Journeys

GDPR is almost here. Are you ready?

jeremie@getsynap.com (Jeremie Bacon) — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 13:58:41 GMT

The introduction of The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was adopted by the European Union Parliament in April 2016, goes into force on May 25, 2018. From that point forward, organizations of all shapes and sizes from all over the world may face hefty fines if found in non-compliance.

Big News: Synap has Merged with Imagineer Technology Group

jeremie@getsynap.com (Jeremie Bacon) — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 13:40:00 GMT

We are thrilled to announce that Synap has merged with Imagineer Technology Group, the leader in CRM and marketing software for the asset management industry. Combining our businesses enables us to build on our shared vision of delivering the best cloud-based software and services to a broad variety of industries. High fives all around for our newly combined team!

Customize and configure Synap for the unique needs of your team

michael@getsynap.com (Michael Boeke) — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 20:07:04 GMT

Our recent releases included a bunch of features that enable Admins to configure and customize Synap for the unique needs of their teams. Here are three things to look for the next time you’re in Synap.

It’s Our Responsibility: Shaping the Future of Tech

John Higginson — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 19:37:26 GMT

In tech, it’s no secret there are far more jobs than qualified individuals to fill them. It’s also no secret that tech is not the most diverse industry in the world -- it skews far more male and has far fewer people of color than the population as a whole. The good news: we can take a large step towards a solution for both of these problems by working together to foster a new generation of talent from an array of different genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. I believe that Chicago companies, leaders, and tech professionals have a responsibility to help fix this, and one way we can make an impact is by supporting nonprofit organizations devoted to this mission.

One of these organizations is i.c. stars -- a group I’ve been proud to support for over five years. A beneficiary of Chicago Tech Rocks, since 1999, i.c.stars has been identifying, training, and jump-starting technology careers for Chicago-area low-income young adults who, although lacking access to education and employment, demonstrate the extraordinary potential for success in the business world and for making an impact in their communities. Using project-based learning and full immersion teaching, i.c. stars provides an opportunity for change-driven, future leaders to develop skills in business and technology. The program works. i.c. stars graduates have a 90% initial job placement rate, an 81% retention rate, and increase their average 12-month earnings from $10,790 before the program to $44,010 after the program.

As a “serial CTO” of digital companies in Chicago, I’ve seen firsthand the value of a diverse tech team. Building a team made up of individuals with diverse experiences and perspectives makes the team better and leads to better, more innovative solutions. It’s also the right thing to do. And organizations like i.c. stars are truly making a difference that not only improves the lives of its participants but contributes to building a healthy and diverse tech ecosystem. So when I was asked to get involved in i.c. stars, I was ready to dive in as a mentor, teacher, and general supporter.

As technology leaders, we need do our part to change this industry for the better. That’s a start. And we can have an even greater impact by empowering our people to do the same. At Enova, members of our tech team started the Chicago Women in Technology Conference, which sold out a month in advance of the conference in its second year. We have team members who have founded the Chicago chapter of Chick Tech, co-founded Latinx Code, and are mentoring students through the Living Works and iMentor programs. It’s a collective effort. As the saying goes, if you want to go far, you go together.

There is more work to do, but we start by committing our time, talent and treasure. We “walk the talk” of diversity in our organizations, our industry, and our community. That’s why Enova is supporting Chicago Tech Rocks and the organizations that benefit from this event. The concert is a fun way to bring awareness to the impactful work organizations like i.c. stars are doing to build the next, more diverse generation of tech talent. Nothing gets people moving together like music, and I can’t wait to “rock out” for a great cause with the Chicago tech community tonight.

Structuring Your Organization for Key Account Management

lindsey@getsynap.com (Lindsey Perez) — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 16:12:34 GMT

Let’s get this out of the way before moving on: there really is no one perfect template for structuring your organization for successful key account management. Every company is different and implementing a Key Account Management (KAM) practice is a significant and often complex undertaking. There are, however, some general principles to consider when working toward that goal.

See and Seize Opportunity: keys to success in business and client relationships

jeremie@getsynap.com (Jeremie Bacon) — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 12:05:00 GMT

Kristi Ross is Co-CEO and President of tastytrade, an award-winning online financial media company that produces eight hours of live, entertaining programming every single day.

Chicago Area Relationship Managers Group August Meetup Recap

lindsey@getsynap.com (Lindsey Perez) — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:43:11 GMT

Thank you to all those who joined us last Wednesday for the second Chicago Area Relationship Managers (CARM) Group meetup! We (Synap & Voyant Consulting) again felt encouraged in our goal to build an all-inclusive, technology & tool-agnostic meetup group that focuses on post-sales relationship management. The energy and engagement level was high and we hope to keep building on that momentum.

How to drive growth and scale by hunting and farming

jeremie@getsynap.com (Jeremie Bacon) — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 12:08:00 GMT

Shawn Carpenter, Co-founder and CEO of RepIQ, a hot new sales intelligence platform company, has been building SaaS products for years.

During his time as Foudner and CEO at YCharts, and while working on Google’s revenue intelligence products before that, he learned that despite using lots of tools to capture parts of their work with customers, sales and success teams were not capitalizing on the vast quantities of readily available but hard to organize data about those customers. Enter RepIQ...

Shawn recenty joined us in the studio to offer up insights on how to build and scale your business by focusing on intelligent selling.

Chicago Tech Rocks for Tech Forward

jeremie@getsynap.com (Jeremie Bacon) — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 13:01:00 GMT

Chicago Tech Rocks is a short five weeks away! Have you purchased your concert and raffle tickets yet?

Introducing Synap Templates for custom CRM

michael@getsynap.com (Michael Boeke) — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 16:11:00 GMT

One size does not fit all - it's as true for your CRM as it is for shoes. In fact, it can be very useful to see different information for different kinds of companies, opportunities, and other entities in a CRM.

For example, an opportunity to onboard a new client may require you to collect a different set of attributes than a follow-on sale to an existing one.

Or perhaps you need to track some additional information for a few of your largest clients or investor relationships, but don't want a lot of distracting "noise" when viewing the profiles of your many smaller ones.

To help with these situations and many others, we're proud to introduce a new Templates feature in Synap.