We sat down with Anthony Lye, senior vice president of CRM at Oracle, to discuss the company’s latest SaaS version with CRM On Demand Release 16 and its strategy around providing social networking-like collaboration tools as separate CRM applications.

Lye also discusses some of the key areas where he sees a difference between Oracle’s products and Salesforce.com’s.

In this 20-minute podcast, listeners will learn about:

• Oracle’s latest SaaS CRM releases.

• An explanation of the multiple deployment options Oracle provides and what customers are asking for now.

• How customers are deploying both SaaS and premise-based CRM systems.

• The strategy behind offering Social CRM as separate, standalone modules.

• How Oracle is using social networking internally.

We sat down with Lior Arussy, president of the Strativity Group, to discuss how organizations can keep focused on the customer experience amidst these challenges.

In this 17-minute podcast, listeners will hear:

• Advice for staying focused on the customer experience despite budget cuts.
• Lessons that can be learned from companies like Dell which emerged from the last economic downturn stronger, thanks to the customer experience.
• The proper customer metrics to be focused on during a recession.
• How outsourcing and self-service applications factor into both cost cutting and the customer experience.

This isn’t the first downturn Greg Gianforte has seen. Gianforte, who founded RightNow Technologies in 1997, emerged from the last bust with a public company and in this podcast shares some of his thoughts on the current economy, what it means for RightNow and its customers.

Bozeman, Mont.-based RightNow, which offers Software as a Service (SaaS) CRM and has its roots in eService software, may be better positioned for a downturn than other software companies.

Gianforte has also been on the road visiting customers since January and shares what they’ve been telling him and how their priorities have changed in recent months.

In this 16-minute podcast listeners will hear:

• The motivation for Gianforte’s visits and how he’s found the time to conduct them

• What he’s learned from RightNow customers

• What prospective customers are interested in during the downturn

• Details on RightNow’s latest release

• What unified communications means for the contact center

For more on SaaS CRM and contact center software:

See a demo of RightNow software

Learn why organizations are paying greater attention to their SaaS CRM SLAs

Transforming an organization’s customer service operations is never an easy task, particularly for one as old as Loomis AB, which got its start picking up and guarding money from banks via stagecoach. Yet, as the Houston-based vendor told us, it can be done.

Wayne Sadin, CIO of Loomis, joined the company to help make the transition, which included swapping out Salesforce.com for Oracle CRM On Demand, adding Oracle’s Contact Center Anywhere and tying it all back into the Oracle E-Business Suite.

In this 20-minute podcast, appropriate for both business and IT professionals, Sadin explains:

• How he overcame his skepticism about software as a service

• How Loomis makes accountability to customers a priority throughout the organization

• Loomis’s method of distributing customer information through its Oracle system

• More about the organization’s data governance model

• The migration path from Salesforce.com to Oracle CRM On Demand

• What Sadin would have done differently

Looking for answers to questions like these and information about CRM career trends, SearchCRM.com turned to Jeff Tanner and Bruce Culbert. Jeff is the Associate Dean of Research at Baylor University and also runs a CRM consulting practice. Bruce is the CEO of myCRM Career, a site dedicated to helping CRM professionals connect and advance their careers. He’s also the CEO of iSymmetry, a recruiting, staffing, consulting and outsourcing firm. The two joined us to speak about their experience in the industry and share insight into trends in CRM staffing and careers.

In this 13-minute podcast, listeners will learn:

• In the CRM career landscape, what’s different today as opposed to three years ago? (0:50)
• Do employers need to be hiring people with Web 2.0 expeirence or does it depend on the industry? (3:24)
• What does Web 2.0 mean for job seekers? (5:02)
• In general, what are hiring managers looking for today when trying to fill a CRM-related job? (7:50)
• How is the state of the U.S. economy affecting the CRM job market? (9:05)

This podcast is the last in a four-part series on CRM career trends. Look for the other podcasts on this page:

CRM technology in today’s CRM careers

CRM training and CRM education for today’s careers

CRM certification issues and consulting outlook

Looking for answers to questions like these and information about CRM career trends, SearchCRM.com turned to Jeff Tanner and Bruce Culbert. Jeff is the Associate Dean of Research at Baylor University and also runs a CRM consulting practice. Bruce is the CEO of myCRM Career, a site dedicated to helping CRM professionals connect and advance their careers. He’s also the CEO of iSymmetry, a recruiting, staffing, consulting and outsourcing firm. The two joined us to speak about their experience in the industry and share insight into trends in CRM staffing and careers.

