CRM

Summary of the major Customer Relationship Management Solutions:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions are traditionally enterprise class solutions, sometimes referred to as the Front Office Solution. These applications are generally used by the sales staff to manage prospects, opportunities and customers, to check balances, inventory levels, to provide sales quotes, to enter sales orders, to update customer information, etc. Today these systems go much further by using sophisticated techniques to organize observations about customer behavior and satisfaction to help companies better serve their customers. There are hundreds of these solutions available today and as of March 2004, listed are all of the noteworthy CRM solutions along with their web site addresses:

Product Name	Web Address
ACCPAC CRM	http://www.accpac.com/products/crmsfa/
Microsoft CRM	http://www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions/Customer% 20Relationship%20Management/MSCRM/default.mspx
Access Productique	http://www.access-pro.com/
eAssist.com	http://www.eassist.com/
Marketforce	http://www.marketforce.com/
Saratoga Systems, Inc.	http://www.saratogasystems.com/
Altitude Software	http://www.altitudesoftware.com/
eConvergent, Inc.	http://www.econvergent.com/
MarketSoft Corp.	http://www.marketsoft.com/
SAS Institute, Inc.	http://www.sas.com/
Amyyon	http://www.amyyon.com/
Edify Corp.	http://www.edify.com/
Market-Touch Corp.	http://www.market-touch.com/home.html
Selligent	http://www.selligent.com/
Apex Systems	http://www.apexsystems.com/
eFusion, Inc.	http://www.efusion.com/
MessageMedia, Inc.	http://www.messagemedia.com/
Servicesoft Technologies, Inc.	http://www.servicesoft.com/
Applied Business Services Inc.	http://www.appliedbusiness.com/
eGain Communications	http://www.egain.com/
Metrix, Inc.	http://www.metrix.com/
ServiceWare, Inc.	http://www.serviceware.com/
Applix, Inc.	http://www.applix.com/
EIS International	http://www.eisi.com/
Microlog Corp.	http://www.microlog.com/
InstantService.com 	http://www.instantservice.com/
Apropos Technology	http://www.apropos.com/
Epicor Software Corp.	http://www.epicor.com/
MicroStrategy, Inc.	http://www.microstrategy.com/
Siebel Systems, Inc.	http://www1.siebel.com/
Arial Systems Corp.	http://www.arialsys.com/
Ericsson, Inc.	http://www.ericsson.com/
Miller/Shandwick Technologies	http://www.miller-shandwick.com/
Siemens Information	http://www.siemens.com/
Artisoft, Inc.	http://www.artisoft.com/
eShare Technologies	http://www.eshare.com/
Motive Communications, Inc.	http://www.motive.com/
smallwonder softworks, inc.	http://www.smallwondersoftworks.com/
AskIT!	http://www.askit.com/
e-Solutions Software, Inc.	http://www.e-solutions.com/
Multiactive Software, Inc.	http://www.multiactive.com/
Software Innovation, Inc.	http://www.softwareinnovation.com/
Aspect Communications	http://www.aspect.com/
FaceTime Communications	http://www.facetime.com/
NCR Corp.	http://www.ncr.com/
Sonant Corp.	http://www.sonant.com/
ASTEA International, Inc.	http://www.astea.com/
Firstwave Technologies	http://www.firstwave.net/home.asp
NEC	http://www.nec.com/
Spanlink Communications, Inc.	http://www.spanlink.com/
Austin Logistics	http://www.austinlogistics.com/main.html
Foresight Software	http://www.foresight-esp.com/
NetManage eSolutions Group	http://www.netmanage.com/
Sparta Systems, Inc.	http://www.sparta-systems.com/
Baan Co. N.V.	http://www1.baan.com/cgi-bin/bvisapi.dll
Genesys Telecommunication Labs	http://www.genesyslab.com/
Netopia, Inc.	http://www.netopia.com/
Stew Leonard’s Inc.	http://www.stew-leonards.com/
BackWeb Technologies	http://www.backweb.com/
GoldMine Software Corp.	http://www.goldminesoftware.com/
Neuromedia	http://www.neuromedia.com/
Support.com, Inc.	http://www.support.com/
Banter Technology Corp.	http://www.banter.com/
The Great Elk	http://www.greatelk.com/
Noochee Solutions, Inc.	http://www.noochee.com/index.html
Sybase, Inc.	http://www.sybase.com/
Bell Atlantic Call Center	http://www.bell-atl.com/
Great Plains Software	http://www.greatplains.com/
N-Soft	http://www.n-soft.com/
Synchrony Communications, Inc.	http://www.synchronyinc.com/
Blaze Software, Inc.	http://www.blazesoftware.com/
GWI Software	http://www.gwi.com/websites/gwi99site.nsf?OpenDatabase
On! Contact Software	http://www.oncontact.com/
Synergistics	http://www.syner.com/
The Haley Enterprise, Inc.	http://www.haley.com/1133081899926530/THE.html
