A users’ guide to CRM software

July 4, 2008 from ComputerWorld Canada – “Mobility and software as a service are changing customer relationship management and sales force software. Upstart Salesforce.com has made a significant dent in the market, and established vendors of licensed software are playing catchup. SAP AG’s recent alliance with Research in Motion Inc. is the latest development as CRM vendors try to meet customer growing demand for mobility. And user interfaces are evolving to meet the expectations of people who have grown up with the Web…”

180 View – There are a lot more CRM systems than listed in the article. Check out our CRM portal . We only recently launched this site and would appreciate your comments and suggestions in adding additional product and/or VARs.

How to make SaaS CRM a success

June 2, 2008 from MyCustomer.com – “Has software as a service (SaaS) made it to the mainstream? Opinion is divided. Some of the leading voices in the SaaS market still see their outreach to the market as heavily educational and evangelical. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, argues that it can take up to 10 years before a technology makes it across Geoffrey Moore's famous 'chasm' of acceptance.

Others are more convinced that CRM SaaS at least has made it to mainstream thinking, among them Forrester Research. Forrester conducted a survey late last year of 1,017 IT decision makers and US and European firms to evaluate their opinion. The study found that nearly two thirds of those surveyed were either using or piloting SaaS offerings, with CRM the most commonly used.

180 View – We think that SaaS is mainstream for CRM. The same will happen for ERP over the next few years. One of the more interesting points in the article was “You also need to think getting a formal service-level agreement (SLA). You may find that your SaaS provider will not be eager to discuss this too closely in order to "avoid risk and responsibility when selling directly to business users.” Good luck in getting the SaaS vendors to agree to penalties. But is the risk of downtime or other problems any greater than an on premise solution when the network/server/ISP… fails?

Hosted CRM Buyer’s Guide

2007 from INSIDE.CRM – “…According to technology market analysts at Forrester, the CRM market is poised to hit nearly $74 billion in sales in 2007. CRM applications represent about $21 billion of that market, with services making up the rest. With so much money to be made, it’s no surprise the CRM landscape features scores of players, from up-and-comers to industry stalwarts. Key vendors include Amdocs, PeopleSoft, Salesforce.com and Siebel Systems, to name a few…”

180 View – The article is about a year old but does provide a few insights on the differences between Hosted vs. On-Premise CRM.

Microsoft Releases Dynamics CRM Online

April 22, 2008 from InformationWeek – “Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s been dabbling with on-demand software services for awhile, but the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, beginning Tuesday, marks its most significant effort yet to provide the market with an alternative to Salesforce.com.

The software service for managing a business's customer contacts, sales information, and marketing efforts is available as a subscription and hosted from Microsoft's data centers using a multitenant architecture. General availability follows months of testing by 500 Microsoft customers.

Microsoft is trying to beat Salesforce.com on price and storage options. The base version, called Professional, costs $44 per month per user following a one-year introductory rate of $39 per month. That includes 5 GB of data storage per organization and the ability to customize workflows. The Professional Plus version costs $59 per user per month with 20 GB of storage, with more customization features and the ability to synchronize data contained in other systems with the service. Users access the service using Microsoft Outlook or a Web browser as an interface.

180 View – Microsoft is now fighting yet another war (with Salesforce.com), but it’s a war that they are well equipped to wage. But Salesforce.com has formidable allies especially in Google. Click here to see the April 15, 2008 from itWorldCanada entitled “Google, Salesforce.com partner on business apps”

Enterprise software survey 2007

September 2007 from CAmagazine and written by Michael Burns – “Our annual CAmagazine software survey is back and this year it’s bigger than ever. We combined all our surveys — accounting/ERP, customer relationship management, business intelligence/corporate performance management and professional services automation — into this issue…”

Poor Process Brings CRM Pain, Experts Warn

August 17, 2007 from IT Business Edge – “Companies have fallen into the trap of having thought that they have bought a solution, whereas what has really happened is that they have bought some technology. This technology may make things work faster – but if the over-riding CRM processes are bad, all you will do is hack off customers more quickly than you were doing before – and possibly more of them.”

180 View – The same can be said for any system. Implementing a new system is the best opportunity you will ever have to improve business process.

