ISM Announces Winners of 2011 Top 15 CRM Software Awards for Enterprise and Small & Medium Business Solutions

ISM President Barton Goldenberg Forecasts CRM Trends: Growth in SaaS Offerings, Social CRM, Mobile Functionality, and Business Intelligence Analytical Tools

BETHESDA, MD, February 8, 2011 – The CRM marketplace is enjoying renewed momentum thanks to the rise in Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, Social CRM offerings, mobile functionality and the increased use of business intelligence analytical tools, says premier CRM consulting firm ISM (www.ismguide.com) as part of its annual Top 15 CRM Software Awards. Since 1990, ISM has been awarding recognition to leading CRM providers in Enterprise and Small & Medium Business (SMB) categories.

 “The winners of the 2011 Top 15 continue to raise the bar for the CRM community with significant advancements in both functionality and connectibility. Mobile access and Social CRM have become must-haves for sales and marketing professionals and their always-on, always-connected Digital Clients,” said Barton Goldenberg, president, ISM.

The Top 15 Award winners, in alphabetical order, are:

ISM Top 15 CRM Enterprise Winners

*Amdocs CRM CES  – Amdocs Limited

*C2 CRM v. 8.6 – Clear C2, Inc.

*CDC Pivotal CRM v. 6.6 – CDC Software

*Consona CRM v. 7.0  – Consona Corporation

*ExSellence 5.92 & IAS 360 3.75 – Optima Technologies, Inc.

*Firstwave CRM v. 4.1 – Firstwave Technologies, Inc.

*Infor CRM  – Infor

*OnContact CRM V v. 7.0 – OnContact Software Corp. 

*PeopleSoft CRM – Oracle Corporation

*Powertrak v. 9.0 – Axonom, Inc.

*RightNow CRM May 2011 – RightNow Technologies, Inc.

*Salesforce.com – Salesforce.com

*SAP CRM 7.0 – SAP AG

*Sword Ciboodle v. 3.2 – Sword Ciboodle

*update.seven  – update software AG

 

ISM Top 15 CRM SMB Winners (++)

*Ardexus MODE v. 6.2 – Ardexus, Inc.

*C2 CRM v. 8.6 – Clear C2, Inc.

*Goldmine Enterprise Edition 6.3.1 – FrontRange Solutions, Inc.

*Maximizer CRM 11 – Maximizer Software Inc.

*Microsoft CRM 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation

*NetSuite CRM 2011.1 & NetSuite 2011.1 – NetSuite, Inc.

*OnContact CRM v. 7.0 – OnContact Software Corporation

*Oracle CRM OnDemand – Oracle Corporation

*Relavis CRM 7.5.1 – Relavis Corporation

*Sage CRM 7.0 – Sage Software                  

*Sage SalesLogix v. 7.5.3 – Sage Software

*Salesforce.com – Salesforce.com

*Salespage Enterprise – Salespage Technologies, LLC

*Salesplace 2011.12 – Interchange Solutions

*StayinFront CRM v. 12 – StayinFront, Inc.

*Sugar CRM v. 6.0 – Sugar CRM

 (++): Sixteen packages qualified for the Top 15 CRM SMB Awards for 2011

The annual Top 15 CRM Software Awards are based on rigorous testing of CRM software programs from around the world that are sold in the North American marketplace. New trends for 2011 are identified from vendor surveys and intensive testing at the ISM Software Lab in Bethesda, Md. Each software program is rated according to 209 selection criteria, including 98 business functions, 48 technical features, 36 implementation capabilities, 10 real time criteria and 17 user-support features. With no ownership in or by a vendor, ISM's software analysis is 100 percent unbiased.  