In this 14-minute podcast, listeners will learn:

•          For someone starting out in CRM, how can they go about getting certified? (1:01)

•          Are there some certifications that are on the decline today? Likewise, are some certifications becoming more popular? (3:14)

•          Are some candidates more suited for one certification over another, depending on their skill set? (4:59)

•         What’s the outlook for CRM consultants? Are they just as in need as ever? (6:41)

•        For someone who wants to break into consulting, what would you suggest? (9:20)

This podcast is the third in a four-part series on CRM career trends. Look for the other podcasts on this page:

CRM technology in today’s CRM careers

CRM training and CRM education for today’s careers

How are CRM strategy trends influencing today’s CRM careers? (coming Sept. 23)

Looking for answers to questions like these and information about CRM career trends, SearchCRM.com turned to Jeff Tanner and Bruce Culbert. Jeff is the Associate Dean of Research at Baylor University and also runs a CRM consulting practice. Bruce is the CEO of myCRM Career, a site dedicated to helping CRM professionals connect and advance their careers. He’s also the CEO of iSymmetry, a recruiting, staffing, consulting and outsourcing firm. The two joined us to speak about their experience in the industry and share insight into trends in CRM staffing and careers.

In this 12-minute podcast, listeners will learn:

• Should a practicing CRM professional go back to school for an MBA — or is another degree more suitable? (0:56)
• As a prospective student, what should I look for in a CRM course or program? (2:13)
• How many “CRM-specific” programs are out there and at which universities? Should CRM professionals consider those programs as opposed to training in specific areas like sales, service, marketing or a specific CRM system? (3:58)
• Where can you find information about CRM training and education? (8:53)

This podcast is the second in a four-part series on CRM career trends. Look for the other podcasts on this page:

CRM technology in today’s CRM careers

CRM certification issues and CRM consulting outlook (coming Sept. 16)

How are CRM strategy trends influencing today’s CRM careers? (coming Sept. 23)

As Web 2.0 infiltrates all aspects of CRM, how is it impacting a CRM professional’s job hunt, and how are employers attracting candidates who are Web 2.0 adept? Which technology skills are most important in today’s CRM industry? How can a professional working in sales, service or marketing get to the next level with their careers? What emerging skills are important on the technical side of CRM?

Looking for answers to questions like these and information about CRM career trends, SearchCRM.com turned to Jeff Tanner and Bruce Culbert. Jeff is the Associate Dean of Research at Baylor University and also runs a CRM consulting practice. Bruce is the CEO of myCRM Career, a site dedicated to helping CRM professionals connect and advance their careers. He’s also the CEO of iSymmetry, a recruiting, staffing, consulting and outsourcing firm. The two joined us to speak about their experience in the industry and share insight into trends in CRM staffing and careers.

In this 11-minute podcast, listeners will learn:

• What technology training is most important for someone looking to get started in the CRM field (0:57)

• What technology training is most important for someone looking to get to the next level with their career (0:57)
  

• How to avoid getting pigeonholed into one technology as a job candidate (8:50)

• The importance of Web 2.0 skills when looking for a CRM-related job today (hint: they’re more than “nice to have”) (9:36)

This podcast is the first in a four-part series on CRM career trends. Keep an eye out for the other podcasts, coming soon to this page:

CRM training and CRM education for today’s careers (coming Sept. 9)

CRM certification issues and CRM consulting outlook (coming Sept. 16)

How are CRM strategy trends influencing today’s CRM careers? (coming Sept. 23)