Touch Ahead Software, creators of EquityTouch, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for private equity and venture capital firms, has updated added a new feature to their flagship product. EquityTouch now includes a Tradeshow Tool that allows users to update their personalized databases with information collected from tradeshows, expositions, and other large business gatherings.
The Tradeshow Tool is designed to make data entry into EquityTouch even easier. EquityTouch clients can take contact data from tradeshows in the form of an excel file or comma-separate value (.csv) file and import directly into the program. Once uploaded, EquityTouch then checks to see if the new contacts are already in the system and updates profiles with information gathered from web-based business databases built directly into the EquityTouch software.
The new Tradeshow Tool saves users a lot of time and eliminates multiple contacts in the system. It also allows subscribers to locate and pinpoint new investment opportunities by sifting through pages of data in a matter of seconds compared to manual reference that can take hours.
The Tradeshow Tool will be available with the newest version of EquityTouch, EquityTouch Osprey (Version 2.0). The release expected mid-March, 2010.
75 Kneeland St., 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02111
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Cathie Briggette
Marketing Director
(866-960-9301) x207
cmb@touchahead.com
Touch Ahead Software, LLC hires new employee
BOSTON - Touch Ahead Software LLC announced today that John Binda has joined the company as Director of Sales. He will lead the effort to increase overall revenue growth for the company. John Binda's first day at Touch Ahead Software was December 1, 2009.
John is joining Touch Ahead Software, from Neocase Software, where he was the Regional Director and responsible for national product sales. "There are tremendous opportunities ahead for Touch Ahead Software, and the EquityTouch product. Touch Ahead Software has created a world-class CRM solution for VC and Private Equity organizations" Binda said. "I am excited about helping customers manage all of their communications with team members, intermediaries, and potential deal companies"
John will report to Touch Ahead Software CEO, Nancy Keddy. "I am delighted to welcome John to Touch Ahead Software"," Keddy said. "This is an exciting time with our latest release of EquityTouch, a relationship management, and collaboration solution for venture capital and private equity firms. John's unique and diverse background, coupled with his deep software sales experience and understanding of the CRM industry, will be an invaluable asset in our plans to grow the business.
Before joining Neocase Software in 2008, Binda spent 15 years working for various CRM vendors and resellers. His role has been to increase revenues, and improve customer satisfaction.
Touch Ahead Software develops cutting edge SaaS solutions. Touch Ahead has developed EquityTouchTM, a remarkable CRM solution enabling organizations to intelligently manage new business opportunities. EquityTouchTM prides itself on being the fastest web application, while delivering the most vital features of CRM and a completely customizable interface.
Touch Ahead Software is a Boston based software development firm that provides web-based relationship management and collaboration solutions. For more information please contact Cathie Briggette at (866) 960-9301 x706 . Or visit http://www.touchahead.com/
-END-
Release Notes
|
Product |
EquityTouch |
|
Release Number |
1.3.0 |
|
Release Date |
12/04/09 |
|
Support |
TouchAhead |
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Purpose
This is a major feature release. Changes have been made based on requests gathered from user feedback and on initial planning. There have been updates throughout the system that also include several bug fixes. All users of EquityTouch
™ will see these changes.
No action is required on the client side to implement these changes.
Brief Overview
-
Ability to add, remove, and edit Employees from the Company Summary page.
-
Ability to change the Primary Contact from the Company Summary page.
-
Ability to merge duplicate companies and people.
-
Easier method for adding multiple attendees to a Touch.
-
Changes to the Advanced Search including the ability to search for blank/null values and the ability to search for other people’s touches.
-
Change method for calculating the “Next Step” value.
-
Introduction of Security Groups (admin level).
-
Ability to configure Dashboard Statistics (admin level).
-
A few other design/display enhancements.
-
Assorted bug fixes across the application.
New Features
- Ability To Add, Remove, and Edit Employees From Company Summary – You can now add, edit, and remove employees directly from the Company Summary page.
1. Adding Employees – While looking at a Company Summary page, click
the Add Employee” button in the bottom left corner of the Employees
section.
This will open the New Employee form at the top of the page. Filling out this form and hitting “Enter” will save this new Person to the Company.
