Ovum, a leading industry and technology analyst firm headquartered in London, has recently published an in-depth research report looking at the benefits and value that IntraLinks provides. The report is titled Technology Audit: IntraLinks Exchanges and is authored by Richard Edwards, a principal analyst at Ovum who focuses on enterprise collaboration and information management. Mr Edwards’ report is an objective representation of the IntraLinks solutions and technology. You can view both the original report and the executive summary.

One highlight from the report is that IntraLinks Exchanges are described as providing a cloud-based collaborative content workspace that offer more security “than a locked boardroom.” Another highlight is Mr. Edwards outlining that organizations following a holistic ECM (Enterprise Content Management) strategy would “find value and utility in the targeted IntraLinks cloud-based solutions”.

We Americans are not known for being exact in our language, in fact sometimes our use of a word contradicts its meaning. However, we don’t like to be wrong. Fortunately, we have great tenacity and perseverance thus we continue to misuse a word until our definition and use of the word is accepted as correct.

For example:

1. Entrée: A French word meaning “the act of entering” or “the course served prior to the main course”. Americans use the word to refer to the main course. The American use of this word has become the accepted use in many places throughout the world.
2. Peruse: “To read through with thoroughness or care”. The common understanding and use by Americans is the exact opposite, to skim or look over in a casual manner. While some sources still consider the American use to be incorrect, other sources, including the Merriam-Webster dictionary, include the American definition as a secondary definition.
    
   READ

Day 4 at Search Engine Strategies New York focused on Search Engine Marketing training. One of the downsides to a lot of conferences is that one hour sessions don’t allow a deep dive into the topics we really want to discuss. No fear here, as these are four hour long sessions. Here’s what we learned...

I used to see frequent reports and blog postings about the success or failure of CRM systems. Lately, however, I hear radio silence. Has this technology finally turned the corner and achieved consistent ROI, delivering on expectations?

Probably not. The most recent survey from CSO Insights showed no appreciable change in CRM adoption within the sales community of the companies surveyed. CSO measures adoption when 90% of the sales force consider a CRM system a "must have." Lamentably, only roughly 39% of companies surveyed achieved that criteria.

Arguably, as major creators of information in a customer relationship, sales' failure to adopt a CRM system means that system has failed. I know from personal experience that salespeople cannot be bullied, nagged or even incented to use a tool they don't want. So wherein lies the answer? I always look at the "What's in it for me" (WiifM) measure. I suspect that WiifM drives behavior much more than we would wish to believe, and certainly has more impact than encouraging salespeople to be good corporate citizens. And why not? Depending on the industry, a typical sales person has to close $10,000 of business per day, which tends to create laser-like focus on what works and what doesn't.