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With holiday season promotions escalating into top gear, the term "free shipping" is popping up on many e-commerce sites. While the promotions do attract the attention of consumers, the meaning of the term and the impact of such promotions on retailers' sales are decidedly mixed at this stage. Ship...

When you're making a large investment in software, you want to be sure that you're buying from a reputable company that will be there to support you long-term. Getting a short list of happy customers that your vendor has helped -- some references -- is a common part of most companies' buying process...

OpenSpan, a Microsoft partner, rolled out an application integration platform that allows users of Microsoft's Customer Care Framework 2008 -- which was also introduced Wednesday -- to link together older applications and custom-built systems with the front-end agent desktop. Built on the Microsoft ...

Another best-of-breed business intelligence vendor has been snapped up: This time, it is Cognos, which IBM has agreed to acquire for $5 billion in cash, or roughly $58 per share. The move was widely anticipated, given the recent acquisitions made by IBM's rivals in this space. Earlier this year, SAP...

The holiday season may bring joy to consumers and retailers alike, but hand in hand with that joy comes the inevitable pain of post-holiday returns. Gift returns can be a hassle for consumers, but for retailers they pose a daunting logistical challenge, requiring speedy adjustments throughout the pi...

Companies' integrated voice recognition applications are being stretched thin. Even when the best interface designs are in place, customers are abandoning calls before completion. Forty-three percent of companies surveyed in the "Contact Center Analytics" benchmark were either seeing poorer performa...

OK, I get it. I went to the Sales 2.0 conference in San Francisco last week and there was a lot to like about it. In my career, I have seen some major back and forth changes in selling, and I have to say that these changes relate more to what is being offered than who we are selling to. Every salesp...

Sage Software has upgraded ACT by Sage for Real Estate 2008 (10.0) and ACT by Sage Premium for Real Estate 2008 (10.0) contact and customer management applications. These were introduced last year as ACT's first vertical offerings. The company rolled out the two new versions during its Sage Summit c...

Calabrio has upgraded its workforce optimization products, which go to market through several channel partners, including as an OEM to Cisco's Unified Contact Center product line. The company upgraded Workforce Management to version 8.1 and Quality Management to version 2.4. The latter in particular...

NetSuite has introduced SuiteBundler, a new platform for its channel partners. The product is a new component in its development and integration toolset, SuiteFlex. SuiteBundler offers a new generation of development tools for its third-party channel partners so they can continue to create vertical ...

Not too long ago, advice to keep a CRM implementation simple would have focused around due diligence for the application. It would have focused on negotiating the best deal with a systems integrator. Most of all, it would have focused on a clear needs assessment driving the application. That was the...

Microsoft has cut by almost half the cost of its CRM Live application for partners, bringing its price point down to $15 per user per month. The price cut, of course, is part of Microsoft's ongoing support for its partner network that the company must leverage to make inroads in the Software as a Se...

I have been anticipating the Sales 2.0 conference coming up in San Francisco for many reasons. As a certified, bag-carrying sales guy for a number of years, selling is part of me and though I am an old dog, I do enjoy at least hearing about new tricks. I am also an avid fan of the game and many of ...

Hoping to turn up the heat on BEA's board of directors, Oracle on Tuesday set a deadline for the company to accept its $6.7 billion buyout offer. In a letter to BEA's board, Oracle said its current offer of $17 per share in cash would expire at 5 p.m. on Oct. 28. Oracle said the board has rejected i...

SAP has had a wealth of good news to share this week, as it announced a planned acquisition, reported rosy earnings and scored a significant coup. First, with an eye toward ramping up its capabilities in business rules management, SAP announced Wednesday that it plans to acquire Yasu Technologies. S...