More CRM In Depth

Big Data Torpedoes Sales Forecasts, Can Cloud Tools Fix the Problem?

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.

How CIOs Can Help Facilitate Systems of Engagement

The CEO community is turning to CIOs to help accelerate revenue growth and deepen engagement with customers.

8 CRM Trends You Need to Watch

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.

Why enterprise software will never be the same

It's a stretch to call 2011 a truly transformative year for enterprise software, given all the old warts that remain, from large-scale IT project failures to creaky legacy systems that will take years and great expense to replace with the latest-and-greatest.

CRM and Sales: If it's Broke, Fix it.

Fixing your CRM system and the sales and marketing organization will take some real time, and should be done in stages. Further, in both CRM and sales there's a serious talent shortage. Sure, there are people on the street -- but just try to find a truly great salesperson or SFDC wizard in New York or San Francisco. So you should grab the employees and consultants whenever you can find them, and expect to fix the software and organizational issues in parallel.

10 essential MySQL tools for admins

The MySQL community is a hotbed of free, open source tools to enhance the performance and health of your MySQL systems

NoSQL standouts: New databases for new applications

Cassandra, CouchDB, MongoDB, Redis, Riak, Neo4J, and FlockDB reinvent the data store

After OpenOffice and Hudson, will Oracle stick with open source?

NetBeans, MySQL, and GlassFish are all likely to remain in Oracle's software portfolio as they have profit potential

Implementing Territories in CRM Systems

Defining and managing sales territories is one of the key responsibilities of sales management. But territories in CRM systems can be one of the hardest parts of the implementation.

Don't Gamble Your Company's Reputation on Data Governance

Today's growing challenge: Data. There is suddenly too much of it, and while firms rush to mine it, they do so without adequate regard for the risks in keeping and using it.

How to Get Smarter About CRM Security

If Value Engineering is the identification of different implementation strategies to achieve the business goal, the ultimate in value engineering is to identify requirements that don't need to be done in the first place. Although security and access control would seem to be a poor candidate for this kind of requirements elimination, in many situations the technical solutions are so clumsy and expensive that there's almost no ROI.

What the Cloud Really Costs: Do You Know?

14 ways CIOs under estimate the costs of cloud computing

Update: Salesforce.com to buy maker of social media monitoring tools

Salesforce.com plans to buy social media monitoring vendor Radian6, whose technology tracks conversations occurring on social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the company said.

CRM: Avoid 3 User Identity Mistakes

Putting customers aside for once, let's talk about your users who log in and work with CRM systems daily. Are you making any of these three big mistakes while managing user identities?

Sweet-Spot Pricing

Price optimization software, which helps calculate demand for products or services at different price points, is maturing, with off-the-shelf options and easy-to-understand dashboards.

FBI CIO's Mission: Modernize

When he joined the FBI from Lehman Brothers, Chad Fulgham inherited an obsolete IT infrastructure and major project on the brink of failure. Two years later, agents have BlackBerrys and SharePoint, but the work isn't finished.

How to divorce your tech vendor

Follow these 7 tips to protect your IT assets -- and essential company data -- from a service provider breakup gone bad

What you missed: The top sleeper tech stories of 2010

Apple's quiet enterprise ascendance, looming ERP-like disasters in health care, the solution to a big security hole, and more didn't get the media attention they deserved -- until now

What you missed: Deferred IT maintenance is a ticking time bomb

The No. 5 top sleeper tech story of 2010

What you missed: Businesses are resisting the XBRL mandate

The No. 9 top sleeper tech story of 2010