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CRM and Social Media – Relevant or just Buzz?

November 28th, 2012 by Mark Shaw

7 Social CRM Companies to Watch

The Social Media buzz began in 2009 and then became generally accepted in 2010. Now in 2012, every CRM wants to make sure that their solution provides top-quality Social Media integration. Microsoft Dynamics has built in Social Media Integration, and SugarCRM has Twitter and Linked-in widgets built into the graphical user interface. Even ACT has a web-based tab directly within their User Interface.

In his excellent article, Paul Greenberg, of ZDNet, compiles a list of top Social CRMs.

Click here to read the entire article: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/crm/the-crm-watchlist-part-iv-the-social-mainstream/2480

- Lithium. This B2C focuses platform made great strides in 2010. These include the addition of Scout Labs as well as being awared a leadership position in Gartners Social CRM Magic Quadrant. Their new Social Customer Suite will integrate with CRM services and applications.

- Jive. Greenberg comments that 2010 was a year of unclairty for them. Yet they are still major players in this arena. Version SBS 4.5 is now mobile-ready, including excellent widgets that provide analytic in a nicely designed GUI.

- Radian6. Greenberg considers Radian6 to be the market maker – “the company that proved the value of social media monitoring tools in the marketplace.” Their big move was to integrate with Salesforce.com and is planning on other such integrations.

- Attensity. Key to this selection is the sophistication of their VOC (Voice of the Customer) platform and analytic engine as well as the mobile technology – including the ability to report feedback on the Applie and Android platforms.

- Kickapps. Greenberg’s take is that this is a flat out SOLID company. Thei platform is extremely well designed and stable. And their applications that sit on top of these platforms are also top-notch.

- Nimble. Nimble was created by the original designer of Goldmine. Although this product is still in its infancy, the future looks extremely promising.

INgage Networks. Previously known as Neighborhood America, INgage Networks has truly evolved as a social networking platform. Their current clientele includes Microsoft CRM – whose integration they have completed masterfully.

Free TCO Calculator for CRM Projects

Click here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Calculator Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key TCO line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for comparing CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

TCO line items include:

Annual License/User price
Support
Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
Implementation
Staff
Network
Mobile
and much more.

Free Excel Tool to Compare CRM Systems

Click here to access and download our Free Excel CRM Comparison Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key similarilites and differences between 9 of the top CRM systems, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix, GoldMine, Sage ACT!, Pivotal and more.

Comparison Topics include:

Key CRM Features
Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
Feature Details (Sync, Call Center, Quoting, E-commerce, Lead Management, Security, Workflow, and much more.
Hardware and Network support (Microsoft, Linux, etc…)
Industry/NAICS

Microsoft CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

About the author

Author: Mark Shaw, Director of Accent Gold Solutions, is certified in a number of CRM systems - including SAP CRM, SugarCRM and Sage ACT! Having studied Business at the University of Massachusetts, he went on to consult several large Energy Utilities in the US and Europe - including designing a Sales Database for the largest European provider of Natural Gas. Using his unique combination of sales and marketing experience, Mark has set up and led successful sales teams for several firms, including Xerox. Read more about Mark on our About Us page. Google

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under CRM, Marketing, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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