The official GA release of Microsoft’s CRM Online offering is next week, and with it comes a new chapter in the life of Salesforce.com. To date Salesforce.com has lacked a major competitor that could be seen as a worthy opponent in terms of overall size, price, functionality, and marketing chops. Oracle has the marketing chops, and Siebel On Demand the functionality, but Oracle isn’t really going to challenge Salesforce.com on price. Zoho, which just launched a CRM on-demand offering, and various other permutations of both on demand and open source CRM products are able to challenge Salesforce.com on price, and maybe functionality, but Marc Benioff can frankly out-market any of these companies before he gets out of bed in the morning.
Now there’s Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. And the challenges for Salesforce.com can now begin. The goals of CRM Online are to match or beat Salesforce.com in feature/functionality, absolutely beat it in price, and with the combined power of the Microsoft brand and the ubiquitousness of the Outlook user base, seriously challenge Benioff’s hype machine on the marketing side. And they definitely have a chance at succeeding in all three.
I’m not going to parse the feature/functionality battle between the two at the individual function level here, but I can offer three main reasons why I think CRM Online needs to be taken seriously as an alternative to Salesforce.com. The first is Microsoft’s Outlook UI, known (though not always loved) by hundreds of millions of users. Love it or not, that user experience makes training for CRM Online a non-issue. Salesforce.com is pretty easy to use as well, but using Outlook is, for most desktop users, already intuitive.
Functional advantage #2 for Microsoft is the ability to shift between on-premise and on-demand, and mix and match the two. On-premise support is about customer choice, and lots of customers I know don’t want to be locked into on-demand any more than they want to be locked into any other deployment model. There are good business cases for on-demand deployment, and equally good ones for on-premise, and Microsoft CRM wants to support them both, something Salesforce.com simply cannot match.
Functional advantage #3 for Microsoft comes from Office integration. Right now this is an on-premise Office integration to CRM Online, which means that if you want to push sales data into an Excel spreadsheet, that spreadsheet can only reside locally. This is not equivalent to the on-demand integration that Salesforce.com is promising with Google’s Apps, but, as I don’t believe Google Apps are really ready for prime-time in the enterprise, I think the Office integration direct from the Outlook UI is a better functional advantage than either Salesforce.com’s Google Apps support or its own native Office support.
That’s the functional side. On the price side, CRM Online wants to seriously undercut Saleforce.com pricing, and is doing so by charging significantly less than Salesforce.com for both basic and premium functionality. At the top end, Microsoft wants $59 per user per month for functionality that would cost a Salesforce.com several hundred dollars per month. (Especially when you include the 20 gigs of storage that Microsoft offers for free, for which users of Salesforce.com would pay dearly for. For a comparison of Salesforce.com premium pricing, look at Ephraim Schwartz’s column on the subject.) I think it’s going to be largely impossible for Salesforce.com to institute any across-the-board pricing changes to match Microsoft, without watching its stock price collapse. So, on the pricing front, I think Microsoft has Salesforce.com beat cold.
Now for the hype side. That will be hard, as Benioff has proven time and time again. Deals like the Google Apps agreement play well, even if substantively they are a lacking in demonstrable market impact. Regardless, Benioff keeps pulling rabbits like Google out of his hat on a regular basis. But Microsoft has it’s much-vaunted market clout, and Brad Wilson, the GM in charge of CRM at Microsoft, is no wall flower either. And, once Microsoft can get its own platform-as-a-service, Office in the cloud story aligned with CRM Online, there’s going to be a lot to hype that, under the covers, will be more than just a fortuitous rabbit popping up in a cloud of smoke. A lot more.
A final point. The competition between Microsoft and Salesforce.com won’t be head to head at all levels, at least initially. Microsoft CRM Online is not being targeted today at the top tier customer base that Salesforce.com has been after, the challenge to Salesforce.com will come at Salesforce.com’s core mid-market, though Microsoft’s large SI partners, like EDS, are expected to bring CRM Online to the top tier customer base by hosting it in EDS’s data centers. This exclusive focus on the mid-market will likely change as the market shifts its attention to the new CRM on-demand kid on the block.
I’ve always contended that CRM on demand in general, with all due respect to all its adherents, is more of a commodity play than a strategic value play, particularly for the vast majority of deployments, which are mostly standalone and largely serving a contact management, sales force automation need. In this part of the market, the largest segment by far, Microsoft can and will excel, pun intended, against a Salesforce.com whose focus on a strategic marketing, sales, and pricing model makes it look more and more like it’s swimming against an increasingly strong tide. At the higher end of the strategic scale, the future is a little more cloudy, especially as I’m not convinced that Salesforce.com or Microsoft can really claim they know how on-demand CRM will work for these customers.
The hunt for Salesforce.com at Microsoft is on, which of the two contenders returns victorious will be one of the more interesting stories of 2008, and beyond.
Showing posts with label Microsoft CRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft CRM. Show all posts
Friday, April 18, 2008
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Microsoft CRM 4.0 released
Software giant Microsoft has now released the latest edition of their CRM software CRM 4.0.
This release was codenamed Titan and the company managed to keep their promise by releasing it in this year itself.
The company said that the software would be available to their customers and hosting partners to download online.
Software giant Microsoft has now released the latest edition of their CRM software CRM 4.0.
This release was codenamed Titan and the company managed to keep their promise by releasing it in this year itself.
The company said that the software would be available to their customers and hosting partners to download online.
Microsoft said that this new edition features multitenant architecture which would enable them and their partners to host CRM in much higher volumes.
This would help them compete more efficiently with rival companies in this segment like Salesforce.com.
The company added that the hosted edition of the service codenamed CRM Live would be available sometime later next year. said that this new edition features multitenant architecture which would enable them and their partners to host CRM in much higher volumes.
This would help them compete more efficiently with rival companies in this segment like Salesforce.com.
The company added that the hosted edition of the service codenamed CRM Live would be available sometime later next year.
This release was codenamed Titan and the company managed to keep their promise by releasing it in this year itself.
The company said that the software would be available to their customers and hosting partners to download online.
Software giant Microsoft has now released the latest edition of their CRM software CRM 4.0.
This release was codenamed Titan and the company managed to keep their promise by releasing it in this year itself.
The company said that the software would be available to their customers and hosting partners to download online.
Microsoft said that this new edition features multitenant architecture which would enable them and their partners to host CRM in much higher volumes.
This would help them compete more efficiently with rival companies in this segment like Salesforce.com.
The company added that the hosted edition of the service codenamed CRM Live would be available sometime later next year. said that this new edition features multitenant architecture which would enable them and their partners to host CRM in much higher volumes.
This would help them compete more efficiently with rival companies in this segment like Salesforce.com.
The company added that the hosted edition of the service codenamed CRM Live would be available sometime later next year.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Biz IT Pro's Microsoft CRM Training Completed for SourceMedia
Business IT Professionals, (Biz IT Pro), a vendor of Customer Relationship Management training and products, has announced the completion an intense, customized series of training sessions for SourceMedia, a New York-based B2B publishing company.
Steve Noe, president of Biz IT Pro, conducted CRM training to more than 70 of SourceMedia's sales staff. The sessions dealt with the benefits CRM provides to their sales success and productivity, an working understanding of Dynamics CRM and Source Media's customizations and clear and simple processes to make CRM easy to integrate into their day to day sales, according to the Bizians.
"We had implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but our sales people didn't understand how to use the new system." said Azam Abuzar, senior director of corporate systems for SourceMedia. "Steve literally saved the day by giving us the education we needed to use our CRM solution efficiently and productively."
In August the Cary, North Carolina-based Biz IT Pro announced they will develop a CRM product, based on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, for QRPS, Inc., an administrative consulting firm.
Biz IT Pro will use Scribe Insight, an end-to-end integration tool for converting data from ACT! to Microsoft Dynamics, to improve productivity and client experiences for QRPS.
"We had reached our limit of usability with the ACT! database. Moving to CRM will allow us to redesign how we store our proprietary information, while substantially improving our productivity," stated Forrest Knowles, President, QRPS.
QRPS provides customer service by using technology to streamline administrative processes, company officials say. Biz IT Pro will conduct data integration for the firm, to aid in their ability to maintain their "high-touch service philosophy and personal support."
