Research Results: 2008 Trends in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The majority of respondents (81%) in CRMindustry.com's "2008 Trends in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)" survey are happy with the overall performance of their CRM technology vendor. The research, conducted in November - December 2007, surveyed high-level CRM executives representing a range of industries. The data gathered provides valuable insight into the issues and challenges important to those responsible for CRM in their organization.

To get a complimentary copy of the executive summary, as well as view the graphs, click here.

Dell Revamps Customer Support And Services
Dell launched revamped services and support for businesses, government, and education, a significant move in the company's commitment to triple its services business within three years. In launching ProSupport, Dell is offering customers more options to tailor services to fit their needs. Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach, Dell has put together packages of options for each category of customer: small and medium-sized businesses, large businesses, government, education, and health care and life sciences. Organizations, for example, can buy "mission critical" support, which guarantees onsite service in two or four hours. Same-day service is also available. Dell also offers separate support options for IT staff and for non-IT professionals. Dell also offers separate support options for IT staff and for non-IT professionals.
Source: InformationWeek

PureShare SingleView IT provides consolidated view of IT service management
PureShare, a provider of software products that enable better business management through metrics, today announced the launch of PureShare SingleView IT, a web-based framework for monitoring IT service-management (ITSM) operations across the enterprise. Built upon the PureShare ActiveMetrics platform, SingleView IT provides an in-depth view of ITSM operations that is ideal for managers of help desks, network operations centers and call centers who require quick access to timely and accurate status information. They can use the framework to track and monitor trends, receive critical alerts about current conditions or events that require immediate attention, and automate data collection from any internal or external source for a more comprehensive view of the factors that have an impact on service levels.

iEnterprises Launches Mobile Edge Express for SugarCRM
iEnterprises , a global desktop and wireless customer relationship management (CRM) provider, and Sugar CRM, a provider of commercial open source CRM software, launched Mobile Edge Express for Sugar CRM, a unique "click and run" mobile application for small and medium businesses (SMB) that would like to get important information from their SugarCRM on their BlackBerry smartphones -- all on an on-demand model. By downloading Mobile Edge for SugarCRM, users gain real-time access to Sugar CRM information such as their contacts, opportunities and cases when they are away from the office. Users can conveniently pay monthly or on a yearly contract.

South West Water Taps Accenture to Enhance Its Customer Service
Accenture will provide South West Water with customer-care and billing services and manage South West Water’s back-office operations under a 10-year outsourcing agreement the two companies signed recently. Under the agreement, Accenture will help South West Water enhance its technology, business processes and workforce performance to improve service levels for its customer base. Over the next 10 weeks, Accenture will be undertaking a phased transition of South West Water's collections and front- and back-office customer contact activities ready for the new contract to start on April 1.

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Key Predictions for IT Organizations and Users in 2008 and Beyond
Gartner, Inc. has highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments that will affect IT and business in 2008 and beyond. The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action in 2008. The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage.

This year's predictions include:

By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in Computers. Apple's gains in computer market share reflect as much on the failures of the rest of the industry as on Apple's success. Apple is challenging its competitors with software integration that provides ease of use and flexibility; continuous and more frequent innovation in hardware and software; and an ecosystem that focuses on interoperability across multiple devices (such as iPod and iMac cross-selling).

By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favor of other devices. Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, traveling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.

By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. Many open-source technologies are mature, stable and well supported. They provide significant opportunities for vendors and users to lower their total cost of ownership and increase returns on investment. Ignoring this will put companies at a serious competitive disadvantage. Embedded open source strategies will become the minimal level of investment that most large software vendors will find necessary to maintain competitive advantages during the next five years.

By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. With software as service (SaaS), the user organization pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years.

By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 per cent of their IT infrastructure as a service. Increased high-speed bandwidth makes it practical to locate infrastructure at other sites and still receive the same response times. Enterprises believe that as service oriented architecture (SOA) becomes common "cloud computing" will take off, thus untying applications from specific infrastructure. This trend to accepting commodity infrastructure could end the traditional "lock-in" with a single supplier and lower the costs of switching suppliers. It means that IT buyers should strengthen their purchasing and sourcing departments to evaluate offerings. They will have to develop and use new criteria for evaluation and selection and phase out traditional criteria.

By 2009, more than one third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods. Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centers are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance. In future, IT organizations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.

By 2010, 75 per cent of organizations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria. Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008. Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.

By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Those organizations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimizing direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations. For example, Timberland has launched a "Green Index" environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.

By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT. The rise of the Internet and the ubiquity of the browser interface have made computing approachable and individuals are now making decisions about technology for personal and business use. Because of this, IT organizations are addressing user concerns through planning for a global class of computing that incorporates user decisions in risk analysis and innovation of business strategy.

Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels. The technology lets users send a file of a 3-D design to a printer-like device that will carve the design out of a block of resin. A manufacturer can make scale models of new product designs without the expense of model makers. Or consumers can have models of the avatars they use online. Ultimately, manufacturers can consider making some components on demand without having an inventory of replacement parts. Printers priced less than $10,000 have been announced for 2008, opening up the personal and hobbyist markets.

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Software & Information Industries Revealed as Increasingly Important Drivers of Jobs & Economic Growth
A new report from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), entitled “Software & Information: Driving the Global Knowledge Economy,” finds that the software and information (S&I) industries are among the fastest growing and most important for propelling continued economic growth -- both in the U.S. and globally.

The Report’s key findings reveal that software and information industries:

• Experience Faster Growth than Overall U.S. Economy. The rate of growth in the S&I industries significantly outpaces that of the U.S. economy as a whole. Recent growth of 10.8 percent compared to 3.2 percent GDP growth helps to sustain the expansion of the overall American economy.

• Generate Millions of Jobs for Americans. The U.S. software and information industries employ more than 2.7 million Americans, with 17 percent net employment growth between 1997 and 2006.

• Create High-Wage Jobs. Employees working in the nation’s S&I industries are well-compensated, earning among the highest wages in the country. The annual average wage paid in the S&I industries was $75,400 in 2006, 78 percent higher than the average $42,400 for all private-sector workers.

• Compete Successfully Around the World. American firms comprising the S&I industries are world leaders, selling products and services in markets around the world with strong sales and revenue growth. S&I direct sales through U.S. affiliates are over $60.4 billion, 13 percent of the total $483 billion for all U.S. companies. Additionally, the S&I contributed another $19 billion in cross-border exports.

• Propel Global ICT spending. Global ICT spending, a broad basket that includes a measurement of expenditures for software and computer services is greater than $3 trillion and is projected to grow to approximately $4 trillion in 2008.

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Average Salaries for Tech Professionals Increased 1.7% in 2007
CDice, a career site for technology and engineering professionals, today announced the results of its 2007 Annual Salary Survey. The survey of more than 19,000 technology professionals found that average IT salaries in the U.S. increased 1.7 percent to $74,570 in 2007, with experienced technology managers seeing the largest increases.

Other findings from the survey include:

• Continued strong salary growth in Silicon Valley, as well as other tech centers including Boston and Atlanta;
• IT Managers received the biggest salary increases, including Project Managers (5.0 percent) and MIS Managers (7.8 percent);
• The Government/Defense and Computer Software industries both grew faster than average (2.8 percent), while the Banking/Financial industry remained virtually flat (0.6 percent increase) after an 8.5 percent increase in 2006;
• An increase in the gender gap to 11.9 percent (vs. 9.7 percent in 2006) as women’s salaries held steady while their male counterparts experienced a 2.4 percent increase;
• Satisfaction remained high among tech workers: more than 50 percent of respondents are happy with their salaries.

Tech salaries have slowly, but steadily increased over the last five years since average salaries declined in the early part of the decade. In 2007, average tech salaries increased 1.7 percent, following a 5.2 percent increase in 2006. 2006’s increase was driven by an almost 9 percent climb in the average contractor salary. In 2007, contractors still had the largest gains at 3.7 percent (for a salary of $93,017) while full-time workers experienced a 1.7 percent rise ($72,003). Technology professionals continued to be in high demand in 2007, with an annual average unemployment rate of 2.1 percent, ranking far below the national annual average of 4.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Top Paying Skills and ExperienceIT managers are increasingly in high demand, and their salaries reflect this. Dice.com job postings seeking a “project manager” or “project management” have grown by 25 percent since January 2007 and by 50 percent since January 2006. For the first time in the Dice Annual Salary Survey, two titles averaged more than $100,000, with Project Managers joining IT Management in the $100,000+ club. Project managers saw their salaries rise by 5.0 percent in 2007. MIS managers’ salaries increased approximately 7.8 percent to $88,934.

Tech workers age 40 and over had the highest salary increases at approximately 2.3 percent, while entry-level workers, with a year or less experience, saw their 13.2 percent increase from
2006 give way to a 2.3 percent salary decline in 2007. However, entry level tech workers still fared better than many other entry level positions in other industries, as they took home an average of $41,457, which is higher than the Bureau of Labor Statistics median income for fulltime workers of $36,140.

The larger the company, the larger the salary increases, as companies with more than 1,000 employees had the greatest increases (2.3 percent) and employees at companies with less than
50 employees reported a 1.8 percent decline in salaries.

