In discussing customer relationship management (CRM) solutions with many marketing professionals I tend to think that marketing is the most overlooked component of the software.  Not only is the software component overlooked but the idea of marketing seems to not be foremost in the minds of a lot of “Marketing” professionals.  Many individuals whom I speak to say “we don’t market our product, it sells itself” or “we really don’t have a strong marketing department”.

Here are the 6 steps to developing a Marketing Strategy:

Market Product Person Value Proposition Action Analysis For a complete explanation visit our articles section.

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During a Supply Chain workshop with a client this past week, the subject of Firming requirements on a Supplier Schedule became a hot topic of discussion, and I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss this in general terms in this week's blog. In this client’s environment, the supplier is an intercompany supplier that is based in Asia and is supplying its US-based sister company. This particular client is a Tier 1 automotive supplier and they are using Supplier Schedules and Customer Schedules to communicate demand and execute shipments between the companies. Historically, the Asia-based supplying company required a 3-week Firm period (not inclusive of shipping lead time), as this ensured 100% compliance to schedule. The main driver for this requirement was the fact that responsibility for premium freight charges between Asia and the US was historically a very parochial issue. During the workshop, a value stream mapping exercise illustrated the negative impacts of the firm period on the stability of the supply...

Web Testimonials Coming Soon!

Several of Logan Consulting's loyal clients were generous enough to provide us with a video testimonial at the Spring QAD Midwest User Group meeting in Chicago.  Return to www.logan-consulting.com periodically to see what other clients are saying about the quality of service they have received from Logan Consulting!

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Provider is the monthly magazine for long term care professionals. Their exclusive affiliation with the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living gives Provider inside access to the people who drive change in long term care. With their finger on the pulse of the profession, they deliver current and accurate information that readers rely on to act on upcoming legislation, meet regulations, deliver quality care and improve operating efficiencies.

Provider just released the 2008 Provider Software Supplier Guide.  For the first time Cornerstone Solutions has made the list of software suppliers to the long term care industry.

Click here for the entire list.

 

Cornerstone Solutions is proud to announce our partnership with CareVoyant.  Cornerstone Solutions is a provider of consulting and implementation services for Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Microsoft Dynamics GP completes the financial protion of the total package that is needed by nursing homes, long term care facilities and home care.

For the past twelve years, CareVoyant (formerly known as InfoSys, Inc.) has embraced technological change and seized opportunities to develop integrated healthcare applications across vertical and horizontal markets. These efforts have resulted in comprehensive and integrated solutions that have transformed clinical, financial and administrative workflow for a wide range of ambulatory and post-acute healthcare providers. CareVoyant's initial success was driven not by marketplace paradigms, but by early-adopter clients who quickly recognized and acted to take advantage of the company's client-centric development philosophy. These early clients saw potential in the original product's...

An excellent use of SharePoint is process automation....

In my next series of blogs, I want to explore the business issues and business processes involved in the annual cost formulation process. I will discuss the following:


1. Budget Planning and Annual Forecasting.
2. Burden and Overhead versus Variable and Fixed Costs.
3. Direct vs. Indirect Costs.
4. Understand your Profit and Loss Statement
5. What is SG&A and does it belong in my standard cost?
6. The blocking and tackling of cost formulation.
7. How should I recognize write up or write down of inventory from my annual cost roll?


Although the above concepts are ERP software independent, I will discuss the business concept in relation to the QAD MFG/PRO software.

There has been a fair amount of talk in the market of late about Microsoft’s new hosted version of CRM called Microsoft CRM Live. 

salesforce.com has decided to play dirty by publishing factual but incomplete information about Microsoft’s CRM R&D budgets.  They state that Microsoft’s total R&D budget for Xbox is greater than that of CRM.  And their findings are true.  What they forgot to state in the numbers is the total market share of each respective product and salesforce.com’s own R&D budget.

The video game console business is a $30 billion dollar a year business.  CRM market in 2006 was $12.6 Billion, of which approximately 37% will be from licenses.  So the entire CRM software market will split about 4.5B in revenue.  30 billion is a much bigger market than 4.6 billion.  It makes sense to spend more money on a larger market than a smaller one.

What does salesforce.com spend on their R&D?  saleforce.com spent about 9.8 million in 2005, 7.0 million in 2004 and 4.6 million in 2003 (saleforce.com Annual Report).

What does Microsoft spend?  Years 2003, 2004, and 2005, research and development expense was $6.60 billion,...