This white paper offers good news: an alternative approach exists, and it has been proven to solve business problems with the combined speed, flexibility, precision, and cost-effectiveness today’s enterprises require.

1. W H I T E
P A P E R
CRM+
An Innovative Approach to Agile Solution Development
Executive Summary
The high failure rate of enterprise software due to inadequate business fit has raised
the stakes in the long-standing battle of “build vs. buy.” Companies torn between the
insufficient flexibility of “out of the box” solutions and the high risk and cost of custom
development find themselves paralyzed between the lesser of two evils. But in today’s
fast-paced business environment, inertia is not an option.
This white paper offers good news: an alternative approach exists, and it has been
proven to solve business problems with the combined speed, flexibility, precision, and
cost-effectiveness today’s enterprises require. The solution is called CRM+, but it’s
not just about customer relationship management; it’s about the ability to deliver a full
range of automation and software support for unique business processes across the
enterprise. CRM+ leverages the power and malleability of the platforms underlying
certain CRM systems to build customized applications that extend far beyond the
confines of sales, marketing, and customer service. This white paper examines the
CRM+ approach and explains how it can give companies a much-needed third option
for developing applications that support extensive enterprise business processes and
enable ongoing agility.

2. Introduction Unique Business Processes;
Now, more than ever, companies look to information Unique Challenges
technology to alleviate their business problems. However,
no off-the-shelf software solution can accommodate a The collective wisdom and best practices of an
company’s unique needs with complete precision, nor enterprise lie in its business processes, which embody
can one solution address all technology needs across all of the workflows, business rules, and standard
the enterprise. As a result, larger organizations usually operating procedures that govern how the enterprise
find themselves in one of two unpleasant situations. They executes its mission. For many leading organizations,
either purchase a sprawling collection of different “best their business processes are as much a part of what
of breed” software applications to address each of their makes them competitive and distinctive as the product
business automation needs (and are stuck with resulting or service they offer.
data silos and mammoth integration projects), or they
Automating business processes with software
resort to expensive, time-consuming custom development
effectively has become a critical component of business
in order to get exactly the solutions they want.
success—a mechanism to streamline and accelerate
As organizations struggle to find efficiencies and stay complex tasks, reduce redundancy, save time and
competitive, it is becoming increasingly clear that they resources, and ultimately reduce costs. Moreover,
need an alternative to these two inadequate options—one today’s corporate decision-makers rely on the data and
that offers a favorable middle ground with greater flexibility metrics these applications provide to make strategic
to solve business problems in a timely manner in the decisions for the enterprise.
face of unrelenting business change. The ideal alternative
But even though companies have been implementing
would offer the best of both worlds, combining the
enterprise software and automating processes for
pre-built functionality, reliability, and speedy deployment
decades, not all technology investments have delivered
of out-of-the-box solutions with the precise business fit of
the returns businesses expected. While some general-
custom solutions—but without the cost and inherent risk
purpose software packages (such as word processors and
associated with custom software development.
spreadsheets) have proven effective over the long term,
The exciting news is that such a solution exists, and software supporting more complex and critical business
it has been proven to solve business problems with processes has proven more challenging and high-risk.
the combined speed, flexibility, precision, and cost-
The problem is often attributable to inadequate business
effectiveness today’s enterprises require. The concept
fit between the software and the business process
is called CRM+, but it’s
being automated: the software simply doesn’t do quite
not just about customer
what the business needs it to, or if it did at the outset,
CRM+ leverages the power relationship management.
