Special Supplement to

Sponsored by

July/August 2003

Best Practices inCustomer Relationship Management

Andy Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Overture Article: A Reality Check for CRMIt’s gut-check time for Customer Relationship Management. And I don’t onlymean for the marketplace that provides the software tools and infrastructurepieces that help users accomplish superior service. It’s a tough time to be oneither side of the business/vendor equation. Heck, it’s a tough time to be acustomer. . . .

Andrew Pery, Hummingbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CRM—It’s Just Good BusinessFrom the vendor point of view, a healthy level of self-awareness is clearly a plus. “Customers don’t buy technology,” says Andrew, “they buy relationships.”So from a purely business standpoint, selling a “CRM vision” is just goodbusiness. “Having a slightly better mousetrap does not differentiate you inthis market. This market is very polarized right now. You either have infrastructure capabilities or you’re in the solutions business. . . .”

Dan Vetras, Talisma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Customer Lifecycle ManagementIn a daily ritual known to thousands of sales and service professionals in a widerange of industries, corporations lock themselves into a time warp by using traditional solutions in the hope of providing superior customer communications.Corporate America’s lack of visibility into customer information makes it virtually impossible to improve service and enhance customer relationships. . . .

Peter J. Boni, Surebridge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Using CRM Tools for Success in the Mid-MarketMore than ever, today’s companies are seeking ways to reduce the cost ofgoing to market and to obtain a better understanding of their customer base.Middle market businesses have not always enjoyed the same CRM solution benefits available to the Fortune 500 – the costs of deployment,hardware/software and systems management have been daunting. . . .

Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Bringing Understanding to the Call Center Through Data Managementand Voice Recognition

Success in the call center market depends on getting the right information tocustomer service staffers faster, so that they may provide quicker, more efficientservice. Challenges arise as the number of customers and incoming callsincrease and there is an overwhelming volume of corresponding data. Theresult is an inefficient lag time in responding to customer queries. . . .

Kamal Ahluwalia, Selectica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Improving Fundamental Processes for ProfitabilityIf only getting “back to basics” was. . . well, basic. The fact is that each business basic consists of a complex web of people, process andinformation interactions, and changing these systems, confirmed habits and entrenched processes is a task that’s anything but basic. . . .

Greg Horton, Epicor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Creating a Cohesive CRM StrategyCustomer Relationship Management (CRM) is not a new concept. The cultivation of the relationship between vendor and customer was present in the earliest sales transactions. Companies have rediscovered the fiscalbenefits implementing CRM. . . .

els of integration. And it’s doubtful, as we’veoften heard during these conversations withthe marketplace, that all those linkages arefully available to any but a small handful ofextremely well-run organizations. For thosewho do not quite fit that category, will thecost necessary to accomplish a full level ofintegration make it prohibitive to consider?(More on that later, during the part of theconversation with Dan Vetras, CEO ofTalisma Corporation.)

Bottom line: the challenges surroundingcustomer interaction and service are muchmore complicated, and fundamental, thanmany of us have been led to believe. I mean,all you need is a Web site with a FAQ pageto solve the service issues ... And a call-cen-ter agent with a script will satisfy all thosepesky customer inquiries that don’t hit theself-serve site ...

Right? Yeah, sure. And excuse me whilethis monkey flies out of my butt.

The Big Disconnect

One of the annoying technical issues fac-ing CRM is this: The initial contact with thecustomer may be database-driven—customermetadata such as order history, account sta-tus, etc. drives the initial process—but theremainder of the experience is distinctly con-tent-driven. And the course of the experienceis unpredictable and unstructured, by defini-

tion. How can you predict what a customerwill want to know?

Do most organizations have processes inplace that seamlessly and flawlessly transi-tion from the data-centric to the content-centric? There’s that monkey again. Findingthe correct thread of documents and otherassorted information-types that apply to thisparticular customer’s unique set of needs , atthis particular time, is in no way a corecapacity for most organizations.

Document management, thought bymany to be deeply saturated in the largestcompanies, isn’t anywhere near that. Oh,sure, most companies have decent documentmanagement for the legal department, ormaybe HR. Some information-intensiveresearch and development departments (inpharma, for instance) are pretty well trickedout. But the broad deployment of DM acrossall necessary repositories and touch-pointsthat can crop up in one of those unpre-dictable customer encounters is in no waycommon today. And even if the doc manage-ment pieces were in place, could most organ-izations take the NEXT step in the customer-experience cycle and link that customer withthe correct domain expert to solve his prob-lem quickly and satisfactorily?

I’m posing a lot of questions, most ofthem rhetorical and dripping with cynicismand doubt. I know. It’s a gift. But the pur-pose of this exercise (and I do have one) isto point out, dear reader, a trend that is gain-ing respect and credence among successfuldeployers, and seems like a likely marketdirection on the vendor side.

It’s convergence. It’s a common term foranalysts and editors to toss around, but thefuture of these customer-lifecycle systemsdepends on solutions providers who can cre-ate linkages between systems that are cur-rently boxed into proprietary cul-de-sacswith no reverse gear.

The first challenge toward accomplish-ing this is to buy solutions that have a com-

Special Supplement to

A Reality Check for CRM

It’s gut-check time for Customer Relation-ship Management. And I don’t only meanfor the marketplace that provides the soft-ware tools and infrastructure pieces thathelp users accomplish superior service. It’sa tough time to be on either side of the busi-ness/vendor equation. Heck, it’s a toughtime to be a customer.

Why? Because all parties are discover-ing that the success of CRM rests not inrelatively simple customer-contact tools,but in a vastly more complex web of inter-dependencies that permeate nearly allareas of the organization. And that web issimply not woven yet.

“One of the key issues is the lack of inte-gration between CRM systems and otherknowledge-enabling technologies that arerequired to make it more effective for organ-izations to find the right information in theright context, and link that information to thecorrect domain expert who can solve thecustomer’s problem,” states Andrew Pery,Chief Marketing Officer & Senior VicePresident, Hummingbird Ltd.

CRM “systems” themselves may notprovide the entire holistic solution presentedby the customer experience (see “CRM—It’s Just Good Business” on page 4), theycan be helpful in launching and triggeringthe many various events that ultimatelymake up a successful customer encounter.But this series of events can occur only if allthe systems downstream have the proper lev-

July/August 2003S2

Andy Moore has heldsenior editorial andpublishing positions formore than 25 years. As atechnology writer andeditor, Moore speaks withdozens of seniorexecutives and industryexperts each month. Inhis role as EditorialDirector for the SpecialtyPublishing Group, Mooreoversees the

contributions to the series as well as conducting marketresearch for future topics of interest for the series.

Moore was the editor-in-chief of KMWorld Magazine andis now its publisher.

Andy Moore

By Andy Moore, Editorial Director, KMWorld Specialty Publishing Group

“The future of CRM rests not in

simple customer-contact tools, but

in a vastly more complex web.”

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S3

monality in terms of their basic design andinteroperability. That means that an unac-ceptable option for many organizations is tothrow away many of the systems they havespent thousands to buy, and many thousandmore (probably) to deploy, integrate andmaintain. That won’t happen, says Andrew.“They will preserve their existing invest-ments. This is why emerging standards suchas Web services are so important...invest-ment protection.”

Of all the enterprise software purchasedsince 1998, less than 50% has ever beendeployed. “The promises of the smartenterprise suite, and an integrated platformhave a lot of allure, but the key preoccupa-tion of IT right now is efficiency improve-ment, consolidating existing infrastructure(including some of this under-utilized soft-ware inventory) and risk mitigation,”Andrew points out. “So Web services willeventually become very important to medi-ate between all these applications muchbetter than they do right now.”

It works for the vendor side as well. Anapplications infrastructure based on a Web-services API will allow vendors a less-expensive and better way to expose theirproprietary hooks to other applications. Forthose who are creating a family (“suite”) ofapplications, the cost has been largely thetime necessary on the development side(demanding either homegrown upheavals invendors’ development directions, or hasinvolved many acquisitions of ISVs thatlikewise disrupt and complicate the develop-ment effort). Attempting to solve this link-age challenge resulted in the portal move-ment, of course, which attempted to inte-grate applications in the “thin veneer,” asAndrew calls it, of the glass of your moni-tor’s screen. “It’s a loose integration,” saysAndrew somewhat derisively. “Linkingthese applications at the portal level does notmean there is actually application-level inte-gration among all these components,” hepoints out.

