History of Popular Contact Management and CRM Systems
The evolution of popular contact manager and CRM systems. Selected CRM vendor news.
Assembled by the team at [CRM Switch](http://www.crmswitch.com);xNLx;;xNLx;• Download a [free comparison](http://contact.crmswitch.com/salesforce-vs-microsoft-dynamics-crm-factual-comparison-ebook) of Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM;xNLx;;xNLx;• Download a [free comparison](http://contact.crmswitch.com/download-salesforce-vs-sugar-comparison-report) of Sugar and Salesforce;xNLx;;xNLx;• Download our [CRM buyer's cheat sheet](http://contact.crmswitch.com/crm-buyers-cheat-sheet)
1975-04-01 09:12:04
Microsoft
Founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
1981-06-01 04:20:44
Sage
Founded by David Goldman, Paul Muller, and Graham Wylie.
1986-06-01 23:55:45
ACT!
Conductor Software, creator of ACT!, founded by Pat Sullivan and Mike Muhney.
1987-04-01 04:53:57
act!
Released for DOS 1.0.
1988-06-01 08:05:37
act!
Conductor Software renamed Contact Software International.
1989-06-01 07:46:05
goldmine
Founders Jon Ferrara and Elan Susser begin work on GoldMine product.
1990-06-01 20:23:07
Goldmine
1.0 released.
1990-08-01 09:57:45
act!
Released for DOS 2.0.
1991-06-01 19:25:31
goldmine
2.0 released.
1991-07-31 09:00:08
act!
9000 released.
1992-05-01 18:27:54
act!
Released for HP95LX and Windows 2.0.
1993-06-02 07:04:56
act!
Symantec purchases Contact Software International; ACT! is released for Mac.
1994-06-01 06:07:21
goldmine
2.5 (DOS) released.
1994-06-30 06:07:21
act!
Released for Newton; Mobile Link released.
1996-06-01 20:56:03
goldmine
Founders change company name ELAN Software Corporation to GoldMine Software Corporation; 3.0, 3.2 released for Windows 95.
1996-11-01 20:56:03
act!
3.0 released for Windows 95 and NT.
1997-06-01 09:33:05
sage saleslogix
SalesLogix Corporation releases v2.0 (first version).
1997-07-03 09:33:05
act!
Released for Windows CE.
1998-06-01 08:35:28
act!
4.0 released for Windows 98 and Office 97.
1998-06-15 08:35:28
goldmine
4.0 released.
1998-07-01 08:35:29
Sage CRM
eWare releases v1.1 (now known as Sage CRM)
1998-11-01 08:35:29
sage saleslogix
v3.0 released; SalesLogix Web Client and SupportLogix released.
1999-03-01 07:37:53
Salesforce
Salesforce.com founded by Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez; launches salesforce.com.
1999-06-01 07:37:53
goldmine
5.0 released; GoldMine Software Corporation sold to Front Range Limited.
1999-06-02 13:09:35
goldmine
Goldmine Software Corporation merges with Bendata, Inc.
1999-06-13 07:37:53
sage saleslogix
SalesLogix Corporation changes its name to Interact Commerce Corporation; CommerceLogix released.
1999-12-01 07:37:53
act!
Sold by Symantec to Interact Commerce Corporation.
2000-03-01 06:40:17
goldmine
Front Range Solutions, current GoldMine developer, is founded; 5.5. released.
2000-06-01 10:49:32
act!
2000 (5.0) released for Windows XP.
2000-07-01 10:49:32
sage saleslogix
SalesLogix2000 (v4.0) released.
2000-08-01 10:49:32
salesforce
Launches its first online sales force automation solution aimed at CRM application market.
2001-06-01 13:01:12
goldmine
Business Contact Manager released; FrontOffice released; GoldMine Everywhere 1.2 released.
2001-07-12 13:01:12
sage saleslogix
Sage buys Interact Commerce Corporation, owner of SalesLogix; SalesLogix.net v5.0 and SalesLogix v5.2 released.
2001-08-10 13:01:12
act!
Sage buys Interact Commerce Corporation, owner of ACT!; ACT! 6.0 released.
2001-09-01 13:01:12
salesforce
Launches its first online CRM app encompassing sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service and support.
2001-10-21 13:01:12
sage crm
eWare acquired by ACCPAC International and rebranded as ACCPAC eCRM; v3.0 released; accpaccrm.com launched.
2002-05-01 04:00:39
salesforce
Launches Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition with advanced functionality.
2002-06-01 14:26:02
goldmine
Business Contact Manager 6.0 released; GoldMine CustomerIQ released; GoldMine Sales & Marketing 2002 released.
2002-07-01 14:26:02
sage crm
eCRM v3.1.1 released.
2002-07-21 04:00:39
act!
6.0 released.
2002-08-01 04:00:39
sage saleslogix
Sage releases v6.0.
2003-01-01 22:53:48
microsoft
CRM 1.0 released.
2003-04-17 21:31:23
Goldmine
6.5 released; GoldMine Business Contact Manager Corporate Edition released.
2003-06-01 21:56:12
Sage CRM
CRM Solutions, Ltd. partners with Silverbear and acquires ACCPAC; rebrands ACCPAC eCRM as SageCRM; v5.5 and v5.6 released.
2003-06-01 21:56:12
act!
ACT! for Web 1.0 released for ACT! 6.0.
2003-12-01 21:56:12
microsoft
CRM 1.2 released.
2004-05-01 11:08:25
ACT!
By Sage 2005 (7.0) released; Standard Premium Ex and Premium ST differentiation.
2004-06-01 11:08:25
sugarcrm
Founded by John Roberts, Clint Oram, and Jacob Taylor; 1.0 and 2.0 released.
2004-06-01 11:08:25
goldmine
6.7 Corporate Edition released; Integration Services for Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Server released; Mobile Edition released; GoldMine Plus Accounting for use with Quickbooks 2.0 released.
2004-07-01 11:08:25
sage saleslogix
v6.2 released.