November 16, 2007
The CRM Week In Review
By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor
Thinking about a virtual contact center to better service your customer base and save some money? Great idea, but there are some things you need to know first. In "Exony Warns Companies That Proper Implementation of Virtual Contact Centers is Critical," TMCnet writer Susan Campbell details why the benefits of migrating to a virtual contact center (VCC) environment cannot be realized if the implementation is handle incorrectly.
Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) this week got some more details about Microsoft's newly released Customer Care Framework (CCF) 2008 and how it helps unify an often confusing and overwhelming agent desktop into a user friendly environment connected to most call center applications. Rich spoke with Microsoft (News - Alert) Group Product Manager Vish Thirumurthy about the CCF 2008 announcement in more detail.
Read the article at http://www.tmcnet.com/unified-communications/articles/14619-microsoft-unifies-call-center-with-ccf-2008-announcement.htm
In other Microsoft CRM news, David Sims this week wrote that IEnterprises, which styles itself the "wireless customer relationship management (CRM) experts," announced the availability of its pre-built wireless CRM application, Mobile Edge, for Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers. Mobile Edge lets businesses access CRM information from Microsoft Dynamics CRM on the BlackBerry (News - Alert) smartphone. Contacts, account cases, opportunities, and call reports, you name it, anytime, anywhere.
Search engine marketing technology developer ClearSaleing announced this week the release of Version 3.3 of its software, which can provide phone tracking, enhanced CRM integration, detailed granular lead tracking and customer buying behavior analysis, according to ClearSailing officials. The product lets search engine marketers capture and measure offline phone orders resulting from their online advertisements. Research cited by the firm suggests that for every one online contact form or registration an advertiser receives, an advertiser will receive three to five additional sales phone calls.
For more details, visit, http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/analysis/articles/14640-crm-integration-online-ad-tracking-released-clearsaleing.htm
Infor announced this week Infor PM 10, an integrated suite of performance management software which, "brings together business process applications from Extensity MPC and analytics from Systems Union MIS," according to Infor officials. The product provides customers with a foundation to integrate, analyze, format, and deliver answers to questions about their business performance. We could all use a little feedback about our performance. Read all about it at http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/14612-crm-seller-infors-pm-10-integrated-suite-announced.htm
Why should you implement click-to-call? Because your customers like it, that's why. This week, TMCnet's Stefania Viscusi wrote that, "Today, the retail environment includes more than just consumers browsing physical store locations for products and services. As consumers increasingly spend time online and visiting retail Web sites, retailers are especially in need of new ways to capture sales. For this, click-to-call technology offers business Websites a way to strategically draw in consumers and connect them with their business."
View the piece at http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/click-to-call/articles/14675-study-looks-click-call-benefits-retailers.htm
Still interested? Here's more from Stefania on click-to-call applications:
Want to succeed with your customers in e-commerce? Content is king. One of the top reasons people who don't actually order merchandise online (though they may "window" shop for research), after security issues, is the fact that they don't like that they can't see and touch a product. If you do any shopping online, chances are, once or twice, you got something that wasn't as you expected. A weird color misrepresented by digital color swatches, something that was much smaller or larger than it appeared online, something with quality not up to par, etc. Obviously, e-shopping is never going to be able to remedy the lack of "touch" on a product on a Web site, but there is a second-best option: as much information about the product as humanly possible. A recent study, The e-tailing group/ARS eCommerce Online Content Impact Survey, tests the limits of consumers' patience with a lack of decent content.
As for major product announcements, Maximizer Software Inc. this week announced the release of Maximizer CRM 10, the latest version of its CRM software. The new version represents a departure from the previous product line, in that Maximizer has eliminated the former stand-alone Enterprise edition found in version 9 and combined it into a more full-spectrum version with different editions to suit the needs of different-sized companies. The new Maximizer CRM 10 comes in three editions: Group, Professional and Enterprise.
For more in-depth info, visit http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/analysis/articles/14607-crm-solutions-provider-maximizer-software-releases-maximizer-crm.htm
Finally, just in case you were afraid there was one area of your life that electronic messaging hadn't invaded, here's another one gone: text messaging for pizza, according to TMCnet's Tim Gray: http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/14712-dont-lol-now-can-order-pizza-via-text.htm