Dovetail Software

Dovetail Links 2008-07-23

2008-07-23T23:33:00Z

"SAP announced today that it will increase maintenance fees for customers on its lower-cost support option, moving them to an enhanced support offering that will cost 22% of their net licensing fees by 2012. The change affects about 17,000 customers on SAP's Basic Support, offered at 17% of net licensing fees, according to Mark Cordrey, SAP's vice president of active global support. Customers receiving Premium Support, already 22% of net licensing fees, must also move onto Enterprise Support."

Analytics Help Firms Turn Data Into Opportunity

"Disparate data sources and systems, and the inability to draw accurate conclusions from company data, are at the very core of today's financial services marketing challenges. To address sales and profitability goals, financial institutions must automate and streamline marketing processes throughout the three core customer marketing areas: attracting, retaining and growing customers. Organizations that implement a cohesive campaign management solution across all departments are well positioned to increase revenues by establishing long-lasting dialogues with customers that translate into ongoing sales."

A Key Challenge of Context Driven Architecture

"The idea of context-driven architecture, as coined by Gartner, has been bouncing around my head since the Gartner AADI and EA Summits I attended in June. It’s a catch phrase that basically means that we need to design our applications to take into account as much as possible of the context in which it is executed. It’s especially true for mobile applications, where the whole notion of location awareness has people thinking about new and exciting things, albeit more so in the consumer space than in the enterprise."

Seven Ways to Thaw a Frozen IT Budget

"You’ve already instituted a travel ban, relinquished the open head count and froze spending for the foreseeable future. These obvious tactics are being executed at companies everywhere in response to the growing fear of the ‘r’ word and all those other water cooler discussions related to cost cutting. You should actually be grateful – yes grateful – that you’ve been forced to push the pause button on your IT projects. Now you have an opportunity to evaluate your IT landscape and uncover lost money hidden within your enterprise applications."

Agile Development Brings IT, Business Together

"As is the case with a number of other tech trends, Agile first gained popularity with consumer-oriented applications and is making its move to a somewhat skeptical enterprise. Looking at it from a high (and admittedly non-technical) level, I am not sure why companies seem so suspicious. Agile values flexibility, simplicity and getting tasks accomplished quickly — three characteristics that are hard to see as negative."

Dovetail Links 2008-07-16

2008-07-16T22:30:00Z

Business Intelligence: Software Helps Decision Makers

"BI gives an agency a unified Relevant Products/Services view, or big picture, of what data might signal. Until recently, few applications, short of a spreadsheet, could analyze large amounts of information in a timely manner and provide insights. But now, business intelligence gives agencies a more sophisticated way to look at data using complex modeling that provides deep interpretations. BI builds on tools developed for data mining, the process of finding information stored in a system that may not be easily identifiable."

Firms Seek Out Disgruntled Customers on the Web

"'We're in a world where one person, by their actions, can make a company look bad, and it can get echoed and amplified over and over again,' said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research and coauthor of 'Groundswell,' a book about business and social technologies. 'The power Relevant Products/Services has shifted, [so] that big companies now have to be worried about one individual with a microphone called a blog."

Using Business Process Models as the Source for Software Requirements

"Requirements elicitation is a critical, yet under-appreciated, activity. A core capability of business analysts, the ability to get the customers to describe what they want, and need, is both a science and an art. Requirements elicitation requires equal measures of careful planning, situational awareness, acute listening skills, business acumen, and a kind of optimistic tenacity. I have long taken for granted two basic principles of requirements elicitation."

What is Global Enterprise Architecture?

"So does this mean that Global EA is even more abstract than traditional EA? I don't think so. In some areas they will be, in other they might go deeper. For example, I see business and information architecture having more of an emphasis in Global EA. The reason for this is when you go across national borders technology is the least of your problems. You must deal with massive transformations of currency, numerical systems and languages. This isn't a trivial task. To compound the issue you have different regulations in each country. Some of which conflict with others."

