into OLAP with BusinessObjects 4.0 and now into data mining with BusinessMiner. Business Objects clearly has a vision of this market, and a plan for executing it."
"Our clients in a variety of industries -- insurance, telecom, healthcare, and financial -- are seeing the need for extended analysis capabilities such as data mining," said Steve Miller, Senior Director, Braun Technology Group. "BusinessMiner offers the mainstream business user an easy to use, solid, scaleable solution that is fully integrated with BusinessObjects 4.0. BusinessMiner will play a major role in our consulting practice."
Based on intuitive decision tree technology, BusinessMiner provides easy-to-understand hierarchies that graphically depict relationships in data. With its easy-to-use interface, anyone who understands percents and flowcharts can easily understand the information that BusinessMiner tells them about their data. BusinessMiner provides this ease of use without sacrifices in functionality - the product provides all classical data mining functions including modeling, discovery, visualization, what-if, and segmentation.
"We are very proud to be the first decision support company to ship a desktop data mining tool," said Dave Kellogg, vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects. "With BusinessObjects 4.0 we delivered integrated query, reporting, and analysis to our customers. Now with BusinessMiner, users can go further into their analysis to find hidden relationships in their data - and at a fraction of the cost of high-end data mining solutions."
Pricing and Availability
Priced at $495 when purchased with BusinessObjects, and at $995 when purchased as standalone, BusinessMiner is the first data mining solution to break the $500 price point. BusinessMiner is available now on Windows 95 and Windows NT. BusinessMiner has been developed with Alice technology from ISoft SA.
Business Objects Deployed by U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office for Major Human Resources Project
Business Objects Continues Success with Federal Customers
San Jose, Calif. - Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJY), the world’s leading provider of integrated query, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) tools today announced that the United States Department of Energy Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) has successfully deployed BusinessObjects in a major human resources application called RADAR (Rapid Access to Desktop Applications for Resource Management). RADAR will reengineer existing work processes with an emphasis on providing quality HR customer support and consulting services to its Federal employees. RADAR is using BusinessObjects running on Microsoft SQL Server, PeopleSoft HRMS, and the Internet to create a comprehensive, integrated system that will be an enabling tool to improve the management of the Federal workforce.
"We are very excited about our work with the Department of Energy, as it is one more example of our growing success in the federal market," said Bernard Liautaud, president and CEO of Business Objects. "This announcement comes on the heels of the contract we announced last fall with the U.S. Department of Defense, which plans to deploy BusinessObjects to 10,000 users worldwide."
More than 40 federal workers use BusinessObjects for decision support on human resource information, such as forecasting personnel demands for specific operations, and analyzing external trends affecting HR resources. Future plans include rolling out BusinessObjects to all DOE-RL managers and employees. With BusinessObjects, end users have easy and timely access to data stored in SQL Server, without requiring the day-to-day involvement of the information systems staff. This has saved the DOE-RL time and money.
"BusinessObjects empowers our HR representatives by enabling them to get reports on their own. This supports the trend in the HR industry of HR representatives becoming more like management consultants," said Cindy Oliver, management analyst at the DOE-RL.
Prior to BusinessObjects, it took up to two to three weeks to fulfill a management request for data. Information systems staff had to pull data from the legacy system and paper files, and turn it over to HR to be reformatted in a word processed file. This time consuming process made the reports out of date, and there was often inaccuracy and inconsistency in the data. Since deploying BusinessObjects, HR end users can now access and analyze accurate data quickly and easily on their own, without IS intervention. Reports are created in a timely fashion, when the HR staff needs it.
"With BusinessObjects there is a tremendous reduction in time. It only takes a few minutes to run a report and analyze the data," said Oliver. "We also saved money, as it was such an easy tool to learn. We rolled BusinessObjects out to people who were afraid to use a mouse. We have had a lot of success with BusinessObjects both technically and support wise," said Oliver. "In addition, with BusinessObjects our data is now sanitized, accurate, and timely."
RADAR Environment
BusinessObjects enables DOE-RL end users to access HR data from multiple sources, including PeopleSoft HRMS, legacy systems, and several other databases. BusinessObjects is used on Windows 95, residing on Microsoft SQL Server.