Industry
E-commerce workers continued to see the largest salary increases, even after 2006’s 14 percent gain, pocketing an additional 4.6 percent in 2007. Government/Defense and Computer
Software saw healthy increases (both at 2.8 percent) this year, and with the fallout from the credit crisis, the Banking/Financial industry not surprisingly experienced minimal growth (0.6 percent increase).

Satisfaction
More than 50 percent of the technology workers surveyed are satisfied with their salaries, with 14 percent categorizing themselves as very satisfied and 39 percent somewhat satisfied. Those who were very satisfied earned an average of $93,065. The 11 percent of respondents who replied that they are very dissatisfied had average salaries of $51,560.

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Online Shoppers' Expectations are Rising; Retailers Have One Chance to Make a Great Impression
The 2007 Holiday Shopping: Online Customer Experience Survey by Allurent, Inc., revealed that while consumers might be buying more online, their expectations are also on the rise. In fact, 67% of consumers said their expectations about the quality of their online shopping experience increased since the 2006 holiday shopping season. Consistent with the results of Allurent’s two previous holiday surveys, the results confirmed that consumers do not differentiate between channels. In fact, nearly 40% of consumers revealed that a frustrating online experience would make them less likely to shop at that retailer's physical store. And 60% reported that when they have a frustrating shopping experience online, it negatively impacts their overall opinion of the retailer/brand. An overwhelming 80% would not return to the site after having a negative online shopping experience, meaning with most customers retailers have one chance to make a great impression.

When asked to rate customer service features that are most important to them when buying online, 74% of consumers rated a perpetual shopping cart as an important feature (ranking it a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1-5), and 70% rated one-page checkout as an important feature, rather than having to click through multiple checkout pages. These two features were rated above other options such as access to a toll-free telephone number, available live help, and accessible contact information. When results are segmented by gender, more women than men found customer service features to be of high importance.

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The Benefit from Offering Account Management Services
by Tom Sweeny, ServiceXRG

Corporate sales organizations have long employed account management programs -- in which a designated individual or team serves as the primary point of contact for customers -- to maintain relationships with key clients. Recognizing the benefits gained through these associations, support organizations are increasingly embracing the account management concept as a way to not only sustain profitable, high-value relationships, but generate new top-line revenue streams. The following article offers insights from a study conducted by ServiceXRG to understand the current use, program structure and impact of account management programs.
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Rumble in the Office
Think of the two most different people in your organization, the ones whose personalities are like night and day. Chances are, one of these is a salesperson, and the other's a technologist. It's a fairly established fact that, like neighborhood gangs in an S.E. Hinton novel, the Slicks and the Propeller-Heads keep pretty much to their own turf and socialize amongst themselves. Why the disconnect between sales staff and technical personnel, anyway?
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Tactics of Truly Customer-Centric Centers
Some contact centers excel at making customers' wants and needs the focal point of everything they do. This article takes a look at the key practices of these customer-centric operations.
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How to Hold the Line on Your IT Budget
Technology spending is indeed expected to slow in 2008, says IDC (a sister company of CIO's publisher), with spending rising 5.5 percent to 6 percent, compared to last year's 6.9 percent. Forrester Research also predicts a slowdown in IT spending. CIOs may be tempted to devise a backup budget for economic emergencies, but if that document becomes public (and it probably will), it'll surely be misconstrued. Don't operate under a Plan A budget, then pull a tighter, smaller Plan B budget out of your back pocket when you're told to cut.
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CRM's Integration Blues
Software as a service (SaaS) has gone beyond the realm of rogue deployments, and CRM software, most notably Salesforce.com, has led the way through the enterprise front door. IT pros have learned plenty about the pros and cons of on-demand CRM. Among the lingering concerns: Can you make on-demand CRM apps play nicely with your ERP and other core systems? How much work and what arrangements will this integration require? Results still vary.
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Assessing Windows Vista On Its First Anniversary
In its first year, Microsoft's highly touted operating system has had a rocky start as users have struggled to get a grip on applications compatibility, usability, and performance issues.
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Something Really New: Three Simple Steps to Creating Truly Innovative Products
by Denis J. Hauptly

Product innovation is the key to business growth. But many books deal with innovation from the business process view alone, or confuse innovation with creativity. Written by an innovation expert whose products generate more than one billion dollars in annual revenue, Something Really New introduces a straightforward but powerful framework for creating exciting new product and service concepts . . . simply by asking three essential questions.

From an electronic hotel kiosk that provides return airline boarding passes for guests, to something as mundane as the evolution of the toaster, the book provides entertaining, illuminating examples that show how to determine what customer needs aren’t being met, using simple methods to arrive at revolutionary conclusions.

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