September 2006

Magazine Features

Fever Pitch

Viral marketing: The buzz that builds brands fast (pass it on).

High Performance

WFO suite vendors offer call centers increased ease of use, improved staffing, and lower business costs via new product packages

Hosted or Housed?

The decision to implement one or the other CRM-solution model is a complicated one--here, a rundown of significant financial aspects to consider.

Front Office

Downtime Is Dead

When consumers' days are filled with all work and no play, it makes communicating with them even more difficult than usual.

Reality Check

Invest in CRM Beyond Applications

The right training--not more training--paves the road to success.

Customer Centricity

The On-Demand Mathematics of Enterprise Computing

Change in computing will not be limited to technology--it will influence business models for every company competing in the traditional software arena.

The Tipping Point

How Much Is Your Customers' Trust Worth?

The bottom line on the theft and privacy of CRM data.

Pint of View

Gettin' Schooled

Facing the fourth "R"--retail.

Insight

A Killer Replacement: Oracle Pulls the Plug On IBM

Oracle's announcement of its intent to acquire Siebel raised doubts about how long Siebel's OnDemand alliance with IBM would last.

Microsoft: Expecting a Live Baby

Has the software giant's on-demand application incubated for too long?

Shoppers and Buyers: Divide, and Conquer Both

Analytics tools and methods can boost sales-closure rates by concentrating sales efforts.

Market Focus: Financial Services--Stocking the Customer Experience

Firms must struggle with compliance, fraud, and market saturation, while keeping improved customer experience top of mind.

Required Reading: Service With a Smile?

CRM magazine's Colin Beasty spoke with Richard Gallagher about his book, Great Customer Connections.

The Pulse: Is your company using or planning to use open source CRM?

destinationCRM Dashboard

Statistically Speaking

MySpace Cadets

The growing popularity of the Web site has marketers looking to blast off into the new social networking frontier. Will they crash in security and clutter issues?

REAL ROI

Keep Customer Data On Pointe

A ballet company sends a dirty database "en arriere" with QAS.

Call-Routing Headaches Take a Powder

UCN helps a pharmacy benefit manager handle an expected uptick in call volume.

The Compleat Traveler

Active data warehousing trumps the traditional for Travelocity by supporting event-based decisions.

Site Meets Solution: A Modern Love Story

My Wedding Favors gets a major boost in convergence rates tying the knot with Kefta, a search-targeting solution provider.

Re:Tooling

Tech Solution: Guided-Selling Tools

Business Problem: A sales force is overwhelmed with the complexity of its company's products and service offerings.