David Schwen
Sure, you want the tech world to create apps that let you find nearby singles and send them disappearing emoji, but what makes any of that work is the back office. Tech giants would be lost without the companies that wring higher efficiency out of communications, human resources, and data analysis. The proof is in the numbers: Analysts project the enterprise software market will be worth $67 billion by 2016. Forget creaky old Oracle and Microsoft—our favorite sites and apps are powered by this new wave of enterprise upstarts.
ASANA
What it does: Smooths collaboration by providing coworkers with a constantly updated overview of a project. Who depends on it: Pinterest. The image collection site uses Asana to manage everything from bug fixes to marketing.
GOODDATA
What it does: Brings real-time data—sales tallies, website activity, social media comments—together onto one dashboard. Who depends on it: Redfin. The networked real estate brokerage uses Good Data to track interactions between agents and customers.
LEVER
What it does: Tracks job applicant data in one place, so recruiters can drill down on front-runners. Who depends on it: Quora. The online question-and- answer site uses Lever to winnow the deluge of applications it receives each month.
MIXPANEL
What it does: Surveils customer product interactions. Who depends on it: Kickstarter. Mixpanel told engineers they might have a bug when hundreds of pledges started arriving each minute. (It was a reaction to the Pebble page.)