One-to-One Service.com	http://www.onetooneservice.com/
Syntellect, Inc.	http://www.syntellect.com/
Brightware, Inc.	http://www.brightware.com/
Hewlett-Packard OpenView	http://www.openview.hp.com/
Onyx Software Corp.	http://www.onyx.com/home.asp
Talisma Corp.	http://www.talisma.com/
Broadbase Software, Inc.	http://www.broadbase.com/
Hipbone, Inc.	http://www.hipbone.com/
Oracle Corp.	http://www.oracle.com/
Targetbase	http://www.targetbase.com/
BroadQuest, Inc.	http://www.broadquest.com/
HotData	http://www.hotdata.com/
Outreach Technologies	http://www.outreachtech.com/
TechExcel, Inc.	http://www.techexcel.com/
Business Objects SA	http://www.businessobjects.com/
i2 Technologies, Inc.	http://www.i2.com/
Peace Software International Ltd.	http://www.peace.co.nz/
TelAthena Systems LLC	http://www.telathena.com/
Calico Commerce, Inc.	http://www.calicocommerce.com/
IBM	http://www.ibm.com/
Pegasystems, Inc.	http://www.pegasystems.com/
TeleMagic Inc./SageU.S	http://www.telemagic.com/
Categoric Software	http://www.categoric.com/
IMA	http://www.imaedge.com/
PeopleSoft, Inc.	http://www.peoplesoft.com/
Teloquent Communications Corp.	http://www.teloquent.com/
CellIT, Inc.	http://www.cellit.com/
IMAGINE USA	http://www.imagineusa.com/
Peregrine Systems, Inc.	http://www.peregrine.com/
Tigerpaw Software Corp.	http://www.tigerpawsoftware.com/
Chordiant Software, Inc.	http://www.chordiant.com/
Perimeter Technology	http://www.perimetertech.com/
Tivoli Systems, Inc.	http://www.tivoli.com/
Cincom Systems, Inc.	http://www.cincom.com/
Infinium	http://www.infinium.com/
PipeLive.com	http://www.pipelive.com/
Trilogy Software, Inc.	http://www.trilogy.com/
Cisco Systems, Inc.	http://www.cisco.com/
Infra Corp.	http://www.infra.com.au/
Pivotal Corp.	http://www.pivotal.com/
Tumbleweed Communications Corp.	http://www.tumbleweed.com/
Clarify (A Nortel Networks Company)	http://www.clarify.com/
Intecom, Inc.	http://www.intecom.com/
POINT Information Systems	http://www.pointinfo.com/
Tundo Corp.	http://www.tundo.com/
Intellisystems	http://www.intellisystems.com/
PriceInteractive	http://www.priceinteractive.com/index.html
UniPress Software	http://www.unipress.com/
CNT International	http://www.cnt.com/
Interactive Intelligence, Inc.	http://www.inter-intelli.com/
Primus	http://www.primus.com/
update.com	http://www.update.com/
Concannon Technologies, Inc.	http://www.concannontech.com/
Intraco Systems, Inc.	http://www.intraco.com/
ProAmerica	http://www.proam.com/
UpShot.com	http://www.upshot.com/
Continuity Solutions, Inc.	http://www.continuitysolutions.com/
IslandData Corp.	http://www.islanddata.com/
Quintus Corp.	http://www.quintus.com/
The Vantive Corp.	http://www.peoplesoft.com/
Coresoft Technologies, Inc.	http://www.coresoft.com/
Janna Systems, Inc.	http://www.janna.com/jannaweb/home.htm
Rainmaker	http://www.rainmakertech.com/
Vertical Solutions, Inc.	http://www.verticalsolutions.com/
CosmoCom, Inc.	http://www.cosmocom.com/
Kana Communications	http://www.kana.com/
RealCall	http://www.realcall.com/
Vignette Corp.	http://www.vignette.com/
Customer Analytics	http://www.customeranalytics.com/
Know IT!	http://www.knowit-cti.com/
Relavis Corp.	http://www.relavis.com/
Vividence Corp.	http://www.vividence.com/
CustomerSoft	http://www.customersoft.com/
Remedy Corp.	http://www.remedy.com/
Vocalcom	http://www.vocalcom.com/
Davis Software Engineering, Inc.	http://www.davissoftware.com/
Knowledgebroker, Inc.	http://www.kbi.com/
RightNow Technologies, Inc.	http://www.rightnowtech.com/
WebTone Technologies	http://www.webtonetech.com/
Davox Corp.	http://www.davox.com/
Knowlix Corp	http://www.knowlix.com/
Rockwell Electronic Commerce	http://www.ec.rockwell.com/
Williams Communications Solutions	http://www.williams.com/
Decisif Software Solutions, Inc.	http://www.decisif.com/english/hello.htm
Lipstream	http://www.lipstream.com/
royalblue technologies	http://www.royalblue.com/
Wired Empire	http://www.wiredempire.com/
Delano Technology Corp.	http://www.delanotech.com/
Live Person	http://www.liveperson.com/
Sagent Technology, Inc.	http://www.sagent.com/
Xantel Corp.	http://www.xantel.com/
Digisoft Computers, Inc.	http://www.digisoft.com/
Lucent Technologies	http://www.lucent.com/
Salesforce.com	http://www.salesforce.com/
YOUcentric, Inc.	http://www.youcentric.com/
Digital Archaeology Corp.	http://www.digitalarcheology.com/
Magic Software Enterprises Ltd.	http://www.magicsoftware.com/
SalesLogix Corp.	http://www.saleslogix.com/

