Stories by Paul Krill

XTech making hosted CRM push

Looking to compete with Salesforce.com Inc. in the hosted CRM space, professional services firm XTech in December plans to offer a hosted CRM platform based on Worldtrak's CRM product.

Wheelhouse to put spin on CRM data integration

CRM (customer relationship management) infrastructure vendor Wheelhouse Corp. in early 2002 plans to offer a tool intended to integrate disparate data sources to present a unified view of customers.

Embracing the other CRM

A different kind of CRM is emerging for professional services companies -- such as law and accounting firms -- that do not necessarily deal with customers calling in on 800 numbers with product-support questions.

SAP eyes Sun Liberty Alliance security camp

SAP AG is leaning toward backing the Sun Microsystems Inc.-led Liberty Alliance for online authentication services and will make an announcement about security plans some time this month, said SAP officials today at the SAP TechEd conference.

SAP signs up for Java camp

ERP applications vendor SAP AG on Tuesday endorsed the Java programming language in a big way, making it an equal partner with the company's legacy ABAP programming language in the mySAP.com application architecture.

Siebel, Palm strengthen ties

Siebel Systems and Palm on Wednesday reaffirmed plans to jointly market, sell, and ensure smooth implementation of Siebel handheld applications on the Palm platform, under an arrangement that also will see Siebel employees utilizing Palm devices.

Holiday shopping to increase, growth rate to drop

U.S. holiday sales will reach approximately US$11.9 billion, an 11 percent increase over last year, and there will be more buyers. But a tight economy will have buyers spending less money individually, according to a study detailed Wednesday by Jupiter Media Metrix Inc.

Visa official touts 'universal commerce'

Visa International is upgrading its electronic payment systems to enable what the company is calling "universal commerce," in which borders, currencies, and security concerns will not impede worldwide transactions, a company official said here Monday.

Online shopping boost expected

E-commerce Web sites could see a traffic boost this holiday season as shoppers browse online rather than at the malls given the reluctance to travel and personally deliver gifts following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some observers said.

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