www.tmcnet.com/1456.1
Oracle Announces OOTB Fusion CRM Integration With PeopleSoft
Oracle has announced out-of-the-box Oracle Fusion Middleware-based integration between Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 9 and Oracle Customer Hub. PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM customers can now use MDM capabilities for data quality management, data enrichment and customer mastering capabilities, keeping incremental changes to customer records within PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM synchronized with the Oracle Customer Hub in real-time.
www.oracle.com

www.tmcnet.com/1457.1
SugarCRM Gets SugarMaps With Google Maps, Intelestream
Intelestream has announced the release of SugarMaps, a plug-in integrating the Sugar Suite line of CRM applications with Google Maps technology. It provides a module where maps and place marks are displayed according to user-determined criteria. The module will display the results with each account indicated by a place mark whose color and/or size vary according to preselected criteria. Driving directions can next be printed using each account as a waypoint.
www.sugarcrm.com

www.tmcnet.com/1465.1
Genesys Survey Examines Activities of Successful Contact Centers
A recent survey by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories explored customer service organizations and found that while many have implemented strategies to improve customer interactions, most have yet to take action on those strategies. This survey also studied the most effective contact centers and discovered certain activities that made them more successful than others. For one, the most effective and successful contact centers sought to identify customers at the first available opportunity. A full 78 percent of call centers are currently identifying customers before connecting them to agents.
www.genesyslab.com

www.tmcnet.com/1458.1
Customer Service Getting Worse, Accenture Finds
A recently released study by Accenture found that companies “are not keeping pace with consumers’ rising expectations for service, especially in emerging economies.” The report, “Customer Satisfaction in the Multi-Polar World: Accenture 2007 Global Customer Service Satisfaction Survey Report,” the third in a series of annual studies designed to examine consumer attitudes toward customer service, expanded the scope of past reports to include not just the U.S. and U.K., but Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and France as well. More than 41 percent of all respondents reported that the overall quality of service they receive is “poor/terrible” to “fair.”
www.accenture.com

www.tmcnet.com/1459.1
CRM Data Security Touted by Salesboom in TFAS
Salesboom.com, a vendor of SaaS CRM and ERP products, has announced it will offer two-factor authentication security to its customers. “With phishing scams on the rise,” the company says, new database security standards “ensure that your CRM database security and integrity will never be breached by phishing scams.” Two-factor authentication security uses a USB token, or key, containing an employee’s encrypted digital ID, which is required for successful database login.
www.salesboom.com

www.tmcnet.com/1460.1
Open Source CRM Increasing In Popularity, OSA Finds
San Francisco-based Open Solutions Alliance has released its findings of the 2007 Customer Forum Series. “Interoperability between open products” tops the list of requirements among customers and channel partners who are deploying these products, the OSA found after meeting with more than 100 customers in five cities throughout the United States and Europe. Non-technical interoperability issues, such as how to support and manage integrated products being sourced from multiple vendors, were also raised at the forum.
www.opensolutionsalliance.org

www.tmcnet.com/1467.1
PreVisor Acquires Performance Technologies International
PreVisor, a provider of pre-employment assessments and selection solutions that connect hiring decisions to business results, recently announced its acquisition of Performance Technologies International, Inc. (PTI). The acquisition is expected to bring PreVisor capabilities in computer-based training and e-learning, while increasing the company’s presence in the federal government market. PreVisor’s solutions help streamline hiring, reduce recruiting and training costs and improve corporate performance.
www.previsor.com

www.tmcnet.com1466.1
TouchStar Introduces 2008 Enterprise Call Center System
Contact center technology provider TouchStar recently introduced its new 2008 Enterprise Call Center System, which provides enterprise scalability, redundancy and functionality to connect thousands of call center agents in multiple locations anywhere in the world. The introduction of this new platform marks TouchStar’s entry into the Tier One enterprise market. According to the company, the new system offers functionality which is critical to modern call centers seeking to expand their use of remote labor resources and unified communications.
www.touchstar.com

www.tmcnet.com/1461.1
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Support Announced By Ensim
Ensim Corporation, which sells management software for communications, has announced its support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, the multitenant version of Microsoft’s customer relationship management application. Ensim’s Unify Shared Edition is a control panel providing support for CRM, and will allow providers to add Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as part of their hosted offering and “with minimal capital expenditures,” said Ensim. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM hosted product is built on the same code base as the on-premise Microsoft CRM Professional Edition, with a choice of user interface, on-line or off-line usage, and flexible products and deployment.
www.microsoft.com/dynamics and www.ensim.com

www.tmcnet.com/1464.1
New Bluetooth Headset From Sennheiser
In a bid to further extend comfort and “unparalled sound quality” for headset users, Sennheiser Communications has announced a new addition to its premium Bluetooth wireless headset line-up, the FLX 70. As the second addition to Sennheiser’s wireless Bluetooth headsets for consumers, the FLX 70 offers big sound quality in a small form factor. The FLX 70 headset is a flexible mobile headset that offers up to five hours of talk time on one battery charge and the ability to maintain conversation readiness without having to leave the FLX 7o headset in-ear, thanks to an included lanyard.
www.sennheiserusa.com

www.tmcnet.com/1463.1
The Top Five CRM Software Advancements Of 2007 Highlighted
CRM software continues to play an important role in ensuring customer satisfaction and business success. As this role has increased in importance, so has the sophistication of CRM software offerings. Looking back at 2007, VendorGuru.com has issued a list highlighting a number of these CRM software advancements.
www.vendorguru.com

www.tmcnet.com/1462.1
Contact Center Vendor OMDR Acquired by Silverline
Officials from Silverline Technologies have announced that the company has acquired OMDR, which was formerly Omega Direct Response. The Toronto company sells customer interaction and management services, particularly in the inbound and outbound business service management space. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Silverline designs and implements call center initiatives ranging from inbound customer care, sales and help desk to outbound services.
www.silverlinetech.com

www.tmcnet.com/1468.1
Strong Growth In Latin American Contact Center Outsourcing In 2008
Contact center outsourcing for many companies is the optimal strategy to contain costs while meeting customer service and interaction needs. For those companies that have implemented strategies to keep those contact centers as close to shore as possible, Latin American and the Caribbean have proven to be prime locations.
www.datamonitor.com