Earlier this summer Biz IT Pro announced that it now is a Scribe certified partner.
Scribe Software Corporation provides data integration and migration software products for CRM and ERP. Using Scribe's tools, Biz IT Pro will migrate their client's data from applications, such as Salesforce, Goldmine and Act!, into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
"Scribe Software provides rich integration solutions that are powerful enough for large customers, yet affordable and accessible to small and mid-sized businesses," stated Steve Noe, president of Biz IT Pro. "I am excited about being certified with Scribe and how this relationship will benefit our customers."
Steve Noe, president of Biz IT Pro, conducted CRM training to more than 70 of SourceMedia's sales staff. The sessions dealt with the benefits CRM provides to their sales success and productivity, an working understanding of Dynamics CRM and Source Media's customizations and clear and simple processes to make CRM easy to integrate into their day to day sales, according to the Bizians.
"We had implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but our sales people didn't understand how to use the new system." said Azam Abuzar, senior director of corporate systems for SourceMedia. "Steve literally saved the day by giving us the education we needed to use our CRM solution efficiently and productively."
In August the Cary, North Carolina-based Biz IT Pro announced they will develop a CRM product, based on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, for QRPS, Inc., an administrative consulting firm.
Biz IT Pro will use Scribe Insight, an end-to-end integration tool for converting data from ACT! to Microsoft Dynamics, to improve productivity and client experiences for QRPS.
"We had reached our limit of usability with the ACT! database. Moving to CRM will allow us to redesign how we store our proprietary information, while substantially improving our productivity," stated Forrest Knowles, President, QRPS.
QRPS provides customer service by using technology to streamline administrative processes, company officials say. Biz IT Pro will conduct data integration for the firm, to aid in their ability to maintain their "high-touch service philosophy and personal support."
Earlier this summer Biz IT Pro announced that it now is a Scribe certified partner.
Scribe Software Corporation provides data integration and migration software products for CRM and ERP. Using Scribe's tools, Biz IT Pro will migrate their client's data from applications, such as Salesforce, Goldmine and Act!, into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
"Scribe Software provides rich integration solutions that are powerful enough for large customers, yet affordable and accessible to small and mid-sized businesses," stated Steve Noe, president of Biz IT Pro. "I am excited about being certified with Scribe and how this relationship will benefit our customers."
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Microsoft CRM drives service and sales for Concor Technicrete
Specialist contractor to the mining and construction industries, Concor Technicrete, has implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Mobility to improve services to clients and streamline its sales process.
The CRM solution was implemented and configured by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, IS Partners. The project entailed the implementation of customised contact management, sales force automation and basic case management.
"The integration of Windows mobile devices has ensured a dramatic improvement in customer service, as sales people are now able to initiate and follow through on the entire sales process at the customer site, from credit checking and quotation delivery through to placing of an order," says Heath Turner, CRM director at IS Partners.
Previously, sales people had to call a central office number and request quotes to be generated. This process was inefficient and did not provide the best possible service to customers.
The Microsoft-based CRM solutions has also addressed Concor Technicrete’s requirement for a common platform where all customer and prospect information could be captured, stored, retrieved and analysed. Sales teams now have the ability to collect leads routed to them, track prospects from initiation to sale and maintain information about existing customer relationships.
"The CRM solution has ensured consistent execution of the organisation’s sales methodology through the application of workflow, while also providing accurate sales reporting and forecasting capabilities. It has also enabled management to oversee sales teams’ activities and have access to their customers’ information," Turner says.
Basic complaint management will further ensure that any queries and service related issues are captured against a customer and assigned to the person responsible. Microsoft CRM has also been integrated with the existing JD Edwards system for customer account information and credit checking.
Source:computingsa.co.za
The CRM solution was implemented and configured by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, IS Partners. The project entailed the implementation of customised contact management, sales force automation and basic case management.
"The integration of Windows mobile devices has ensured a dramatic improvement in customer service, as sales people are now able to initiate and follow through on the entire sales process at the customer site, from credit checking and quotation delivery through to placing of an order," says Heath Turner, CRM director at IS Partners.
Previously, sales people had to call a central office number and request quotes to be generated. This process was inefficient and did not provide the best possible service to customers.
The Microsoft-based CRM solutions has also addressed Concor Technicrete’s requirement for a common platform where all customer and prospect information could be captured, stored, retrieved and analysed. Sales teams now have the ability to collect leads routed to them, track prospects from initiation to sale and maintain information about existing customer relationships.
"The CRM solution has ensured consistent execution of the organisation’s sales methodology through the application of workflow, while also providing accurate sales reporting and forecasting capabilities. It has also enabled management to oversee sales teams’ activities and have access to their customers’ information," Turner says.
Basic complaint management will further ensure that any queries and service related issues are captured against a customer and assigned to the person responsible. Microsoft CRM has also been integrated with the existing JD Edwards system for customer account information and credit checking.
Source:computingsa.co.za
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Endeavor Releases SmartCatalog Portal Edition for Sage, Microsoft CRM
By David Sims,
Endeavor Commerce has recently announced the release of SmartCatalog Portal Edition for Sage SalesLogix and Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM.
The release offers "out of the box capability to extend Sales Configuration and Guided Selling to customers, partners and distributors via the Web," company officials say.
With the addition of Portal Edition, SmartCatalog now enables companies to deploy what Endeavor officials say are "100 percent accurate quote and order generation across all sales channels -- including employees, partners, distributers and customers."
SmartCatalog helps companies with their partners' and distributors' processes, as well as internal sales processes, in making channel boundaries transparent to customers.
SmartCatalog Portal Edition is a Web-based application integrated with CRM to allow external users to create their own quotes and orders as well as manage their online profile. The Portal Edition may exist as an addition to SmartCatalog Sales Edition or may function as its own standalone application.
"Portal Edition is the result of collaboration with our partners and customers and offers significant and immediate benefits," said David Reeder, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. With Portal Edition, our customers can offer the same quoting and ordering tools directly to their customers and partners making the complex sale simple across all channels."
Reeder considers Portal Edition "a great example of our CRM acumen."
At the beginning of July Endeavor announced version 6.1 of its SmartCatalog for CRM application.
SmartCatalog has seen "significant market growth" in 2007, company officials say, having recently won five new global enterprise customers. For the first half of 2007 overall revenue grew more than 90 percent, with software sales revenue growth at 155 percent.
SmartCatalog 6.1 offers a new end-user application containing features making the product more flexible, scalable and easier to use for both on-line and off-line users. SmartCatalog's new end-user application is architected using the ASP .Net 2.0 Framework.
Using an Outlook style of navigation, the user experience of SmartCatalog is designed to be consistent with Microsoft Office applications. The new sales messaging guides on-line and off-line CRM users through the quoting process offering rules-based alerts. This enhancement lets users to take advantage of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
SmartCatalog is billed by company officials as allowing enterprises to "increase revenue, decrease cost, and increase customer satisfaction by enabling intelligence at the point of sale."
Source:callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com
Endeavor Commerce has recently announced the release of SmartCatalog Portal Edition for Sage SalesLogix and Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM.
The release offers "out of the box capability to extend Sales Configuration and Guided Selling to customers, partners and distributors via the Web," company officials say.
With the addition of Portal Edition, SmartCatalog now enables companies to deploy what Endeavor officials say are "100 percent accurate quote and order generation across all sales channels -- including employees, partners, distributers and customers."
SmartCatalog helps companies with their partners' and distributors' processes, as well as internal sales processes, in making channel boundaries transparent to customers.
SmartCatalog Portal Edition is a Web-based application integrated with CRM to allow external users to create their own quotes and orders as well as manage their online profile. The Portal Edition may exist as an addition to SmartCatalog Sales Edition or may function as its own standalone application.
"Portal Edition is the result of collaboration with our partners and customers and offers significant and immediate benefits," said David Reeder, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. With Portal Edition, our customers can offer the same quoting and ordering tools directly to their customers and partners making the complex sale simple across all channels."
Reeder considers Portal Edition "a great example of our CRM acumen."
At the beginning of July Endeavor announced version 6.1 of its SmartCatalog for CRM application.