Yet, economic reality will preclude anymassively disruptive changes in informationmanagement, Andrew believes, for the fore-seeable future. And this is good news for theCRM market. Because of this reluctance toexpend energy on “new and disruptive” tech-nology during this time of moderated growth,organizations will be more likely to work oncleaning house, working toward creating sys-tems that emphasize customer retention overgaining new customers, and on deriving newvalue from existing customers. “After all, a5% increase in customer retention canincrease operational profitability by as muchas 25% to 90%,” reminds Andrew. Those arenumbers that have a comforting effect ontoday’s IT and business professionals.

What To Do When It Costs Too MuchFor Talisma, responding to the pres-

sures of the current environment demandsnothing short of a revolution in the waysoftware is created and delivered. “We’rehitting the apex of how you can re-inventyourself as a software business,” states DanVetras, CEO of Talisma Corporation. “Youcan’t downsize anymore. We’ve cut the fat,we’ve cut the bone. Now we’re hitting mar-row. Where can you go next?”

Dan is one of those through-and-through,Central-Casting CEOs. He sees his businessalmost as a factory, and it’s his job to createthe most efficient and competitive damn fac-tory you ever saw. They recruit from the besttechnical schools in India in their efforts tobuild software that can be developed anddelivered faster and better than anyone else.So in his case it’s not so much a matter of“being in the CRM” or whichever industrysegment. They just want to be able to re-invent themselves at will, and this is themeans by which Dan has chosen to do so.CRM and call center happens to be one ofthe areas where Dan thinks his software fac-tory can make a difference.

Just as software development is trendingtoward a different (off-shore) model, soft-

ware deployment is also changing to respondto economic realities. The days of the 800-pound software organization moving in andsetting up cots in your cubbies for months onend are going or gone. Which may be whysome of the largest enterprise applicationstars of the past aren’t shining quite sobrightly right now.

The problem is: the inability—due to out-of-control costs—for your company to slowlyand methodically develop business automa-tion processes can be in direct conflict withyour goals. “The big systems integrators wantmillion-plus dollar engagements. The cus-tomer wants cheaper and faster,” says Dan.

What do you risk in a quick-hit, thank-you-ma’am engagement, where the nuancesand interrelationships among your informa-tion repositories MAY not be completelyaddressed? You miss hitting all the touch-points we talked about above with Andrew.It’s a stressful conflict playing out in everyenterprise deployment going on right now.Not only is knowledge-based customer rela-tionship more important than ever, it is alsoharder than ever to achieve.

The successful trend, says Dan, in deploy-ment is to find less-costly ways to deliver andimplement software. Dan’s way is to make itless expensive at the front end to build, andthen use those same economies (a bench ofprofessional services people also based inIndia, in this case) on the deployment cycle.Dan says he can basically give the profes-sional services away FREE, because of thecost advantages he has on the “software-building” side of his business.

That’s one way to do it. Another approachgaining momentum is, of course, a services-based Web delivery model, where the appli-cation is pay-for-play and integration costsare reduced

Either approach seems to have its merits,and both are a long way from being wide-spread, standard or trivial to accomplish.

That’s the reality for CRM. ❚

Andy Moore is a 25-year publishing professional,editor and writer whoconcentrates on business process improvement through document andcontent management.As a publication editor, Moore most recently waseditor-in-chief and co-publisher of KMWorld Magazine.He is now pub-lisher of KMWorld Magazine and its related online publications.

As Editorial Director for the Specialty Publishing Group, Moore acts aschair for the “KMWorld Best Practices White Papers,” the “EMediaInnovation” series and the “EContent Leadership” series, overseeingeditorial content,conducting market research and writing the openingessays for each of the white papers in the series.

Moore has been fortunate enough to cover emerging areas of appliedtechnology for much of his career, ranging from telecom and net-working through to information management.In this role,he has beenpleased to witness first-hand the decade’s most significant businessand organizational revolution: the drive to leverage organizationalknowledge assets (documents, records, information and object repos-itories) to improve performance and improve lives.

Moore is based in Camden, Maine, and can be reached atandymoore@adelphia.net.

“Just as software development

is trending toward a

different model, software

deployment is also changing.”

around those documents, whether synchro-nously or asynchronously; 3. the ability toapply business rules and processes to thosedocuments in order to achieve greater effi-ciency and accuracy; and 4. create triggersand events to those documents that wouldenable decision makers to “wrap documentsaround their decisions...in essence, developbetter knowledge management capabilities.”

So CRM, at least in Andrew’s view, isnot a specific product set that is titled“CRM,” but is instead an “end-to-end cus-tomer relationship management environ-ment. There may be specific parts of thisenvironment that are targeted as a specificCRM solution, but in the long run, CRMwill evolve downstream to become the cul-mination of many technologies workingtogether toward the ultimate goal of greatcustomer relationships. CRM as a stand-alone market will become part of thegreater content management market.”

Disrupting the OrgIf all that is true, then pegging CRM to a

greater “holistic” document managementeffort blurs and, in fact, erases many of theorganizational lines that now define jobresponsibilities, Andrew agrees. “It’s a per-plexing question. In many ways, organiza-tionally speaking, in order to effectively sup-port a customer, EVERYBODY has to be acustomer relationship manager. You can’treally distinguish between a CRM function,and the rest of the organization,” he says.

“Part of the failure of CRM systems canbe attributed to this idea that, somehow, it’sa self-contained system. But it isn’t. It’s anenabler—a way of accessing informationand domain expertise anywhere in theorganization.” Adhering to the dogma thatCRM is a “thing” and not a “process” has, itcan be argued, dug the dreaded “trough ofdisillusionment” (so-called by GartnerGroup), where technologies often languishand die, having overpromised and underde-livered on the key expectations.

Viewing CRM as a “thing” has led tothese inevitable consequences, says Andrew.“Viewing CRM as a standalone technologyhas prevented users from focusing on thekey constituent elements that would enablebetter delivery of information to customersand finding the right content.”

Secondly, the measurement metrics havebeen skewed. Most organizations “measure”customer satisfaction (usually through sur-

veys and whatnot), but few—in the sub-30%-range, in fact—admit they have results thatare providing useful information. “There areno ROI metrics that have been developed toclearly measure the success of their customerservice,” says Andrew. “For instance, the dis-tinction between customer loyalty and cus-tomer satisfaction is easily misunderstood.Many times, customers remain loyal to aproduct only because the cost of switching toa new provider is too high.” That, as Andrewcorrectly points out, might be prudent, but itis not the same as satisfaction.

After reading this, one could get theimpression that pure-play CRM systems areineffective, but nothing could be further fromthe truth. As a first line of defense, CRM hasno equal. “CRM systems are very effectivein initial triage. They can identify a problem,and they can track that problem. They caneliminate some of the repetitive issues,maybe by consulting a database that pro-vides resolutions to common problems,”Andrew explains.

CRM in a B2B Context—The Legal BizCRM takes on a different complexion

when it is applied in a business-to-businesssetting. We asked Andrew if there were anytrends in a more B2B environment that sheda different light on the conversation.

“Yes. Think of the law. The practice of lawis an increasingly global business, and not allfirms are global in reach. So they must specialize in domains of expertise.Increasingly, law firms operate within anextranet, a secure environment where they canexchange information and thus expand theirboundaries. These extranets often encompassother law firms, outside counsel as well asmultiple clients. It is, in some respects, a kindof supply chain,” Andrew explains.

Andrew’s take on it is that the tools youuse to accomplish this professional supply-chain analog are very similar to CRM. Afterall, what is a supply-chain relationshipexcept a customer relationship managementenvironment directed at your business part-ner “customers?”

“The question in this case is: how muchdo you want to protect?” asks Andrew.“What is your core competency?” Law firmsare now operating around specialty areas—one may specialize in bankruptcy, but not lit-igation, and vice versa. It’s in both their bestinterests to pool their resources. “Lawyersare constrained and driven by one thing—time. That’s their commodity. You can onlygenerate so much billable revenue based onthe amount of time you can spend on onecase. So the more you can delegate tasks tooutside and junior counsel, the higher yourproductivity and billings.”

This leads to an entirely new businessmodel for law firms, says Andrew. “This prac-tice of co-opetition is becoming so engrained,

Special Supplement to

CRM—It’s Just Good Business

It would be just TOO easy if CRM—Cus-tomer Relationship Management—could beeasily pigeonholed as a discrete set of toolsand processes that have a clear beginningand ending. But like most business processes,there are few defining boundaries and evenfewer easy answers that would make ourlives, well, easy.

Andrew Pery, Chief Marketing Officer& Senior VP Marketing, is still willing togive it a try. We recently had a freewheel-ing conversation with Andrew on the sub-ject of CRM, and struck upon several keythemes that go some of the way towarddefining the current state of CRM, and therole of applications vendors, knowledgeworkers and decision makers within it.

