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Martha Dorris
Founder at Dorris Consulting International
Professional Background
Martha Dorris is a prominent figure in the landscape of American government services, recognized for her unwavering commitment to transforming government through innovation and collaboration. As the founder of Dorris Consulting International (DCI), she plays a pivotal role in enhancing the lives of Americans by facilitating the interface between government officials and industry partners. Her work focuses on improving the customer and citizen experience, vital elements in the modernization of government services.
Dorris's career has been substantially devoted to the field of IT within federal and international organizations. She has served in numerous influential roles, including Director and Deputy Associate Administrator at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Through her efforts there, she spearheaded the agency's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, where she introduced one of the first customer experience programs in the federal government. Her innovative strategies have led to significant advancements in service delivery and intergovernmental cooperation—a reflection of her dedicated vision for a digital government.
Education and Achievements
Martha Dorris is an alumna of American University, where she earned her Bachelor of General Studies. Her studies focused on Management Information Systems and Business Management, providing her with a robust foundation for her career in government services and technology.
In her quest for excellence in public service, Dorris has launched several initiatives aimed at recognizing and empowering government and industry professionals dedicated to improvement. Among her notable contributions is the establishment of the Service to the Citizen Awards Program in 2018, which has celebrated over 700 champions of change across federal and industry landscapes over five years. These awards honor those committed to enhancing government services, evidencing Dorris's passion for fostering progress and recognizing excellence.
Moreover, she actively disseminates knowledge and insights through her monthly Citizen Services Newsletter, which compiles extensive information on customer experience and citizen services from various government levels—federal, state, local, and international. Her dedication to public engagement continues as she hosts the CX Tipping Point Podcast, where successes and best practices are highlighted, creating a platform for dialogue and sharing among government and industry leaders.
Key Initiatives and Contributions
Dorris's career is marked by numerous key initiatives that significantly impacted the federal government's approach to customer service. She has diligently supported the GSA Contact Center Center of Excellence by working on modernization, consolidation, and optimization projects across significant federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). These initiatives embody her goal of fostering a digital government that prioritizes responsive and effective citizen service.
In addition to the comprehensive improvements in customer service initiatives, Dorris has played an instrumental role in building intergovernmental networks that enhance collaboration and communication across agencies. This work has been institutionalized over the past decade, ensuring a lasting impact on the way government entities engage with each other and the citizens they serve. Her hands-on approach to fostering relationships within government illustrates her belief in the power of teamwork and shared responsibility.
Dorris has also taken on significant leadership roles within professional organizations dedicated to technology in government administration. She served as the President of the American Council for Technology (ACT), advocating for better government services through technology and collaborative enterprise. Her involvement with ACT and the International Council for IT in Government Administration (ICA) underscores her commitment to forging pathways for innovation in public service.
Conclusion
Martha Dorris stands out as a leader in the transformation of government services. Her extensive background in IT, commitment to citizen services, and passion for enhancing government-citizen interactions reflect her dedication to positive change within the federal landscape. Through her initiatives, such as the Service to the Citizen Awards Program and the CX Tipping Point Podcast, Dorris continues to inspire leaders in government and industry to prioritize the citizen experience. Her efforts are both commendable and crucial as we advance toward a more digital and responsive government system. Martha Dorris exemplifies what it means to be a true champion of innovation, collaboration, and excellence in public service.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.