Mir Ali began development of their first commercial product, CMPro™, a customer relationship management application, in November of 1998. He was working as a Project Manager for an engineering firm at the time and developed it for their marketing department. After leaving the firm and moving to Dallas, where he worked first for Microsoft as an Application Developer, then as an independent IT consultant, Mr. Ali was contacted again by his former employer and asked to update the application. That was in April of 2001 and the beginning of both the enhancement of the application and the development of a company.

Leveraging years of consulting experience, Mr. Ali founded IDB Group in 2001, establishing the headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Aleya Razvi, a certified IT consultant with expertise in accounting and financial applications, was brought on as a partner to head the Canadian operations. Ivan Gonzalo, an IT consultant with expertise in web development, was brought on to create the company’s web site and assist in e-solutions. The focus was on business and product development.

By July 2002, IDB Group’s first commercial product, CMPro 3.0, was ready for business use. IDB Group representatives began attending several investor conferences and marketing events. Development began on the next phase of the product, a web-based application. By the fall, new clientele were established and successful installations completed. January 2003 marked the official public launch of the product.

During this time, an advisory board was also being established, made up of key business clients. The first member to join was Bernie O’Donnell of Performisys. A former user of ACT!, he was very impressed with CMPro and interested in becoming involved in its further development. Bernie also had an extensive business background which would serve IDB Group’s needs in the future.

As leads were secured and sales closed at an ever-increasing pace, 2003 proved to be a time of growth and increased stability. In less than 6 months of formal release, IDB Group’s product, CMPro™, was being used by over 20 companies in the US, Canada, and Venezuela. Clientele included Akorbi, Avidgolfer Magazine, Beep-A-Geek, Business Flooring Specialists, Computer Connection, Corpus, DFW Minority Business Development Center, Electricalwise, MacFadyen Financial Services, Performisys, Pre-Paid Legal, ProMiles Canada, Sanijet, Sante Rehab Group, the University of Dallas, Whitby Chamber of Commerce, and Y2Marketing.

In the summer of 2004, the company began to refine its philosophy and approach. After brainstorming for solutions to failed CRM implementations, the leadership of IDB Group developed its unique, patent-pending STEP™ methodology. This methodology was based on the philosophy of partnering with clients as CRM experts to guarantee success in each client’s CRM implementation. This also marked the birth of CRMG as a company underneath the IDB Group umbrella.

Since the company was no longer simply “selling” the product, but joining in a partnership for success with each client, the decision was made to switch from a purchase model to a subscription model. The resulting changes in the revenue structure brought about an extremely difficult financial period for the young company, but the implementation success ratings soared to virtually 100% of all new clients. Additionally, the ratio of new clients by referral far surpassed traditional selling and prospecting.

In 2004-2005, CRMG experienced tremendous growth in the verticals of Marketing Fulfillment, Financial Advising, and Mortgage. By late 2006, the latest version of CMPro, CMPro Plus™ 6.0, was released. It was received with much enthusiasm by nearly all clients and prospects. In 2006, the company name, CRMGuaranteed, was officially simplified to CRMG.

2008 will be a year of rapid growth and geographical expansion for CRMG. It has been marked by more innovative solutions to common CRM challenges, such as the upcoming release of the Call-Talk service.