For Business Process & Applications Professionals

To Invest Wisely, Know The Business Value Of Diverse CRM Solutions

by William Band, September 30, 2009

To help customer relationship management (CRM) professionals make smart decisions and navigate the complex CRM technology landscape, Forrester surveyed 286 companies. The goal was to determine the business value-add adjusted for uncertainty of 19 types . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Craft Your CRM Investment Plans In Light Of Technology Adoption Patterns

by William Band, August 12, 2009

Navigating the multifaceted customer relationship management (CRM) technology landscape is challenging. To help CRM professionals make smart decisions, Forrester surveyed 286 companies to understand the adoption patterns for 19 types of customer management . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

TechRadar™ For BP&A Professionals: The Extended CRM Application Ecosystem, Q3 2009

Social Applications Stimulate Innovation But Sales, Order Management, And Service Hold The Keys To Your Revenue Engine

by William Band, July 9, 2009

Locking in customer loyalty through deeper engagement and differentiated experiences will continue to be critical priorities for organizations in all sectors in the decade ahead, but navigating the complex customer relationship management (CRM) technology . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Eight Ways To Mine Value From Your CRM Systems

Now Is The Time To Dig For The Hidden Nuggets That Lead To Big Gains

by William Band, May 7, 2009

Now may not be the right time to ask for the resources to do a major IT project, including CRM. But CRM professionals can be smart and mine the applications they already own for untapped benefits without incurring high costs. Hidden value typically lies . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The ROI Of CRM Application Upgrades

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Shows Favorable ROI Over Five Years

by William Band, March 6, 2009

With vendors like Oracle and SAP touting new releases of their CRM products, enterprises running older versions of CRM apps are mulling whether to take the upgrade plunge. However, in a down economy, CRM professionals are wondering if the benefits of . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Choose The Right Enterprise Marketing Software

Eight Key Questions To Make Better Decisions

by William Band, March 2, 2009

The marketing software vendor landscape is crowded and confusing. This makes selecting the right solution a daunting task for CRM professionals. Forrester has identified eight questions that can help you make the right choice. Use them to untangle the . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Risk-Proof Your CRM Deployment Strategy

Use Best Practices And Our Risk Evaluation Tool To Steer Clear Of Perils

by William Band, February 27, 2009

In today's difficult economic climate, CRM professionals cannot afford failed business process and technology projects. To pinpoint the real-world pitfalls that can trip up CRM initiatives, Forrester surveyed 133 organizations using one of 24 leading . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Risk-Proof Your Culture For CRM

Use Best Practices And Our Risk Evaluation Tool To Steer Clear Of Perils

by William Band, February 27, 2009

In today's difficult economic climate, CRM professionals cannot afford failed business process and technology projects. To pinpoint the real-world pitfalls that can trip up CRM initiatives, Forrester surveyed 133 organizations using one of 24 leading . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Risk-Proof Your CRM Business Processes

Use Best Practices And Our Risk Evaluation Tool To Steer Clear Of Perils

by William Band, February 27, 2009

In today's difficult economic climate, CRM professionals cannot afford failed business process and technology projects. To pinpoint the real-world pitfalls that can trip up CRM initiatives, Forrester surveyed 133 organizations using one of 24 leading . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Risk-Proof Your CRM Technology Platform

Use Best Practices And Our Risk Evaluation Tool To Steer Clear Of Perils

by William Band, February 27, 2009

In today's difficult economic climate, CRM professionals cannot afford failed business process and technology projects. To pinpoint the real-world pitfalls that can trip up CRM initiatives, Forrester surveyed 133 organizations using one of 24 leading . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How To Deliver An Outstanding Customer Experience

The Customer Experience Index, 2008

by William Band, February 9, 2009

Keeping customers happy directly affects the top and bottom lines. Because of this, Forrester asked nearly 5,000 consumers about their interactions with a variety of companies, gauging the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyability of those experiences. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's CRM Risk Evaluation Self-Assessment Tool  (66 KB XLS)

by William Band, January 28, 2009

Use Forrester¿s CRM Risk Assessment Framework to anticipate and remediate problems and risks that can trip-up CRM initiatives.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Trends 2009: Customer Relationship Management

Strategy And Business Value Are The Watchwords For The Next 12 Months

by William Band, December 11, 2008

In light of the sudden and dramatic economic downturn, what are the key trends that will drive customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and technology adoption in 2009? Our recent surveys and interviews with customer-oriented business and IT . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

CRM 2.0: Fantasy Or Reality?

How Trail-Blazing Organizations Are Implementing Social Customer Strategies

by William Band, November 13, 2008

The rise of Social Computing means that customer relationship management (CRM) professionals must find innovative new ways to cope with the emerging phenomenon of "social customers." Forrester talked with nine early-adopter companies and reviewed the . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise CRM Suites, Q3 2008

Buyers Face Difficult Choices In A Crowded Market

by William Band, August 29, 2008

Forrester evaluated leading enterprise CRM suite solutions against 516 criteria and found that with the latest releases of their solutions, Oracle's Siebel and SAP maintain their status as Leaders with comprehensive functionality and much improved usability. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Answers To Five Frequently Asked Questions About CRM Projects

Size Up Your CRM Program Compared Against 133 Projects

by William Band, August 29, 2008

How does your customer relationship management (CRM) project compare with those at other organizations? Forrester surveyed 133 organizations that are using one of 24 leading enterprise or midmarket suite solutions to understand their CRM solution purchase . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: High 5 Sportswear Scores Big With A Smart SaaS CRM Implementation

by Pete Marston, William Band, May 7, 2008

What happens when your customer service reps have to blindly make decisions without having the right customer and sales data to guide them? High 5 Sportswear, an athletic apparel distributor based in the Pacific Northwest, faced precisely this challenge . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: The Smart Way To Implement CRM SaaS Solutions

by William Band, Pete Marston, May 7, 2008

CRM software-as-a service (SaaS) solutions have moved beyond their previous status as a specialized deployment option and into the mainstream. According to Forrester's Enterprise and SMB Software Survey, North America and Europe, Q3 2007, more than a . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Equifax Builds A Business Case Before Investing In CRM SaaS

by William Band, Pete Marston, May 7, 2008

Equifax, a leading provider of solutions for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, and marketing tools, needed to deploy a CRM technology platform to support rapid growth. It decided . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Customer Relationship Management 2008

by William Band, March 25, 2008

Forrester's customer relationship management (CRM) research helps CRM professionals embrace best practices — from process optimization to technology implementation — to improve the customer experience and drive top-line growth. Our research spans marketing, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The CRM 2.0 Imperative

Look To New Solutions To Keep Pace With The Emerging Social Customer

by William Band, March 10, 2008

Customer relationship management (CRM) is evolving from its traditional focus on optimizing customer-facing transactional processes to include the strategies and technologies to develop collaborative connections with customers, suppliers, and even competitors. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Technology Infrastructure For CRM Best Practices Adoption

by William Band, January 10, 2008

We surveyed 74 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses compared to 15 customer relationship management (CRM) technology infrastructure best practices. We found that adopting best practices is . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Indirect Sales Best Practices Adoption

by William Band, January 10, 2008

We surveyed 58 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses compared to 18 indirect sales best practices capabilities. We found that adopting best practices is a challenge for organizations that sell . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Customer Data Management Best Practices Adoption

by William Band, January 10, 2008

We surveyed 55 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses compared to 12 customer data management best practices. We found that adopting customer data management best practices is a challenge for . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Field Service Best Practices Adoption

by William Band, January 10, 2008

We surveyed 55 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses compared to 11 field service best practices capabilities. We found that adopting field service best practices challenges many organizations . . .