relationships

Salesforce changes seasons with CRM Spring '09

Spring has come early at Salesforce.com.

The hosted enterprise-applications company on Tuesday unveiled Salesforce CRM Spring '09, offering up such customer relationship management features as content assembly, content delivery, content tracking, and "Opportunity Genius."

Opportunity Genius aims to connect a company's sales representatives who are working on similar deals.

Salesforce has also added three content features to its CRM Spring '09, one designed to let people create new sales and marketing materials by bringing together a variety of existing presentations from across a company.

CRM Spring '09 also adds a feature that enables sales representatives to … Read more

World's first Facebook divorce?

Look, I've had enough of these stories too. But at the same time, I'm drawn to them like a rubbernecker observing an overturned circus truck.

Emma Brady, a 35-year-old Englishwoman, discovered that her husband, Neil, was leaving her when she read his updated Facebook status: "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady."

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mrs. Brady tried to take a sanguine view of this most public of dumpings: "What upset me the most was not the fact that Neil had written he had ended his marriage, but the comment from … Read more

Facebook poke leads to divorce

(This post has been updated, as I misidentified Ms. Hobbs-Meyer as a Guardian journalist. She does write well, mind. Well, kind of. And she does wear glasses and looks very clever. On the other hand, I tried to find her on Facebook and couldn't. Perhaps you might be more successful. Perhaps, after all, she is a Guardian journalist and is telling a tall tale. Some seem to think so. Oh, it's so hard to tell these days. Or is it?)

It's like those adventure movies in which people fall down a big hole and you believe they'… Read more

Salesforce.com posts 43 percent revenue jump

Salesforce.com announced Thursday a 43 percent increase in third-quarter revenue, beating Wall Street's expectations.

Shares of Salesforce.com rose about 11 percent in after-hours trading to $25.30 a share. It closed the regular trading session at $22.83 a share, up nearly 4 percent.

In the period ending October 31, revenue reached $276 million, fueled by growth in the company's subscription and support business. Wall Street had been expecting Salesforce.com to generate $273.5 million, according to analysts' estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The online customer relationship management (CRM) software developer posted net income of $… Read more

Is technology making it harder to be unfaithful?

Some commentators are getting their knickers in a twist because they feel they are now unable to twist their lover's knickers around their fingers.

The world is, apparently, experiencing major changes in extramarital sexual behavior. And the reason for these changes is the development of superior technological gadgetry over the last few years.

According to Nick Harding of London's Independent newspaper, the United Kingdom's divorce rate is going down, and one of the reasons, he posits, is that it is far too easy for your spouse to catch you cheating, if not in flagrante delicto, then certainly … Read more

The 404 129: Where Natali is dressed like a school marm

Back by insanely popular demand, Natali Del Conte guest stars on today's pretty heartfelt show. Well, we start it off pretty naughty with a couple of stories about highly offensive T-shirt graphics and Mini-Me's "secret" videotape, but then Jeff's buddy Zach calls in with a heartbreaking story and we dish out advice on how to sustain a long-term relationship. E-mail or call and tell us your opinion! EPISODE 129 Download today's podcast

Microsoft bears shield, as Salesforce and Google synch up

With the Salesforce.com-Google collaboration, Microsoft will face yet another competitor in the online enterprise software applications market, analysts say.

But make that enterprise with a little "e."

Google's online applications will be integrated with Salesforce's customer relationship management (CRM) applications, giving it an entry point into Salesforce's customer base of mainly small to midsize customers and department-level groups of large corporations, said Kevin Buttigieg, an analyst at the Stanford Group.

"It expands the distribution of Google Apps," Buttigieg said, noting that the search giant likely views it as a starting point to … Read more

Hearst Magazines acquires relationship advice site

Publishing giant Hearst Magazines announced on Wednesday plans to acquire Answerology, a New York-based start-up that offers a question-and-answer service for relationship advice. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but PaidContent reported that it was in the seven figures.

Matthew Milner, Answerology's founder, will be brought on board Hearst as vice president of community and social media in the conglomerate's Hearst Magazines Digital Media unit.

Answerology's schtick is that it allows users to ask anonymous questions about family, marriage, dating, and other heated subjects pertaining to relationships, and those questions can be targeted toward select … Read more

SugarCRM lands $20 million venture round

SugarCRM has landed a $20 million venture investment round, designed to boost international expansion by the maker of open-source customer relationship management software, the company said Thursday.

Taking the lead on the funding was New Enterprise Associates, with existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Walden International joining in. That brings SugarCRM's total funding to $46 million.

The company plans to use the funds for not only research and development, but also increasing its global footprint--particularly in Europe and Asia.

SugarCRM, founded in 2004, released its Sugar 5.0 software in December. To date, the company has racked up over … Read more