Re: CRM on Demand

From: Mike Pavlak
There is still all that data cooped up inside ... inbound mail.
That information just sits the salesperson's email client until
she decides to copy it or forward it to the CRM.

I'm not familiar with how Exchange works, but IBM i stores inbound mail in folders under "/qtcptmm/mail/". So how about writing a program to scan messages and check "From:" headers specifically. If a message is from a known client, then add a reference to a CRM table, before it's actually delivered to the named recipient? Don't let it fall through the cracks, so to speak.

The reality is that there will always be adopters and those
who resist.

Are you referring to people who resist using a company CRM system? I have mixed feelings about that. I personally have a hard time with executives who use internal systems to keep subordinates under their thumb, for example. I tend to side with so-called subordinates, in that case. On the other hand, it's pretty clear that sharing data and applications leads to synergies and efficiencies that benefit all interested parties. People need to find an appropriate balance.

I'm not sure how bad the problem is, but it was something that came up in the SalesForce and MS Dynamics presentations, so it's evidently a problem.

Nathan.