Free – You Can’t Get it Any Cheaper
Like the faithful salespeople at your organization, I was working a few evenings ago, when I integrated the Google Apps into Pardot’s Salesforce.com instance. These free tools are pretty cool add ons to SFDC. After I integrated Google Docs, and Gmail, I started thinking…what other cool things are available for my CRM?
For you CRM administrators, take the time to look at the native eco-systems available for your Salesforce Automation Tool.
Salesforce.com AppExchange-http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/
Tons of free tools, dashboards, and interesting widgets such as the Google Apps. There are a couple of Dashboards that are awesome. Most of the apps can be tested within your instance of Salesforce, enabling you to Try it before you Buy it.
NOTE - Salesforce enables AppExchange partners to integrate (for free) with their Professional Tier of service, which opens these solutions to many more customers (e.g., API Access is required to integrate third party applications – This is normally included only with their Enterprise tier of service)
NetSuite SuiteFlex-http://www.netsuite.com/portal/partners/applications.shtml
Not as many tools as Salesforce, however NetSuite does a great job of categorizing these applications to fit your organization’s needs / pain points. Based upon the names I see out there, there are some very widely distributed packages (LivePerson, Epiphany and Five9) which are noted to be quite powerful.
SugarCRM SugarExchange -http://www.sugarexchange.com/
Tools for the Open Source community. If you haven’t heard of this powerful Open Source CRM system, check it out. It’s powerful (full disclosure – I love SugarCRM), and has a growing eco-system of tools that extend the power of this terrific application.