About CRM Solutions

CRM products can trace their roots back to the Contact Management (CM) Systems of the 1980’s. Products such as ACT!, Telemagic, Goldmine and others emerged to help people manage their calendars, contacts, to-do lists, etc. These tools were particularly useful to sales representatives who have a particularly high need to maintain this type of information. For this reason, Contact Management products adopted more features, which catered to sale representatives. For example, contact management products added greater capabilities to track prospects, including revenue projections, prospecting steps, telemarketing scripts, etc. Eventually, these products that contained these greater sales prospecting capabilities became known as Sales Force Automation (SFA) Products in the early to mid 1990’s. For a while this term was all the rage, and vendors found that an SFA product could command pricing upwards in the $1,500 to $2,500 range, compared to just $150 to $250 for CM products. The trend towards adding capabilities to support sales representatives in the field continued and more sophisticated capabilities were added such as back office integration to provide sales representatives easy access to inventory quantities on hand, discounts, customer purchase histories and payments, etc. These more advanced products emerged under the label Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products. Vendors were pleased to find that CRM products could command much higher prices in the $8,000, $15,000, $30,000 and higher range. I have to tell you, changing the name of these products from “Contact Management” tools to “Sales Force Automation” tools and then to “Customer Relationship Management” tools should go down in history as one of the greatest marketing moves ever.

CRM Systems Dominant

Propelled by the high prices that CRM products were commanding in the marketplace, it seemed like everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Many accounting vendors and resellers found that increasingly, CRM solutions were driving the selection of accounting systems – sometimes more so than financial solutions. For some of us, it is difficult to appreciate just how dominant CRM solutions compared to their older CM cousins. To grasp the gains made by CRM products, consider that from June 1996 to December 31, 2000, Siebel Systems’ stock price increased 35-fold from $1.92 to $67.63. (During that same period, Microsoft’s stock price rose less than 3-fold, from $15.02 to $43.38; Cisco’s stock price increased 6–fold from $6.29 to $38.25; and Yahoo! Increased 17-fold to $1.75 from $30.06.)

CRM – Popular Trend or Dying Fad?

Today, most of the top accounting software products have aligned them selves with a top CRM product. For example, Epicor purchased Clientele. Great Plains, Solomon and Navision initially embraced Siebel, and later added their own CRM tools only to replace those tools with Microsoft CRM. In early 2001 the $160 million CRM company – Exact purchased Macola Software. In April 2001 Best Software purchased SalesLogix and ACT!. Oracle developed it’s own 35-module CRM solution. Needless to say, most top companies have moved quickly to fill this need.