it does not have the flexibility to keep up with changing
and malleability of some CRM It’s about the ability to deliver
business needs over time. Despite vendor claims that
systems’ underlying platforms a full range of automation
their solutions can accommodate diverse business
and software support for
to provide customized business processes across
processes, many enterprises discover that their processes
applications far beyond the have unique elements and nuances that no automated
the enterprise. CRM+
areas of sales, marketing, and solution entirely addresses “out of the box.” At that point,
leverages the power and
disillusioned CIOs are left to ponder the lesser of two
customer service. malleability of the platforms
evils: “Do we change the software to fit our processes, or
underlying certain CRM
do we change our processes to fit the software?” Either
systems to provide not just
option entails costs, compromise, and delays. And in
exceptionally tailored CRM, but customized applications
today’s fast-paced environment, it’s not unusual to find
far beyond the areas of sales, marketing, and customer
that by the time they have implemented either one of
service. This white paper explores the issues facing CIOs
these options, new business drivers have forced new
and other enterprise stakeholders as they seek to solve
changes to business processes—and the vicious circle
their software challenges and examines how CRM+ can
starts all over again.
give their companies a much-needed third option for
developing applications that support extensive enterprise In this volatile and value-driven business climate,
business processes, offering both a close technology fit enterprises know they need to automate solutions to
for today and the flexibility to adapt to tomorrow’s needs. their firm’s unique and evolving business problems,
but the cost of doing so continues to limit their options,
forcing them to walk a thin line between implementing
software solutions that truly meet the firm’s needs and
minimizing IT costs and the risk of failure. This conflict
stifles innovation, ties up IT budgets, hinders business
CDC Software | White Paper 1

3. agility, and prevents the enterprise from seizing emerging to go back and compensate for missing features and
opportunities ahead of their competitors. inadequate flexibility.
What corporate technology leaders need is a solution Most OOTB software vendors are in business to sell
flexible enough to quickly and cost-effectively automate a generic solution to as many customers as they can,
their unique business processes both today and as they rendering true optimization for any single customer
evolve. Until now, this happy medium has eluded them. virtually impossible without custom work. But even if the
The company has had to resort to one of two apparent company’s in-house developers know how to optimize
options for implementing much-needed software solutions the code, they probably won’t be able to modify it, since
for the firm: buy a more general solution off the shelf software vendors seldom allow anyone outside their
or undertake a software development effort to build a own firm to access their proprietary APIs. The result?
solution from scratch. Kludgy workarounds and an increased risk of introducing
unintended bugs.
Option #1: Purchasing In an effort to avoid the limitations of some OOTB software
packages, some companies “go big,” purchasing the
Off-the-Shelf Solutions commercial software packages with the greatest breadth
Companies that lack the budgets or resources to engage from the biggest software vendors. Unfortunately, such
in custom software development—or that simply want solutions are notoriously expensive, bloated, and time-
a faster, easier solution—often turn to out-of-the-box consuming to implement and customize, which can again
(OOTB) applications to meet their enterprise application offset the benefits of buying commercial software. In some
needs: that is, pre-built, commercially available software cases, the cost and duration of customization rival those
packages. Why reinvent the wheel when someone else of custom development.
has already built it? Vendors of packaged systems
Whether a company starts with a “big” commercial
promise higher quality assurance, decreased risk, better
package or a “smaller” OOTB solution, once the
technical support, and an overall lower total cost of
workarounds and customizations are in place and the
ownership than a custom-built solution.
functional requirements are reasonably satisfied, the
Off-the-shelf software brings significant time-to-market enterprise can roll out the solution to end users and meet
benefits, but unfortunately seldom proves to be a the needs of the business … for awhile. Then the inevitable
panacea. A common industry rule of thumb states that business change overtakes the well-encapsulated off-
OOTB software should meet at least 80% of a project’s the-shelf application. The conditions that made the OOTB
required functionality to be considered for enterprise- application perfect for the firm when it was purchased
wide roll-out.1 But many IT change, leaving business leaders with a very difficult
executives who have invested decision to make. Should they upgrade to the latest
Any savings realized from in such packaged solutions version, which often entails losing the customizations they
have found that out-of-the-box have so painstakingly undertaken? Should they surround
buying a pre-built solution
functionality falls short of the purchased solution with more custom extensions and
may end up cancelled out hope for the best? Or should they shelve it altogether, opt
what they had expected.
