CRM News Highlights from Around the Web

Need to stay up-to-date on the latest news and happenings on the CRM circuit? Here’s a summary of some of the most recent announcements and advice from vendors, industry analysts, and other experts.

Vendor News

Late-breaking information flows rapidly from the leading CRM providers. What’s going on with your existing vendor, or the vendors you are evaluating? Recent reports include:

* Oracle reported stellar results for its fiscal third quarter, the best in the past five years according to company CFO Safra Catz. Both profits and new software sales outpaced analyst expectations.

* SAP is being sued by rival Oracle, who is seeking an injunction to stop the German-based company from aggressively signing up its customers to product support deals. Oracle also seeks unspecified general and punitive damages in the suit.

* Salesforce.com has just announced the release of AppSpace, a collaborative exchange environment for businesses. The company is touting AppSpace as the “corporate equivalent of MySpace”, and will be featured in the company’s Spring, 2007 product release.

* The makers of GoldMine have recently acquired Enteo, a privately-held German-based company. FrontRange Solutions will integrate its help desk and IT service management solutions with Endeo’s patch management, software distribution, and license management products.

* Last month, Sage Software introduced its latest CRM release, SageCRM v6. Enhancements include expanded training tools, new data management features, and improved system administration.

What the Experts Are Saying

Here’s what the leading industry analysts have to say about the state of the CRM market, the various players, and other related issues.

The majority of businesses will continue to invest in CRM at the same level through 2010, while many will increase their investment. Few organizations plan to cut CRM spending in the near future. As a result, more providers are expected to enter the already over-crowded market.

—Mary Wardley, Vice President, Enterprise Applciations and CRM, IDC

“During the past three years, SAP has worked steadily to fill out its CRM offering, resulting in end-to-end process integration support that no longer comes at the expense of missing CRM functionality. Meanwhile, Oracle’s strategy for Siebel has become clear: to promote the product and brand as the most full-featured system with a breadth and depth of functionality for many industry verticals. The product is best suited for buyers who value advanced functionality tailored for specific industries, customer insight through strong analytics and customer data management, and the ability to support global organizations. SAP’s CRM suite, on the other hand, is particularly strong in sales, marketing, partner channel management, and analytics but offers less support for customer data management requirements. The product can scale to support global deployments and offers many industry-specific process solutions.”
—William Band, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

Thoughts from the Blogosphere

Today’s bloggers have their finger on the pulse of breaking news and information. And, those who work the CRM circuit are no exception.

* Excerpt from The CRM Blog

“On-demand CRM provider RightNow Technologies has added three new features to its customer care product line – Web Click-To-Call Back, Voice Caller Information Delivery and Voice Outbound Survey. So, all in all, a fine set of voice solutions from RightNow.”

* Excerpt from The CRM Chump

Strategic advisory firm ISM Inc. kicked off the week by releasing its annual Top 15 awards in CRM software, an honor quickly reported to industry media by most recipients and one which would appear to be hard-earned, indeed, with final score depending on a rigorous battery of tests. In the category of CRM SMB, the names in the envelope were:

* Ardexus MODE v. 5.5, Ardexus, Inc.
* C2 CRM v. 8.0, Clear Technologies, Inc.
* CMS/Oncontact V version 5.2, Oncontact Software Corp.
* Goldmine v. 7.0.3 & HEAT, FrontRange Solutions, Inc.
* Maximizer Enterprise 9.5, Maximizer Software Inc.
* Microsoft CRM 3.0
* NetSuite CRM v. 11.0 & NetSuite v. 11.0, NetSuite, Inc.
* Powertrak v. 8.02, Axonom, Inc.
* Relavis CRM, Relavis Corporation
* RightNow CRM v. 8.0, RightNow Technologies, Inc.
* Sage CRM 100/200 v. 6.0, Sage Software
* Sage SalesLogix v. 7.0, Sage Software
* Salesforce.com
* Salesplace 2006.3.2, Interchange Solutions
* SalesPage CRM, SalesPage Technologies, LLC
* Siebel CRM OnDemand, Oracle/Siebel Systems, Inc.
* StayinFront CRM v. 9.3, StayinFront, Inc.