2. Editing Employees – While looking at a Company Summary page, click the “Edit” button in the top right corner of the Employees section.
This will open this section in edit mode. You can make changes to the person’s first, middle or last name; his/her title, primary phone number, and email address. Click “Save” to save your changes.
3. Changing Primary Contact – You can now change who the primary contact is at a company from the Company Summary page. In the Employee section, click the radio button next to the appropriate employee. His/her name will become bolded and it will bubble to the top. This name will now appear in search results for that company.
4. Deleting Employees – While looking at a Company Summary page, click the ‘X’ on the far right of the person’s row. You will be alerted that this person has been removed from the company. His/her current role of employment with this company will be made into a past role and he/she will no longer be visible on the Company Summary page.
5. Ability To Merge Records – You can now merge both People and Company records. This is done from a search result and only 2 records can be merged together at once.
To merge two companies or people, first select the two records by checking the checkboxes in the left column of the search result. Then, click the ‘Options’ menu and select ‘Merge Selected Items’.
A window will pop up with all the information displayed in 3 columns. A preview of the merged record’s information will be displayed on the left, the primary record’s information will be displayed in the middle, and the secondary record’s information will be displayed on the right. To swap the primary and secondary companies, click “Swap Primary Company” in the top part of the panel.
To merge using the default values click ‘Merge People’ or ‘Merge Companies’ in the top left. To change what information is included in the merged record, click the radio buttons on the field you would like to swap. If you would like to remove certain information from the merged record, click the ‘X’ next to the field you want removed. You will see the Merge Results column update with the new information.
Some information is hidden to start (communications information, custom fields). To see this information, click “Show Phones, Emails, and URLs” or “Show Custom Fields”.
When you are ready to merge, click ‘Merge People’ or ‘Merge Companies’ in the top left.
Notes:
o All touches are kept when records are merged.
o All groups containing the deleted record are updated to include the merged record if it is not already in the group.
o Fields that can contain multiple values (phone, location, etc) will default to be updated to include all values from both records being merged.
o The primary record is selected by taking the record with the most recent change (Touch or info). This is the one which will remain after the merge. The secondary record is the company or person being merged from. This record will be deleted after the merge.
o After merging people or companies, a touch will be attached to the merged record containing both records’ information. The touch type will be “Company Merge” or “Person Merge”.
o In the resulting Company or Person record, email addresses, phone numbers, and URLs will appear in the order of the select list they belong to.
Note about People records when merging Companies – When you merge two companies, the employees of those companies will be auto-merged based on an exact match on email or full name. You are not given an option to mix and match Person fields when merging Companies.
· Add Attendee Panel – A simpler way of adding attendees to a touch has been added. On a new or existing touch, click the ‘Add Attendee Form’ button.
A window will open up with 3 sections.
o Users - The section on the left is a list of all users in a certain user group of EquityTouch. The first time you use this it will be the default group ‘All Users’. You can change which user group you would like to see by clicking on the following menu and selecting a different group:
o Current Company - The section in the top right is a list all people at the Active Company.
o Other Relationships - The section in the bottom right is a list of all people that have a role with the Active Company, have a previous role with the Active Company (past employees), and anyone who has ever been involved with a touch with the Active Company or Person.
To the left of each person will be radio buttons corresponding to different Touch Roles. To include someone on the Touch, just check the appropriate circle for him/her. You will see them be added to the Touch fly out. To remove them, click the ‘X’ on the Touch fly out next to his/her name (this is the same as removing them without this new tool). When you are done, close the ‘Add Attendee’ panel by clicking the ‘x’ in the top right corner.
· Improvements to Advanced Searching – Several improvements have been made to Advanced Searching that allow you to search for other EquityTouch user’s touches and search for blank/null values in fields. Some procedural and display issues have also been addressed to make the process smoother.
o Other People’s Touches – You can now search through other EquityTouch
™ users' touches. To do this, look for the “Search In” field under the Touch section of the Advanced Search panel.
This drop down previously contained two options: My Touches and All Touches. In addition to those two, it now contains every user of EquityTouch
™ . Selecting a user will narrow the search down to that person’s touches.
o Searching For Blank Values – You can now search for fields that have no values. In drop-down lists the option will now appear in the Advanced Search panel. For text fields, type into the field. In a range (date, numbers), the text is only required in the ‘From’ field.
