The high level of mergers and acquisitions in the CRM market will continue through 2008, research firm Gartner predicts, with one in three CRM software vendors involved in such a transaction each year. There has already been a series of very high profile M&As in the space, of course, including Oracle’s acquisitions of PeopleSoft and [...]

Mobile CRM technology — long hailed as the solution to keeping mobile sales and field service staff connected and armed with up-to-date information, only to see disappointing returns — is now grabbing the attention of Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors. Last week, San Francisco-based Salesforce.com released new mobile functionality based on its acquisition of [...]

With the CRM vendor landscape going through so many changes today, it’s an excellent time to check up and see what your vendor’s viability is, what their future prospects look like, and especially for the best-of-breed vendors, what their exit strategy is, if they have one. I have compiled some quick tips for completing a [...]

MARC Benioff has been up since the early hours feeding his Microsoft obsession. The Salesforce.com boss has learned that Steve Ballmer is boasting he’ll take him on at his own game with Live CRM, a web-based application similar to Salesforce’s flagship offering. Benioff has already fired off an early morning email to all staff noting [...]

The long-fought, spirited debate regarding the difference between partner relationship management (PRM) and customer relationship management (CRM) is increasing as more enterprises rely on indirect channels to meet corporate revenue goals. Investment firm Morgan Stanley predicts that 75 percent of companies’ gross revenues will come through the channel by 2007. With this shift enterprises that [...]

When business software giant SAP recently released its first Internet-based customer relationship management product, Marc Benioff, the brash founder and CEO of leading “hosted” CRM provider Salesforce.com, is sure to have scoffed.

I recently spoke at a global sales summit in Verona, which gave me a unique opportunity to interact with sales executives from all corners of the world. I heard their perspectives on sales effectiveness challenges, sales process, and channel management, among other topics. During my keynote I shared the results of CSO Insights’ 2006 Sales [...]

It’s widely known that many CRM initiatives fail, but the major reason for that glitch might be a bit of a bombshell. In the quest for CRM initiatives, which the business world realizes have the means to spin client/prospect management straw into gold, the breakdown generally starts at the executive level–failure rolls downhill.

To drive growth, C-level executives at Global 2000 companies are working to increase customer satisfaction, improve market agility, and strengthen their brands across global markets. In recent years these executives used CRM systems to optimize sales transaction processes, but now their challenges are greater. To reach their goals for growth, executives today are finding they [...]