With so much having changed since CRM systems were introduced in the 1990s, is it time to rethink CRM? This post outlines six ways in which CRM systems must change to meet the needs of today’s businesses. But, only time will tell if software vendors will be able to meet these needs or whether, once again, they will over-design and over-price their CRM offerings.
In some enterprise software selection projects, clients are tempted to skip the Request for Information (RFI) stage and go straight to a Request for Proposal (RFP). This is a mistake and often the result of not fully understanding the value of a well-written RFI. This post discusses the difference between an RFI and an RFP and the benefits of developing a simple RFI early in the vendor selection process.
Small business doesn’t always mean simple business. Like larger companies, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) need to reach new markets, develop new products, satisfy customers, and control costs. The main difference is that SMBs need to do these things with fewer resources. In recent years, software vendors have announced new products to address the challenges facing small businesses. This post outlines two of them.
Oracle took another step in its strategy of growth by acquisition by announcing a bid for NetSuite. But apart from helping Oracle in its race with Salesforce.com to get to $10 billion in cloud revenues, what are the benefits of the deal to Oracle? How does it help NetSuite, and what does it mean to the broader marketplace? Looking at the big picture, there are certainly benefits, but there are also several concerns.
When implementing new enterprise systems, business process improvement should be done in parallel. Doing all of one before the other—whether process improvement first, or system implementation first—will result in failure. This post explains why.
Although a requirements template may appear to be a time-saving way to get to a requirements specification, this approach can actually make the project longer and cost more than it should. Moreover, they can actually lead to the wrong ERP system being selected. In this post, we identify the problems with the the use ERP requirements templates and outline a better way for specifying requirements for new ERP systems.
With three strategic acquisitions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM can now be considered a complete offering for sales, marketing and customer service. In addition, Microsoft’s CRM offering is showing its ability to move up-market into large enterprises. This post assesses Microsoft’s latest offering for CRM.
The major enterprise software providers promote their pre-built integration as a selling point in capturing new business from existing clients. But do suites always win? Based on recent deals observed in our work with enterprise software buyers, it appears that the integration story is not resonating as it once did.
CEO Steve Ballmer recently announced corporate-wide organizational changes at Microsoft. Although the reorg includes changes across many Microsoft functions, what does it mean specifically for the Dynamics group, which is responsible for Microsoft’s business applications?
Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) has many necessary elements in place with its Dynamics product line to continue its move into large enterprises, but it still needs to fill functional gaps in its product offerings. In this post we discuss Microsoft’s progress – and its limitations – in the large enterprise market.