Contact relationship management (CRM) is a very important part of any business. Google does offer it’s own Contact interface for Gmail, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

However, a browser add-on called Rapportive is set to fill in that void of having a full-fledged CRM for Gmail users. Rapportive is somewhat similar to Xobni for Outlook, or you could also say the Social features built into Office 2010.

Once you install the Rapportive extension, it will gel into the Gmail interface and display extensive information about a contact based on their email address and social networking profile.

Rapportive will will look up the sender’s email address and display information about them in the sidebar, including their image, profile and social networking stream. Users will have to provide access to Rapportive through the Google Data API, before they can begin seeing data.

Overall this looks like a pretty decent tool and will definitely add more value to Gmail. Also considering that Google is on a acquisition drive, Rapportive would definitely be a good choice to buy out, as it could give both Gmail and Google Apps a definitive edge over other webmail providers.

Rapportive is currently available for download as a Google Chrome Extension and as a Firefox add-on.

Download Rapportive [via The Next Web]