TODAY'S TOP STORIES:
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)
SAP makes a strong, if limited entry into the on-demand CRM market with a debut product focusing on sales force automation, while on-demand veteran Salesnet fine-tunes its offering.
The drive to gain a comprehensive view of the customer has outpaced some companies' ability to deploy scaled, successful CRM projects. It would seem that the end of CRM is at hand, but in fact, says Forrester analyst William Band, many organizations are highly entrenched in their CRM efforts and continue to spend a great deal of time and money to leverage its greatest benefits.
CRM hosts promise top-notch customer service plus better access for mobile salespeople. Of the six we examined, our Editor's Choice impressed us with its well-designed interface.
If your dream is to make a seamless transition to CRM, dream on. Most midmarket solutions require complicated deployment procedures and customization. Still, with some hard work, integration is possible.
SAP makes a strong, if limited, entry into the on-demand CRM market with a debut product focusing on sales force automation. Meanwhile, on-demand veteran Salesnet fine-tunes its offering.
As expected, SAP unveiled its hosted CRM game plan Thursday. Somewhat surprisingly, its partner in the endeavor is IBM and the claims to suit both hosted and on-premise use.
Microsoft plans to break out of SMB into enterprise with CRM, executives say.
SAP has made its initial plunge into CRM-as-a-service, with a solid, if unspectacular offering. Can the software giant compete with upstarts like Salesforce.com or SalesNet -- or does it even have to? We take a look at this heated market segment a in today's edition of Network Computing's Daily Spin...
Salesnet Eases Customization For Hosted CRM
SAP will offer eligible partners a one-time fee on new CRM on-demand services if they refer the business to the vendor, a company executive said.
In this edition: A tale of CRM migration gone wrong. It's a good object lesson for IT project managers not to ignore key stakeholders -- including end users -- who might be affected by the change.
Microsoft Business Solutions is extending beyond its small- and midsize-business roots by more aggressively pushing its CRM and ERP wares into enteprise accounts.
Starting next spring, customers will be able to get hosted CRM from Microsoft, as well as from hosting partners -- all taking on hosting giants Salesforce.com and IBM.
IT pros say SaaS must compete on more than price to take a bite out of conventional licensed applications' market share. But what if you could save really big? We evaluate the pros and cons of SaaS adoption with an in-depth analysis of deployment costs and the projected impact of this service model over a three-year period.
It offered a second reminder to users of its CRM software to go slow when applying XP Service Pack 2.
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