Articles by Louis Columbus

It's that time again; the earnings calls for CRM, ERP, hardware and services vendors are being scheduled, rehearsed and delivered to shareholders, industry and financial analysts. What's common across the more than two dozen calls I've listened to that span CRM, ERP and SCM software, hardware and services companies is that every CEO is offering up a spin on how global outsourcing is making their business even more cost-competitive, responsive to global markets and stronger for the strategic long run...

The irony is too strong to ignore. Gartner, Forrester, IDC and other analyst firms are all forecasting that outsourcing will continue growing rapidly. Yet not one is forecasting when industry analysis itself will move offshore With so many conceptual thinkers in these companies, someone has got to be running the numbers on what outsourcing means t...

I'll never forget playing on a losing football team growing up and having my friends --my friends! -- yell from the sideline, "You guys stink!" Thankfully, I discovered a passion for baseball, played for years, and even won a city championship Having your friends note your inability to compete always hurts, but it can also spur you to greater thin...

Making inroads into the next major market for software isn't going to happen from enterprise vendors trying to wedge expensive, large application footprints into a product strategy that appeals to medium-sized companies. Despite Oracle, Siebel and others proclaiming they can make this strategy work, the bottom line is that the financial pain of doing this is just too much for companies with their cost structures to bear...

There's a major disconnect between the expectations and results companies are getting when they realign processes aimed at serving their customers, as I've discovered in conversations with several manufacturers There are several reasons why these unrealistic expectations take hold. First, nearly every manufacturer that has complained about a lack o...

Research firms benchmark other companies, but they don't benchmark themselves. This is one of the biggest ironies of the research industry, and CRM analysts are right in the middle of it Financial analysts are now benchmarked as they give their stock recommendations on CNBC. When you watch CNBC and see a positive endorsement of a stock from an ana...

There are many common threads that tie together shopping for an analyst firm and kicking the tires of a sports utility vehicle. The power promised by the marketing behind both is impressive The trick is finding one that fits what you want to accomplish. Both have high expectations associated with them. And, as any test drive can quickly show, somet...

It's time the software industry quit ducking the tougher questions of growth by blindly claiming that every segment will either be conquered by or collapse into the domain of ERP systems It's getting tiresome to have so many industry insiders, financial analysts, journalists and commentators put forth this overly simplistic view of enterprise softw...

It is often said what separates one company's ability to develop, execute and sustain a CRM strategy is the active involvement of the CEO But it goes deeper than that....

Many people consider order management the heart of any enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It's heresy in many manufacturing companies even to talk of changing from a home-grown order-management system to an outside ERP system One world-class distributor is an example of one reason why. It has an ERP system finely tuned to its distribution c...

Too many companies take a very automated, ATM-like approach to the ROI they get from industry analyst organizations they work with. For all the cash these companies deposit, they expect only a quote from time to time from their industry analysts, hopefully generated with the same efficiency of a 24/7 ATM transaction It would be cheaper for the anal...

Think of this scenario: You're shopping for a new home and instead of guiding you into a single-digit fixed-rate mortgage, lenders try to persuade you that an adjustable mortgage indexed to your income makes more sense. Structuring mortgages like that makes no sense, and it's making less and less sense to purchase software that way Value-based pric...

You have to love the irony. Manufacturing companies spend months and thousands of dollars to select a channel management application that will cure many of the ills that years of neglect have created These manufacturers -- fighting with inconsistency of policies, lack of channel focus and leadership, and being beat on deals by competitors who study...

Let's face it. For many companies, the level of service to customers is lacking across the entire spectrum of their customer base, and service to internal customers is even worse The cruel irony of all the maneuvering inside companies to protect departments is that the only goal that matters -- service to internal and external customers -- gets los...

It's that time again; the earnings calls for CRM, ERP, hardware and services vendors are being scheduled, rehearsed and delivered to shareholders, industry and financial analysts. What's common across the more than two dozen calls I've listened to that span CRM, ERP and SCM software, hardware and services companies is that every CEO is offering up a spin on how global outsourcing is making their business even more cost-competitive, responsive to global markets and stronger for the strategic long run...

Companies looking at new CRM, order capture and even distributed order-management systems tend to give too much credibility to the vendors outside their company first, dismissing their own internal resources. What's troubling about this is that the answers to their toughest questions may very well be right in their departments, divisions, even the...

Look long enough at any company's Web site, C-level presentations, earnings conference calls or marketing efforts, and you'll find the phrases like, "customer-centered," "The customer comes first always," and "The customer is the center of the business." They are all noble thoughts to be sure, but too often the exact opposite is true: Companies hol...

Let's face it: CRM continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of enterprise applications. It doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves. Despite many research firms' take on the aggressive growth of customer-based initiatives inside manufacturing and services companies alike, CRM itself continues to go through a slow and painful metamorphosis today. L...

It's time to leave behind the hype of each new application release and get fundamental about what you are doing with your CRM strategies in the first place. Here's the bottom line: You will only be able to reach your goals if the processes that feed your CRM applications with verifiable, reliable, real data are functioning It's amazing how many com...