CRM Systems
“What we
are looking for is a single, integrated system that maintains all information
regarding contact and business activity with a client… something that is
searchable by account name, phone number and or advertising name… something
that can manage the ongoing new account placement and current account changes… something
that can manage client data and billing.”
Must be
able to capture all interactions with clients – current and historically since
we often have to reproduce the past to satisfy the clients. Emails, phone interactions, postal email,…
every single work order generated from the first ad placement to a cancellation
for non payment
Commence RM:
- Company
Info: Commence Corp.,
- Price:
$700 per user.
- PC
MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:
- Commence
deploys to any Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, Me, or NT client.
- Data
is synchronized automatically between clients. Each client gets the
thick-client Commence application and its own copy of this database. The
advantage of this architecture is good support for intermittently
connected mobile users. PC Magazine easily simulated activity for five
on-the-road sales reps and synced up data later.
- Though
this product does not connect to live Oracle or SQL Server data, separate
import/export wizards let us import over 3,000 contacts and 2,000 vendors
from an existing Oracle database.
- Commence
includes views geared toward marketing, sales, support, and telemarketing
staff, including options for managers. Customizable icons represent
available functionality for each type of user. A great feature here includes an easy-to-use manager that tracks
direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing campaigns.
- For
tracking sales opportunities and making forecasts, Commence lets managers
generate a rich variety of reports. Users can also build and edit a
database of common problems to improve customer support.
SalesLogix Configuration Engine
4.0:
- Company
Info: SalesLogix,
- Price: $6,995 per CPU.
- PC
MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:
- Using
Internet Explorer 5.5, managers can activate the Business Desk command console
to get a complete picture of their e-stores, from customers to sales and
product catalogs. Don't expect to
track interactions with customers as you might with salesforce.com,
however.
- In
our testing we were able to define a fairly complicated set of options for
custom bicycles, as well as a variety of basic bike configurations. Though
doing this requires detailed knowledge of your product line, it doesn't
take programming expertise. Simply click on options that are mutually
exclusive or options that must go together and the tool does the rest,
disguising the complicated rules written in Commerce Server 2000.
- Configuration
Engine 4.0 is very focused, but being able to model real-world product
lines is a necessary step in building better customer relationships. If
you are selling only a handful of products, you will probably find the
built-in capabilities of Commerce Server 2000 more than sufficient, but
for any organization struggling with more complex product lines,
SalesLogix Configuration Engine 4.0 can serve as a valuable time-saver.
Netledger 1
System:
- Company Info: NetLedger Inc.,
- Price: Direct price (CRM
services only), $19.95 per user per month.
- PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:
- NetLedger
provides a full-service, Web-based application for common tasks such as
tracking expenses, filing invoices, and managing payroll. Besides offering
the CRM module separately, NetLedger also lets a small business use a Web
storefront for $99 per month.
- The
package supports financial data, imported from a variety of programs,
including Peachtree, QuickBooks, and Quicken.
- Unlike
salesforce.com, NetLedger does not distinguish between leads and opportunities,
or indicate whether they came from the phone or the Web.
- A
data entry screen lets you describe each task and record its priority and
expected completion date. Then you can assign tasks to people in your
organization. On the main log-on screen, visitors will see a notice saying
which tasks are ready for them to complete. You can track each customer's history of tasks and change the
status of tasks as they are completed. You can also assign tasks on
the included calendar, which lets you visualize what's pending for a
customer.
Salesforce.com:
- Company Info: salesforce.com
Inc.,
- Price: $50
per user per month.
- PC
MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:
- With
strong support for tracking contacts, leads, and customer inquiries,
salesforce.com ($50 per user per month) offers functional online customer
management and meets the needs of small businesses, with a capable set of
features at an attractive price.
- To
get started, import existing contacts, leads, and accounts into
salesforce.com's online database. We used the site's import utility to
load a spreadsheet of 100 contacts. Besides comma-separated value (CSV)
files, the site also supports direct data grabs from Microsoft Outlook and
ACT! clients.
- The
salesforce.com Web interface features forecasting and reporting, plus
screens for managing contacts, leads, and accounts.
- Under
the solutions module, you can draft, revise, and duplicate responses taken
within your company. We like that you can obtain a quick status of cases
as well as a history of all actions taken for a request.
- You
can control inquiries about your products by tracking them. The strong
reporting module in salesforce.com lets you see which leads panned out and
which ones didn't.
Compiere:
- Company Info: Compiere,
Inc.;
- Price: Free
- Optimize
your Inventory
- Enter
Sales Orders
- Receive
Orders from the Web
- Create
Invoices and record Shipments
- Collect
Receipts (cash, credit cards) & match with Bank Statements
- Generate
or enter Purchase Orders
- Record
Supplier Receipts and Invoices
- Pay your
Suppliers
- Enter
manual Journals
- Print
reports and statements
- Requires
Oracle (soon will have a postgres port)
FREE
Clarify:
- Company Info: Amdocs,
- Price: no price listed.
- The
Amdocs Clarify CRM solution integrates all front office and business
management applications, resulting in a consolidated view of all customer
interactions with a single database for complete customer lifecycle
management.
- This
solution enables one-call resolution of customer requests, greatly
improving customer satisfaction and reducing costs.
- Trouble
tickets can be created and then automated routed to the appropriate queues
and workflows for prompt and efficient issue resolution. With links to our
logistics management applications, companies can manage the entire service
support cycle from call handling through scheduling, field dispatch,
onsite data collection parts inventory and through fulfillment.
- Other
functional capabilities include case tracking and escalation, problem and
knowledge management for researching inquiries, email response management
for in-bound and out-bound requests, chat capabilities that facilitate
live collaboration with customers, and dispatch capabilities that ensure
service and support tasks are owned and managed for 100% customer
responsiveness.
- ClearContracts:
It enables sales representatives to quickly quote and sell complex
services through the automation of key contract information and processes,
including complex quoting, renewals, financial management and entitlement
tracking.
- ClearContracts service offering
management capabilities enable the quick definition, pricing and launch of
new service offerings. Automated quoting helps staff develop custom quotes
and apply flexible discounts. Mid-term adjustments based on individual
customer contracts can be made to easily modify active contracts
- Additional
features include call scripting to increase the effectiveness of each call
and reduce training time; campaign management tools to improve overall effectiveness
of sales and marketing campaigns; reporting and management tools that help
analyze the performance of campaigns, workgroups, and agents and identify
opportunities to improve profitability; and literature fulfillment so
customer service representatives can quickly mail, e-mail, or fax
literature to prospects and track inventory.
Siebel:
- Company
Info: Siebel
Systems, Inc;
- Price: no price listed.
- Includes very
applicable enterprise-level applications.
Perhaps a little-overboard for our needs.
ORACLE CRM:
After
meeting with Ultimedia and discussing our needs and wants compared to the
functionality offered by the Oracle modules we’ve purchased, I believe that
most of our customer, task and event management would be robustly managed, but
the price is too extreme. Approx.
25-35k, plus 22% of total cost per year for support/maintenance, plus any
additional licenses.
Oracle
Price Support/Year: (orig. cost x 22%)
== app + db support
Ultimedia
Price: 25k to 35k depending on additions.
Clients/Publishers Users
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Customer Data --> House like --> Live Data
(incl. Billing) publishing system
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CRM
Billing System
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Customer Accounting
Support