Enterprise Decision Management and the Software Development Lifecycle

"In general, many aspects of a traditional SDLC do apply when using EDM. There is 'infrastructure' required that must be developed by IT such as glue code and definition of complex rules or rule templates. Once IT has completed this development, users have a way to make changes to the system without going through the usual SDLC, but building the environment to do this requires a proper software process. You do need this second, shorter and simpler process that goes from business requirement to the business user making and testing the change Users can also be allowed to push these into production but most IT departments still want at least a partial release cycle."

Limited Space Still Available for the Dovetail Developer Workshop

2008-07-10T22:04:00Z

Attention all Dovetail developers: Space is limited for the upcoming Dovetail Developer Workshop, July 21 -- July 25, so you need to act fast. If you'd like to learn how to configure, manage and customize a Dovetail CRM environment please register now by sending Kathy Lacy an email, or calling (512) 610-5457.

Here's all the details:

Dovetail Developer Workshop

When:

July 21 - 25, 2008 -- First class begins at 1:00 PM, CST, Monday, July 21st and the workshop concludes at 12:00 PM, Friday July 25th.

Where:

4807 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin, TX 78759

What:

Workshop participants will:

Review the Dovetail CRM components and the base-line architecture;

Walk through the installation of each of the Dovetail CRM modules;

Acquire skills and develop expertise to build new functionality through hands-on programming labs;

Learn how to extend your schema using SchemaEditor;

Import data using ArchiveManager;

Perform data access operations using the Dovetail SDK;

Write code that uses the API toolkits; and

Extend and customize Dovetail Agent – customize existing web pages, and create entirely new ones.

For a complete syllabus, click here.

For the many programming labs, you'll need to bring your laptop to learn how to add significant new functionality to your existing Clarify system.

Dovetail Links 2008-07-04

2008-07-04T21:28:00Z

The Call Center Cha-Cha

"The 'Contact Center Satisfaction Index 2008: How Call Center Customer Satisfaction Impacts the Bottom Line,' by CFI Group North America CEO Sheri Teodoru [...], finds that call center c-sat gained 3 percent over last year, scoring 72 on the index's 100-point scale. A three-point improvement is admittedly not earth-shaking, but in today's climate it certainly does count for something."

How Come Enterprises Don't Ask Their Software Vendors for Bug-fix Only Releases?

"Imagine what would happen if all the enterprises that use products developed by Microsoft, Oracle and Sun encouraged them to create a bug-fix only release. What would be even more intriguing if these vendors asked customers to enumerate all bugs they know but haven't reported and they would allow them to vote on priority themselves without any internal interpretation."

Not Really News: Cable, Satellite Customer Service Stinks

"Customers of cable and satellite television providers aren't happy with their customer service. In fact, they rank government and even PC companies higher in a recent survey. Cable companies just 'don't get it,' said the CEO of the firm that conducted the survey."

The #1 Reason IT Often Fails to Deliver Value

"Ask any senior executive why IT fails to deliver value and the honest ones will soon use words like 'unresponsive' and 'incompetent," while the more politically correct will usually emit platitudes about hiring problems, systems complexity, media driven expectations, and communications barriers - all of which have IT’s unwillingness or inability to respond promptly to user needs at their root."

Sprint's World Of Pain

"The core challenge for [CEO Daniel] Hesse will be to repair Sprint's damaged reputation and convince customers to give the company another chance. In the fourth quarter of 2007, Sprint reported a loss of 683,000 premium subscribers who sign up for long-term contracts. In that same quarter Verizon added 2 million customers, including 1.6 million post-paid subscriptions, and AT&T added 2.7 million customers, including 1.2 million post-paid subscriptions. The customer service problems are so pervasive that Hesse said the company expects to lose another 1.2 million premium subscribers in the first quarter of 2008, and that the outlook was unlikely to improve in the second quarter."

