Organizations continue to spend heavily on customer relationship management (CRM) - $11 billion annually by 2010 - to grow the top line, improve the customer experience, and boost the productivity of customer-facing workers. To better understand how enterprises can get the most value from this investment, we surveyed 260 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses in adopting 11 sets of CRM capabilities consisting of 150 best practices.
Provided by: Netsuite

As the economic environment continues to fluctuate, many organizations are asking themselves what strategies they can pursue to bring tangible business benefits while taking stock of the economic conditions. While there is no magic pill or panacea, customer relationship management (CRM) solutions can provide the foundation for sustainable growth and enable organizations to survive and thrive in these uncertain times. Microsoft Dynamics® CRM provides organizations with an opportunity to improve their business by providing the right mix of features and platform flexibility along with strong corporate viability to help ensure long-term success.
Provided by: Microsoft

Executives at small and midsize companies are making critical business decisions every day based on the information available to them. This information can come from a variety of sources: opinions from peers and colleagues; a personal sense of intuition or business judgment; or data derived internally or externally to the organization. This is particularly worrisome given the lack of confidence in data available to decision makers: a 2007 report conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and commissioned by Business Objects found that nine out of ten corporate executives admit to making important decisions on the basis of inadequate information.
Provided by: SAP

The discussions for and against on-demand (SaaS) and on-premise business applications have been a long-time mainstay in corporations among business users and IT. As you're considering an investment in or renewal of a customer relationship management (CRM) or sales force automation (SFA) solution, then you've likely heard these discussions. Before making a decision, please review this simple guide to help you navigate the available options in the market place.
Provided by: Maximizer

Companies excel when they empower their people to drive the business forward. Strategies, organization, motivation, and leadership all set the stage for business success. But to see results, you also have to give your people the right tools, information, and opportunities-because success ultimately comes down to your people. We call a business that fosters a winning environment a "people-ready business."
Provided by: Microsoft

In a recession, CRM can be viewed as a Company Recession Management tool, providing ways for companies to guard against the typical pitfalls of recessionary thinking. In fact, research shows that companies with CRM systems out-perform those that don't by over 140% higher revenue per employee. With this level of performance, CRM is clearly a must-have during a recession to get more out of every staff person.
Provided by: Maximizer

Learn how Senior Flexonics Pathway, Wilden Pump & Engineering, Ipsos-Reid, The Oxford Princeton Programme, and Connect Tech are winning with a customer-focused culture, redefined business processes, and CRM software tools.
Provided by: Maximizer

With Advanced Sales Forecasting software from NetSuite, you now have the ability to run accurate, up-to-the-second sales forecasts to address your most pressing business questions. As a result, you can manage your data, and your business with greater accuracy, speed, and confidence.
Provided by: Netsuite

In this paper we discuss the relevant criteria for evaluation of SaaS solutions targeting small-to-midsize businesses, and we raise the key questions that should be asked. It is important to ensure that the qualities of the SaaS solution will align well the business requirements and be sufficiently adaptable to meet the needs of change and growth. We also provide an evaluation template for small-to-midsize business executives to use in conducting an evaluation of a SaaS solution.
Provided by: SAP

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a highly-touted model for acquiring, using and paying for business functionality. Its best-known characteristics are its relative speed to implementation and low upfront costs for acquisition and deployment. As a result, SaaS is widely adopted for a variety of business and IT functions.
Provided by: SAP

The notion of enterprise architecture is changing quickly. What was once a concept of technologies and interconnections existing within the firewall is morphing into something that’s more dynamic and valuable to those building enterprise architectures. This technology is known as an on-demand platform, a way of doing architecture that will both increase efficiencies and innovation, while at the same time reducing costs.
Provided by: Salesforce.com

This AberdeenGroup Executive White Paper focuses on the business value of front-to-back office integration for small and mid-market companies as well as the role of Software-as-a-Service in enhancing that value. AberdeenGroup field research conducted for this paper concludes that small and mid-market companies will soon find they have outgrown their sales-focused CRM applications and will require more robust solutions to fully integrate pre-sales information with customer data contained in their transactional systems.
Provided by: Netsuite

Microsoft® recently researched the experience of nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs that have deployed one or more of the applications in the Microsoft Dynamics® line of business management solutions. Among these companies, whose attitudes to technology tended to be more forward looking than usual, the most common issue was the need for modern systems. The pain points most often cited were manual processes that cause mistakes and inefficiencies, integration problems with other systems (both internal and external), lack of operational insight, and legacy software support and customization issues. This white paper explores the experience of these companies in more detail to help you understand how you can use Microsoft Dynamics® to modernize your business processes and drive business success.

Microsoft Dynamics provides powerful software that helps organizations drive down costs, improve operations, retain and build customer relationships and continue to innovate in challenging economic times.

Now more than ever, organizations of all sizes and descriptions are struggling to comply with regulations and manage the risks and penalties of failing to operate within the rules. Establishing, maintaining and proving compliance requires both money and time that executives and shareholders would rather invest in top-line growth.
Provided by: Epicor

The theme of the Workbooks 'Business Perspectives' series is sales and marketing effectiveness. That is - put simply - getting the best business result for the money you spend in your sales and marketing functions.
Provided by: Workbooks

Microsoft® recently researched the experience of nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs that have deployed one or more of the applications in the Microsoft Dynamics® line of business management solutions. Among these companies, whose attitudes to technology tended to be more forward looking than usual, a common issue was rapid growth. The pain points most often cited were manual processes that cause mistakes and inefficiencies, the need for more functionality, an inability to scale to support growth, integration problems, especially with the growing number of customer and partner systems, and a lack of operational insight. This white paper explores the experience of these companies in more detail to help you understand how you can use Microsoft Dynamics® to support rapid growth and drive business success.

