ISM Inc. brings new meaning to words “Top 15”

Strategic advisory firm ISM Inc. kicked off the week by releasing its annual Top 15 awards in CRM software, an honor quickly reported to industry media by most recipients and one which would appear to be hard-earned, indeed, with final score depending on a rigorous battery of tests (see below).

Unfortunately, there’s a fundamental flaw in these lists which make it appear as though ISM Inc. is, in fact, mainly producing PR material. See if you can figure out what’s wrong here.

Listed in alphabetical order, the Top 15 in the category of CRM Enterprise were:

• Amdocs CRM v. 6, Amdocs Limited

• C2 CRM v. 8.0, Clear Technologies, Inc.

• CMS/Oncontact V version 5.2, Oncontact Software Corp.

• ExSellence 5.0, Optima Technologies, Inc.

• Firstwave CRM v. 3.1, Firstwave Technologies, Inc.

• growBusiness Solutions v. 3.1, Software Innovation ASA

• Infor CRM

• mySAP CRM, SAP AG

• Onyx v. 6.0, Onyx Software Corporation

• PeopleSoft CRM, Oracle/PeopleSoft, Inc.

• Pivotal v. 5.9, Pivotal Corporation

• Salesforce.com

• Saratoga CRM 6.5.3, Saratoga Systems, Inc.

• Siebel 8.0, Oracle/Siebel Systems, Inc.

• Tibco Process RM v. 9.0, Tibco

• update 7.0, AG

In the category of CRM SMB, the 15 names in the envelope were:

• Ardexus MODE v. 5.5, Ardexus, Inc.

• C2 CRM v. 8.0, Clear Technologies, Inc.

• CMS/Oncontact V version 5.2, Oncontact Software Corp.

• Goldmine v. 7.0.3 & HEAT, FrontRange Solutions, Inc.

• Maximizer Enterprise 9.5, Maximizer Software Inc.

• Microsoft CRM 3.0

• NetSuite CRM v. 11.0 & NetSuite v. 11.0, NetSuite, Inc.

• Powertrak v. 8.02, Axonom, Inc.

• Relavis CRM, Relavis Corporation

• RightNow CRM v. 8.0, RightNow Technologies, Inc.

• Sage CRM 100/200 v. 6.0, Sage Software

• Sage SalesLogix v. 7.0, Sage Software

• Salesforce.com

• Salesplace 2006.3.2, Interchange Solutions

• SalesPage CRM, SalesPage Technologies, LLC

• Siebel CRM OnDemand, Oracle/Siebel Systems, Inc.

• StayinFront CRM v. 9.3, StayinFront, Inc. I

SM Inc.’s Top 15 awards were first bestowed in 1990. Testing takes place in the surely ultra-high tech ISM Software Lab at the firm’s Bethesda, Md. headquarters. Each software program is rated according to 217 selection criteria, including 103 business functions, 52 technical features, 36 implementation capabilities, 9 real-time criteria and 17 user-support features.

In the press release announcing the winners, a mysterious figure identified only as Goldenberg (Should you search the frankly not very pretty ISM homepage, you discover this is founder Barton Goldenberg, but CRMchump prefers the shadowy version) communicated that “The winners are to be praised for obtaining the Top 15 honor given ISM’s strenuous and comprehensive software selection process” and alongside announcement of the winners, it was duly noted that “With no ownership in or by a vendor, ISM’s software analysis is 100 percent unbiased.”

So, what’s the problem here? (Excepting the whole James Bond-like aura of Goldenberg and the Software Lab, of course.) Exactly sixteen companies took home a “Top 15” CRM Enterprise award and seventeen got a CRM SMB prize!

Why this would be so is never duly explained by the company, but a fairly non-taxing guess would involve ISM’s latest product, the 15th edition (one wonders if there have actually been thirteen or eighteen) of “The Guide to CRM Automation.”

Aside from ISM’s analysis of recent trends in CRM, each of these “Top 15” software products is analyzed. At prices of $730 and $895, how much do you think ISM stands to gain if a company such as, say, Oracle/Siebel, employing hundreds to whom these CDs could be marketed, is included?

I’m just saying is all…