By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Licensing software company Octane5 has just released a major update to BrandComply, adding an industry-specific Customer Relations Management system (CRM) named Deal.
Octane5 president Mike Dunn said the idea for Deal was inspired by customers, who found solutions like Salesforce didn’t meet their specific needs.
“That development was really driven by the agencies we work with and our client brands who said, you know, tools like Salesforce are great for prospecting, but they’re expensive and not really designed for licensing and the licensing process,” Dunn recalled. “So, we spent some time working with a couple of our clients on how a licensing-focused CRM would ideally work.
Dunn says Deal is all about the licensing industry’s needs, providing a single tool that not only helps prospect for new leads, but also onboards new client’s seamlessly, and then manages the client over the duration of the contract while minimizing extra work. Once onboarded, all of the power of BrandComply licensing management software and brand protection comes into play pretty much automatically.
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“We spent a lot of time talking to a bunch of different brands and agencies, and we asked ‘what are the key things that you do when you’re prospecting for a new partner, what are the steps,’ and we integrated all of that into our contract workflow and our contract management system.”
For example, Dunn says a user can simply scan a business card at an event like Licensing Expo, input any relevant data, and the system will then follow the course of the negotiation right through to contract signing and onboarding. It’s also a huge bonus that all of that information is incorporated directly into the other aspects of BrandComply, so product and brand management is greatly simplified as new products come to market.
“Better yet, these two brands we worked with at the beginning are not only saving themselves a lot of work; they’re also saving a lot of money,” Dunn said. “Both brands had very expensive CRM subscriptions, and they were able to cancel all their contracts and have it all within BrandComply, and have all these extra functions.
“But I would also say the greatest advantage is the speed to market, the visibility, and the reporting functions,” he added. “You just approve and move.”
The new Deal CRM is also built into the BrandComply apps on iOS and Android, so all functions are available through the user’s smartphone.
Octane5 says the new system is being used by a number of clients who provided feedback on the early development and beta versions.
Dunn says Deal has been very well received by testing partners, and it will now be released into the wild in a formal unveiling at an Octane5 user conference in September.