Microsoft Dynamics® provides powerful software that helps organizations drive down costs, improve operations, retain and build customer relationships and continue to innovate in challenging economic times.

Modern customer relationship management (CRM) applications have come a long way from their humble origins in the early '90s as basic contact managers that were enabled to run on a single hardware platform. The more advanced CRM solutions of today can manage and assimilate all information derived through customer interactions with the sales, marketing, service, and support teams of a business into a single repository and have been designed to run not on one, but multiple client platforms.
Provided by: Brainsell

Microsoft® recently researched the experience of nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs that have deployed one or more of the applications in the Microsoft Dynamics® line of business management solutions. Among these companies, whose attitudes to technology tended to be more forward looking than usual, a common issue was growth via mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The pain points most often cited were non-integrated, overlapping systems, an inability to scale to support growth, the need for more functionality, and a lack of operational insight. This white paper explores the experience of these companies in more detail to help you understand how you can use Microsoft Dynamics® to support your company's growth via M&A and drive business success.

Microsoft Dynamics® provides powerful software that helps organizations drive down costs, improve operations, retain and build customer relationships and continue to innovate in challenging economic times.

The C2 eCitizen solution helps Government agencies "do more with less" in an ever increasing environment where citizens are demanding better service and more accurate information for their tax dollars. Agency management and elected officials must find ways to deliver and track the success of projects and citizen satisfaction through the use of tools and by leveraging technology. The C2 eCitizen solution applies Customer Relationship Management techniques and tools perfected in the commercial sector that are proven to increase customer loyalty to the government sector, therefore increasing citizen satisfaction.
Provided by: C2CRM

Considering CRM solutions? First understand CRM best practices

Before committing to a CRM purchase and implementation, it's good to know the experience of those who have already "been there, done that." It can save time and prevent costly missteps.

Fortunately, now there is a best practices guide and ROI case study available to you. The Nucleus Research Guidebook Sage SalesLogix highlights the experiences of companies using Sage SalesLogix CRM solution and prescribes the best practices, missteps to avoid, and tips for fine-tuning the application to maximize its impact across the customer life cycle.

A related case study shows how Mortgage Lenders of America used Sage SalesLogix CRM to increase sales productivity, resulting in more closed deals and revenue, and producing an ROI of 304% in three years.

Now more than ever, businesses like yours are looking for the best value in their business solutions.

Before we begin our discussion ask yourself this question: What does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) mean to me and what is its value? Thousands of companies have endeavored down this same path many successful and others not. The reason may lie in the fact that CRM is sometimes viewed incorrectly and not fully understood. This paper will provide some insights to consider about the value of CRM in defining customers, increasing loyalty and increasing profits.
Provided by: C2CRM

The economic downturn means that businesses must capitalize on every opportunity to gain revenue. With the right customer relationship management (CRM) solution, you can protect current revenue streams and unearth new customer revenue opportunities—despite the most challenging market conditions. CRM helps ensure you deliver exceptional service to your current customers, building their long-term loyalty. Find out how.
Provided by: Sage

Did you know that most Americans believe companies should have a presence in social media? That means most of your customers and prospects expect you to be involved in social media, and will be more likely to do business with you if you are.
Provided by: Sage

Marketing is not perceived as an exacting science. Many times, marketing plans, campaigns and other activities are planned from guesswork or past "experiences". As a result, money can be quickly wasted on marketing initiatives which were poorly conceived and poorly executed.
Provided by: C2CRM

This document focuses on key "pains" often experienced by executives in an organization and how CRM can help solve those pains.
Provided by: C2CRM

To discover what is driving SaaS uptake locally, this paper introduces the SaaS Market Index for Australia. We plan to upgrade the Index each year to track the progress of SaaS adoption in the local market in terms of awareness, usage, business impact and satisfaction.
Provided by: Salesforce.com

The concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been around for years, but the term is relatively new. So new in fact, there is really no one definition for what Customer Relationship Management actually is. Want to test this theory and have some fun? Ask four executives to describe what CRM means to them and you will get four different answers. The one thing that is clear, however, is that Customer Relationship Management has become one of the most talked about and fastest growing segments of the software and services industry.
Provided by: Commence

As an executive who has spent more than twenty years in the software industry, I often look back at several of the technologies I have been involved with and marvel at the hype, buzz, and aura that accompanised their birth and their inevitable death. Remember Artifical Intelligence (AI), one of the biggest buzz - words of the 80's? How about Computer Aided Software Engeineering (CASE)? These technologies rarely got implemented even though companies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to do so. At the time, industry analysts had us all believing that these technologies were as important as the coming of the Messiah, yet all that remainds of them are distant memories.
Provided by: Commence

Some CRM Solutions are designed for large enterprises and have only recently been scaled down to fit the budget and simpler needs of smaller businesses. A system designed from the ground up for small to midsized companies is more likely to suit your requirements for rapid implementation, ease of use, and low cost of ownership.
Provided by: Commence

Download this whitepaper to learn more about the tools and technologies that can enable service orientation. The paper shows the value of Real-World SOA and includes success stories from our customers who have taken this approach to support their business vision.
Provided by: Microsoft

In this paper, SSPA Research and Salesforce.com will explore the evolution of self-service, how Web 2.0 can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and the role of OnDemand in enabling a new era of support: Customer Service 2.0.
Provided by: Salesforce.com