Learn more about humanizing your approach to marketing automation in these informative videos from VendorDemo.

 
“How To Drive New Revenue with Marketing Automation”
Webinar provided by: Consona

Marketing organizations are facing new challenges to get their message out and produce a better return on their efforts. This netcast will provide you with a preview of Million Handshakes, a world-class dialogue marketing application which can work with your CRM solution to easily overcome the marketplace challenges via its simple, yet powerful, interface to create intelligent, personalized marketing campaigns.

“Infor CRM Outbound Marketing”
Webinar provided by: Infor

Infor CRM Outbound Marketing enables you to plan, execute, and monitor anticipated, personal, and relevant marketing campaigns across all touch points and achieve a rapid return on your investment.

“Humanized Communications” 
Webinar provided by: SoftVu

Watch this demonstration of how SoftVu’s on-demand Marketing Automation Platform humanizes communications to provide personalized, relevant, and timely communications.

Visit VendorDemo.com and watch hundreds of business software webinars and demos – for FREE. Build your short list of software vendors, share your favorite videos, and access white papers to learn more about technology solutions.

It’s Personal
In this Web 2.0 era, audience focus is more important than ever.  Many companies spend an enormous sum of money on collecting information about their customers’ key attributes, but  few companies– studies show –take full advantage of that valuable information.  The truth is, procuring customer data doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and if you already have a CRM system in place, you have the necessary repository for it. 

The value of having personal customer data is not to be underestimated: It enables companies to transcend the environment of automation and impersonal cold calls and to connect with the customer on a one-to-one level.  In a recent blog article, Tony Compton, CMO at Infor, was quoted saying, “A whole new breed of customers will be magnetically drawn to companies that allow them to customize their experience and reflect who they are…They want to manage their persona, and that persona may change.” Read more »

The Need to Balance Business and Product Development
Software companies must be built with a healthy balance between business and product development. One side of the business cannot overtake the other without drastic consequences. Hard economic times test the fortitude of software companies of all sizes; customers and prospects need to watch how companies behave in these times of stress.

On the business side, a company must continue to give exceptional customer service in order to retain current customers and attract new ones. Current customers will need flexibility when possible, great customer service, and continued innovation so they do not fall behind the technological bandwagon as the economy recovers. They will need solutions that help them decrease their costs.

New customers are out there who are still in the market for what is being sold.  Business can still grow at times like these, especially those with products designed to lower costs and increase efficiency. New customers can take the place of any lost through economic attrition and create a broader base for the eventual upturn.

On the development side, a company must continue to refine its products and develop new ones, even though times are hard. If development is shut down to save costs, the company may find itself hopelessly behind the curve as the financial world rights itself and customers go to another vendor that has kept their product line fresh and relevant.

How to Determine a Company’s Stability
To determine the stability of a provider of any kind, a prospect should find out how long the company has been in business, and whether their long term customers are staying with them. Also, prospects should research the company online to determine any issues and contact those who use the products if possible.  orums, blogs, and other forms of online communication  may be available with information and opinions about  a company’s performance.

The Small Company Advantage
There are advantages to using a small company in any economic climate, but in particular, in times when flexibility is needed there is bigger advantage than using a large company.

A large company may not be able to respond quickly or allow flexible terms, solutions packages, or payment options. A smaller company has an agility and a flatter hierarchy ; decisions are made much more quickly. Larger companies also may more often decide to cut costs by cutting customer service than a small company would. The larger company may feel it has the resources to last until the economy recovers and then they can think about customer service again. Until then, their customers will be poorly served. A small company knows it must maintain service to retain customers and attract new ones to stay in business. Both the company and the customer benefit.

Contributed by: Hoyt Mann, President, PhaseWare, Inc.

Amidst a climate of economic insecurity, businesses are wondering how they can trust that their potential or existing CRM software vendor has “staying power”.  Moreover, customers want to be assured that –- in addition to having the fortitude to overcome the national economic downturn — their software provider will maintain quality standards for their products and services. 

