Kepler is Here—an Unparalleled Move for Pipeliner CRM

In our tradition of naming versions of our software after landmark works of science throughout the ages, our latest is named for Johannes Kepler. Kepler was a 17th-century mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and natural philosopher, and a leading light in the 17th-century scientific revolution. Kepler mathematically proved the earlier heliocentric theory of Copernicus—that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system—and that planets had elliptical orbits, not circular. He provided proof of the moon’s influence on the Earth’s tides, and was a major contributor to the design of a useful and effective telescope. He created three laws of planetary motion that became the foundation of Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity and motion.

Prior to Kepler, the prevailing thought, originated by Aristotle, was that the Earth was orbited by the sun and planets. Kepler finally proved what turned out to be the truth, that the planets orbit the sun.

Sales is Central

The naming of our new version after Kepler was quite deliberate. Just as Kepler placed the sun at the center of our solar system, we place sales right at the heart of commerce. Just as no life on a planet can survive without the sun, no business can survive without sales.

The age in which Kepler lived was quite tumultuous, ravaged by the Thirty Years’ War fought between the Protestant and the Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire. While Kepler was deeply religious, he didn’t consider himself on either side of the battle, as he had friends on both sides.

Although not as violent, turmoil is surrounding us today as well—between the left and the right. Like Kepler, we also don’t take sides. As Kepler discovered, we’re living on this tiny planet, and we feel the human being is its most essential element.

Following Copernicus

Copernicus was the name given to our previous major release, the first Pipeliner CRM version to reside fully in the Cloud. Since our Copernicus release 3 years ago, we have made literally thousands of improvements. It is only logical that with our next significant evolution, project management, we name the version after Kepler, the person who fully cemented Copernicus’s theories.

This version combines sales force automation and key account management, two approaches that are often divergent within companies. These have been united under the umbrella of project management, a single revenue engine.

Sales force automation is utilized in seeking out and exploiting new business opportunities, and for that reason could be referred to as the “hunter” approach. Key account management could be colloquially referred to as the “farmer” approach, which cares for the existing customer. It is vitally important, especially today, that both approaches are unified and operate together.

Great Evolutions Don’t Happen Overnight

Kepler’s full evaluation and mathematical description of planetary motion took 20 years. Similarly, it took us 10 years to arrive where we are today with this powerful new version of Pipeliner CRM. Some people may wonder why it took us so long?

Although it may seem like it, we weren’t beginning at square one with our Cloud version Copernicus 3 years ago. We spent many years previously building and refining our hybrid version, which was itself revolutionary in the CRM world at the time. That is why it has taken us 10 years to arrive where we are today.

Leaping Forward Again

Kepler signifies yet another leap forward ahead of the competition for Pipeliner CRM,  bringing another set of firsts to the market. We have truly put the “R” back in CRM.