CRM in Financial Services: It's Time to Walk the Walk

 Demand Chain Management Solutions Take Hold With Selling Organizings, According To New Aberdeen Report

 Information Retrieval Software Expanding Reach, Role, says New Delphi Group Report

 Survey Uncovers Significant Weaknesses in I-FM Solution Provider/Customer Relationship

 B2C Shopping Remains Modest in European Union

 KANA Study Reveals Increased Demand for Web Self-Service in the the Retail Industry

 Active eIRM Security Tools Help Detect and Avoid These New Forms of Electronic Assault

 IVR Sales Down as Market Reinvents Itself

 Interactive/Electronic Sales to Reach $36 Billion in 2002

 Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Server Market Experienced Flat Growth in Second Quarter of 2002

 Data Distribution, Migration, and Repurposing Software Market Will Remain Steady Over the Next Five Years

 Demand for Enterprise Storage to Grow at 90% Through 2004

 Networked Call Center Market Set to Grow

 AMR Research Signals the Death of Budgeting as we Know It

 CRM Initiatives Spur Demand for a Host of Customer Service Technologies

Demand Chain Management Solutions Take Hold With Selling Organizings, According To New Aberdeen Report

Suppliers, manufacturers, service providers and distributors that have realized efficiencies in their supply chains - but that have struggled to gain similar returns from classic customer relationship management (CRM) solutions - are now increasingly embracing demand chain management (DCM) technologies to cut costs and optimize sales processes, according to a new report by Aberdeen Group, a leading provider of technology market consulting and research.

"The more widespread adoption of Internet technologies, combined with the challenging sales environment stemming from the lingering global recession has caused selling organizations to heighten their focus on the demand side of the value chain," said Kent Allen, Aberdeen's research director for sell-side and demand chain management technologies and the author of the report What Works: Sell Side / Demand Chain Best Practices - Empowering the Multichannel Buyer. "Leading companies in numerous vertical sectors are now deploying sell-side applications that automate processes throughout the demand chain. In doing so, they are speeding up cycle times, eliminating redundant activities, extending market reach, and most importantly, enabling buyers of all shapes and sizes with more choices and with greater input into, and control over, relevant business processes."

The sell-side e-commerce space has traditionally included an evolving set of applications that help suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, distributors, and a variety of resellers leverage the Internet as an effective channel through which to reach and educate customers about a company and the value of its products and services.

Demand chain management technologies not only guide the online selling process from interest to order, but also commit to the fulfillment of orders as well as the management of post-sale processes.

Aberdeen's report profiles demand chain technologies that are improving a wide range of sell-side business processes, including brand and product information management,
merchandising, order management and post sales/after market replenishment.

The report also provides an overview of 12 innovative selling organizations that have demonstrated industry best practices in deploying applications that manage customer-facing processes throughout the demand chain - efforts that often serve as a "technology bridge" that connect supply chain management (SCM) applications and classic CRM technologies.

In terms of adoption of Internet technologies among both large and small companies, Aberdeen found that today, for example, 86% of Staples Contract's new B-to-B customers conduct a percentage of their commerce activities online - and the company expects the online channel to drive 70% of all orders by the end of 2002.

Similarly, it found that WayToBe, a small company that provides apparel and merchandise to companies like McDonald's, has decreased development efforts associated with both print and electronic catalogs by 30% to 35% - and that this streamlined process for catalog circulation has boosted revenue by conservative estimates of 10%.

In terms of benefits realized through the use of order management solutions, Aberdeen found that Day-Brite Capri Omega, for example, has reduced its order to ship process flow from 24 hours to less than an hour through the use of DCM solutions. And Staples Contract has generated a 30% to 35% reduction in the return of goods bought online for a total dollar savings is in the eight-digit range.

"What these detailed, business process-specific case studies reveal is that IT suppliers of sell-side solutions are collectively shaking off the recent 'sophomore slump' that followed what one could consider a flashy, somewhat over hyped rookie season," Mr. Allen continued. "Even in light of the continued sluggishness of technology buying, our practice expects to see accelerated adoption among end user organizations of customer-facing, Web-based technologies that sit between supply chain management and classic CRM suite applications and automate demand-driven business processes."