SmartCatalog has seen "significant market growth" in 2007, company officials say, having recently won five new global enterprise customers. For the first half of 2007 overall revenue grew more than 90 percent, with software sales revenue growth at 155 percent.
SmartCatalog 6.1 offers a new end-user application containing features making the product more flexible, scalable and easier to use for both on-line and off-line users. SmartCatalog's new end-user application is architected using the ASP .Net 2.0 Framework.
Using an Outlook style of navigation, the user experience of SmartCatalog is designed to be consistent with Microsoft Office applications. The new sales messaging guides on-line and off-line CRM users through the quoting process offering rules-based alerts. This enhancement lets users to take advantage of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
SmartCatalog is billed by company officials as allowing enterprises to "increase revenue, decrease cost, and increase customer satisfaction by enabling intelligence at the point of sale."
Source:callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com
Friday, November 30, 2007
Microsoft to Craft Titan as On-Demand Platform
By Renee Boucher Ferguson
November 29, 2007
Microsoft wants Titan to challenge Salesforce.com's on-demand development platform.
The question is, How long will it take Microsoft, a slow-moving technology behemoth if previous releases are any indication, to catch up with Salesforce.com in a market Salesforce created?
While Microsoft has based its Titan marketing campaign on the software's multitenant capabilities, CEO Steve Ballmer said in July at the company's Worldwide Partner conference that Titan will also be used as a platform for on-demand application development.
"[We] will add CRM [customer relationship management], and we will add an application development platform for departments and small businesses called Titan. … In the case of Titan, there's an opportunity for you to build applications that would literally run on our servers," Ballmer said.
"You have to use the kind of declarative programming model, workflow model on which our own CRM product is built, but you can, of course, write your own Titan applications on either on-premises hosted or hosted in our data centers," he said.
Salesforce.com, in less cryptic language, has been marketing its platform capabilities for the past year. In October 2006 the company unveiled its Apex on-demand programming language and platform.
This year, Salesforce.com announced Force.com (dubbed platform-as-a-service), which bundles development "services," including custom user interface and logic building capabilities along with database and integration capabilities. Force.com also includes AppExchange, Salesforce.com's application marketplace that's been compared, by the company mainly, to eBay and Amazon.com for the business world.
Read more here about the introduction of the Force.com platform.
At its partner conference this summer, Microsoft said it's building its own marketplace, expected in 2008, that will be an online environment where partners can showcase their company, applications and templates to customers, who can, in turn, download functionality and rate partner efforts. Ditto for AppExchange.
What Microsoft will offer with Titan is an on-demand, multitenant application development platform. What's not clear yet is how mature those capabilities will be.
Eric Berridge, CEO and co-founder of BlueWolf, an on-demand system integrator with close ties to Salesforce.com, has watched Microsoft's Titan release closely. He said Microsoft has made a wise move in building Titan, but the company has a ways to go in the on-demand development world.
"The reason Microsoft came out with Titan at all is a defensive move against Salesforce.com—period," said Berridge. It is a good first step and a very wise move. But I don't know if they know if they can take it to the platform level. If you look at the customization capabilities in the on-premises version [of Dynamics CRM] it never evolved to the level of flexibility that other CRM packages have, so there are some decisions Microsoft will have to make."
Berridge said that while Titan will be compatible with .Net, Microsoft's development environment, there isn't a lot of flexibility in the platform. "You can't configure an application in a multitude of ways without jumping into a programming environment, and that's limited to the CRM data model," he said.
"There are no [custom] objects, no UIs. It really keeps programming central to core CRM. And I am still questioning the maturity of [Titan's] core API [application programming interface] set. That's going to be a key component to selling into non-Microsoft accounts," Berridge said.
Ovum analyst Warren Wilson said that despite Microsoft's reputation for being slow to catch on to a few key technology movements, such as the Internet, the company shouldn't be discounted in its on-demand platform initiatives.
"Microsoft is deliberate more than slow. They've been famously slow on embracing the Internet years ago. But when they do [embrace new technology], then they're relentless," said Wilson. "We'll see the same thing with Microsoft's Dynamics applications. The fact that they're slow shouldn't give competitors any false sense of complacency."
Wilson pointed out another tactic Microsoft may take with Titan: using it as the basis for a development platform—both internally and externally—for its Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications.
"Microsoft has been careful to avoid speculating on what might follow Titan in terms of its other Dynamics products, but with vendors like NetSuite out there with an on-demand ERP suite, with SAP launching Business ByDesign [on-demand ERP suite], Microsoft has to be thinking about enabling on-demand versions of the rest of the Dynamics family," said Wilson. "And Titan and CRM will offer at least a laboratory for how you do that, if not the actual product foundations."
While Salesforce.com has not taken the direct approach to developing ERP applications (of which CRM is a clear extension), the company has been direct in spelling out the fact that Apex and the Force.com platform are applicable for building not only CRM applications, but ERP-strength applications. At least one vendor, Coda Group, has committed to building out an on-demand ERP suite on Force.com.
Beagle Research founder Denis Pombriant said that market forces will determine whether Salesforce stays in the lead against Microsoft.
"Salesforce is going gangbusters with Force.com," said Pombriant. "They signed a 45,000-seat deal with Japan Post. What was significant about that is the deal excluded CRM; it's strictly Force.com and the applications Japan Post wants to build. The good news for Microsoft is that they've come a long way [with platform capabilities]. They're in the ballpark. But they may be somewhere between one half and one full generation behind."
source:eweek.com
Data Recovery Bulletin
November 29, 2007
Microsoft wants Titan to challenge Salesforce.com's on-demand development platform.
The question is, How long will it take Microsoft, a slow-moving technology behemoth if previous releases are any indication, to catch up with Salesforce.com in a market Salesforce created?
While Microsoft has based its Titan marketing campaign on the software's multitenant capabilities, CEO Steve Ballmer said in July at the company's Worldwide Partner conference that Titan will also be used as a platform for on-demand application development.
"[We] will add CRM [customer relationship management], and we will add an application development platform for departments and small businesses called Titan. … In the case of Titan, there's an opportunity for you to build applications that would literally run on our servers," Ballmer said.
"You have to use the kind of declarative programming model, workflow model on which our own CRM product is built, but you can, of course, write your own Titan applications on either on-premises hosted or hosted in our data centers," he said.
Salesforce.com, in less cryptic language, has been marketing its platform capabilities for the past year. In October 2006 the company unveiled its Apex on-demand programming language and platform.
This year, Salesforce.com announced Force.com (dubbed platform-as-a-service), which bundles development "services," including custom user interface and logic building capabilities along with database and integration capabilities. Force.com also includes AppExchange, Salesforce.com's application marketplace that's been compared, by the company mainly, to eBay and Amazon.com for the business world.
Read more here about the introduction of the Force.com platform.
At its partner conference this summer, Microsoft said it's building its own marketplace, expected in 2008, that will be an online environment where partners can showcase their company, applications and templates to customers, who can, in turn, download functionality and rate partner efforts. Ditto for AppExchange.
What Microsoft will offer with Titan is an on-demand, multitenant application development platform. What's not clear yet is how mature those capabilities will be.
Eric Berridge, CEO and co-founder of BlueWolf, an on-demand system integrator with close ties to Salesforce.com, has watched Microsoft's Titan release closely. He said Microsoft has made a wise move in building Titan, but the company has a ways to go in the on-demand development world.
"The reason Microsoft came out with Titan at all is a defensive move against Salesforce.com—period," said Berridge. It is a good first step and a very wise move. But I don't know if they know if they can take it to the platform level. If you look at the customization capabilities in the on-premises version [of Dynamics CRM] it never evolved to the level of flexibility that other CRM packages have, so there are some decisions Microsoft will have to make."
Berridge said that while Titan will be compatible with .Net, Microsoft's development environment, there isn't a lot of flexibility in the platform. "You can't configure an application in a multitude of ways without jumping into a programming environment, and that's limited to the CRM data model," he said.
"There are no [custom] objects, no UIs. It really keeps programming central to core CRM. And I am still questioning the maturity of [Titan's] core API [application programming interface] set. That's going to be a key component to selling into non-Microsoft accounts," Berridge said.
Ovum analyst Warren Wilson said that despite Microsoft's reputation for being slow to catch on to a few key technology movements, such as the Internet, the company shouldn't be discounted in its on-demand platform initiatives.
