A Beginner's Guide to Web 2.0 Tools for Business Part 3

Here is a basic guide as a starting point to help you identify Web 2.0 services that might prove useful inside your company.

Sales

Sales teams use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to coordinate leads generation, marketing, customer outreach, and account management efforts, but CRM software is notoriously difficult to install and deploy. Web-based CRM simplifies the task.

Salesforce.com The granddaddy of the Web 2.0 industry, with a flexible and well-developed suite of Web-based CRM products.

Relenta CRM Based on a proprietary email client that tracks all sales-related communication, Relenta is targeted at small- to medium-sized companies.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live The software giant's Web-based version of the shrink-wrapped Dynamics product is expected to launch later in 2007.

Forecasting, Risk Assessment, or R&D

When evaluating new technology or speculative projects, how do you evaluate risk and identify winners or losers? Predictive market tools work sort of like a stock market, allowing individual participants to make simulated investments based on the feasibility of a given initiative. Together, such evaluations represent the collective wisdom about the question at hand.

Inkling Easy-to-create hosted prediction markets can be customized to match an existing corporate website. Free trial available.

HSX Virtual Specialist Provides hosted prediction-market tools for complex forecasting problems such as anticipating box-office receipts for Hollywood movies.

To browse a more comprehensive directory, visit All Things Web 2.0 or Go2Web20.