World's Top CRM Experts Are Named to Prestigious CRMGuru.com Panel

BURLINGAME, Calif.; Oct. 11, 2005—Twenty of the world's most accomplished experts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have been named to the CRMGuru Panel, to serve an online community of business leaders striving to improve CRM success.

The panel, which begins a new one-year term in October, includes CRM gurus from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

These CRM experts have worked for some of the world's most famous companies, including Amazon.com, Anheuser-Busch, IBM and MCI. And their client roster includes Audi, Dell, BT, Charles Schwab, China Light and Power, Eli Lilly-Elanco, Google, HP, IBM, IKEA, Microsoft, Royal Bank of Canada, Tesco, Xerox and the U.S. Navy.

"We are committed to helping business leaders succeed with CRM," said Bob Thompson, CEO of CustomerThink Corp. and founder of CRMGuru.com. "I am delighted that these expert panelists will help our worldwide community cope with CRM strategy and implementation issues, improve customer-centric thinking throughout the organization and understand regional differences in CRM adoption."

The CRMGuru Panel comprises two groups, an Advisory Board of practicing consultants who have real-world experience in CRM strategy development and implementation, and an Editorial Council of regional authorities with insights on key issues in successful CRM adoption.

Advisory Board panelists and their focus areas are:

• Jim Barnes, Barnes Marketing Associates (Canada); customer strategy
• Jay Curry, Jay Curry Associates (the Netherlands); CRM for small to medium-size businesses
• Naras Eechambadi, Quaero Corp. (United States); accelerating marketing performance
• Paul Greenberg, The 56 Group (United States); customer experience management
• Graham Hill, Sophron Partners (Germany); customer value management
• Dick Lee, High-Yield Methods (United States); customer process design
• Michael Lowenstein, Customer Management Center of Excellence, GfK NOP (United States); customer loyalty and advocacy
• Bill Price, Driva Solutions (United States); customer service and support optimization
• David Rance, Round (United Kingdom); customer-centricity measurement
• Barry Trailer, CSO Insights (United States); sales effectiveness

Editorial Council panelists and their focus areas are:

• Silvana Buljan, Smartworxx Consulting S.L. (Spain); change leadership and CRM in Europe
• Jeremy Cox, the Wisdom Network (United Kingdom); planning process and CRM in Europe
• Bruce Culbert, BPT Partners (United States); CRM for large enterprises
• Junkyo (Jack) Fujieda, ReGIS Inc. (Japan); CRM in Japan
• Simon Kriss, Sagatori (Hong Kong); contact center practices in Asia Pacific
• Doug Leather, REAP Consulting (Pty) Ltd (South Africa); customer management assessment and CRM in South Africa
• Sampson Lee, GCCRM (China); CRM in Greater China
• Paul Niven, The Senalosa Group (United States); performance management
• Elena Ponomoreva, PRISM Consulting (Russia); CRM in Russia and CIS
• Jim Sterne, Target Marketing (United States); web analytics and online relationships

"My sincere thanks to the CRMGuru Panelists for helping business leaders understand how CRM can help them succeed in a global, highly competitive marketplace," Thompson said.

About CRMGuru.com
CRMGuru.com is the world's largest industry portal for business leaders to learn about the art and science of Customer Relationship Management. CRMGuru's mission is to help marketing, sales and service executives succeed with CRM through high-quality and unbiased articles, discussions and newsletters; interactions with CRMGuru panelists; insightful industry benchmark reports; and an annual CRM thought-leader event. The portal serves more than 300,000 newsletter subscribers and site visitors each month from all regions of the world, with support from a global panel of CRM experts.