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Originally Posted by Indizine
Can anyone recommend a good hosted CRM? It's for a client of mine who is considering switching from his current provider. Thanks
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Hi Sandra
(Sorry I have been away so long).
This is a question I would also be interested to hear some feedback on, but I can also share some research I have made.
From the research I have done, I think a key thing in choosing an hosted CRM is that different solutions suit different sizes of business. Also, different solutions provide a widely varying amount of features and generally the more features they provide the more data entry and management of the solution a business is going to need to do.
From my research I think that Salesforce seems to be one of the biggest players in the online CRM world, but I think their solution is probably better suited to larger businesses. Whilst they do provide a "Contact Manager" solution for just £3 per user per month, it seems that it falls short of other solutions that will cost you a little more. Salesforce's aim with this low cost of entry is to push you to migrate to their more costly "bells and whistles" versions. It may be that they are features you will want and will use, but I think for many smaller businesses they are probably not needed.
I have looked at a few solutions for smaller businesses and I think it is difficult to call a preference between them. Here's the list of solutions I have looked at:
- JavelinCRM
- TactileCRM
- ZohoCRM
- Highrise
- HEAP
- Batchbook
Most of them offer a free solution with limited capability that you could use for free ongoing, but unless you are a very small business you will soon need to upgrade to a paid-for version so it is important to find one that will work for you beyond the free.
I have "test-driven" all but Highrise. Of them all, I think Batchbook just edges it, but there is not much between them.
The big issue I think for any CRM, online or not, is the way email communication can be integrated into the system. None of them have built-in email - although Zoho do provide an add-on. Most people have their preferred email solution anyway, so would not be willing to migrate.
The problem with email communication is making sure the CRM gets a copy of your outgoing and incoming emails, otherwise your ability to manage your customer relationships is weakened. To do this, they all use a 'dropbox' type facility with which a copy of the email is forwarded to an email address linked to your CRM account. This works OK, but remembering to forward a copy of incoming emails and remembering to BCC outgoing emails is a problem. If you don't do it then important pieces of information will be missing from your CRM.
I think that any CRM that could provide a better, more automated/seamless way of capturing email communication would do very well. Maybe there is one that will do this, but I haven't seen one, so any feedback on that would be appreciated.
I have rambled on quite a bit, but I hope will be helpful. I don't think I have a straight answer to your original question, but if pushed I would recommend Batchbook.
Peter
Hosted CRM
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