E-Commerce Blog

Users of apps from BIRT, the open source Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools project, will be able to access them on the iPhone starting Monday. Actuate, which founded the BIRT project and coleads it with the Eclipse Foundation, is putting its BIRT Mobile Viewer on the App Store. This viewer, which will be a free app, is a native iPhone application that will let users access and control BIRT content through Actuate’s servers at no charge.

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iPhone Gets Down to Business With Open Source BI App

There’s an adage in the CRM industry that every successful CRM implementation is customized in some way. That may not be as much of an absolute as it once was. But, in order to gain a true competitive advantage from CRM, your business needs to find ways to use it differently than your competitors do. While CRM is often seen as a remedial tool — it cleans up disorganized data, it allows disparate people to communicate about sales and marketing, it gives you a better view of the customer when service issues arise — it can and should be more than that.

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Tricks of Your Trade: Little Things That Can Make CRM Better

Software AG has developed a vertical social networking and collaboration platform that for the BPM industry. Now in open beta, ARISalign is built on Amazon’s Web Services and equipped with modeling capabilities, as well as virtual versions of tools typically used by process experts, said Matt Durham, VP of market development. They include virtual sticky notes and virtual whiteboards, as well as a Flash-based modeling editor and integration into ARIS Express, a free process modeling tool.

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Software AG Brings Social Networking to BPM

Customer experience reared its head in my life this month. My phone service went out, which was not a catastrophe for me because in addition to the landline, I have a cell and a nifty VoIP line that lets me talk through my computer. Parenthetically, I love my VoIP line because, though I live in the Boston area, the VoIP line has a 415 area code, which you may know is San Francisco’s. I don’t know if it’s my heart that’s out there, but certainly a piece of me lives in San Francisco, and for some reason that makes me happy.

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The Sometimes-Deadly ‘Customer Experience’ Strategy

Once a small business finds the perfect CRM solution for its needs, the owner or manager must then negotiate the appropriate legal agreements with the vendor. This can be a daunting task for anyone who is not familiar with the many types of contracts that may come into play with an IT purchase. The types of contracts vary depending on the nature of the business and how the vendor and customer are set up rather than on the size of the company.

Read more here:
CRM for the Small Business, Part 3: What to Expect During Contract Negotiations