CRM Weblog

Van Lanschot Adopts Siebel CRM Software

Van Lanschot announced that it will use Siebel’s CRM technology to its 700 staff members. The Dutch bank is expected to integrate Siebel’s Finance platform with their back-office system in summer 2006.

Van Lanschot usually targets “high net-worth individuals, midsize businesses, and institutional investors”. With this new software implementation, Van Lanschot is expecting that Siebel will provide them with a sales support system that can help them increase cross-selling.

Siebel was chosen to provide the CRM services that the bank needs due to its ability to “integrate financial services into a specific analytic functionality”.

WPP’s Wunderman Acquires Bridge Worldwide

The well-known relationship marketing agency, Bridge Worldwide has signed a deal to be taken over by the WPP Group Wunderman. Bridge Worldwide is well known for the marketing services it has provided numerous Fortune 100 companies.

Bridge Worldwide has been responsible for marketing strategies of popular companies such as Procter & Gamble. Now this recent acquisition by Wunderman will provide Bridge Worldwide customers with an even larger network.

Currently Bridge Worldwide is stationed in Cincinnati, Ohio and employs over 120 people. CEO Jay Woffington, was quite pleased with the new merger, “We are very excited to join WPP and be affiliated with a world-class organization such as Wunderman”.

Data Reduction Systems Corp Releases CRMonline

Over the weekend, Data Reduction Systems Corp, announced the release of their new product entitled CRMonline software. The company is one of the leaders in providing management products, and is quite excited about their new software release for the science industry.

Data Reduction Systems Corp’s CRMonline is quite a unique product. It is a combination of their on-demand CRM and the collection tool DRS PharmaSync. DRS PharmaSync allows a pharmaceutical representative to carry out electronic sampling activity, using a Microsoft Mobile OS device, and eradicates the need for regular paper documents.

CRMonline with PharmaSync gives CRM users in the science industry the ability to compile reports of the inventory and sample disbursement for each customer. The use of CRMonline for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is quite beneficial as it gives companies the ability to share information in a cost effective manner.

Daffodil CRM v1.5

Daffodil Software released its new open source CRM solution entitled Daffodil CRM v1.5 today. The software will be loaded with the ability to have database independence as a feature.

The new Daffodil CRM version 1.5 has the ability to use any of the major database scripts. It has database scripts such as Firebird, Daffodil DB, MySQL, and SQL loaded onto it.

Daffodil CRM version 1.5 is expected to be quite popular with mainstream users because it gives people the ability to make a choice and use their favorite database script, as opposed to using only one.

The CRM Industry In Review

The CRM industry will celebrate its 25th birthday this year, and it is interesting to look back and see where it has started from and progressed to. When it was first started, many people emphasized SFA of CRM, which was pushed by companies such as ACT! and Telemagic. The product that was being sold then was basic and emphasized customer contact management.

With the newer software vendors came the ability for users to carry out tracking and reporting for call centers. Companies such as Scopus and Clarify were most notable for this.

The 1990s saw the start of well known companies such as Siebel and Brock release software packages that combined SFA and customer service management. The term “Integrated vendor” was born as a result of this, as opposed to the point solution vendors that previously reigned.

The marketing automation vendors made their appearance sometime after this. They offered not only integrated software, but with marketing automation as well, and by the end of the 1990’s business analysis and e-customer functionality was included in many of the CRM software.

Lately, the big focus in the CRM industry has been find ways to “integrate CRM into a company’s legal system and related technical infrastructure”. This is where it is expected that the CRM industry will head, especially when SAP develops solid footing in the on-demand market.

Customer Retention Should Not Be Dependent On Computers

In an interesting article appearing on crmbuyer.com, writer Fred Morath outlines how companies should not depend solely on computers to retain customers.

It seems that more companies see CRM as “customer response management…but it means a lot more as customer relations management”.  The best direct marketing to win customers and increase sales  should come by realizing that the customers are real people and not a bank machine filled with cash.

Instead customer relationship management using direct marketing should include honesty about the expectations of the product, shipping the product on time, and other good businesses practices such as these that allow the customer to feel valued and respected.

The CRM Industry In 2005

The CRM Industry has seen quite a remarkable amount of growth as more small to medium sized companies have started using CRM.

Besides this, many companies has started using CRM for different reasons. Some of them realized how CRM would improve their business and the way customers are dealt with. However, other companies have started with CRM thinking it will be the “magic cure-all” to help their declining business, without truly trying to find out what the problem was.

2005 has also been a year of many of the software vendors realizing that most companies wanted software that integrated CRM with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

However, one of the most talked about events that occurred within the CRM industry is the announcement that Oracle had bought Siebel Systems for $5.85 billion dollars. The acquisition of Siebel has added 4,000 new customers and 3.4 million users to Oracle.

Western Trust Discovers FootPrints CRM Software

The British Columbia based company, Western Trust which offers mutual funds and mortgages to financial advisors, announced that it had installed “Footprints” from UniPress Software to handle their call center functionality.

Western Trust was able to setup their call center functionality by using a MSDE version of the SQL server that is used on the client side with Internet Explorer. By doing so, the company now has a way to track telephone calls to their toll-free number. As well their use of “Footprints” which can support the MSDE version of SQL makes the process less complicated and cheaper to operate.

Even though there are only ten people in Western Trust that use the software, the management team now has the ability to log phone calls using Footprints and refer them to the next department, if needed. The use of CRM at the call center has made it possible for Western Trust to be able to quickly handle 80% of the calls to their toll-free number.

IPO of CRM Holdings

The long awaited IPO of CRM Holdings occurred yesterday with the shares being priced at $13-16 dollars.

The company is expected to generate $115.1 million from the sale of approximately 8.9 million shares.

The shares are scheduled to commence trading on The NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "CRMH".

CRM Holdings is a Bermuda based company that provides fee based management services.

HSBC Mexico Wins CRM Award

It was made known yesterday by SSA Global that HSBC Mexico had been awarded the prestigious 2005 Gartner CRM Excellence Award. The award was given based on the strategy that HSBC Mexico uses in its CRM.

HSBC Mexico has seen substantial growth since it has started using SSA CRM Implementation. According to the article reviewed, “HSBC Mexico attributes over 63% of their new credit card accounts and 71% of their personal loan sales to their SSA CRM Implementation.”

Speaking on behalf of his company CRM director of HSBC Mexico, Gustavo Martinez had this to say, “To achieve our vision, of being Mexico’s leading financial services company in the eyes of our customers, HSBC Mexico needed to create a corporate culture focused on customer needs, employ and develop the best people, and find and implement the best solutions on the market. SSA Global provides the CRM solutions and support we need to realize our vision. SSA CRM is playing a critical role in helping us instill customer loyalty and increase our market share.” More information about HSBC can be reviewed here.