Consider this a bit of an explanatory corollary – or a bit of context – in regards to my last post below. The post drew quite a bit of buzz online and off (thanks to all those who chimed in) mainly for the fact that it is a very forward thinking post – but written … Continue reading »
Posted in April 2009 …
What’s the Real Big Story With SugarCRM’s Latest News? (Hint: It’s Actually NOT SugarExpress)
OK, by now we have all seen the news and the media buzz around Sugar Express – and how small businesses can be up and running with a great CRM package and platform for around $7 a month. Ridiculous how much value we provide to customers. Seriously, if you ask me this is THE best … Continue reading »
A Perfect Example of the Open Cloud
I just spoke with a customer of ours (a European-based manufacturer) that’s taking media briefings on our behalf, and I couldn’t help but notice that the conversation really gets to the crux of what we’re announcing today. Cloud computing is perfectly suited to support the multi-company business processes inherent to any manufacturing business model, and … Continue reading »
Sugar Express, the Sugar Open Cloud, Low Unified Pricing…Does it Get Any Better for CRM Users?
Lots of really great news coming out of Sugar HQ this week, the biggest of which is of course the announcement of Sugar Express. Available in 1-5 user or 6-10 user bundles, Sugar Express has all the great core CRM features individuals and small businesses need, plus tools like the Outlook, Word and Excel plugins, … Continue reading »
Is Your Business Ready for the Era of Social Commerce?
Just read a nice distillation of a new Forrester report by Jessica Tsai over at destinationCRM.com. The report plots the levels of social media’s penetration into the collective psyche of the business world. The final stage, which we are entering into somewhat soon is called “The Era of Social Commerce.” This era is categorized thusly: … Continue reading »
The Key Attributes of Platform Offerings
I’ve been seeing a number of vendors debuting new platform strategies and solutions – such as Jaspersoft and LongJump – in recent weeks. The idea of leveraging an application’s base functionality as a platform into other capabilities is now well established, and I believe the future of business software, but I still see a lot … Continue reading »
One Billion iPhone Apps Proves the Promise of the Cloud
Just saw that Apple announced on Friday that it has seen more than one billion downloads of applications on the App Store and related areas for Apple iPhone applications. Wow. While the news is staggering – that is a ton of activity around a phone with limited network carriers etc., the real news here is … Continue reading »
Federal Support for Open Source and Healthcare…Finally
It was good to read over the weekend that the concept of universal electronic medical records, leveraging open source software, is finally starting to receive support at the federal level. This is a topic that Martin and I have blogged about at length in the past, and I believe this to be a great opportunity … Continue reading »
Imagining a Recession Without Social Media…
We all know – and are hopefully mildly relieved by the fact – that every some odd years the economy goes down the toilet for a little while. Ah, the wonder of cyclical economics. But what is interesting to me about this recession is that there are now more and more tools available for individuals … Continue reading »
Commoditizing Sales at the Price of Service
Having watched many of our software brethren in the industry cut spending, institute hiring freezes and initiate layoffs, I’ve been thinking about how such practices can be detrimental to the vendor/client relationship, and how the software industry is providing a perfect example for CRM initiatives across multiple industries as a whole. I realize that vendors … Continue reading »
