Emerging Vendors 2013: Business Applications
Amazing Applications
CRN's annual Emerging Vendors examines the hottest tech startups in multiple disciplines throughout the technology industry. And that includes business applications. Let's face it, you can have the fastest hardware in the industry or the biggest data storage system money can buy. But without applications, IT doesn't have a heck of a lot of value. Here are a number of emerging vendors with business applications worth checking out, from ERP and marketing software to apps for vertical industries like healthcare and hospitality.
4Spires
Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Top Executive: David Arella, Founder & CEO
This company's flagship product, CommitKeeper, is a collaboration and work management tool designed to improve project coordination and accountability. The Web-based CommitKeeper lets users create work requests and negotiate delivery agreements while tracking projects all the way through delivery.
Acumatica
Kirkland, Wash.
Top Executive: Yury Larichev, CEO
Cloud ERP software vendor Acumatica enjoyed solid growth throughout 2012, adding partners and expanding territories. Its ability to offer ERP in a SaaS model or hosted on-premise, in a data center or in the cloud remains a winning formula.
Centrix Software
Framingham, Mass.
Top Executive: Lisa Hammond, CEO
Centrix Software offers its Centric Workspace Universal software that aggregates legacy, enterprise, virtual and cloud applications and provides a single interface and single sign-on for any device. The product also provides data and analysis about how IT is used.
ClearSlide
San Francisco
Top Executive: Al Lieb, Co-Founder & CEO
ClearSlide develops a sales engagement platform that helps sales teams engage with customers and close more business. The software helps sales representatives track and analyze their Web, email and in-person communications with customers and prospects.
Entando
Towson, Md.
Top Executive: Alexander Orlando, Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing
Entando's Java-based software helps businesses quickly build enterprise portals and Web applications. Enterprise portals built using the company's development tools can consolidate multiple types of data into a single interface to provide quick access to critical resources from a single launching point.
Extension
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Top Executive: Todd Plesko, CEO
Extension develops healthcare software that facilitates instant communication between patients and clinicians. Its applications enhance devices -- such as wireless phones, smartphones and communication badges used as clinical workflow tools -- by aggregating data from various clinical, IT and business systems and delivering time-critical alerts.
Igloo Software
Waterloo, Ontario
Top Executive: Dan Latendre, CEO
Igloo Software develops social software for work collaboration and building online communities. The digital workplace provides a way to share files, locate information and expertise, and tap into the collective knowledge of employees, partners and customers.
iSpecimen
Newton, Mass.
Top Executive: Christopher Ianelli, Founder & CEO
iSpecimen's software links specimens at hospitals and laboratories with electronic medical records to create customized, annotated specimens for researchers. The company's technology is made up of three features: patient cohort selection, medical and lab records search, and biospecimen processing and delivery.
KleerMail
Boston
Top Executive: Chris Nolan, Founder & CEO
KleerMail allows users to manage direct mail campaigns from an automated software-as-a-service platform. The product lets teams review budgets and market data, as well as collaborate on projects. It also lowers direct mail costs and speeds time-to-market.
Leapfactor
Miami
Top Executive: Lionel Carrasco, Founder & CEO
Leapfactor offers an enterprise-class mobility platform that businesses use to make any application available to employees, customers and partners through their mobile devices. The cloud-based system integrates with back-end systems, extracts data and securely delivers it to mobile devices. The company also offers a growing portfolio of applications for such tasks as sales and for vertical industries such as pharmaceuticals.
LincWare
Rochester, N.Y.
Top Executive: Darren Mathis, CEO
LincWare develops LincDoc, a line of electronic form creation and document automation software. The applications help businesses and municipal organizations better serve their customers and constituents, reduce operational costs and better leverage critical data.
Marketo
San Mateo, Calif.
Top Executive: Phil Fernandez, President & CEO
Marketo offers a complete, cloud-based marketing software platform, including marketing automation and sales effectiveness applications. Marketo went public in May, and on July 30 it reported sales of $22.5 million, up 62 percent, for its second quarter ended June 30.
NextPrinciples
Milpitas, Calif.
Top Executive: Satya Krishnaswamy, Founder & CEO
Early this year, NextPrinciples launched what it calls an integrated social analytics and engagement platform. Businesses use the software, Insight-To-Action, to monitor and manage relationships with customers and prospects by tying together social media with CRM applications. The company has tight technology relationships with Microsoft, Salesforce.com, SAP and SugarCRM.
Pardot
Atlanta
Top Executive: Scott Dorsey, Chairman & CEO
Pardot develops the Prospect Insight business-to-business marketing automation software for creating, deploying and managing online marketing campaigns. In October 2012, Pardot was acquired by ExactTarget, which in turn was acquired by Salesforce.com in July.
Relayware
Redwood City, Calif.
Top Executive: Mike Morgan, CEO
Relayware is a provider of business-to-business collaboration and multichannel communication solutions. Its software includes a range of collaborative sales, marketing, learning and support applications and multichannel communication tools.
SalesFusion
Atlanta
Top Executive: Chad Ruff, Founder & CEO
SalesFusion develops a line of business-to-business marketing automation, CRM and email marketing applications. The SalesFusion 360 suite complements CRM applications by adding an on-demand enterprise lead management service. That software is integrated with CRM systems from Microsoft, Sage Software, SugarCRM, SalesLogix, NetSuite and Salesforce.com.
SecondLook Solutions
East Rockaway, N.Y.
Top Executive: Ron Caroff, CEO
Cloud-based document management systems may not be sexy, but SecondLook Solutions has found its niche specializing in the legal market. SecondLook's document management play is a SaaS offering that delivers digital document services to let clients search, organize and retrieve information in documents from anywhere at any time.
SubtleData
Washington, D.C.
Top Executive: Bryan Menell, CEO
SubtleData offers a software development platform and API that helps hospitality industry businesses, such as restaurants and bars, develop applications that connect with point-of-sale systems.
Zendesk
San Francisco
Top Executive: Mikkel Svane, CEO
Zendesk develops on-demand customer service and help desk support applications.