Vertical solutions take hold in CRM
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InfoWorld - As the enterprise increasingly looks for vertical solutions from its CRM vendors, Kana Software with an on-premise solution and Entellium with a hosted solution, will both announce this week industry-specific best practice applications for customer service and sales force automation.
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EnterpriseWizard this week is releasing the 2.0 version of its CRM application, a product built on top of its SaaSWizard Web application development platform and designed to be easily customizable.EnterpriseWizard 2.0 employs templates and drag-and-drop style customization of tables and fields through a browser-based interface. Users can also define business rules, sketch out workflows, and generate reports. Other new features include an improved search engine and the ability to automatically transmit information from a client computer when a trouble ticket is sent out.The SaaSWizard platform represents &quot;man-centuries of development,&quot; rather than the man-hours usually used as a measure, according to CEO Colin Earl. But EnterpriseWizard is not alone in offering end users the ability to change its application.&#160;SAP&#39;s recently unveiled CRM 2007&#160;product features an Web 2.0-style interface that users can manipulate to their liking.A difference lies in EnterpriseWizard&#39;s underlying business model. Earl said his company is looking to partner with systems integrators and value-added resellers. The company hopes they will use the core SaaSWizard platform to create and sell customized applications -- both CRM (customer relationship management) and other types -- to customers in vertical industries.&quot;Our vision is not to build these products ourselves,&quot; he said.Many on-demand software companies have the wrong idea, he argued. &quot;What I see happening in the market is the SaaS vendors have a direct sales model, and they are effectively trying to take the whole pie for themselves. I think this is a strategic mistake,&quot; he said.While the J2EE-based product is available on-demand, it is also possible to deploy it on an internal server, a fact that drew a nod from one close observer of the CRM scene.&quot;Generally, the fact they offer both on-premise and SaaS is great -- we feel customers like the choice of being able to move seamlessly between the two environments, assuming the two products are functionally the same,&quot; China Martens, an analyst with the 451 Group, said via e-mail.&quot;It&#39;s impressive they&#39;ve retained high-end customers over years such as Chevron and have a bit under 400 customers in total,&quot; she added. &quot;If they do want to garner more attention amid the plethora of their competition, we&#39;d expect them to seek some VC funding, also advice from VCs as to how to best grow their business.&quot;The company has about 40 employees and financially is &quot;very healthy&quot; these days, according to Earl, though he acknowledges that the years spent developing SaaSWizard were &quot;pretty lean.&quot;EnterpriseWizard costs $65 per staff user per month for the hosted product, and $950 per staff user if it is purchased outright on Linux, with unlimited end-user access, according to a spokesman. The company also offers the software for purchase on Windows or Solaris for about $1,150 per staff user.End users have limited capabilities, including the ability to submit and update their own records, whereas staff users -- such as sales representatives -- have a more sophisticated interface and can gain the ability to change records from other users, the spokesman said.
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com October 6, 2004, 1:43 PM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been improving or obtaining CRM and ERP software for the past year and a half.
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Microsoft Corp. is finally launching its long-awaited CRM service at its Business Solutions Conference in Denver this week.
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&quot;CRM is not a product. CRM is not an event,&quot; CEO Mike Lawrie says. &quot;It&#39;s a business strategy to drive companies closer to their customers.
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Commercial open source CRM providers have established their presence in the CRM market in relatively short order, with at least four companies -- Sugar CRM, Ohioedge Anteil, Compiere -- setting up shop over the last year.
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A host of new products are designed to work and compete with leading enterprise management products, the company says. By Darrell Dunn.
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InfoWorld - NetSuite, the other hosted CRM company, laid out version 2007.0 this week of its CRM, ERP, and PRM (partner relationship management) SaaS (software as a service) solution.
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For years, companies large and small have been convinced that if they want the sophisticated functionality of enterprise-class software like ERP and CRM systems, they must buy pre-packaged applications. And, to a large extent, that remains true.
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com December 2, 2004, 12:29 PM PT. This priority jumped up two spots into second place as CRM returns into the spotlight among top software initiatives alongside directory services and open source.
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Vendors of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can expect their market to become more buoyant as companies ponder purchasing new systems or boosting the functionality of existing ones, according to ...
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New solutions lead the way to market leaders.
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Comparing on-demand CRM products is a lot like comparing ice to steam. Both are technically water, but the form makes all the difference.
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Companies are taking several paths to overcome user- and vendor-created hurdles to the implementation of virtualization technologies.
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(Source: Inquira)  While many organizations have made huge investments in multi-channel customer service application suites, critical gaps still remain in such areas as search, knowledge management, and chat. A new report from Forrester lists the top solutions that help support organizations overcome these gaps and set the stage for significant improvements in service quality.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) specialist Salesforce.com is adding customization features to its hosted suite as well as increasing its reliance on partners to develop complementary applications.
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com September 14, 2004, 7:32 AM PT. This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been improving or obtaining CRM and ERP software for the past year and a half.