However, is CRM here to stay? Are hefty CRM price tags really worth it? Some companies have reported that while the sales representatives are clearly happy with CRM functionality, the back office accounting folks are reporting that these new CRM systems do not provide any additional information that they didn’t already have by simply accessing the company’s accounting system. The problem is, those back office accounting folks never let the sales representatives into their accounting system before – and therefore sales representatives never had direct access to real time information related to quantities on hand, payments received, or order entry. Could it be possible that today CRM needs can be most easily met by simply providing your sales representatives with a copy of ACT! And an extra user license that allows them to access the accounting system? Throw a little training on top, and this method may be the exact equivalent and less expensive version of today’s CRM solutions. Then again, perhaps it is important to pay $30,000 for a system that neatly summarizes that same data into sales representatives’ user screens.

In our opinion, the idea of CRM is outstanding. Sales reps need access to real time data and real time order entry capabilities to better serve their customers. However the implementation of these ideas does not necessarily have to be costly. In our seminars we’ve seen that it is the sales force that is driving the purchase of CRM systems, not the back office accounting folks. If the back office accounting folks are the key promoters of CRM, you can usually trace their enthusiasm back to pressure from the sales team.

Our advice is to definitely use a contact management system of some kind, but give some consideration to accomplishing what you need by providing everyone in your organization with password protected and limited access to the data that is already contained in your accounting system.

Let’s Really Talk CRM

Let us not lose site of the term. Managing a customer relationship has a great deal more to do with meeting your customer’s needs and making your customer happy. To this end, nothing replaces hard work, perseverance, and communications. The best CRM tools in the world are a good ear – followed by the telephone, the thank you note, common courtesy, patience, promises kept – you get the picture. Somewhere down the line comes the various CRM application software products on the market. These tools help organize the information about your customers and their products to better help you meet their needs.

Too many people seem to misunderstand CRM. They view CRM as a software product or a web solution. Consider the selected comments made by author Dick Lee in his article –

 

“The Customer Relationship Survival Guide”:

 

Before getting carried away by the incredible webness of the web—and inappropriately attempting to bind CRM to e-commerce, the Internet, extranets, web-based software, etc.—let’s look at some cold, hard facts. As long as people are doing the buying, people will be involved in selling. These predictions of live sales people going the way of the dinosaurs are inane. Of course we’re replacing some live sales functions with e-commerce. But customer backlash has already begun in some sectors as we reach customer thresholds for conducting business with computers. E-commerce is still going to grow like crazy, but there are definite limits to its utility in today’s and tomorrow’s marketplace. Field sales won’t be disappearing anytime soon. Customer “self-help” is often a sham—and customers know it. Customers are already beating up e-tailers, software companies and others over their “convenient,” “customer-friendly,” “self-service” customer non-service service websites. Bottom line, most of these endeavors are naked attempts to cut service costs. Self-serving rather than self-service. Online customer service can benefit customers—UPS and Federal Express are shining examples—but notice that neither of these companies nor other service-sensitive organizations such as Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft force customers to use e-service. Another hitch with e-service—taking away a valuable listening post to hear customer complaints takes away the opportunity to hear early warnings about problems that need addressing. Customer service over the Internet is here to stay, and companies are going to find more and more effective applications. But live customer service is also here to stay. Folks who think the Internet is the end of communication technology development need their heads examined. The Internet is a highly flawed, ad hoc, chewing gum and bailing wire, accidental construct that’s fulfilling a need until we come up with a better solution, which probably won’t take long. It had better not take long, because the whole thing’s going to collapse of its own weight before long. Hey, the Internet’s fine for entertainment and shopping and browsing. But my clients deserve better than what it offers. Lots better. Web-based systems architecture is an interim solution. Those who think web-architecture is the end of systems architecture development—they need their heads examined, too. But I want to take a breather and let someone else set them straight. The original trend away from centralized control towards personal computing was, in fact, the correct trend. People should have their own PCs, just as they should have their own toolboxes or their own cars…And web-centric computing is just a data processing version of public mass transit...

