Linux News: Hosted CRM

The Battle To Rule the Hosted-CRM Roost
June 24, 2004

Wednesday's salesforce.com IPO offered a rare opportunity for smaller CRM companies to elbow their way into the media spotlight. Although a salesforce.com spokesperson said that the company couldn't provide a comment to CRM Buyer, Yankee Group analyst Sheryl Kingstone told CRM Buyer: "The followers are always going to attack the leader -- and they are always going to have to compare themselves to the leader."

Salesforce IPO Underscores Investor Appetite for Tech
June 24, 2004

Salesforce.com soared on its first day of public trading Wednesday as the second-most hotly anticipated technology IPO of the year -- behind only Google's still-to-come initial public offering -- gained 56 percent and valued the company at US$1.7 billion. Salesforce.com's strong first-day gains came despite two last-minute increases in the offering price.

Salesforce.com's IPO: Welcome to the Big League
June 23, 2004

Hosted CRM vendor salesforce.com made its NYSE debut Wednesday, and got off to a quick start. After announcing its initial public offering of 10 million shares of common stock at US$11 per share, the company's stock soared to around $17 per share by day's end. The previous day salesforce filed a pre-effective amendment with the SEC raising the price proposed on its IPO from its earlier estimate of $7.50 to $8.50 per share to $9 to $10.

Product Branding and the Advantage of Being Second
June 23, 2004

In my world I have discovered that diversification is instinctive in children. Whatever the eldest does, number two will find a way to differentiate himself enough to get noticed. Sometimes the effort is a conscious decision, sometimes pure instinct. It's a great strategy -- so why do we forget it when we grow up?

How Remington Self-Serves Its Customers
June 22, 2004

In 1816, Eliphalet Remington II turned to his father's forge and began working on a better rifle. At that time he wasn't worried about supply chains or customer-relationship management. But almost 200 years later, his one-man startup is Remington Arms Company, a US$360 million enterprise selling firearms and other products in over 60 countries.

RightNow Lands 170 Systems Deal
June 10, 2004

Hosted CRM vendor RightNow Technologies announced earlier this week that solutions and services provider 170 Systems has deployed RightNow Service to increase the quality, speed and resource efficiency of its technical support operations. Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, 170 Systems provides solutions for companies using Oracle environments.

OnDemand, On the Move?
May 28, 2004

In a terse, one-sentence press release, Siebel Systems today confirmed it has closed 175 new transactions for its hosted product, CRM OnDemand, since the start of Q2 2004 and that the number includes 62 new OnDemand customers.

Census Bureau Delivers Data RightNow
May 25, 2004

A drive to improve citizen services is part of a long-term push by the U.S. government to be more responsive to taxpayer needs and to diminish its unresponsive, bureaucratic image. Most recently, the U.S. Census Bureau revealed it has turned to a hosted-CRM solution from RightNow Technologies to increase its responsiveness.

Inside Kana's Hosted CRM Push
May 13, 2004

Like a bevy of CRM software providers before it, Kana this week pushed out the first phase of its hosted onDemand initiative for its iCARE suite of Service Resolution Management (SRM) solutions. The company's onDemand project initially supports Kana's Response Live application, is available as either a hosted or in-house product, and offers both perpetual and subscription licensing.

RightNow Technologies Jumps on IPO Bandwagon
May 10, 2004

Hosted CRM vendor RightNow Technologies announced Monday that it has filed for an initial public offering to sell $60 million of its common stock with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The number of shares the company plans to offer and the price range for the offering are still to be determined.

Minnesota Universities Opt for On-Demand CRM
April 27, 2004

How do you standardize trouble-ticket handling over e-mail and phone for 370,000 full- and part-time students? If you're Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MSCU), you opt for hosted CRM software from RightNow Technologies. MSCU formerly used Unicenter Service Desk from Computer Associates.

Salesforce.com Sets IPO Price Target
April 21, 2004

CRM software provider salesforce.com priced its initial public offering Tuesday, saying it will raise about $80 million with the IPO. The company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to sell about 10 million shares, or 10 percent of the overall company, for between $7.50 and $8.50 per share.

Salesforce.com on the Custom CRM Frontier
April 14, 2004

Salesforce.com has announced the availability of Spring '04, a highly customizable on-demand CRM service. The company expects Spring '04 will fit well with its other CRM offerings. "It's a big myth that CRM can't be integrated or customized," salesforce.com chief marketing officer Tien Tzuo told CRM Buyer. "We've shown that it can be done."

ProfitCenter Gives Hosted CRM a Different Spin
March 19, 2004

ProfitCenter Software (PCS), a subsidiary of Systemax, formally launched its Profitability Software Suite of hosted CRM products last week, making it the latest entrant into the increasingly competitive on-demand CRM space. PCS is charging $125 per user per month and offers contracts that run for between one and five years.

RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte on Space, Time and CRM
March 01, 2004

Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow Technologies is a major player in the on-demand CRM space. In an interview with CRM Buyer, RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte discussed his company, the CRM market as a whole and the future of the on-demand software model.

Salesforce.com Builds Momentum as IPO Day Nears
February 26, 2004

Hosted CRM software vendor salesforce.com released a spate of announcements Wednesday in advance of its impending IPO. The announcements included its largest implementation yet, a 2,000-seat deal with SunTrust Banks, and the release of an sforce toolkit for IBM's WebSphere Web services platform.