Pivotal CRM

Pivotal CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) software system offered by Aptean (formerly CDC Software), an enterprise software and service company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The Pivotal CRM suite includes software tools for sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and lead management, and customer service automation, as well as partner management, mobile CRM, analytics and call scripting.[1][2] Industry specific versions [3] of the Pivotal CRM suite are also offered for several industries, including institutional asset management, mutual fund wholesaling, capital markets, commercial banking, private banking, home building and real estate, healthcare, and legal services, among others. Built on the Microsoft.NET Framework, Pivotal CRM embeds several commonly used Microsoft business products within the CRM system, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Visual Studio.

History

Pivotal Software was founded by Norm Francis and Keith Wales in 1994. Francis and Wales were a co-founders of Basic Software Group (BSG) the company that developed ACCPAC, an accounting software package which was purchased by Computer Associates in 1985. Founder Norm Francis and Director of Marketing Sharka Stuyt invented the concept of 360-degree customer relationship management (CRM), a concept that continues to be used today to describe the unification of activities across the organization by employees who play a role in the customer relationship.[4] The company released its first customer relationship management product, Pivotal Relationship Version 1, in April 1996; this product is the predecessor to the current Pivotal CRM product line.[5]

The company changed its name to Pivotal Corporation in June 1999 to reflect its broadening focus beyond just software into professional services, content, hosted application services and other online services.[6] Pivotal Corporation went public in August 1999 and its shares were listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol PVTL.[7]

In February 2000, Pivotal Corporation was selected by Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect, to showcase its Pivotal CRM software at the worldwide premiere of Microsoft Windows 2000.[8] Pivotal CRM, then called Pivotal eRelationship, was the first eBusiness relationship management (eBRM) solution to be certified for Windows 2000.[9]

Pivotal Corporation was acquired by chinadotcom, now CDC Corporation, in February 2004. The acquisition added 1,700 customers, as well as marketing, sales, service, and partner management capabilities to CDC Software’s business unit focused on front-office solutions for mid-sized enterprises.[10]

In 2012, CDC Software was merged with Consona Corporation, to form Aptean, and therefore, Pivotal CRM is one of the Aptean portfolio of products. [11]

Products

Pivotal CRM is known in the CRM space for its focus on helping mid-sized enterprises with unique or complex front office business processes. Pivotal CRM customers require CRM software that is customizable and adaptable to their unique business requirements; they also value the Microsoft technology foundation.[12]

The Pivotal CRM product suite includes:[13][14]

The latest Pivotal CRM version, Pivotal 6, was released in July 2008. Based on Microsoft .NET technology, Pivotal 6 provides task-based navigation, embedded including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft SharePoint, and a smart client user interface.[16]

Platform and Technology

Pivotal CRM 6.0 is built on the Microsoft.NET Framework. The product embeds commonly used Microsoft business products within the CRM system, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Visual Studio. As such, it is an example of an Office Business Application.

Aptean is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.[17] In 2009, CDC Software was awarded the Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for Information Worker Solutions, Office Deployment on the strength of the Pivotal CRM solution.[18]

Implementation

Pivotal CRM is primarily implemented as an “on-premises” solution, as opposed to “software-as-a-service” or “on-demand” CRM software product.

Industries

The product line also includes industry-focused versions of Pivotal CRM products for the following industries:[19]

Criticisms

Early versions of Pivotal CRM employed a proprietary scripting language and development environment, called Pivotal Agents. At the time, Pivotal agents were suitable for customers did not need programming experience to build and manage business logic in Pivotal, although the development tools were graphical & not always welcomed by developers who preferred to see lines of code on the screen.

Pivotal agents were no longer being required in the Pivotal 6.0 platform which was released in 2008, and were replaced by .Net, C# programming infrastructure that allowed common Microsoft developers to be proficient in Pivotal customization. Customers who purchased Pivotal after 2008 implemented the product on the new .Net architecture and no longer required the use of Pivotal agents to build business logic. [25]

Since 2008, Pivotal has released a multitude of tools the assist customers on previous versions to upgrade their business logic into the new .Net architecture. Some of these included an agent conversion tool which automatically converted Pivotal agents to C# code, the ability to run the rich client on the Pivotal 6.x platform, and the ability to run the Windows Access (WA) client on the 6.x platform is coming in Q1 2014.

References

  1. ↑ Pivotal CRM Products Retrieved 31 March 2010
  2. ↑ CRM Buyer's Guide Retrieved 31 March 2010, DestinationCRM.com
  3. ↑ Pivotal CRM Industry Solutions Retrieved 31 March 2010
  4. ↑ Pivotal's Norm Francis Recognized for CRM Industry Leadership (Press Release) 15 December 1999
  5. ↑ US Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-K Annual Report filing for Pivotal Corporation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2000 Retrieved 20 November 2009
  6. ↑ Pivotal Software Becomes Pivotal Corporation (Press Release 30 June 1999
  7. ↑ IPO Filings by Company Retrieved 20 November 2009, YAHOO! Finance
  8. ↑ Microsoft Selects Pivotal eBusiness Solution for Bill Gates’ Windows 2000 Keynote Demo 18 February 2000, Business Wire
  9. ↑ Pivotal eRelationship 2000 Announced as First eBusiness Solution Certified for Microsoft Windows 2000 17 February 2000, Business Wire
  10. ↑ Pivotal formally acquired by CDC Software 26 February 2004, CSO
  11. ↑ http://www.aptean.com/en/Company/News-and-Events/Press-Releases/2012/20120807-CDC-Software-and-Consona-Corporation-Merge
  12. ↑ Pivotal CRM Retrieved 20 November 2009, 2020software.com
  13. ↑ CRM Buyer’s Guide: Pivotal CRM Retrieved 20 November 2009, DestinationCRM.com
  14. ↑ Pivotal CRM Products page Retrieved 20 November 2009
  15. ↑ Pivotal CRM Development Tools Retrieved 28 February 2015, 2015 Software
  16. ↑ CDC Software Releases Pivotal CRM 6.0. Insurance & Technology Kristie Cattafi, 4 August 2008, InsuranceTech.com
  17. ↑ Microsoft Solution Finder Retrieved 20 November 2009, Microsoft
  18. ↑ CDC Software wins Microsoft Worldwide Partner award 3 July 2009, MeriNews
  19. ↑ CDC Software CRM Industry Solutions page Retrieved 20 November 2009
  20. ↑ CDC Software's Vertical CRM Solutions Gain Momentum in Financial Services Industries 27 August 2007, CustomerThink
  21. ↑ Pivotal CRM for Healthcare Payers Retrieved 20 November 2009, 2020 Software
  22. ↑ CDC Software Announces Major New Version of Pivotal CRM for Homebuilding 13 February 2008, CustomerThink
  23. ↑ CDC Software Pivotal CRM for Manufacturing Retrieved 20 November 2009
  24. ↑ Medical Device Manufacturer Improves Operational Efficiencies with CDC Software’s Pivotal CRM Retrieved 20 November 2009, CRM2Day
  25. ↑ http://www.aptean.com/en/Solutions/By-Product-Name-AZ/Pivotal-CRM/Solutions

External links

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