Note: Searching for in either the Company Name or Person Last Name fields will search for the string ‘’ and not for records with no entries (as those two fields are required and cannot be blank).
o Hitting ‘Enter’ Starts Search – While in the Advanced Search panel, if you hit ‘Enter’/’Return’ the search will start. Note that this will not work if you have a drop-down list selected. In this case the drop-down list will toggle open and closed.
o The Advanced Search Panel Closes on Search - Once the search is complete, the Advanced Search panel will close, displaying the search results.
- Change to ‘Next Step’ Calculation – The ‘Next Step’ date is now the date of the incomplete touch that is closest to the current date. If two incomplete touches are equidistant from the current date, the touch in the future will be displayed. This value will be updated for a Company if a new touch is added and nightly if one is not.
- Security Groups – This release contains the first steps necessary for implementing Security Groups. A Security Group is a group of users set up by an application Administrator that can be used in the application. With this release it will be used in the new Add Attendee functionality (adding People to Touches). All users will belong to the group “All Users” by default. This functionality will continue to become more important with future releases.
- Person Title Added To Relationships Tab - On the Company Relationships tab a Person’s current title is now displayed.
· Changes to the Intermediary Panel – Changes have been made to the Intermediary panel on Company Summary pages. This section now includes the Intermediary’s title, Company, phone, email, and the start date of the intermediary role with the company.
· Dashboard Statistics Now Admin Configurable – Under Customization -> Dashboard -> Statistics Panel in the Administration section. An application administrator can configure the default date range for statistics, the touch types to include, the company types to include, and the touch roles to include.
· Email/Invitation Defaults Admin Configurable by Touch Role – The ability to specify defaults (checked/not checked) based on Touch Role for Email and Outlook Invitation when adding attendees to Touches is now Admin Configurable. Previously all roles that were not ‘Initiator’ were included under ‘Participant’. The administrator can now configure for each Role. This is in the same place it used to be (System Settings -> Mail and Calendar).
· Tag Email Functionality Now Admin Configurable – Under System Settings -> Options -> Mail and Calendar there is now a setting called ‘Send emails with Tags’. Turning this on will send an email to the recipient of a tag.
· Options Button Change – The options button has been changed throughout EquityTouch
™ to the following:
Bug Fixes
- Pagination Saved Preference – The ‘Results Per Page’ setting is now saved across sessions.
- Custom Field Invalid Character - Saving ampersand (&) to a custom field no longer throws an error.
- Company Name Invalid Character – Saving ampersand (&) to a company name no longer throws an error.
- Deleting Company Address Bug - Deleting a company address immediately updates what gets returned in search results. Previously this would not always get updated.
- Export To XLS on Advanced Search - After running an Advanced Search on custom fields, exporting to XLS will now export the correct fields. Previously incorrect results were exported.
- ‘Groups’ Filter Preference Saved Across Sessions – The most recent selection for the Groups filter on the dashboard will now be saved (All Groups, My Groups, Company Groups, People Groups, Shared Groups).
- Saving Touch Without Attendees Alerts User – If you save a touch without any attendees you will receive a message explaining that you need to have at least 1 attendee on the touch. Previously the edit touch panel would say ‘Saving’ but nothing would happen.
- Adding A Relationship No Longer Changes Person’s Header - Only changing the Employee role will change the information displayed in the Person’s header (area above the tabs).
- Options Menus Close Correctly – Sometimes options menus closed prematurely if the mouse hovered over certain areas. This has been fixed.
- Deleting Initiator on Touch Already Sent To Outlook – If a Touch has been sent as an Outlook invitation, and the initiator of the Touch changes, a new invitation will be sent. The old Outlook meeting will remain. Previously, removing the initiator in this situation would have thrown an error.
- Next Step View Available from Stats Search - After clicking on a number in the stats section of the Dashboard, you can now select ‘Next Step View’ as a search result view.
- Drag and Drop of Custom Financial Fields Works - In the Admin section, you can click and drag custom financial fields into order in ‘Financial Fields Layout’.
