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Six Steps for Successfully Buying CRM Software

2005-08-02T12:01:00.000+07:00

Roy Balkus, vice president of technology for Naugatuck Savings Bank, has a "huge mountain" of data on the bank's customers. "What we're doing right now is data warehousing, which gives us a lot more in terms of details as to what customers do," he said. But eventually Balkus, who chairs America's Community Bankers' Retail Banking, Operations, Security & Technology Committee, would like to

The Top 10 Ways to Fail at Customer Service

2005-07-26T08:19:00.000+07:00

After combing the company's Web site for 10 minutes to find a telephone number, you dial, only to be greeted by the company's seven-layer voice-mail system. Once you finally get a human being on the line, he or she insists that you screwed up or puts you on hold while finding someone who might be qualified to answer your questions. It's Dante's customer service hell. My husband, an

CRM ROI Revisited

2005-07-26T08:07:00.000+07:00

In the heat of the customer-relationship management (CRM) software craze, product makers Siebel, SAP and Peoplesoft sold big-ticket enterprise applications packed full of promises. Two years later, the fervor chilled as the return on investment (ROI) remained conspicuously absent. The vendors

The Cost Basics of CRM Buying

2005-07-20T08:53:00.000+07:00

A CRM purchase should always be preceded by a needs-assessment analysis. These are complex endeavors that map out a company's pain points in its customer-service operations to determine what application or series of applications can address these problems. After a few years of declining sales, companies are beginning to step up purchases of customer-relationship management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management – Beyond the "buzz"

2005-07-04T08:28:00.001+07:00

By Mandeep Khera, VP of Worldwide Marketing, United Customer Management Solutions Internet. CRM. Web. Electronic Commerce. e-CRM. If you don’t know these buzz words, you might not be very popular at parties. Sprinkle them around and you will impress quite a few people around you. CRM or Customer Relationship Management is one of the fastest growing areas – both in the "buzz world" and the

Kindness Is The Killer App of CRM

2005-07-04T08:28:00.000+07:00

By Chuck Sykes Is there anything you won't do for your customers?Certainly there is. The low cost air carrier, Southwest Airlines, for example, won't feed you or offer reserved seating, but at the same time they have the airline industry's best cumulative customer satisfaction record. What are they doing right? They manage their customers' expectations and then provide fast, friendly

Everything You Always Knew About CRM But Never Dared To Say

2005-07-02T11:23:00.000+07:00

For some years now I have been a very close observer of the CRM market - hype and all. Yet the more I read and see, the less I believe. To me CRM is like AIDS: nobody seems to be genuinely interested in the truth anymore; lies, politics and - above all - profits drive an insane PR machine that feeds on people and their tragedies in order to survive. Back in 1999 the Gartner Group said that

What's Really CRM!

2005-07-01T11:27:00.000+07:00

CRM is a business approach that integrates People, Processes and Technology to maximize the relations of an organization with all types of customers.The true value of CRM is to transform strategy, operational processes and business functions in order to retain customers and increase customer loyalty and profitability. Aris Pantazopoulos -

CRM. What’s it all about?

2005-07-01T08:07:00.001+07:00

After 12 years working in the Advertising/Marketing world I decided to leave and with the help of two partners (Oracle DBA and Warehousing/Applications) formed an Oracle Consultancy. On researching my designated specialist area (CRM) I found that every paper I read was full of techno-babble or over indulgent complex paragraphs trying to make a simple operation or concept sound more

Database Marketing & Relationship Management: 10 Steps to get you started

2005-07-01T08:07:00.000+07:00

The following is my understanding of WHAT should be done in order to create the right environment for Database Marketing and Relationship Management. The HOW largely depends on the company's individual circumstances. Database Marketing is just one term used to describe the way organisations look for improving and streamlining their marketing activities in a world of increasing competition,

CRM for Dummies

2005-06-30T08:19:00.001+07:00

More often than not we hear the consulting gurus say something like “CRM can help you not only retain existing customers, but can also help you widen your customer base” or “CRM helps you track your opportunities better, and helps you focus on those customers who help you to rake in that much more – not just in terms of volume, but also interms of profitability” or several such things and we

CRM Overview

2005-06-30T08:19:00.000+07:00

What is CRM? Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is an information technology industry term for methodologies, strategies, software, and other web-based capabilities that help an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships. For example, "if a marketing department runs an outbound campaign, all of the information about the customers and the program should be retained for the

CRM Fear Factor

2005-06-28T10:04:00.000+07:00

When Is It OK To Say No to a Customer?A car rental customer notices a minor scratch on the car before returning it. He does not mention this incident when he turns it in and tries to hide the scratch. The rental agent makes a very detailed inspection of the car, finds the scratch and tells the customer that the car must be taken in for repair, for which he'll be charged.The customer gets furious

