7 Solutions to Boost CRM Performance

Even after investing in big CRM systems from companies like Salesforce, many companies buy solutions that help with routine – but important - tasks like contact management.

The solution: Altify's Max is an "augmented intelligence" sales platform built native to Salesforce.

How it boosts CRM performance: Altify interprets data from Salesforce and uses its own sales methodology to help progressive sales organizations increase wallet share in existing customers. It's also used to manage overall sales team performance.

Integrates with: Salesforce

Big brag: Altify claims it helps its customers close over one billion dollars in sales every month.

Bonus points for:
• Listed as Trainingindustry.com's "Top 20 Sales Training Companies" in 2014
• Named a "Cool Vendor" in CRM Sales by Gartner in 2013

The solution: Aviso's predictive analytics software runs with existing CRM solutions to help sales teams forecast, meet and exceed revenue targets.

How it boosts CRM performance: Aviso runs on top of CRM systems, allowing sales teams to forecast and drill down on analytics at every level of the sales organization. Aviso measures and tracks sales performance metrics so it can provide early warnings on whether teams are meeting targets. Companies use Aviso to determine which deals will optimize revenue, so sales managers know where to focus their resources.

Integrates with: Popular CRM systems including Salesforce, Dynamic and Oracle

Big brag: Leading enterprises such as HP Enterprise, Nutanix and Splunk use Aviso to drive billions of dollars in new sales, the company reports.

Bonus points for:
• Free 30-day trial

The solution: Base Apollo markets itself as a sales science platform. Apollo says its product provides prescriptive insights rather than descriptive or historical analysis provided by traditional reporting tools, such as how many leads were converted or how many calls were made. By analyzing data points across multiple dimensions, Apollo says it helps sales teams take actions that are quantifiable and actionable.

How it boosts CRM performance: Analyzing sales activity requires lots of computing power to collect and store sales data points generated from rep/prospect interactions, deal movement, communication signals and more. Apollo collects the data, evaluates data points, then generates insights. It provides sales leaders with clear business objectives and tracks progress toward those goals over time.

Integrates with: Natively integrates with Base and can be connected with most existing CRMs

Big brag: "The only sales science platform to deliver quantifiable and actionable insights."

Bonus points for:
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android, which the company says are top rated in CRM and sales mobile apps
• Base recognized as a Visionary in the Gartner Sales Force Automation Magic Quadrant
• 14-day free trial to qualifying companies

The solution: Jitterbit is a cloud-based platform that integrates cloud applications such Salesforce.com with other cloud or on-premise applications. Jitterbit simplifies integration by allowing business analysts and other non-technical users to connect any on-premise system, cloud app or device and expose it as an orchestrated API in minutes.

How it boosts CRM performance: Jitterbit enables companies to integrate applications across the organization to work with their CRM solution, providing a 360-degree view of customer data. This helps businesses exceed goals by eliminating data duplication, automating processes and accessing the right information. It also allows companies to reduce their IT integration backlogs.

Integrates with: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, SAP and other popular CRM systems

Big brag: Jitterbit claims the highest customer satisfaction of all integration platforms on both the Salesforce AppExchange and the G2 Crowd software ratings site, with a 98 percent customer retention rate.

Bonus points for:
• Listed as an industry leader in the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service
• Offers a free data migration tool for Salesforce users called Jitterbit Data Loader for Salesforce
• Jitterbit Live!, an end-to-end API solution that runs on a single multi-tenant cloud platform and allows APIs to be connected to anything and deployed anywhere
• Free 30-day trial

The solution: ProsperWorks is a "zero-input" CRM solution specifically built for Google Apps, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides. The cloud CRM software is available as a web app, Chrome browser extension and a mobile app for iOS and Android.

How it boosts CRM performance: ProsperWorks incorporates traditional CRM features such as sales automation, pipeline management, reporting and forecasting, but is the only CRM built specifically for Google Apps using Google's Material Design. Thus, it offers native integration with Gmail, Contacts, Sheets and the rest of the apps in Google's productivity suite, allowing the sales team to focus on sales instead of manual data entry.

Integrates with: Google Apps, MailChimp, Dropbox, PandaDoc, Slack, RingCentral and Zapier

Big brag: ProsperWorks received Google's New Tech Partner of the Year Award and is the only CRM to be officially recommended by Google as part of Google Apps for Work. The company has added 48,000 business customers since its official launch as a paid offering in early 2015.

Bonus points for:
• Earned the highest overall satisfaction score in G2 Crowd's Summer 2016 Small Business CRM Software Grid
• Used by Google for Work and Google Education teams

The solution: Repsly is cloud-based CRM software available as both as a mobile and web app. The company targets small businesses with an easy-to-use interface modeled on social media.

How it boosts CRM performance: Repsly includes a mobile app that allows sales teams to easily collect data, check client notes and information from the field and collaborate with managers or other agents. Repsly also helps sales teams stay organized through appointment scheduling, mobile forms, and time and mileage tracking. Customizable mobile forms let managers choose exactly which data they want reps to record in the field. All activities performed by field reps are time-stamped and geo-tagged to support accountability.

Integrates with: AWeber, Close.io, Constant Contact, FreshBooks, GetResponse, Google Contacts, Highrise, HubSpot, Infusionsoft, Intuit Quckbase, Mailchimp, Office 365, Pipedrive, Project Manager, QuickBooks Online, Salesforce, Sugar CRM, Xero, Zapier, Zoho CRM

Big brag: The social media-based interface allows sales team to get up and running without formal training.

Bonus points for:
• A two-week free trial
• Live-chat support
• Custom pricing
• A "search nearby" feature that allows reps to search for new business opportunities by listing companies of a given category in close proximity to their GPS location in a map view or list view

The solution: Vlocity is a solution for Salesforce.com users who need industry-specific functionality and processes. Built in partnership with Salesforce, Vlocity enables companies to deliver an omni-channel customer experience while achieving greater sales and service agility.

How it boosts CRM performance: Vlocity is built native to the Salesforce platform and "100 percent additive," meaning it is built on top of Salesforce's Sales, Service, Marketing, Communities and Analytics clouds. This allows Velocity to leverage all of Salesforce's functionality and platform capabilities.

Integrates with: Applications on the Salesforce AppExchange and most on-premise legacy systems

Big brag: Vlocity ranks as the fastest-growing Salesforce ISV partner two years in a row and has won multiple industry awards, including the CRM Watchlist Awards two years in a row.

Bonus points for:
• One of only three strategic Salesforce ISV partners
• Most popular communications app on the Salesforce AppExchange