Small businesses tend to manage customer relationships through a number of different applications—documents, contact managers, spreadsheets, etc.—and it is those companies that have the most to gain from implementing a unified CRM system. To help quell some of the apprehensions and concerns small businesses may have with CRM, CRM Buyer recently outlined some tips to help SMBs get the most out of the service.

When introducing a CRM system to employees unaccustomed to using one, the most important step is get them to buy into the system. Without employee support and faith in the product, the product will have little worth and SMBs won’t see the ROI they hoped for. Also, every employee must be encouraged to use the platform, because some will likely eschew the system in favor of familiar methods they know have previously yielded success. It is therefore important to stress the benefits of CRM implementation will give the company, rather than the system’s features.

Training is also important for proselytizing employees. Ideally, training will be included with the purchase or subscription chosen, and online documentation, videos, and tutorials are also helpful. For teaching non-technical people, sometimes it is most effective to familiarize them with certain features that are most relevant to their role. Ongoing training for the office is necessary for keeping up with the system’s innovations.  CRM Buyer also recommends training users in groups—training at intervals will allow those first familiar with the system to help others.

Lastly, it is important to choose the right CRM platform. For small businesses, this often means a simple system. Managers should outline the company’s needs and then select a system based on those requisites, and not by the bells and whistles certain vendors may offer.

Not long ago, CDC Software announced plans to acquire on-demand companies in order to create one SaaS software solutions provider to complement its on-premise products for various verticals. Last week, CDC announced they have signed a binding term sheet for the future acquisition of a SaaS provider for not-for-profit (NFP) organizations; the name of the company was not disclosed.

Given the rise of SaaS—a recent global study by Avanade consultancy shows that within 2009 alone, the number of companies using only on-premise solutions decreased from 61% to 41%—this is a smart move for CDC to offer customers multiple deployment options. It is even smarter to offer a combination, as the hybrid SaaS model is proliferating at light speed. CDC plans to take these SaaS and on-premise offerings worldwide, via 22 offices and 1200 resellers and partners. In terms of the NFP vertical solution, business should be good—market research shows there are 1.5 million registered NFPs in North America alone, and SaaS solutions are extremely cost-effective. The soon-to-be-acquired company is venture-capital financed, and provides solutions for ERP, CRM, financial management, e-commerce and others, in one platform.

This pending acquisition will also be fruitful for other CDC solutions: it will provide cross-selling opportunities for CDC MarketFirst and CDC Respond by expanding product functionality into marketing automation, lead management, and complaint and feedback management. Full procurement of the unnamed company is expected by the end of 2009.

Recently, global IT consultancy Avanade commissioned Kelton Research for a global study about cloud computing and the adoption of SaaS, and the findings were pretty remarkable. The prominent thread in the study was that SaaS is catching on, and at an unprecedented rate, but it is carving a niche more as a hybrid platform—usage with a legacy system—than as a freestanding one.

Not only are more companies adopting SaaS, more are considering adoption than they were even earlier this year. A similar study was conducted in January, and at the time 54% of participants said they would not consider cloud computing solutions; the more recent survey shows a decrease to 37%. The previous poll also showed 61% of companies were using only internal IT systems, and today that number is down to 41%. Avanade’s study found that 68% of respondents were using SaaS at some level, but still about 30% of those said service outages were an issue.

Whatever security and reliability problems respondents had, 62% said they plan to expand their SaaS usage. However, the study had no real conclusion about whether this uptick in hybrid SaaS usage would lead those companies to move entirely to the cloud. The study did conclude that cloud computing will continue making inroads, but that some applications should remain on-premise. Avanade surmised that the gap between companies planning to adopt SaaS and those that aren’t will close in either 2011 or 2012. It will be interesting to see what ratio of cloud to on-premise usage this hybrid moves to in the future, and how controllable security and dependability can become.

