The Big iPhone CRM Bakeoff

Got an announcement to make.

Since I love my iPhone (I DO. I really DO) and of course make my living and career choices related to CRM, I've decided to combine the two and do a complete CRM for the iPhone bakeoff. A competition and rating of EVERY CRM application that works on the iPhone and a somewhat detailed review of each of them and why they are good, bad, or need improvement.

Why do that? I'd love to say something about the new paradigm for mobile CRM and that would be right - though to be truly the case, Apple will have to increase the security and administrative controls for enterprise purposes - but it is a lot better a business device than their detractors say. The Kingstone Yankee and the NY Yankee Paul are in the same corner on its potential as a business device.

But the other reason. The iPhone is incredibly cool and once you use it, you will never want to go back to any other device - unless AT&T drives you off the wall which is VERY possible. That coolness for whatever reason, had CRM vendors jumping on the business bandwagon far more quickly than any other business "category," which makes my life VERY interesting, and if you're reading this blog, your life too.

So far, as much as I can tell, here's the ones I know exist and/or claim to. There will be no "for the iPhone" version thingee attached to the same, since I think you're all smart enough to assume that an iPhone CRM bakeoff is going to use the iPhone version.

1. NetSuite - I've asked Zach Nelson, the NetSuite CEO in the business for a demo account to test and he said that it would be done.
2. EBSuite (see my next blog entry) - they have an iPhone app and gave me a login but I'm having a little technical difficulty which won't count against them because I think its me
3. Etelos - This is the company that proclaimed CRM for Google. I have access through iphoneapps.com
4. HEAP CRM - same access as Etelos
5. Salesforce.com - Tien Tzuo, CSO of salesforce.com, says he's gotten salesforce.com to work on the iPhone so I'm going to set it up to see how well. I'll contact him today for the details on how to do that.

So far, I think that's it.

CRM vendors, if I'm leaving you out I apologize but it will be up to you to tell me of your CRM for the iPhone application/service and get it to me. I wish I could test ZohoCRM because Zoho has done such a GREAT job with iZoho, their personal productivity Office buster suite on the iPhone. It looks good and works good, but is not ZohoCRM so I can't count it here.

Let the games begin on that awesome interface.

Technorati : CRM, EBSuite, Etelos, HEAP, NetSuite, Salesforce.com, iPhone

Comments

[iPhone4 case]

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[bigiphone]

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[Kingsley Joseph]

The cloud is willing, but some hardware is weak ;)

[Paul G.]

Hey Pierre,
Whether or not it works on a browser isn't the basis for the contest. Its those that claim they work on the iPhone. The contestants I mentioned all claimed they work well on the iPhone. Microsoft hasn't said a word about LiveCRM on the iPhone so it doesn't get into the mix.

Hi Don,
I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done. I've been concerned about the functionality of your offering generally, but what you've done with the technology sure looks interesting - especially the AJAX enablement. I'm going to be testing you and all of the others in the beginning of August when I return from Singapore (probably will do some in Singapore too). I'm glad to see that you're paying a lot of attention to user feedback. Good stuff.

[Pierre Hulsebus]

With all due respect to your CRM'ness. There is this little company in Readmond, Washington that makes a product called CRM. Might I be so bold as to ask why they are not in the mix? There are several way to have a browser based Microsoft CRM experience.

Just wondering.

[Don Campbell]

Hi Paul,
We've made a bunch of updates to our Etelos CRM for iPhone - including iPhone dialing, map and email integration, and AJAX tweaks to make things run faster on the AT&T EDGE network. Here is a run down of the changes with screen shots. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear what you think!
http://www.etelos.com/dm/article.espx?show=12628
Take care,
-Don