Unidata, UniData and the Unidata logotype are registered trademarks of Unidata, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Together, BusinessObjects and Microsoft Corp. provide the DOE-RL an optimized solution for the decision support marketplace. BusinessObjects was recently selected as the decision support tool in Microsoft’s Alliance for Data Warehousing, a framework designed to address the infrastructure for the metadata, administration, and data movement required in a data warehousing solution. As the end user decision support partner, Business Objects will provide end users with integrated query, reporting, and OLAP on top of Microsoft� SQL ServerTM data warehousing solutions.
About Business Objects
Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJY) is the world’s leading supplier of integrated query, reporting, and OLAP tools. The company's award-winning product, BusinessObjects, provides mainstream business users with access to information stored in corporate databases, data warehouses, and packaged applications. The company pioneered the market for business-intelligent decision support tools in 1990 by introducing the first product to use a "semantic layer". This patented technology maps complex database schemas to a business representation understandable by non-technical end users.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Dundas & Wilson choose ePartners for major Microsoft CRM legal sector project
London – 20 August 2007
ePartners, one of the largest Microsoft Dynamics partners in the world, has announced it is to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Dundas & Wilson LLP, one of the UK’s leading corporate law firms.
The CRM system will be used to support D&W’s fee-earners client-facing activities, to support ongoing marketing and business development strategies, and to provide a single point of access to client information gathered from other systems within the firm. Phase 1 of the project will be implemented over the next 6 months.
Dundas & Wilson has three offices in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow and is ranked 43 in Legal Week Top 50. Its key practice areas include energy and utilities, financial services, government services, real estate, and technology. It is a forward-thinking law firm and is committed to investments in technology that help drive the business forward. Recent investments include HR, document and knowledge management and now CRM.
Tom Clowes, Dundas & Wilson Strategic Projects Director, explained why ePartners was selected for this project: “We didn’t look upon this as a traditional CRM installation; we’re not looking to record each and every bit of client data – it’s about putting a system in place that offers real benefits to the way we work, for our fee-earners and our clients. ePartners clearly understood what we were hoping to achieve and how we operate. They were able to define for us the most effective way to roll out the project and putting processes in place that really work in the legal services market.”
Clowes added “As integrating information from other business systems in D&W was a key objective, the choice of Microsoft software was important. It also offers the ease-of-use of the Microsoft Outlook front-end which the fee earners already understand, simple but effective functionality, and will offer easy integration with other applications.”
“It works the way we do; we’re not having to make any changes to the way our lawyers work, plus it gives us a great platform for future investments,” Clowes continued.
Paul White, head of Microsoft Dynamics UK, said: “This serves to demonstrate the flexibility of Microsoft Dynamics CRM - and its ability to serve organisation in many different industries. It also serves to demonstrate e-Partners ability to provide fast growing organisations with relevant advice about how technology can support their ambitions for their business.”
Sam Dharmasiri, managing director of ePartners UK, said: “The legal services market is one of the most exciting and demanding, from a use of technology point of view. For a supplier to succeed, they have to really understand the way law firms operate and how technology needs to work with them. We’re looking forward to starting on this project with Dundas & Wilson, who are a great name for us to be working with.”
bobsguide.com
ePartners, one of the largest Microsoft Dynamics partners in the world, has announced it is to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Dundas & Wilson LLP, one of the UK’s leading corporate law firms.
The CRM system will be used to support D&W’s fee-earners client-facing activities, to support ongoing marketing and business development strategies, and to provide a single point of access to client information gathered from other systems within the firm. Phase 1 of the project will be implemented over the next 6 months.
Dundas & Wilson has three offices in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow and is ranked 43 in Legal Week Top 50. Its key practice areas include energy and utilities, financial services, government services, real estate, and technology. It is a forward-thinking law firm and is committed to investments in technology that help drive the business forward. Recent investments include HR, document and knowledge management and now CRM.
