Touch Ahead

Touch Ahead Software

Touch Ahead Software is a Boston based software development company that CREATES [...]-edge Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology, making companies more profitable. The company was founded in November 2008 by Nancy Keddy and her partner Tim Lasonde. Touch Ahead’s mission is to provide the fastest, most innovated web-based applications for CRM. Their flagship product is a CRM software known as EquityTouch™.

History

Nancy Swan Keddy, a 20-year veteran of both the alternative asset and IT industries, founded Touch Ahead alongside cofounder and chief technologist Timothy Lasonde — both of whom conceived the original design on which EquityTouch was built.

EquityTouch began as a software project by NSK Inc, the custom software development company that spun off Touch Ahead in 2008. The project started in 2006 with the objective to upgrade an existing CRM solution at a major private equity firm. The private equity firm wanted a new front-end interface that would display information in a more intuitive, performance-oriented format.

The result was the core code on which EquityTouch is based — software its designers believed had far-reaching market implications beyond these original projects. They launched Touch Ahead to continue EquityTouch development and pursue those greater possibilities.

As an independent company, Touch Ahead takes advantage of changing technologies including, AJAX, cloud computing and social networking.

EquityTouch: Core Product Design

The technology of Touch Ahead Software solutions is based on AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), a type of method used to build web applications. Touch Ahead created their own custom AJAX library that completely meets the goals of updating web pages dynamically – without waiting for an entire page to refresh, a continuing problem with traditional CRM software .

Touch Ahead uses Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 as the database model. Using AJAX and SQL 2005 for page updates creates an extremely fast user experience. The advanced features of SQL 2005, such as the full-text engine, allow Touch Ahead to utilize a powerful database model. SQL 2005 also fully supports XML (a markup language which is a key component of AJAX).

The Touch Concept

Unlike traditional CRM, EquityTouch is based on “touches.” A touch is any transaction or communication involved in daily business activities. They can include: emails, events, phone calls, and even research. The application organizes these touches by company, contact and touch type for easy reference. Users can easily search these touches, keeping track of clients, intermediaries, and deals.

EquityTouch is specifically geared for the Private Equity and Venture Capital industry. TA Associates, General Catalyst and 3i, to name a few, currently use EquityTouch as their deal tracking CRM.

Equity Touch Key Features

• Advanced Searching – make your own custom fields.

• “Look Ahead” Searching – finds items before your finish typing.

• “Distance From” Searching – group contacts via geographical area.

• Groups – create groups and place relevant contacts within them.

• Web 2.0 Integration – built in links to search engines, social media, and business databases.

• Integrated with Microsoft Outlook

• Financial Information – customizable fields on revenue, net income, etc.

• Statistics – tracks productivity.

Social CRM and EquityTouch

An advantage of EquityTouch in comparison is the fact that it is easily integrated with Social Media applications such as LinkedIn. Users can avoid data entry and save time by importing data directly into EquityTouch from D&B, Dow Jones, and Hoovers. Users can also track deal-relevant information in real time via RSS feeds and conduct searches directly in EquityTouch on Google, Twitter and Yahoo!

The Advantage - Not only can EquityTouch users build relationships with followers but they also have the ability to build relationships, listen to, and engage with customers that are having conversations about the company. Traditional CRM doesn't work with Twitter or Facebook or with any other social platform.

External Links

Touch Ahead Main Page 1