Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 29, 2008

I’ve been pondering recently how to classify demand generation systems. Since my ultimate goal is to help potential buyers decide which product to purchase, the obvious approach is to first classify the buyers themselves and then determine which systems best fit which group. Note that while this seems obvious, it’s quite different from how analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester set up their classifications.

Demand Generation 120

Demand Generation Work Management Demand Marketing Management 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 24, 2008

I don't usually bother to post "breaking news" here, but I've recently seen two acquisitions by Microsoft that seem worth noting. On July 14, the company announced purchase of data quality software vendor Zoomix , and just today it announced purchase of data appliance vendor DATAllegro. Both deals seem to represent an attempt to make SQL Server a more complete solution--in terms of data preparation in the Zoomix case, and high-end scalability with DATAllegro.

Acquisitions 120

Acquisitions FAQ Vendors Tagging 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 24, 2008

I received the “Vertica Fast Lane” e-newsletter yesterday, which I am amused to note from its URL is generated by Eloqua. (This is only amusing because I’m researching Eloqua for unrelated reasons these days. Still, if I can offer some advice to the Vertica Marketing Department, it’s best to hide that sort of thing.) The newsletter contained a link to a post on Vertica’s blog entitled “Debunking a Myth: Column-Stores vs.

Comparison 120

Comparison Eloqua Newsletter Efficiency 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 12, 2008

I spent a fair amount of time this past week getting ready for my part in the July 10 DM Radio Webcast on columnar databases. Much of this was spent updating my information on SybaseIQ , whose CTO Irfan Khan was a co-panelist. Sybase was particularly eager to educate me because I apparently ruffled a few feathers when my July DM Review column described SybaseIQ as a “variation on a columnar database” and listed it separately from other columnar systems.

Webcast 131

Webcast Vendors Analytics Class 131

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 2, 2008

I’ll do a real post later today or more likely tomorrow, but I thought I’d quickly share a recent personal experience that illustrated the importance in e-commerce of really good in-site search. By way a background: having a good search capability is one of those Mom-and-apple-pie truths that everyone fully accepts in theory, but not everyone bothers to actually execute.

Personalization 120

Personalization Examples Case Studies Case Study 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 3, 2008

Back in March, I wrote a fairly dismissive post about on-demand business intelligence systems. My basic objection was that the hardest part of building a business intelligence system is integrating the source data, and being on-demand doesn’t make that any easier. I still think that’s the case, but did revisit the topic recently in a conversation with Ken Rudin, CEO of on-demand business analytics vendor Lucid Era.

Work Management 120

Work Management Marketing Management Demand Market2Lead 120

Customer Experience Matrix

JULY 31, 2008

Yesterday’s post on classifying demand generation systems prompted some strong reactions. The basic issue is how to treat ease of use when describing vendors. It’s hard to even define the issue without prejudicing the discussion. Are we talking about vendor rankings, vendor comparisons, or vendor analyses? - Ranking implies a single score for each product.

Marketing Automation Services 120

Marketing Automation Services Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Comparison 120