Background

Tangent International has been operating for more than 50 years, evolving through several CRM systems along the way. What began with in-house tools eventually led to a series of platform changes as the business and the technology available to it moved on.

That journey took Tangent through a custom-built CRM, a promising but growth-strained vendor, an enterprise acquisition that left them feeling deprioritised, and finally to Seven20 a shift driven as much by the emergence of AI as by frustration with what came before.

The challenge

By the early 2000s, Tangent had built a custom in-house CRM that served the business well for years. But as cloud-based operations became essential, the limitations of that legacy system pushed the search toward more scalable, modern platforms.

• Outgrown legacy tech: a custom, in-house CRM built around 2000 could no longer keep pace with cloud-based operations.

• Lost in the crowd: after Talent Rover was acquired by Bullhorn, much larger enterprise clients became the priority.

• Deprioritised as a mid-sized firm: as a sub-$250 million business, Tangent felt underserved by support and development focused on bigger customers.

Why Seven20?

Driven by the emergence of AI and a desire to enable activity and productivity not just record keeping Tangent re-evaluated its options. While Mercury was considered, the team stayed committed to the Salesforce environment.

• Agility: a platform built to move quickly, without the growing pains of a scaling vendor.

• Efficient user experience: designed to be genuinely easy for sales teams to use.

• Activity-driving features: built to encourage engagement, not just record what's already happened.What stood out most was the ability to partner with Seven20. I appreciated that they were focused on doing a smaller number of things really well, as opposed to everything at an average level.

The implementation

Getting implementation right mattered as much to Tangent as the platform choice itself. Their approach focused on building buy-in early, celebrating quick wins, and avoiding the kind of slow, value-free rollout that had eroded trust with previous vendors.

• Early buy-in: building guiding coalitions and securing support from day one.

• Quick wins: celebrating early momentum rather than waiting for a "big bang" launch.

The results

Rather than a single measurable outcome, Tangent's CRM journey points to a set of lessons that shaped how the business now thinks about technology.

• Evolution, not revolution: CRM transitions work best as iterative shifts tied to changing business priorities and technology not one-off overhauls.

• User-first design: The end user's experience stayed the top consideration throughout every platform decision.

• Vendor choice matters: For a mid-sized firm like Tangent, agility and responsive support proved just as important as the platform itself.

Looking ahead

For Tangent, the lessons from a 50-year CRM journey go beyond their own decision. Knowing exactly what a CRM needs to achieve and resisting the temptation to over-complicate it — matters as much as the platform chosen.

Advice for others

Tangent International offers powerful guidance derived from decades of strategic CRM experience:

1. Know Your Business Needs: "Understand exactly what you want a CRM to achieve. Choose a system that aligns with your business goals."

2. Avoid Over-Complication: "Complex systems alienate users, especially in sales teams that prioritise speed and simplicity."

3. Prioritise Implementation Success: "Build guiding coalitions and secure buy-in early. Avoid launching a tool that doesn’t immediately deliver value."

4. Vendor Choice Matters: For mid-sized firms, prioritise vendors who offer specialised support and development that matches your company's scale and urgency.