Touch Ahead Lends a Hand to Children's Hospital Boston

Boston-based software development firm participates in 6th annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament for Children’s Hospital Benefit

Boston, MA, May 20, 2010 – Touch Ahead Software, creators of EquityTouch® deal sourcing CRM software, recently participated in the 6th Annual Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament for the Children’s Hospital Boston. Held in the Wharf Room of the Boston Harbor Hotel, the event drew the best in business from Boston and New York as well as World Series of Poker Champion and Celebrity Apprentice Star, Annie Duke. In addition to purchasing tickets that allot a stack of chips and a seat at the table, the tournament also held an auction, which included prizes such as “Friends and Family” seats at a Red Sox game with VIP On-Field Access.

Touch Ahead joined other business leaders in hopes to raise funds for continuing care and research at Children’s Hospital Boston. Nancy Swan Keddy, founder of Touch Ahead, was accompanied by Director of Marketing for Touch Ahead, Cathie Briggette. Both volunteered as “dealers” for the tournament and the two had a wonderful time. According to Briggette “Both of us were a little nervous. We thought it was going to be really serious, however because no one was a winner (in that all proceeds were going to the hospital), it was a very fun and causal atmosphere.”

The event, co-hosted by Tony DiNovi of Thomas H. Lee Partners and David Filkow of General Catalyst Partners has raised over $2,000,000 to date for the hospital. “The tournament was a lot of fun” claims Keddy. “You could feel the excitement escalate at the table when the river card was about to be turned.” As a company that provides deal sourcing collaboration tools, Keddy is committed to making connections outside of the workplace. “We are in the business of building relationships and it is important to build and maintain relationships with the community.”

For more information about the tournament and how you can get involved for next year’s event, please visit: http://howtohelp.childrenshospital.org/texas.

About Touch Ahead Software LLC

Touch Ahead Software is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions company, focused on providing unparalleled benefits of advanced technology to the alternative asset community. The benefits include dramatically reduced cost of ownership and time for implementation, as well as higher user satisfaction and organizational profitability through deal sourcing and powerful collaboration tools. Touch Ahead Software is the developer of EquityTouch, the premiere CRM service for the financial and other specialized industries. For more information, please visit www.touchahead.com

Press Contact
For more information, please contact:

Cathie Briggette
Touch Ahead Software LLC
(p) +1 (866) 960 9301
(e) cmb@touchahead.com

What Makes CRM Work?

Building A Relationship With Your CRM

Ask anyone you know if they are using, or have used a CRM solution and you are bound to get the same response...What a painful experience!

Why is it that users see CRM as a hindrance, and not a productivity tool? The answer lies in the selection process and the way it is implemented. Most users are told that a decision has been made on a new CRM solution, and the training will begin on Monday. How would you feel if someone else made the decision to put you in a new car, or dress you in a new outfit, not great huh?

Selecting A CRM Solution

Here are a few suggestions that will make this whole experience less painful:

1. Get users involved early in the selection process. They will have a vested interest in the outcome.

2. Solicit user feedback on possible enhancements and new functionality.

3. Reward power users with bonuses and get them to talk about how they use CRM.

4. Provide proper upfront training and plan for periodic updates.

5. Get senior management involved by using reports, this will show the importance of user adoption.

6. Keep making improvements to the existing CRM solution. You business is changing and so should your CRM solution.

A successful CRM project really depends on user adoption, and you can make this a reality by taking a few extra steps.

Top down support is crucial, and giving the users a voice is a key. Be sure to keep them involved as your CRM solution evolves. You want your users to say they could not work effectively without their CRM solution.

Touch Ahead Software Releases EquityTouch® Version 2.0

EquityTouch, the popular private equity/venture capital deal sourcing software receives Outlook integration, advanced search options, and other enhancements in new release

Boston, MA, March 15, 2010 - Based on the "Touch" concept, EquityTouch^® is unlike traditional customer relationship management (CRM) software systems. With EquityTouch^®, Touches are any transaction or communication involved in daily business activities that include emails, events, phone calls, and meetings. These Touches are then organized in the application by company, contact, and Touch type for easy reference. The newest version contains multiple application enhancements and customizable options that allow users to import data easily with fewer keystrokes and mouse clicks.

Outlook^® Integration: EquityTouch^® 2.0 features a downloadable plug-in for Microsoft^® Outlook. Users who are running Outlook 2003 or 2007 can install the plug-in to push emails, calendar events, and contacts directly into EquityTouch from Outlook. The EquityTouch Outlook integration allows users to push emails/events to EquityTouch as a Touch, and all recipients become participants of the Touch. EquityTouch then matches all email/event recipients to contacts already existing in the application. If a match is not found, a pop-up window appears that allows them to either create a new contact or manually match them with an existing contact to resolve the difference.

"Or" Searching: Version 2.0 of EquityTouch allows users to perform "or" searches under the Advanced Search tab. Previous versions would allow for single variable searching in all fields. "Or" searching now allows users to select multiple variables in a single field. The new feature is accessible under the Advanced Search tab.

Created/Modified By: EquityTouch 2.0 also includes "Modified By" and "Created By" searching that allows users to look up information based on what other users have been working on in the application. A created and modified date and time stamp will appear on company and person summary pages as well. These options are available under the "Company" and the "Person" search fields in Advanced Search.


Enhanced Filtering: The new release also contains improved filter settings that allow a user to save their filter settings under the "Touches" tab. Users can select the Touch types they would like to see, and then select "Apply Filter." Once the search is run, the user can save the filter under tools settings.

Current EquityTouch users will automatically receive the update. The only action required on the user side is the option of downloading and installing the Outlook plug-in. Any technical questions/concerns can be directed to Touch Ahead Support via email (help@touchahead.com) or phone (1-866-960-9301).

