And you thought Content Management Systems were the height of excitement

I sometimes get tool suggestions from readers, and if they’re more familiar with the tool than I am, I’m going to start asking them to write a guest post for us. Our inaugural guest post comes from Lukas Udstuen, a freelance reporter based in Minneapolis.

For years, reporters have housed their contact lists in weathered leather contact books – or, as of late, sleek digital contact lists. But robust databases called Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can replace those.

A variety of free ones exist out there, but in here, we’ll focus on Insightly. Technically, a CRM is designed for businesses to keep track of their customers. While a lot of these features are overkill for journalists, at its core, a CRM manages connections between people, tracking things like emails and phone calls.

CRMs usually feature intense search features, file storage, email templates, mobile versions, and group accounts. These systems aren’t always free, and cost more for bigger contact lists, and more users per CRM system. Still, they’re a powerful way for journalists to manage their contacts in a way not often done before.

Lukas Udstuen is a freelance reporter based in Minneapolis. He loves languages, ranging from Spanish to JavaScript, and looks for new ways to bring them together.