- Person Summary ‘Save Changes’ Message - The ‘Are you sure you want to navigate away without saving your changes’ dialogue is only displayed if something has changed.
- New Group from Selected Bug - This did not always display the correct number of groups being added. This has been fixed.
- Google News Module Bug – Editing search terms in the Google news module automatically refreshes the search results.
If you worry about
employees’ reluctance to learn how to use the new CRM software your organization
has just invested in, this post may help ease your mind.
Since investing in CRM
software requires a substantial amount of thought and careful consideration,
you have the right to want everyone in your organization to use the software to
its full potential. You may worry that some people will be reluctant to use it,
or that they won’t want to put effort into learning how to use it. Although not
every CRM system is difficult to use, some people find it hard to
leave their comfort zone and become familiar with a new way of doing things - even if the new way will benefit them.
The following suggestions
may help ensure that employees are willing to adopt the new software:
Lead by Example
If you want employees to be
as excited about the new software as you are and to see the value it has in helping with everyday tasks, it helps to be an avid user yourself.
If employees know that you
don’t actively use the software, they probably won’t think it is worth it to
use it themselves. After all, why would an employee use software that a leading
figure in the company won’t even use? Take the time to explore your new
application and you will see how greatly it benefits you. You will then naturally
want to share your enthusiasm with others in the organization. Also, there is
likely going to be someone who stands out in your organization as a quick adopter.
Encourage this person to help and motivate others.
Train
Once the CRM software is
implemented, it can’t be expected that employees will automatically know what
to do with it and which buttons perform what function. Therefore, it is
necessary that there are learning resources available to employees.
Training sessions help employees
learn the purpose of certain functions within the software, as well as how to
enter data correctly. They help everyone to be on the same page and learn how
to use the software strategically. It helps to think of examples that are
applicable to your organization's processes to use during training. If you find
a certain tutorial video interesting, share it with those you think could
really benefit from it. Remember to take advantage of the learning resources the CRM vendor has available!
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC
What You Should Take into Consideration
When it comes time for you
to start using a CRM system for the first time or to take the plunge and adopt
a new one, there are some things you may want to consider to make sure you are
prepared to use a CRM system for all it is worth.
CRM software is meant to
help your business in many different ways, especially to increase efficiency.
In no way is it supposed to make things more complex and stressful for you. It
can do great things for you such as keep you organized and updated, help you
identify problem areas and trends, and, of course, help you maintain
relationships with clients. There are countless ways in which CRM systems can
help you.
You may find yourself a bit
overwhelmed if you don’t have an idea of what you would like the CRM system to
help you to achieve. Do you want to see where you are lacking productivity? Do
you simply want to record contact information and keep track of communication
with clients? What about having the ability to create and share groups of
contacts?
Although it’s perfectly acceptable for you to want to do only one of
these or all of them combined, you should at least know what you expect the
system to help you with. This should be considered before you purchase
software. It might help to think of
what your organization’s pain points are and what data you plan on entering
into the system. Keep in mind that since you have to actually enter data to
give yourself and the CRM system something to work with, you cannot expect to
realize results without the user(s) giving input.
In order to use the system to its full
potential, to get the most out of the system and to realize the benefits, you
must learn how to use the system, and to your benefit. This is where simplicity
comes in as a valuable characteristic. The more simplistic your CRM
software is (simplistic meaning uncomplicated for the user), the better able you will be to use it for all it is worth because
you will have a better chance of knowing all the features really well instead
of just knowing many features slightly or not knowing them at all. If you pay
for software that has a million different complicated features, and they aren’t
helpful to your business or you have no idea how to use them, you may be
setting yourself up for frustration.
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC
CRM and CEM
You may have seen the acronyms CRM and CEM floating around the web, and you may be unsure about what they stand for, as well as the difference between the two. Although CRM and CEM may seem like they are the same thing, they are actually two different concepts.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management
and
CEM stands for Customer Experience Management
When you think of CRM, imagine a business managing all of its customer contacts. Imagine keeping track of information such as phone numbers, addresses, and statistics on customers, as well as when you last talked to someone, where you met, the location, through what medium of communication, etc. The data is typically more statistical. Think of it as a more quantitative focus.