"Microsoft is deliberate more than slow. They've been famously slow on embracing the Internet years ago. But when they do [embrace new technology], then they're relentless," said Wilson. "We'll see the same thing with Microsoft's Dynamics applications. The fact that they're slow shouldn't give competitors any false sense of complacency."
Wilson pointed out another tactic Microsoft may take with Titan: using it as the basis for a development platform—both internally and externally—for its Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications.
"Microsoft has been careful to avoid speculating on what might follow Titan in terms of its other Dynamics products, but with vendors like NetSuite out there with an on-demand ERP suite, with SAP launching Business ByDesign [on-demand ERP suite], Microsoft has to be thinking about enabling on-demand versions of the rest of the Dynamics family," said Wilson. "And Titan and CRM will offer at least a laboratory for how you do that, if not the actual product foundations."
While Salesforce.com has not taken the direct approach to developing ERP applications (of which CRM is a clear extension), the company has been direct in spelling out the fact that Apex and the Force.com platform are applicable for building not only CRM applications, but ERP-strength applications. At least one vendor, Coda Group, has committed to building out an on-demand ERP suite on Force.com.
Beagle Research founder Denis Pombriant said that market forces will determine whether Salesforce stays in the lead against Microsoft.
"Salesforce is going gangbusters with Force.com," said Pombriant. "They signed a 45,000-seat deal with Japan Post. What was significant about that is the deal excluded CRM; it's strictly Force.com and the applications Japan Post wants to build. The good news for Microsoft is that they've come a long way [with platform capabilities]. They're in the ballpark. But they may be somewhere between one half and one full generation behind."
source:eweek.com
Data Recovery Bulletin
Friday, November 2, 2007
Microsoft CRM Replaces GoldMine at AccessVia
Microsoft announced that AccessVia, a vendor of in-store signage, labels and e-commerce applications, has selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 to integrate all its internal data and processes, replacing its previous system, based on GoldMine software for CRM.
AccessVia, based in Seattle, provides communications services to retailers.
The company had been using three separate internal IT systems for customer relations, time tracking and sales. Forecasting and planning were "suffering," company officials say, since the company had outgrown its software.
Scott Hunter, systems administrator for AccessVia, said with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, "we were able to consolidate several internal processes and tools into a single offering that brought the whole company onto the same page."
AccessVia officials say the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system allows better reporting, improving its filtering and reporting by tenfold, compared to its previous software. And with its integrated system, company officials say they have cut the time needed for support from its IT team by 75 percent.
The company also has retired its Microsoft Office Access database for licensing management, incorporating that function into Microsoft Dynamics CRM as well.
Earlier this week Microsoft announced that Logos Bible Software, a developer and distributor of Bible software in multiple languages, selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM to replace its aging customer relationship management system with technology that integrates all customer data.
Logos, a $15 million company based in Bellingham, Washington, offers software used by members of the clergy, seminary students, missionaries and lay leaders in more than 180 countries. Its electronic Bibles, theological works, pastoral resources and other texts are available in numerous languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Latin.
The company chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM to "gain comprehensive new efficiencies not available with its previous CRM system, which required customer service representatives to navigate a number of unconnected databases to retrieve information," according to Microsoft officials:
"With the earlier system, agents had to call customers back because they needed to look for answers to questions in several different places." Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology will allow the service staff to collect all its customer information in one system.
Source:callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com
sponsored by GreenJolly
AccessVia, based in Seattle, provides communications services to retailers.
The company had been using three separate internal IT systems for customer relations, time tracking and sales. Forecasting and planning were "suffering," company officials say, since the company had outgrown its software.
Scott Hunter, systems administrator for AccessVia, said with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, "we were able to consolidate several internal processes and tools into a single offering that brought the whole company onto the same page."
AccessVia officials say the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system allows better reporting, improving its filtering and reporting by tenfold, compared to its previous software. And with its integrated system, company officials say they have cut the time needed for support from its IT team by 75 percent.
The company also has retired its Microsoft Office Access database for licensing management, incorporating that function into Microsoft Dynamics CRM as well.
Earlier this week Microsoft announced that Logos Bible Software, a developer and distributor of Bible software in multiple languages, selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM to replace its aging customer relationship management system with technology that integrates all customer data.
Logos, a $15 million company based in Bellingham, Washington, offers software used by members of the clergy, seminary students, missionaries and lay leaders in more than 180 countries. Its electronic Bibles, theological works, pastoral resources and other texts are available in numerous languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Latin.
The company chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM to "gain comprehensive new efficiencies not available with its previous CRM system, which required customer service representatives to navigate a number of unconnected databases to retrieve information," according to Microsoft officials:
"With the earlier system, agents had to call customers back because they needed to look for answers to questions in several different places." Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology will allow the service staff to collect all its customer information in one system.
Source:callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com
sponsored by GreenJolly
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
CDC Software Adds to Microsoft CRM Platform
CDC Software, a subsidiary of CDC Corporation and a provider of industry-specific enterprise software applications and business services, has announced recently that it has added four new products and "enhanced most of the existing products in the Core Productivity Pack of c360," a suite of industry products and development tools for theMicrosoft Dynamics CRM platform.
CDC Software will be demonstrating their new products, at the Microsoft EMEA Convergence Conference October 23 - 25, 2007 in Copenhagen.
C360’s Core Productivity Pack is being released in conjunction with Microsoft CRM version 4.0. The new products were designed "using customer and partner feedback," CDC officials say, "with a focus on increasing CRM usability, user productivity and user adoption."
The pack for CRM 4.0 now includes four new products -- the c360 Explorer CRM Search Engine which "indexes and organizes all Microsoft CRM records and attachments," and uses Microsoft Office SharePoint search to provide keyword search across CRM and SharePoint, and c360 SharePoint/Microsoft CRM integration which "bridges the gap between Microsoft CRM and SharePoint by enabling automatic creation of a SharePoint site for every required CRM entity," company officials say. Basically it allows CRM and non-CRM users to share the same documents.
There's also c360 Relationship Exploration and Charting, providing an automatic, relationship tree display of all relationships for every CRM record, and the c360 Record Editor, which can edit individual records in any CRM view without opening the individual records using a Microsoft Excel-like editing of CRM records.
There are also upgrades to existing products within the c360 Core Productivity Pack for Microsoft CRM 4.0, including the c360 Console, which allows Microsoft CRM users to design their CRM workspace in virtually any way they like.
In September CDC Software announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Milwaukee-based Catalyst International, a vendor of supply chain execution solutions and services.
With approximate annual revenues of $35 million, the acquisition of Catalyst is expected to be immediately accretive to CDC Software upon completion of the acquisition.
Catalyst's software solutions and services are "highly complementary" to CDC Software's IMI Supply Chain product line, CDC officials said, and the company's CDC Global Services operations. The IMI suite of supply chain solutions supports fulfillment in multi-company, multi-site and multi-channel environments.
After completion of the acquisition, the Catalyst SAP practice business segment is expected to be merged into CDC Global Services, which provides consulting and outsourcing services across a variety of technologies and industries.
CDC Software will be demonstrating their new products, at the Microsoft EMEA Convergence Conference October 23 - 25, 2007 in Copenhagen.
C360’s Core Productivity Pack is being released in conjunction with Microsoft CRM version 4.0. The new products were designed "using customer and partner feedback," CDC officials say, "with a focus on increasing CRM usability, user productivity and user adoption."
The pack for CRM 4.0 now includes four new products -- the c360 Explorer CRM Search Engine which "indexes and organizes all Microsoft CRM records and attachments," and uses Microsoft Office SharePoint search to provide keyword search across CRM and SharePoint, and c360 SharePoint/Microsoft CRM integration which "bridges the gap between Microsoft CRM and SharePoint by enabling automatic creation of a SharePoint site for every required CRM entity," company officials say. Basically it allows CRM and non-CRM users to share the same documents.
There's also c360 Relationship Exploration and Charting, providing an automatic, relationship tree display of all relationships for every CRM record, and the c360 Record Editor, which can edit individual records in any CRM view without opening the individual records using a Microsoft Excel-like editing of CRM records.
