Redux: Will Google Enter the Business Applications Market?
If you think I am here to spill the beans, you’re wrong. On a purely speculative level, if there is some news to come, and if there is an embargo related to it, then here @ CloudAve we respect that. And it’s all a big IF. So no, I am simply dusting off an old [...]
Social CRM – the new rules
There are changes underway across the worlds of social media marketing, social media applied inside business (what some people would call enterprise 2.0) and where these tools connect (or not) to the business processes in (Cloud based) CRM and ERP systems. Products like Salesforce are adding Chatter, and Twitter connectivity. Enterprise 2.0 tools that started [...]
Salesforce shows the future of enterprise collaboration – but have they got the branding right?
A month ago on Monday 7 December I was sitting in the London version of the CloudForce2 Partner Summit, and then stricken by a virus overnight, I watched Marc Benioff livestreamed for the 2 hours and 15 minutes of his keynote in the general customer session on the following day. It sounds like he did [...]
Foursquare + Square = Killer Small Business Social CRM
Parker Smith wrote a piece that got me thinking. In Foursquare: Democratizing the Loyalty Program, he posits that Foursquare could be the loyalty program provider to small businesses. I think he’s right. Then I noticed these identical product benefits touted by the companies themselves, Foursquare and Jack Dorsey’s Square: For example, foursquare can tell you [...]
Social Software 2.0: Enterprise Process Ubiquity
In the beginning, there were forums, blogs and wikis. And it was good. In talking with people about the Enterprise 2.0 industry, I like to insert yet another versioning number scheme: Social Software 1.0 Social Software 2.0 Social Software 1.0 was the era of actually creating these open, collaborative applications. The approach of these tools [...]
Looking At Platforms
Earlier this year at the Enterprise 2.0 conference “platform” was the name of choice. Seemingly every company I spoke to was a platform player. It seems the latest “fart on demand” iPhone application is a “platform for virtual flatulence generation”, that the latest Twitter clone with negligible uptake is “a platform for global collaboration” and [...]
Would You Manage CRM with a Wiki?
Or human resources with a blog? How about project management with forums? Funny questions to ask, no doubt. Of course it’s not possible to effectively address many of the critical business functions using basic Enterprise 2.0 tools. Yet when it comes to social software, it often seems that the only game in town is to [...]
Here’s How Not to Use CRM: Dumb Campaigns
The best CRM system can’t help you if your sales / marketing team is clueless. Here’s a ridiculous email I’ve just received. Name removed to protect the (not-so) innocent X. Y. kindly requests a meeting Hi Zoli, In celebrating our 40th anniversary, I’ve been given the privilege to manage the relationship between your organization and [...]
Salesforce.com: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
Is Salesforce.com’s glass for SMBs half full (of lemonade) or half empty? I borrowed the lemonade metaphor from Venturebeat’s post announcing Salesforce.com’s new Contact Manager offering for (very) small businesses. On second thought we should use orange juice as a metaphor – as in disappearing orange juice, by Tropicana which offers less juice in a [...]
Siondo – Review
Accounting 2.0 at CloudAve In an ongoing series of reviews and analysis pieces, CloudAve will be taking a deep look into accounting software for the new world. See the other posts at this tag Introduction & Background Siondo is a London-based SaaS vendor that has been “bootstrapped” into existence. Founded by Christian Steiner (CEO) and [...]
Businesses Must Manage the Twitter Conversation
This post is part of my ongoing series Twitter 101 for all those that still “don’t get” Twitter. I’m now moving from the 101 basics into the business applications. I think we all know by now that a conversation is happening on Twitter and that this extends to talking about brands. Twitter is the new [...]
SlideRocket – More Than Just Presentations
I had a briefing yesterday with SlideRocket, the company that “provides premium communication tools through innovative and compelling software-as-a-service to let you present the right message, to the right audience, at the right time. SlideRocket gives everyone the power to make great presentations, communicate effectively with colleagues, impress customers and captivate audiences.” I spoke to [...]
Host Analytics – New release and new Funding
Host Analytics is a corporate performance management (CPM) SaaS offering which last week briefed me on some changes that they believe will turn up the heat on the CPM market. The company, which claims 8,000 active, and more importantly paying, users from enterprises like JP Morgan Chase, Procter & Gamble, Otis Spunkmeyer and Pitney Bowes, [...]
Netbooks Emerges from Hibernation as WorkingPoint: SaaS for SMB, with Nicer UI but Reduced Functionality.
(This post is now updated, see bottom)Netbooks, provider of an Integrated SaaS Business Suite for Very Small Businesses came out of hibernation with a new name: WorkingPoint. In the never-ending debate of all-in-one vs. best-of-breed I tend to represent the “old-school” which believes in the value of having one tightly integrated system for most business [...]
Making CRM Work for Verticals
In recent days I’ve seen some quite interesting offerings built upon salesforce.com’s force.com platform which leverage the building blocks the salesforce already provides, but tailors them for distinct verticals. One of the offerings is still in stealth mode but the other is an interesting little solution for students. Studentforce can be thought of as CRM [...]
