Making Contact

After covering the highs and lows of the software industry in 2002, I came to realize that vendors love to break their own rules. In a world that should be bug-free and tightly defined with ones and zeroes, ISVs all too often complicate things with overaggressive marketing and half-honest sales pitches while trying to build a component or feature for every conceivable need. While the latter part sounds great -- after all, less isn't necessarily more -- software companies have let it spiral out of control. In simple terms, software has become too amorphous, complicated and dreadfully ill-defined.

Call it the battle of the bulge. Vendors try to jam-pack their application suites and middleware like a holiday feast, and it can leave consumers feeling like they've taken in too much. The ISVs, however, don't mind the gluttony.

You can practically see Microsoft frothing at the mouth every time a new "it" program comes along -- Web browsers, CRM applications and now search engines -- while singing an eager chorus of "me too!" on its way to bundling everything that isn't Windows to the cornerstone OS. The king of all software is hardly alone. Oracle will undoubtedly try to market its way through what should be R&D advancements or even resort to piracy, all in a sweat-laden exercise to be everything to everyone. And now Siebel has more CRM applications than employees.

Sometimes, customers have a particular need that requires a simple, rigid solution. They don't need Web services or ERP suites or baskets full of middleware. They need software companies to keep it simple. But far too many aren't listening. They're busy sailing yachts, throwing lavish user conferences in Vegas and building an image instead of developing knockout code.

Of course, not every ISV is engaged in self-congratulatory and bombastic, confusing marketing. There are still a few that are hungry and laser-focused on solving real issues and improving IT. They're called start-ups, and they can't afford to hire movie stars for ridiculous junkets or rent out theme parks. They're survival depends on skill, not style.

One such notable start-up is Contact Network of Boston. The software maker was founded in 2001 and specializes in enterprise contact collaboration applications, also known as social networking. At first, its software may seem unremarkable; the Corporate Social Networking application resembles a basic office application on the surface. However, the software addresses a key need that sometimes goes overlooked.

How many times have you searched high and low for a name and number at a company you need to reach? You work in a corporation of hundreds if not thousands of employees, so you're pretty sure that somebody somewhere knows something that can help you. But finding it is akin to searching for a needle in haystack. Enter Contact Network's software. Essentially, the application is a search engine that houses, locates and sorts contacts.

"I think this solution is going to be like part of the office furniture. It's not a question of if it will take off, but who will be the leader," says Cesar Brea, CEO of Contact Network, with confidence.

It's hard to argue with Brea on that one. As a journalist who is constantly rifling through business cards, e-mail, rolodexes and post-it notes trying to find the elusive name or number of the day, I'm all too familiar with how much time and energy is lost trying to communicate with people. Compounding the problem is the fact that I don't always know the name of who I'm looking for at a particular systems integrator. And to make matters worse, I often discover after the fact that a colleague has the exact information I was looking for.

So imagine the productivity gains if, for example, every one of your co-workers' address books and rolodexes were connected to the same system and all you had to was make a simple request in the corporate software system. Well, here's how Corporate Social Networking works, specifically:

The software uses an algorithm-based system that catalogs company data files like e-mail, contact folders, address books and calendar entries and extracts information regarding important people outside the company. Thus, if you want to reach a certain client company, you make a request in the system for a person at client X, for example, and the application goes hunting. But instead of finding the actual contact and delivering the information, the application returns with the name of the contact "owner" inside your company, who is the employee who originally entered the contact's name and information in the system. The owner receives your e-mail request for a contact at client X and, if he or she chooses, can then release the contact's info.

Thus, the system ensures protection of privacy and confidential data. Employees who don't wish to participate in the social networking system can even "opt out" if they're uncomfortable.

"We've taken arguably the most conservative approach to privacy in the business," Brea says.

It sounds so simple, it's a wonder it took this long for social networking applications to reach the mainstream.

"It's kind of a federated approach to bringing business partners, customers and contacts more into the loop," Brea says. "It's a flexible tool, and it solves a problem in very simple terms."

AMR Research analyst Laura Preslan recently wrote a report on social networking software and highlighted it as a valuable sales tool.

"Companies with relationship-based consultative selling models targeted at committee-based buyers should look at social networking as a way to provide sales tools for salespeople," Preslan wrote. "Early reports indicate that by closing one additional average deal per year, the system pays for itself."

Indeed, Contact Network's software isn't overly expensive like most enterprise applications. Brea says the application can cost anywhere between $5,000 to $20,000 a month depending on the size of the customer. In addition, Brea says the software is easy to install, and the company promises to have clients up and running within 24 hours.

Brea recently joined Contact Network as its chief executive after formerly serving as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Razorfish; he left the company shortly after the Web integrator was acquired by SBI. I suspect Brea's background in the solutions and the channel community -- Brea also previously served at Bain and Company as well as software maker ArsDigita -- will serve Contact well. Ironically, Razorfish itself is a Contact Network client.

Perhaps that's how Contact Network found Brea to offer him the job.