by the need to write, test, Though the company may for a new OOTB package, and go through the evaluation
and deploy kludgy be able to install the solution and acquisition process all over again with the new
workarounds, customizations, in its default configuration requirements in mind, only to predictably encounter the
and integrations. quickly, tailoring the system same scenario yet again not far down the road?
to the organization’s specific
Off-the-shelf enterprise applications do offer business
needs or integrating it
advantages, not the least of which is the avoidance
with the firm’s existing application infrastructure often
of managing a long, often stressful custom software
proves lengthy, problematic, and expensive. Any
development effort. But any purchased OOTB application
savings realized from buying a pre-built solution may
offers generic functionality, not your required functionality.
ultimately be cancelled out by the need to write, test,
It automates generic business processes, not your
and deploy kludgy workarounds, customizations, and
business processes. More importantly, most OOTB
integrations. Furthermore, companies often discover
solutions are “point solutions.” They meet a certain set
once their project is underway that they did not have a
of needs at a discrete point in time, but they seldom
complete grasp of their functionality needs at the point
span more than a sub-set of enterprise needs and
of system selection—but by this time it is usually too late
areas. On the other side of the spectrum, in the case
of “big” solutions, the software tries to be “all things to
all people,” and thereby meets the exact needs of no
one, while also being cumbersome and overly complex.
1. Ledeen, Kenneth S. (2003), Build vs. Buy: A Decision In addition, whether “big” or “small,” most packaged
Paradigm for Information Technology Applications.
http://www.nevo.com/our-knowledge/whitepapers/BuildVsBuy.pdf.
CDC Software | White Paper 2

4. software solutions prove unworkable in the wake of These issues take a great deal of time to design, develop,
business change; they simply fail to accommodate test, and deploy. To make matters worse, the code that
the new mandate of enterprise automation in the 21st implements these functions operates behind the scenes;
century: business agility. And even if all the stars align no one pays a great deal of attention to it until a problem
and the packaged solution proves a perfect business fit, arises. These potential pitfall areas include security,
it becomes yet another island of technology. Once it is scalability, error handling, workflow management,
installed and configured, the IT department must integrate data access methods, and transaction management,
it with their existing catalog of applications, usually at a among others.
high cost and level of developer effort—the very problem
selecting an OOTB solution promised to alleviate in the The custom coding effort that goes into writing plumbing
first place. code is anything but trivial. Depending on the size of
the application, firms spend as much as 35% of their
development time just to handle these application
Option #2: Building the infrastructure issues.2 And if the requirements change
before the application goes live, as they often do, the
Solution from Scratch underlying architecture must change to accommodate
Companies that find OOTB solutions unable to meet their them, opening up the possibility of bugs that jeopardize
specific business needs often put their requirements in the the project’s deadline.
capable hands of their IT departments. Because enterprise
Additional issues that plague custom development
software can be so specialized
projects include the need to build complex integrations
and is so crucial to “get right,”
to other software, such as e-mail systems; the need to
Even when companies many companies are willing
develop in-depth documentation to ensure that the system
build their own custom to go great lengths to define,
is intelligible to other developers, especially in the wake
software, the net result analyze, model, and build the
of IT turnover; and the need to anticipate and handle the
software applications that will
is typically still a point run their organizations. The
upgrades, service packs, and even obsolescence of the
solution that meets only a technologies with which the custom system is integrated
firms that embark on this path
sub-set of business needs or on which it relies.
understand that modeling their
at a certain point in time. unique business practices is Those custom development projects that do finish on
critical to their success and time and on budget generally don’t stay that way for long.
seek to build a solution that fits Even when companies build their own custom software,
their business needs exactly. the net result is typically still a point solution that meets
only a sub-set of business needs at a certain point in
But developing software from the ground up is a very
time. The breakneck pace of business change dictates
costly and complex endeavor for the simple reason that
modifications to even the most well-designed business
the IT shop must typically build everything themselves.
processes, which in turn drives changes to the software
The back-end database. The framework. The web
that automates them. Even companies that invest in rapid
services. The user interface. The business logic. The
application development tools are finding that they just
infrastructure. Everything has to be hand-coded. And all of
can’t respond to change rapidly enough.
it must fit into the current company architectural standards
and best practices. Not only does this level of effort
require a great deal of skill, but also a great deal of time,
expense, and risk, and therein lies the problem.