Tom Clowes, Dundas & Wilson Strategic Projects Director, explained why ePartners was selected for this project: “We didn’t look upon this as a traditional CRM installation; we’re not looking to record each and every bit of client data – it’s about putting a system in place that offers real benefits to the way we work, for our fee-earners and our clients. ePartners clearly understood what we were hoping to achieve and how we operate. They were able to define for us the most effective way to roll out the project and putting processes in place that really work in the legal services market.”
Clowes added “As integrating information from other business systems in D&W was a key objective, the choice of Microsoft software was important. It also offers the ease-of-use of the Microsoft Outlook front-end which the fee earners already understand, simple but effective functionality, and will offer easy integration with other applications.”
“It works the way we do; we’re not having to make any changes to the way our lawyers work, plus it gives us a great platform for future investments,” Clowes continued.
Paul White, head of Microsoft Dynamics UK, said: “This serves to demonstrate the flexibility of Microsoft Dynamics CRM - and its ability to serve organisation in many different industries. It also serves to demonstrate e-Partners ability to provide fast growing organisations with relevant advice about how technology can support their ambitions for their business.”
Sam Dharmasiri, managing director of ePartners UK, said: “The legal services market is one of the most exciting and demanding, from a use of technology point of view. For a supplier to succeed, they have to really understand the way law firms operate and how technology needs to work with them. We’re looking forward to starting on this project with Dundas & Wilson, who are a great name for us to be working with.”
bobsguide.com
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Enterprise application markets to grow 22% a year, says Gartner
By Stuart Lauchlan
Software as a service is forecast by Gartner to grow at 22.1 % until 2011 for the aggregate enterprise application software markets – more than double the 9% growth rate expected in the market as a whole.
“By 2011, 63% of products in the software infrastructure market and 56% in the software application market will support web services and web 2.0 technologies," Gartner reckons.
“We limited the forecast to the enterprise application software market because SaaS is a very hot topic in the application markets and in some markets, it’s an absolutely common way to deploy software,” says Sharon Mertz, research director of customer relationship management at Gartner.
“SaaS is more of an option now,” she says. “People are considering it more often when they’re looking at different application solutions. [They’re] looking at it as their overall sourcing strategy – ‘is this right for me, or not?’ It’s just a much more important element in the market as time goes on. A lot of the processes [in a SaaS application] are more streamlined. It’s more repeatable, [and the] software isn’t really specific to any one company’s business.”
But rates vary according to the sector. “The mix [of SaaS revenue generation] varies depending on the application market,” Mertz says. “SaaS adoption is highest in applications that support simplified, common business processes or large, distributed virtual workforce teams. Ease of use, rapid deployment, limited upfront investment in capital and staffing, plus a reduction in software management responsibility all make SaaS a desirable alternative to many on-premises solutions, and they will continue to act as drivers of growth.”
And the competitive landscape is also changing. Mertz warns that Microsoft will be a serious challenger with CRM Live, despite the protestations of the existing pureplay market leaders.
But there are still inhibitors to SaaS take-up. “Major on-premises software vendors are re-architecting their application stacks to service oriented architectures. Their customers will invest in migration for those processes that are complex or proprietary, but they also have an opportunity at this juncture to evaluate whether SaaS is an appropriate alternative for other aspects of their business,” says Mertz. “Small and midsize businesses that have insufficient resources to convert their applications will also find SaaS an attractive 21st-century solution to their legacy systems.”
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Web 2.0 Tools to Boost Your Business' Productivity
By Entrepreneur.com
The Web continues to grow, and Web 2.0 tools are emerging constantly. One of the most difficult challenges for an entrepreneur is choosing which tools are the best for getting the job done. Here are some of the more mainstream Web 2.0 tools you can use to improve your business operations and team productivity.
What makes these tools efficient is that as long as you already have a browser installed you don't have to install any additional software. Just sign up and start managing your projects. You also only typically pay on a monthly basis, so the initial investment is small.
The Web continues to grow, and Web 2.0 tools are emerging constantly. One of the most difficult challenges for an entrepreneur is choosing which tools are the best for getting the job done. Here are some of the more mainstream Web 2.0 tools you can use to improve your business operations and team productivity.
