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According to Gartner, while many businesses are implementing customer relationship management (CRM) strategies, a majority of them will underestimate the costs of these undertakings by as much as 40-75 percent. Thats a lot of money, to be sure. Yet, if a company does not implement a CRM solution,
there can be a completely different set of costs the price of lost customers. So how can businesses better estimate the liquid costs involved?
Gartner advises businesses to develop and integrate key project management tools to guide decision-making throughout CRM initiatives. According to Beth Eisenfeld, research director for Gartner, Many businesses blindly pursue costly CRM initiatives without understanding the challenges and costs involved. Project management tools are the key to managing the economic factors and keeping projects on track and profitable.
CRM initiatives are most successfully managed by using a combination of four project management tools specifically designed to manage the intricacies of CRM projects. These tools include total cost of ownership (a holistic view of IT costs across the enterprise over time and includes people, processes, and technology); benefit projections; ROI projections; and work plans for the various implementations of technology that will enable CRM. Each of these tools is an input into the critical business case analysis that should be done prior to embarking on CRM initiatives to ensure the decision to pursue CRM is economically sound and a good investment.
Gartner also maintains that CRM application suites are receiving a muted response from customers, but CRM suites will prevail and, in fact, be the standard for CRM success. Central to presenting a satisfying customer experience will be a suite of CRM applications that define a consistent set of business rules for customer interactions, both direct and self-service, across channels and throughout the customer life cycle, said Michael Maoz, vice president and research director for Gartner.
PeopleSoft 8 is one such CRM application suite that is gaining rapid market acceptance, being selected by companies such as PepsiAmericas, Thomson Financial, and Gillette. PeopleSoft 8 applications are delivered over a standard Internet browser for comprehensive business management. Organizations can create collaborative networks that can be accessed anytime, anywhere by their customers, employees, and suppliers. PeopleSoft 8 also delivers extensive wireless capabilities for mobile commerce.
Another example of a CRM application suite is offered by E.piphany. The E.piphany E.5 system is a set of next-generation solutions that brings together analytic and operational CRM, enabling companies to uncover deep insights into customers and products, and to act on those insights immediately. E.piphany E.5 is a Web-based, intelligent CRM solution that coordinates and unifies in real time all inbound and outbound interactions with customers, regardless of whether they fall into the business-to-consumer or business-to-business category.
These are just two examples. Other companies with excellent offerings include Oracle, Siebel, and SAP. Be sure to read up on the latest news in this section to find out what is going on in this incredibly important industry segment.
Gartner analysts said the average business has lost more than half its customers during the past five years, resulting in earnings that are nearly 100 percent lower than what could have been achieved with as little as 5 percent improvement in customer retention. In my opinion, thats a hefty price to pay for not implementing a CRM solution.
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Interactive
Commerce News
CosmoCom And ISC Form Alliance
CosmoCom has formed an alliance with ISC, a contact center consulting and software development company. The alliance combines CosmoCall Universe, CosmoComs all-IP contact center platform, with ISCs Irene suite of IP-based workforce management applications. ISCs next-generation workforce management suite of products leverages sophisticated forecasting and scheduling algorithms with a friendly browser-based interface. Irene was designed to deliver the features required in todays sophisticated call center environment , and to do so with the requisite scalability, performance and reliability. CosmoCall Universe is a new generation call center technology that connects businesses and their customers worldwide in multimedia, multi-channel call centers that include telephone, voice, and video over the Internet, keyboard chat, IVR, e-mail, voice mail, and fax. CosmoComs totally IP-based call center software allows customer service representatives to be located anywhere, and supports high capacity and high availability for the mission-critical applications of service providers and large-scale businesses.
