CRM Reviews

Zoho CRM is a relative newcomer in the web based CRM market. The company started in 1996 and during the years specialized in the creation of internet applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, document management etc.

What’s rather impressive is that they offer all there basic software free of charge and their business applications are extremely affordable (Zoho CRM is even free up to 3 users). Zoho provides the following business applications: Zoho Projects, Zoho CRM, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Meeting, Zoho Creator, Zoho DB & Reports, Zoho People and Zoho Business.

So, pricing for the ondemand CRM solution is as said before free up to 3 users. From the 4th user onwards, the license fee is $12 per month. There is also an Enterprise edition which costs $25/month. The main difference is the security model which is much more advanced in the Enterprise Edition. There is also more storage available.

Main capabilities which are supported are Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, Customer Support & Service, Inventory Management, Reports & Dashboard, Workflow Management, Role Based Security. There is also an outlook plugin available (remember there is an additional cost of $3 per month per user to use it).

I tried the online demo which is directly available from their website. There are seperate demo’s available depending on the role: Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Support manager, Inventory manager and CRM administrator.

The web CRM software is really snappy and easy-to-use. The looks are not that great, but I guess it is a matter of taste. The homepage features a task list and provides quick access to some core functionalities (such as the creation of leads, accounts, contacts, prospects, products, price books, tasks and events). There also some dashboards which can be changed according to personal preferences.

The ondemand CRM solution according to the review, follows a rather standard layout with the main functionalities on the top navigation bar and the detailed functionalities on the left navigation bar. I found the recent items widget quite handy as well as the quick create widget.

So, this was already a first Zoho CRM Review. A more in-depth review will follow.

Small businesses have specific requirements regarding business applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management. As a result, the solutions that are most fit to satisfy these needs are web based business solutions. The reason why for example web CRM software has such an important attraction to small and medium business owners is the speed of implementation, the easy maintenance solution and finally the cost aspect.

If we, after careful CRM reviews, look at the advantages of CRM software for small business which is internet based, then the three aforementioned benefits are really important. Small businesses do not have dedicated personel and IT staff to manage their IT environment. They need a solution which takes care of that for them so that they can focus on their core business. Therefore, on-premise solutions are a no go for those companies.

Even hosted solutions at a local IT service provider with IT consultant might be too much of a hassle. That is why customer relationship software on the internet, directly provided by large software players is the best solution. Those companies such as SalesForce’s web based salesforce automation and NetSuite ERP have best of breed internet based solutions and are typically backed by a lot of capital investments.

Microsoft small business CRM is also a product which is popular for SMB’s. Microsoft is very aggressive with the pricing of its business software in order to gain market share (it know there is a lot of market potential). Microsoft also offers a hosted version of its Dynamics solution. This service is hosted by Microsoft and you can subscribe to a free trial for thirty days. The cost of the application is a bit of a secret. The company does not publicly disclose the subscription price. The price of business applications is always a well guarded secret with the large vendors because they like to have a lot of flexibility in the sales process.

Small Business CRM Solutions

To conclude, web based crm software for small business (as well as web based ERP software) must adhere to specific requirements. It must be easy-to-use, inexpensive and low maintenance. Therefore I advise to look at online customer relationship management solutions and definitely compare the software before you buy.