Customer Relationship Management

A blog about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
comments on the article “CRM analytics -- an array of options” by Judith Lamont, Ph.D, posted April 1, 2010.

According to the article there are about 80 types of CRM applications that are definable and more than 350 vendors in the elusive CRM Magic quadrant. Multiple categories that exist in this sector of CRM is multichannel campaign management, sales force automation and customer service contract centers as well as including the most recent form of CRM including social software. All of these things are utilized by companies to promote both their sales and support their customer service. By using analytical tools either separate or integrated into such software, it enables the company to determine whether marketing was successful for different ad campaigns, and also how satisfied customers were with the different products and services provided. It also allows them access to information about what parts of the website that are being visited and what questions customers have that either the website or customer service have been unable to answer. These analytic resources allow a company to make optimal solution choices about different decisions needing to be made by the company whether cutting costs are increasing sales.
One customer support software noted in the article is called RightNow CX customer experience suit. RightNow CX focuses on different touch points for companies including Internet, contact center and social network. RightNow CX then integrates the continuous feedback provided by the analytics tools of the program to provide continuous information about each of these divisions. The program also stores answers in a knowledge base within its memory in order to make question answering simplified and notates the questions that customers and employees are having trouble answering. With these processes in place, the information gaps can be readily acknowledged and corrected. As Finnell states, “Our ongoing analysis let us respond with near real-time speed to issues that customers have with our products.”
WriteNow CX was originally created with the concept of customer interaction at its core. It integrates multiple resources such as e-mail, website support, and chat to create a well-rounded resource of information to create the best analytical reports for companies. However taking this information gathering a step further there are programs such as Portrait Software which compiles information to create complete files or “pictures” of customers and the customer base. These systems gather information and store them in order to create accurate and evolving profiles for customers. An example of such information storage systems is the website Amazon.com in which customer accounts will include product recommendations based off of products searched, looked at, and bought.
It is truly fascinating to see what computer systems on today's market are capable of doing. The compiling and storage of multiple areas and information sources is both helpful to customers and invaluable to business. As software and systems increase their productivity and efficiency, the gap between sellers and buyers of both goods and services is quickly closing. These systems are one of the things that are quickly aiding the market for online sales and changing the market from storefronts to websites. It is truly fascinating to see what is available to companies in the customer relationship management departments and see the changes that are taking place.

Paper Cup Competition

March 17, 2010, 12:31 p.m. Newswire
“The betacup Challenge Launches an Open Collaboration Initiative to Reduce Paper Cup Consumption”
Starbucks Sponsors Online Contest to Spur Creative Problem-Solving

A company called betacup, sponsored by Starbucks, launch an online contest on April 1 for the submission of people's ideas for solving the problem of global waste, specifically, disposable cups. They are utilizing open collaboration in gathering ideas on how to cut down on waste and create cups that are user reusable or recyclable. Betacup is not simply looking for a person's thoughts on the matter, but are interested in product design, a means to change consumer behavior through either communicating information or incentives, as well as how this would integrate with the current recycling infrastructure.

The contest will be hosted on betacups partner platform called jovoto.com, and award money has been provided by Starbucks. Members of the forum as well as appointed jurors will be able to provide feedback on all submissions functioning as a filter for the collaborators of the information.

At the end of the article, a few facts are posted that are the motivation for creating reusable or recyclable cups. The first fact is that 58 billion paper cups are thrown away and not recycled Every year. Also, According to the Environmental Defense Fund, 20 million trees are cut down in the process of manufacturing paper cups and in the energy wasted through the manufacturing and disposal of these paper cups could power 53,000 homes.

Original Article

Using Podcasting for Businesses

The ability of companies to put their own audio clips or even video clips in the hands of anyone in the world is a priceless means of communication and marketing. An article I found called “Mary Defeudis Adds Podcasting to WWT Clients” discusses a firm called WWT (Women Walk Tall), a public relations firm, which is now releasing a podcasting service for their clients. The company believes it to be an ideal way to reach out with public relation announcements and even accent company news with interviews. Many companies are currently not utilizing this spectrum of the information technology, so WWT is helping companies to understand the uses of podcast as well as helping them to create them.