100 Proven CRM Ideas, Part 1

2005-06-27T08:47:00.000+07:00

...successful and disastrous: 90 bright ideas for your CRM strategy and 10 dim ones to avoid. Edited by David MyronFrom CRM Magazine June 2005CRM projects fail--and succeed--for many reasons. When they fail it's often because they lack guidance. It takes a customer-centric vision across all departments and employee levels to be successful. It's a daunting task, but don't reach for the antacid yet

The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database

2005-06-25T08:41:00.000+07:00

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990’s with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First among these was that

CRM Star Wars: When Marketing is from Venus and IT is from Mars

2005-06-24T09:16:00.001+07:00

Inherent tensions exist between marketing and IT. This is often compounded by lots of cross-talk, with each function on different channels. When tension becomes unresolved conflict, CRM strategy is impossible to execute. To avoid clashes, it helps to understand that CRM is not just about the exchange of information, it's about the exchange of relationships. And every effective relationship

How CRM Software Works -- Creating Customer Satisfaction with a Click

2005-06-24T09:16:00.000+07:00

When people ask, “What is CRM?” the literal answer is, “Customer Relationship Management,” but that doesn’t really convey much in terms of what all CRM does for a business. This CRM definition is too narrow to really explain everything the system does if it is working to its fullest potential and is user-friendly enough to expand and grow as a customer-client relationship changes and

Is your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system doomed to fail?

2005-06-20T10:47:00.002+07:00

“Right, People. Let’s blast out that mail campaign we’ve been planning for so long.” It’s time to put your trusty CRM software to work; to let it earn its keep. You run a search of people and companies you want to target. You soon realize something’s wrong when your list is far smaller than anticipated. A quick check reveals many profiles/categories have not been filled in, impacting

The First Rule of CRM for Financial Services

2005-06-20T10:47:00.001+07:00

Things have to change. Cross selling is not going to happen simply by installing new CRM technology. A corresponding movement from a transaction mentality to the underlying CRM principle of focusing on the long-term relationship is required. What does this mean for financial services? Stop pushing products and start building relationships. The Consumer's Perspective Let's take a look

CRM: Strategic Engine or Just Another Tool?

2005-06-20T10:47:00.000+07:00

CRM…strategic engine or just another technology tool? How would you answer this question about your company's CRM initiative? It depends on how honest you are in answering some other questions, including: Do your people have real decision-making power to provide great customer service? Do you have the right people with the right knowledge and skills? Are you including people across the

Live Chat Software Review 2005

2005-06-16T15:33:00.000+07:00

Listed in order of rating by TopTenREVIEWS.com#1 Livehelper (Gold)#2 Velaro (Silver)#3 LiveChatNow (Bronze)#4 LiveSiteManager#5 LivePerson Pro#6 SiteChat Deluxe#7 PHPLive#8 Live2Support#9 Boldchat#10 Intelli-ChatWhy Live Chat Support Software?Online consumers are some of the most impatient and demanding around, expecting answers from your online support group that are as quick as their computer's

Microsoft CRM Implementation fundamental CRM principles revision

2005-06-13T09:32:00.000+07:00

By Andrew KarasevMicrosoft CRM is relatively new player on the now becoming traditional CRMsoftware applications market. We would like just to mention shift in thetechnical conception Microsoft CRM is committed to Windows and Microsoftcomponents: Exchange, Active Directory, SQL Server, etc (while traditional CRMapplications, such as Siebel were biased toward multiplatform compatibility:Unix,

Microsoft CRM in Brazil: implementation, customization,support overview for consultant

2005-06-13T09:29:00.000+07:00

By Arthur FerrettiMicrosoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US softwaremarket plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth ofMicrosoft CRM implementations across Brazil and the need for Microsoft CRMimplementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially insuch business metros as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre,

Microsoft CRM in Latin America: implementation, customization, support overview for consultant

2005-06-13T09:27:00.000+07:00

By Arthur FerrettiMicrosoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US softwaremarket plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth ofMicrosoft CRM implementations across South and Central America and the need forMicrosoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services,especially in such countries as Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina,

Microsoft CRM Integration with Lotus Domino email Server - overview for programmer

2005-06-13T09:23:00.000+07:00

by Andrew Karasev & Boris MakushkinMicrosoft Business Solutions CRM is in the market expansion mode and this CRMsolution is using all the recent Microsoft technologies - Microsoft SQL Server2000, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, Active Directory, etc. Microsoft CRM hasconnector to Microsoft Exchange to send and receive email from Microsoft CRMlead, opportunity, account, contact. There is competitor

Microsoft CRM Development: SDK, C#, SQL, Exchange, Integration, Crystal Reports

2005-06-13T09:21:00.000+07:00

By Andrew KarasevMicrosoft CRM is new player on the CRM software market. The whole conception behind CRM seems to be different. In case of traditional CRM software (Siebel, Oracle) - the application was designed with platform independence in mind.Microsoft CRM is dedicated to Microsoft technology and so deploys all the Microsoft tools: Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, SQL