How can your company get this reassurance?  With the advice of a few top CRM vendors – including Hoyt Mann of PhaseWare and Kathy Sacks of iLinc – we’ve compiled a list of the “Top 5 Questions to Ask Your CRM Provider”.  For the sake of your company’s well-being – and for your own peace of mind – we encourage you to call your representative and ask the “tough questions” are essential in evaluating the solidity of your vendor and the viability of that vendor’s offering.

1. How many and what types of companies are in your user base? (Fortune 500’s?) 
2. What kind of service guarantee do you provide?
3. How do I protect myself from losing my data due to system failures?
4. What is the company’s long term plan for the financial downturn? 
5. In an SaaS model, ask to see the public Disaster Recovery Action Plan.

When it comes to CRM software, you want to have confidence in your provider’s ability to weather an economic storm.  Won’t you feel better knowing just how secure that software provider is?  Posing the critical questions is not just reassuring, it’s downright critical to ensuring the safety and security of your business’ data.  And remember: you won’t know unless you ask.

Contributors: Hoyt Mann, CEO, PhaseWare; Kathy Sacks, iLinc

Difficult economic times can hit salesfolk hard.  As their pipeline shrinks, so can the morale of sales reps.  What can companies do to keep pipelines full and salespersons enthusiastic in tough times like these?   Author, sales consultant, speaker, and CEO of Sales Architects, Lee Salz, offers some words of wisdom for businesses and the salespeople who keep them strong.  

B-S: When the pipeline’s flow turns into more of a trickle, what’s the best advice you can give for incenting customers and capturing new leads?
LS: When the economy tightens, it is critical that companies have a very specific process for their sales organization to follow. When things are grand, process is forgotten as revenue just comes in the door. However, now it is time to go back to basics. Review your profile of your ideal client. Has it changed? Ensure the sales organization understands the profile. Put in place behavioral metrics to ensure that the team has the right activity level to build out the pipeline. Don’t buy into the economy as an excuse for buyers not buying. Read more »

In 2007, as “cloud computing” was working its way into the vocabulary of mainstream business, several major universities and corporations (including Google and IBM) began a large-scale cloud computing research project.  This year, major events are being hosted that address the topic and its ramifications for high-tech businesses worldwide:  GigaOm held their cloud computing-focused “Structure 08” conference last June, and this week, Microsoft’s annual Professional Developers Conference will be a forum for the announcement of Microsoft’s new cloud computing platform. 

Here are some upcoming cloud computing events:

Cloud Computing Expo   

Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, CA

IGT 2008: International Cloud Computing Conference & Exhibition

December 1-2, 2008

Israel

Cloud Computing Conference 

February 11, 2009

Metro Toronto Convention Center, Canada

Interop Las Vegas   

May 17-22, 2009

The Business Software Advisor

You ask the questions, and our resident software guru shares her wisdom.

 
This week’s question:  I’ve been hearing a lot about “cloud computing”.  What is it and what does it mean for my business?

A:  This year, Gartner estimated that, “by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 companies will pay for some cloud computing service, and 30 percent of them will pay for cloud computing infrastructure.”  Cloud computing is a term that’s being thrown around quite a bit these days and one that’s clearly important to businesses… but what is it?

 
Cloud computing, according to Wikipedia, is “Internet-based development and use of computer technology.”  The idea of a cloud comes from the shape typically used in computer network diagrams and represents the idea of an abstraction concealing the complex infrastructure underneath: in simple terms, the “cloud”, in today’s terms, means the Internet, by which data is transferred. Read more »

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 and whitepapers! Read more »

Did you know that at VendorDemo, you can watch hundreds of business software webinars and demos – for FREE? This issue of CRM Buzz is dedicated to highlighting some of the latest and greatest on the site, including webinars and whitepapers from leading CRM vendors.  VendorDemo is a great tool to help you build your short list of software vendors, share your favorite videos, and access white papers to learn more about technology solutions.  But to start, check out these picks to see what others are raving about!
Read more »

Today, people, companies, and government are all looking for ways to live and conduct business in an environmentally responsible way.  In tune to this growing trend, business software contributes more than valuable reports to lead a company as well as paperless trail to lead a revolution.  Tim Hines, Vice President of Product Management Consona CRM, has seen his customers save money while achieving a paperless operation delivering real-time data. 

The savings resulting from available business software to technology buyers are clear as more companies strive for paperless operations.  Read more »