Microsoft and Cisco have updated their joint CRM software recently and that is great news for large companies that are using their CRM Connector and Microsoft Dynamics CRM products.

Cisco’s Unified CRM Connector works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to streamline contact-center functions for users making and receiving calls. The software creates automatic screen pop ups with caller information, provides click-to-dial capability, captures call information and creates customer records. It delivers these features on a PC through integration with Cisco IP (Internet Protocol) phones. The latest version, Unified CRM Connector 3.0, is integrated with the recently announced Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. In addition to taking advantage of improvements in Microsoft’s software, the new CRM Connector can deliver to any Cisco IP phone a subset of the information it currently puts up on a PC screen. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are interested in IP telephony but want to see more capabilities than they have with conventional phones, according to Yankee Group SME analyst Gary Chen. “Integration with CRM is one of the killer apps with VoIP,” because customer information is so closely involved with phone calls, Chen said. Many SMEs use CRM software, and Microsoft’s product has done well among them, he added. The prospect of using CRM Connector persuaded GreenStone Farm Credit Services, in East Lansing, Mich., to adopt IP telephony.

Microsoft, Cisco, Help+Desk, CRM, Customer+Service, Help+Desk+Software

tags: cisco, crm, customer+service, help+desk, help+desk+software, microsoft

[IMAGE1]IT outsourcing grows 15% in China
It is pretty amazing there is all of this talk about legalizing 11million people who are not citizens without batting an eyelash. This on the heels of daily news reporting massive job outsourcing to countries like China and India, with more every day. I don’t buy the line of, “these are jobs Americans don’t want” anymore. How does anyone claim to know that is the case anyway? I guess it will take a company like Yahoo or Google to send thousands of jobs overseas before it becomes cool to talk about it.

According to the research report “China IT Outsourcing Market Report 2005-2006″ recently released by Analysys International, in China’s IT outsourcing market, the IT operations and maintenance market reached 2.63 billion yuan, accounting for 84 percent of the total market. The IT application and management market size reached 380 million yuan, accounting for 12 percent; and the Help Desk market size reached 120 million yuan, accounting for 4 percent.

Yahoo, Help+Desk, CRM, Customer+Service, Help+Desk+Software

tags: crm, customer+service, help+desk, help+desk+software, yahoo

An interesting read on the current state of affairs in the software industry as well as on the internet. It seems that the two are finally showing signs of integration on a grand scale.

Ringing in Gates’ ears must have been the roar of Google — and the Web 2.0 hordes, whose XML-based mash-ups of sites are transforming the Web experience. As Gates observed in that same message, however, SaaS (software as a service) isn’t new. Nor is it restricted to the consumers, developers, and very small businesses that Microsoft is targeting with its customizable Windows Live page and Office Live free Web site and collaboration service. Salesforce.com, founded in 1999 and still the standard bearer of SaaS business applications, is enjoying dramatic growth, reaching 399,000 subscribers at the end of its most recent fiscal quarter. Employease, which launched in 1996, now delivers HR management through the browser to more than 1,000 customers managing more than 700,000 employee records. And among the major software vendors, Microsoft is hardly the only one exploring SaaS. “All the big players are now in the water,” says Rick McGee, vice president of SaaS strategy for IBM Global Services, noting that Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP are staking their claims. McGee should know. IBM provides the platform for SAP’s new entry into hosted CRM.

Help+Desk, CRM, Customer+Service, Help+Desk+Software

tags: crm, customer+service, help+desk, help+desk+software