—Andy Moore, Editorial DirectorKMWorld Specialty Publishing Group

Learning from the CustomerFrom the vendor point of view, a healthy

level of self-awareness is clearly a plus.“Customers don’t buy technology,” saysAndrew, “they buy relationships.” So from apurely business standpoint, selling a “CRMvision” is just good business. “Having aslightly better mousetrap does not differenti-ate you in this market. This market is verypolarized right now. You either have infra-structure capabilities or you’re in the solu-tions business.”

He uses the legal industry—aHummingbird stronghold—as an example.“Lawyers are very conservative about tech-nology. So it’s very important that solutionsproviders such as ourselves pay attention tothem, and understand the way they work.”

So, we wondered, whether CRM couldbe packaged into a shrink-wrapped box,and delivered as a product...or is it some-thing more?

“CRM encompasses multiple technolo-gies. I don’t see CRM as a standalone mar-ket long-term—although today it still is.But ultimately it will be the convergence ofknowledge-supporting technologies, work-ing together, that will support a true cus-tomer relationship management solution.”

Here’s a thumbnail of what the future ofCRM effort looks like, from Andrew’s view-point: 1. A centralized document repositorythat allows organizations to profile and man-age their customer documents, fully integrat-ed with the company’s business systems. 2.the ability for staff and clients of that organi-zation to securely access and collaborate

July/August 2003S4

A conversation with Andrew Pery, Chief Marketing Officer andSenior Vice President, Hummingbird Ltd.

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S5

especially in the UK, that law firms employ anon-billable lawyer for each of their practiceareas, or domains of expertise. The lawyers’only job is to make sure they build sufficientknowledgebases, for example, precedentdatabases, that allow their firms to get valu-able information that strengthens their clients’cases faster and more effectively.”

The beauty part, says Andrew, is there’srevenue attached to this new requirement ofdoing business in the legal realm. “They can

bill for infrastructure, now, and the resourcesnecessary to maintain these knowledgebases.Ultimately they can increase their billings,and they can bill for multiple parties ... notjust the counsel who is assigned to that case.”So there’s an enormous amount of incentiveto create this cultural change.

To make it work, there has to be uni-form access to all the various databases—precedent databases, billing databases, caselaw and work product—in the form of

reusable templates for creating contracts orother documents.

This is where the technology of integrat-ed application suites comes into play. Andthis is where the future of CRM and tech-nology will intersect. ❚

Hummingbird Ltd.is a global enterprise software company employing 1300people in nearly 40 offices around the world. Hummingbird Enterprise™creates a 360° view of content with products that are both modular andinteroperable, including Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Portal, andDocument Management.Please visit:www.hummingbird.com

Aird & Berlis LLP (A&B) is a promi-nent, full-service corporate law firm with alarge, diversified, national and internationalpractice. The Canadian-based firm repre-sents some of the world’s largest corpora-tions as well as a wide array of entrepreneur-ial businesses, associations, governmentagencies and individuals.

Gary Torgis, the firm’s ExecutiveDirector, recognized that A&B’s continuedsuccess was dependent upon the best currenttechnologies available to support its businessstrategies. He turned to Paul Knapp, Directorof Information Technology, who was chargedwith the task of improving the firm’s abilityto deliver cutting-edge service to current andnew clients.

One of Knapp’s key responsibilitieswas to ensure that clients have secureaccess to the documents they need and ifnecessary, access to other applications.“The way in which law firms are providingservice is changing,” said Knapp. “Clientsare starting to expect the accessibility andcollaborative features provided by portalsolutions,” such as Hummingbird Portal.

Planning Spares Headaches “Future collaboration with our clients is

going to continue to evolve in directions thatwe can’t completely identify at the moment,”said Knapp, noting the ability of Hum-mingbird Portal to integrate new applicationsand allow for enhanced functionality infuture. “You certainly don’t want to spend asignificant amount of money and find out ayear down the road your portal can’t handlenew software that’s critical for your organi-zation to remain competitive,” he said.

Before the portal was implemented, A&Blawyers and administrative staff collaboratedwith clients primarily through email. Thismethod of communication limited the size offiles that could be exchanged and raised secu-rity concerns. “One of our criteria whendeciding on a portal solution was airtightsecurity,” said Knapp.

The ability to use predefined or custom-made e-Clip plug-ins to extend the portalwas also a key consideration. E-Clip plug-ins

are Hummingbird Portal components thatintegrate dynamic information such as e-mail inboxes or sales reports, as well as inter-active services such as threaded conversa-tion, online procurement, an employee direc-tory or data from enterprise applications andbusiness systems into the centralized web-based workspace of the portal.

A&B is working closely withHummingbird partner AMH Communi-cations, a consulting firm specializing in por-tal, document management and knowledgemanagement solutions for the legal vertical,to develop new customized e-Clip plug-ins.

New Control Over DocumentsImplementing the portal has allowed the

firm to give its clients more power over docu-ments that are used in their legal matters. Forexample, clients supply A&B with templatesfor legal documents that require updating on aregular basis. In the past these templates weree-mailed to a clerk at A&B who copied themonline to be updated. Now, customers cancome through the portal using a custom e-Clip,designed by AMH Communications, to direct-ly edit and update their own templates. “Theyhave the security to replace any template, put-ting the control along with tight security rightinto the client’s hands,” said Knapp. “We’redefinitely meeting with positive commentsfrom our clients. There is no more confusionas to which template is the latest and did thecorrect one get updated. This uncertainty wascause for significant time to double-check toensure accuracy in the documents that is sim-ply no longer an issue. Our clerks know thatthey are working with the latest versions whenthey pull it out of the portal.”

The firm has also integrated its pre-exist-ing Hummingbird document managementsystem into Hummingbird Portal. Employeeswho need to access the firm’s documentsfrom remote locations go through the portal,accessing a Hummingbird DM e-Clip. Thisapproach eliminates the need to installHummingbird DM on each computer, savingmoney and IT resources. The firm is current-ly in the process of placing all of its docu-ments into a centralized library that can be

accessed from any location by authorizedusers. This technology allows lawyers, staffand clients have quick and easy access to alldocuments whether they are in the office oron the road or at their home office.

In the near future A&B is planning toplug in a Microsoft Exchange 2000 e-Clip toallow users access to their e-mail from thesame interface they use to access their doc-uments. In addition, A&B plans to integrateCitrix into Hummingbird Portal to provideremote access to specific desktop applica-tions. It would be most effective to haveremote access to custom litigation softwarefrom a laptop in the courtroom rather thanbringing boxes and boxes of evidence, opin-ions and testimony into the courtroom.

Coupled with a strong search engine, thistechnology would allow the attorney toquickly call up relevant documents and printthem out in the courtroom as required duringthe course of litigation.

Knapp has a message to other firms aboutto make such a decision. “Get off the fence.Firms that are not moving forward with soft-ware tools (like Hummingbird Portal) arequickly going to discover that they cannotremain competitive in the current and futuremarketplace.” ❚

Legal Firm Looks to the Future of Collaboration with Clients

Industry: Legal Organization: Aird & Berlis LLPThe Challenge:To implement a portal solution that would providea secure platform for sharing documents and col-laborating with clientsHummingbird Solutions:Portal, Document ManagementKey Benefits:◆ High level of security;◆ Better client relationships through collaborative

capabilities;◆ Reduced application integration costs Future Plans:Future Plans:◆ Further enhancements of client/firm collabora-

tive environment;◆ Transfer of all the firm’s documents to the

document management system;◆ Integration of litigation software and reference

resources into the portal;◆ In-house development of e-Clip plug-ins to inte-

grate new software applications; and◆ Customization of the portal’s interface to a “look

and feel” unique to Aird & Berlis LLP.

els of an organization to effectively collabo-rate and communicate on specific customerissues. While corporations are doing anincreasingly effective job at transitioningsales and marketing processes to the Internet,there has been little effort to create an under-standing of how peoples’ roles in the processaffect others as well as impact the long-termstrategy of the company.

In this current economic environment,improved service and support represent thegreatest opportunity to enhance revenue atreduced costs. Every customer contact repre-sents a potential opportunity to driveincreased profits. Especially for profit-mind-ed sales, marketing and customer-serviceorganizations, today’s goal should be tomaximize the value created per each andevery customer interaction. An integratedand focused approach to increasing thevalue-per-contact can deliver significant rev-enue results in short timeframes.

