SugarCRM announced their acquisition of Contastic last week. Contastic developed a platform for predictive analytics specific to sales relationships. By analyzing communications between sales and a contact, Contastic can recommend conversation starters and remind you when it’s time to reach out.

SugarCRM has previously discussed high level plans to include predictive sales analytics in coming releases. The acquisition of Contastic looks like a concrete step in that direction. Plus, Cy Khormaee, the founder of Contastic will join SugarCRM as Director of Product Management for Predictive Analytics. Creation of this new position indicates a commitment from SugarCRM to focus over the long term on adding and enhancing predictive analytics functionality to Sugar. I can’t wait to see how they start!