August 1, 2008
By Marshall Lager, founder and managing principal, Third Idea Consulting; contributor, CRM magazine

A Code Win Doesn't Blow

The Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) recently announced the winners of its 2008 CODiEs, recognizing the best achievements in programming. CRM might typically let them pass without mention, but this year the list of winners had a lot of names familiar to our readers:

Salesforce.com won twice, for On-Demand Platform (Force.com) and Relationship Management Solution. NetSuite had a CODiE of its own, with its 2007.0 edition named for eCommerce Solution, and picked up another -- Business Software Solution -- for OpenAir Professional Services Automation, by consultancy OpenAir, a firm that NetSuite acquired in June. Jigsaw took home Business Productivity Solution, while Xactly Incent won for Financial Software Solution. Other winners relevant to CRM's coverage include Tableau Software's Tableau Desktop (Business Intelligence or Knowledge Management Solution); Coveo Enterprise Search 5.0 (Enterprise Search Engine); and iPass Mobile Office (Mobile Solution).

Even the number of CRM vendors that made it to the finalist stage is considerable, including DemandWare, Entellium, Omniture, OpSource, RightNow Technologies, SugarCRM, and VerticalResponse. (Several appeared in last year's list of CODiEs as well.) The reason is clear: Some of the most innovative programming in the software industry is happening in the CRM field. Code jockeys are working hard to bring you the very finest in business solutions, and the results are earning accolades.

For more winning efforts, don't miss the September 2008 issue of CRM magazine, when we reveal the winners of the 2008 CRM Market Awards.

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