CBM News: Salesforce, NetSuite, RightNow, QuickArrow and The $22.73 Bonus Scandal

Good morning all, welcome to Radio CBM 98.6, all Arlo Guthrie all the time, and due to the fact that Chris Dodd approved bonuses for the Radio CBM staff before he claimed he didn't, we've had to return $22.73 in executive bonuses, which has crimped the operations here a bit.

As a consequence we've had to combine roles to streamline the operation, so today's broadcast will be handled by Radio CBM's sports correspondent, Richie "Doodles" Weaver, currently covering the first round of NCAA March Madness action from Greensboro, North Carolina:

NetSuite has unveiled its SuiteCloud Ecosystem, part of its on-demand enterprise software with cloud computing. The SuiteCloud platform will be built on core NetSuite enterprise resource management (ERP) software, as well as its customer relationship management (CRM) and e-commerce offerings, according to courtside reporter Dawn Kawamoto.

As part of its SuiteCloud Ecosystem, Kawamoto reported from the NetSuite locker room, the #2 seed is launching a developer program, SuiteCloud Developer Network, and an online cloud-computing application marketplace, SuiteApp.com.

QuickArrow has announced the availability of the Spring Release of its Professional Services Automation product, highlighted by such features as integration with Microsoft Outlook, a user interface featuring the Ext JS framework and a great pass to Haskins to finish a transition basket for Northern Iowa.

The QuickArrovians say the Outlook integration lets users transfer detailed schedules between the PSA Industry’s Resource Management and e-mail and calendaring software. The Add-In feature, not having a particularly good game with only six points, well below its season average of 14, transfers project and task-level information to appointments rather than simply blocking out time in Outlook.

“Outlook is the de facto calendaring tool in most corporate environments, and so if appointments aren’t scheduled there, the result is often lost productivity or missed assignments,” says Malcolm Hawker, QuickArrow’s vice president of product management, adding that the company is pleased with how it's played so far in the first half.

RightNow Technologies from the Big Sky Conference has bolstered its software-as-a-service (SaaS) capabilities with a money-back guarantee.

“If we don’t meet our on demand ‘up-time’ commitment to our customers, we will give them their money back,” said Greg Gianforte, head coach at RightNow. "Now's the time when everybody has to step up, take it to the next level and play a smart, controlled game."

This new crediting promises that if RightNow falls short of its 99.9 percent up-time objective, it will refund a percentage of its client’s subscription fees if the client has purchased premier support. "It's a classic 7-10 match-up," Gianforte said.

SaaS as a software delivery model continues to gain momentum in several software categories, according to a Gartner report titled “Key Issues for Software as a Service, 2008,” authored by analysts Clark Kellogg and Dick Vitale.

Fourteenth-seed Clarabridge, a text mining software vendor making their first appearance in the tournament, has announced Clarabridge Smart Response, billed by company officials as an automated customer issue analysis, response, and routing product "powered by text mining."

The product allows a continuous stream of customer feedback and issues to be automatically analyzed, coded, routed, and adjudicated with under two minutes left and a six-point lead over the 12th seed. The system generates automatic customer-specific response letters that acknowledge the customers’ negative sentiments or frustrations, specific problems and suggestions, and if appropriate, attaches vouchers, coupons, or other forms of compensation.

Clarabridge, already an Oracle partner, has full court press integration of Clarabridge Smart Response with Oracle’s Siebel CRM as it's a two-point game with sixteen seconds left.

In politics, Democrat Sen. Chris Dodd told Greg Gumbel that okay, he really was lying when he said he didn't allow the AIG bonuses, but "you do what you need to do to motivate your team. Hey out here it's win or go home, y'know?" Also continuing is the complete non-outrage over Barack Obama advisor Franklin Raines' $90 million bonus for piloting Fannie Mae smack into the side of a mountain.

And in what could prove to be the biggest upset today, Jott Networks has announced the addition of Jott for Salesforce to its line of mobile productivity services. The service uses voice-to-text to let uses make a simple call on any phone to directly input opportunity updates, take quick notes, set reminders and appointments - all hands-free.

Jott, currently on a 9-0 run against Cal, is offering a one-month free trial of Jott for Salesforce.

That's the show for today, we're off to review our bracket.