Project Coordination
In the past, people typically created project plans in Microsoft Project or another standalone or semicollaborative project management tool. Most small and medium-sized businesses managed projects using a limited document tool like Excel or from within Outlook. Collaboration on projects was very limited. As an entrepreneur, you can now use Web-based software service project management tools such as eProject or Basecamp.What makes these tools efficient is that as long as you already have a browser installed you don't have to install any additional software. Just sign up and start managing your projects. You also only typically pay on a monthly basis, so the initial investment is small.
For larger teams or more complex security, you have to spend more time setting up the online tools, but you still can be up and running very quickly. Both of the vendors I mentioned have all the major project management features you need, so you can manage multiple projects, plan and assign team tasks, set up to-do lists and schedule milestones. You can also use the tools to track time and manage and approve timesheets.
Automation and Software Services
Contact management, sales force automation and customer relationship management have been around for quite awhile. Large enterprises have been using expensive systems for years, and entrepreneurs typically used tools like ACT! and GoldMine for smaller sales forces. For the past few years, though, many businesses have moved to the software-as-a-service model and used companies like Salesforce.com (CRM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) for traditional sales force automation.Again, the best advantage of using software as a service for entrepreneurs is the time-to-market aspect. If you can live with doing only basic configurations and changes, you can be selling in one day if you're the only employee, or in one to two weeks if you have a small sales force, depending on your team's skill set. Software as a service helps business users rely less on internal IT staff.
Wikis
If you have an environment where collaborative teams will thrive, then you can use wikis to your advantage. Wikis are Web systems that allow multiple users to collaborate on the same Web document. They can become an incredible productivity tool by allowing your employees, suppliers and customers to exchange knowledge and information.
Wikis can become your company's digital knowledge base. One thing to take into account, though, is that you need internal monitoring, especially if you have a larger organization. Project collaboration is one of the most effective uses of wikis. They don't have the resource management features that project management tools have, but they're great for sharing information on a project. I've only scratched the surface by mentioning some of the more extensively used Web 2.0 productivity tools. For someone starting a business, these services and tools are excellent options for getting your operations up and running quickly. If you want to make your business more productive, determine which of these tools and services you could benefit from most. thestreet.comBlogs
Besides using a blog as a marketing and sales tool, it also can be used as a productivity tool for recording and sharing information. Here are a few examples: Other Tools
While online meeting tools and instant messenger applications are somewhat separate from browser technologies, they're still essential during these Web 2.0 times. Being able to effectively communicate via instant messenger with multiple users in collaborative ways across the globe can improve employee productivity and save on communications and travel costs. Troubleshooting issues by having a customer support person view a remote user's desktop can help resolve problems in minutes vs. days.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
ERP Software Can Revolutionize Your Business
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a software package through which an organization achieves an integrated system of data and processes. An ERP system combines all the elementary functions of an organization irrespective of its business or charter. ERP software undertakes to unify all departments and functions in a company onto a single computer system that serves the specific needs of all those departments.
The entire functionality of an organization is enclosed in a single package that would be covered by two or more systems. An example of such software could be an accounting software which offers both the Payroll and Accounting functions. The entire business runs more efficiently with a single software program performing for the requirements of those in human resources as well as in finance and in the warehouse.
Normally, each department in a company is embellished with computer systems, which are optimized in such a way, to carry out specific functions of a department. However, with ERP all of them are threaded together into a single software program that runs a single database. This enables all the departments to share the information and communicate with each other.
Implementing of ERP
The implementation of ERP software does not involve any "in-house" skill. This is why the cost of smaller projects can be reduced if specialist ERP implementation consultants are hired. The time required for ERP implementation essentially depends on the size of the business, and other factors such as the ambit of changes, customers consenting to take ownership of the project. While a small project (like less staff) may just take three months to plan and deliver, a multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years to complete.
An interesting feature of ERP implementation is that the company who purchases the ERP product takes over the ownership of the project. For implementation, the companies go for an ERP vendor or third-party consulting companies. There are three areas of professional services offered by the ERP firms – consulting, supportive and customization.