The outpouring of Oracle OpenWorld news continues: Samsung SDS and Oracle have co-developed a native mobile CRM application. Last week, demonstrations of the new application were held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, but the week prior the product had a “soft debut” in San Diego that was met with positive reviews.

The application is for Samsung smartphones and is based on Oracle Siebel CRM, and will run on the Samsung Mobile Cloud Center (SMCC). The first release is for pharmaceutical companies, but Samsung SDS plans to develop similar CRM applications for other verticals. Oracle already offers mobile version of its CRM system, but it is a basic rendering in comparison to the new Samsung collaboration, which has more features. Some of the advancements include a hub-and-spoke graphic to show users their customers’ connections—as opposed to Oracle’s original spreadsheet for displaying such associations—communication records built into customer profiles, and complex graphs.

At OpenWorld, Oracle’s Anthony Lye spoke to the importance to moving toward mobile in the future, so it is no surprise that this CRM offering is only the first of Samsung’s projected efforts to target the enterprise market. In this regard, Samsung will concentrate on its Windows Mobile phones in 2010, and plans to continue to focus on applications as well as devices by maintaining partnership with Oracle.

Two weeks ago, the annual CRM Expo was held in Nuremberg, Germany, and SugarCRM client 3Dconnexion was awarded the 2009 CRM Best Practice Award. The award is most certainly a testament to the value and capabilities SugarCRM delivers to its customers, and 3Dconnexion is the third SugarCRM customer to win the award, and it is also the third such win for Insignio, SugarCRM’s German partner who managed the implementation.

3Dconnexion is a subsidiary of Logitech, and the award was given in the “CRM Launch” category for their use of SugarCRM as a global customer management platform. 3Dconnexion develops control devices for a wide variety of users, from gamers to product designers, and is headquartered in Fremont, CA, with European headquarters near Munich. The previous CRM system was spread across multiple databases, and they turned to SugarCRM for a consolidation solution for online marketing, sales, services and reporting.

The SugarCRM deployment includes key integrations to tie the CRM system into Google Maps, the company’s e-commerce platform and partner portal. It also serves employees in seven languages in Europe and the United States, and 3Dconnexion’s next step will be implementation in Japan. Thus far, it’s been a good fall for SugarCRM, as they were also recently awarded “Best Open Source Technology” by CRM Magazine.

The expansion of cloud computing is unstoppable, and its growth within enterprise software is manifest destiny. Of course, when dealing with cloud storage there are always questions about security. After a recent Unisys survey revealed that more than half of its enterprise participants considered security and privacy their biggest concern with the cloud, eWeek did a little investigation and outlined six tips for security. Details are below, but the main points are to ask questions and don’t assume your storage provider is giving you all the pertinent details, and to be completely familiar—back-of-your-hand familiar—with your company’s security requirements.

• Learn as much as possible about a potential provider’s data management. Whether it’s where data is physically stored or what hiring practices led to the staff responsible for securing your data, make a point to know about it.
• Make sure your provider can show you documentation of encryption used to secure and segregate data between multiple customers.
• Should law enforcement perform an audit, be sure your provider can construct an accurate audit trail. Be particularly wary of providers who can’t give you precise geo-location and compartmentalization of sensitive data.
• Another key to smooth audits: know your company’s compliance requirements inside and out so that these become prerequisites when soliciting a provider. This knowledge could eliminate legal hassles down the road.
• If a provider doesn’t have a trustworthy software security assurance program, find one that does. This means security and privacy will be certain in terms of application development in the cloud.
• Lastly, consider Murphy’s Law. Ask prospective providers how they are prepared to handle a security breach, from damage control to correction.

Microsoft’s recent announcement of its “Social Networking Accelerator” could be a sign of things to come. With the explosion of many social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it was only a matter of time before CRM Software providers started to create applications and tools which integrate these popular social networking sites into their CRM applications.

Microsoft’s new Social Networking Accelerator will initially only serve as a means to gather more information by monitoring customer tweets to generate more data. This will provide Microsoft Dynamics users a firsthand look at what customers say or think about their products. This should provide companies with immediate benefits in knowing customer opinions and assist in making decisions regarding any future product enhancements.

