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One of the misconceptions that has bedeviled CRM has been the idea that it is simply a technology you buy and implement, thus solving your problems. Technology is a part of scaling your processes for managing customer relationships, to be sure, but in reality it's a link in a chain of decisions and ...

Sage took a major step in clarifying its position in the market when it hosted an analyst day in Boston last week. The company has been around for a long time and has been one of the higher revenue generators for many years thanks to an assortment of products that span the front and back offices of...

The cheapest available resources no longer necessarily come from the business next door. Any product or service that can be outsourced is more than likely being offered in some other region of the world for a competitive price, and it's up to consumers to decide where to spend their dollars. This m...

Lyris has upgraded its on-premises version of its email marketing application, ListManager 11. This product is the counterpart to its cloud-based version -- a more robust application that includes such features as specific database support. There are four major upgrades to ListManager 11, noted Bren...

What a week that was. I am still digging out from two snowstorms and dealing with bone-chilling cold, and so are friends across the country, except in the Bay Area, which only makes me envious. Perhaps none were as adversely affected as people on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. I take solace in two f...

Beagle Research is exploring one of the few categories of online videos that thus far has escaped formal scrutiny: the marketing videos of software -- specifically, CRM companies. The research group has announced "The Beagle Short Tale Awards" for 2011. A panel of five industry experts rated about 1...

When Microsoft began demoing early betas of its newest CRM iteration, Dynamics CRM 2011, it used map-based examples to show off the functionality. Problem was, there were no robust mapping features actually embedded in the application, which got Paul Reitmeyer, senior CRM consultant at Planet Techno...

The emergence of the social customer is forcing businesses to think differently about how they reach the people to whom they sell, and much has been written about ways for businesses to cope with this. However, as is all too common in CRM discussions, the customer is often forgotten as we default to...

The long recession and the rise of social CRM were not simply coincidental. I believe they happened together. That's not to say that social CRM happened for some cosmic reason; I neither subscribe to the belief that all things happen for a reason nor do I believe I am qualified to hold forth beyon...

Consumers are spending more time and money online today than ever before. They start and end their day checking email and popping onto social gaming and shopping sites. This often comes at the expense of other entertainment options like traditional television, film or even spending an evening out....

When it comes to the broad topic of "CRM failure," you often hear the same tales: a too-complicated integration, an incompetent integrator or inflexible technology. The reality is that technology is usually not the problem, nor is it integration or integrators. If you push, you'll find that the most...

Call it "Clash of the Titan," emphasis on the singular: a courtroom victory for software giant Microsoft over Matt Miszewski that restrains the former employee from joining CRM rival Salesforce.com. Miszewski, a Microsoft government services division manager until last December, violated non-compete...

Wouldn't it be great if customers who had questions about your products could get the answer from other customers? Wouldn't it be wonderful if customers brainstormed on ways you could improve your service processes? Wouldn't it be tremendous if you could see trends in service needs and adjust your p...

Microsoft did some smart things last week when it announced its Dynamics CRM Online service. Most of the headlines will focus on the teaser rate or introductory pricing of only US$34 per seat-month for 12 months. Until June, users of Oracle CRM On-Demand and Salesforce who switch will have an adde...

Back in the mid-1990s, then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates offered a prophetic observation. The impact of the Web, he wrote, would be greater than most people thought, but would take longer to happen than was commonly supposed. Turns out, happily for Microsoft, that he was right. Yet now, perhaps not so...