Support

 Although many companies say they support Marketing systems, at the time of raising this section the number of companies with divisions specifically dedicated to supporting Marketing systems who are prepared to provide details of the prior experience of their staff working on Marketing systems and MRM in particular is rather limited. 

To be added to the list below companies need only contact this site, confirm they have staff with prior experience and provide the appropriate link.

Support companies  

If you are buying a system from any of the major suppliers, particularly the ones listed on this site, they generally have experienced capable staff who will help make your installation a success.  Bringing in other parties to implement a supplier's MRM package is, in my experience, a false economy.

Support is needed in the earlier stages where you have to determine what systems are right for you, how much change your organisation can absorb, and which is the right supplier for you.

The numbers of companies who are breaking in to this market place are growing everyday.  Unfortunately several offering services are so tightly coupled with particular suppliers that they cannot be described as unbiased.  For this reason the list of companies which, in my opinion, offer invaluable, unbiased support remains quite short.

When a company starts the stages of determining what systems they need and then moving to implementation they need the support of some one who understands Marketing and also has a knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the various suppliers.   This is not a role which can easily be filled by an experience Project Manager supplied by some of the larger body-shop consultancies. For once this really is an area that needs specialist knowledge which cannot be provided by people who have just read the manual.

In the UK, but offering International support, is CACI.  They are the largest Consultancy I have come across which offers practical guidance and support across most aspects of Marketing.  Unlike other Consultancies they focus primarily on Marketing rather than just running a Marketing technology division as is the norm for most Consultancies.  They have hands on experience of marketing automation and use Consultants with experience of the technologies they promote.  Their web site has interesting and relevant White papers.

A UK company specializing in Marketing technical support is Teec.  They are primarily sellers of a range of Marketing software packages and services but they have, over the last 10 years, gained a broad understanding of Marketing and do provide support for companies looking to use solutions or services to improve the management of their Marketing processes.  

Details of their services can be found at their TEEC web site.

Operating out of Holland is MRMLogic who provide independent consultancy and support across Europe, using staff with prior experience gained at a number of sites.  Details of this company can be found on their web site www.mrmlogiq.com

Operating out of Greece is SalesManager Hellas.  They have several years experience of supporting CRM and have now developed expertise to support MRM.  Their web site is www.salesmanager.gr  Click the flag in the right hand corner for the English version of the site. 

Operating out of Holland, but with Europe wide coverage is NykampNyboer ( www.nykampNyboer.com) who provided services for Caterpillar at the time when I was project manage a pa- European implementation for that corporation. They provide a wide rang e of services and I can do no better than to quote from one of their own promotions.  

"NykampNyboer services client with the selection, implementation and hands-on operation of MRM solutions and Brand Portals. As founding member of the VIM Group, the client portfolio ranges from B2B to B2C, as well as profit and not for profit organizations, from typical corporate brands to centrally developed and locally executed retail brands. Our approach and experience originates from brand transition and brand improvement projects, accumulated during almost 20 years since the foundation of the company. With a holistic vision towards brand management, NykampNyboer has developed ad balanced methodology that focuses on people, processes and tools – and in that order. The track record proves that clients benefit from high levels of user acceptance, shorter implementation cycle times and ROI's that exceed expectations. "

Analysts

Although from time to time Analysts have recognized that MRM is a growing technology which is relevant to most companies, in my experience the only one which has remained as a consistent suppler is Gartner