With CEM, think of customer service. Experience is the key term here, because it involves customers' feelings and thoughts on a company, as well as their interactions with a company. Information you may find in a CEM system includes customers' attitudes toward a certain product, problems they have had in the past, their hobbies, etc. All of this information is used to create the best experience possible for the customer and to make it personalized as possible. Customer perspective is essential to CEM.
The reason many people get CRM and CEM confused is because there is often a fine line between the two. Many CRM software systems contain features that are representative of something you may find in CEM software, and vice versa. For example, you may find that in some CRM software there is a place for users to make notes on customer likes and dislikes, or there may even be survey tools built in.
When it comes to choosing a system that best suits your company, you need to think about what your goals are. You may find that you would benefit from having one system that encompasses functions of both CRM and CEM.
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC
Making CRM Work for You
There are many reasons why you may be dissatisfied with your business' on-premise CRM software. One of the common complaints is that the software requires companies' in-house IT teams' frequent and costly attention. The time and effort that your in-house IT team puts towards maintaining on-premise CRM solutions could be directed elsewhere to increase the productivity within your business. If this sounds all too familiar, you may consider opting for a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution. You can learn more about the advantages of SaaS here.
Additionally, like many business owners, you may become frustrated by software that limits your ability to integrate key company contact information with other applications and devices. A trend in today's CRM software market is Blackberry compatibility. When you're on the go and need to update or access your contact information, it's frustrating if you're unable to do so.
It's also important to make sure your CRM solution fits your needs. Many companies take a while to actually change their CRM software. People tend to fear unfamiliarity, especially when they do not feel they have time to learn the ins and outs of a new system. The solution to this is to have your software tailored to your business operations and needs. This way, you can still have features that you are accustomed to, and you can also add new features that would make doing business much easier for you.
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC
Chances are you have heard about the hype of SaaS in the media, especially how more and more businesses are adopting SaaS for their CRM models. You may feel unsure about adopting SaaS, or overwhelmed about why SaaS is getting so much attention. Here are the key reasons why SaaS is receiving so much praise in regard to CRM:
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is lower than on-premise CRM
- In-house IT is no longer relied upon or called into action to fix your CRM - can allocate your IT team’s efforts elsewhere
- Easy maintenance - The service is hosted offsite and all maintenance for application and server are handled by the vendor
- Faster and easier implementation of the CRM - no longer going from computer to computer for installation because it’s all done offsite in the cloud
- A team of experts specific to your software takes the weight off your shoulders, saving you time
- Pay as you use the software
- Customization available to reflect your unique business operations
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC
EquityTouchTM New Features and Bug Fixes
|
Product |
EquityTouchTM |
|
Release Number |
1.2.0 |
|
Release Date |
8/07/09 |
|
Support |
Touch Ahead |
Purpose
This is a feature release. Changes have been made based on requests gathered from user feedback and on initial planning. There have been updates throughout the system that also include several bug fixes. All users of EquityTouchTM will see these changes.
No action is required on the client side to implement these changes.
New Features
Web Services Integration - This tool allows for newsfeeds and social networking tools to be integrated at the Person and Company level from within EquityTouch™. On the summary pages for people and companies, there is a section labeled "Web". Below it are any icons representing web components your system is configured for.
Clicking on an icon will open up a new window containing the feed for that service. Clicking the edit/options button in the top right corner of these windows will allow you to edit and save the search criteria that gets sent out to these services.
Consequently, the "News" tab has been removed from both Company and Person records. The Web Services Integration section is configurable to contain any information that would have previously been on that page. Also, the associated web components have been removed from the Options menu on the summary tab.
People Custom Fields - Custom fields are now available for Person records. Previously these were only available for Companies. These are configured by your system administrator.
- People Groups - You can now create groups of people in EquityTouch. Previously you could only create groups of Companies.
A group of people is any set of people you want to keep together who may or may not have a common characteristic. These people do not have to be employed by the same Company. People groups work just like Company groups. You can now decide which type of group to create on the "New Group" form (this can be opened by clicking "New Group" from the Actions menu or "New Group from Selected" from a search result.