Introducing CRM+,
A Balanced Alternative
Designing, developing, and deploying enterprise-grade
software is a challenging process that takes a lot of The “buy vs. build” dilemma is nothing new. All IT
time—something software development teams never departments have encountered it at one time or another.
have enough of. Development managers must juggle Both options have their pros and cons, but neither
time-to-market concerns with tight budgets, pressure from represents an ideal choice. Buying software off the shelf
stakeholders, and complex functional requirements that solves business problems, just not necessarily any
seem to be in a constant state of flux and scope creep. specific firm’s exact problems. Building apps from the
This frequently results in projects that are buggy, poorly ground up gives companies exactly the solution they
documented, and—worst of all—late. need, but they pay a big price for it, and the chances of
failure are uncomfortably high. Thankfully, there is a third
But software developers engaged in custom development option that offers the much-sought-after middle ground.
must deal with more than the functional requirements.
When writing software from scratch, they must also deal
with the dreaded infrastructure issues and non-functional 2. Frankel, David (2003), Reflections on the MDA Productivity
requirements (commonly referred to as “plumbing code”). Study, A Perspective for Executives.
CDC Software | White Paper 3

5. CRM+ platforms provide a layer of pre-built, pre-tested,
It’s called CRM+, and it offers both an OOTB solution and
pre-integrated, and pre-optimized components—the
the power to build and customize applications rapidly.
same foundations the CRM application sits on top of
It is important to distinguish between CRM and CRM+. and was built from—that a company’s development
A CRM system is an application: a specific solution to team can use as a springboard to develop virtually any
a specific set of problems centering around customer line-of-business application their firm needs. This gives
relationship management (typically focused on marketing, companies a brand new paradigm, creating custom
sales, and customer service). CRM+, on the other hand, automated solutions without custom development, as well
is a development concept: specifically, the idea of using as a collection of much-needed benefits to the enterprise.
the platforms that underlie some CRM systems as These benefits include time savings, cost savings,
a powerful means to create additional software solutions. better business fit, greater strategic agility, higher user
acceptance, and the simplicity that comes with having an
This CRM+ approach is by no means a capability enterprise-wide software development platform. Let’s take
supported by all CRM systems. The vast majority of a closer look at these CRM+ advantages.
CRM applications are just that: applications. These CRM
systems typically offer a certain Time Savings
degree of configuration to
With CRM+, firms not help companies superficially A strong CRM+ platform supplies all of the plumbing
adapt the application to code that software developers spend so much time
only get a flexible CRM coding and recoding. This frees them up to spend their
their needs, but any deeper
application, but also the time creating effective features, intuitive user interfaces,
customization requires
power to create effective in-depth custom coding, optimized forms, and streamlined workflows—the parts
additional business often using arcane proprietary of the application end users actually use to accomplish
applications that may have code. However, a select few their jobs and capture critical information every day.
CRM vendors, recognizing the Furthermore, a CRM+ platform provides not just the
nothing at all to do with a
importance of close business plumbing code, but also the tools to more quickly and
conventional CRM. easily build out the functional application areas and
fit to CRM success, took a
different approach to creating interfaces with little or no coding as well. IT teams can
their CRM applications, building them upon a versatile focus on building the parts of the system that add clear
purpose-built platform that permits great flexibility and user-facing value, not the invisible non-functional elements
ease of customization in the resulting CRM application. that don’t.
