SalesLogix Corp

CRM software developer, SalesLogix Corp claims its new US Interact.com "interactive application service" for sales professionals marks a watershed for the company, which it claims will now be able to address a broader online services market. Interact.com will offer a range of sales support-oriented portal services, and be available free of charge to customers of Scottsdale, Arizona company's eponymous $500 to $2,000 per seat CRM product, and its newly acquired Act contact management package, which costs $199 per seat. SalesLogix claims that Interact.com will not merely provide online access to features already supported in its products. The company has also developed its own intelligent agent software which SalesLogix's European managing director, Derek Schwartz, said will provide users with "in context information" and automatically link content with other applications. Such automated links will include an integrated agenda function that records meetings, and also propose travel itineraries and hotel bookings based on services provided by partners to SalesLogix's Interact.com service. Interact.com will also automatically supply recent information on any company a sales professional plans to visit, and about any prospective competition they may face for the prospective customer's business. "If you're going to visit Alcatel it [Interact.com] will tell you how your competitor is doing within the same customer," Schwartz said.Interact.com's announcement has been timed to coincide with SalesLogix' acquisition of the Act contact management business from Symantec Corp (CI No 3,806).

Act brings with it 3 million licensed uses, and an estimated 2 million unlicensed devotees. This is a major expansion of SalesLogix's customer base, which has so far been restricted to the estimated 60,000 users of its CRM suite, and Schwartz said it is this new critical mass which has been a key factor in the range and profile of the partners SalesLogix has attracted to Interact.comThese include a number of major business information providers, including Hoover's online directory business, infoUSA, and web-based travel service i-tinerary.com. Other new service provider partners include IT training specialist eKnowledgeNet Inc and sales force automation developers such as MarketFirst Software Inc and Vignette Corp.

On the systems side, SalesLogix said that Microsoft Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc will both provide e-business servers via Interact.com, and Oracle Corp, will offer its e-commerce and database services. Beyond that, however, there is compelling business logic to the buy said Schwartz. Not only is SalesLogix pitched as a "natural next step" for Act shops, but the three million screen licensed for Act (plus another two million unlicensed) give the Scottsdale-based company the critical mass to be able to approach the Interact.com partners and be taken more seriously than SalesLogix' own 60,000 screens.Interact.com will be used to bolster both the company's product lines. A year's free subscription to the service will be offered with both an Act license (which averages $199 per seat) and a SalesLogix (at anywhere between $500 to $2000 per seat). "After the year, Interact.com will cost them $19.99 a month, representing a secure revenue stream going forward," Schwartz said.