www.cosmocom.com; 631-940-4200
www.ics.com; 212-477-8800
SAS, Blue Martini Software Form Global Alliance
SAS Institute and Blue Martini Software have announced a three-year, global strategic alliance that will enable organizations to gain deeper insights into their customers and act on those insights across all electronic customer touch points. Joint SAS and Blue Martini customers will benefit by leveraging advanced analytical CRM solutions from SAS to create a consistent, multi-channel view of every customer from a variety of sources, including Blue Martinis eCRM application suite, and mine that data to deliver actionable intelligence to enhance customer relationships. The knowledge derived from SASs comprehensive suite of analytical CRM solutions will be deployed via Blue Martinis eCRM applications to extend Blue Martinis analytics and visualization capabilities and improve customer interaction. The interactions resulting from SAS and Blue Martini solutions will be enhanced due to more targeted campaigns and personalized communications across all touch points served by Blue Martini, including Web sites, call centers, and wireless devices.
www.sas.com; 919-677-8000
www.bluemartini.com; 650-356-4000
Ericsson Selects Sybase Software To Anchor Customer Service Application
Ericsson has selected Sybases Industry Warehouse Studio (IWS) as a key component of its Cenaxis Call Centre Portfolio. The Cenaxis Call Centre Portfolio provides customer interaction services to companies that use call centers to support their customers. IWS software features pre-built data models for the communications industry that help Ericsson provide an integrated, customer-centric view of data customers through their Cenaxis Call Centre Portfolio. The Ericsson Cenaxis Call Centre Portfolio provides a wide range of customer interaction services that companies can deploy on any network. The portfolio offers service applications for network operators and service providers as well as business application services for their corporate customers. With the IWS application, Ericsson has now added full analytical capability to its call center solution.
www.ericsson.com; 972-583-0000
www.sybase.com; 510-922-3500
Microlog Signs Agreement With Cincom
Microlog recently announced that it had executed a non-exclusive licensing and services agreement for its uniQue product line with the CCTG Division of Cincom Systems, a major worldwide CRM software product and services company. This announcement represents the completion of the definitive agreement associated with the letter of intent that Microlog announced previously on March 20, 2001. The agreement includes licensing and distribution rights, support services, and customer integration professional services to augment services provided by Cincom. The contract has an initial term of five years, the first three years of which are estimated to be worth as much as $8.15 million in royalty fees to Microlog.
www.mlog.com; 301-540-5500
www.cincom.com; 513-612-2769
EDS Teams With E.phiphany
EDS and E.piphany have announced that EDS will offer E.piphanys next-generation customer CRM software to its clients on a global basis. Under terms of a three-year, worldwide master software licensing agreement, EDS will incorporate the full E.piphany E.5 suite of CRM solutions as part of its integrated CRM service offerings, making EDS a reseller of E.piphany products. Additionally, EDS plans to provide global outsourcing and ASP services for the entire E.piphany E.5 suite of marketing, sales, and service applications. The two companies will also work together globally to offer clients and end users analytics-based intelligent CRM solutions that enable companies to drive immediate customer value and rapid organizational ROI.
www.epiphany.com; 650-356-3800
www.eds.com; 800-566-9337
SAP Ships Newest Version Of mySAP Customer Relationship Management
SAP AG announced that it began shipping the newest version of mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) to customers worldwide. mySAP CRM provides a breadth of functionality through a full suite of CRM functions. In addition, mySAP CRM can also serve as a platform to openly integrate with either SAP or non-SAP business applications such as supply chain management, product lifecycle management, and human lifecycle management for flexibility that meets each businesss unique needs. While other CRM providers are reducing staff and discounting their prices to gain customers, we are poised for success in the CRM market. Companies want to do business with proven, financially stable software suppliers, said Carol Burch, senior vice president of Global CRM at SAP AG. Companies continue to come to SAP to benefit from our industry know-how and years of experience at providing dependable software solutions. With our focused organization, customers can rest assured that SAP can deliver the service and support they need for a successful project.
www.sap.com; 610-661-1000
Syntel To Leverage Oracle9i Application Server
Syntel announced that it has committed to leveraging Oracle9i Application Server (Oracle9iAS) as part of its Certified Solution Partner membership of the Oracle Partner Program (OPP). Syntel will leverage the complete and simple platform provided by Oracle9iAS to deploy fast, scaleable, and reliable e-business applications and Web sites through its highly skilled, worldwide consultant base. With this announcement, Syntel becomes part of a growing community that delivers solutions or services based on Oracle9iAS. Syntel also brings latest-to- legacy technology depth and experience to its Global 2000 target market. Oracle9i Application Server is a perfect complement to Syntels comprehensive suite of advanced technology solutions. Our integration expertise with Oracles e-business suite, CRM products, and application server, combined with our Global Delivery Service, will provide our customers with reliable, successful, and affordable business solutions based on leading technology, said Rajiv Tandon, Syntels senior vice president, North American Operations.
