Meet the App Throwdown Contestant: Blake Robertson with Callinize
Editor’s Note: As we get closer to SugarCon, we wanted to introduce all of the contestants to this year’s App Throwdown, sponsored by SugarOutfitters. Over the next 2 weeks, we’ll have interviews from each of them on what they are showing for the Throwdown, helping you learn a bit more about it.
Bio ( Yours and the Organization you are representing ):
Blake Robertson is an avid member of the SugarCRM Developer community. Blake Robertson started developing SugarCRM addons for the needs of his company Alertus Technologies for which Blake is the CTO and cofounder. When he’s not developing next generation mass notification hardware/software, he enjoys working on open source projects. Most notably, he maintains YAAI an open source telephony integration between SugarCRM and Asterisk. Blake presented YAAI at the 2012 SugarCon AppThrowdown. Since then, it’s become SugarCRM’s most widely deployed Telephony integration.
Callinize integrates your phone system and your CRM revolutionizing the way you’ll make and take calls. Know exactly who’s calling before you pick up the phone. Make calls without typing in digits and leave call notes without having to first search for the contact. Where most CTI solutions are designed for Call Centers, Callinize is designed for SMBs. Features such as our google chat inspired call note taker and smartphone apps bring the power of a call center to everyone..
What are you presenting at the App Throwdown?
I’m going to be presenting the most exciting and novel features of Callinize.
How often do you receive a call and have NO idea who it is? We all have. Callinize solves this problem. Callinize is an app that connects to your company’s CRM, pulls important customer information, and displays this information for all incoming calls on your mobile phone. During the call you can launch into our app that displays more actionable information and the ability to save notes.
What about your application do you feel brings something unique or different to the Sugar ecosystem?
It’s the first CRM Telephony integration which works on a mobile phone. CRM Telephony integrations have been primarily utilized by “Call Centers” or forward thinking companies that want to improve company productivity. One of the biggest limitations of traditional telephony integrations is you had to be tethered to your desk / in front of your computer. People just don’t work that way anymore! We’ve traded being tethered to our desk to being tethered to our mobile phone. Fortunately, the power of a call center now fits in the convenience of your pocket.
What is the biggest takeaway you hope the audience takes away from your presentation?
I hope that next time they get a call on their mobile phone and don’t recognize the number they’ll think of Callinize. We bring the abundance of information in your CRM to your finger tips wherever you are.
And for those struggling to get CRM adoption throughout their company… if you provide your employees with tools like Callinize which take the chore out of getting information into and out of the system, your adoption will happen much more naturally.
What is the most exciting aspect of being a part of the Sugar App Throwdown?
Last year I presented yaai, the open source telephony integration, which is the foundation of Callinize. The AppThrowdown really launched yaai’s userbase which in turn has attracted a community of developers from around the world. Most notably, I met Callinize’s co founder, Patrick Hogan, right after my presentation at sugarcon. We’ve been working together ever since and we wouldn’t be in this years AppThrowdown if it wasn’t for him. Looking forward to meeting other people to collaborate with and launching Callinize!
Looking at the other App Throwdown submissions, which one looks the most interesting and why?
I’m definitely interested in the harvest integration the campaign improvements! Campaigns continue to be a pain point in my company. It’s too hard for a sales person to use.