Self-Service Success? Max Effgen, March 11, 2009 Many years ago, a client had recently deployed a self-service initiative that was hearlded as a great success. The project that I was working on was going to be held to that standard. I decided that I need to talk to a few CSRs at the client to understand what… Continue Reading
Self-Serivce Max Effgen, March 9, 2009 Growth Through Self-Service Online self-service portals can become high-performance growth engines amid challenging economic times. This post on self-service in CRM has me reflecting on my past experiences with self-service. Too much for a single post, so this week will be dedicated to CRM self-service opportunities and challenges. Continue Reading
Happy Daylight Savings Max Effgen, March 7, 2009 With the rollover to daylight savings, I plan on taking advantage of the extra daylight to work on my photography. My portfolio site and this Google Gadget can be found at http://www.salmonbay.net. Snow is forecast for the weekend which normally means rain. This winter has been a much different story…. Continue Reading
Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner Podcast Max Effgen, March 6, 2009 This series from Stanford University (the wife’s alma mater) is excellent. In this recent podcast, Tony Perkins, Tim Draper and Michael Moe discuss the current market and its potential. Much needed positive views. Worth checking out and subscribing via iTunes. Continue Reading
Recent Reads Max Effgen, March 5, 2009 Three recent business books that I have read, enjoyed and recommend. The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr Summary: Carr argues that computing, no longer personal, is going the way of a power utility. Why I liked it: The historical perspective matches the current… Continue Reading
Thoughts on Project Success Max Effgen, March 4, 2009 I had a conversation recently with a friend and former colleague on the state of IT. A common theme was that for all the advances in technology, projects still fail at an alarming rate. This got me to think about two clients of mine. Both were large enterprise software companies… Continue Reading
Enterprise computing channels Max Effgen, March 3, 2009 The reality of enterprise computing today is not just the migration to the cloud. Rather, it is a range of IT options: First is within the enterprise’s data center, second is in a partner hosting data center, and third is in the cloud. What option is best? Not to sound… Continue Reading
Integration requirements for CRM, Challenges and opportunities Max Effgen, March 2, 2009 Challenges and opportunities Integration outside the enterprise firewall needs to encompass the capabilities of the organization. Larger enterprises have investments in SOA and ESB providing them with new capabilities that can be utilized. Many organizations without these capabilities will find that standard point to point integration will more than meet… Continue Reading
Discovery Park Service Project Max Effgen, February 28, 2009 REI has adopted a plot of Discovery Park in Seattle and held a volunteer day today to help restore the habitat. As a frequent park user, I was glad to help plant snowberry bushes and mahonia. Felt good to get out an turn some earth on a windy and cool… Continue Reading
Integration requirements for CRM, CRM to BI Max Effgen, February 27, 2009 From CRM to Business Intelligence/Analytics While the two previous requirements focused on the sales force automation areas of CRM, integration with business intelligence and analytics tools could and often cover the spectrum of CRM applications: Sales, marketing, customer service, etc. Each department has their own tools and key performance indicators…. Continue Reading