Customer relationship management doesn't have to be complex and expensive

February 7, 2007 from ITbusiness by Vawn Himmelsbach – “While the idea of installing customer relationship management (CRM) software can be intimidating to smaller businesses, it shouldn't be. In fact, it doesn't have to be either complicated or expensive for those companies that consider themselves SMBs…

Both small and large companies require a central repository of customer information, says Michael Burns, president of Toronto-based 180 Systems. The most basic CRM systems include a contact management system; but more sophisticated features include sales force automation, marketing automation and service management (but as a small company, some of these features may be overkill)…

At one point in time there was a differentiation between front-end systems, like CRM, and back-end systems, like accounting or ERP, but that distinction is gradually fading, says Burns. Now it's recognized that you require both, and even the most basic of systems will usually contain CRM components. Several accounting packages have tight integration with products from top-tier CRM vendors, for example.

"It's hard for any company that has an application that automates your enterprise to exclude CRM," says Burns. But, he adds, if you don't have it, you're going to have a hard time down the road selling your wares.”

180 View – Great article by Vawn especially considering that she has quoted us.

Salesforce.com and Deloitte Consulting Ally

January 30, 2007 from Destination CRM – “Salesforce.com is pairing with Deloitte Consulting in a strategic alliance that may enhance the on-demand CRM giant's ability to further penetrate into larger organizations. As part of the alliance, revealed on Tuesday, Deloitte will incorporate Salesforce.com's on-demand CRM apps and the Apex on-demand platform into its consulting services.

Salesforce.com's alliance with Deloitte will help give enterprises the confidence they need to develop, customize, integrate, and deploy on-demand applications with consultants that can help them address their global requirements, according to Bobby Napiltonia, senior vice president of worldwide channels and alliances at Salesforce.com. "The largest enterprise businesses worldwide are realizing they too can take part in on-demand success," he said in a written statement. "With Salesforce Winter '07 and the Apex on-demand platform, companies are able to extend the benefits of on-demand applications to any part of the enterprise."

"Salesforce.com's on-demand model can help change the way large organizations approach their customers," said Paul Clemmons, Deloitte Consulting principal and emerging solutions leader, in a written statement. "We look forward to working even more closely with Salesforce.com to help our clients in their efforts to realize significant results from their on demand applications. The Salesforce.com Apex on-demand platform represents an opportunity to expand the benefits of on-demand computing across many facets of an enterprise."

The announcement dovetails with the findings of a study unveiled today by Nucleus Research and KnowledgeStorm, a search resource for tech solutions and information. More than half of the 198 organizations surveyed use on-demand solutions, and nearly two-thirds plan on implementing an on-demand offering in the next year, according to the study. "This survey shows that the on-demand model is beginning to outgrow its image as a small business solution that, while cost-effective, couldn't scale reliably," Jeff Ramminger, executive vice president of KnowledgeStorm, said in a written statement. "Now, companies of all sizes can take advantage of the efficiencies of these types of solutions."

Salesforce.com has been trying to move up-market for a while, says Timothy Hickernell, associate senior analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. "At some point in this process, software vendors do need to have credible system integration partnerships to get their foot in the door of large firms. The key will be to see how many resources Deloitte--and other SIs--ultimately put towards this partnership, such as full-time consultants trained and certified on Salesforce.com's technology."

180 View – This article is interesting partly because of the statistics supporting the on demand model as well as Deloitte’s commitment to it. Another view is about lack of independence. Deloitte has other strategic relationships including with Cognos, Lawson, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Our perspective is that Deloitte (and the other firms like it that offer implementation services with specific systems) will be unable to provide independent consulting advice in business process improvement projects that potentially involve either replacement or upgrades.

Third annual CRM survey

December 1, 2006 from CAmagazine and written by Michael Burns – “Welcome to our third annual roundup of customer relationship management systems. This year, we have 16 systems, including ACT!, Epicor, Epiphany, Exact e-Synergy, GoldMine, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite, SageCRM.com, SalesLogix, Salesforce and SAP Business One. We are fortunate that many of the leading CRM vendors are participating in our survey this year. We also interviewed Microsoft, Sage and Salesforce.com for their views on trends and what they think makes them different.

The big CRM trends this year are hosting, integration and open source. Salesforce.com and NetSuite paved the way for application service providers to become a respected method for deploying this type of software. ASPs host applications on their Internet sites, which are typically equipped with state-of-the-art technology and security. This allows organizations to avoid the costs associated with managing the computer and database that goes with it. In 2006, both Microsoft and SAP jumped on the ASP bandwagon...”