For additional information on EquityTouch or to request a demo, please visit www.touchahead.com/equitytouch.html.

About Touch Ahead Software LLC

Touch Ahead Software is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions company, focused on providing unparalleled benefits of advanced technology to the alternative asset community. The benefits include dramatically reduced cost of ownership and time for implementation, as well as higher user satisfaction and organizational profitability through deal sourcing and powerful collaboration tools. Touch Ahead Software is the developer of EquityTouch, the premiere deal CRM service for the financial and other specialized industries. For more information, please visit www.touchahead.com

CRM Usage and Experience Within Alternative Asset Firms

At both the ACG Intergrowth Conference in Las Vegas and the Growth Conference in Boston in 2009, we conducted a survey to gain insight regarding the alternative asset community’s CRM usage and experience. The survey was administered to those who represented a private equity, venture capital, or any alternative asset firm. The survey was comprised of ten questions with multiple parts.

The following information summarizes Touch Ahead Software's findings.

CRM Software Satisfaction

42 out of the 55 companies (76.4%) questioned about satisfaction with their current CRM software responded that they were dissatisfied.



CRM Brand Usage

27 of the 61 different companies surveyed (44.3%) use a Microsoft Office application (i.e. Outlook, Excel, Access) in some way as a part of their total CRM experience.

7 (11.5%) use a Microsoft Office application to supplement another brand of CRM.

Of the total 61 companies surveyed:

o 22 (36.1%) use non-CRM Microsoft applications
o 10 (16.4%) use Salesforce
o 9 (14.7%) use ACT
o 5 (8.2%) use Microsoft Access or Dynamics CRM

o 4 (6.6%) use SalesLogix
o 3 (4.9%) did not know or gave no response

The remaining 8 companies (13.1%) use other CRM brands.



Most Valued Features for CRM Users

Survey participants were also asked to rate CRM features in order of what is most valuable to them.

The options consisted of the following:

o ‘Ease of Use’
o ‘Web-based’
o ‘Integrates with Outlook’
o ‘Integrates with External Data Base’
o ‘Ability to Get a Clear Snapshot’
o ‘Flexibility and Ease of Customization’
o ‘Schedule Management’

The results from the 14 companies that responded to this specific question:

o 42.9% ranked ‘Ease of Use’ as the most important
o 21.4% ranked ‘Schedule Management’ as the most important
o 14.3% ranked ‘Ability to Get a Clear Snapshot’ as the most important
o 14.3% ranked ‘Integrates with Outlook’ as the most important
o 7.1% ranked ‘Integrates with External Database’ as the most important

They also found that the following CRM features were ranked as second most important:

o 35.7% ‘Ability to Get a Clear Snapshot’
o 14.3% ‘Web-based’
o 14.3% ‘Flexibility and Ease of Customization’
o 14.3% ‘Ease of Use’
o 14.3% ‘Schedule Management’
o 7.1% ‘Integrates with Outlook’

Drawing from this data, it can be concluded that amongst the group surveyed, the top three most important CRM features are ‘Ease of Use,’ ‘Schedule Management,’ and ‘Ability to Get a Clear Snapshot.’

Frequency of Switching CRM Software

30 out of the 57 companies (52.6%) who responded to the question “Have you switched CRM software within the past three years?” responded that they had not.

Usage of Business Information Services

They found that 32 out of the 53 companies (60.4%) who responded to their question about using business information services (Capital IQ, Hoover’s, Dow and D&B) do not use them.

Of the 21 companies that said they do use them:

o 18 (85.7%) said they use Capital IQ.
o The next most commonly used service was D&B, followed by Hoover’s, Dow, Thomson Reuters, and others such as Manta, Merger Market, Capital Link, etc.

Data Views Used Most Commonly

After asking the companies about what they used most commonly for data views, they found the two most popular responses to be ‘contact information’ and ‘deal tracking.’

Best-Valued Features

After asking the companies what features would be of the greatest value to them that they do not currently have, the two most popular responses were ‘user friendliness’ and ‘integration.’

Written by Melissa Cocks

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.

Why the Popularity of SaaS is Increasing

Chances are you have frequently heard about SaaS (Software as a Service) in the media, and how more businesses are adopting it for their CRM models. You may feel unsure about adopting SaaS, or confused about SaaS getting so much attention. Here are the key reasons for the hype:

• Total cost of ownership (TCO) is lower than if you were to use on-premise CRM
• In-house IT is no longer relied on/called into action to fix your CRM (can allocate your IT team’s efforts elsewhere)
• Easy maintenance
• Faster and easier implementation of the CRM - the system is quickly up and running by someone else
• An outsourced IT team with expertise specific to your software will fix your problems, as well as take that weight off your shoulders/save you time.
• Pay as you use the software
• Increased data security
• Customization available to reflect your unique business operations

Written by Melissa Cocks

Businesses and Their CRM Changes

There are many reasons why you may be dissatisfied with your business' on-premise CRM software. One of the common complaints is that the software requires companies’ in-house IT teams’ frequent and costly attention. The time and effort that your in-house IT team puts towards maintaining on-premise CRM solutions could be directed elsewhere to increase the productivity within your business.

Additionally, like many business owners, you may become frustrated by software that limits your ability to integrate key company contact information with other applications and devices. A trend in today’s CRM software market is Blackberry compatibility. When you’re on the go and need to update or access your contact information, it’s frustrating if you’re unable to do so.

It’s also important to make sure your
CRM solution fits your needs. Many companies take a while to actually change their CRM software. People tend to fear unfamiliarity, especially when they do not feel they have time to learn the ins and outs of a new system. The solution to this is to have your software tailored to your business operations and needs. This way, you can still have features that you are accustomed to, and you can also add new features that would make doing business much easier for you.

Written by Melissa Cocks