CRM - February 2008 - (Page 20)

MARKET FOCUS: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TOP VENDORS IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: penetration by 2009. That said, Band doesn’t anticipate that SaaS will ever overtake on-premise CRM completely. On-demand CRM remains an ongoing challenge, “We’re in a transition state and we’ll be but social networking promises to be the real wild card in a transition state for many years,” Pom“Three or four years ago, a lot of firms briant says.“Many major applications are RM has been a boon for the professional services industry were skeptical about how far [SaaS] still on-premise and behind firewalls, and almost since Day One, a would penetrate,” says William Band, we’ll continue to see that for a long time.” While the rise of SaaS has been a chance to deploy a fleet of vice president and principal analyst for consultants to implement new systems Forrester Research. But since then, “the drain on the consulting industry’s billand charge handsomely for the service. demand for [SaaS] is so great, they’ve able hours, another popular technology has provided an opportunity for Many consultancies had gotten used to had to adapt to the needs of clients.” One way consultants have done that is growth. Services-oriented architecture the idea that it would be ever thus, but on-demand CRM—which often boasts to look at on-demand as an opportunity (SOA) is a hot topic within the CRM of not requiring on-site consultants— to shift from the nuts and bolts of a community, and plays to the strengths of the consulting industry. has forced the industry to rethink its role. CRM system to doing what “It’s a good thing for conThe age of software-as-a-service their name suggests—“actu- On-demand CRM sulting,” Band says. “Build(SaaS) is upon us: When customers are ally consulting with end makes up 10 percent ing composite applications able to download, implement, and tweak users about best practices,” to 12 percent of the is the bread-and-butter their CRM systems online without the says Denis Pombriant, manwork of large consulting need for on-site consultants, professional aging principal at CRM con- market, but that services firms stand to lose a significant sultancy Beagle Research could double by 2009. firms. They’re working to adapt their skill sets and are slice of revenue. Over the past few years, Group. It took a while for the industry has been busy coming up major firms to see the value in working happy to see [the SOA] trend.” He cites with on-demand CRM practices but Capgemini as having positioned itself with ways to cope with this sea change. some, such as Deloitte and Accenture, strongly as an SOA consultancy. Social networking tools have caused a have established internal units to deal specifically with on-demand. Those units stir in many industries, enough so that WHAT ARE YOUR COMPANY’S PLANS specialize in consulting on maintenance Band is currently working on a white REGARDING DATA QUALITY? and upgrades, rather than on old-school paper about the intersection of social networking and CRM. Businesses, he says, selection and implementation work. Other consultancies have gone so far are more and more concerned with havas to create customized on-demand ing a presence on Facebook and Google’s applications, selling them directly to YouTube, but most consultancies have yet 27% Masters of our data domain. existing users of on-demand CRM. Both to leap on board. That’s primarily because We’ve already got master data management (MDM). Pombriant and Band point to Bluewolf, the social networking phenomenon has an on-demand specialist that has found come onto the scene so rapidly, consult5% At the point of integration. success selling its own Salesforce.com ants haven’t had time to process it. We’ve got customer data integration (CDI), but MDM’s a ways off. “I see a big interest in the client side application called MediaTrak SalesPak. Designed to allow media companies to about how this technology is being 27% Scrub-a-dub-dub. monitor breaking news and conversa- used, but I don’t see consultants develWe’re actively cleaning our data (we think). tion in the blogosphere, Bluewolf has oping a point of view—or methods and sold the product to The Economist and practices—to deal with it,” Band says. 19% Gathering data on data. “No one’s really figured it out yet.” NevTurner Broadcasting, among others. We’re exploring our options, but don’t yet have a data quality plan in place. Band estimates that SaaS currently ertheless, he sees social networking as a makes up only 10 percent to 12 percent of significant growth area for consultancies 22% Questioning quality. the CRM market, but the rapid growth in the future, as the tools themselves Wait! Data quality? We’re just lucky to of companies such as Salesforce.com evolve and mainstream attention toward have any data at all. and NetSuite could nearly double that the space intensifies. —Ryan Davis Consultants Adapt to Changing CRM Landscape 3 (for SaaS) Bluewolf Theikos (for SOA) Capgemini Source: Beagle Research Group C The Pulse Source: destinationCRM.com reader poll 20 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | FEBRUARY 2008 www.destinationCRM.com http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - February 2008

CRM - February 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point The Loyalty Riddle CRM Drives Down-Market Out of the Gate: Marketers Rate ’08 Traits The Pulse Consultants Adapt to CRM’s Changing Landscape Required Reading Cover Story: CRM Gets Serious Contact Center Solutions Always On Rumble in the Office The Smallest Slice Tying Up Cable’s Loose Ends Burning Up the Paper Trail Sunny Skies for Knology No More Bumps for BlueRoads Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - February 2008

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