Based on the software testing process, Goldenberg points out several new business application and technology trends in CRM software:

• Integration with Social Media Applications:  CRM vendors are now beginning to offer integration with third-party, comprehensive social media applications, creating a new social element in traditional CRM processes: Social CRM. Social CRM enables a business to connect customer conversations and relationships from social networking websites during the CRM process. ISM sees Social CRM becoming integrated in CRM platforms and systems for a more complete view of customers through the use of feeds from social media channels.
• Increased Availability of Social Media Type Functionality:  CRM vendors are now providing direct access to social media type functionality. Social media can also refer to web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. Computers and other technologies have shifted from one-way static communication to platforms for interaction and community building.
• Increased Social Media Customer Assistance Options: Many CRM vendors see Social Media as a cost-effective method to improve their customer assistance options.  Customers are no longer calling the help line when they have a problem — they are Tweeting about their problems, posting and finding the appropriate solutions within online forums or discussing problems on Facebook with their contacts. ISM sees more and more organizations building online communities (requiring components such as dialogues, forums, ideation, media sharing and blogs) for customer assistance, which come with tight integration into other CRM processes.
• Increased Use of Business Intelligence Analytical Tools in CRM Solutions:  Business Intelligence Analytical tools, or predictive modeling, can now predict the monetary value and profitability of a particular customer: from profiling customers based on their behavior to segmenting markets and predicting customer purchases based on past purchase information and psychographic/demographic data, as well as determining cross-selling opportunities. The expansion of social networking will lead to a tremendous increase in unstructured data, leading to an increased demand for business analytics software that combines text analytics, sentiment extraction and related technologies to find patterns and trends among social network users.
• Increased Number of Mobile CRM Offerings and a Move Toward Real-Time CRM:  CRM vendors continue to develop and release CRM application modules, especially those that are bundled with or work on a large variety of handheld and/or wireless devices. These include PDAs (with various operating systems) and smart phones that support wireless infrastructure technologies, such as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), GSM (Global System for Multiple communications), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data), SMS (Short Messaging Services), and packet radio networks. Wireless components will increasingly allow users to make business decisions in real-time while simultaneously creating analytics in real-time—supporting a growing movement toward Real-Time CRM.
• Increased CRM Offerings via the SaaS Model:  CRM software vendors are increasingly offering CRM software solutions via the SaaS model, which is also referred to as an on-demand solution or cloud computing. The SaaS model is attractive because it can circumvent traditional problems with the CRM client-server model, including high prices, cumbersome deployments and software upgrades. The two major drivers of accelerated adoption of SaaS in enterprise companies are cost advantages and increased proof of data security.

The Top 15 winners for each category are featured in ISM’s 18^th edition of User and Vendor electronic versions of The Guide to Mobile and Social CRM and are available in CD and downloadable format available at http://bit.ly/e1CokI.

The Top 15 CRM software reviews in each category can be purchased as package by clicking on this Weblink: http://bit.ly/eAUnUc

Individual Top 15 software reviews (e.g., Oracle, Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM, etc.) can be purchased by clickin on this Weblink: http://bit.ly/gdEzWo

For more information, call 1-877-ISMGUIDE or 301-656-8448.

Editor’s Note: To see the complete list of trends and corresponding vendors, please contact Tracey Hoston at 301-656-8448 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ABOUT ISM

Founded in 1985, ISM has established itself as the premiere strategic advisor to organizations planning and implementing CRM and Social CRM initiatives. Companies, non-profits and government agencies receive hands-on guidance from the most experienced CRM and Social CRM team in the world.  ISM annually publishes The Guide to Mobile and Social CRM and Top 15 CRM and Real Time CRM software reviews.  Barton Goldenberg, founder and president of ISM, is the author of CRM in Real Time (published by Information Today) and CRM Automation (published by Prentice Hall) and is a columnist for a number of publications including CRM Magazine.  Our list of clients includes the American Automobile Association (AAA), Amtrak, Giorgio Armani, IBM, ExxonMobil, Kraft, McGraw Hill, Nike, PepsiCo, Roche, Samsung, Sara Lee, T. Rowe Price, United Way, Xerox, and the US Department of Defense.  To learn more, go to www.ismguide.com or call (301) 656-8448.