News & Views

February 22, 2010 from Computerworld -  “Once the final tallies for 2009 are in, analyst firm Gartner Inc. expects SaaS revenue to total $7.5 billion, nearly 18% higher than it was in 2008. Gartner projects that by 2013, SaaS spending will hit $14 billion. And in an exclusive Computerworld survey of 127 IT professionals, 42% of the respondents reported using SaaS in their organizations, for everything from CRM (40%) to HR (38%), e-mail (36%) and payroll (32%).

Relatively low start-up and implementation costs are no doubt driving SaaS adoption well beyond CRM services, but there’s more to it than that, users say. Just as important is that they typically get greater software functionality and more upgrades from SaaS vendors than they could ever manage with on-premises applications…

“With SaaS, you’ve basically got to adapt to the SaaS process. It’s a way to standardize, although there still tends to be a certain amount of debate about the processes we use.”

But like other users, Proudfoot says the primary benefit of SaaS is speed. “We were up and running within days of having the software available,” he says. “Following implementation, there’s nothing to do other than pay your subscription, log on and use it. But, of course, use does require adaptation of internal processes.”

180 View – The article starts with “Businesses are taking the plunge into budget-friendly software-as-a-service offerings for everything from recruitment to central ERP.” But there was very little in the way of ERP actually discussed in this article. It’s definitely not mainstream for ERP yet although it’s headed in that direction for the same reasons it has done so well with CRM.

The article does imply that there is less flexibility in business processes with SaaS, but that may be more a function of a particular product rather than SaaS itself. There are SaaS products that offer many levels of customization from simply renaming particular fields on a screen to developing completely customized screens with built in workflow logic based on specific events.

December 7, 2009 from CRM Daily – “…Worldwide CRM market revenue totaled $9.15 billion in 2008. That’s a 12.5 percent increase from 2007 revenue of $8.13 billion, according to Gartner. Enterprise investments in technologies focused on customer retention, analytics and on-demand solutions drove the growth even as new strategies emerged in 2009…

CRM continued to grow through 2009 because it adds value to the bottom line of enterprises looking to do more with less. Three keys to CRM success in a down economy are perfecting low-cost customer service, analyzing and optimizing marketing, and finding warm sales leads through social-networking platforms. This combination, experts agreed, is making CRM software an indispensable tool in the enterprise…

Dow Jones has created a comprehensive mapping of key executives based on their work histories. When coupled with contacts listed in an organization’s in-house e-mail such as Microsoft Outlook or opt-in social networks, including LinkedIn, the company said this mapping can provide a path of connections to decision makers. The relationship maps highlight connections of varying degrees of separation, from a mutual contact to a third-degree relationship…”

180 View – We included this article partly because of the metrics related to CRM’s continued growth but also because of the new trend re social networking such as the one described above with Dow Jones. We have not used this tool but it does sound interesting.

November 30, 2009 from SOA World Magazine – “I am going to get a lot of heat for this statement but, truth be told, CRM is a hoax. There is no such thing as CRM. It’s all smoke and mirrors, and you cannot nurture customer relationships (or any other form of relationship) using a bunch of bits. It’s a cop-out. I know of CRM market segments and sizes. I am well aware of CRM dissemination and popularity in corporate America. I don’t question its omnipresence in virtually all businesses in one form or another. My claim, however, is that it does not and cannot work as billed. In numerous cases, it is simply a waste of “feel-good”money…

Now, I’m not saying all companies who use CRM manage customers poorly. Some do get lucky. And others use it as a tool, not a means to an end, which is perfectly fine. What I am pointing out is that customer service quality seems inversely proportional to the resources spent on CRM at the corporate level. And that’s ironic. The problem is in the C-suite. These folks see CRM as a panacea but inherently, deep down, these people do not have customer service “genes”. They have Board of Directors genes, profit margin genes, or MBA ones, but they don’t know the first thing about worshipping customers – It’s a form of autism on their part.

Because in my experience, customer service is not something you can learn on the fly (although I suspect it is taught in business schools). And it’s not something you can acquire via software. Companies, like people, are either born with it or not. It’s a nature not a nurture trait. And no amount of software or resources will change the behavior of a company whose culture isn’t obsessively centered on the customer. It sounds obvious, and everyone talks about it, but most of the time, it’s nothing more than lip service. It’s a sham I tell you…”

180 View – I stumbled upon this blog by Jerome Pineau and thought it was one of the better articles I have read over the last few years. Although I don’t agree with Jerome’s conclusion that CRM is a sham, I do agree with him when he says it is a means to an end. CRM is just like any tool. For example, a carpenter can work wonders with a saw, but in the wrong hands, a saw can not only be a waste of money but also dangerous.

