Perhaps the most challenging aspect of succeeding online today is managing the increasingly important social side of business. That may be less of an issue thanks to an application released yesterday by Mercury Grove. The product, Dex, is an online Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool wherein contacts manage their own profiles, colleagues share networks, and automatic alerts are generated to you let users know when they should get in touch with someone. Sounds like something we all could use.
The real value is that Dex provides constant feedback to users on the health of their professional relationships through a contact rating system, and by monitoring how a person uses the system, their business transactions, and by importing their email and phone activity. Dex provides weekly status updates on important contacts, and reminds users when too much time has passed between interaction. While you might be hesitant to give Dex your data, the value proposition of building stronger relationships is most certainly attractive.
"Dex removes the need for 'data babysitting', giving professionals time to focus on building relationships, not building databases," explained Scott Annan, Mercury Grove's CEO. "If the information about your contacts is on the web you can find it in dex."
Following the beta period, the company plans to charge businesses $20 per user per month. Personal accounts for now however are free.
