CRM Topic Center

Analysis, opinions, best practices, news and more about CRM

Salesforce Summer '13 release to focus on Chatter, customer ideas

Salesforce.com's upcoming Summer '13 release of its cloud-based CRM software will feature a slew of enhancements to the Chatter social collaboration tool as well as many improvements that are the result of customer suggestions, according to a set of official release notes.
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Gartner: Worldwide CRM revenue grew 12.5 percent in 2012

Global CRM (customer relationship management) revenue grew 12.5 percent last year to US$18 billion, a rate three times that of all enterprise software segments on average, as companies look to acquire more business and serve existing customers better, according to a new Gartner report.

The intriguing tale of Salesforce, the pillow maker and a $125K AmEx bill

Salesforce.com, a pillow manufacturer and an employee of the pillow maker are caught up in a complex three-way legal battle, with a $125,000 American Express bill and an allegedly failed software implementation at the center of the dispute.

Salesforce.com launches Social.com advertising platform

Salesforce.com is taking steps to combine its acquisitions in social media monitoring and social advertising with its core CRM (customer relationship management) software through a new product called Social.com.

SAP and Oracle winners as software growth slows, IDC says

A growing interest in big data, analytics and cloud computing helped propel a weak software enterprise market last year, according to research from IDC. SAP and Oracle fared the best among the large software vendors.

Infor launches version 10x, plans IBM SmartCloud launch for its apps

Infor is hoping a new social collaboration tool, updated middleware and user interfaces, as well as options for cloud-based deployments, will help cement its place as one of the industry's largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendors after SAP and Oracle.

Salesforce.com launches new services for mobile app development

Salesforce.com is giving customers and partners access to a new set of tools and services for building mobile applications on its cloud platform.

Marketo IPO may spark suitors, including Salesforce.com

Cloud-based marketing automation vendor Marketo's plans to raise up to $75 million in an initial public offering, which were revealed this week, could influence larger companies to acquire the company, including Salesforce.com and SAP.

FAQ: Inside Microsoft's cloud ERP strategy

Microsoft has announced some key details of how it will introduce Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) software products to the cloud computing model, from initial release dates to the precise role of partners.

Bally's CIO Pumps Up Customer Experience With iPads, QR Codes and Video

The health club chain deploys customer-friendly technologies to change an intimidating culture and save a failing business model.

Mobile and Personalization Technologies Drive Fast Food Chains to the Future

The future of burger joints and smoothie bars involves customer-friendly technologies that will make fast food more of a service and less of a destination.

How Social CRM Customizes Marketing, Brings New Revenue

Segmenting customers and watching their habits on Facebook and other social networks shows the music company how to customize its marketing.

Luxottica Retail APAC CIO, Stephen McKinnon

Making sense of social media analytics while juggling IT priorities across Asia Pacific for eyewear distributor Luxottica Retail is a role that CIO, Stephen McKinnon, relishes.

Why Oracle bought Eloqua, and what it means for the market

Oracle surprised many tech industry observers by announcing Thursday it would pay US$871 million for marketing automation software vendor Eloqua. The move seemed a bit unlikely given the amount of sales and marketing software Oracle already had.

6 Ways Social Media Affected the Enterprise in 2012

Social media has changed more than the way companies market and promote themselves. Social networking has also changed the way companies recruit, how they communicate internally and how they handle sensitive data.

The Grill: Ramon Baez on outsourcing challenges at Kimberly-Clark

Ramon Baez, who was recently named global CIO at HP, reflects on five years' of successes and challenges in his previous role as CIO at Kimberly-Clark.

5 reasons to use social CRM for support and services

Toy CRM systems might make you think the software is just cases, escalations and SLA management, but serious CRM is changing the world of service and support by leveraging social networking functionality.

The Grill: Juan Montes keeps MoMA plugged in

The Museum of Modern Art's CTO, Juan Montes, talks about art, IT and making the world-class museum more participatory.

10 e-commerce platforms make selling simpler

We take a hands-on look at 10 e-commerce tools that can help businesses large and small sell products and/or services online. Insider (registration required)

Why CXM Is the Next Step in Customer Interaction

Experts explain the difference between customer relationship management (CRM) and customer experience management (CXM) and describe how--and why--you need to create a positive customer experience.