November 15, 2006
By Coreen Bailor, (former) Associate Editor, CRM Magazine

Entellium Is the Rave

Entellium has unveiled two solutions catering to the coveted on-demand CRM market: Usability Release 2006, the newest installment of the vendor's on-demand CRM product suite featuring enhancements to its flagship eSalesForce and eCustomerCenter offerings, and Rave CRM, a smart client on-demand sales optimization application. Usability Release 2006 is commercially available now, while Rave CRM will be available for free trial starting December 4. One of the core elements of Usability Release 2006 is its refreshed user interface. "We've put [more than] 55,000 hours into usability research," says Natalee Roan, CMO of Entellium. "With the Usability Release we've redesigned the user interface based on a lot of that feedback." Roan notes that most of the users in Entellium's target market generally range from 25 to 40 years old, "and for the most part they're pretty tech savvy. A lot of them use consumer products on the Web everyday and one of their complaints is frankly that business software is pretty boring. They get off of Google Maps and having fun with that and they come in and have to look at these very, very dry interfaces. So, we've made our new user interface look a lot more like a consumer oriented product and also one that...gives them that personalization that they've become used to." Usability Release 2006 features a Marketing Automator component, which drills into campaign management, lead management, and budget and analytics. The suite's campaign management capabilities include the ability to centralize lead source and list management, marketing collateral, and team timelines and tasks. Lead management enhancements include updated routing to include automatically distributing leads based on zip code or partial zip code, according to the company. The release also features several budget and analytics enhancements; one of which is the capability to track performance of Google Adwords campaigns within Entellium so companies can see how well pay-per-click programs are performing and tweak their spending. Other enhancements include Activity Automator, which automates task creation, while a new BI feature, Data Analyzer, uses a reporting filter to build reports that show managers how data from different parts of the business--sales, service, and marketing--interact with each other, according to the company. Entellium is offering the suite, including its package for Entellium eSalesForce and Entellium eCustomerCenter at $60 per user, per month, but each module can be purchased separately at $50 per user, per month, according to the company. "The improved usability provides the curb appeal to entice prospects from other SaaS CRM vendors," says George Goodall, research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. "The ultimate purchase decision will still ultimately come down to price and service." The company also announced that it is accepting preorders for Rave CRM, an on-demand sales optimization solution that is built on Entellium's workflow and automation engine. Perhaps one of the app's most intriguing elements is its ability to allow users to work offline; when the user finds an Internet connection, Rave CRM updates changes made while working offline. Another mark of Rave CRM is its Star Rankings feature, which essentially helps users prioritize contacts, prospects, and deals. The app considers record details like deal size, projected close date, and each contact's importance, and then leverages an algorithm to calculate a star ranking for each, according to the company. Additionally, Rave CRM's user interface features elements that are common in Internet applications such as drag and drop capabilities and an icon-driven layout, according to the company. Rave CRM's list price is $400 per user per year. "Entellium has had a very strong competitive offering before Rave," says Laurie McCabe, vice president of SMB insights and business solutions at AMI-Partners. But "they were a little later to market and everybody kind of gets thrown into the shadow of Salesforce.com. This Rave announcement could help them come out with something that is pretty differentiated and help Entellium get on the radar more easily as a company." Related articles: Entellium Bucks On Demand

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