December 7, 2009 from ComputerWorld – “In an ERP System, the core functionality has been well defined since the 90’s. Some companies might need a different distribution module or a fancier scheduler algorithm, but MRP is pretty much MRP. An accounting system? You’d better not have a lot of creative requirements.

But a CRM system is used by those right-brained types who bring you revenue, and there is significant variation in functional requirements from company to company. Even the precise definition of “CRM” can be debated if you get enough consultants in the room. So it’s all too common to have wide-ranging discussions about marketing automation, call center features, SFA, forecasting, order entry, e-commerce, customer support, and customer portals. This makes for a very long feature list to be evaluated, ranked, and budgeted for…

Secret 1 – Features are less important than User Adoption…
Secret 2 – Features are less important than Data Credibility…
Secret 3 – Features are less important than Platform…
Secret 4 – Features are less important than Reliability…”

180 View – We would like to share another “secret” – the writer of this article is also “the author of the new Prentice Hall book, “Salesforce.com Secrets of Success” and is the CEO of SalesLogistix, a certified Salesforce.com consultancy.” Although there is bias in the article, the author could have promoted salesforce based on its functionality. We disagree with the author in what’s important. We have found that the criteria to make the decision varies by company. In some cases, cost is key; in another company, support may be more important… We also disagree with the author’s view on ERP requirements. He is right that basic functionality is not something to worry about in most ERP systems, but ERP systems can differ greatly beyond basic functionality and the same would go for CRM systems.

August 24, 2009 from InformationExec – “With a failure rate that hovers at about 50 per cent according to one research organization, customer relationship management (CRM) projects have plenty of room for improvement, and most of it has to do with its users…

Michael Burns – a consultant with Toronto-headquartered One Hundred & Eighty Degree Systems Ltd., an independent business, project management and IT consultancy – attributed the perceived failings of CRM by organizations to two things: people and system integration.

It’s a people issue for the way that some may not want to use the CRM system, because CRM implies that information about customers will be shared when sales people may prefer not to share certain information. As for the integration issue, Burns said that often, CRM systems are not integrated with an organization’s accounting or ERP systems.

But at the end of the day, CRM is worth the headaches it appears to be giving the organizations that invest in its capabilities, Burns said. “You’d be crazy not (to have the system),” Burns opined. “At its most fundamental, it’s a place where you can keep information about customers…”

180 View – As the author consulted us for our views and included them in the article, we have nothing else to add other than the writer, Maria Cootauco, is an excellent writer. She conducted the interviews quickly and efficiently, and presto the article was published in a couple of days.

April 27, 2009 from ComputerWorld – “Your company knows that it wants a serious CRM system. But the CFO, nervous about the costs, starts to suggest strategies that could keep things under control. Meanwhile, you know the implementation team has some ideas that go in a completely different direction. How can you manage executive expectations that may be based on misinformation? This two-part article will cover common traps that you should avoid, followed by advice on the best ways to save some real money.…”

180 View – The article makes some good points that apply not just to CRM. For example – “The complete-system launch, sometimes called a Big Bang project, just doesn’t work very well for software. The warning signs of Big-Bang thinking include: Infrequent project milestones; large, complex, monolithic project deliverables; little consideration of political or change-management issues; fake, vague, or overstated requirements, particularly for scope of system integration or historical data; scope creep. Better to deliver incrementally, deploying something of value to the business at least once a quarter.” We believe that during the design phase, you should consider the big picture/bang, but build and roll it out in manageable phases.

September 2008 from CustomerThink and sponsored by RightNow Technologies– “…By the mid-1990s, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) became a hot buzzword. The premise was that by managing customer information better, more profitable relationships would result.

However, our research has found that technology-focused CRM projects have mainly delivered productivity benefits through the automation of marketing, sales and service processes. Good for short-term ROI but generally not sufficient to deliver the loyalty-building experiences that customers crave.

