Recently, CRM Magazine released their annual list of market leaders in customer relationship management, or CRM. Several awards were given within three separate categories, based on the firm size of CRM system users: large enterprises, mid-market firms, and small businesses. Here are the 2013 winners within the small business space.
Small Business Winner: Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com beat out last year’s winner Zoho for this year’s best CRM firm due to its comprehensive set of offerings, as well as the strength of their product direction and reputation for customer satisfaction. Salesforce products are ideal for small businesses that are large enough to have sales teams and a sales management structure in place.
Small Business Rising Stars: Infusionsoft and Nimble
Infusionsoft was named the rising staff for 2013 due to their markedly high customer satisfaction ratings. In addition, Infusionsoft has made inroads this year, acquiring GroSocial and introducing Infusionsoft Sync for Gmail (a Gmail integration system). Infusionsoft has also recently received $54 million from Goldman Sachs to improve and grow its sales and marketing automation system.
Also listed as a rising star is Nimble, a leader in the integration of social media data into the CRM system. For companies that place a strong emphasis on developing and maintaining personal relationships with customers and retaining a strong social media presence, Nimble provides an excellent solution.
Other Market Leaders
SugarCRM remains a leader in open source CRM and earned its highest marks for company cost. In addition, this system is easily integrated and shines when it comes to its ability to impact product direction. In addition, last year’s winner Zoho still comes highly recommended, as it is lean and easy to use, and thus a popular choice with end users. Experts agree that Zoho is best for micro-businesses who have fewer than 5 employees.
Interestingly, Salesforce.com also maintained the top spot within the enterprise CRM suite category this year, earning a high score of 4.5 for company direction (with Oracle listed as the one to watch). Salesforce.com likewise was the winner for the mid-market category with their introduction of the Salesforce Touch Platform, which enables companies develop and deploy native, HTML5, or hybrid apps to any mobile device (with BPMonline as the one to watch for this category).
References
CRM Magazine Editors. “The 2013 CRM Market Leaders.” CRM.com. 8/1/13.
King, Steve. “The 2013 CRM Market Leaders.” Small Business Labs. Emergent Research. 8/6/13.