There are also upgrades to existing products within the c360 Core Productivity Pack for Microsoft CRM 4.0, including the c360 Console, which allows Microsoft CRM users to design their CRM workspace in virtually any way they like.
In September CDC Software announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Milwaukee-based Catalyst International, a vendor of supply chain execution solutions and services.
With approximate annual revenues of $35 million, the acquisition of Catalyst is expected to be immediately accretive to CDC Software upon completion of the acquisition.
Catalyst's software solutions and services are "highly complementary" to CDC Software's IMI Supply Chain product line, CDC officials said, and the company's CDC Global Services operations. The IMI suite of supply chain solutions supports fulfillment in multi-company, multi-site and multi-channel environments.
After completion of the acquisition, the Catalyst SAP practice business segment is expected to be merged into CDC Global Services, which provides consulting and outsourcing services across a variety of technologies and industries.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
HR Technology Advisors & T.H.G. Sales Automation Releases Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Benefits Brokers
New Client Management System for Benefits Brokers Leverages Existing Microsoft Technologies
Marblehead, MA – October 16, 2007 — HR Technology Advisors (HRT), a national, independent human resources and benefits technology consulting firm and reseller, in a joint venture with Microsoft Partner T.H.G. Sales Automation (T.H.G.), has taken Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM (Customer Relationship Management) 3.0 Professional and adapted it to fit the business needs and workflows of the Employee Benefits Brokerage firms. In addition to rich, core functionality fully integrated into Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows brokers to track group benefits, pension, and individual policy information, manage service issues, monitor prospects and renewals, conduct mail merges, automate their own unique internal workflows and much more.
“In an ever evolving market, our benefits brokerage clients need to stay ahead of the competition. As their businesses become more complex, HRT’s customers will now have access to a CRM system designed to be a natural extension of Microsoft Office and Outlook®, providing a familiar and intuitive work environment that fosters user adoption and productivity,” says Don Rowe, Principal, HR Technology Advisors. “Because Microsoft CRM provides seamless integration with software employees are already using, those employees find it very easy to navigate, helping companies improve productivity, control costs, and maximize return on investment.”
In addition to the Outlook integration, the Microsoft CRM for Benefit Brokers system integrates with handheld devices and Microsoft SharePoint, enabling brokers to collaborate in real-time with their customers via the Web through the deployment of customer portals. Brokers will be able to buy the system and host it themselves or lease it with third-party hosting. Users can access the system from their desktop inside of Outlook or independently via the Internet. The flexibility of Microsoft CRM also enables firms to make modifications to their system to fit their specific business needs.
For more information about Microsoft CRM for Benefits Brokers, please contact HR Technology Advisors at 508-520-9800.
About HR Technology Advisors, LLC
HR Technology Advisors (HRT, http://www.hrtadvisors.com) is a national, independent technology brokerage and consulting firm focused entirely in the HR & Benefits technology marketplace. Unlike many others, HRT is not a manufacturer or builder of technology. Instead, we are independent and objective. Our approach is simply to find the best vendors available in the marketplace and bring that technology to our clients. We broker best-of-breed technology and provide consulting support to ensure appropriately solution implementation and successful adoption. HRT’s clients include principally Employee Benefit Brokers and their employer clients.
About T.H.G. Sales Automation
T.H.G. Sales Automation is a recognized industry expert in implementing CRM solutions on a global basis. T.H.G., a Microsoft Certified Partner, offers a comprehensive line of products and services including Project Management (needs analysis, requirements gathering, and functional specifications), Design and Development, Implementation, Training, Analytics/Reporting, and Support based on your choice of CRM solutions. T.H.G.'s staff has more than 100 years of combined experience in the CRM industry. They have pooled their expertise to develop a logical approach to designing and implementing CRM solutions that lead to successful outcomes for their clients. T.H.G. Sales Automation makes it their business to improve the way you do business.
About Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives every customer-facing employee the information they need to truly impress customers. With Microsoft CRM, you can create a centralized repository of customer data that sits neatly alongside Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Outlook - the applications your employees probably use every day. From Outlook, employees access Microsoft CRM sales, marketing, and customer service modules to make sales decisions, market products, solve problems, and get strategic views of the business. It’s CRM that works - because it works the way your users already do, works the way your business already does, and works the way technology should.
Contact:
Don Rowe, Principal
HR Technology Advisors, LLC
Phone – 888-520-0980
drowe@hrtadvisors.com
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Local manufacturer implements Microsoft CRM
Expandasign produces and exports portable signage solutions to a global market from its factory in South Africa. Since 2003, Expandasign has partnered with Durban-based solution provider, Epages.net, to manage the challenges of dealing with multiple customers across different time zones.
The first stage of this process was the implementation of an online ordering system which allows the worldwide sales team to create quotes and place orders 24 hours a day.
The original system was recently rewritten in Miscrosoft .NET to enable Expandasign to take advantage of the interoperability and flexibility of .NET services."The online ordering system has many custom requirements," comments Marketing Director, Penny Macpherson."One of Expandasign's main issues revolved around incomplete information which required communication with the salesperson. Orders are received throughout the night during USA and Australia business hours. Queries sometimes had to wait a full working day to be resolved which affected turnaround times," she said.The problem was resolved by creating custom order forms which ensure the salespeople capture all of the information required to produce an order. An order which is incomplete cannot be submitted. Various checklists provide reminders about things like artwork, deadlines and delivery addresses. This has resulted in fewer queries and improved turnaround. The orders are checked and imported directly into the Accpac ERP system which calculates material requirements and creates a job specification.Having removed much of the manual process associated with production, the management team has been freed up to focus on sales and marketing. As a Microsoft Gold partner and one of only two companies in KZN with a Microsoft CRM competency, Epages.net is well placed to assist Expandasign in formalising its marketing campaigns.Expandasign has implemented Microsoft CRM to track and manage sales campaigns, advertising and lead generation. Its powerful capabilities allow the company to create targeted marketing campaigns and, more importantly, measure their success in terms of sales. Microsoft .NET Web services have been used to connect the online ordering system to the ERP and the CRM system to create a 360° view of the sales process.Marketing manager, Lynsey Hammond, comments: "Orders are being received from all over the world in addition to ad hoc enquiries through our Web site. With the CRM system, we can track how the order or enquiry was generated and use this information to inform our future marketing efforts."Expandasign will use the sales module to remind its salesforce of key industry events such as trade shows and conferences, ensuring they contact their customers to place orders.Because Microsoft CRM has a familiar interface and is integrated with Outlook, getting users to adopt the system has been easier and training times have been reduced.
The first stage of this process was the implementation of an online ordering system which allows the worldwide sales team to create quotes and place orders 24 hours a day.
The original system was recently rewritten in Miscrosoft .NET to enable Expandasign to take advantage of the interoperability and flexibility of .NET services."The online ordering system has many custom requirements," comments Marketing Director, Penny Macpherson."One of Expandasign's main issues revolved around incomplete information which required communication with the salesperson. Orders are received throughout the night during USA and Australia business hours. Queries sometimes had to wait a full working day to be resolved which affected turnaround times," she said.The problem was resolved by creating custom order forms which ensure the salespeople capture all of the information required to produce an order. An order which is incomplete cannot be submitted. Various checklists provide reminders about things like artwork, deadlines and delivery addresses. This has resulted in fewer queries and improved turnaround. The orders are checked and imported directly into the Accpac ERP system which calculates material requirements and creates a job specification.Having removed much of the manual process associated with production, the management team has been freed up to focus on sales and marketing. As a Microsoft Gold partner and one of only two companies in KZN with a Microsoft CRM competency, Epages.net is well placed to assist Expandasign in formalising its marketing campaigns.Expandasign has implemented Microsoft CRM to track and manage sales campaigns, advertising and lead generation. Its powerful capabilities allow the company to create targeted marketing campaigns and, more importantly, measure their success in terms of sales. Microsoft .NET Web services have been used to connect the online ordering system to the ERP and the CRM system to create a 360° view of the sales process.Marketing manager, Lynsey Hammond, comments: "Orders are being received from all over the world in addition to ad hoc enquiries through our Web site. With the CRM system, we can track how the order or enquiry was generated and use this information to inform our future marketing efforts."Expandasign will use the sales module to remind its salesforce of key industry events such as trade shows and conferences, ensuring they contact their customers to place orders.Because Microsoft CRM has a familiar interface and is integrated with Outlook, getting users to adopt the system has been easier and training times have been reduced.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Career Services extends Microsoft CRM across organisation
Especially attractive is the ability to customise elements of the software while still having the familiar look and feel of the base product, says general manager
Career Services information systems general manager Craig Le Quesne says the goal was to understand more about how and why people use its services.
