CRM/ERP

Customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) news, solutions, and analysis for IT professionals

Microsoft server and tool upgrades demand CIOs' attention

Posted May 25, 2012 - 10:03 am

CIOs and IT directors tracking the barrage of major upgrades for Windows and Office also need to stay tuned to the refresh cycle for Microsoft's servers and tools, including Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Visual Studio 11.
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Big data torpedoes sales forecasts, can cloud tools fix the problem?

Posted April 3, 2012 - 9:42 pm

Many sales teams have access to automation tools for better visibility. However, when you consider that the average sales rep has from 20 to 50 open sales opportunities at any given time, using those tool have unintended consequences such as escalating the 'Big Data' problem. Cloud-based services may hold the answer.
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Plugging a SaaS access hole

Posted March 12, 2012 - 6:07 am

Our manager's company has a lot of sensitive data on Salesforce.com servers, and until now, we could access it from any device.
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8 CRM trends you need to watch

Posted February 6, 2012 - 8:54 am

Customer relationship management vendors and industry analysts discuss which CRM trends will continue to gain strength and what new trends IT professionals need to watch.
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When ERP is botched, CFOs must act

Posted January 31, 2012 - 12:39 pm

Companies long have grappled with glitches in their ERP (enterprise resource planning) system implementations -- a situation that the recent botched-rollout record suggests won't get better any time soon. While ERP projects go awry for many reasons, each incident reveals its own set of troublesome repercussions, financial and otherwise.
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Lack of data scientists is the new Von Neumann bottleneck

Posted January 27, 2012 - 9:00 am

Strata Conference's Founding Chair, Edd Dumbill, talks about bridging the data and information gap.
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Canonical CEO: Ubuntu tablet OS will battle Android, iOS

Posted January 11, 2012 - 7:06 am

Jane Silber believes there's plenty of room for a new player in tablets, TVs, and maybe even smartphones
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Five open source technologies for 2012

Posted December 28, 2011 - 7:05 am

Next year, if all goes according to plan, Red Hat will become the first open source software company to generate more than US$1 billion a year in revenue. It will be a watershed moment for the open source community, who have long seen their approach of community-based development as a viable, even superior, alternative to traditional notions of how software should be written.
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ERP makes a comeback

Posted December 21, 2011 - 5:08 pm

Most big companies rolled out their first ERP systems more than a decade ago. Now one in four businesses plans to upgrade or roll out a new ERP system
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10 biggest ERP software failures of 2011

Posted December 20, 2011 - 10:43 am

With the year drawing to a close, one thing seems abundantly clear: There are still an awful lot of ERP and other software projects running off the rails out there.
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Legacy application fixer-uppers

Posted November 7, 2011 - 12:47 pm

Legacy applications are one of the most difficult issues to face within IT. A rip-and-replace approach is expensive and thus difficult to justify; plus, it tends to interrupt operations. Here's how 3 companies solved their legacy application problems.
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The value of VOC systems

Posted October 11, 2011 - 12:53 pm

About 20 months ago, Charming Shoppes launched a customer insights project to "deliver actionable customer and market research and analysis to the business," says Jeffrey Liss, who headed up the initiative. Liss is now senior vice president of corporate strategy at the plus-size women's clothing retailer, which includes Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines stores.
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NoSQL is eclipsing the old-time RDBMS

Posted September 22, 2011 - 6:09 am

IT is turning to the modern NoSQL and 'NewSQL' approaches over traditional relational databases
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How BI is helping to predict fashion trends

Posted September 12, 2011 - 11:42 am

Elie Tahari, the upscale women's fashion brand and retail chain, has a pretty good idea which of its styles customers will want.
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Salesforce alternatives: 5 CRM services for small businesses

Posted September 12, 2011 - 10:08 am

Customer relationship management (CRM) programs have a bad reputation for being overly technical, burdensome to implement, and a chore to use. This can certainly be true of some services, especially for owners of small to medium-size businesses who lack the funds or resources to customize the CRM properly to meet their company's needs. Salesforce, for example, is popular but not necessarily lightweight or easy to get off the ground.
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Is Office 365 right for your enterprise?

Posted August 31, 2011 - 7:47 pm

With Office 365, Microsoft has made a major upgrade to its cloud-based communication and collaboration suite, offering a Google Apps alternative that is stronger than its predecessor, the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).
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Linux at 20: New challenges, new opportunities

Posted August 29, 2011 - 6:14 am

The rise of cloud computing and mobility could elevate the open source OS to a level of unprecedented dominance
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Rethinking the ESB: Building a simple, secure, scalable Service Bus with an SOA Gateway

Posted August 15, 2011 - 2:49 pm

For years the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) has been seen as a corporate integration and messaging backbone upon which application architectures are built. However, this concept must evolve to meet the requirements of today's corporate landscape, where IT boundaries are blurring, driven by the need to integrate with partners, cloud and mobile applications.
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Are Google's best days behind it?

Posted August 8, 2011 - 11:05 am

Slowing product development, legal woes, and rising bureaucracy may signal trying times ahead for Silicon Valley's favorite company
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Five ways to win at project management

Posted July 29, 2011 - 2:37 pm

Behind every winning CIO 100 project, there's a successful management strategy. This year's winners offer a few techniques that should be in every IT executive's bag of tricks. Here are five worth noting:
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Replacing legacy applications: Four problems solved

Posted July 29, 2011 - 10:09 am

Legacy applications are one of the most difficult issues to face within IT. A rip-and-replace approach is expensive, difficult to cost-justify and tends to interrupt business. Meanwhile, the legacy software lingers in accounting's ledgers, outlives its welcome in sales and causes poor network performance throughout the organization.
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CRM on a smartphone

Posted April 28, 2011 - 5:14 pm

A smartphone app integrated with its CRM system helps Hard Rock Hotel and Casino track customer spending and promote food and beverage specials
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Vendors roll ERP for medical marijuana dispensaries

Posted April 25, 2011 - 1:52 pm

You know an industry has reached critical mass when vendors start developing software for it, and that time has come for medical marijuana.
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What cloud computing really costs: Do you know?

Posted April 11, 2011 - 10:32 am

14 ways CIOs under estimate the costs of cloud computing
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Your CEO called about CRM: Now what?

Posted March 9, 2011 - 12:07 pm

The CEO has called and asked for some training on the CRM system. A great opportunity...but there are a hundred things you could train him on. Where do you start, and where do you place your bets?
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