An Overview of Uses, Products, and Comparison Criteria
Prepared by
Austin Communications Consulting
One ACC Center, Ste. 100
Austin, TX 78754
512-454-1000
• Description of CRM
• How Cultural Embrace uses CRM
– Past and current use
– Changes in how CRM are used
Outline Continued
• Products reviewed
– Sage ACT! 2011
– Intuit QuickBase
– Salesforce Professional Edition
– Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition
Outline Continued
• Comparison Criteria by Product
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Price
System requirements
Number of users
Number of customers
Ability to group customers
Ability to manage email
Ability to track information from website forms
Ability to track Google Adwords
Ability to import or use files from existing system
Independent Reviews
Outline Continued
• Conclusions by comparison criteria
• Recommendations
Description of CRM
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Centralized record
All data sources
Organize
Automate
Synchronize
How Cultural Embrace Uses CRM
Past and current use
• Store all customer contact information
• Notes on communications with customers
• Progress notes for development of each
customer’s travel program
• Create and send weekly email newsletter
Changes in How Cultural Embrace Uses
CRM
• Tracking leads generated on social media such
as Facebook and Twitter
• Tracking the effectiveness of Google Adwords
• Collecting data customers enter on the
Cultural Embrace website
• Need for mobile access
Products Reviewed
• Sage ACT! 2011
– Current system
– DVD or download, installed on office server
• Intuit QuickBase
– Integration with QuickBooks
– Software as a Service (SaaS) model, hosted on
remote servers
Products Reviewed Continued
• Salesforce Professional Edition
– Replacement product
– Software as a Service (SaaS) model, hosted on
remote servers
• Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition
– Replacement product
– Software as a Service (SaaS) model, hosted on
remote servers
Product Specifications
Product
Price
System
Requirements
Number of
Users
Number of
Customers
Sage ACT! 2011
$299.95/user
upgrade cost
($1199.80)
- 2 GB available
HD space (4 GB
if downloaded)
- 1.0 GHz
Pentium® IV
processor
1 GB system
memory
Up to 10
Unlimited
Intuit QuickBase
$299/month per
user
($1794/mo.)
N/A, SaaS model
Up to 100
25,000 records
Salesforce
Professional
Edition
$65/month per
user ($260/mo.)
N/A, SaaS model
Unlimited
Unlimited
Zoho CRM
Enterprise
Edition
$25/month per
user
($100/mo.)
N/A, SaaS model
Unlimited
Unlimited
Product Features
Product
Ability to Link or
Group Clients
Specific groups
feature included
Ability to
Manage Email
Schedule & send,
tracking
$59.99/month for
2 users,
$5.99/month
each additional
user ($71.97)
Intuit QuickBase
possible
Schedule & send, no
tracking
$28/month
no
Salesforce
Professional
Edition
possible
yes
Zoho CRM
Enterprise
Edition
possible
Schedule & send, yes
tracking
Included
Schedule & send, yes
tracking
$3/user/month
($12)
Sage ACT! 2011I
Ability to Track
Website Forms
Yes, only
included with
email service
Ability to track
Google AdWords
no
planned
Ability to use or import existing CRM
files
• Sage ACT! 2011
– Use existing files
• Intuit QuickBase
– Import existing files
• Salesforce Professional Edition
– Import existing files
• Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition
– Import existing files
Independent Reviews
Reviews for Sage ACT! 2011
• PC Magazine
– Tons of help within in the interface
– Handy Sage Business Info Service
– Slow performance when switching between tasks
– Puzzling placement of some Menu commands
• Salesmark.com
– Good product, great features
– Pricing and delivery model miss the mark
– 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviews for Sage ACT! 2011 Continued
• Zdnet.com
– Good Outlook integration
– Social media integration not as complete as other
services
– Company responds well to user suggestions
• Adavidcreation.com
– Highly customizable and full-featured
– Expensive upfront
– No remote access
Reviews for Intuit QuickBase
• PC Magazine
– Powerful, fast, reliable online database
– Easy to use
– Document files can only be exported one by one
• Brighthub.com
– Highly customizable and full-featured
– Pricing puts it out of reach of small businesses
Reviews for Intuit QuickBase
Continued
• Onlinedatabasefiles.com
– Difficulty importing files
– Errors when importing data from ACT!
– User interface complicated and non-standard
– Very difficult to learn
• Techrepublic.com
– Geared toward medium to large business
– Large application that can be intimidating to get
started with
Reviews for Salesforce Professional
Edition
• PC magazine
– Streamlined interface with incredibly informative
Dashboard views
– Smooth workflow process
– Pricing gets expensive
– Lower-cost packages lack basic functions other
CRM include for free
• Customers.com
– Good analytical capability for companies with lots
of personal contact with customers
Reviews for Salesforce Professional
Edition Continued
• Eweek.com
– Easy to navigate
– Ample tabs and menu items, very complete
– Integration with other applications could be
improved
– Overall 5-star rating
• Techrepublic.com
– Some remote access, but incomplete
– One year of Salesforce costs as much as one-time
cost of ACT!
Reviews for Zoho CRM Enterprise
Edition
• PC Magazine
– Good email and Web integration
– Inexpensive
– Requires customization at outset
– Lacks scalability
• Customers.com
– Available integration with QuickBooks and Gmail
works well
– Lacks the email marketing functionality of other
products
Reviews for Zoho CRM Enterprise
Edition Continued
• Netprofitmarketing.com
– Intuitive, easy-to-use interface
– No features that a small business doesn’t need
– Automation makes it easy to track leads and
create tasks
• Techrepublic.com
– Many of the same features as Salesforce, for much
less
– Good mobile access
Conclusions
Conclusions
• Price (including monthly email service fees)
Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition $112/month
• System requirements
No product has advantage
• Number of users
No product has advantage
• Number of customers
QuickBase is only product with limit (25,000)
Conclusions Continued
• Ability to group clients
Only ACT! has built in
• Ability to manage email
Part of basic service with Salesforce
• Ability to track website leads
Included with Salesforce and Zoho
• Ability to track Google Adwords
Only offered with Salesforce
• Ability to use or import files from existing
system
No issue with ACT!
Conclusion from Reviews
Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition
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Good email and web integration
Inexpensive
Automation to track leads and create tasks
Good mobile access
Recommendation
Zoho CRM Enterprise Edition
• Low cost
• Email and web integration
• Mobile access
• Accommodate company growth