Whether you like it or not, integration of a CRM to an email solution is
key. Doesn't matter if it is M$ Dynamics and Outlook or SF.com and
Domino/Lotus Notes. IT is CONSTANTLY struggling to get folks who use
the CRM to keep it current with the content of email both inbound and
outbound. Windoze copy and paste just isn't enough. As companies
transition accounts between and around reps, they need as much content
captured as possible. Serious email integration helps the data
retention concept and eliminates the need for redundant information
stored in the mail client (eDiscovery!).
Now, if it only worked that well... :-)
Regards,
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Nathan Andelin
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 2:10 PM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] CRM on Demand
Google and SalesForce.com are shooting for that approach:
http://www.salesforce.com/products/google/apps/gmail.jsp
Thanks for the link. It struck me to read about sending Gmail messages
from Salesforce. It parallels the approach I took with my recently
completed email client.
I subscribe to this WEB400 mailing list under my Yahoo email account,
but view and respond to messages using an email client which I wrote,
running under my portal, on my server. I just cross-reference my
portal user profile with my Yahoo email account, and it appears to
others that I'm sending and receiving via Yahoo.
http://www.radile.com/rdweb/temp/cml140.html
If you look at the email headers on mail received, you can see the
message being sent from my server. I just bypass Yahoo's blaring
advertisements, and sub-par performance.
That's not really a high degree of integration. It's mostly appearance,
to a casual observer. I'm not sure if Microsoft Dynamics is more
integrated with Outlook, or if it's just that IE is embedded in Outlook.
Integration with Outlook and Exchange is a talking point that's getting
a lot of emphasis from Microsoft. They even go so far as saying that
Salesforce is losing business to Dynamics because of it. So Salesforce
returns with a message about its integration with Gmail. Actual design
is often lost in the marketing message.
One type of integration that really makes sense to me with respect to a
CRM package is to link contact addresses with a service like Google
maps, so you can easily visualize where a contact is located.
I'm still not sure where XML fits into the mix.
Nathan.
midrange.com