But this same platform layer is in no way restricted to
Faster development is about more than just lightening
building CRM applications; in fact, it contains all the
the workload for developers; it’s about delivering needed
core components—database structures, workflow
solutions to the business at the fast pace it requires to
tools, and form designers, just to name a few—that a
stay competitive. Companies’ IT resources are limited,
company requires to easily build solutions to satisfy
and naturally most companies would rather see those
other enterprise automation needs. So why stop at using
resources applied where they can add the most value.
these components to support only customer relationship
Using a CRM+ platform, the company saves the time
management processes?
its development team would typically spend building out
A CRM+ solution puts the platform’s easy application- the infrastructure and benefits from tools that help them
building components in the hands of a company’s IT fulfill the functional requirements much more quickly and
and business analyst teams, enabling them to build easily, putting the desired functionality into the end users’
out additional solutions and automate other business hands much faster. Furthermore, the ease of development
processes on the same platform as their CRM solution. and deployment supports a more iterative approach to
When firms invest in a CRM system that embodies solution development, enabling the applications team to
this CRM+ approach, they not only get a flexible CRM roll out frequent upgrades and enhancements rather than
application that can adapt easily to their unique and a single monolithic application in a “big-bang” release.
changing needs over time, but also the power to create
effective additional business applications that may have Cost Savings
nothing at all to do with the functions you would find in a
conventional CRM deployment. The platform essentially Due to the high cost of development work, firms that
provides the “toolkit” that allows technical teams to can cut the turnaround time from the beginning of an
create unique line-of-business solutions and workflows application project to the final deployment save a great
from end to end. These solutions and workflows could deal of money. With CRM+, developers need no longer
be of any kind: human resource management, proposal spend time reinventing the wheel on tedious, error-prone
management, facility management—virtually anything the plumbing code. Because development teams can
enterprise needs to automate. leverage the CRM+ platform tools, they have to build
less functionality by hand, thereby decreasing IT costs.
CDC Software | White Paper 4

6. Development is not the only area in which CRM+ adopters they implement today will be flexible enough to change
save money. Because that code is already in place and without a great deal of cost and downtime. Essentially, they
underpinning the CRM application, developers and testers want to “future-proof” their enterprise IT infrastructure. The
no longer have to spend time tracking down and fixing astute executives that have adopted a CRM+ approach
bugs in the business logic and data access tiers, thereby have found that it affords them just such an opportunity:
saving money in the QA cycle as well. They also have the business fit today and business agility tomorrow.
CRM application itself as a best-practice model to follow in
developing additional solutions on the platform.
Simplicity through Standardization
By building a custom application on a CRM+ platform, Conventional application development has become
companies get the exact functionality they want while so costly and complex that it has become a hindrance
also saving the time and cost of evaluating, purchasing, to business agility, rather than the accelerator it
implementing, customizing, and integrating a new was intended to be. Nonetheless, today’s corporate
off-the-shelf software package. Furthermore, they bypass enterprises need extensive software support to remain
the need for new skills training for their IT teams or to hire efficient and competitive. CRM+ simplifies the effort
costly external consultants, and they eliminate an extra by providing a uniform layer of application architecture
annual maintenance expense from the budget altogether. as a standard platform for multiple applications in the
enterprise. By leveraging the functionality the CRM
platform supplies out of the box, programmers don’t need
Business Fit to learn low-level APIs; the platform handles these issues
Shorter development cycles allow for more frequent for them.
program enhancements, resulting in solutions that more
effectively meet end-user needs. If release 1.0 only takes Additionally, CRM+ lowers IT costs by allowing corporate
a few months to build and deploy, release 1.1 should developers to leverage a uniform toolset to build
finish even faster. This benefit is especially valuable in applications. Having uniform tools results in a smaller
environments in which there is learning curve for developers. They can get up to speed
frequent business change with and on the road to developing high-quality solutions
Firms thatcan release little or no advance warning. quickly, regardless of whether they are extending the
solutions to help them functionality of the CRM application itself or building
respond to new market More frequent releases also something entirely different. CRM+ platforms that provide
enable better business fit. standard toolsets allow teams to meet new demands
opportunities quickly enjoy
When end users can give without learning new tools.
