CRM News: Microsoft Contact Center, IPhone Apps and Chief Dull Knife

CRM news, bits and pieces:

CRM and ERP consulting firm Ignify and Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner have announced a contact center platform for Microsoft’s CRM Call Center Agent Desktop which lets customer service agents using Microsoft CRM "prioritize incidents and escalate for resolution with just one mouse click."

The idea is to enhance first contact resolution, reduce cost per incident and, of course, "improve overall customer satisfaction."

The product will debut at a conference at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas from Monday to Thursday, Sinatra-style trilby hats optional on the road to Mandalay, where the flying fishes play...
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In politics, French president Nicholas Sarkozy criticized President Barack Obama's calls for a "day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of the earth" while also refusing to do anything about Iran's nuclear weapons program. Obama invited Sarkozy and the Iranian mullahs to the White House for a beer, directing aides to "stock up on some of the top Iranian beers."
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It appears that iPhone app development is quite the cottage industry, according to a national survey released by iPhoneAppQuotes.com, a network connecting iPhone app developers and iPhone development companies.

Actually they might move out of that cottage into roomier digs soon: While 42 percent of developers have up to five employees, for those respondents who recently added app development as a service, 34 percent of their entire business is now comprised of iPhone app development.

Apple’s App Store generates an estimated $1 billion a year in total revenue, with Apple itself slicing off a 30 percent cut from every app sold. Not a bad addition to their core business.

(Okay, okay -- slap -- it won't happen again. Sorry.)
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In sports, Nike officials say they do not have a "contractual relationship" with NFL quarterback Michael Vick.

After days of headlines over the issue, the sports shoe giant says their new marketing policy is to announce they do not have contracts with top stars "and watch all the free publicity roll in."
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We're going to win a $20 bet here: You didn't know there was a Sitting Bull College, did you?

Jenzabar has announced that the Fort Yates, North Dakota-based college on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation purchased the company's EX enterprise resource planning system, becoming "the 15th institution of higher education to join the Jenzabar EX Tribal Consortium," according to vendor officials.

Other members of the consortium include Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana, and this reporter wants one of their sweatshirts in the worst way.

No word on whether Sitting Bull College uses Apache servers.