With real-time updates from customer feedback, customer service levels could improve dramatically. Companies can quickly take customer opinions into consideration and quickly address any customer concerns to provide improved response times and more personalized support.

The use of social networking websites as a means to manage customer relations could be revolutionary for the CRM Software industry. CRM providers are already taking notice of the potential of social networking as a means of managing customer relationships. Salesforce.com has already released features designed to integrate social networking sites, and many other CRM providers are soon expected to follow suit. The future of CRM could be in the midst of a dramatic overhaul.

Do you know the Sales Best Practices that can help you close more deals and close them faster? These sales best practice white papers and webinars will help your sales team excel in these difficult economic times. The white papers below are featured on Business-Software.com, the fast-growing online destination for hundreds of technology white papers, vendor reports, and straight talk about business software. Best practice webinars are provided by VendorDemo, an online learning community where you can watch, share and rate technology videos.

CRM Best Practices – Sales
Ten Tips to Help Sales Crush Their Number

White paper provided by: FrontRange

Sales is simply not what it used to be. With global competition, it’s increasingly tougher to gain access to decision-makers and close sales. More than ever, organizations and their sales reps need to apply best practices approaches. Those that do are substantially more successful in winning business.

Follow these 10 tips from FrontRange Solutions (the company behind GoldMine) and help your sales people do what they are supposed to do – sell.

How to Outsell the Comptition
The Benchmarking Edge for Successful Sales Execution

White paper provided by: NetSuite

Sales benchmarking represents a source of sustained competitive advantage for corporations today. The second largest cost item on a company’s financial statement is SG&A expense which typically represents 30%-40% of revenue. This guide will help you in sales benchmark and improve your sales performance.

Using CRM to Sell More

White paper provided by: C2CRM

This document is written to address the specific issues related to CRM and Sales Professionals. When considering a CRM solution, it is critical to understand the needs of your sales team members and how they would utilize this CRM application on a daily basis.

Fast-tracking Sales
SFA Tips for Sales Success

Webinar provided by: NetSuite

What makes for a successful sales team? Learn the answers – which include good management, exceptional sales tools, and a 360° view of the customer that persists over the entire life-cycle of that customer.

Join NetSuite and NetSuite customer Art Queenan, CRM Manager, at EBSCO Publishing, a worldwide leader in providing information access and management solutions through print and electronic journal subscription services and databases to learn how.

How the Winners Work

Webinar provided by: Landslide

In this Webinar, Michael Green, Chairman of Landslide, Michael Bosworth, founder of Customer Centric Selling, and Dr. Tom Sant, founder of The Sant Corporation and author of The Giant of Sales, will discuss the three most important best practices to professional selling.

Did you know that at www.vendordemo.com, you can watch hundreds of business software webinars and demos for free? You’ll also find documents at the site, including case studies, whitepapers, and brochures from industry leaders.  At VendorDemo, you can browse, share, and rate those videos and documents that help you most.  We’ve dedicated this issue of ERP Buzz to highlighting some of most popular content from the site.  Don’t miss these hot webinars!

Read more »

Today, the role of the contact center extends beyond simply answering questions and providing information.  With increasing call volumes; expanding agent responsibilities; and rising demands to deliver rapid, high-quality service, businesses can find it hard to keep up.  That’s where today’s advanced call center software solutions come in.

Designed to simplify service-related interactions by coordinating and automating agent tasks, call center software systems give agents all the tools they need to help customers, while giving managers complete visibility into department activities, agent performance, and service quality.

If your company is looking to purchase a call center package, a new resource is available to you: to help you find the software that is right for your company, the editors at Business-Software.com have compiled a list of the best vendors in the industry.  The comprehensive Top 10 Call Center Vendors whitepaper is designed to help you build your “short list” and make an informed purchasing decision. Read more »