Customer Relationship Management - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Customer sues Salesforce.com over support service

  Salesforce.com is being sued by a customer who claims the CRM (customer relationship management) software vendor's misrepresentations made their relationship go sour.

• Upcoming Salesforce.com release focuses on Chatter, analytics, Touch

  Salesforce.com's next product update will feature scores of new capabilities for its core CRM (customer relationship management) application as well as the Chatter messaging and collaboration service.

• Oracle buys Eloqua for marketing software in $871 million deal

  Oracle has agreed to acquire Eloqua for about US$871 million, in a bid to build out a set of marketing automation software.

• Factory Direct Fencing stakes new boundaries with ERP, CRM

  Queensland-based fencing product company, Factory Direct Fencing (FDF), has used a combined ERP and CRM system to automate functions and help with expansion into Australian sales markets.

• Infor acquires Orbis Global to boost its marketing software clout

  Infor has scooped up marketing resource management vendor Orbis Global in a bid to flesh out the capabilities of its Epiphany marketing suite. Terms of the agreement, which was announced Tuesday, were not disclosed.

• Social CRM Offers Big Rewards If You're Persistent

  Putting the 'social' in your social CRM strategy means aggregating more information about your customers and prospects. A new generation of tools is being developed to make this happen.

• SAP promises '360-degree' view of customer with HANA-powered CRM platform

  SAP is tying the HANA in-memory database to its CRM (customer relationship management) software and other applications, creating a package that will "allow organizations to revolutionize the way they engage with their customers," the company announced Tuesday during the Sapphire and Tech Ed conferences in Madrid.

• IDC: In software market, CRM, virtualisation and collaboration show strongest growth

  The global software market grew 4.7 percent in the first half of this year to US$167 billion, with CRM (customer relationship management), virtualization and collaboration coming in as the fastest-growing segments, according to figures released by analyst firm IDC.

• Microsoft planning to tie Yammer, Skype to its CRM application

  Microsoft is preparing to release an update to its Dynamics CRM Online software that will feature a new user experience as well as tie-ins to its Yammer social networking software and Skype communication platform, the company announced Thursday.

• Intuit ties QuickBooks to Demandforce marketing software

  Intuit has integrated the online marketing software gained through its US$423.5 million acquisition of Demandforce with its QuickBooks accounting software, giving small businesses a way to make closer connections with customers, the company announced Thursday.

• SAP reports strong third quarter, revises 2012 outlook

  SAP reported Wednesday double-digit revenue growth in the third quarter, benefiting from a strong performance in the Americas and double-digit growth in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region, and high demand for its new technologies like HANA across all regions.

• Salesforce.com CEO Benioff: Windows 8 will mark 'the end' of the Microsoft OS

  Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 will mark "the end" of the computer industry's dominant OS due to increasing competition and choice sparked by alternatives, according to Salesforce.com CEO, Marc Benioff.
  

• Salesforce.com boosts social analytics options in strike at Oracle

  Salesforce.com said Friday that it has significantly expanded the social analytics options available to customers who use its Marketing Cloud, in its latest move in an ongoing arms race with Oracle to offer businesses the best tools for mining the social Web.

• RightNow shareholders approve US$1.5 billion sale to Oracle

  Oracle's US$1.5 billion purchase of cloud software vendor RightNow Technologies took another step forward on Thursday as a vast majority of RightNow shareholders approved the deal.

• Salesforce.com acquires Rypple for push into cloud HR software

  Salesforce.com announced Thursday it will acquire cloud-based performance management vendor Rypple in a bid to enter the human resources software market.