Consulting Services
The consulting team handles the responsibility of initial ERP implementation. It also conducts the delivery of work until it goes live. Normally their work includes product training; creation of process triggers and workflow; optimization of the system; and enhancement of reports, complex data extracts or implementing Business Intelligence; and specialist advice to improve the way ERP can boost the business.
The team also undertakes the most critical part of the project – planning and jointly testing the implementation. In the larger ERP projects, consulting is done in three levels: systems architecture (the overall dataflow), business process consulting (mainly re-engineering) and technical consulting (basically programming and tool configuration).
Generally, the cost of the ERP implementation in most of the mid-sized companies ranges from the list price of the ERP user licenses to double of that amount, which depends on the level of customization. However, the large companies spend much more on the implementation than on the cost of the user licenses.
Customization Services
The process of customization involves extending or changing the way system works using new user interfaces and application code. Customization normally reflects the work practices, which are not presently in the core routines of the ERP system software.
For instance, the code may include an early adopter features like the mobility interfaces, which were rarely used earlier. There are other examples such as interfacing to third party applications (it is easy customization for larger implementations as there are typically dozens of ancillary systems with which core ERP software interacts). During the ERP up gradation, professional service team is also involved to determine whether customizations are compatible with the new release.
One of the major considerations in the ERP package is that it can be very expensive and complicated. So most business use the top practices embedded in the acquired ERP system.
The customization work is usually undertaken as tailored software development on a time and materials basis. There are many cases where the work delivered as customization does not include the ERP vendors Maintenance Agreement. Therefore, there is no obligation on the ERP vendor to warrant that the code works with the next upgrade the core product. However, if there were no description on how to use the customization, the effort would be sheer waste as it is quite difficult to train new staff in the work practice that the customization delivers.
Support Services
After installation of the system, the ERP consulting company enters into a Support Agreement, which ensures that the staff could run ERP software in an optimal way. This is conducted by a committee headed by the consultant through participative management approach, already decided during the design stage with the client's heads of departments.
Jones Wright owns and operates http://www.implement-erp.com and Erp Implementation
Microsoft CRM, the No. 1 pick for Trail Blazers
Things changed suddenly for the Portland Trail Blazers last May.
With just a 5% chance, the team beat the odds and won the National Basketball Association lottery, giving them the right to select first in the annual draft of amateur players. With it, the team picked Greg Oden, a highly regarded seven-foot-tall center who led Ohio State University to the national title game last year as a freshman.
"We've been on a roll since that day, and the guy hasn't even played a game yet," said Chris Dill, vice president and CIO with the team.
Just as the arrival of a tall, athletic 19-year-old can change the fortunes of a team on the court, it can also change the business. The Trail Blazers sold 3,500 season tickets before the team even selected Oden. And as the organization overhauls its roster, it's also overhauling its IT systems, including deploying 100 licenses of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.
"I always had a keen eye on the Microsoft product," Dill said. "I've been watching this product mature. I looked at Microsoft CRM when 1.0 came out and said, 'Nope, not ready for prime time yet.' That's a well-known thing with Microsoft products."
But with Dynamics 3.0, Dill and the Trail Blazers felt the time had come to make the switch.
The Trail Blazers will be launching the CRM system over the next two months, and while the timing is fortuitous, with a new star joining the team, the project has been in the works for years. The Trail Blazers implemented Onyx CRM during the 1988-1989 season, which happened to be the year a player strike shortened the schedule. The team was in a down sales cycle recently, until the arrival of Brandon Roy, last year's Rookie of the Year, helped begin to turn things around, Dill said.
"Over the past three years, we've been working on this plan to rebuild our systems for when we started to hit this product cycle going back up," he said. "It just happens it went up drastically because of the luck of getting the No. 1 draw."
Things are looking up for the Trail Blazers, and they seem to be looking up for Microsoft CRM as well. The company reports that it sold more than 85,000 seats of Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the last quarter, and it is preparing to release the next version of its CRM product, code-named Titan, complete with a multi-tenant, on-demand version, in the fourth quarter.
