One CRM Goes to the Museum & Another Goes Green

This week:

• Low code, no cap

• A CRM in the Museum

• Too legit to emit?

Stat of the Week

Low Code, No Cap

You know what they say: “Give a person a complex application, and they’ll use it for a day. Give a person low code application development and…”

LCAP is booming, according to a report by Boston-based Nucleus Research. Why? It’s started to mature. 

No, it didn’t get its own apartment and open a Roth IRA. Rather, generative AI has given LCAP a big bump, flinging out application blueprints and database schemas on command, plus making cameos in developed applications. 

It seems the cool kids of LCAP are turning CRM and other biz apps into Lego sets. Whipping up a bespoke ERP system or snazzy customer portal in-house is getting easier, so there’s less impulse to go out and buy premade tools.

Introducing the key players of Nucleus’s Value Matrix:

Leaders: Zoho Creator, Appian, Creatio, Mendix, Microsoft Power Apps, Oracle APEX

Experts: Infor Mongoose, Nintex K2, OutSystems, Salesforce

Facilitators: Betty Blocks, Kissflow, Quixy

Core Providers: OpenBots, Quickbase, ServiceNow, TrackVia

The Week @ CRM.org

Intercom vs Freshdesk. Both help desks have their moments, but one’s definitely better at some chores.

Best Personal CRM. CRM for the micro-level, because chit-chat makes contracts.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk. Zendesk's got the name, LiveAgent's got all-channel game.

What is Social CRM? Turning social media addiction into customer-catching sang froid.

17 CRM Statistics. Stats reveal schmoozing has a scorecard, and relationships are potential revenue reports.

🌸 Weekly Bloom 🌸 

The Internet Wasn’t Born Yesterday. Today the lines between Internet and IRL are dubious. How did “surfing the net” go from nerdy to normal?

This Week’s Deal 🎁

Special 20% off FreeAgent CRM!

Use PROMO CODE:

CRMorg20

This CRM belongs in a museum

I was naive. I thought “Smithsonian” and “Salesforce” were in a “never the twain shall meet” type of relationship. 

But in the spirit of the “rockin’ granny” stereotype, the relic-ridden Smithsonian has announced it will begin breakdancing to the digital beat. 

They’re promising to make museum collections as accessible as your favorite ASMR cat videos. How? Some fancy new constituent relationship software, boosted by a Salesforce partnership.

Ah yes, Salesforce. Because who else to help with a digital makeover than a CRM giant? 

Commenting on the collab, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III basically said it was the next step after founding their Office of Digital Transformation in 2021. Salesforce’s Lori Freeman (VP & GM, Nonprofit) effused about the institution.  

The race is on to digitally empower the Smithsonian by its 250th anniversary (2026). 

So exchange those Pilgrim hats for five-panel ones, and trade in that Blunderbuss for a standing desk. It’s time to go exploring and learning, twenty-first century style!

Greening CRM

HubSpot is wearing its green heart on its sleeve, like some kind of Screamo band patch. 

They've scored a nod from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) for their ambitious plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. 

With this move, they're joining a club of over 400 companies committed to serious climate action.

At the helm of this eco-mission is Yogesh Chauhan, HubSpot's Director of ESG, who's overseeing a plan to slash absolute emissions drastically by 2030 and reach a 90% reduction by 2040. 

That takes more than gaming the office thermostat. They're embedding sustainability into their core operations, from solar panels in Dublin to a Carbon Calculator for employees.

“But I’m not in HubSpot,” you say—“how does this apply to me?” 

Well, there’s a couple tiny takeaways, hors d'oeuvres of help, if you will:

• Turning your laptop and monitor off post-workday is green (yes, all the way off)

• Ditto for reducing no. of screens in your work setup, if you can swing it

Curious about the deeper data? Read their whole 2023 Sustainability Report here.

Tasty Tidbits

CRM blips from around the web

HubSpot reports Q3 results. Total revenue and subscription revenue were up 26% and 25% respectively, compared to Q3 2022.

IAMPHENOM 2024 opens for registration. The talent experience conference, scheduled for April 23-25, is also seeking speakers and sponsors. 

Oracle named Visionary in Gartner Magic Quadrant. They were ranked in the 2023 CRM Customer Engagement Center.

Stocks of the Week

^{*Figures are for the previous week (11/06/23-11/10/23), price calculated at close of markets on Friday, November 10th. We look at publicly listed CRM-related vendors only. This is not financial advice, and we make no claims on the accuracy of these figures.}