October 2000

Four New Tools For CRM And The Web

• Enhanced Internet CRM Solution From Sedona

• Ventaso SC: Web-Based Sales And Marketing Solution

• RightNow Metrics Survey Tool

• Orpheus Rises For Voice-Based Verification Solution

Rapid growth in wireless technology and Web-enabled devices has the e-commerce atmosphere charged with thunderous expectations. The "new mobility" offered by WAP technology promises to extend the reach of e-commerce as it adopts the new functionality. Yet, concomitant with the technology are concerns about resources, timing, technology, (re-) investment costs, training and deployment. Many e-businesses have discovered CRM solutions provided on the application service provider (ASP) model that may address one or more of these issues and provide a market-specific application or solution that fits into their business operations or plan.

One such solution is Sedona Corp.'s Internet-based version of its Intarsia product, a CRM application for small- to mid-sized financial services companies. Sedona seeks to provide organizations with the ability to optimize their return on customer relationships and greatly improve their customer acquisition, intimacy, satisfaction and retention. The new version provides support for wireless devices and offers a new portal front-end meant to allow companies and users to personalize their own Intarsia look and feel as well as immediate use of the software on an application service basis. The product offers profitability management, lead tracking and, as a result of the ability to personalize the system and use it in a mobile environment, a flexible CRM functionality. Intarsia's new wireless capabilities allow users to access the system without having to be "plugged" into an Internet connection. Sedona said that, with mobile device usage on the increase, this new feature will grow increasingly significant as users become less tethered to an office location and travel or conduct customer meetings outside of their offices. In their view, this is a critical requirement for competitive financial service companies seeking to provide better customer service. No additional hardware or software is needed to deploy the solution. Intarsia users can enhance their internal customer and/or prospect data from back-office systems with "live" user demographics, behaviors, interests and preferences information provided by third-party content management suppliers. This enhanced data is then visually filtered and analyzed to provide "information-on-demand" or "Smart Content" to all of Intarsia's CRM front-office components, such as lead tracking and management, profitability management, promotion management, segment management and report publisher.
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The stated mission of Ventaso Inc. (formerly Market-Touch Corp.) is "to provide software and services that give sales and marketing one voice." To increase the effectiveness of sales and marketing organizations, Ventaso's hosted, Web-based Sales and Marketing Effectiveness System aims at centralizing sales and marketing information for easy access and rapid on-demand delivery of market analysis, competitive positioning, competitive matrices as well as customer-specific business information. Ventaso SC is a front-office application featuring components that are tailored for the needs of either sales or marketing while providing a complete view for all company users. The heart of the system is Ventaso's DataGem Server that stores marketing, competitive product and customer requirements information in a secure, centralized location. Content owners write or extract key marketing and sales information using the Architect Enterprise, which stores the information in the DataGem Server where it can be assembled into dynamic Web pages and personalized Microsoft Office documents. Architect Enterprise includes e-mail and Web-based workflow and content review features meant to bridge communication gaps and simplify information updates. The DataGem Server and Ventaso Web applications are installed at a secure Ventaso data center, where they are set up and configured for each customer. Ventaso handles system security, user login management, database monitoring and other administrative tasks.

The Compare feature is a dynamic competitive matrix builder that takes into account data such as the sales prospect's industry, business requirements, key features and competitors for the prospective sale, and provides qualitative information (such as competitive "scorecards") as well as customer "talking points." The Research component enables secure access to corporate, product and competitive information. It can also retrieve customer success stories, either by name or by matching customer profile attributes. The dynamic document generator (Generate) is used by sales representatives to create customized research reports, data sheets, presentations, etc. It steps the sales representative through a process for identifying the prospect's market segment and business and functional requirements. The sales agent can then prepare targeted Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents for each prospect. The Build feature allows for the creation or enhancement of documents using pre-approved statements and to respond quickly to involved customer inquiries. Lastly, the Analyze component measures usage, analyzes target market trends and enables the development of ROI metrics.
No. 526, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

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You invested in the "right" hardware and software. Your business processes are integrated into the system, inventories are optimized, orders flow fairly smoothly and you have trained your staff well: everything seems to be working in harmony. Yet, your Internet sales are swinging wildly up and down. What's wrong? What are your customers thinking?

RightNow Technologies, Inc., a provider of Internet customer service solutions, recently unveiled RightNow Metrics 2.0, a solution developed to assist companies create and distribute flexible customer surveys. RightNow Metrics provides two survey types: Closed Incident and On-Demand. The former is constructed so that clients may automatically send e-mail or Web-based surveys to customers after a customer service representative has closed an incident, while the latter allows for custom survey creation for measuring customer satisfaction, opinions, product intelligence, etc. On-Demand surveys also can be linked to a Web site or sent by e-mail. To configure RightNow Metrics' functionality, the solution provides for the creation of customized survey elements, such as survey result types, specifics for e-mail surveys, database information, outbound e-mail, etc. After customizing the settings, the user logs into the Metric Console where construction of the survey template and the definition of the survey elements (format, questions, scheduling, target, etc.) take place. Response elements can include multiple choice, short answer or numeric ranges. Results can be displayed on-screen for analysis in graphical, tabular or comma-separated value (CSV). Also, a list of responders and/or list of e-mails originally sent can be generated. The product can survey in eight languages, and surveys can be reused or modified. RightNow Metrics can accept an e-mail from any CRM package to trigger a Closed Incident survey and can export its data in the CSV format for analysis by third-party data analysis systems. The product can run as a stand-alone application with your CRM platform or integrated with RightNow Web, the company's Web-based customer service and technical support suite, for hosted Web self-service, e-mail management and online customer interaction.
No. 527, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

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As e-commerce transactional activity grows, customers are looking for greater levels of security, which results in the time-consuming work of a call center agent verifying the identity of a caller prior to finalizing a sales transaction. PIN codes, passwords and verification questions asked of customers delay efficient processing. Persay Ltd. (a Comverse Company) seeks to simplify the verification process, improve call center throughput/efficiency and maximize security with its Orpheus 2.0 Speaker Verification platform: a solution designed for call centers that need to verify customer identity over the phone. The Orpheus 2.0 system uses the speaker's (the customer's) own voice and speech characteristics to authenticate call identity during a conversation or by use of a distinct vocal password. As with fingerprints, there are no two persons who have the same voiceprint. Orpheus provides real-time comparisons of the digitized voice of the caller with a voice signature. Using proprietary algorithms, the system then determines whether the caller's voice matches the voice signature. Orpheus is able to authenticate the caller's identity, or to flag possible impostors, with a high degree of accuracy. Initially developed for defense applications, the system is designed to provide optimal security under "real life" conditions. Performance levels remain high in adverse conditions such as with cellular phone transmission and signal/speech compression. Recognition is carried out independently of conversation content, and the system may be used in all languages and accents. Verification results can be displayed on an agent's display screen before allowing a transaction to be finalized. The Orpheus open API architecture enables integration with the organization environment as well as applications such as VoIP, IVR, etc. In an IVR environment, the verification results can be used to determine further routing of the call.
No. 528, www.ccsmag.com/freeinfo

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