Press Release: Dovetail Software Invites Developers to Five-Day Workshop

2008-07-02T18:19:00Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dovetail Software Invites Developers to Five-Day Workshop

Austin, TX — July 2, 2008 — Dovetail Software, a leading provider of software solutions and services for the Clarify® CRM user community, today announced open registrations for its Dovetail Developer Workshop, July 21 – July 25, for customers interested in learning how to configure, manage and customize a Dovetail CRM environment. The syllabus includes a thorough review of the base-line architecture, and many intensive programming labs where students will build significant new functionality using all the elements needed to both customize existing pages and create new ones.

The Dovetail Developer Workshop will take place at the company’s headquarters, 4807 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin, TX 78759. The first class begins at 1:00 PM, CST, Monday, July 21st and the workshop concludes at 12:00 PM, Friday July 25th. For a complete syllabus, click here. To register, contact Kathy Lacy at either (512) 610-5457 or KLacy@dovetailsoftware.com.

About Dovetail Software

Dovetail Software, was originally founded in 1995 to offer value-add solutions to customers using Clarify products. With its focus on reducing the overall cost and complexity of Clarify CRM solutions, while improving performance, reliability, and extensibility, Dovetail has gained broad industry recognition for both its products and its unequalled customer support. Today, the company offers a comprehensive suite of CRM solutions to improve the customer experience for organizations using Clarify. Dovetail is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information please visit http://www.DovetailSoftware.com.

Dovetail Developer Workshop, July 21-25

2008-07-01T18:39:00Z

Summer is here and so is our next Workshop. We're putting on a five-day event, the Dovetail Developer Workshop, July 21 through July 25 here in Austin, TX for Dovetail developers interested in learning how to configure, manage and customize a Dovetail CRM environment. Space is limited, so please register ASAP by simply sending Kathy Lacy an email, or calling (512) 610-5457.

The workshop will kick off with a review of the Dovetail CRM components and the base-line architecture. Later sessions will walk participants through the installation of each of the Dovetail CRM modules, with hands-on programming labs where students will acquire skills and develop expertise to build new functionality, which they then can utilize to extend and customize their own CRM environment. For instance, you will:

Learn how to extend your schema using SchemaEditor;

Import data using ArchiveManager;

Perform data access operations using the Dovetail SDK;

Write code that uses the API toolkits; and

Extend and customize Dovetail Agent – customize existing web pages, and create entirely new ones.

Bring your laptop. You'll need it for the many programming labs where you'll learn to add significant new functionality to your existing Clarify system.

For a complete syllabus, click here.

Customers "Going Time Warner" akin to "Going Postal"

2008-06-26T19:05:00Z

When customers are on the receiving end of bad service, it's basic human nature for them to tell at least ten of their friends. In fact, it's good for your mental health to vent your pent-up frustrations and it's also good for the economic health of those companies that listen and act upon these complaints. While it's a given that companies that fail to listen will lose customers, what happens when a customer bottles up all his anger and fails to complain?

This guy allegedly kidnapped a cable repairman and held him hostage till his cable was fixed. And then there's this 76 yr-old church-going secretary who waited two hours to talk to a manager, then came back with a hammer and in her words,

"I smashed a keyboard, knocked over a monitor ... and I went to hit the telephone. I figured, 'Hey, my telephone is screwed up, so is yours.'"

"Meet today's consumer vigilantes," writes Jena McGregor for BusinessWeek. "Even if they're not all wielding hammers, many are arming themselves with video cameras, computer keyboards, and mobile devices to launch their own personal forms of insurrection. Frustrated by the usual fix-it options—obediently waiting on hold with Bangalore, gamely chatting online with a scripted robot—more consumers are rebelling against company-prescribed service channels. [...] Consumers already pushed to the brink by evaporating home equity, job insecurity, and rising prices are more apt to snap when hit with long hold times and impenetrable phone trees."

