CRM Newsletter

Web conferencing could be a real engine of growth for CRM, despite the slowdown in the economy, according to a recent study by the market research firm Gartner. Their analysts believe that technology convergence and consolidation, coupled with an increased emphasis on workplace communities, will keep the worldwide Web conference and team collaboration software market revenue on pace to reach $2 billion in 2008, a hefty 22 percent growth in worldwide software revenue compared with 2007. If this forecast proves true,...read more.

Web 2.0 (blogs, wikis, and social networking) is rapidly transforming the Internet from a passive medium (where information is consumed) into an active medium (where information is created and shared). According to the market research firm Forrester Research, this transformation will greatly change the way companies and organizations interact with one another. And that means major changes in the way that organizations buy and sell. The market for Web 2.0 collaboration inside enterprises is expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2013,...read more.

Unlike some other CRM technologies, Web conferencing does not demand a change in sales process. Instead, it streamlines existing processes and adds additional capabilities, while reducing the cost of sales. Here's how Web conferencing improves productivity during the five major stages of the typical sales process: Stage 1. Prospecting. In traditional sales processes, one of the most effective ways to find prospects is to schedule special events, at hotels or during trade shows.
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In this space we generally summarize four to six CRM press releases or news stories, but occasionally something happens that's significant enough to warrant a more detailed treatment. That was the case last month, and it's true this month as well. This month Oracle finally added some substance to its long deferred plans to provide some integration between the many products that the company has acquired over the past few years. In 2004, Oracle acquired PeopleSoft, which had a significant CRM user base. In 2005,...read more.