Customer Lifecycle ManagementThe business problem is not going unno-

ticed by leading industry analysts. Accordingto IDC Research, businesses will spend over$76 billion on e-customer service by 2005.The Gartner Group expects 70% of all callcenters to have Internet integration by 2007and Jupiter Media Metrix expects 67 millionpeople to use chat for service in 2005.Considering that the vast majority of today’sbusiness relationships are generally conduct-ed via Web-driven interactions, the lack ofoversight and inability to manage multi-channel interactions creates the potential forgaps in tracking all interactions with cus-

tomers and prospects. Customer LifecycleManagement (CLM) solutions represent thegreatest opportunity for organizations to sig-nificantly improve the visibility, accuracyand efficiency of customer relationships.

CLM solutions offer a compelling alter-native to traditional sales and service pointsolutions. By integrating the power of e-mailmarketing, chat, real-time collaboration andtelephony applications with comprehensiveanalytics and a fully integrated system-wideknowledgebase, organizations can captureall customer interactions. This enables theup-selling and cross-selling of new and exist-ing customers in a cost-efficient manner, sig-nificantly impacting bottom line profitabili-ty. Ultimately, a 360-degree view of all cus-tomer communications—regardless of chan-nel—results in improved business perform-ance through customer loyalty and increasesprofits via business processes that are wellaligned with customer strategies.

CLM solutions provide robust function-ality that addresses all aspects of the cus-tomer experience, including acquisition,interactions, retention and analysis.

Customer AcquisitionSell more, faster. Sounds simple. But

how do you identify, target and acquire cus-tomers while collapsing the sales cycle?Talisma’s approach is to enable sales andmarketing organizations to identify, captureand maintain pertinent information aboutindividual prospects, customers and corpo-rate accounts. Multi-channel support acrosse-mail, phone, chat, Web self-service, fax,Web-conferencing, traditional mail and Webforms allows enterprises to open new chan-nels of communication with their customers.The result is consistency in messages acrossall media channels.

Special Supplement to

Customer LifecycleManagementFinding Value from Visibility into Your Customers

In a daily ritual known to thousands of salesand service professionals in a wide range ofindustries, corporations lock themselves intoa time warp by using traditional solutions inthe hope of providing superior customercommunications while facing a tidal wave ofrequests. Corporate America’s lack of visi-bility into customer information makes it vir-tually impossible to improve service and en-hance customer relationships. The result isorganizational inefficiencies and poor cus-tomer service that materially impacts busi-nesses each year, anchoring them in the pres-ent. The lack of solutions that integrate pre-and post-sales customer interactions—Webself service, e-mail, chat, telephony integra-tion and knowledge management—for cross-channel support services makes achieving asingle 360-degree view of the customer vir-tually impossible.

The customer communications ritual formost participants is not a pretty sight. Theparticipants—sales executives, telephoneservice representatives, technical supportspecialists, marketing organizations, financestaffs, department heads and virtually every-one with customer-facing responsibility—agree that there ought to be a better way ofdoing things, but there aren’t many clear-cutoptions. They also agree that offering cus-tomers easier and better communicationchannels is absolutely essential as it is theone universal mechanism for customerretention and long-term profitability. Therehas to be a better way.

For many organizations the enormity ofthe task is overwhelming. A persistent prob-lem many organizations wrestle with everyday is the inability to enable people at all lev-

July/August 2003S6

Dan Vetras brings morethan 21 years ofexperience intechnology, salesmanagement andbusiness developmentto Talisma where heoversees day-to-dayglobal operations andstrategy.

Prior to Talisma, Danwas President and CEO at Captura Software through itsmerger with Concur Technologies, where he wasresponsible for company strategy and operations.Before Captura, he was Vice President, sales atIntranets.com.and served as IBM’s VP of worldwideconsumer software sales upon its acquisition of EdmarkCorporation. He also spent more than seven years insales management and business development at LotusDevelopment Corporation.

Dan Vetras

By Dan Vetras, President & CEO, Talisma Corporation

"The customer communications ritual for most

participants is not a pretty sight."

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S7

Effective CLM systems provide targetedlead capture, contact and account manage-ment, customer profiling, product registra-tion, sales forecasting and “return” authori-zation. Performance and forecasting analyt-ics provide actionable analysis on customerprofitability, key performance indicators andrevenue opportunities.

Together, these features help turnprospects and customers into repeat buyersaccelerating enterprise growth and prof-itability.

Customer InteractionToday, customers and prospects “elect”

their preferred method of communication.Some prefer traditional telephony-basedinteractions while others prefer Web-basedinteractions and self-service. To remain com-petitive in today’s market organizations needto deliver flexible interactions to drive state-of-the-art customer communications.

In Talisma’s case, interaction modulespresent an integrated, single-view of cus-tomer information and other relevant knowl-edge. Queuing, routing and workflow poli-cies support optimum customer interactionsand allow for personal and tailored commu-nications. No matter which method of inter-action the customer chooses, CLM systemsshould support highly interactive traditionalphone conversations to expanded multime-dia contact via the Web.

Customer RetentionIt’s no secret it’s easier to sell an existing

customer than find a new one, but it’s alsoMUCH less expensive. Studies indicate it canbe 3-5 times more expensive for a new cus-tomer acquisition than selling to an existingcustomer. Traditional service offerings simplycannot scale to meet this challenge, neither inpersonnel nor costs. CLM systems help com-panies transition their traditional customerservice into a strategic advantage for theirorganization with integrated multi-channelcommunications that reduce the overall costsof delivering superior service. Talisma, forinstance, enables call centers, help desks andother support organizations to continuallycapture information from employees and cus-tomers and author, refine, share and useknowledge solutions as a natural part of theservice and support workflow to provide rich,consistent and relevant customer response. Asknowledge solutions are added to the knowl-edgebase, they become immediately availablefor shared-use across multiple channels,including phone, e-mail, chat and Web self-service throughout the enterprise and withcustomers and partners.

Today the value of effective knowledgecapture and reuse is rapidly being viewed asa competitive advantage. Gartner, Inc. statesknowledge management will be a key com-ponent of successful CRM, with more than

two-thirds of all CRM projects incorporat-ing advanced KM practices by 2005.Gartner also states that many service, salesand marketing processes clearly rely onknowledge resources including:◆ Knowledge about customer behavior and

knowledge of customers regarding prod-uct use or service quality;

◆ Employee knowledge, such as sales prac-tices and client-care insight;

◆ Knowledge-based market intelligenceand analytics, such as customer behaviorand personal preferences;

◆ Business partner knowledge, such as thecomplementary services and products ofinterest to customers;

◆ Knowledge of and about businessprocesses—how and why processes aredesigned and interact;

◆ Knowledge of contracts or partner agree-ments;

◆ Skills and competencies of employees; and ◆ Wants, needs and aspirations of employees

Source: Gartner, Inc.

The results of deploying knowledgesolutions exceed productivity and qualitygoals of contact centers, help desks andWeb self-service environments. With effec-tive knowledge management companies canincrease employee productivity, reducecosts and increase customer satisfaction andretention across traditional and electronicinteraction channels.

Customer AnalysisEffective analysis of customer data

should propel organizations to make faster,more informed business decisions.

Business intelligence capabilities enableorganizations to monitor, report and interac-tively analyze their business operations. Forexample, companies can monitor agent pro-ductivity, analyze potential customer up-sell

candidates, track current and historic servicelevels and interactively analyze trends onvarious business metrics such as First TimeResolution (FTR) rates.

Talisma’s CLM also helps companiesdevelop best practices for tracking and ana-lyzing customer and support center key per-formance indicators. This allows companiesto identify emerging trends and react quicklyto changing business conditions.

Organizations should invest more time incause and effect analysis and reduce timespent managing data. Well-designed CLMsystems allow them to schedule reports torun automatically as either one-time-only orperiodic actions. Companies can easilyschedule reports for distribution, save reportsin multiple formats (including MicrosoftExcel spreadsheets or HTML pages) andmonitor status of current reports. The busi-ness impact is real: service-wide analysis andreporting optimizes the responsiveness ofyour sales and marketing teams.

Optimize Revenue and Customer Value

The increasing sophistication of today’scustomer management challenges is reflect-ed in companies of all sizes, from small com-panies that use a simple commodity spread-sheet program to global giants that deployhuge dedicated resources. Many corpora-tions are stifled by the sheer magnitude andcomplexity of the challenge, as today’s pointsolutions do not easily integrated into a sin-gle view of the customer.

Yet customers are increasingly demand-ing—they expect fast, personalized andaccurate answers to their product purchasingand service-related questions, whetherthey’re leveraging a Web site to send e-mail,execute self-service queries or are directlycommunicating with a service agent throughchat, collaboration or via the phone.Successful companies understand thattoday’s customers have multiple interactionchoices. They are responding with next gen-eration Customer Lifecycle Management(CLM) solutions to better serve pre-sales andpost-sales customers. ❚

Talisma is a leading provider of Web-driven solutions that integrate thepower of sales and e-marketing,e-mail,chat,real-time collaboration andtelephony applications with a mature, robust multi-channel interactionmanagement platform, comprehensive analytics and a fully integratedsystem-wide knowledgebase and customer database. Our customersenjoy a 360-degree view of all customer communications—regardlessof channel—within an easy-to-use and configurable interface. Theresults are improved business performance through lowering the overallcosts of service delivery while increasing customer satisfaction andretention.To learn more,go to www.talisma.com.

