Do Like Letterman When CRM ...

Advance your BlackBerry(R) solution management know-how this July Enhancing Business Mobility with Convertible PCs Seven Steps to Secure and Seamless Field Mobility Managing Mobility: An IT Perspective Demonstrating the Business Value of Mobile Device Management in the Enterprise Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts

March 06, 2006 (Computerworld) --

John Carini, CEO of iEnterprises Inc.

... deployment is on your agenda. That is, make a top 10 list of required features and stop there. "People try to do too much with CRM," observes John Carini, CEO of iEnterprises Inc. in Murray Hill, N.J. "Do the top 10 things people do every day, and stop. If all CRM applications were rolled out in that fashion, you'd bring more value and have more success." Of course, he says, once you get those 10 things right, you can do more. But, he contends, the value of each subsequent item on the list diminishes in comparison with the effort it requires. Carini's company has been creating CRM tools for Notes users since 1995 and wireless CRM apps for the past five years, and he concludes that the best implementations -- whether wireless or wired -- have been highly focused on achieving specific goals. The CRM on the Go technology offered by iEnterprises lets you deploy in-house software as well as Salesforce.com, Siebel and most other commercial CRM applications on BlackBerry handhelds, and it can be bought as either a service or as packaged software. Expect to see CRM on the Go on Windows Mobile devices in Q3 and on Symbian-based handhelds by year's end. Write up your top 10 list of got-to-have mobile features and then stop scribbling. Annual subscription pricing starts at $200 per user.

Richard Stone, vice president of marketing at Credant

Once they're mobile, it's nice to ...

... know that you can kill them. Not end users, of course. Just their devices. You can do that and more with an update to Credant Mobile Guardian Enterprise Edition, a mobile security tool sold by Credant Technologies Inc. in Addison, Texas. Richard Stone, Credant's vice president of marketing, said Version 5.1 lets you secure all manner of mobile devices -- even to the point of sending over-the-air "kill" signals that render them useless. Stone says Credant's intelligent software agents can run on everything from BlackBerries to laptop PCs and enforce security policies that you set from a single management console. You can encrypt specific files or all the data on a device. You can even password-protect files on USB fobs or iPods, he says. The update also offers support for two-factor authentication. The revision is available this week and starts at $42 per user.

Carrier-grade and real-time security ...

The ISM Express 1000 helps manage global security policies.

... are being brought to the corporate enterprise. So promises Arun Chandra, CEO of iPolicy Networks Inc. in Fremont, Calif. He says iPolicy's line of appliances evaluates every single packet on your network in real time and applies firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, virus protection and other security measures controlled from a console called the iPolicy Security Manager. With an ISM Version 2.5 update that becomes available today, you can virtualize sales, engineering and other business domains across physical locations and manage them as a single entity. The software lets you define security policies on more than 500 of iPolicy's appliances worldwide. You can run it stand-alone or on the company's new ISM Express 1000 management appliance, which costs $20,000.

Everyone knows that the trouble with ...

... software development is achieving business goals. Where people's opinions diverge is on how to ensure that you achieve your goals. Take, for example, Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software Ltd. in Basingstoke, England. Armitage says that you should push the testing of business apps into the hands of end users, and he claims that his company's TestDrive-Gold product is intuitive enough for business types to build tests without having to write scripts. In fact, even if they wanted to write scripts, they couldn't with TestDrive-Gold, because there's no scripting language built into the product, Armitage says. It's all done with a visual user interface. The software lets users see how an app functions and then report back to developers about what they like and what they don't. Currently, the product works with applications on IBM's iSeries systems and has a Web browser front-end so it can work with any system that accepts browser access. Armitage also says that he expects to deliver a version this year for any apps built on Oracle databases, regardless of the operating environment. An average sale, he says, starts at about $100,000.

Adam Warshaw, president of DataVelocity Inc. in West Paterson, N.J., contends that you still need to give software developers tools to judge for themselves how their handiwork is doing in the field. Warshaw says the products that are included in DataVelocity's Erudition suite let developers "score their project against what the business wants." For example, they can evaluate proposed changes to an application and see how those changes would affect dependencies within the program's code and with external applications -- something business users hardly concern themselves with. Erudition will be available in two weeks via a managed service starting at $50 per user monthly.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Mozilla's successful attempt to set a world record for downloads of a single program, Firefox 3 was dumb...." Read more... "Apple yesterday dropped the price of the 64Gb MacBook Air by a whopping $500 ($400 less for the SSD and..." Read more... Read more Mobile & Wireless posts or See all Blogs

Microsoft promises four patches next week Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks More top stories...