When an employee goes off the deep end, the not-so-funny expression "going postal" is often commonly used. But what about when an irate customer snaps, shouldn't there also be an idiomatic expression?

How about "going Time Warner" in honor of the company's placing fourth for its cable customer service in MSNBC's 2007 Customer Service Hall of Shame and as well as winning the dubious distinction of appearing again in the 2008 Hall of Shame with its cable service earning eighth place and its Internet service, AOL, earning the most shameful first place dishonor.

For yet another reason to nominate Time Warner for this particular appellation, add in the lawsuit that the City of Los Angeles filed against the company for bad service and violation of their franchise agreement. In a USA Today article headlined "L.A. Sues Time Warner Cable, Claims Shoddy Service," the paper quotes the lawsuit's assertion that Time Warner's service was "so intermittent and inferior in quality that it was not much better than no service at all."

Time Warner, if you're listening, you should heed the advice of Pete Blackshaw from Ms. McGregor's article:

"There's a certain degree of extremism that's popping up, [a sense of] I'm going to get results, whatever means necessary. Companies can brush these off as being atypical, mutant consumers, or they can say there's a very important insight in [their] emotions."

And for all you irate consumers, instead of going Time Warner and taking up a hammer, use your mouse and vent instead on sites like Angie's List, Consumerist, Epinions, planetfeedback, Ratingz.net, Tripadvisor and Yelp. Mona Shaw, the 76 yr-old who hammered the property of her cable provider ended up a hero and received national media attention. Most irate customers who break the law end up like this.

Dovetail Links 2008-06-25

2008-06-25T18:19:00Z

SOA Governance Dos and Don'ts

"SOA Governance is one of those things in the world of SOA that's largely misunderstood. I can understand why, as the vendors are defining it differently. However, as SOA problem domains become more complex, typically more than 50 services, the need for SOA governance becomes even more apparent. So, how does one select a SOA Governance solution? It's really a matter of a few dos and don'ts."

The Real SOA Governance Dos and Don’ts

"Dave Linthicum had a recent post called SOA Governance Dos and Don’ts which should have been titled, 'SOA Governance Technology Selection Dos and Don’ts.' If you use that as the subject, then there’s some good advice. But once again, I have to point out that technology selection is not the first step. My definition of governance is that it is the people, policies, and processes that ensure desired behavior. SOA governance, therefore, is the people, policies, and processes the ensure desired behavior in your SOA efforts. So what are the dos and don’ts?"

Business Process - Linking Business and IT

"Similarly, software has always supported business change but it is now focused on supporting processes more holistically - applying SOA, BPM, BI and more to people, processes and information is driving better organizational efficiency. In particular this has enabled much better process management across business boundaries - managing the ecosystem - and to empowering people."

Why Business/IT Alignment is Elusive

"In practical terms, IT and business priorities must be tightly linked and spending must be matched to the company's growth strategies. There must be shared ownership and shared governance of IT projects. A lack of alignment can doom IT either to irrelevance or to failure. The funny thing is that alignment alone doesn't bring along improvement. In fact, a narrow focus on alignment reflects a fundamental misconception about the nature of IT."

The Usefulness of the Use Case?

"Use cases are a 'common denominator.' They are used to elicit requirements from business users, so use cases need to be understandable to a business user. They are used to create a picture of functionality for software developers, so use cases need to be useful to a developer. Use Cases sit in the middle as an excellent and understandable 'bridge' between these roles. However, due to the nature of the 'story' or 'flow' implicit in a use case, there is a type of requirement that may not be well suited to use cases: business rule elicitation."

Common Sense Customer Service and Support

2008-06-19T14:19:00Z

It's common sense that during tough economic times the smarter enterprises redouble their customer service and support efforts -- or so you would think. Customer service, it's sad to say, is not a priority for most businesses, according to new research out of the U.K. The Ken Blanchard Companies found that even though good customer service is an essential competitive advantage in a downturn, only 10% of businesses reported customer service as important challenge in 2008 and, "only 38% recognized it as any kind of priority at all."