"How do you

identify, target and

acquire customers

while collapsing the

sales cycle?"

interested in Microsoft CRM to managetheir venture capital and philanthropyfundraising programs, but did not have theexpertise to install, maintain and supportthe application on a daily basis.

“With employees located across thecountry, we needed a centralized systemthat could capture all of our fundraisingactivity,” said Mark Winstein, Eco-structure’s CEO. “Surebridge was able toprovide us with all the functionality ofMicrosoft CRM and helped us bypassthe hassle of deployment and manage-ment. As a result, we were able to imme-diately implement the technology tobenefit our effort.”

◆ Gaining a competitive edge in the market-place was a key reason why iQ NetSolu-tions, a provider of enterprise telephonyproducts, needed a CRM solution. Criticalfeatures included a solution that integratedwith Outlook to increase sales personadoption and integrated with their back-of-fice system.

◆ Ingenious Designs, a wholly owned NewYork subsidiary of the electronic retailerHSN, needed a CRM solution for its cus-

tomer service call center team to enhancecustomer service response time and bolsterbottom line results. They were working withMicrosoft CRM reseller AKA EnterpriseSolutions to find a solution that would eas-ily track and manage their customer base, aswell as integrate with their new Great Plainsback-office system. They chose CRM On-line by Surebridge.

“Ingenious Designs required expertiseto get up and running immediately,”said Alan Kahn, managing partner andco-CEO, AKA Enterprise Solutions.“Within two days of signing the deal,Ingenious Designs was reaping the ben-efits of the CRM solution.” ❚

Surebridge,Inc.is the leading application outsourcer for mid-market com-panies. It delivers brand name application choice, such as MicrosoftBusiness Solutions, and affordable strategy, implementation and out-sourcing services.Visit us at www.surebridge.com or call 877.SURE.ASP.

Special Supplement to

Using CRM Tools forSuccess in the Mid-Market

More than ever, today’s companies areseeking ways to reduce the cost of going tomarket and to obtain a better understandingof their customer base to decrease customerchurn and maximize customer profitability.Middle market businesses have not alwaysenjoyed the same CRM solution benefitsavailable to the Fortune 500—the costs ofdeployment, hardware/software and sys-tems management have typically beendaunting.

Today, there’s an alternative. WithCRM Online by Surebridge, mid-sizedbusinesses can now get instant access to Microsoft Customer RelationshipManagement and leverage its fullest potential from any web connection andMicrosoft Outlook, but for a fraction of thecost of deploying and managing the tech-nology themselves.

CRM Online: An Affordable, Fast,Easy Option

Surebridge, a Microsoft Gold Certifiedapplication-hosting partner, is the firstapplication outsourcer offering MicrosoftCRM in a hosted environment. Customerscan now economically realize the benefitsof CRM—increased sales success, superi-or customer service and the ability to makeinformed, agile business decisions. WithSurebridge handling the deployment anddaily management of the technology, cus-tomers can focus on the business processesof their CRM solution. They can also beginto see benefits from their solution the sameday they sign up for the online service,enabling them to realize a faster return ontheir CRM investment.

CRM Online integrates with MicrosoftOffice, Microsoft Business Solutions, andthird-party applications. Additionally, as acompany’s business needs change, newusers can be easily added.

Examples: Solving Mid-Market CRM Challenges

◆ Ecostructure, a blended for-profit and non-profit corporation that works to resolve theEarth’s ecological challenges, was already

July/August 2003S8

Peter J. Boni brings 20

years’ experience as a

high technology CEO to

his role as Chairman &

CEO of Surebridge. He

has gained recognition

for both building

growth businesses and

renewing troubled

ones to restored

growth and

profitability. Under his leadership, Surebridge has

grown, turned profitable, acquired several firms and

earned praise from industry influencers as the most

successful firm of its kind in its field.

Peter J. Boni

By Peter J. Boni, Chairman & CEO, Surebridge, Inc.

A Feature/Benefit PropositionCRM Online by Surebridge helps customers access the benefits of Microsoft CRM,

alleviating the complexities of deployment and the ongoing management of the solution:

Features◆ Same day availability

◆ Turnkey technology management

◆ Secure management

◆ Surebridge Data Center tech support/mgt.

◆ Built on Microsoft platform

◆ Integrated

◆ Third party ISVs

◆ Customizable

◆ Low, predictable monthly fee

◆ Faster time to benefit

◆ Focus on CRM business processes

◆ Reliable access, anywhere

◆ Unburden internal IT resources

◆ Leverage Microsoft ecosystem

◆ Back Office, Exchange

◆ Enterprise solution

◆ Configured for your business

◆ Reduced total cost of ownership

Benefits

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S9

control problems. For example, if there wasa flood of calls and emails complainingabout a product, management can be quick-ly and automatically alerted to the problem.Audentify “listens” to incoming calls andsuggests information that could solve a prob-lem in real time. It also enables cross-selling

opportunities by profiling customers. Andwhen agents are under-performing, they canautomatically be sent e-learning materials.

Audentify’s product suite encompassesthe following areas:

◆ Record—Software-based 100% or sched-uled voice recording, screen and keyboardlogging;

◆ Analyze—Comprehensive analytical toolscapturing all relevant call statistics includingthe automatic identification of problem calls,agent performance monitoring and agent ac-tivity classification. All analytical data is eas-ily integrated in major CRM systems;

◆ Assist—Automated agent assistance basedon call content understanding through ad-vanced voice recognition capabilities; and

◆ Voice—The automated understanding of allvoice contact, allowing real-time analysis ofcustomer query trends and the conceptualanalysis of archived calls. ❚

To find out how Audentify can help you, contact us on1.877.692.8866, email understand@audentify.com, or visit the website at www.audentify.com.

Bringing Understanding tothe Call Center ThroughData Management andVoice Recognition

Success in the call center market dependson getting the right information to customerservice staffers faster, so that they may pro-vide quicker, more efficient service. Chal-lenges arise as the number of customers andincoming calls increase and there is an over-whelming volume of corresponding data.The result is an inefficient lag time in re-sponding to customer queries becauseagents are sorting through too much data.Call centers have addressed this problem byattempting to increase their staff accord-ingly—a solution that creates managementdifficulties and high administrative costs.

Another challenge facing businessesand their call center is that the call center isworking separately from other parts of theorganization, and management is not alert-ed to the business intelligence being gath-ered directly from customer inquiries orcomplaints. Such customer feedback isvital to product development and is criticalin ensuring that management makes themost well informed decisions.

Recognizing the ProblemAudentify, a division of Autonomy,

addresses these problems with call centersoftware that actually understands the con-tent and context of telephone conversationsas well as other customer interactions, suchas email. Audentify enables call centers toreduce handling times, increase the qualityof customer interactions, monitor individ-ual agent performance, analyze call han-dling trends within the center and enable allcalls and interactions to be recorded andmade instantly searchable.

Using intelligent data management capa-bilities and high-precision voice recognition,Audentify monitors and records calls oremails between agents and customers andautomatically delivers advanced agent assis-tance and analytics, while also immediatelyidentifying any potential service or quality

By Autonomy

Mercur Assistance AG Holding, aprovider of 24-hour emergency help andadvice in the areas of health, mobility and property, had identified that a largeamount of valuable information wasspread across the organization in numer-ous different repositories. Mercur agentshad access to more than 100 differentinformation sources, but since they wereall stored in different locations they couldnot be searched simultaneously. Valuabletime was being wasted as agents struggledto find the information that they needed todeal successfully with a customer query.Furthermore, in the case that an agentcould not respond fully to a customer’sinitial question, even more time was lostattempting to make follow-up calls.

First Point of ContactMercur chose to employ Audentify’s

technology within its internal MedicalPortal. The infrastructure software layersits above the sea of enterprise informationand automatically aggregates this informa-tion regardless of its format or location. Theinformation is then automatically catego-rized, hyper-linked and delivered to agentson their desktop as they work, giving themimmediate and simultaneous access tomore than 150 internal and external vali-dated information sources. Agents are nowable to respond to a customer query at the

first point of contact, removing the need toschedule callbacks and enabling higherquality information to be relayed to the cus-tomer. In addition, the software’s ability toautomatically profile employees bothimplicitly and explicitly ensures that theinformation delivered is personalized to theneeds of a particular individual. Employeesare no longer deluged with an overwhelm-ing amount of irrelevant information.Lastly, the technology’s collaboration capa-bilities enable Mercur to identify expertsand define virtual communities within theorganization, avoiding duplication of effortand decreasing the burden on the agent.

