Every week, we’ll recount some of the best buzz around CRM and data integration. We’ll review our favorite articles and share the most pressing findings or key takeaways from each.<\/p>\n
CIO suicide and the fight against conventional wisdom<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> Michael examines Bob Evans, Oracle’s senior VP of communications, recent article Career Suicide and the CIO: 4 Deadly New Threats<\/em><\/a> – neatly summarized in Michael’s piece. <\/p>\n Michael’s key takeaway: to avoid CIO suicide, the CIO must become a business leader equal to his C-level counterparts.<\/p>\n An ExactTarget Case Study: Volvo’s Integrated CRM and Email Marketing Success<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> Consider the results: customers who place an order larger than $10,000 are passed to Volvo’s marketing automation system and begin receiving weekly ‘Elite Customer’ emails. Not surprisingly, these targeted messages are shown to increase sales – generating estimated annual revenues of $1 million. <\/p>\n Salesforce.com chief scientist on how and why the cloud is here to stay<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> CRM Investment on Upswing<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> One key finding is the rising adoption levels among small-to-medium size companies. To date, adoption had largely been driven by enterprise-level organizations.<\/p>\n This is a great read – I’d encourage everyone to check out the full Enterprise Apps Today article.<\/p>\n
\nBy: Michael Krigsman (@mkrigsman<\/a>)
\nWhy do IT project failure rates near 70%? Michael Krigsman, expert on IT project failures, believes that project success demands deep communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders. But this doesn’t often happen. For CIOs, the evolving challenge is to fully understand the company’s business strategy and be a beacon for change management.<\/p>\n
\nBy: Andre Bourque (@SocialMktgFella<\/a>)
\nAndre highlights Volvo Construction Equipment’s sales success after turning big data into tiny insights. Volvo Construction Equipment has implemented an integrated data approach, specifically by integrating email service provider ExactTarget with their Microsoft Dynamics CRM, relying on Scribe Software for the integration component.<\/p>\n
\nBy: Derrick Harris
\nWhen JP Rangaswami, Salesforce.com’s Chief Scientist, is asked about cloud adoption – how does he respond? He believes we so thoroughly take the cloud for granted, ‘we recognize [it] today more by its absence.’ We’d encourage you to check out the video recording of his session, available on GigaOM.<\/p>\n
\nBy: Ann All (@all1ann<\/a>)
\nAnn shares the results from a recent Computer Economics survey, fielding responses of CRM adoption and investment. Both were found to be on the rise. Unsurprisingly, adoption rates vary by industry – with service organizations (business, professional and technical services) leading the pack with a 61% adoption rate, following next are financial services (50%), manufacturers\/distributors (44%), public sector organizations (31%) and health care organizations at 24%.<\/p>\n