Zoho’s flagship app is Zoho CRM, a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) system that aids in capturing leads, nurturing them through the sales funnel, and analyzing data to improve customer relations and boost revenue.
As Zoho certified consultants doing CRM implementations, sometimes it’s a customer’s first time using a proper CRM system. Many other times, they are moving from other systems and are looking for a better solution that meets their specific needs and alleviates challenges they are facing with their current system.
Zoho CRM has a lot to offer, and here are a few top reasons why someone might make the switch:
1. Comprehensive Features – Zoho CRM is comparable or better than many other well known competitors in the space, being a mature system with many enterprise grade features that offers the ability to start simple and grow into it.
2. User Friendly Interface – Zoho is easy to use, can be highly customized, and navigating and making use of dashboards is a breeze.
3. Customization – Zoho is insanely customizable – from the ability to customize modules to creating entirely custom user interfaces with the Canvas builder to embedding web development through the use of widgets.
4. Affordability – Zoho is really reasonably priced. One of the key reasons we’re all in is that it offers a system that has the capabilities we need as a professional services team to be able to build out solutions that meet just about any requirements we’re up against at an amazing price .
5. Platform – with Zoho’s growing suite of apps (the Zoho One bundle is now up to 55+ apps) there are offerings within the platform to do many of the functions a business needs and that means integration is either turnkey or a whole lot less work than trying to integrate different systems from different vendors. You can have your sales team use CRM, create an Estimate with Books, generate a contract for digital signature with Zoho Sign and store needed project files in Zoho WorkDrive.
Moving systems isn’t always easy though. Generally the team who is moving off of a system will range in enthusiasm from the champion who can’t wait to move over and ditch that system that is the bane of their existence to the employee who does their thing and is used to what they know and isn’t particularly interested in change.
Here are the things to keep in mind when migrating from another system to Zoho CRM:
1. Migration Challenges – Moving data over can be daunting. It’s something that requires planning, a test run, and patience. With Zoho CRM’s migration tool this becomes easier and is something that you may want to enlist some help with from a Zoho partner.
2. Training and Adaptation – You’ll want to be familiar with the core operations of the system and specifically those things that you need in order to carry out business as usual. There will be a lot of time to learn other capabilities and grow, but to hit the ground running you’ll need to learn the basics, cover training with your team, and make sure that you have the necessary resources in place to get support as you get started.
3. Downtime – Inevitably, the migration is going to take some time. If you’re simply moving a list of Accounts and Contacts, this might be relatively short, whereas some migrations might require a day or two of downtime. Plan on how your team will access and update information during this period. Often we can have customers reference their old system and then find a way to record things to update as soon as we’re live. This can also provide a great way to reinforce training right away, having users enter their information that they’ve recorded elsewhere (sometimes on paper, other times digitally) once training is done.
At the end of the day, there’s a lot to be gained from moving to a system based on Zoho CRM. With consideration, planning, and possibly involving the professional services of a Zoho partner, disruptions can be minimized, ensuring a smooth and speedy transition. We at Hero Technical Solutions can be the trusted partners you need to make the move.
Len Kamerman
CEO