Microsoft trumpets security additions in upcoming IE8 Apple cuts price of high-end SSD MacBook Air by $500 Ultrathin showdown: Apple MacBook Air vs. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 vs. Toshiba Portege R500

This old laptop: Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap All it takes is a couple hours and about $125 to breathe new life into an old laptop. Here's how. Bill Gates moves on Is Microsoft's Golden Age over? What are Gates' most memorable quotes? Find out in Computerworld's complete coverage of the end of the Bill Gates era at Microsoft. Five things you should never tell your boss There are some things your CIO definitely doesn't want to hear. Also don't miss the flipside, Five things you should always tell your boss. Hands-On: Firefox 3 fixes what's broke and keeps what's right With its latest version, Mozilla's browser continues to raise the bar for what Web browsers should be. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland SecurityAsk a Premier 100 IT LeaderBlackBerry Legal BattleData Security BreachesElectronic VotingFirefoxH-1B VisasHP's Boardroom ScandalHandheld DevicesHurricane Katrina AftermathMicrosoft Legal IssuesMicrosoft's VistaOpen SourceRFID TechnologySCO's Linux FightSarbanes-Oxley ActSpamVoice Over IPWi-FiWindows Meta File VulnerabilityWindows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders2006 Salary Survey2007 Best Places to Work in IT2007 IT Forecast2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders40 Years of ComputerworldASPs, Take TwoBest Places to Work in IT 2003Best Places to Work in IT 2004Best Places to Work in IT 2005Best Places to Work in IT 2006Business Intelligence Home RunsBusiness Intelligence: Smarter BIBusiness Intelligence: The Future of BICRM Goes VerticalCRM: Sober CRMCareer Planning Guide 2005Careers: IT Profession 2010Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005Data Management: Mining for GemsData Management: Taming Data ChaosDevelopment: Hard-Workin' Web SitesDevelopment: New Tools New ChoicesDevelopment: The New World of Application DevelopmentDevelopment: The Web Services TsunamiDevelopment: Web Services HurdlesDisaster Recovery: Preparing for the WorstE-commerce Grows UpE-mail/Groupware: Big DecisionsFaces of Mobile ITForecast 2006Global MobileHardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple ChallengesHardware: On-Demand Un-HypedHardware: The Shape of Things to ComeHorizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge TechnologiesIT Management: Guide to Managing VendorsIT Management: Navigating Global ITIT Management: Recovery AheadIT Management: The Future of ITIT Management: The Resourceful Project ManagerInnovative Technology Awards 2004Management: Reinventing ITMicrosoft in TransitionMobile/Wireless Leaders and LaggardsMobile/Wireless: The Untethered WorkerMobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge CostsNetwork Management: Taking ControlNetworking: Turbulence Ahead!Networking: VoIP Goes MainstreamOperating Systems: In the Slow LaneOperating Systems: Linux Goes GlobalOperating Systems: Should You Nix Unix?Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's GuideOutsourcing: Outsourcing DangersPremier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in ClassPremier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in ClassROI: Do the Math!Salary Survey 2003Salary Survey 2004Salary Survey 2005Security Action PlanSecurity: Compliance HeadachesSecurity: Proactive SecuritySecurity: Risk and RewardSecurity: Tips From Security ProsSouped-up SecurityStorage: Battling ComplexityStorage: Cheap & Secure Data StoresStorage: Stretching Your Storage DollarsStorage: The Lean Storage MachineStorage: The New Rules of StorageStorage: The Ultimate Backup GuideSupply Chain: Missing LinksSupply Chain: RFID Reality CheckThe Business of SecurityWeb 2.0 SecurityWireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone See your link here

The Untethered Worker (Source: Computerworld) Today's roaming employees expect to be able to work in a conference room, airport, customer site or coffee shop. This report - covering wireless LANs, mobile applications and cellular networks - tells you how to get the job done, avoid chaos and maintain security! Download this executive briefing  Virtualization Everywhere Download this white paper, free, compliments of Citrix. (Source: Citrix) Adoption of virtualization is concentrated among large enterprises, while adoption by mid-sized companies has been much slower. For these companies, the cost and complexity of server virtualization solutions has been a barrier. In this paper, we'll discuss how Citrix XenServer" provides simple, economical server virtualization for any size company. Download now! Download this white paper  Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Download this webcast, free, compliments of Sterling Commerce Go to the webcast  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Deploying Virtualized NetWare on Linux Whitepaper Toward More Flexible, Next-Generation Collaboration Solutions Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility View more whitepapers

• Microsoft promises four patches next week
• Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
• Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks
• More top stories 

Computerworld Executive Briefing: Automating Network Management IThis briefing looks at the basics of network management, which tend to get lost in the dizzying array of products and processes. It also examines new tools that are on the way to help IT executives deal with management in the new era of automation. Download this Executive Briefing now (a $195.00 value), compliments of ProCurve Networking by HP.

XenServer FREE trial Citrix XenServer is the simplest and most effective way to virtualize and provision servers. XenServer combines comprehensive server virtualization capabilities with unparalleled scalability, performance, economics, and ease-of-use. Based on the open source Xen hypervisor, XenServer delivers fast performance, easy management, and advanced features such as live migration. Request free trial now