Blanchard’s Peter Brent described these low figures as shocking:

"It never ceases to amaze me how many companies are perfectly prepared to let shoddy customer service continue to the point where their customers walk, rather than using service to differentiate themselves from the competition. When you consider the huge marketing and advertising costs of recruiting a new customer, and the fact we know companies who provide good customer service do better in times of economic slowdown, it really is unacceptably bad business practice for any organization to turn a blind eye to the need to invest continuously in customer service initiatives."

This inconceivable lack of focus on the customer is one of the many reasons Stephen Lynn, Dovetail Software's CEO, calls customer service and support The Forgotten Space. And if you think forgetting about the customer is just a problem in the U.K., you'd be wrong. In fact, a survey back in May by Dimension Data showed that contact centers across the globe are "moving entirely in the wrong direction" over the last ten years with the percentage of contact centers possessing a 360 degree view of their customers dropping by, "15 percent from 1997 to 2007, with only 34 percent of contact centers now having this comprehensive look at its consumers."

However, things are not entirely dire as long as there are men like Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON). Mr. Adebayo recently warned the Nigerian telecom industry that, "operators solely focussed on the bottom line of revenues beyond customer satisfaction and not doing the right investment in empowering contact center agents with the authority to make on-the-spot customer complaint resolution will continue to see an erosion of their client base."

Mr. Adebayo also pointed out some interesting facts that every enterprise operating call centers should pay attention to:

A single bad contact center experience can have an exponential ripple effect

Almost 25% of all callers abandoned services solely based on their experience with the company's customer care representatives

76% of customers who had bad service experiences shared it with others

An unhappy customer will tell 10 people about their experience; these 10 people will each tell another 5 people, meaning 50 people will hear about a bad customer service experience

Meanwhile, 94% of callers with positive customer service experiences said they would retain their service

"Customer loyalty can be measured solely by asking one question: does your customer recommend your network to his friends and acquaintances?"

"A subscriber who says they would recommend a company is eight times more likely to be a repeat subscriber than one who is merely satisfied."

All of Mr. Adebayo's points are just common sense, right? Sadly, as the U.K. study shows, only 10% of businesses consider customer service and support a vital part of their operations.

Dovetail Links 2008-06-18

2008-06-18T17:24:00Z

CRM and the Enterprise 2.0 Challenge

"What is the potential opportunity for Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise space? A whopping US$4.6 billion by 2013, according to a tally Forrester Research arrives at in a report released earlier this year. Spending on Web-based enterprise technologies, including social networking, RSS (really simple syndication), blogs, wikis, mashups, podcasting and widgets will grow by 43 percent each year for the next five years, the firm predicts. The customer relationship management industry is a natural supplier for this next tech evolution."

True Enterprise Architecture

"The value that a company can achieve with Enterprise Architecture (EA) by applying it to IT is just a fraction of its true potential. However, to reap the true benefits of EA may - in extreme cases - mean calling it something else."

Customer Satisfaction Is Needed To Maintain Trust

"A dissatisfied customer is not a lost cause. According to a recent Harvard study, an unhappy customer can be turned into a repeat customer 80 percent of the time if the business takes action and provides effective customer service."

Mobile CRM: Beyond the BlackBerry

"Sheryl Kingstone, an analyst who follows CRM and other applications for the Yankee Group, says that her company’s surveys show strong demand for mobile CRM in the enterprise, but only if vendors get it right. Mobile applications, including CRM, have to be rethought and not just dropped onto a mobile device, she says."

Six Support Issues That Keep Execs Awake at Night

"The Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA) has released a groundbreaking white paper outlining the 6 hardest-hitting issues facing support executives today. The SSPA worked closely with customer service and support executives across multiple technology-related industries to identify these key obstacles to success..." Download PDF, registration required.