How Converge Enterprise CRM made it the second time into CRM Idol competition

For a brief introduction of CRM Idol:

Paul Greenberg, a veteran CRM expert is the name behind CRM Idol. Popularly known as the Father of CRM, Paul Greenberg’s idea behind the creation of CRM Idol competition has been to provide a platform to the top new CRM companies. With more than 240 CRM companies battling it out in the playing field, the small CRMish companies struggle to get HEARD and NOTICED. And it is precisely at this juncture that CRM Idol comes across as the best platform for the small but highly potential CRM companies; to participate and showcase their products to the most influential people in the CRM world.

But is the road so easy? Not really!

Every season CRM Idol has to surf through countless applicant forms to zero in on the contestants. This is precisely why that becoming a CRM Idol contestant is considered a matter of great pride. (It shows that the company is making the right move).

And upping the level of competition every season, CRM Idol this year has consciously limited the number of contestants to less than half of previous years. The objective is simple: ‘to choose the cream of the lot.’

With so many new CRMs on the block every year, it narrows down the chances of same companies getting repeated in CRM Idol competitions. But then, it has happened!

Already having featured in CRM Idol 2013, Converge Enterprise is one of the few companies who have got selected second time in a row by CRM Idol.

So how has Converge made it into the competition again?

Converge Enterprise CRM (that launched its Beta in January 2013, followed with a production launch in June 2013) started off on a high note. Within a few months of its release, it already got itself featured in dailies like – TMCNet, Los Angeles Times, CBS and San Francisco Chronicle.

Unlike other CRMs which were content being a standalone application, Converge came in to change the definition of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

And here is how Converge managed to do so:

1. Concept of an all-in-one application: Converge Enterprise CRM primarily was decided to be made for the fast growing small and medium sized businesses. As a market rule, before the creation, research was done on the SMB sector. The most common problem that appeared was the management of different discrete applications.

Instead of concentrating on business core activities, SMB owners were busy cobbling together the discrete systems; troubleshooting system integration, incurring the annual upgrade issues or stringing together data siloes.

The solution was: to bring in a broad application as opposed to standalone sales, marketing and customer service applications.

Converge Enterprise made the difference with brilliant on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) software. Instead of just being a plain-vanilla CRM application, Converge honed itself to be powerful all-in-one web-based Business Growth software for sales, marketing, customer service and collaboration.  It enabled the fast-growing small business as well as large enterprises get more customers and grow sales from a single interface

It combined the power of customer relationship management, along with multi-channel marketing, business process automation, project management, quotes/invoicing, document management, partner collaboration, and dynamic reports and analytics under one roof.

Converge tagline also got changed from Simple Powerful Unified to SELL MARKET SERVICE COLLABORATE. On July 16th 2014, Converge officially rebranded itself with the launch of its new website that told about its new brand perspective.

2. Ease of Use: Converge put special emphasis upon easy user experience to ensure 100% adoption, utilization and sustained CRM success.

In fact this is why CRM expert Chuck Schaeffer defined Converge Enterprise user interface as exceptional. He compared Converge’s user experience similar to the best social and consumer applications that accelerate user adoption and minimize the need/cost of training.

Special mentions were made about the CRM intuitive features such as one-click access, informative mouse hover-overs, quick clicks, bookmarks, jump to’s, quick entry forms and inline editing.

3. Customizable: Converge fits in all business processes without much hassle. In a strong contrast to other CRM applications that compel clients to modify their business process according to the CRM, Converge Enterprise offered easy customization.

For example – Converge Enterprise CRM users can create business-specific workflows with phases, tasks, goals, sequencing and progress calculations. Users can include tools, tasks, checklists and Q&A dialogues into business processes. Further they can add unlimited number of custom fields under the General Tab present in all the modules.

Plus Converge has released industry editions for real estate, insurance, accountants and legal professionals. These editions are integrated with vertical markets capabilities not present otherwise in the standard Converge Enterprise CRM software.

4. 3rd party integration: Converge provides easy integration of third-party apps into the CRM. Users can build new applications or integrate existing business applications (ERP, e-commerce, self-service portals) as per the requirement.

Additionally, Converge offers a suite of next generation apps in its Apps Store. At present, app integration solution is available for – Outlook, Docusign, GoToMeeting, Twilio, Google Apps and Box. Upcoming apps include – Quickbooks, Webex, Wufoo, Xero, Freshbooks and Zapier.

Final Thoughts

With such great merits attached to the Converge Enterprise application, it will be interesting to see the journey of Converge Enterprise in this season of CRM Idol. Like the last year, Converge Enterprise will put its best foot forward and aim more towards learning from the CRM stalwarts – instead of just winning the coveted title.

After getting second-time consecutively nominated in CRM Idol competition, Converge Enterprise CRM has already generated a stir in the CRM world. Its latest Press Release Converge Enterprise selected among the TOP 22 companies for CRM Idol 2014 has got coverage in esteemed media houses like - International Business Times, TMCNet, Silicon Valley News, Miami Herald, Street Insider and Boston.com.