CRM Idol announces the Americas competition finalists!

There was a heavy process to get here if you think about. First, qualify for the competition; then do a demo and get reviewed by a panel of judges who are among the most influential people in CRM if we do say so ourselves, then if you made the semi-final cut, which was 13 of 39, you had another review by a judge and then there was a vote by all the judges, points were also tallied and the four finalists for the Americas (3 next week for EMEA) were chosen.

And it’s not over yet either. Next week, we’ll be announcing the rules for the videos and from the day of the announcement there will be a time period for submission of that video which won’t allow for even a day late. Then the videos will be posted all over the world for popular voting and the extended judges panel will be voting also to come up with the winner from the final four. 

That’s a lot.

So, without further ado, here are the Final Four for CRM Idol Americas! (in alphabetical order)

1.     Assistly

2.     Crowd Factory

3.     GetSatisfaction

4.     Stone Cobra

Okay, I’m sure you’re going to think, “Assistly? They were acquired by salesforce.com yesterday. Why are they in it?” Clearly, we can read minds, so we’re going to pre-empt your question.

Assistly qualified this year. They still met all the criteria and, despite the slightly bad timing, they were chosen as finalists before their announced acquisition Since this was year one, we will have to allow in year two that we may change this – there are a lot of things we are going to consider “post-season.” But there is no reason to think that they are anything but qualified. The acquisition will probably prevent them from re-entering next year if they don’t win, but they met ALL the qualifications this year so we unreservedly are moving forward with their finalist status – because they deserve it.

So, lets give a hand to all the finalists and we’re going to move the bar, or move to the bar, to celebrate their selection. Now the hardest work begins. Video time!

CONGRATULATIONS CRM IDOL AMERICA FINALISTS!