New analyst shortlist of sales productivity tools: What Dynamics CRM / 365 customers stand to gain

Sales productivity apps have carved out a role separate from their larger CRM cousins. These smaller solutions often depend on CRM as a backbone needed for the data consumed and produced, but they gain traction amid the daily sales and service activities happening on mobile devices, in email, on calendars - almost anywhere other than in CRM.

While full-scale CRM solutions like Dynamics 365's sales app focus on both the big picture and the individual user, sales productivity apps typically go deep on the needs of specific roles or smaller teams. They are often mobile-first and help gather data that traditional CRM would typically miss out on.

A new ShortList report from analyst firm Constellation Research recommends five of the sales productivity tools that they see as "relevant to early adopters". The findings are based on their own analysis, clients' selections, and briefings. Of the five tools, at least two have a connection to Dynamics 365 and one, Komiko, is notable for its founders' Microsoft Dynamics pedigree.

Hal Howard, former leader of Dynamics ERP R&D, co-founded Komiko in early 2015 with fellow Microsoft alums Ami Heitner and Srikanth Avadhanam. Howard had departed Microsoft in 2014 to pursue a range of other interests, and building Komiko has now become his primary focus, he says. The company has taken about $2 million in seed and angel investments and has 10 employees. By contrast, Howard points out, other vendors on Constellation's list have taken much more venture funding.

Constellation characterizes Komiko as a tool that is strong in "automatically [logging] sales activity by analyzing email communication, calendar entries, and contacts."

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