June 13, 2006

AppExchange Picks Up TARGUSinfo For CRM Platform

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

AppExchange chalks up another one: salesforce.com has announced that TARGUSinfo, a provider of on-demand data to help companies optimize interactions and provision information services, is using the Salesforce AppExchange platform to “integrate and optimize cross-department operations.”

What TARGUSinfo officials call “fast and easy customization, combined with business-critical applications downloaded from the AppExchange directory,” are offered in a product billed as allowing users to “share information across marketing, sales, finance and human resources so the company has a single, central hub for all prospect and customer communications; and for managing the recruitment of new employees.”

TARGUSinfo is one of the 22,700 companies that comprised the salesforce.com customer base as of April 30, 2006. Revenue will be recognized as the service is delivered.

Recently industry observer Campbell Gardiner  has reported that Wellington, New Zealand-based IT services firm Synergy has “entered into a partnership arrangement with global CRM provider salesforce.com,” and now Kiwi industry observer Tom Pullar-Strecker has noted that salesforce.com will open an office in Auckland later this year.

According to Singapore-based regional vice-president Graeme Beardsell, Pullar-Strecker writes, “salesforce.com has signed up 65 New Zealand customers over the past three years. These include the local subsidiaries of Vodafone and Fairfax. Worldwide, its software is used by 444,000 people in 22,700 organizations.”

Kiwis are getting a lot more demanding and sophisticated about CRM. Last week a panel sponsored by Genesys (News - Alert) picked ANZ Bank as one of their 22 points of light, citing them for their outstanding CRM.

According to the official recognition, Melbourne, Australia-based ANZ, the number one bank in New Zealand, “has become one of the most highly rated businesses in the eyes of the customer, based largely on its commitment to investing in people and technology for its contact center operation.” Namely that ANZ has improved customer satisfaction “nearly 40% while at the same time reducing costs by nearly 30%,” thanks to a contact center called “a model of efficiency with validation and awards from the Australian Government and numerous consumer and contact center groups.”

Founded in 1999, salesforce.com is now valued at more than $3.3 billion on the NASDAQ.

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David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page.

(source: http://news.tmcnet.com/news/it/-crm-salesforcecom-/2006/06/13/1678702.htm)