To save a search, you click on the ‘Options' menu from the search results page. From here you can select ‘Save Search'. A form will open asking you to name your search. Enter a name for your search and a brief description of what the search contains. If you would like to share this search with other people you can ‘Tag' them from this form (see the ‘Tagged Searches" section for more information). Finally, click "Save Search" to save. You should now see your new search in the "Saved Searches" section of the Dashboard.
If you want to edit the name or description of your new saved search, you can do so by clicking on it in the "Saved Searches" section. The search will run. When it is done running, click the ‘Options' button and select ‘Edit Search'.
-
Tagged Searches - ‘Tagged' searches are searches you can share with other users. Any user "tagged" to a search will receive notice that you have shared a search with them and can either view and save your search or ignore it (see the "Tags Panel" section for more information).
You can tag someone on a saved search when you first save it, or by editing it later. To tag someone on a saved search when you create it, simply click on his/her/their name(s) under the ‘Tag Recipients' section of the ‘New Saved Search' form (see the "Saved Searches" section for more information).
Their name will then be added to the "Tag Recipients" list.
To tag someone on a search that is already saved, first click on the search in the "Saved Searches" section. The search will run. When it is done running, click the ‘Options' button and select ‘Edit Search'. Now, click on the person's name you would like to tag and hit ‘Save'.
-
Tagged Groups - ‘Tagged' groups are groups that you can share with other users. Any user "tagged" to a group will receive notice that you have shared a group with them and they can then either view and save your search or ignore it (see the "Tags Panel" section for more information).
Tagged groups are not collaborative. In other words, if you tag someone on a group, and they make changes to the group, they will see those changes but you will not. For information on collaborative groups see the "Shared Groups" section.
To tag someone on a group, first open the group by clicking on it from the "Groups" section of your dashboard. Then, from the options menu, select "Send Tag".
A form will open up on which you can give a name and comments for the tag. Any user you tag on this group will see the name and comments. To add users, simply click his/her name from the list on this form. To finish, click "Send Tag".
When you share a group with someone, they will be notified in his/her ‘Tags Panel' (see the "Tag Panel" section for more information).
You can share a group when you first save it or at any point after that by editing it. To share a group with someone when you first create it, simply click on his/her/their name(s) under the "Collaborators" section of the new group form.
To share a group that is already saved, first open the group by clicking on it from your dashboard. Then, click the ‘Options' button and select ‘Edit Group'. Now, click on the person's name and hit ‘Save'.
- Tags Panel - The Tags panel displays any searches or groups you have been "tagged" on but have yet to take action on. You can see what type of tag it is by looking at the "Type" column. The name of the person who tagged you will be displayed under the "First" and "Last" columns.
Clicking on a Tag will open up the search or group.
Once an item is in your Tags section, you can do three things:
- View the tag - Click on the name of the tag to view it. It will open up as a search result.
- Accept the tag - To accept the tag and keep the Saved Search or Group, click on the icon under the ‘Actions' column. This will look like a push pin for searches and a handshake for collaborative groups. Clicking here will add the search to your "Saved Searches" section or the group to your "Groups" section.
3. Delete the tag - To delete the tag, click on the ‘X' in the far right column of the Tag.
Bug Fixes
- Company Summary Report Bug - All participant of a Touch are now listed on the Company Summary report. Previously, this report would only include the initiator of each touch.
- Free Text Search on Custom Fields - A free text search for companies will now search through all custom fields of a company.
- Preferences Saved on Logout - All custom preferences are now saved on logout. This includes positioning of custom fields and groups (after dragging and dropping) and minimization/maximization.
- Removing Roles Bug - Previously, if you removed all current and previous roles from a Person he/she would become "orphaned" and opening his/her record would throw an error. You are no longer allowed to remove a pervious role if it is the only role assigned to that person.
- Increased Speed when Exporting Touches to XLS - The Export to XLS report for touches runs much faster than it used to. Previously, it would timeout somewhere around the 2,000th touch but has now been tested to perform quickly (< 1 minute) on 10,000-14,000 touches.
- Location Drop Down List Re-Ordered - This was updated to list American states ahead of Canadian provinces.