"To do this effectively, we need access to a consolidated view of a customer's interactions with us - whether they take place over the phone, during face-to-face meetings, or via the website's online chat service," he says.
At that time, there was already a project under way to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Career Services call centre. In fact, Career Services was one of the first local organisations to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3, says Le Quesne, and the users were happy with it.
"We decided it was a fantastic building block," he says.
Especially attractive was the ability to customise elements of the software while still having the familiar look and feel of the base product.
"First and foremost we are not a development shop," Le Quesne says. He says that's what Microsoft and partner Simpl, engaged after a competitive tender, do best.
"Essentially we pretty much run on a Microsoft platform," Le Quesne says.
Staff are constantly being trained on Microsoft tools including Outlook, Explorer and Word among others. Le Quesne describes this training is a "long-term investment" and it was another attraction of Microsoft's software. It is very closely integrated with Outlook, he says.
"That keeps it as familiar as possible for users."
Le Quesne says the timeline for the project is unusually luxurious, with the go-live date being set to coincide with the new financial year, July 1 2008.
Business analysis happened between January and March this year and the implementation and customisation is being worked on now. Testing will occur after Christmas and that leaves plenty of time for staff training for the 180 users, he says.
"That's the most important part, the user training and change management."
Simpl will replace an existing custom-built database with a more standard Microsoft SQL database as part of the project.
Le Quesne says that database was built in .Net but Career Services can't sustain it.
"It served us well but it's not worth investing any more in," he says.
Le Quesne says when the project went to procurement, through the Government Electronic Tenders website, it became clear that many organisations had the technical ability to do the work.
Given that, the key considerations in selecting Simpl centred on cost and project management expertise.
Simpl Group chief operating officer John Hanna says project management is a foundation pillar of the company.
"We applied a particularly heavy weight to it on this project," he says.
Hanna says the Career Services project was one where the company could make a difference to the lives of a lot of New Zealanders, and "making a difference" is one of the company's mantras.
It was also an opportunity to hone its CRM skills.
"We had a good CRM team before the project, now it's the best in the country," he says.
Simpl is working hard to stay engaged with its alumni of past employees and this project was also one where that came into play. A former employee was flown back from Peru to be involved in the project's early stages, Hanna says.
Le Quesne was unwilling to put an exact figure on the project's budget, except to say it is less than half and million dollars. He says overall he feels like he has full information about the project all the time and can look the Simpl team in the eye and "ask hard questions".
Career Services information systems general manager Craig Le Quesne says the goal was to understand more about how and why people use its services.
"To do this effectively, we need access to a consolidated view of a customer's interactions with us - whether they take place over the phone, during face-to-face meetings, or via the website's online chat service," he says.
At that time, there was already a project under way to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Career Services call centre. In fact, Career Services was one of the first local organisations to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3, says Le Quesne, and the users were happy with it.
"We decided it was a fantastic building block," he says.
Especially attractive was the ability to customise elements of the software while still having the familiar look and feel of the base product.
"First and foremost we are not a development shop," Le Quesne says. He says that's what Microsoft and partner Simpl, engaged after a competitive tender, do best.
"Essentially we pretty much run on a Microsoft platform," Le Quesne says.
Staff are constantly being trained on Microsoft tools including Outlook, Explorer and Word among others. Le Quesne describes this training is a "long-term investment" and it was another attraction of Microsoft's software. It is very closely integrated with Outlook, he says.
"That keeps it as familiar as possible for users."
Le Quesne says the timeline for the project is unusually luxurious, with the go-live date being set to coincide with the new financial year, July 1 2008.
Business analysis happened between January and March this year and the implementation and customisation is being worked on now. Testing will occur after Christmas and that leaves plenty of time for staff training for the 180 users, he says.
"That's the most important part, the user training and change management."
Simpl will replace an existing custom-built database with a more standard Microsoft SQL database as part of the project.
Le Quesne says that database was built in .Net but Career Services can't sustain it.
"It served us well but it's not worth investing any more in," he says.
Le Quesne says when the project went to procurement, through the Government Electronic Tenders website, it became clear that many organisations had the technical ability to do the work.
Given that, the key considerations in selecting Simpl centred on cost and project management expertise.
Simpl Group chief operating officer John Hanna says project management is a foundation pillar of the company.
"We applied a particularly heavy weight to it on this project," he says.
Hanna says the Career Services project was one where the company could make a difference to the lives of a lot of New Zealanders, and "making a difference" is one of the company's mantras.
It was also an opportunity to hone its CRM skills.
"We had a good CRM team before the project, now it's the best in the country," he says.
Simpl is working hard to stay engaged with its alumni of past employees and this project was also one where that came into play. A former employee was flown back from Peru to be involved in the project's early stages, Hanna says.
Le Quesne was unwilling to put an exact figure on the project's budget, except to say it is less than half and million dollars. He says overall he feels like he has full information about the project all the time and can look the Simpl team in the eye and "ask hard questions".
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Bidvest Bank selects Microsoft CRM for client services
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."
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."
Friday, July 20, 2007
Vista Incompatibilities Still Gnaw
by Doug Barney
As editor in chief of Redmond magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
As editor in chief of Redmond magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
But the more I hear from real IT experts (translation: you, the Redmond Report reader), the more I think I'm actually on the leading edge by sticking with good, old XP Service Pack 2. My printers and external hard drives still work, and it has performance I can live with.
Vista users are having less luck. Hardware drivers are lagging behind the operating system like me in the Boston marathon (I'm not exactly svelte).
Many believe a service pack will do the trick, but service packs are for bugs and performance. Drivers are an entirely different matter. Give some news about Vista by writing dbarney@redmondmag.com!
Learn more from this fine report from the Associated Press.OneCare Upgrade Prepped
Like Vista, OneCare has seen its share of problems. This consumer security bundle was roundly criticized by users (including a Redmond magazine staffer who had no end of problems) for installation troubles and what some claim is substandard anti-virus protection.
Now, Microsoft is prepping OneCare 2.0, which can protect multiple computers and offers centralized backup for networked computers.
OneCare 1.0 might not have been God's gift to computing (for me, that would be craigslist), but name one 1.0 product from Microsoft that has been top-notch. Word, Excel, Windows, even NT had growing pains.
Because Microsoft is such a patient company, OneCare (version 3.0, at least) is still something that Symantec et al should be very worried about.
Citizens on Journalism Patrol
The rise of blogs was supposed to fundamentally reshape the world of journalism. No longer would you need a degree from j-school (of course, I have the rare honor of a degree in Marxian economics, which is now useful only in North Korea and Cambridge, Mass.!).
No, news was to be driven by those closest to it: real, actual citizens.
Unfortunately, these citizen journalism sites were about as effective as Eugene Tackleberry on patrol.
The latest casualty is community news Web site Backfence, which recently called it quits, citing "business issues." What could those business issues be? No traffic and no ads?
Live CRM To Go Live
Those who think that Microsoft has no Software as a Service strategy (SaaS+S) must not have heard of Dynamics Live CRM, a hosted version of Microsoft's current CRM offering announced last week at Microsoft's annual partner conference.
Now, before you get too excited, I have a bone to pick with the name. Microsoft's original CRM product was called, I believe, simply "Microsoft CRM." Then it became "Microsoft Dynamics CRM." Now that everything that has anything to do with the Web is somehow called Live, it's now "Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM." That sure rolls off the old tongue!
Of course, if you are really hardcore, you can buy Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional or Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise!
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Microsoft is undercutting Salesforce.com on price by a pretty big hunk.
redmondmag.com
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Microsoft picking up rivals' CRM users
How's it going?
Microsoft CRM: Friend or Foe?