The Result: Better Service

The end result is a significant ROI forMercur Assistance. The time employeesspend searching has been reduced by 75%.Agents are able to respond fully to a cus-tomer issue or question, providing accurate,up-to-the-minute information during thefirst call. Because they are being deliveredthe most pertinent and up-to-date informa-tion available, agents can be confident thatthey are relaying reliable and accurate datato their customers. Ultimately, these bene-fits have resulted in the average call han-dling time being reduced by 35%—dramat-ically enhancing the quality of Mercur’scustomer service.

Audentify in Action: Mercur Assistance

Compressing the Cash Conversion Cycle

Converting goods and services into cashis a fundamental business concept. Investcash in a business to build a product or serv-ice, sell the product, invoice the customerand collect the money with a profit.

In downturns the cycle slows, whichresults in fewer cycles and resources.

Therefore, companies must find ways to:

◆ Develop new products, services, or ex-pand sales resources;

◆ Reduce the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS);◆ Sell more products and services and pro-

tect existing margins; and◆ Reduce the number of Days Sales Out-

standing (DSO)

In theory, this sounds basic. In realityhowever, executives must also supportpartners, distributors and employees; main-tain sell-through in multiple channels withmultiple requirements; accurately predictmarket direction; and maintain a competi-tive advantage. And to balance all of theseimperatives, managers have to deal withprocesses that run on a frightening array oftools and infrastructure.

Now the enormous challenge of com-pressing the cash conversion cycle becomesapparent. A typical Fortune 500 companyhas thousands of product and services vari-ations moving through diverse channels.Each product or service originates in engi-neering, manufacturing, marketing orunderwriting and eventually must beprocessed through this complexity before itcan be converted to revenue.

Every process delay, error, brokenprocess, added cost and productivity obstaclesignificantly affects the cash conversioncycle—slowing it, stopping it, or worse,siphoning off cash that could have been rev-enue into customer concessions and write-offs. In a large enterprise, these issues result incash leaking like the proverbial sieve.

Getting to the Root of the IssuesDepending on the stage of the cash con-

version cycle, different issues can blockprogress.

New Product and Services IntroductionsMarket dynamics drive product and

financial changes, demanding that theorganization be flexible enough to translateopportunities into deliverables. Yet, the

Special Supplement to

Improving FundamentalProcesses for ProfitabilityAccelerate conversion cycles and re-channel revenue toward

corporate goals

If only getting “back to basics” was. . . well,basic. The fact is that each business basicconsists of a complex web of people, processand information interactions, and changingthese systems, confirmed habits and en-trenched processes is a task that’s anythingbut basic.

Profitability issues are not new. What isnew are the efforts underway in many busi-nesses to turn difficult business processesthat represent cash and resource sinkholesinto competitive advantages. No matter theenterprise or industry, customers are attack-ing—and changing—root causes of difficultbusiness problems. And in doing so,Selectica helps enable executives to invest inprojects that accelerate cash conversion,reduce costs and significantly improve prof-itability.

July/August 2003S10

Kamal Ahluwalia isvice president ofbusiness developmentfor San Jose-basedSelectica Inc. In hisbusiness developmentrole, Ahluwalia, 35, is akey architect behindSelectica’s strategy ofworking with partnersto target Fortune 1000eBusinessopportunities across a

wide range of industries.

Ahluwalia graduated from the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Roorkee in India with a degree in computerscience. He subsequently earned a master’s degree incomputer science from Utah State University.

Following a three-year stint as an engineer withMetaphor Computer Systems, Ahluwalia joined AppleComputer. He later joined Oracle Corp. to manage theirwireless product line before starting his own strategicconsulting firm.The company, called Content Switches,developed eBusiness strategies for Fortune 500companies and was acquired by Selectica in 1999.

Kamal Ahluwalia

By Kamal Ahluwalia, Vice President, Business Development, Selectica

Compressing the cash conversion cycle to as little time as possible results in more cycles and more resources to re-invest.

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S11

multiple technologies intended to improvea company’s competitive advantage are dif-ficult to synchronize. Separate engineering(PDM), manufacturing (ERP), marketing(spreadsheets, pricing applications) andfinance (general ledger, accounting, analy-sis applications) systems with multiple datafeeds can deliver a wealth of data—none ofit easily integrated for sales purposes.Frequently, data changing in one systemaffects data in others, yet the changes arenot reflected in dependent transactions.This requires longer lead times for newproducts, leads to pricing errors, and canaffect sales training and sales tool quality.

Reducing Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)Complex product, service and pricing

interactions among disparate legacy sys-tems, coupled with inefficient sales process-es, increase the COGS.

Complexity also leads to configuration,pricing and order errors. For example, it’scommon to see a product offering thatincludes a configuration tool for compo-nents within the solution, but can’t avoidconflicts or compatibility issues with com-ponents from other divisions.

Another problem occurs when the infor-mation that a customer receives in a propos-al is different than the information formatrequired by manufacturing to fulfill thatorder. Similarly, engineering specificationsare different. At each stage, there is a signif-icant difference in the level of detail, termi-nology and format. This not only delaysrevenue, it creates costly re-work, customerconcessions, and damaged customer satis-faction. Selectica’s experience shows that inlarge enterprises with complex offerings,order error rates typically range between

24% and 40%—with commensuraterework, extra personnel and concessioncosts. And when the enterprise sells throughmultiple distribution channels, the problemsgeometrically increase.

Selling More and Protecting MarginsWhen sales teams must spend a signifi-

cant amount of time fixing order errors,providing customer support and protecting

customer relationships from deterioration,they can’t be out generating new business.

When they are in front of a customer, thesystems in place often do not enable them toquickly and accurately configure, price andpresent solutions in a single quote. Theymust learn and use multiple tools to produceone result and often miss incremental oppor-tunities for cross-selling, up-selling andrenewing support services commitments.

Large enterprise resource planning (ERP)systems are frequently not helpful here

because they aren’t able to consolidate andsynchronize the back-end system data thatleads to errors in the first place. Even a smallimprovement in cross-selling and up-sellingperformance can significantly increase rev-enue for large corporations with extensiveproduct lines.

With insufficient—or incomplete—data,managers must make educated estimatesabout pricing and apply these estimatesacross channels and customers. As a result,it becomes difficult to monitor profitabilityby customer or maximize profitability oneach sale—and almost impossible to reactquickly to protect profitability when com-petitors attack market share.

Reducing Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)The longer it takes to correctly config-

ure, price, and deliver the customer’s order,the longer it takes to realize the associatedrevenue. Usually long DSOs aren’t the resultof simple collection delays. They are theresult of broken processes further back inthe cash conversion cycle—an inability toaccurately assess risk and having to spendtime fixing incorrect orders.

Solutions for Improving Profitability

Selectica develops, markets and imple-ments web-based configuration, pricingand quoting solutions that enable largeenterprises to accurately configure andquote complex product, service and financ-ing offerings. These solutions are deployedin many of the world’s largest companieswhere they significantly reduce costs,enhance revenue and improve profitability.A rundown of the key benefits:

Streamline, Synchronize and Transform CriticalInformation

Relevant data from engineering, manu-facturing, and marketing systems is unifiedinto the Selectica application platform anddynamically updated. Patented modelingtechnology accurately configures, prices,quotes, or rates offerings. As a result, allchannels (self-service, CSR, direct sales,partners, international) have the most currentdata from all back-end systems (ERP, PDM,analytical, reporting, data repository) in asingle web-based interface that is easily usedto launch, price, quote and profitably sell allproducts and services (hardware, software,professional services, financing).

Enterprises leverage their own knowl-edge repository that captures all the rulesand constraints exercised in building,bundling, pricing and selling complex prod-ucts and services. The right information isalways available in the right context to anyperson in the organization that needs it.

Each phase of the cash conversion cycle has its unique challenges.

“No matter the

enterprise or industry,

customers are attacking—

and changing—root

causes of difficult

business problems.”

Integrate with Current Systems and Processes.Companies can retain their existing

sales and service processes while converg-ing configuration, pricing and quotingfunctions in a single application platform,without costly reengineering.

Automate Complex ProcessesThe processes and calculations required

in configuring, pricing, quoting, and compar-ing alternative products and services are auto-mated and many are automatically validated.

