Sage CRM, which is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool sold by The Sage Group, is often sold in conjunction with Sage ERP products. We have discussed Sage ERP products on this blog before and endorse them; today we are pleased to announce that Sage CRM was awarded the rating of “Challenger” on the Ovum Decision Matrix for CRM.
Ovum Ltd specializes in the global coverage of information technology and telecommunications. They analyze current software and trends and strive to keep companies “in the know” about the latest developments in the world of technology. Their goal is to give companies objective facts about technology so that the companies are able to make better, more informed business decisions.
Ovum’s decision matrix evaluates customer relationship management solutions for enterprises in order to identify the best solutions in the CRM market. Any company that receives the designation of “Challenger” has proven that they have good market positioning, competitive functionality, and are fairly priced.
In order to find companies worthy of the Challenger designation, Ovum reviews each CRM vendor for 10 criteria and ranks them based on surveys given to hundreds of IT decision-makers around the world.
The 10 criteria are high quality in:
-
Sales force automation
-
Customer service and support
-
Marketing management
-
Usability and overall user experience
-
Ability to meet the needs of their industry/customer sector
-
Ability to support rapid business changes
-
Integration across sales force automation, customer service and support, and marketing
-
Whether or not the CRM was perceived to provide "value for money"
-
Technical support
-
The vendor’s global market impact, which is measured across 5 categories:
-
Revenue
-
Geographic reach
-
Size of coverage – small, medium, and/or large enterprises
-
Marketplace recognition
-
Vertical penetration – revenue in utilities, financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, media, professional services, the retail sector, wholesale, distribution, telecommunications, transportation, and logistics
-
Ovum excludes any vendors who are strong in only one segment of customer relationship management.
Sage CRM was given the rating of Challenger by Ovum because their software was considered superior in all of the aforementioned categories. Ovum’s report indicates that:
-
Sage CRM is widely recognized in the 1,000-or-fewer employee market, in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America.
-
The Sage CRM/Sage ERP X3 integration on the Sage standard technology platform enables small to medium sized business to develop a exceptional CRM capability.
-
The native mobile apps offered by Sage CRM, including Sage CRM Sales Lite for iPhone and Sage CRM Sales Tracker for Windows 8, are superior to other vendors’ mobile choices.
Check back later for more information about Sage CRM and why it received the prestigious Challenger label.
