CRMs launching and updating this year
Since this time last year, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry has exploded not only with options but with updates, as brands seek ways to better connect with consumers. While not intended to be a comprehensive roundup, the following ten CRM companies either launched or made updates in the last year. Click on any image to learn more about their offering and how each can improve your business, whether you are a solopreneur or a corporate big wig.
1. SAP Customer OnDemand: for sales pros
SAP Customer OnDemand launched earlier this month as a new CRM tool that Fierce Enterprise Communcations says “enables businesses to gather more detailed customer data and insight. Using social, mobile and cloud technology, the SAP Customer OnDemand product enables employees to guide customers through each step of the buying process and develop customer loyalty.”
2. Streak CRM lives in your Gmail inbox
Streak is a popular CRM for startups and small businesses, and even has a free option. It lives right inside your Gmail inbox and is well liked for its simplicity and minimalist design. This is a must have for heavy Gmail users.
3. Spark CRM for real estate
Spark CRM is one of the dozens of real estate specific CRMs, but its design stands out as modern, beautiful, and easy to use. Some CRMs can be overwhelming with tiny buttons and links to click all over the place, but this is a great option for those without endless tech savviness.
4. Sage goes mobile in their latest update
Sage CRM has been around, but last month they went all out on going mobile, servicing global small and medium businesses. In a release, the company explains the updates, noting that “Sage CRM 7.2 brings mobile deployment on iPhone® and Android® smartphone and tablet devices, greater Social CRM capabilities with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and employee collaboration and knowledge exchange powered by Yammer.”
5. TopProducer integrates cloud storage options
TopProducer has announced a series of updates in recent years, impressing us by developing their platform in HTML5 (aka it will work on all browsers – mobile or otherwise) and last month integrating Google Drive and Dropbox into their real estate CRM offering, kicking it up a notch.
6. ClientTickler launches for all industries
ClientTickler was originally designed for the legal industry, but demand forced the company to expand beyond lawyers and offer their CRM to all industries. We noted at its release that it is not the sexiest interface on the market, but that it is concise and well thought out.
7. Bitrix24’s new CRM adds project management, collaboration
Bitrix24 didn’t launch in the last year, but their new CRM did and it took the tech world by storm. “Some CRM vendors now offer integration with third party project management tools and vice-versa. CRM users are no longer satisfied with what’s essentially a database with client information – they want a CRM that allows them to plan, to collaborate with co-workers and to increase personal productivity,” said Bitrix, Inc President Dmitry Valyanov just days ago. “SalesForce, for example, has spent almost a billion dollars in the last two years in acquisitions, trying to make their CRM more collaborative. But Bitrix24 is the first vendor that actually offers a free CRM fully fused with project management.”
8. IXACT Contact adds e-Newsletters to CRM
IXACT Contact is a Canadian startup whose goal is to help real estate professionals to better market and keep in touch with clients. Last year, they launched e-newsletters, telling AGBeat, “We’re now also the only real estate CRM to offer Email Campaign Reporting (this feature is normally reserved for dedicated email marketing systems like Constant Contact or MailChimp). It’s very exciting!”
9. Agent Manager for Realtors
Agent Manager CRM Director of Marketing, Brad Sharp says that the company is often told that real estate customer relationship management (CRM) software is too complicated to learn or use, but argues their product is the “most user friendly CRM on the market.” It is developed by Realtors for Realtors.
10. Microsoft Dynamics CRM makes a major acquisition
Microsoft Dynamics CRM wasn’t launched in the last year, but they’ve made a major acquisition that will lead to some substantial updates in the near future. Microsoft explains that the acquisition of Netbreeze accelerates social capabilities, noting that the company offers “the ability to monitor a wide array of social channels including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as 6,000 online news websites, 18 million blogs and 500,000 message boards.” Microsoft notes that they “are going to provide access to this rich data across your marketing, sales and service teams so that each and every person using your CRM system can have this consumer insight at their fingertips.”