Destination CRM - Feb 15, 2007
In addition, Microsoft's Great Plains division, which was set up when the company acquired accounting software maker Great Plains in December 2000, currently resells and comarkets Siebel Systems Inc. 's enterprise CRM offering. Microsoft made its foray into the CRM space official on February 25 by unveiling plans to deliver Microsoft Customer Relationship Management, a CRM solution built on its. Slated for release by the end of the year, Microsoft is aiming the CRM solution at small and medium-size businesses. The product, which Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for, will initially be sold through the Microsoft's Great Plains division. Most analysts estimate that pricing will start at $500 per user... Microsoft made its foray into the CRM space official on February 25 by unveiling plans to deliver Microsoft Customer Relationship Management, a CRM solution built on its. Slated for release by the end of the year, Microsoft is aiming the CRM solution at small and medium-size businesses. The product, which Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for, will initially be sold through the Microsoft's Great Plains division. Most analysts estimate that pricing will start at $500 per user.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=2229
Microsoft picking up rivals' CRM users
Computerworld Australia - Feb 15, 2007
Global Comfort Systems plans to replace its Siebel call center application with the latest Microsoft CRM software for its integration with the other applications and its relatively lower cost, said Andrew Fralick, Information Technology Director at Global Comfort unit Webasto Product North America. Global Comfort, based in Stockdorf, Germany, expects the cost of installing Microsoft CRM to be about the same as it would be to upgrade its Siebel call center software, he said. Fralick's own unit has been using the Microsoft CRM software for about two years through multiple versions; He called the newly installed Version 3. 0 an enterprise class product. Fralick said the Fenton, Mich. unit's sales force did suffer through the defects of earlier versions of the software. "The [initial] product wasn't a flop... Despite the cost of licensing, end user retraining and data cleansing associated with the cutover, it was "worth it in the end," said Kretchman, a panelist at the Convergence conference. He said customization of the Siebel software by sales personnel led to IT support problems. The more rigid Microsoft CRM process improved the efficiency of its 60 users, Kretchman said. Wilson intends to upgrade to Microsoft CRM 3. 0, most likely this fall, Kretchman said. Helene Cole, CEO of Altara, a Basking Ridge, N.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1516427329
Salentica Systems First CRM Partner to Join Microsoft's Insurance...
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 15, 2007
DistributorDesk allows insurance industry users to work with Microsoft CRM in a manner that reflects their normal business dealings within all their sales channels -- supporting proprietary or non-proprietary sales distribution models. Whether a distributor, broker, captive or non-captive agent, or part of the management team, the Salentica industry-specific modules, will allow access to all the information that you need. "Our intent with Salentica and Microsoft has always been to expand our deep domain expertise to develop effective, easy-to-use, client management solutions which make a difference in the financial services marketplace" said Bill Rourke, President Salentica Systems. "We are very pleased to be a partner in the Insurance Value Chain as it enhances our relationship with Microsoft, adds further depth to our solutions and therefore our customers.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/12/prweb487182.htm
Elucid Software Triggers Eight-Week Payback for Axminster Power Tools
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 15, 2007
L) and was formed out of the Enterprise Resource Planning software division of Kewill Systems just after 2000. As software authors for ERP and accounting software, K3 has approximately 1600 customers in the UK and abroad. SmartVision CRM, based on the standard Microsoft CRM application, is a product specifically developed for the manufacturing and supply chain industries over and above standard Microsoft CRM. Elucid software is the UK�s market leading, multi channel business solutions with 1,100 users across the UK. Elucid has specialist functionality to support companies that have multiple channels to market covering catalogues, web, call centres, retail outlet, direct mail and much more. All Elucid products are developed around core Microsoft technology. For more information please visit.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prweb178446.htm
Best Buy Selects Microsoft
EFYTimes - Feb 15, 2007
�Microsoft technologies such as Windows Mobile are playing a key role in enabling Geek Squad to deliver on its fundamental commitment: to give the customer a superior service experience,� said Rich Christensen, vice president and business information officer at Best Buy. �It provides our field personnel with rapid and constant access to comprehensive real-time customer information, an obvious competitive advantage over businesses that don�t. �Best Buy also recently decided to add Microsoft Dynamics CRM to its own IT services and solutions offerings. This will enable Best Buy For Business customers to benefit from the same features and functionality within the product that the major retailer uses in managing its customer relationships. Best Buy also offers Microsoft Dynamics � Point of Sale, an easy-to-use, affordable single-store application that enables small retailers to track and manage sales, inventory and customer information. Microsoft Dynamics � Point of Sale 2. 0 will be demonstrated in select Best Buy For Business stores.
http://www.efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnews.asp?edid=16284
TECH ED - Microsoft begins to ship Dynamics AX 4.0
Computerworld Australia - Feb 15, 2007
While he estimates that the "majority" of the Dynamics AX installed base runs the software on Microsoft's SQL Server, some users still run the applications on top of Oracle's rival offering so Dynamics AX 4. 0 includes support for the Oracle 10g database. While Microsoft has talked up hosting capabilities for its Dynamics CRM 3. 0 software of late, the vendor hasn't been so vocal about hosting for its ERP applications. However, McKee pointed out that Microsoft partners Unisys and OneNeck IT Services have been hosting Dynamics AX 3. 0 for a number of customers since July. Computerworld Buyer's Guide - Vendors Matched to this Article.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;726466261
Survey: What (Potential) Apex Developers Want from Salesforce
eWeek - Feb 15, 2007
"By making the Apex platform and programming language available, Salesforce. com is enabling the ecosystem to lead the way for the next level of innovation in on demand. "
The Apex technology will, if it takes hold, propel Salesforce from an on-demand CRM supplier into the realm of platform provider. Appirio's Weinstein believes that what Salesforce has today is "very appropriate" for developers. "It's a matter of more and more incremental capabilities," he said. But the cost of those services is still in question—and it's a key point for ISVs [independent software vendors] looking to build a business around Salesforce's platform... Net or J2EE nowhere on the site does it say, 'made by Microsoft,' or 'made by Sun. ' Nor are users charged every time they click on that site. As it stands now, that's not the case with Salesforce development. "That matters to our clients," said Fox. As one of Salesforce's largest system integrators with a mainline into customers who may also consider Apex as a development platform beyond CRM, Fox said he is looking for Apex to have the same level of development tools that he would find with Java.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2095479,00.asp
Invensys Gives Baan CRM Another Chance
Destination CRM - Feb 15, 2007
Whereas Aurum once competed to set the standards in sales automation, Invensys CRM employs Microsoft Outlook as the contact management front-end. Karulf admits up front that Invensys will have to compete in a "best of breed" rather than total solution role. He highlights patented technologies in mobile database synchronization and configurators as potential advantages to developing a true PRM (partner relationship management) system ahead of the competition. The improvements in the first (version 4. 2) Invensys release of the former Baan FrontOffice suite are modest, with better integration between the pricing and marketing functions, expanded international language support, some bug fixes and performance optimizations.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=1108
Take care.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
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!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
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.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
CRM News: Must Read: Microsoft Opens CES With Vista, Kicks Apple...
How are you?
Local, Danish IT firms announce merger
Pakistan Dawn - Jan 9, 2007
I am confident that the combined synergies and tremendous demand for IT resources in Europe will put us on the right track to be one of the first IT organisations in Pakistan employing more than 1,000 IT professionals. "
Aqcel was a pioneer in the IT outsourcing and development market, and since 1997 it had been delivering development solutions based on Microsoft technology worldwide. Aqcel was also among the largest suppliers of Microsoft CRM solutions. The Aqcel Group expected a 2007 turnover of approximately $0. With the merger, Mondo expected its own turnover for 2007 to be US$18 million. "The Aqcel Group suits Mondo perfectly, and brings us a great number of benefits from day one.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/09/ebr8.htm
CRM News: Must Read: Microsoft Opens CES With Vista, Kicks Apple...
CRM Buyer - Jan 8, 2007
CRM Buyer features CRM product information, reviews and comparisons. It is an independent source updated each day.