One might think that for a basketball team owned by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the decision to deploy Microsoft CRM was an easy one, but Allen does not have a hands-on approach at that level, according to Dill.
Rather, a couple of things appealed to Dill about Microsoft CRM, particularly its tight integration with the Outlook email client, an application most of the organization works within already. He added that the .NET architecture, mobile integration platform and a workflow engine, which the team doesn't have with Onyx, were all factors.
"This is a more pliable platform, with changing screens and drop-down menus," Dill said. "I have a programmer where there are things that would take days in Onyx that will take minutes on Microsoft. I sort of describe it as Onyx being a 70% solution. I think this is going to be closer to an 80% solution, and my longer-term goal is to get it to 88%."
On the business side, the team is hoping to leverage some upsell opportunities and a better understanding of customer behavior once the CRM system is in place. For example, knowing what customers have called customer service and why, how much a particular advertiser spends with the team before important meetings, or convincing people who come to one game a year to come to two. And as the team sells more season tickets, that means more effort on renewals next year.
"At the end, customer relationship management is about treating your customers as [well] as you can," Dill said. "In the world of sports, we work on a renewal basis. I want you to have good experiences at the game, dealing with people from parking to prices to games."
Greg Oden throwing down dunks and blocking shots will certainly help with that, but sports teams are learning they can't depend on things like that.
"In the end, when you chart out your goal for the year, you have to take out the situational things -- a player could get hurt, could get traded," Dill said. "You can't rely on Oden. Oden is going to bring a certain amount of easy money, but marketing and sales need to go beyond that automatic yield."
searchcrm.techtarget.com
Friday, August 3, 2007
Microsoft CRM Live Price: long-term options and pricing
QUESTION: I have been hearing a lot about CRM Live. Is that the next version of Microsoft CRM? What's different about CRM Live and who should consider using it?
EXPERT RESPONSE: Dynamics CRM Live is Microsoft's new hosted offering of Dynamics CRM. Microsoft announced the development of CRM Live over a year ago, but officially kicked off the early access program and announced product and pricing information at the worldwide partner conference earlier this month. CRM Live is essentially the same product as the on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM product, and offers several key advantages over competitors like Salesforce.com, including:
Price: CRM Live will be priced significantly less than Salesforce.com at $44 per user per month for online access and $59 per user per month for online and offline synchronization. There is even an expected promotional price as low as $39 per user per month. Long-term options: Because CRM Live and Dynamics CRM are built on the same code base and are in many ways the same product, customers will have the option of remaining in a hosted environment or converting their licenses and bringing their implementation in house at the end of their contract. This provides incredible flexibility for customers because they are not locked into either hosted or on-premise, and can make the decisions about where to run CRM according to what is in the best financial interest of their business. No other hosted CRM provider can currently offer this alternative. CRM Live is going to bring some real competition into the hosted CRM market that has been dominated by Salesforce.com. Look for CRM Live to be available later this year. You can read more about the product at www.crmlive.com.
EXPERT RESPONSE: Dynamics CRM Live is Microsoft's new hosted offering of Dynamics CRM. Microsoft announced the development of CRM Live over a year ago, but officially kicked off the early access program and announced product and pricing information at the worldwide partner conference earlier this month. CRM Live is essentially the same product as the on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM product, and offers several key advantages over competitors like Salesforce.com, including:
Price: CRM Live will be priced significantly less than Salesforce.com at $44 per user per month for online access and $59 per user per month for online and offline synchronization. There is even an expected promotional price as low as $39 per user per month. Long-term options: Because CRM Live and Dynamics CRM are built on the same code base and are in many ways the same product, customers will have the option of remaining in a hosted environment or converting their licenses and bringing their implementation in house at the end of their contract. This provides incredible flexibility for customers because they are not locked into either hosted or on-premise, and can make the decisions about where to run CRM according to what is in the best financial interest of their business. No other hosted CRM provider can currently offer this alternative. CRM Live is going to bring some real competition into the hosted CRM market that has been dominated by Salesforce.com. Look for CRM Live to be available later this year. You can read more about the product at www.crmlive.com.
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