Touch Ahead Releases EquityTouch™ Update

We are pleased to announce that we have made some changes to EquityTouch™ to reflect client feedback and suggestions, as well as part of our initial planning.

We have added some new features to make EquityTouch™’s user-friendly views even easier to use. We have also implemented a bug fix. The following is an outline of what we have done to enhance the EquityTouch™ experience.

*Please note that clients do not have to take action to implement any changes. All updates are made by Touch Ahead Software.


- Different Color Schemes for Search Type. The search panel has been color coded to make it easier to identify what you are searching for. When searching for ‘People,’ the search panel is now green.


When searching for 'Touches,' the search panel is now orange.




- Ability to Expand Touch Notes.

- Advanced Search Options Added.
In the ‘Touch’ section of the Advanced Search you can now specify date ranges. Your options are ‘Last 7 days’, ‘Last 30 days’, ‘Last 90 days’, ‘Last Year’, and ‘Future’.
Also, the ability to search within your groups has been added.

- Primary Contact and Website Listed in Banner

- Ability to Remove a Company from a Group from the Company Summary tab

- Keyboard Shortcuts Added
‘Ctrl-Y’ now opens up the Advanced Search.
‘Ctrl- >’ now opens the Touches tab.
‘Ctrl - <’ now opens the Summary tab.

- Touch Editing Restricted. You can now limit who edits touches.

- Generate Report for Touches.
- Company Export to XLS Modified
- Estimated Revenue Now on 'New Company' Form
- Ability to Go Directly to the Touches Tab from Search Results
- Asynchronous Load of Touches tab. Incomplete touches now load separately from complete touches.
- Feedback Link
- Cursor Default. When logging into EquityTouch your cursor will default to the Company Search bar.

- Bug Fixes:

• Pop Up Eliminated. When saving a new touch.
• Default for New Person. When adding a new person, his/her phone number no longer defaults to the company phone number.
• Document Upload Touch Creation. The touch that automatically gets created when you upload a document will now be assigned an initiator of the active virtual user.
• Passed Lead Bug. When creating a touch of type “passed lead,” the company associated with the touch is the company passed.
• Passed Lead Bug. A bug was causing an error to be thrown when this touch type was saved. This is fixed.
• Email Bug. When the functionality to send email to external recipients is turned off, it now does not affect the ability to send email internally.
• Email Bug. Touch type is now the first item in a touch email subject.
• Search Bug. Can now search for companies with double quotes in their names.
• Touch Bug. Touch notes now indented correctly.

EquityTouch™ to be premiered at 4th Annual VCPE Conference & Retreat

March 18, 2009
Boston, Massachusetts
Announcement: EquityTouch™ to be premiered at 4th Annual VCPE Conference & Retreat

Touch Ahead Software, LLC announced that EquityTouch™ was chosen as the Premier CRM Sponsor of the 4th Annual VCPE Conference & Retreat. This year’s VCPE Conference will be held in Miami, Florida, from March 24th - 27th, 2009. Representatives from Touch Ahead will be on-site to speak about the SaaS (Software as a Service) model and the positive ROI. Touch Ahead will also demonstrate its hosted CRM solution, EquityTouch™, which has been in development since 2008.

EquityTouch™ is the first SaaS based cutting edge CRM solution for the alternative asset community. EquityTouch™ makes it possible for you to manage business relationships intelligently. EquityTouch™ prides itself on being the fastest, easiest to use web application delivering the most relevant features in a completely customizable interface.

EquityTouch implemented at TA Associates

March 18, 2009
Boston, Massachusetts
Announcement: EquityTouch™ implemented at TA Associates

Touch Ahead Software LLC, a Boston-based provider of advanced SaaS solutions, has announced that EquityTouch has been released into production at TA Associates this week.

Sources at Touch Ahead™ say that they are very excited about this announcement. They went on to point out that the deployment to TA gave them the opportunity to demonstrate the advantage of their advanced data conversions tools. Through the use of these tools TA was able to migrate from their old system into a fully populated EquityTouch™ Application in just one weekend.

When asked about the installation, Matt Nerney, IT Director at TA Associates said the following:

What was the Main reason for you choosing EquityTouch™?
“That is hard to say because if I was someone that just showed up off the street, not knowing about Touch Ahead and their abilities it probably would not be the same. But because we have worked with Touch Ahead in the past and I was able to see the potential of what they could do, I guess I would have to say the fundamental nature of the platform: the AJAX Technology -- for the first time you can accomplish windows like application abilities. I would also say because of the distribution of the client.” The application is a web based application, with no client install. There are no revisions installed on the clients -- it is all done over the server. “It offers flexibility of hot fixes. I would also have to say because of the performance working across global environments. Touch Ahead has accomplished quite a lot in the new platform and interface, because really going back 2 or three years ago, none of this was possible.”

On the day it was installed what was the general reaction of everyone?
“Long anticipated, people were generally excited, a little apprehensive because they knew we were making a generational leap.”

What about today?
“Everyone is getting engaged and giving lots of feedback, people have a high level of interest in the application and have an interest in pushing in the right direction. I have hundreds of emails on ideas and questions on what we can do further with the application, and I am overwhelmed by which ones I should go with first.” As sources from Touch Ahead said “It is like Christmas morning with too many Christmas presents and not knowing which one to open first.”

What business challenges are you and TA hoping to solve using EquityTouch™?
“Well it certainly helps us to facilitate a collaborative approach of deal sourcing with potential deal companies and intermediaries. One specific thing is that it is helping us to understand our relationships with all the people we interact with. We have such a web of interactions with different people and it is hard to keep track of them all through all the different offices. I am seeing relationships today that I didn’t know existed. It is really helping us track all those relationships.”

Is there anything else that you would like to add?
“We are very happy with the performance and the stability. It has been an extremely successful roll out.” Hundreds of thousands of records were migrated into the new system from the old system at TA, and everything was processed perfectly. “There were processes in place that ensured that it was an easy installation, and it really was an effortless installation. There was so much satisfaction on the customer end.”

TA Associates is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in the world, with offices in Boston, MA, Palo Alto, Ca, London England and Mumbai India. They are one of the most experienced private equity investment firms in their industry.

Announcement: Touch Ahead Software LLC Is Formed

March 6, 2009
Boston, Massachusetts
Announcement: Touch Ahead Software LLC Is Formed

Two Boston based, entrepreneurs (Nancy S. Keddy and Timothy J. Lasonde) announced the formation of a new software company.

Touch Ahead Software LLC (also located in Boston) develops cutting edge SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions. Touch Ahead’s premier product is EquityTouch, a remarkable CRM solution enabling organizations to intelligently manage new business opportunities. EquityTouch™, prides itself on being the fastest, most affordable CRM solution, while delivering the most vital features of a CRM and a completely customizable interface.

While still in development, EquityTouch™, promises to take a unique perspective tracking needs for new business opportunities. Company executives alluded to being live at a large PE firm very soon.

The announcement was followed by a promise of further announcements in Q1 2009.