The concept of businesses creating podcasts seems rather ingenious. Even for use by companies CEOs or corporate boards, the use of audio, and especially video, presentations to employees makes the information more personal. Rather than reading a piece of paper or an e-mail with a memo, the ability of employees to receive the information directly from the mouth of the person in charge allows for better memory retention as well as with video, gaining face recognition, and a sense of motivation. It would tend to build more relationship between the management and those in charge, and employees involved. As far as marketing, the ability to make different podcasts and post them to specific sites, could allow a much more focused form of advertising to specific people. However with television, radio, and even current online advertisements, podcasting seems somewhat irrelevant for marketing at this point in time.

Original Article

Bitrix

Bitrix
A company called Marketwire and its specific branch called Comtex created a software called Bitrix Internet portal and today was awarded “Best software of the Year” by PC Magazine for a second year in a row. One of its users called Aurora Internet technology has been using this software for many years and has full confidence in the software as well as believing it deserves such a title. A summary of the software is given as such, “The portal was created for collaboration, communication, social networking, workflow and knowledge management purposes. Its end results are increased employee productivity, interoperability and user satisfaction, delivering unmatched value in ease-of-use, functionality and performance.”
Aurora, a primary client and retailer of this software, expresses its excellence at connecting different groups into one cohesive work group. Aurora uses this program mostly for its work in the medical field. They specialize in website designs, logos, and marketing for different medical branches globally. This software as part of what is called enterprise 2.0 collaboration and is based for businesses, and therefore is not delivered at a price for your average day user. Costing around a grand and a half for the software, it is a fully functional business tool. From social networking, to special collaboration tools, as well as including easy collaboration of different software users, this software seems to be an all-in-one package for the business needs. Comments made by Aurora state it to be a business optimizer without sacrificing security and it’s ability to connect different business operations through integration is essential in today's global markets.

Primary Resource: Bitrix

Business Info. Systems- MultiCare

Business information systems are becoming a more and more important part of today's society in every area and field. However, one field that has been hesitant to delve into the depths of technology has been the medical field. While the medical field is about its patients and about health, it is also a business and is still in need of deriving profit and efficiency. A hospital’s customer service is more important than any other businesses’ customer service. If a hospital fails to listen to their patients and keep a close eye on allergies and negative drug reactions, their customers could end up dying on their watch. So, while reading articles and researching business information systems, I came across an article in The News Tribune about new advancements in the medical field using information systems. This information system that hospitals are beginning to use centralizes around barcodes, something that is in use in nearly every store around the country. While other hospitals are beginning to implement this system, the article focuses on a company called MultiCare and their investment of $140 million into implementing this new technology. When a doctor, nurse, or any one of the medical professionals enters the room to check on a patient, a quick and simple scan of a barcode on the patient's wrist allows that medical professional to be entirely up to date on that patient's medical records in the blink of an eye. These records include anything that has been entered into the system by any of their care providers. Before a patient is given a drug or prescription, a simple scan of the drug into the computer allows an instant double check on up-to-date records on dosage, doctors orders, and health records.
While this system will save the medical business time and money, it is also beneficial in preventing detrimental errors. Since the year 2000 the voluntary reports of medication errors came in around 95,000. The concern of many is that, as a voluntary report, the actual occurrence of medication errors is thought to be much higher. This new computer system is predicted to minimize those numbers and prevent a lot of malpractice lawsuits, which will save money for hospitals and doctors, but also, in situations like this it is not always the dollars that matter, but providing patient safety is a priceless decision. Another great step of this information system allows the opportunity for patients to review their own records from home using software they're already familiar with such as Microsoft or Google. With the medical field and their patients, all having access to the same information and having the safeguards in place, it is not only brilliant business plan but a greatly needed increase in care and safety. However, further discussing the business side, this software is also able to handle patients accounts as well as billing. With any business, incorporating multiple facets of a business into one all-encompassing computer system that increases efficiency and safety as well as maintaining the most up-to-date records and billing, is always a brilliant business strategy.

Kearsley, Kelly. “Better Medicine with Barcodes.” The News Tribune. February 7, 2010
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/1060474.html

About me.

This is a blog entry by Brett Crowell. I work as an intern in an office at a metals reclaiming facility. Being one of the youngest associates by far, I am the general go to guy as far as computers go. I thoroughly enjoy using Excel and the multiple formulas and processes that one can do with it. I find it one of the most important business tools that I've ever come across. Many people at work use the spreadsheets that I've created for them and have repeatedly told me how much they enjoy and appreciate them. Being a business major with a finance concentration I am in great need of keeping up with the speed at which technology is moving because the field of accounting and finance has changed so much with the invention of computers. Day by day the business fields are changing as computers and technology form a solid foundation on which every business is built.