Accelerate Product Launches and Time to MarketStandardizing on an enterprise-wide

configuration and quoting platform hasprovided real results including:

◆ Reduced product introduction times fromfour to six weeks to one to three days;

◆ Reduced maintenance time (small prod-uct, bundling, entitlement) changes to lessthan two hours;

◆ Enabled ordering and pricing changes tobe deployed worldwide within an hour;

◆ Enabled customers to easily select andconfigure products online; and

◆ Enabled 100% on-time launch of newproducts.

Reducing COGSReducing COGS depends on improving

many small steps in several key processes,among them order configuration and quot-ing. Selectica customers have achieved greatsuccess in these areas:

◆ Reduced transaction costs by 75%;◆ Deployed an online channel for a highly

configurable product line and eliminatedthe manual order review process, freeingstaff for more productive tasks;

◆ Reduced quoting time for complex prod-ucts from one day to five minutes;

◆ Improved quote-to-close ratio from 5:1 toalmost 1:1;

◆ Reduced manual configuration costs by86%;

◆ Increased order-taking speed by 60%;◆ Reduced pricing configuration time by

95%; and◆ Reduced support calls to call center by 10%.

Expanding Sales OpportunitiesGenerating new customers is only one

way to improve sales. Equally effective(and less costly) ways include cross-sellingcomplementary product lines, combiningservices contracts with products, upgradinginstalled base customers and reducing dis-tribution channel costs. Many customershave achieved one—or more—of theseresults:

◆ Extended cross-selling capabilities across10 different product families;

◆ Doubled the average dollar amount perorder;

◆ Increased online sales every quarter;◆ Increased online sales from 1% to 10%

and quadrupled revenue from one prod-uct line;

◆ Improved business policy enforcementthat results in always pricing orders cor-rectly, protecting margins, and ensuringthat no deal is sold at a loss; and

◆ Improved top-line revenue on $2.5B busi-ness unit.

Reducing DSOSometimes, accelerating cash conver-

sion and improving profitability dependson things a company doesn’t do, instead ofthe things it does. Reducing risk exposure,eliminating waste, and not writing offinventory are all examples of this principle.Selectica customers have experienced hugegains in these areas:

◆ Eliminated non-buildable orders to sig-nificantly impact revenues of over $20billion

◆ Gained an ability to reject orders fromcustomers who have been placed on creditwatch—before costly work is done;

◆ Reduced DSO to 25 days.

Selectica’s customers have changed theway they run their businesses into a morecost-effective, efficient and progressive wayof doing business. They have taken their newefficiencies and genuinely turned them intoa competitive advantage. In every case, sincethe effort has gone towards the start of theCash Conversion Cycle, there isn’t thatmuch work to be done to reap the rewards atthe end of the cycle.❚

The first step in re-vitalizing business is to be able to more efficiently con-vert products and services into cash—and then back into expandedofferings and sales opportunities.Selectica enables world-leading com-panies to successfully improve their fundamentals, accelerate their cashconversion cycles, and re-channel revenue toward corporate goals. Formore information about how Selectica can help your organization, visitwww.selectica.com and contact a Selectica representative.

For more information, please contact:Kamal Ahluwalia,Vice President,Business Development,408.545.2469 orLaurie Spoon, Vice President, Corporate Communications and InvestorRelations, 408.545.2492

Special Supplement to July/August 2003S12

“Every process delay, error, broken

process, added cost and productivity

obstacle significantly affects

the cash conversion cycle.”

“Standardizing on an enterprise-wide

configuration and quoting platform

has provided real results.”

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S13

Create Value through E-Mail MarketingE-mail marketing is experiencing dra-

matic growth as marketers in virtuallyevery industry begin to take advantage ofthis powerful technique that helps reducemarketing costs by enabling more efficientcommunication with customers andprospects. Response rates for e-mail mar-keting are substantially higher than tradi-tional marketing techniques because thereis much greater opportunity to target mes-sages to the interests of the recipient. E-mail marketing costs are substantiallylower because it eliminates postage, print-ing and other costs associated with tradi-tional direct mail marketing.

Taking advantage of e-mail marketingrequires careful attention to its unique char-acteristics. The ease of reaching out toprospects via e-mail marketing must be bal-anced with compliance to federal regula-tions on spamming. Additionally, it’s impor-tant to select software that will help reach

the right people with the right message,while generating metrics that will facilitatefuture successes.

Effective marketing projects are results-oriented. The ability to analyze the successof a campaign can help you plan for futurecampaigns and prepare for changes in yourorganization’s sales or service activity. ❚

For nearly 20 years, Epicor has supplied small and midsize enterpriseswith everything they need for a successful implementation: qualityproducts, experienced professional services, and excellent support.

Creating a Cohesive CRM Strategy

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)is not a new concept. The cultivation of therelationship between vendor and customerwas present in the earliest sales transactions.With the surge of CRM technologies in recentyears, companies have rediscovered the fis-cal benefits implementing CRM.

Traditionally, CRM solutions are com-prised of functionality for automating cus-tomer support, sales and marketing.However, there are other elements thatshould be incorporated in order to achieve atruly comprehensive CRM strategy.

Self-service and e-mail marketing arevaluable functions of CRM that are oftenoverlooked by vendors and customers alike.The cost-savings afforded by self-service,coupled with its customer-pleasing conven-ience make a highly beneficial addendum totraditional CRM. And e-mail marketing low-ers the cost of communicating with bothpotential and existing customers.

A Complete CRM Solution

Implementing a truly comprehensiveCRM solution that incorporates Web self-service and e-mail marketing, in addition tothe traditional functions for sales, customerservice and marketing, can help maintainand grow customer relationships while pro-ducing a cost savings that directly impactsthe bottom line.

Amplify Customer Satisfaction with Self-ServiceIn the face of demands to cut costs,

while maintaining high levels of customersatisfaction, Web self-service technologiesare working their way into today’s enter-prises. The potential for cost savings andincreased employee efficiency make Webself-service an attractive option to consider.Yet, as the enterprise evolves, self-service isdestined to become more of a necessity thanan option. Clients crave 24x7 access toaccount information and value the conven-ience of being able to locate information ontheir own. As more customers turn to theWeb to conduct business, Web self-servicewill become a critical component of com-petitive customer service strategy.

Gregory Horton issenior marketingdirector for TheClientele Group ofEpicor SoftwareCorporation.TheClientele Groupdevelops and marketsCRM solutions used bymore than 3,000companies worldwide.In 2002, Epicorannounced its adoptionof the Microsoft .NET

Framework, and was one of the first companies todeliver a CRM solution architected from ground up on.NET. Since the release of Clientele Customer Support,Epicor has released two additional .NET-basedsolutions: Clientele Self-Service Portal and ClienteleeMarketing.With more than 17 years of productmarketing and software engineering experience,Horton oversees all aspects of product marketing,marketing communications and demand generationfor Clientele.

Gregory Horton

By Greg Horton, Epicor Software Corporation

Epicor SolutionsSelf-Service

Clientele Self-Service Portal from Epicor helpsmeet the demands of today’s customers by provid-ing access to information and answers to theirquestions at their convenience. The AnswerBookfeature, an online store of answers to customers'questions you anticipate they will ask or have askedbefore, allows customers to help themselves toinformation anytime, anywhere. Whether searchingthe Web-enabled AnswerBook for a solution,adding a request for assistance, viewing the statusof open requests, or checking up on request details,customers remain well-informed at all times. Toread more on self-service, visit clientele.epicor.comand and download, “If You Teach a Customer toFish: The Power of Web Self-Service.”

E-Mail MarketingClientele eMarketing delivers a flexible

environment for tracking and measuring cam-

paign results. It provides immediate feedback,

allowing you to track campaign activity as

soon as the campaign is launched. Clientele

eMarketing gives you the power to track cus-

tomer behaviors such as when they opened the

e-mail, how many times they viewed it and

whether they logged in to the corresponding

Web microsite. To read more on e-mail mar-

keting, visit clientele.epicor.com and download

“Boost Profits and Customer Relations with

Effective E-Mail Marketing.”

Clientele eMarketing and Clientele Self-

Service are available as integrated supplements

to the Clientele CRM suite of solutions, creating

maximum efficiency in your customer-facing

operations. Clientele allows businesses to bet-

ter communicate, track and build relationships

with customers.

ing intranets and portals, practical method-ologies for design, content managementsolutions software, ROI and the business ofcontent collaboration. The conference pro-gram is designed to take intranet profession-als and managers to the next level, helpingindividuals and companies create newintranet strategies and methodologies, devel-op best practices and collaborative contentstrategies, integrate intranet and portal tech-nologies in business processes and applytried-and-true tips and techniques from topworking industry experts.

