Matrix Solutions, a long-time supplier of sales analytics software to over 50 media groups, has taken its new Matrix customer relations software (CRM) and sales analytics software platform out of beta and begun official deployments at broadcast station groups.
Allbritton Communications and Griffin Broadcasting Corporation both went live with the product earlier this month and another four or five other clients are expected to deploy the solutions in January of 2012, reports, D.J. Cavanaugh, CEO and partner at Matrix Solutions.
The new software represents several years of work and some notable changes in the company's offerings, notes Cavanaugh.
The company has offered software for sales analytics for nearly 20 years that is widely deployed at over 800 outlets, including Hearst, Media General, Belo, and ABC.
The new Matrix platform builds on that by combining sales analytics with their first CRM solution.
It is also their first product with Web-based cloud architecture. "We take away any need for IT infrastructure, because we will host everything for the customer," Cavanaugh notes. "All they need is a browser and a secure user name and password. They won't need a server or any hardware."
The solution provides functionality across multiple platforms, showing account data for TV, Web and mobile buys.
Looking forward the company is also planning to further develop its offerings into such areas as mobile and ad inventory management tools.
It is currently at work on a more comprehensive mobile application, though users can already access Matrix via a smartphone or iPad with the Web log-in. "It means they are not tied to their desk to get the information they need," he says.
Their sales analytic solutions have long been tightly integrated with trafficking and billing systems but Cavanaugh notes that they continue to look for ways to make it easier for their clients to access more information with better tools.
"Adding the CRM functionality with our analytics is a critical first step for us," he notes. "This new architecture will also allow us to be much more open to exchanging information with other systems. So over the next year we will start taking some of this a little deeper into [ad] avails and start digging deeper into traffic systems" in terms of what the product can help clients do.