But still, while conventional CRM thinking has not been the end-all, be-all that some had hoped for, it’s a necessary foundation for most companies. CRM technology can enable a company to run more efficiently, focus attention on more valuable customers and equip employees to deliver competent service. What’s wrong with that?…”

180 View – The article is about best practices, and not surprisingly they are more about people than about technology. The best practices are:
1. Staff Your Front Lines With Friendly and Competent People
2. Experience What Your Customers Experience
3. See Your Customers From All Sides
4. Build Genuine Relationships Through Collaboration

November 10, 2008 from CRM Daily – “Customer relationship management software programs can empower salespeople by streamlining their efforts and putting useful customer information at their fingertips to help them close a deal. But in order for CRM to be most effective, companies and their salespeople have to commit to learning the systems and doing their part to make them work…”

180 View – The article does contain some good examples of obtaining value from CRM and also discusses a major CRM problem (lack of adoption) and what to do about it.

November 2008 from CAmagazine – “What jumps off the page in the results is that SaaS (Software as a Service) dominates over the licence-based approach to software deployment…

Also striking in the results is the huge variability in price and functionality. The average SaaS cost per user per month ranges from $6 to $89, with the average at $45…”

July 4, 2008 from ComputerWorld Canada – “Mobility and software as a service are changing customer relationship management and sales force software. Upstart Salesforce.com has made a significant dent in the market, and established vendors of licensed software are playing catchup. SAP AG’s recent alliance with Research in Motion Inc. is the latest development as CRM vendors try to meet customer growing demand for mobility. And user interfaces are evolving to meet the expectations of people who have grown up with the Web…”

180 View – There are a lot more CRM systems than listed in the article. Check out our CRM portal . We only recently launched this site and would appreciate your comments and suggestions in adding additional product and/or VARs.

June 2, 2008 from MyCustomer.com – “Has software as a service (SaaS) made it to the mainstream? Opinion is divided. Some of the leading voices in the SaaS market still see their outreach to the market as heavily educational and evangelical. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, argues that it can take up to 10 years before a technology makes it across Geoffrey Moore’s famous ‘chasm’ of acceptance.

Others are more convinced that CRM SaaS at least has made it to mainstream thinking, among them Forrester Research. Forrester conducted a survey late last year of 1,017 IT decision makers and US and European firms to evaluate their opinion. The study found that nearly two thirds of those surveyed were either using or piloting SaaS offerings, with CRM the most commonly used.

180 View – We think that SaaS is mainstream for CRM. The same will happen for ERP over the next few years. One of the more interesting points in the article was “You also need to think getting a formal service-level agreement (SLA). You may find that your SaaS provider will not be eager to discuss this too closely in order to “avoid risk and responsibility when selling directly to business users.” Good luck in getting the SaaS vendors to agree to penalties. But is the risk of downtime or other problems any greater than an on premise solution when the network/server/ISP… fails?

2007 from INSIDE.CRM – “…According to technology market analysts at Forrester, the CRM market is poised to hit nearly $74 billion in sales in 2007. CRM applications represent about $21 billion of that market, with services making up the rest. With so much money to be made, it’s no surprise the CRM landscape features scores of players, from up-and-comers to industry stalwarts. Key vendors include Amdocs, PeopleSoft, Salesforce.com and Siebel Systems, to name a few…”

180 View – The article is about a year old but does provide a few insights on the differences between Hosted vs. On-Premise CRM.

April 22, 2008 from InformationWeek – “Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s been dabbling with on-demand software services for awhile, but the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, beginning Tuesday, marks its most significant effort yet to provide the market with an alternative to Salesforce.com.

The software service for managing a business’s customer contacts, sales information, and marketing efforts is available as a subscription and hosted from Microsoft’s data centers using a multitenant architecture. General availability follows months of testing by 500 Microsoft customers.

Microsoft is trying to beat Salesforce.com on price and storage options. The base version, called Professional, costs $44 per month per user following a one-year introductory rate of $39 per month. That includes 5 GB of data storage per organization and the ability to customize workflows. The Professional Plus version costs $59 per user per month with 20 GB of storage, with more customization features and the ability to synchronize data contained in other systems with the service. Users access the service using Microsoft Outlook or a Web browser as an interface.

180 View – Microsoft is now fighting yet another war (with Salesforce.com), but it’s a war that they are well equipped to wage. But Salesforce.com has formidable allies especially in Google. Click here to see the April 15, 2008 from itWorldCanada entitled “Google, Salesforce.com partner on business apps”

September 2007 from CAmagazine and written by Michael Burns – “Our annual CAmagazine software survey is back and this year it’s bigger than ever. We combined all our surveys — accounting/ERP, customer relationship management, business intelligence/corporate performance management and professional services automation — into this issue…”