CRM

Cloud

Microsoft challenges Salesforce with emphasis on greater out-of-box ease of use with new Dynamics 365 applications

September 18, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Microsoft challenges Salesforce with emphasis on greater out-of-box ease of use with new Dynamics 365 applications
Microsoft previewed two major components of the October 2018 release for Dynamics 365, with three new AI applications and two mixed reality business applications, with a strong emphasis on their being easier to deploy and use than their competition.

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Artificial Intelligence

Zoho bringing Zia AI tool into Zoho One suite highlights major upgrades

July 31, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zoho bringing Zia AI tool into Zoho One suite highlights major upgrades
Other enhancements include a new unified dashboard and unified search feature for all 40 applications in Zoho One, as well as the 40th app – Backstage – an event management solution that is also sold separately.

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Software

Clari expands visibility into early stage sales accounts with new module for machine learning sales platform

March 8, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Clari expands visibility into early stage sales accounts with new module for machine learning sales platform
Clari Team Activity provides visibility into additional prospects who are not yet considered as pipeline sales opportunities, enabling sales managers to deal with potential problems in real time. and funneling additional data back into a company’s CRM system.

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Mobility

New Catalyst hyper-customization platform in Zoho CRM release likely to interest partners

February 28, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Catalyst hyper-customization platform in Zoho CRM release likely to interest partners
Zoho CRM also enhances its Zia conversational AI for sales teams, with a voice capability, as well as other improvements its predictive AI and lead enrichment.

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Cloud

New Calabrio VP of Strategic Partnerships reworking channel strategy to expand ecosystem presence

February 5, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Calabrio VP of Strategic Partnerships reworking channel strategy to expand ecosystem presence
While Calabrio has been expanding its cloud presence with new partnerships with Contact Centre-as-a-Service providers, they are also leveraging their strategic platform and reseller partners and looking to expand into new kinds of platform markets.

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Cloud

Vena adds Revenue Performance Management to portfolio

December 20, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on Vena adds Revenue Performance Management to portfolio
Vena expands beyond its corporate performance management software base with a new offering that addresses a key customer pain point, and which the company believes will significantly increase their bottom line.

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Cloud

myTrailhead platform delights Salesforce partners at Dreamforce

November 9, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on myTrailhead platform delights Salesforce partners at Dreamforce
While Trailhead was created in 2014 specifically to teach Salesforce skills in a gamified manner, myTrailhead, scheduled to be available in 2018, is envisioned as becoming a tool to impart all corporate learning.

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Cloud

Salesforce, Google extend partnership with multi-faceted collaboration

November 6, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on Salesforce, Google extend partnership with multi-faceted collaboration
Salesforce and Google have announced a major extension to their existing partnership, which will see much deeper integrations. It will not, however, place Google in a preferred position above AWS as a public cloud provider. […]
Cloud

SugarCRM moves up release cadence, introduces shareable dashboards in Fall ’17 release

October 25, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on SugarCRM moves up release cadence, introduces shareable dashboards in Fall ’17 release
The new release of the SugarCRM flagship product also modernizes the Email module and lets users drill down into the dashboards for more insights.

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Cloud

New FinancialForce CMO sees channel as one of keys to rapid growth

March 16, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on New FinancialForce CMO sees channel as one of keys to rapid growth
Fred Studer joins FinancialForce, which has close ties with Salesforce, but is a separate company. Studer thinks the company is now poised for its explosive growth stage.

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Cloud

Masergy sees new Cloud Contact Center solution as entrée to enterprise

February 13, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on Masergy sees new Cloud Contact Center solution as entrée to enterprise
The new offering complements Masergy’s established Unified Communication as a Service solution, and may also prompt some customers using that solution to switch to this one.

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Cloud

Salesforce-focused solution provider Nubik turning new opportunities into rapid expansion

October 7, 2016 Mark Cox 2
In the last year, Montreal-based Nubik has both been deepening its relationship with Salesforce, and aggressively expanding into new markets.

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Channel Programs

Salesforce stresses that rebranding of ISV program articulates partnering philosophy

October 5, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Salesforce stresses that rebranding of ISV program articulates partnering philosophy
Salesforce is now calling its ISV partners App Innovation partners, and explained in some detail why new conceptions of customer value make the distinction important.

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Cloud

AI and collaboration innovations beef up next-gen Salesforce Customer Success Platform

October 4, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on AI and collaboration innovations beef up next-gen Salesforce Customer Success Platform
The new enhancements come from the internal work of Salesforce Einstein, on the AI side, and the recent acquisition of collaboration vendor Quip.

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Software

Ontario Chicken Farmers pluck SAP to resolve growing complexity of their market needs

May 19, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Ontario Chicken Farmers pluck SAP to resolve growing complexity of their market needs
The OCF found that in addition to resolving massively increased complexity in market allocation issues stemming from the growing segmentation of the market, implementing the SAP solution gave them the benefits of CRM for the first time, and enabled them to realize major benefits from going digital.

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Cloud

Toronto solution provider TechBlocks chosen for Microsoft IoT Red Carpet program

February 10, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Toronto solution provider TechBlocks chosen for Microsoft IoT Red Carpet program
TechBlocks’ experience with the Azure platform and their having established a presence in IoT solutions leads Microsoft to pick them as a go-to IoT partner in Canada.

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Big Data

Inside SAP Anywhere

November 24, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Inside SAP Anywhere
SAP’s new HANA-powered CRM solution for SMBs, which will hit general availability in both the U.S. and Canada in 2016, is drawing lots of interest. ChannelBuzz takes a look at why.

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Cloud

SAP Anywhere hits pilot stage in US, with Canada to follow next year

November 2, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on SAP Anywhere hits pilot stage in US, with Canada to follow next year
The front-office suite, which was announced in the spring, has just reached general availability in China and was originally going to be limited to China for some time. However increased demand and competitive pressure have led SAP to change its plans.

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Cloud

SAP looks to redefine CRM with three new hybris offerings

September 15, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on SAP looks to redefine CRM with three new hybris offerings
SAP pledges a rethinking of customer engagement with new three SAP hybris offerings, but at this point they are still a futures offering, being announced later this year and early next.

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Cloud

PSA provider Vorex stresses simplicity in Winter 2015 release

March 12, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on PSA provider Vorex stresses simplicity in Winter 2015 release
Brand new features include Outlook Calendar integration and Quickbooks Online integration, with integration of more accounting software on the roadmap.

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