February 2003

Magazine Features

The Hosts With the Most

Once thought of as a tool for small companies needing sales force automation, hosted CRM solutions have developed into a formidable competitor to packaged CRM applications for mid-market, and even large enterprises.

Can't Get No Dissatisfaction

In an exclusive survey conducted in conjunction with consultancy CAP Ventures Inc., CRM magazine finds that a surprising number of executives are pleased with their CRM system--and with their results.

The ABCs of Global CRM

CRM is making it as easy for international companies to share information among offices scattered across the globe as it is for them to share it with coworkers down the hall. The secret to mastering this in your company is to follow these 10 essential guidelines.

Executives' Guide to Call Center Excellence: Best Practices--FedEx: An Overnight Success Story

FedEx has been able to integrate business processes and provide customers with a single point of access for all shipping needs. To do so the company devised a three-prong approach to CRM.

Executives' Guide to Call Center Excellence: Productivity Tools--A Little Technology Goes a Long Way

New tools enhance call center agent productivity.

Executives' Guide to Call Center Excellence: Outsourcing--Making the Right Call

There are three main types of call center outsourcers. Which is best suited to your business?

Executives' Guide to Call Center Excellence: Workforce Management--Quality Is Job One...Or Is It?

Before quantifying call center metrics, companies must examine the effect customer service levels have on satisfaction.

Executives' Guide to Call Center Excellence: Motivational Strategies--Just Desserts

Rewarding and recognizing contact center agents is as much science as it is art.

Reality Check

Making CRM Whole-Brained

Metrics and ROI will not materialize unless CRM incorporates major cultural change as an element of success.

Insight

No Holds Barred

CRM vendors are pulling out all the stops to boost sales.

News in Brief

Early Users Encouraged by Microsoft CRM

Heard and Overheard

The Real (Time) Deal

Hype-Free CRM Success

Hot Seat

Vertical Focus: Pharmaceuticals

REAL ROI

Charitable Groups Profit From CRM

Nonprofit organizations need CRM as much as for-profit businesses do.

Support Gets a Face-Lift

Advice From the Trenches: How to Increase Upsell Revenue

Hot Projects

Clean Data Improves Integration

CRM in Action: Low-Cost Data Analysis

CRM in Action: Integrating e-CRM and SFA

Secret of My Success

Linking Data to Build Sales

Vicki Hamilton, vice president of shared services and IT operations for The Weather Channel, explains how the service firm brought its sales force under one CRM umbrella.