The largest international gathering ofintranet professionals, Intranets 2003 is thepremier learning venue for Intranet profes-sionals from around the world.

A Focused “Mega-Event”Before last year, and the co-location of

KMWorld and Intranets, knowledge manage-ment, intranet and portal professionals need-ed to attend multiple shows to learn aboutproducts and services in the field. Now theycan fulfill all of their needs at the largest,most comprehensive event in the industry.

A sample of the titles of KMWorld/Intranets attendees provides some indica-tion of the level of education these confer-ences strive for:

CKO • CTO • Content Manager • Director, Portal Solutions Group • CEO • Director, IT Web Development • CIO •Director, Knowledge Management • IntranetProject Manager • Web DevelopmentSpecialist • Executive Intranet Producer •Technical Manager • Software ConfigurationAnalyst • InfoMaster • Information ProgramLeader • Intranet Team Leader • User,Interface Designer • Web Architect •Director Business Development • CorporateLibrarian Knowledge Architect • Director,Human Resources

KMWorld & Intranets 2003 covers thetechnology of intranets and Enterprise Portalsand the implementation of KnowledgeManagement Systems.

Knowledge management empowersorganizations and provides a strategic advan-tage in this tough, competitive environment.And enterprise portals and intranets enablethe flow of that content and knowledge with-in the enterprise. Whether reducing costs orenhancing the benefits of internal communi-

cations, proper utilization of knowledge man-agement, intranets and portals is essential forrunning a smart business.

The combined mega-event will includeseven conference tracks over three days, alongwith a single expo, featuring the industry’s topcompanies. This global conference and expowill offer attendees and exhibitors a completeconference and expo experience, from strate-gic KM planning to practical intranet imple-mentation. It is the definitive worldwide gath-ering place for everyone in enterprise KM.

Attendees at KMWorld & Intranets2003 will find solutions from the leadingcompanies in:◆ Knowledge Management ◆ Enterprise Portals ◆ Content Management ◆ Business/External Content ◆ Web-Based Collaboration ◆ Competitive Intelligence ◆ XML Solutions ◆ Application Development ◆ Firewalls & Security ◆ Digital Certificates ◆ Document Management ◆ Encryption ◆ Customer Relationship Management ◆ Workflow Solutions ◆ Document Tracking ◆ Resource Sharing ◆ Business Intelligence ◆ Information Architecture ◆ Usability Testing ◆ Taxonomy & Ontology ◆ Personalization ❚

Special Supplement to

A Tale of Two SolutionsKMWorld & Intranets 2003 provide the best of both worlds

Underscoring the basic symbiotic rela-tionship between (a.) informational contentand (b.) the many ways it is delivered to theend user, two major events have joinedforces to maximize the impact of that im-portant relationship. The KMWorld & Intranets 2003 conferences will be co-lo-cated at the Santa Clara Convention Center,October 14-16, 2003.

Separately, these events have each longprovided a forum and a marketplace focal-point for their respective clientele. As annu-al stops on the “education circuit,” theseevents have traditionally provided a meansfor business decision makers to learn,exchange and choose from their many solu-tion-provider partners.

Now, together, the conferences are devel-oping a new mission: to help attendeesdevelop and evaluate enterprise-wide KMstrategies, while working hand-in-hand withthose who are also implementing collabora-tive intranet & portal strategies and tech-nologies. Three separate KM tracks, twoIntranets tracks and another that is commonto both events will fully cover the enablingtools and strategies for KM projects as wellas intranets, extranets and portals.

The 7th annual KMWorld Conferenceand Exposition offers a wide-ranging pro-gram aimed at executives and strategic busi-ness and technology decision makers. Thisis a “must-attend” for those concerned withimproving business processes and produc-tivity, streamlining operations and accelerat-ing development and innovation in theirevolving enterprises.

This year’s theme, Business CriticalKnowledge Management, emphasizes thatKM is not a standalone initiative, but totallyintegrated into an organization’s business andwork processes. As in previous years, theconference encompasses programs on strate-gies, practices, processes, tools and solutionsfor enterprise knowledge networks. This yearthere is a particular emphasis on knowledge-based collaborative organizations as well asthe infrastructure necessary to support suchorganizations.

Now in its fifth year, Intranets 2003addresses the management, implementationand business implications of the next gener-ation of collaborative intranet and portaldevelopment and technology. Conferencesessions will cover strategies and case stud-ies for preparing, implementing and sustain-

July/August 2003S14

By The Specialty Publishing Group

Some of the comments from last year’s exhibitorsinclude:“The attendee quality was outstanding; they’re veryknowledgeable and asked great questions to assist inqualifying their needs.”

Shelley JagowTradeshow & Events Manager, Stellent

“Thanks for another great conference.The speakersare top-notch experts in their disciplines. You haveattracted a high-quality group of attendees thatmake networking opportunities some of the bestaround.”

Doreen Lorenzen, IT SupervisorHennepin County

“The exhibits were a good source of informationabout existing and new products and services. Verygood keynotes.”

Diane Dent, Managing ConsultantWestech Information Systems, Inc.

“Thanks for another great job!! Excellent content,goodexhibit hall.Good choice of topics.”

Ann Feeney, Intranet FacilitatorYMCA of the USA

What They Said about Last Year’s Event

Subscriptions are FREE in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico

Order Your FREE Subscription to KMWorld Today.www.kmworld.com/subscribe

The KMWorld Best Practices White Paper Series helps you handle the curves in theroad faced by your fast-paced, 24/7, always-on enterprise.

Objective, instructional and action-ready, KMWorld White Papers deliver the hardinformation you need to compete.

KMWorld White Papers focus on the world’s leading companies and key top-of-mindbusiness areas, such as:

◆ Content Management ◆ Enterprise Portals◆ Customer Relationship Management ◆ Knowledge Management

KMWorld Best Practice White Papers are read by 100,000 business leaders, like you,who are currently in search of solutions for their information-intensive challenges.

So watch the road... Be ready for the next curve... And stay ahead of the pack...

KMWorld—Covering the Action Areasif... you think managing your organization’s documents... information content...

context... concepts... intellectual assets... are important keys to productivity and performance...

if... you think managing your enterprise’s internetworked workflows...processes... teams... groups... collaboration are critical to competitiveness and innovation...

if... you think managing your organizational and competitive intelligence is keyto understanding... touching... serving... satisfying... retaining... customers andpartners...

then... KMWorld is the one publication dedicated to helping you do all of the above by providing useful information delivered by the pros with clarity and insight...

and... KMWorld & Intranets 2003 Conference & Expo (Santa Clara, Oct. 14-16) isthe one event of the year where you can see, touch and learn about what’s new inthe field.

For more info: http://www.kmworld.com

You can learn from the BEST and get it FIRSTby subscribing to KMWorld at

www.kmworld.com/subscribe

Learn from the Best!

Special Supplement to July/August 2003 S15

www.infotoday.com

Produced by:

KMWorld MagazineSpecialty Publishing Group

For information on participating in the next white paper in the “Best Practices” series. contact:paul_rosenlund@kmworld.com or kathy_rogals@kmworld.com • 207.338.9870

Kathryn Rogals Paul Rosenlund Andy Moore207-338-9870 207-338-9870 207-236-0331kathy_rogals@kmworld.com paul_rosenlund@kmworld.com andymoore@adelphia.net

For more information on the companies who contributed to this white paper, visit their Web sites or contact them directly:

www.kmworld.com

Autonomy Inc.301 Howard StreetSan Francisco CA 94105

PH: 415.243.9955Fax: 415.243.9984E-mail: info@autonomy.comWeb: http://www.autonomy.com

Hummingbird Ltd.1 Sparks AvenueToronto Ontario M2H 2W1

PH: 877.FLY.HUMMFax: 416.496.2207E-mail: getinfo@hummingbird.comWeb: http://www.hummingbird.com

Epicor Software CorporationThe Clientele Group8100 S.W. Nyberg Road, 4th FloorTualatin OR 97062

PH: 800.883.4582 or 503.612.2600Fax: 503.612.2832E-mail: clientele.info@epicor.comWeb: http://www.epicor.com

Selectica, Inc.3 West Plumeria DriveSan Jose CA 95134

PH: 408.570.9700Fax: 408.570.2160E-mail: info@selectica.comWeb: http://www.selectica.com

Surebridge, Inc.10 Maguire Road, Suite 332Lexington MA 02421

PH: 877.SURE.ASP or 781.372.3222Fax: 781.372.3223E-mail: info@surebridge.comWeb: http://www.surebridge.com

Talisma Corporation4600 Carillon PointKirkland WA 98033

PH: 425.897.2900Fax: 425.828.9587E-mail: info@talisma.comWeb: http://www.talisma.com