Mike: re: Does anybody care what the real number is?
From Buddy's comment, apparently he does. I was merely showing him that his visions of sugar plums were quite a bit farther off than he might understand. That's what these boards are for, you know. So we can leverage each other's experiences and interpretations. What's the matter, Mike. You don't like visions being disrupted by reality?
Buddy didn't answer this question. Let's see if you do.
Do *you* think that Version 8.0 (released in July 2002) was "an explosive improvement for eCRM, one that will shake up the CRM industry" ?
re: Do you really know how manpower intensive the distribution and technical work is anyway?
Exactly? No. Not for FSTW. However, I suspect I could categorize most of the activities that have to be undertaken to do it right. And, I have a pretty good idea of how much time and staff effort those activities take. And, I know the level of expertise required for the staff that would do that work. Do you?
re: and what a snake oil salesman RTB is
Are you implying that I said that? I have never said any such thing. I have stated emphatically that RTB is a salesman, yes. I use that knowledge when I interpret what he says. It wouldn't hurt for you to do the same. Reference his quote from above. Then think about "disruptive technology".
My problem with what the longs here are espousing is that all their comments are slanted towards FSTW suddenly becoming wonderful. In my opinion, that ain't gonna' happen.
Yes, they have improved over last year and the year before. Good for them. I hope they continue to improve. They have a few large projects (so we've been told) and those *might* lead to followon projects. Hooray. That's the way it's supposed to work. But, it hasn't worked in FSTW's past. We can only hope that "it's different this time", and that it's going to stay different.
This is pretty much the same company that it was a year ago. Fundamentally, what has changed in the last year?
1) They still serve the same market. They have "new" software under development that is supposed to be "disruptive technology" that will set the CRM industry on its rear. I don't believe that claim for a minute. There are too many other vendors in the same market attacking the same "new" stuff.
2) They have new management (COO and Development Director) with backgrounds who don't appear to have any great experience running a business-for-profit, or developing world class software. That concerns me, but I'm not saying it's a crisis. In my opinion, it's certainly not optimal. There's no room for on the job training here. FSTW is at too critical a juncture in its corporate life to be learning lessons the hard way.
3) The SMB CRM market has gotten more competitive with new offerings from FSTW-sized companies. Worse yet, new behemoths are entering an already crowded space from both above and below. FSTW's skimpy market basket can't compare to their comprehensive toolkits.
It's not all gloom and doom. There has been improvement. FSTW has "clawed its way" all the way back to 4 bux a share (pre-split). But, it's still the same company with the same culture and same infratructure as it was before. The Extreme Logic "partnership" is a bright spot. Let's see what they do with it.
When they quit making a big deal about "alliances" with companies like 1stOrder, *THEN* I'll know they're serious about this business.
You think 1stOrder's product will play a big role in the new .NET product?
Regards,
TED |
