CRM Weblog

Sugar 4.0 Update

One of the hottest CRM software companies in the industry released an update to their current CRM software. SugarCRM, Inc which manufactures the open source CRM software Sugar, released its new version entitled Sugar 4.0.

Sugar 4.0 differs from other versions by featuring “workflow management, campaign management, and the ability to convert E-mails into leads”, as described in the article written by Tony Kontzer of Information Week.

Sugar CRM is thrilled to the new update to their software that was created with lots of consumer input, “Software doesn't have to be designed behind closed doors. In fact, we think it's a poor way to develop innovative software. Writing software in public using developers around the world is a much better way to develop innovative software”, stated CEO John Roberts.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Update

Anyone out there who has been waiting for the arrival of Microsoft’s CRM software, will not have to wait any longer. The update to Microsoft Dynamics was released today as stated in an article by Ryan Patrick of IT World Canada. Previous versions of the software include Microsoft Dynamics 1.2, which was released in 2002.

The enhancements of this update compared to version 1.2, is the inclusion of a marketing module and integration with Outlook Express.

For small business owners looking to update their software, it will cost them between $440-$499 dollars, whereas having the software updated on-premise is available for $622-$880.

StayInFront Unrolls New Version Of CRM Software

StayInFront, Inc. announced today a new version of their CRM software called StayInFront CRM 9.3. The beauty of this new software is that it now allows uses to assimilate the perfect pen technology with Windows XP Tablet PC software.

According to Tony Bullen, CTO of StayInFront, the new software could not have come at a better time: “It’s a natural progression that, as leaders in mobile CRM, we take a lead position in the Tablet PC market. StayinFront CRM 9.3 meets the highest standards of Tablet PC technology, creating simplified digital pen input for mobile sales force users that, in turn, fosters higher levels of data accuracy and meaningful sales reporting.”

The company in turn hopes that the release of this new version will 'foster higher levels of data accuracy and meaningful sales reporting’ in the companies who purchase it'. Read more about StayInFront CRM 9.3 here.

Bag The Elephant

In an article appearing on toptechnews.com, Elizabeth Millard writes about the benefits of using CRM to acquire and retain customers. This article is based on a book by author Steve Kaplan entitled, “Bag the Elephant: How To Win & Keep Big Customers”.

Millard is quoted as saying that small businesses have a feeling of inferiority: “Small business don’t think they can get a big customer, and that’s a major problem”. Kaplan went on to say that, “large companies often seek out small companies as suppliers, partners, and vendors because smaller usually means faster moving”.

Therefore, using CRM can be an effective tool in helping to acquire and retain customers if small businesses put the effort into it. For more information on how CRM software can help you acquire and retain customers click here.

CRM Mastery Releases New Product Directory

Today the CRM software company, CRM Mastery announced in a press release that they had created a new CRM product directory called the CRM Solution Directory.

This is quite an ingenious idea as most of their product directories that were available on the internet, either lacked or contained repetitive information. With the introduction of the new CRM Solution Directory, CRM Mastery will allow the user to access correct directory information that has been maintained by CRM research analysts.

Berkowitz, the CEO and founder of CRM Mastery stated the reason for the creating the new directory:    “...Our goals for this initiative are to include all appropriate CRM-related products, to place each product in only the most appropriate directory categories and to update the content of our directory weekly, at a minimum.”

CRM is Not the Solution to a Broken Business

Tracey Schelmetic writes that CRM is not as far as long as most would hope. She compares the current state of CRM to owning Sea Monkeys as  a child.

CRM still falls prey to the kind of expectations that I and other kids (at least I hope it affected other kids, or I’m publicly owning up to some embarrassing childhood revelations) had about Sea Monkeys, until we tried growing them. Our expectations were sky high, and we were sold a romantic fabrication. Sound familiar?

She later goes on to point out that there are limitations to what CRM can do:

CRM won’t fix your business if it’s broken. CRM won’t help you keep customers if you don’t give them a substantive reason to stay. CRM won’t improve your product or your marketing, and it probably won’t lower your cholesterol level, despite what the brochures say. It also won’t improve the attitudes of your call center workers unless those attitudes are directly caused by frustration resulting from not having the right tools and information to serve customers better.

She notes that integration is the fundamental key to successfully implementing a successful CRM solution.

“Well, the call center is ready for CRM, but the back-office people, accounting, warehousing, the outside sales team and several of our suppliers are not,” proceed no further.

Russ Hill also recently wrote on the sadly disappointing integration issue:

Without this link between their customer base and supply chain, retail executives lack a complete picture of their business and do not have the information necessary to make better business decisions.

Have your ducks in a row before implementing your CRM strategy, or you are stuck facing the Sea Monkey syndrome.

Google CRM?

With the recent free launch of Google Analytics and many Google CRM related job postings Louis Columbus speculates that Google wants in on the CRM market.

What does Google have that nobody else has? A quest for pure information and a boatload of user data. Google can partner with external sources:

Taken to an extreme, Google's search engine capability could become the basis of backfilling customer histories by integrating APIs with Hoover's, Dun & Bradstreet, Value Line Investment Surveys, Standard & Poor's and many other information services firms. Suddenly smaller competitors in services vertical markets for example would be able to level the playing field by cutting the learning curve in half when it comes to learning about prospects -- Google technology would do the work of the inside sales reps.

and look at their internal data, some of which includes:

• user search history and seasonal market shifts
• related searches
• keyword bid price history by competitor
• ad spend and traffic estimates by competitor
• which could be cross referenced with how their linkage profile, public relations, and stock prices change
• ROI on ad spend if the competitor shares that data with Google

Google will not post that company X bid amount Y and sold Z units, but they have that data and can use it to help manage your ad spend and tell you what terms are in aggregate underpriced. Since Google has the largest database of intentions many large corporations with small sites will be forced to advertise.

When your site theme, linkage profile, and AdWords keywords overlap greatly with some of your competitors it is easy for Google to tell you were else you should be advertising. They may even go so far as to tell you where your biggest problems in the conversion process are.

Google offers (or may offer) marketing, tracking, user data, pay per call, and payment services. To offer the best local search Google also wants to obtain real time inventory data from major shopping chains. How hard would it be for Google to add a few more hooks into the system to offer a proper CRM solution? Perhaps they can charge a bit more for a few extra goodies, although, unlike Louis, I think the core product will probably not be ad cluttered. Google is willing to give away a ton of value just to get data. Louis predicts:

Google is on its way to being a platform and with that goal, product proliferation will follow. In 2006 it would not be surprising at all to see three things happen pertaining to Google:

1. Free CRM and Sales Force Automation gets launched.
2. Google Venture Capital sightings increase.
3. Friendster becomes a bargain for Google and gets acquired.

Read more about Google and CRM at CRM Buyer.

Oracle to Buy Siebel for $5.85 Billion

Oracle's long rumored interest in Siebel is no longer a rumor. Oracle announced they are going to scoop up Siebel for 5.85 billion. Siebel has been losing market share to upstarts like Salesforce.com.

Salesforce has been trending sharply upward in recent trading. Frustrating investors Siebel has been stagnant at best. Mark Benoit, Salesforce CEO holds no punches when speaking about the recent deal:

Oracle put Siebel investors out of their misery today. We have been doing that for Siebel customers for years. Client/Server software is being consolidated by Oracle just as mainframe software was consolidated by Computer Associates. Oracle's strategy is simple. Instead of innovating, buy as much installed software as possible, call it all Oracle Fusion, and make sure it all uses Oracle's database. Now, the same thing that happened to PeopleSoft will happen to Siebel, it will die.

Read what other CRM competitors had to say about the recent transaction.