Welcome to the End-User Epicenter – we hope this blog will serve as the hub for content, conversation and community, for those interested in the latest news and developments impacting the end-user experience and performance management marketplace. The End-User Epicenter will be dedicated not only to areas related to traditional end-user experience and performance management, but it will also focus on the evolution of the space as end-user experience and performance management continues to grow in importance as part of an organization’s overall strategy. It’s our goal to encourage an open dialog and invite any industry participant (vendor or practitioner) to share their thoughts and opinions.

ERP is back in the fold, monitoring those apps should be as well

So InformationWeek Analytics says ERP is Cool Again. We never thought it had lost its cachet to begin with.

According to the IW Analytics survey of 314 IT personnel, what these business technology leaders want is a little more support from their colleagues and organizations. Now that’s not a lot to ask. It’s not like they’re asking for more money. In fact, they’re not. Budget and training issues ranked lower on the survey, which bucks the trend of a few years ago when they were asking for budgetary increases.

Further, the article goes on to state that CEOs are looking for not only better reporting of metrics, but they want it to be

A Tale of Two Cities

I am in Europe for a three-week road trip, visiting with Knoa customers and meeting with potential new customers. These trips can be a bit like one of those “Highlights of Europe” tours – if it’s Tuesday, it must be Paris. This blog post isn’t really a tale of two cities, but it is a tale of two customers in two different cities – Copenhagen and London.

“Real” customer interaction is catnip for marketing execs – we simply can’t get enough of it. It’s the richest, purest validation possible for our products’ “value propositions”. It keeps you on your toes, however. “Value Propositions” created in a conference room through a collaborative process with your best and brightest aren’t always as sparkly in the

Want to optimize that CRM system? Monitor the end users.

Knoa doesn’t sell CRM solutions.   But, many of our customers use Knoa’s end-user monitoring solutions to measure the experience their CRM system is delivering to their end-users, and to improve end-user  productivity and performance when using that CRM system.  In the course of working with our customers, we have discovered countless examples where insight into agent experience and performance was used to improve the business results from the investment in CRM systems.  So it wasn’t surprising that earlier this week I was asked by the editor of a CRM publication, to explain why an effective end-user management program should be a core part of a CRM implementation.

Forrester on ERP: Doing more with less

My attention was recently drawn to an article by Chris Kanaracus of IDG News which focused on Forrester’s findings that indicate the economic downturn’s effects are still being felt within IT departments, although not as drastically in 2010 as they were in 2009.

As I read the article and report, I got to thinking how this ties into the 3^rd annual IT Adoption Report that was underwritten by Knoa, Neochange, datango and iRise. The joint report, issued this winter, provides insight into the drivers and actions for maximizing software adoption and value.

What is it with tchotchkes?

With SAPPHIRE wrapping up yesterday, one observation I take away from this  conference like so many others—is the grown adults collecting a bag full of tchotchkes. Business professionals agreeing to have their badges scanned, a sure guarantee of receiving a barage of emails, all to get a pen, notebook or stress ball with a company’s logo on it.

A busy first week at SAPPHIRE NOW

With SAPPHIRE NOW underway, we can’t reiterate how excited we are to be able to attend SAP’s  U.S. event. On Monday morning, Knoa’s CEO Thad Eidman gave a presentation to a packed-room on “Global End-User Experience: Strategies for Implementations, User Enablement and Engagement, and Sustainability.” Additionally, we hosted a customer roundtable with Kraft Foods. The event featured Thad, along with Kraft’s North American SAP Support Manager Jane Von Kirchbach, and discussed the implementation of Knoa’s SAP EUM solution.

As you can well imagine, it’s been a busy week for Knoa.

Getting the most out of your game

I was going over last-minute details of our presentations and exhibits for Sapphire on Sunday when I remembered The Players Championship was being contested at TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra Beach, which is just a little over two hours up the road from my hotel in Orlando.

I turned on the television in my room to catch the last few holes of the tournament and I was amazed at the sheer will and desire David Toms demonstrated in fighting back from a few strokes off the lead, to tie the tournament and then force a playoff with K.J. Choi.