Small Business CRM: How ZOHO can Reduce IT Stress & Overhead

Reducing IT Stress & Overhead with ZOHO

zohoIntegrating an effective system for Customer Relationship Management in a start-up or small business may seem like an impossible task. A veritable minefield of possibilities exist, and finding the right one is essential. For small businesses and start-ups seeking to implement the right CRM system, ZOHO offers the most cost-effective small business CRM software solution available. It provides a task management package that any business can use to increase productivity, while reducing overhead and IT stress.

ZOHO is a better choice than other CRM options because it features a complete application suite that covers sales information, customer data, and invoicing. It combines the functions of a calendar, a document manager, a bookkeeping program, an inventory management system, a “wiki”, and an email application. ZOHO’s functionality, combined with its outstanding array of features, means fewer hassles and considerable time savings.

Zoho is a fully web-based application suite that can be accessed from anywhere; at home, on the road, or on vacation. Business owners and their employees love the time-saving accessibility. Increased productivity and reduction in downtime translates to reduced business overhead, and increased net revenue.

Without the need of a brick and mortar location, small businesses become true telecommuting operations. Staff can complete their assignments online from the comfort of their own homes. They can work directly with clients through any form of high-speed internet connection, while maintaining a professional image.

The functionality and ease of use that Zoho provides allows any start-up or small business to have valuable CRM task and time management tools right at their fingertips, whenever and wherever they are needed. Some of the key features and benefits of the ZOHO CRM suite of applications include:

Sales and Marketing: ZOHO’s CRM sales and marketing integration lets small businesses and start-ups function as though they have an entire department dedicated to the tasks. Zoho’s sophisticated sales tools allow for easy tracking of the entire customer life cycle, from lead generation through to retention and loyalty. Businesses using Zoho’s Sales Force Automation software will discover unrealized sales opportunities, and see more sales through to completion.

Microsoft Outlook and Office Plug In: Integrating Microsoft Office through the ZOHO plug-in allows for increased productivity with easily created mail merge documents. Templates can be created in MS Word and imported to ZOHO. Current customer information is readily available for bulk mail merge document creation. The ZOHO Microsoft Outlook plug-in synchronizes all customer contacts, emails, calendars and related tasks, effectively empowering a business’s email application.

CRM with Email: ZOHO’s mail add-on lets a business track every customer email through one central application. It facilitates correlating each email with customer CRM data, and sharing emails with other relevant account users. All email activity can take place within ZOHO, with a thread view of each conversation. Emails from any POP supported service are easily integrated with ZOHO, so that all business correspondence takes place within the CRM.

CRM API for Third-party Integration: With Zoho CRM’s Application Programming Interface, CRM modules are easily interfaced with any chosen third-party applications including e-Commerce, accounting, self-service portals, ERP, and more. The API allows for data extraction for integration with various business applications, or new application development in any programming language.

Role-based Security: ZOHO CRM lets the person in charge decide what data is accessible to each employee. The Enterprise-grade Role-based security uses profiles to create fine tunable access rights to CRM modules and their individual fields, CRM records, and data administration tools.

Inventory Management: ZOHO CRM takes sales and marketing to its logical conclusion with its integrated inventory management feature. Businesses can seamlessly combine pre and post sale activities using ZOHO’s inventory management software; correlating inventory management data with matching sales modules is easily achieved in this one application.

Extensive Product Customization: ZOHO CRM lets a business customize the software in numerous ways to fit their individual needs. Easy to use, drag-and-drop UI tools customize Zoho so that the resulting CRM system matches the specifics of a company. ZOHO has the necessary capacity for flexibility and customization that enables users to build a CRM that will impact their business in the most effective manner possible.

Reports & Dashboards: With ZOHO’s fully customizable reports from each module, the relevant data a business needs to make informed decisions is readily accessible. The flexibility of ZOHO CRM allows for easy analysis of sales and marketing data through its customized options, or the 25 standard reports already built-in. The key metrics accessible through the CRM dashboard let a business view past and future trends and patterns in sales, marketing, support and inventory.

Implementing an effective CRM solution is not impossible. ZOHO CRM lets a small business or start-up take this important step without any associated IT headaches. The online usability lets a business reduce overhead and increase productivity. Availability of data at the press of a button gives a business control over the various aspects of their daily activities. Choosing the right CRM system lets a small business or start-up compete with larger companies, while saving both time and money. ZOHO CRM’s suite of applications offers the best in flexibility and features for any business looking for an effective CRM solution.

Author Comment:

I am very excited to be offering this series to all of you! This is the first part of an multi-part series on Zoho and the features under their CRM solution for small business. This will be in addition to the regular weekly posts!

The next installment: “Small Business CRM: Zoho’s Sales Force Automation”

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