Customer relationship management (CRM) software has become a mainstay for businesses of all sizes. CRM platforms enable companies to manage interactions and engagements with existing and potential customers. They are designed to streamline processes like contact management, track sales pipelines and opportunities, answer customer service inquiries, generate analytics and reports to gain insights, and collaborate with different teams.
Most CRM platforms are now enhanced with generative AI features and offer automation tools for repetitive tasks like scheduling meetings, sending follow-up emails, and updating customer records. Here are tw CRM platform providers in the computer and technology sector that can soar even higher in 2025.
Freshworks: Affordable CRM Software for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs)
CRM software provider Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) offers AI-infused solutions to enhance the customer and employee experience. Its Neo platform enables engagement through email, live chat or chatbot, sales workflow automation, and tracking through its user-friendly interface. Its Freddy AI can provide business insights from the company's data to implement AI agents to streamline customer service and engagement. It's known for its ease of use and affordable pricing, catering to SMBs, mid-market, and enterprise customers. The company has over 68,000 customers in over 120 countries.
Freshworks reported a third quarter of 2024 EPS of 11 cents, beating analyst estimates by 3 cents. Revenues rose 21.5% YoY to $186.58 million, beating $181.7 million estimates. The company expects a free cash flow of $220 million in 2025 and has no debt. Its competitive advantage lies in its affordability, which has also attached larger enterprise customers like Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP), Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC), Databricks, and FCM.
The company issued upside fourth quarter EPS guidance of 9 to 10 cents versus 8 cents consensus estimates. Revenues were in line with the company expecting to generate $187.8 million to $190.8 million versus $189.27 million consensus estimates. The company announced a $400 million stock buyback. While shares rocketed 28% higher after its earnings report, the stock is still underperforming as it trades down 30% year-to-date (YTD). This
Pegasystems: Targeting Large Enterprises and Complex Organizations
Enterprise software developer Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA) offers a number of services embedded with AI that help enterprises become more efficient by improving customer engagement, streamlining processes, and digitally transforming and automating workflows. Its Pega GenAI services can turn ideas into workflows, streamlining every customer touchpoint.
Pega GenAI Blueprint Is a Game Changer
Its Pega GenAI Blueprint is the AI-infused workflow design workspace. Applications can be generated in just five steps without any code. A user can describe the business goals and priorities as well as the problems it needs to solve. GenAI will analyze industry best practice templates that industry experts curate to develop a starting point for the application design.
Blueprint walks the user through the workflows that need to be automated or digitized to transform the end-to-end journey. The user determines what needs to be automated in each workflow, defining the stages and steps within each case type for all the defined personas. Workflows can be plugged directly into the experiences of customer service agents via desktops, back-office workers, and even customers directly through self-service channels. The blueprint is instantly generated into a new application to be plugged into the Pega Platform, shedding weeks of planning for an end-to-end digital transformation project down to minutes.
Pegasystems CEO Alan Trefler was very upbeat, describing how Pega GenAI Blueprint is part of every client and business prospect discussion. Trefler pointed out, "We're getting that feedback from clients, partners and industry experts, who are also saying that Blueprint is one of the most compelling examples of actually putting AI to work that they see, something I heard last week when I was in EMEA and met with some of our largest clients.”
Pegasystems reported its third-quarter EPS of 39 cents, beating consensus estimates by 4 cents. Revenues fell 2.8% YoY to $325.1 million, just shy of the $326.16 million consensus estimates. Annual contract value (ACV) grew 16% YoY. Backlog rose 17% YoY, which is a key indicator of future growth. PEGA shares responded by climbing 23% higher after the Q3 release driving the company's YTD performance up to 77%.
