There is no doubt that the concept of “free” has been a staple of the business world for over a century. And Chris Anderson’s new book on the topic sheds a lot of light on the subject – however mostly in the consumer goods and media worlds. The software world, while heavily penetrated by open … Continue reading »
Posted in July 2009 …
Aiding the Corporate Tweet Machine – CoTweet Snags Cash
I just saw that Twitter collaboration tool CoTweet has completed a small round of Series A funding. That is obviously good news on a couple levels. One, it shows that yes, startups are being funded by VCs in this less than desirable financial universe. And also, it shows that investors are taking the promise of … Continue reading »
No Dunk Here: Nike Confiscates Tapes of Lebron James
I consider myself a pretty big sports fan, so when I heard of the recent story circulating that Nike confiscated the recordings of Xavier basketball player Jordan Crawford putting a vicious dunk on Lebron James during a pickup game to possibly protect their branding machine, I saw I nice tie in with Web 2.0 and … Continue reading »
New CRM Customer Satisfaction Survey – Have Your CRM Voice Heard
Using Sugar for your CRM needs? Using some other system? Want to have your voice heard? The industry analyst firm Independent IT Analyst is collecting data on CRM user satisfaction in a new survey that can be found here. (The SFA survey is at the bottom left of the page.) It is rare to see … Continue reading »
Can Companies Become More Predictive on the Web?
I received the results from a recent study conducted by SeeWhy Software, a company whose research and software I’m familiar with from my days at CRM magazine. They uncovered some interesting facts that I thought deserved being mentioned here. You can find the details of the report here, but in a nutshell, a survey of … Continue reading »
Wal-Mart: An Example of the Next Generation of CRM
I read that Wal-Mart in the U.K. will allow customers to determine what products they carry in the store via e-emailings with digital images and product details sent straight from the manufacturer. I’m not a big fan of Wal-Mart, but I have to give them credit, because this is the first such initiative I’ve ever … Continue reading »
Cool SugarCRM Integration Alert: QuoteWerks
Aspire Technologies has announced that its QuoteWerks sales quoting tool now integrates out of the box with Sugar Professional. Cool stuff. As it enhances the quoting module in Sugar, the integration allows for a more seamless and complete quoting process inside the user’s CRM system. As an analyst, all too often I saw organizations leveraging … Continue reading »
How Debates and Definitions Continue to Drive the Software Industry
James Urquhart had a great post today on the confusing definitions and debate around cloud computing, and how the every expanding definition of cloud computing is driving a sort of “linguistic acquisition strategy,” which in turn is driving industry roadmaps and product development…which will benefit the customer in the long run. If history is any … Continue reading »
More Support for Private Clouds
This Forbes article by Dan Woods brings up some interesting points about the increasingly elastic definition of cloud computing. First, it continues to drive the notion that private clouds are going to be a large portion of cloud-based deployments. However, Woods argues that some private clouds may be appliance-based. This goes against some definitions around … Continue reading »
Why Social Media is Such a Great Fit for SMBs
I think in a lot of ways, social media and Web 2.0 tools make a better fit for SMBs than they do for enterprises. I’ve come across case studies and benchmarks of big businesses leveraging Web 2.0 to improve certain processes, but amongst our own customer base, it’s the 20-person professional services company or manufacturer … Continue reading »