a significant advantage over
constructive feedback to
competitors who can’t. the development team sooner, Building multiple solutions on a single platform also means
developers can in turn produce fewer disparate systems to integrate. As any IT department
new and better features more quickly and easily, giving knows, integration can be the most complex and time-
the users exactly the functionality they need. And when consuming elements of any implementation project, but
business drivers require a significant workflow change, without it, applications become impractical silos of data
the development team can automate new workflows and functionality. Using a CRM+ approach, companies
without the time-consuming task of having to refurbish can avoid this complexity and save considerable time and
the underlying software infrastructure or write new code. money in deploying integrated solutions.
Instead, teams can devote their full concentration to A final—but extremely important—benefit of building
developing innovative iterations and enhancements, multiple solutions on a single platform is the positive
providing the enterprise with continuous business impact on user adoption and acceptance. Because
process improvement. applications built on a CRM+ platform use a common
toolset, it is simple and natural to make them look and
Strategic Business Agility function similarly and flow together seamlessly. Not only
does this improve user productivity, it also accelerates
The business benefit of faster turnaround time goes way
user adoption by offering users an intuitive, familiar
beyond mere cost savings. It enables the enterprise to
interface and features that work as they expect them
be more agile, which is crucial to gaining a strategic
to. Training requirements are reduced or eliminated
competitive advantage. Firms that can release solutions
altogether, and companies avoid the user reluctance
to help them respond to new market opportunities quickly
that comes from learning a “new system”—instead,
enjoy a significant advantage over competitors who can’t.
new functionality can be positioned as extensions and
Many business leaders know they need software enhancements to the CRM system and other existing
applications to solve the business problems they have functionality built on the CRM+ platform. Since user
today. But they also know that business change is adoption is the true determinant of any application’s
inevitable, so they want to make sure that the applications success, the positive impact of CRM+ on user
CDC Software | White Paper 5

7. acceptance is perhaps the most compelling benefit of platform capabilities of their applications, their solutions
them all. were simply never designed to be platforms and are
ultimately severely limited by this fact. A platform can
be used to create almost any application, but attempts
The Pivotal Platform: to reverse-engineer a platform from an application are
invariably illogical and ineffective. Because the Pivotal
CRM+ in Action Platform was designed first and foremost as a platform, it
The quintessential CRM+ solution, CDC Software’s Pivotal was engineered to serve as a flexible foundation for any
Platform is the system of choice for companies looking application running any business process, making it an
to create applications tailored to their unique business indispensable tool for today’s demand-driven IT teams.
processes at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional
While the Pivotal Platform is not the only kind of platform
software development methods. Engineered with business
or development toolkit available to companies looking to
change in mind, the Pivotal Platform offers unparalleled
obtain highly customized CRM or to build other custom
flexibility and customizability. Applications that formerly took
applications, it offers numerous advantages over both
years to build now can be delivered in a matter of weeks
commercially available development environments
or a few months, allowing companies to seize market
and “big” enterprise software suites that also offer
opportunities and react to business change with agility. customization tools. First, the Pivotal Platform’s .NET
foundations mean development teams don’t need to learn
Built on the Microsoft .NET
proprietary languages and systems just to be able to work
technology stack, the Pivotal
with the platform. Secondly, its flexibility and ease of use
The Pivotal Platform’s Platform adds a critical layer
eclipse those of big enterprise software platforms, enabling
between its .NET foundations
powerful metadata-driven and the application tier: a
faster, easier customization and application development
WYSIWYG ("what you see is with fewer upgrade woes at a much lower total cost of
layer of pre-built data access
ownership than competing solutions.