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/must-read/55034.html
Study Up on Software
thestreet.com - Jan 9, 2007
Software as a ServiceA related but somewhat different trend is software as a service, the hallmark of Salesforce, which is expected to appreciate by about 14%. Rather than sell perpetual licenses for expensive software run on a customer's network, Salesforce sells inexpensive subscriptions for customer relationship management software that runs on its own servers. The company is growing steadily and helped put Siebel, a vendor of conventional CRM software, out of business. Who are the losers? First and foremost is Red Hat (RHT) , expected to lose 11. 6%, after a crummy 2006 that saw the stock depreciate by 18%. Once a highflier, Red Hat is suffering from a deflation of expectations as Wall Street worries that the entry of Oracle and Microsoft (via a partnership with Novell (NOVL) ) will damages its prospects. Although there's no evidence yet that those fears are well-founded, the company has a lot to prove in the coming year... Because it is so widely held and is still seen as a technology bellwether, Microsoft is something of a special case. It gained 13% in 2006 and is expected to gain another 8% going forward. Much of the discussion about Microsoft last year centered on Vista, the new version of Windows. Now that it's out (for business users, that is) the constant speculation about whether the company would ship on time has ended. The stock did get a bump when it became clear that Vista would finally get out the door. Now the more important questions are: When will Vista drive revenue and by how much? Much of Wall Street figures that the new operating system won't be a significant force on the business side, which accounts for the bulk of sales, until 2008. That argument has been made so many times it doesn't need to be elaborated here, but it is worth noting that some analysts say Wall Street is missing a bet.
http://www.thestreet.com/pf/newsanalysis/techsoftware/10331517.html
Infragistics Officially Opens for Business in Tokyo
Earthtimes.org - Jan 8, 2007
NET products, documentation and sample applications. A Japanese-language Website is also available both for product information and localized e-commerce sales. Back office integration, including a Japanese- localized usage of Microsoft CRM and accounting has also been completed. About InfragisticsInfragistics has been the market leader in the presentation layer components industry for over 18 years, and has matured into a multi-platform Enterprise Software products and services vendor with global reach in nearly every Fortune 2000 company. Infragistics empowers developers to build and style great application user interfaces for Windows Forms, ASP. NET, WPF and JSF platforms, and additionally offers user interface test tools, support, training and consulting services.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,41582.shtml
NewsFactor Network | Microsoft and Ford Team on In-Car System
NewsFactor Network - Jan 8, 2007
The automaker will put Microsoft's system in a dozen models, starting in 2008. The system will be optional and is likely to cost less than $1,000, officials noted. Slow Development
Microsoft has made inroads in the automotive industry in the past, with its first in-car OS in 1998. A few years later, Bill Gates predicted demand would increase steadily, and the company made a commitment to more development in the area. In 2004, Microsoft contributed some software to Mercedes and BMW, and had its OS included in some products from Nextech and Clarion. A year later, it unveiled a major revamp to its Windows Automotive software, created to help automotive designers build in-car features with speech recognition, Bluetooth, and other technologies. Road Ahead
Although Microsoft has worked for years to bring its operating system to the driving experience, consumer adoption has been slow in coming, noted Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio.
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Microsoft--Ford-Team-on-In-Car-System/story.xhtml?story_id=0200029PQF8K
Open Source Software Closer to Commercial Enterprise Software |...
WebProNews - Jan 9, 2007
The acronym refers to the foundational foursome of the open-source movement: the Linux operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database and, collectively, the Perl, PHP and Python programming languages. Development tools such as Eclipse and application servers such as JBoss have also gained popularity--and trust--especially now that major vendors such as IBM, BEA Systems and Borland have adopted or supported them commercially. But what about the next step up the software ladder? Is open source ready for ERP, business intelligence or CRM?Ready or not, it's happening; the first industrial-grade applications in these areas are now emerging. And CIOs will soon need to decide how to approach these fresh options in their enterprise software catalog. As with the adoption of the LAMP players, these new open-source enterprise applications likely will find their way into the enterprise at a departmental or small-project level. As a result, "we don't see [these applications] on CIOs' agenda at all," notes Michael Goulde, an open-source senior analyst with Forrester Research. But, he warns, "CIOs should sync up with their development teams to see [where such applications] might have payback to the organization.
http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/expertarticles/wpn-62-20070109OpenSourceSoftwareClosertoCommercialEnterpriseSoftware.html
CRM News: Web Services: What Everyone Needs to Know About SOA
CRM Buyer - Jan 4, 2007
CRM Buyer features CRM product information, reviews and comparisons. It is an independent source updated each day.
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/aP0nrFZeBdcrX6/What-Everyone-Needs-to-Know-About-SOA.xhtml
CRM News: E-Commerce: Amazon Beefs Up Answer Service After Google...
CRM Buyer - Jan 4, 2007
CRM Buyer features CRM product information, reviews and comparisons. It is an independent source updated each day.
http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/V07accDsa8166x/Amazon-Beefs-Up-Answer-Service-After-Google-Drops.xhtml
NewsFactor Network | Microsoft Leaves Critical Word Flaws Unpatched
NewsFactor Network - Jan 10, 2007
us In its first monthly patch release of the year, Microsoft published four security updates that addressed 10 vulnerabilities related to Windows and Office applications, but did not issue a patch for two critical vulnerabilities found in Microsoft Word last month. "Do not open or save Word files that you receive from untrusted sources or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted sources," Microsoft warned in December. --> Related Topics.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=022000RB0G9M
Savaria Concord Implements Soffront CRM to Improve Sales, Lead...
Business Wire - Business Wire (press release) - Jan 9, 2007
in 2005, thereby doubling our business volume and the amount of leads we receive,” explained Ian Clark, marketing manager, Savaria Concord Lift. “Prior to Soffront, leads were manually downloaded from automatically generated. txt files into Microsoft Access and then distributed to the appropriate dealers. This process was highly inefficient and not feasible once the size of the company expanded. We needed a more efficient way to automatically manage leads from multiple websites. ” According to Clark, they looked at competing systems offered by well-known companies such as Salesforce. com and Siebel Systems prior to selecting Soffront CRM.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070109005172&newsLang=en
Satuit Announces Another CRM Client
TMCnet - Jan 5, 2007
fixed-income strategies to institutional investors, including insurance companies, corporate pension plans, public pension funds, Taft-Hartley funds and foundations and endowments. "SatuitCRM has everything we were looking for in a CRM package without any modifications," said Tim Daley, Assistant Vice President for Oppenheimer Investment Management.
http://news.tmcnet.com/news/-satuit-crm-/2007/01/05/2216495.htm
Is Google Going to Start Marketing?
WebProNews - Jan 8, 2007
It's all about being customer-centric rather than product-driven. That's not to say that product-driven companies like Microsoft or Google do not produce good products. Apply enough money and talent and good products should result. However they will not be as appropriate as they could be to meet customer needs if customers aren't part of the dialogue. That dialogue process can be very well served by the blogging process if senior management is self-confident enough to allow it. Of course the Titanic cannot turn on a dime... Of course the Titanic cannot turn on a dime. A huge organization does not change culture in months but rather in years. CRM Magazine suggests how it can be done in an article:. See how they describe the effect on Microsoft:Robert Scoble was blogging about Microsoft independently and the company, rather than shutting him down, recognized him as an authoritative voice, which gave him the freedom to be effective.
http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/blogtalk/wpn-58-20070108IsGoogleGoingtoStartMarketing.html
NewsFactor Network | Microsoft Confirms NSA's Role in Vista...
NewsFactor Network - Jan 10, 2007
us The NSA's involvement with Windows Vista -- which was confirmed by Microsoft this week -- is not the first time the NSA has provided guidance to Redmond. The NSA previously collaborated with Microsoft on the best methods to secure Windows XP and Windows 2000. The agency also has been credited with reviewing the Vista Security Guide published on Microsoft's Web site. --> Related Topics.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=02300000OA5R
EContentMag.com: Jadu Launches "Web 2.0" Content Management...
EContent - EContent (press release) - Jan 5, 2007
-based provider of enterprise content management systems has announced a range of products developed to provide 'Web 2. 0' technology to help organize information and content within an organization and enhance corporate communication. The new products range from feature enhancing modules for the Jadu CMS, such as Jadu Multimedia, which enables video casting and podcasting, to full platform products such as XFORMS Professional, an eforms system that integrates with CRM systems and enables self-service, and Jadu Intranet 2. 0, a social computing web portal for organizing, publishing, and blogging information within an organization.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=18932
Goodbye.
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