www.oracle.com; 800-ORACLE-1
www.syntelinc.com; 248-619-2800
SalesLogix To Offer Guaranteed CRM
With QuickStart Initiative
Interact Commerce Corp., the makers of SalesLogix, announced the launch of SalesLogix QuickStart. The program, designed specifically for small businesses, provides companies with a complete CRM package that includes software, support, services, and training, implemented in 30 days for one upfront, fixed price. This offering addresses a segment of the market that needs CRM, but that is both concerned by high failure rates and never-ending deployments associated with large- scale CRM implementations, and apprehensive about incurring unforeseen implementation and consulting costs, said Sharon Ward, vice president, Enterprise Applications/CRM, Hurwitz Group.
www.saleslogix.com; 480-368-3700
SLP InfoWare Announces Siebel Validation
SLP InfoWare, a Gemplus Company, has announced that Siebel Systems has validated the integration between the companys Churn/CPS, UpSell/CPS, XSell/CPS, and BadDebt/CPS applications and Siebel Systems eCommunications. With this validation, customers of Siebel Systems and SLP InfoWare can now quickly and cost-effectively deploy an integrated solution to provide real-time predictive profiling information and action recommendations. The combination of SLP InfoWares Predictive CRM platform and Siebel eCommunications enables organizations to better predict and manage customer behavior such as a customers likelihood to churn, accept up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, or become a bad debt risk. Using the integrated solution, service providers can deliver accurate and effective offers to retain their customers through the automatic transformation of data into actionable predictive knowledge based on real-time behavioral analysis. This knowledge is distributed throughout the enterprise to maximize the effectiveness of push/pull customer interactions, so that predicted behaviors can be influenced to develop customer loyalty, increase customer lifetime value, and improve return on investment.
www.slpinfoware.com; 617-742-4102
www.siebel.com; 650-295-5000
Oncontact Software Releases Wireless CRM Application
Oncontact Software announced the release of CMS Wireless, a wireless CRM component accessible through any Palm handheld device with the Palm.Net service. Pairing the technology of Oncontact Software and Palm Computing delivers complete wireless CRM capabilities to customers. Through Palm.Net, CMS Wireless users can access live CRM data via the Internet anytime and anywhere within the broad reach of the service. Oncontact Softwares CRM system, Client Management Software (CMS), has long been recognized for its flexibility and ease of use. To equip all users with nonstop access, regardless of travel or schedule demands, Oncontact Software previously allowed customers to use CMS in a Windows or Web environment, or a combination of the two. Adding Palm access with CMS Wireless further increases the convenience of Oncontact Softwares CRM solution. CMS Wireless also preserves Oncontact Softwares easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate design.
www.oncontact.com; 262-375-6555
Netegrity And PeopleSoft Partner
Netegrity has announced a partnership with PeopleSoft, in which Netegrity has integrated its SiteMinder platform with PeopleSoft 8 to enable corporations to securely manage all applications and users from a centralized point in order to reduces costs and simplify administration. True enterprise collaboration requires integration of business processes between applications inside and outside enterprise boundaries. As companies extend their business processes to customers, suppliers, and employees over the Internet, these collaborative enterprises require a centralized platform for securely managing users and which applications and information they have access to. The integration of PeopleSoft and SiteMinder provides PeopleSoft customers with a centralized infrastructure for security and identity management, across PeopleSoft applications as well as all of the other applications within the corporation. Netegritys SiteMinder technology makes e-business Web sites more secure and manageable by providing a platform for centrally managing all applications, rather than building proprietary user directories and access control systems into each individual application. This centralized approach to security management enables companies to greatly reduce administration cost and complexity.
www.netegrity.com; 781-890-1700
www.peoplesoft.com; 925-225-3000
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