what you get") model makes methods, security, and user
the application building and interface rules, as well as
customization process rapid graphical tools that enable An Agility Multiplier
developers to easily construct Using the Pivotal Platform, corporate developers can
and intuitive. tables, workflows, business create custom applications without having to write the
logic, forms, navigation, and tedious, error-prone plumbing code and logic that has
more with a minimum of effort and no custom coding traditionally slowed them down—or, if they wish, without
required—though for .NET programmers who prefer writing any code at all. They can easily add new tables,
to be “hands on” with the code, this is also always an forms, and logic to quickly create entire new applications
option. Furthermore, the Pivotal Platform offers pre-built using a graphical toolkit. And because the Pivotal
integrations to the Microsoft productivity tools relied upon Platform is built on Microsoft .NET—a ubiquitous industry
by the majority of organizations worldwide—Outlook, standard—developers don’t need to learn entire new
the Office suite, and SharePoint—and embeds Microsoft skills and languages or receive extensive training; they
Visual Studio, a tool of choice for today’s developers, can get up to speed quickly and easily. For the company,
right within the platform. This saves developers the effort this also makes finding developers who can work with the
of building these must-have integrations into any other system much easier and more cost-effective: no obscure
application built on the platform. The Pivotal Platform’s skill-sets required. Using the Pivotal Platform, all of the
powerful metadata-driven WYSIWYG (“what you see is steps for developing a new application—building tables,
what you get”) model makes the application building and adding fields, defining relationships, setting security,
customization process rapid and intuitive. The platform creating forms—can be performed quickly and easily
solution provides out-of-the-box form templates with logic without time-consuming custom coding. Meanwhile, any
and rules built in, with the ability to easily attach additional hands-on coding developers do want to perform within
logic and workflow. the platform can be applied to activities that deliver
higher value to the business.
The Pivotal Platform exposes all of the functionality of the
award-winning Pivotal CRM application it undergirds and Using the Microsoft Visual Studio forms designer
gives it its renowned flexibility and ease of customization. embedded within the Pivotal Platform, teams can simply
But what makes the Pivotal Platform so unique is that draw their forms the way they want them and use the
despite its connection to this customer relationship Pivotal Toolkit to easily build the infrastructure and
management solution, the Pivotal Platform was initially functionality behind them. This translates into tremendous
conceived and constructed as a full application time savings, both in terms of development and testing.
development platform, not just the structure beneath In this way, the Pivotal Platform multiples development
a CRM solution. The implications of this are huge. teams’ agility, enabling them to fulfill new requirements,
While several competing CRM vendors promote the build new applications, and adapt to changing needs
CDC Software | White Paper 6

8. quickly and cost-effectively. This gives them the freedom requirements precisely within the system or building entire
to create applications for any line of business, while new applications.
saving their firms a great deal of time and money.
For this reason, perhaps the best testament to the
The Pivotal Platform achieves this exceptional resilience success of the CRM+ approach and the power of the
with an adaptable layer of business metadata. This sturdy Pivotal Platform is the proven success of the Pivotal CRM
yet flexible tier of logic separates data from business customer base in applying this strategy. Long before they
rules, making it easy to customize a solution to match ever heard the term “CRM+” (or “xRM,” as this concept
even the most distinctive of business processes. It is this is called by some vendors), forward-thinking Pivotal CRM
layer of technological cartilage that gives the enterprise customers were taking advantage of the Pivotal Platform
true architectural flexibility. Following this CRM+ approach and Toolkit to create their own custom solutions and roll
using the Pivotal Platform, the enterprise can adapt its out innovative integrated IT infrastructures within their firms.
software tools to business change in any way necessary.
Change is what the Pivotal Platform was built for. Here are just a few examples of solutions built on the
Pivotal Platform:
Pre-integration with Microsoft Tools • A New Zealand utility company built an application to
handle hazardous waste disposal.
