Is Simplify360 India’s Answer to Salesforce?

The rise of social media in India has rendered a new facet of marketing, giving the much needed opportunity to brands that were looking to directly engagement with their consumers. Once they marched beyond the experimentation phase, these brands explored different ways to approach social media marketing.

Another development, during this period, took place in India. This development gave rise to a number of social media suites that brands could use to manage online users and the interactions with them. This came to be known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Evolution of Customer Relationship Management suites across the world-

• Radian6 was the first company to bring social media listening in 2006.
• In May 2007, Facebook launched Facebook Platform, using which developers could build applications.
• September 2007 bought along Sysomos, another important player in social media listening.
• In the same month of Sysomos, Buddy Media came into existence, encouraging the emergence of social campaigning platforms.
• After Facebook, in May 2008, Twitter launched Twitter APIs.
• In October 2008, Social Bakers, one of the most popular analytical website was launched to monitor social profile analytics.
• In November of the same year, Hootsuite, the first major web based social engagement platform, was founded.

However, in June 2010, March 2011 and June 2012, Sysomos, Radian6 and Buddy Media exited the industry.

The Origin of Simplify360

The evolution of CRM suites continued. January 2009 saw the origin of Simply360, an Indian based company. Within a few months in September 2010, the beta launch of Simplify360 platform took place. The four functions that individual suites above offered came together in one suite, Simplify360:

• Listen
• Engage
• Publish
• Analyze

The 360 degree social media marketing suite was first launched in the market in February 2011. It claimed to be the world’s first social media marketing suite that offered all functions together.

However, in March 2011, Radian6 re-entered the Indian market. Salesforce had acquired Radian6 as well as Buddy Media.

The important elements of a Social Marketing Suite-

To understand how Simplify360 and Salesforce stack up against each other, we need to understand what constitutes a social marketing suite.

After much trial and error among companies, various acquisitions and the emergence of major marketing suites popped a question as to what the important elements of a social marketing suite are. These are:

A: Social Media Listening

B: Social Publishing

C: Social Profile Analytics

D: Social Engagement

E: Social Ad Management

F: CRM Integration

In light of the elements mentioned above, Simplify360 is adept at Social Media Listening, Social Publishing, Social Profile Analytics and CRM integration.

Interestingly, Simplify360 is very competitive with Social Media Listening and Social Profile Analytics.

When Social Media Listening, Social Publishing and Social Profile Analytics are compared in terms of functions, Social Media Listening and Social Profile Analytics are much more important functions than Social Publishing.

Moreover, this tool gives you more bang for the buck as compared to Salesforce.

It is nice to see an Indian technology brand reaching such good heights and working towards building a product that is at par with the best in the world. It will be exciting to see how both Simplify360 and Salesforce shape up in the coming years.

What has been your experience with social media suites? Feel free to share with us in the comments below.