For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Help Desk Is On The Critical Path For Pandemic/Disaster Recovery

Oft-Overlooked Group Is Key To Business Continuity

by Evelyn Hubbert, Chip Gliedman, October 22, 2009

The designation of the H1N1 flu virus as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) should, once again, prompt organizations to revisit their business continuity planning processes. However, recent conversations with Forrester clients reveal a . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Yola.com Achieves Customer Service Scalability Goal Using Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Chip Gliedman, Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

Yola.com is an online Web site builder that allows anyone to easily create, publish, and host a Web site. Founded in 2007 on the premise that Web site creation should be easy if publishing tools focused less on the technology and more on the user experience, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: NetApp Marketing Takes Ownership Of Its Community Initiative To Ensure Success

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Chip Gliedman, Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., September 28, 2009

NetApp is an industry-leading provider of storage and data management solutions. It has a presence in more than 100 countries; thousands of customers and a network of more than 2,200 partners; and a culture of innovation, technology leadership, and customer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Infusionsoft Improves Customer Experience Via Social Media

Best Practices In Customer Service Social Media

by Natalie L. Petouhoff, Ph.D., Chip Gliedman, August 14, 2009

Infusionsoft is a Web-based provider of marketing automation software aimed at the true small business with fewer than 25 employees. Infusionsoft wanted to leverage a community of users of its products to simultaneously reduce costs and improve customer . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Quantifying Technology Investment Risk

A Component Of The Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Methodology

by Chip Gliedman, April 10, 2009

The process of risk measurement has been confounding decision-makers within IT for some time, resulting in the use of weak qualitative analysis that only loosely ties to project outcomes. But using the basic financial community equivalency of "risk equals . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: Implementing Online Chat

by Chip Gliedman, March 9, 2009

As companies move to improve their online customer experience, many more are using text-based chat to better engage visitors to their site. But the customer service organization, in conjunction with the Web site designers and customer experience professionals, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: EarthLink Successfully Implements And Integrates Online Chat

by Chip Gliedman, March 9, 2009

Firms can use online chat to drive quicker and more effective interactions with existing and new customers. Forrester spoke with leading Internet service provider EarthLink to find out how online chat simultaneously increased customer satisfaction and . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Valuing And Communicating IT Flexibility

A Component Of The Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Methodology

by Chip Gliedman, February 2, 2009

Rapid business changes and future business uncertainties create the need for flexibility, scalability, and adaptability within the IT infrastructure. However, as such investments rarely produce direct business benefits, the business case for their adoption . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Trends 2009: More Tech Choices For Customer Service Improvement

by Chip Gliedman, January 29, 2009

The convergence of many trends — both internal and external to client organizations — portend a dynamic year for customer service. Tough economic times are forcing companies to tighten their relationships with customers and prospects. Fortunately, new . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Total Economic Impact™ Methodology: A Foundation For Sound Technology Investments

by Chip Gliedman, August 4, 2008

Underlying any investment is the ever-present question of "What am I going to get for my money?" To answer this question, Forrester developed the Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) methodology. TEI provides a rigorous cost and benefit analysis framework . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Service Desk Management Tools, Q2 2008

Axios, BMC, CA, HP, IBM, And Infra Lead For Large Enterprises

by Chip Gliedman, April 7, 2008

In Forrester's 96-criteria evaluation of service desk management tools vendors, we found that BMC Software's Remedy IT Service Management, CA, HP, and IBM lead the pack for large enterprises because of the depth and breadth of their offerings that integrate . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Topic Overview: Help Desk/Service Desk

by Chip Gliedman, April 7, 2008

Technology has become an integral underpinning of virtually all business interactions. However, just as a smoothly running infrastructure can enable business users to succeed, flaws in this technology or training can impede business progress. To support . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The ROI Of Interactive Chat

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Big Benefits Of Proactive Chat

by Chip Gliedman, February 4, 2008

Too many companies sit passively by while prospects on the verge of buying abandon their online shopping carts or applications, potentially never to return. Smart organizations are evaluating the merits of adding chat and other interactive functions to . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Specialized Customer Service Solutions Fill Gaps In Suite Functionality

by Chip Gliedman, September 24, 2007

To adequately meet customer service requirements, companies must address myriad channels, requirements, and needs. Forrester Research recently evaluated key vendors with broad solution portfolios for customer service and customer interaction management. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

SugarCRM Is A Strong Performer In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

SugarCRM provides an open source foundation that firms can extend and customize to fit business needs. The customer support module of the SugarCRM suite provides basic case management, bug tracking, and problem escalations. Sugar provides a free edition . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

SageCRM Is A Strong Performer In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

SageCRM provides basic customer service capabilities across phone, email, and self-service channels. For organizations with more sales than service needs, SageCRM can provide a basic infrastructure to record, route, and resolve most customer service interactions. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Amdocs Is A Strong Performer In Process-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

The Amdocs customer service solution is built upon the foundation established by industry pioneer Clarify. Amdocs' tools for contact centers, phone agents, and field service technicians, especially in the company's core competency of telecom and media, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Infor Is A Strong Performer In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

The acquisitions of Epiphany and MAPICS provided the foundation for the customer service and field service capabilities offered by Infor. The products provide sound support for most customer service functions, with particular strengths in integrating . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

KANA Software Leads In Interaction-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

KANA, a best-of-breed eService provider for more than a decade, continues to evolve the breadth and depth of its suite. Originally an email response management vendor, KANA has evolved into a robust, capable customer interaction solution provider. The . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Microsoft Leads In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which delivers sufficient customer service capabilities at a low cost, has emerged as a leader among customer record-centric products. Although not as functionally rich in core customer service capabilities, Microsoft compensates . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Pegasystems Leads In Process-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

Pegasystems Customer Process Manager (CPM), one of the early entrants in the business process management (BPM) tool market, has a leading offering for organizations looking to automate customer service processes. Pegasystems' workflow and business-process-driven . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Talisma Leads In Interaction-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

Talisma tracks all phone, email, chat, knowledgebase, and email interactions for display in the unified customer history. Service-level agreements (SLAs) and entitlement are supported. Interaction records are tracked, but Talisma's CIM module does not . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Oracle Siebel CRM Leads In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

Oracle is intent on sustaining the Siebel leadership position in the CRM market. The Oracle Siebel CRM customer service suite is especially strong in B2B customer service environments, where its full relationship management capabilities can be exploited. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

KNOVA Is A Strong Performer In Interaction-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

KNOVA's strengths in knowledge management reflect its ServiceWare heritage. Its ability to fine-tune the customer experience with microsites based on external customer metadata is the hallmark of the product. KNOVA is especially appropriate for some of . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Oracle's E-Business Suite Is A Strong Performer In Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007

by Chip Gliedman, May 24, 2007

Oracle's E-Business Suite (EBS) has a full-featured customer service application, especially appropriate for companies using Oracle's other applications for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). The product inherits . . .