CRM Surging in Western Europe, SM-Plus 2.07, L2 Fuse, Cutting Edge ...

By ggalitzine
Built on a Microsoft-based technology architecture, the new SM-Plus version 2.07 offers such features as support for complex service contracts, incident escalation, Service Level Agreement compliance, service parts inventory management, ...

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, for this Bowie fan’s money, a better overall rock listening experience than the ridiculously overpraised Ziggy Stardust. I put Station To Station above the Zigster, and Diamond Dogs if I’m feeling particularly seedy. No, around these parts, pilgrim, Siggy Freudust is throwing elbows with Lodger, Stage and, heck, Let’s Dance for inclusion on the list of the Thin White Duke’s Five Least Maddeningly Inconsistent Albums:

Research firm IDC has issued a report finding that the Western European CRM applications market grew by 6.3 percent in 2006, beating last year’s forecast by almost one percentage point and reaching a value of almost $3 billion.

IDC officials say they see no reason the up tick won’t continue.

The report, titled “Western European CRM Applications, Forecast and Analysis 2007-2011,” finds that early CRM adopters, especially in the financial services and telecommunications sectors, are investing in CRM again, while the low-end segment is seeing a significant impact of software-as-a-service, according to Bo Lykkegaard, IDC’s program manager for European Enterprise Applications as reported on industry journal Web site WiseMarketer.

IDC’s forecast breaks down the CRM application market by deployment model, finding that revenue from on-demand CRM applications grew almost 40 percent during 2006 and is expected to maintain this momentum.

IDC expects on-demand CRM applications to make up almost half of the net market growth of the entire CRM market in Europe during the five-year forecast, and believes that the net effect of on-demand is market expansion as the ease-of-deployment of on-demand attracts first-time buyers of packaged CRM software.
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Single Source Systems, Inc., a vendor of service business software, has released a new version of its SM-Plus service business software product for aftermarket product service and support organizations, independent service companies and service-intensive equipment distribution organizations worldwide.

Company officials say all functions integrate with existing ERP, CRM and supply chain systems.

Built on a Microsoft-based technology architecture, the new SM-Plus version 2.07 offers such features as support for complex service contracts, incident escalation, Service Level Agreement compliance, service parts inventory management, new equipment sales and mobile field service.

SM-Plus is an integrated information system that manages and maintains both company-owned and customer-owned assets, and provides service business process support, including call taking, scheduling and dispatch, field service, depot repair, work order management, preventive maintenance, service contracts, purchasing, inventory control, and costing for a total enterprise service management product.

“Our latest benchmark research shows that leading companies are more and more adopting integrated service-specific technology products,” said Steve Roth, SVP, Strategic Service Management practice at Aberdeen Group.
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L2, Inc. has announced the presentation of customer case studies as part of its presentation at DM Days New York. The company will present demonstrations of its Fuse technology that helps marketers deliver multi-channel campaigns

The product, L2 Fuse, helps customers use their CRM systems and campaigns to get over 25 percent response rates at one-quarter the cost, to drive better than 300 percent ROI. Fuse, a Web-based software, includes L2 service support to help customers develop campaigns that include sending out dynamically-generated direct mail pieces to prospects, leading recipients to their own PURL.

Each PURL contains a pre-populated form to make it easier for prospects to respond. PURLs are used to provide customized information to existing customers, direct prospects, and encourage participation in a product demonstration, which collect and update customer data to build a quality database for ongoing CRM and marketing efforts.
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Pharmaceutical business software vendor Cutting Edge Information has announced the release of the new “Patient Communications Library.” The new collection is comprised of three primary research studies, all geared toward solving common problems many pharmaceutical companies face in the areas of patient adherence, direct-to-patient communication, customer relationship management (CRM) and overall patient education.

Used together, the three reports in the collection will allow pharmaceutical companies to “build a comprehensive strategy to increase the effectiveness of interactions with patients,” according to company officials. Findings from the three-report package cover topics ranging from patient program budgets to organizational support structures for patient education, CRM, and patient adherence and disease management programs.

Download free online summaries at www.cuttingedgeinfo.com.
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Jenzabar, a vendor of CRM and other software and services for higher education, announced that last week’s client conference was “the largest event in Jenzabar history.”

JAM 2007 hosted more than 1,300 attendees, including Jenzabar users, client executives, industry partners, Jenzabar client services and technical staff, and thought leaders within higher education. The theme of last week’s event was “Building Stronger Communities,” and numerous sessions focused on how Jenzabar’s product, constituent relationship modules (Jenzabar CRMs), and learning management system can be used.

Representatives from public, private, two-year, four-year and specialty schools came to the conference, which featured more than 325 user information sessions covering the entire range of Jenzabar’s product and service offerings.
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Meijer, a family-owned chain of 177 superstores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, has deployed a new marketing tool that optimizes delivery of individualized promotional offers to Meijer customers.

Provided by NCR Corporation and Teradata, a division of NCR, the Enterprise Offer Management product includes NCR’s Copient Logix software and Teradata Customer Relationship Management (CRM), an analytical software portfolio.

Meijer Director of Retail Systems Elmer Robinson said the Enterprise Offer Management “greatly enhances our ability to manage the promotional offers that we extend to shoppers at the checkout and, potentially, at other touchpoints in the future. It provides a ‘closed loop’ product, from data warehousing to campaign management, to offer optimization, to content management to multichannel execution.”

Enterprise Offer Management comprises the processes and technologies that enable retailers to create, manage, execute and evaluate promotional programs. Software components include Teradata CRM, which “helps retailers understand the needs and preferences of different customer groups and automates the delivery of personalized communications through the best channel,” company officials say.
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A coyly-unnamed global financial services firm, with “operations in more than 50 countries” has extended and expanded its existing hosted services agreement with Intervoice to use Intervoice’s expertise and capabilities in voice portal, contact center and VoIP technology over the next four years, according to Intervoice officials.

Based on the customer’s minimum commitments, Intervoice is valuing the contract at approximately $17.0 million over 4 years, subject to certain cancellation provisions.

Intervoice has been providing hosted services to enterprises in North America since 1999.