Above and beyond its high flexibility and utility, the Pivotal
Platform comes pre-integrated with the office productivity • A UK building-supply company created an application
tools used by almost every enterprise: Microsoft Outlook, to manage the design, ordering, and installation of
the full Microsoft Office Suite, and Microsoft SharePoint, kitchens and bathrooms.
as well as Microsoft Visual Studio. This spares companies • A food and beverage manufacturer built a solution to
the complexity of integrating these applications and handle vendor management along with all procurement
enables them to easily embed these tools into custom and related activities.
end-user applications and workflows built using the
Pivotal Platform, allowing users to access e-mail, • A radio advertising wholesaler created their entire
contacts, calendars, and task lists without ever leaving the enterprise application catalog—sales, marketing,
CRM+ application. customer service, ERP, human resources, and
finance—all on the Pivotal Platform.
Additionally, users of Word,
As this list illustrates, the potential of the Pivotal Platform
Excel, and other Office
extends far beyond customer relationship management.
tools can perform in-context
Only the Pivotal Platform was In fact, numerous companies that have embraced the
look-ups of CRM+ application
actually built as a platform data directly within the
Pivotal Platform and the CRM+ concept say Pivotal CRM
from the outset, giving it is the last software they’ll ever buy, because it can be
Office application simply
used to solve almost any business problem. As one long-
a superior flexibility and by right-clicking on a piece
standing CDC Software customer said of her company’s
intuitive toolkit with which of data; no need to switch
IT strategy, “If the business issue is one that touches or
back and forth between a
to build and customize faces the customer, we’ll build it into Pivotal; no questions
range of applications to find
applications, unmatched by the data they need. The net
asked. No new software acquisitions.”
any other CRM platform. result is a “sticky” application
users enjoy using. They can
continue working with all
Conclusion
the applications they are already familiar with while still Today’s enterprises need software to support and
benefiting from all the advantages of the custom process- automate their unique business processes. However,
specific business application built upon the Pivotal the two primary options for acquiring it leave a great
Platform. deal to be desired. Packaged out-of-the-box software
provides the easiest solution, but it rarely provides the
close business fit large corporations require. On the other
A Proven Approach hand, writing enterprise-grade software in-house can
CDC Software’s Pivotal CRM has long had the reputation give firms the exact functionality they want, but at a high
of being the most flexible CRM solution on the market, price, a slow pace, and a significant risk of failure. And
easy to customize and adapt over time. The secret to both options typically fall short when it comes to adapting
this flexibility is the Pivotal Platform and its development rapidly and cost-effectively to evolving business needs.
toolkit, which enable Pivotal CRM customers to
accomplish virtually anything they want to with the system, CRM+ is the answer to this dilemma. Using the
whether this entails modeling unique CRM processes and functionality already built into the platform underlying
certain CRM systems, companies can quickly and
CDC Software | White Paper 7

9. inexpensively create applications that address their companies to achieve the lowest possible total cost of
specific business needs and automate their unique ownership for both CRM implementations and additional
processes without having to develop the costly and solution development. Furthermore, its embedding of
tedious infrastructure components required by the Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft Outlook and
average software development lifecycle. Furthermore, SharePoint, not only saves the company from having to
they can take advantage of this power and flexibility over do these common (but often troublesome) integrations,
time to more rapidly accommodate new and changing but also increases user adoption by enabling users to
requirements, enhancing business agility and fueling work with the familiar tools they already know and rely
innovation. upon to perform their daily tasks.
While a handful of CRM applications claim to have the The power of the Pivotal Platform has been proven by
ability to support a CRM+ development approach, only the success of countless companies that have used it
the Pivotal Platform on which CDC Software’s Pivotal to create diverse custom enterprise applications rapidly
CRM was developed was actually built as a platform and at a low cost, pre-integrated with each other and
from the outset, giving it a superior flexibility and intuitive with Microsoft Outlook, Office, and SharePoint. This
toolkit with which to build and customize applications, combination of unparalleled capabilities and proven
unmatched by any other CRM platform. This enables success makes the Pivotal Platform from CDC Software
the ideal solution for companies looking for much more
than just a CRM system, giving them the ability to be
agile, competitive, and innovative in meeting their unique
software needs today and in the future.
Discover the Power of CRM+
For more information and a complete list of our worldwide offices, please visit www.PivotalCRM.com.
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