Evaluating CRM

Evaluating CRM solutions is a little different in that the most important factor is that your CRM solution must integrate well into your accounting system. If you already have an accounting system in place, chances are good that your CRM solution is already determined for you by the publisher. Even if the CRM solution provided by the publisher is lacking in many respects, it is still probably a better solution than using another CRM product that is poorly integrated. Nonetheless, a handful of the key features that you should look for when evaluating CRM solutions are listed below:

 

One resource for CRM purchase decisions is the CRM Software Selection Guide by Lee Adler and Sheldon Needle.   The complete Guide is available for purchase for $129 by going to the ASA Web Store or clicking this link http://www.standardobjects.com/asa/default.aspx?t=1 This software selection guide offers articles, product notes, case studies, and tables that fully define CRM products and their functionality.  This descriptive guide provides many aspects for consideration such as price considerations and what you should look for in the underlying technology.  The table of contents plainly outlines the well organized manual.

SalesLogix Key Features

SalesLogix is Best Software’s CRM solution positioned as a leader in Gartner CRM Suites for North American Midsize Business Magic Quadrant. Out of the 18 vendors evaluated by Gartner, Best Software was one of only three vendors that achieved Leader status based on the company’s completeness of vision and ability to execute.

With 5,500 CRM customers SalesLogix, is a well-proven solution that is tightly integrated with MAS 90/200 and MAS 500 products using many touch points. It is a full Customer Relationship Management solution designed for small to mid-sized businesses. Some of the key features in SalesLogix include the following:

• The CRM system must integrate to your accounting system.
• All can be viewed for individual sales representatives, or in total for each department or the company in total.
• The consolidated data should be drillable.
• Account and Contact Information.
• Opportunity Management.
• Calendar & Activity Management.
• Microsoft Outlook Integration.
• Sales Process Automation.
• Advanced Forecasting & Reporting.
• Competitor Tracking.
• Back-Office Integration.
• Web Access.
• Marketing / Support Integration.

Opportunity Management

The primary objective of a CRM system is to enable users to capture and track sales opportunities. The screen below shows where this process starts and some of the important opportunity management features provided by SalesLogix are as follows:

• Capture and reference key information relating to sales opportunities.
• Search for and group opportunities that match specific criteria.
• Track probability of close, products, lead source, status, and competitors.
• Forecast revenue potential and measure sales process effectiveness.

Calendar & Activity Management

SalesLogix also enables users to organize their schedules, calendars, and to do lists. A few of the critical features in this screen include the following:

• Manage schedules and keep track of activities and events for multiple users.
• Track phone calls, meetings, to-dos, events, and literature requests.
• Schedule “timeless” or “recurring” activities and set pre-activity alarms.
• Archive completed activities automatically in the Notes/History tab.

Outlook Integration

Businesses communicate a variety of ways, but E-mail has become the most important tool used today. SalesLogix supports e-mail usage in a variety of ways, including the following:

• Manage contacts, e-mail, and calendars using Microsoft Outlook within SalesLogix.
• Share contact information between Outlook and SalesLogix address books.
• Send e-mail and attachments using Outlook and record to SalesLogix history.

SalesLogix can also check availability and send meeting requests using Outlook within SalesLogix. This procedure is shown in the screen below:

Sales Processes & Pipeline Management
 

• Guide opportunities to a close through proven selling methodologies.
• Create custom processes based on product line, deal size, territory, and more.
• Assign objectives, activities, and results required at each stage.
• Gain pipeline visibility by accurately predicting probability of close.

Contact Processes
 

• Standardize and automate key elements of regular contact processes.
• Automate scheduling of follow-up activities such as mailings and phone calls.
• Add decision points and conditional requirements before events are triggered.
• Assign custom processes — such as ‘Trade Show Lead’ — to unique prospect groups.

Forecasting
 

• Analyze potential revenue opportunities by gaining critical pipeline visibility.
• Segment opportunities by account manager, region, or probability of close.
• Create custom filters and view data in multiple graphical formats.
• Review historical trends to assess effectiveness and guide strategic changes.

Communication
 

• Communicate with customers and prospects via multiple media.
• Create custom HTML e-mail templates, then personalize and send using Mail Merge.
• Archive letters, e-mail, faxes, or proposals within customer account records.
• Attach marketing literature, product info, and other resources from the library.

Web Access
 

• Access your SalesLogix information from any web browser, anytime.
• Track account information and manage opportunities from lead to close.
• Create and manage groups and perform a Mail Merge to unique customer segments.
• Analyze sales performance with full-featured Seagate Crystal Reports™.

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