E-Commerce News: Leadership

Sage's Swenson: One Year Down
May 27, 2009

A lot happened at Insights, the Sage partner meeting held in Nashville earlier this month, though not necessarily at the press release level. I was there and got a sense of change happening. It was the first anniversary of new CEO Sue Swenson coming on board and our first opportunity to see the imprint she is making on the company.

Project Success vs. Fear of Leading
May 12, 2009

Mission-critical IT investments are inherently risky, even with a certified project management professional in place to guide the project. Factors like unrealistic timelines and poor planning can certainly jeopardize project success -- but could these factors be symptoms of a larger issue? Perhaps the root cause for project failure lies in an inability to lead projects.

Poised to Pounce on IPO: Q&A With SugarCRM CEO John Roberts
April 20, 2009

Around the time when Software as a Service was pre-empting the on-premise vendors, SugarCRM burst onto the CRM scene with its own disruptive business mode: open source for CRM. The build-it-yourself model wasn't for everybody, of course -- or so many thought at the time. As SugarCRM continues to refine its code and product lineup, it is attracting customers that once would have opted for a packaged or SaaS product.

RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte: Big Bang CRM Has Fizzled Out
September 25, 2008

Like many people, RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte is viewing the Wall Street meltdown with a combination of uncertainty and cautious hope that the turmoil has reached its peak. In one respect, though, he feels like he has been down this road before. RightNow survived the dot-com bust, which he now views with a glass-half-full mentality.

10 Reasons to Adopt a Social Networking Business Strategy
September 15, 2008

Get beyond the fascination and addictive tendency of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking apps, and underscoring all of these new approaches to connecting, communicating and collaborating with others is a revolutionary new way of communicating with your channel partners as well.

The Long Wait for Mobile CRM: Are We There Yet?
September 09, 2008

CRM users have been waiting for a viable mobile CRM market ecosystem to develop for years. To be sure, the industry tantalizes users with news that this or that vendor or offering or solution will herald mainstream application of this technology. For the most part, though, it hasn't happened yet, said Yankee Group analyst Sheryl Kingstone, even though the need is huge.

Beyond CRM 2.0
June 25, 2008

Last week, and for many other weeks, I discussed CRM 2.0, but today I am thinking more about the world beyond 2.0. Maybe it will be CRM 3.0, or maybe some wise guy like Paul Greenberg will change the numbering and call it "CRM 20xx," who knows? My reading and research tells me that there will be a need for something else.

SAP's Product Communities: Taking Cues From Open Source
June 12, 2008

Despite repeated pleas of "Do you hear me now?" from customers the world over, few companies have done much more than turn a deaf ear. As a result, consumer frustration is at an all-time high while brand loyalty has hit an all-time low. The technologies that were supposed to open lines of communication across many channels merely cut the line on all conduits.

SAP Anoints Apotheker With Co-CEO Appointment
April 02, 2008

SAP has signaled its intention to hand the leadership reins to board member and deputy chief executive Leo Apotheker, naming him as co-CEO to serve alongside current chief Henning Kagermann, whose contract expires in 13 months. SAP has traditionally groomed its chief executives in this manner. Kagermann and his predecessor Hasso Plattner both served stints as co-CEOs before taking the helm.

The Perception Game
March 05, 2008

The way we think of ourselves is not always the way others see us. There's nothing revolutionary about that idea -- it's common sense. What's interesting to me is the way it plays out in business. Not long ago, I was trying to help a client company try to figure out how to compete more effectively with its biggest opponent in the market.

The Rise of the CCO
February 07, 2008

The CTO position has grown in visibility over the last 10 years and become more closely tied to that of the CEO. It is understandable, then, that many customer advocates are wondering when -- or whether -- the CCO, another relatively new C-level executive position, will make that leap.

A Future Without Software Maintenance Fees
February 01, 2008

Software as a Service, service-oriented architecture and Web 2.0 technology are fundamentally changing the way people and organizations work, enabling greater degrees of collaboration and restructuring everything from business and operational processes to the way software is licensed and priced, according to recently released research from Forrester Research.

RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte: Power Shifting to Consumers
December 31, 2007

It is difficult to avoid the talk of a potential recession in 2008. Even firms whose product set or market niche are well suited for tight times don't like the thought of slow sales and bleak economic forecasts. RightNow Technologies, an established Software as a Service CRM vendor, is one of those companies.

SugarCRM CEO John Roberts: On-Demand Dynamics Are Changing
December 28, 2007

John Roberts, chairman and CEO of SugarCRM, is no stranger to the proprietary software that delivers most of the CRM functionality in the market today. The Washington, D.C.-native moved to Silicon Valley in his twenties and spent 12 years in the "trenches" as he puts it, developing products for enterprise vendors.

MS Dynamics CRM's Brad Wilson: User Adoption Is Industry's Biggest Problem
December 27, 2007

Now general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Brad Wilson's career trajectory has allowed him to deliver CRM to the market from many different vantage points -- and levels of resources. Wilson began at HP as a database software architect, moving into product management and marketing after a few years. He then moved to a startup company that was eventually acquired by one of the early CRM providers, E.piphany.

BlueRoads CEO Shinya Akamine: Out With PRM, In With POM
October 05, 2007

Channel partner opportunity management firm BlueRoads announced on Sept. 17 a new lead referral module designed to help vendors gain strategic insight into the management of better sales channel yield. The new software module captures new referrals from a vendor's extended partner community and harnesses previously untapped sales opportunities.