New CRM Needed - Suggestions, Recommendations etc.

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eftpos

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#208952 6-Mar-2017 16:01

Hi all,

So after several years with the existing CRM (ACT) that "came with the business" when I took over I have decided it is now time to replace it. In saying that there seems to be A LOT out there nowadays and as a move like this involves the foundation of the business from one platform to another I really don't want to do it again.

At the moment I have fallen back to a number of shared spreadsheets, Xero and ACT to try and capture information that cant be captured in a single application (or too difficult to do in a small team)

So we are completely Xero based for Accounting, Invoicing etc. so integration or linking with Xero would be a nice to have but far from a requirement.

If I was to come up with a list I guess we would need:

*****************************************

Preferably a SaaS based CRM

Ability to have a "service" module addon (for Techs)

Integration to Xero would be nice but not a requirement

Highly customisable but not so much that it requires 3rd party to constantly update and maintain

Easy to setup and import existing data (still to be cleaned)

Local and homegrown; however if international then something that has local guru's who can be called on for support services etc

******************************************

Has anyone perhaps recently done, consulted or even "sold" a CRM solution that may be able to point me in the right direction?

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#1731076 6-Mar-2017 16:14

I was going to suggest having a look at the couple of top-rated ones here https://www.xero.com/nz/marketplace/app-function/s/crm/ but I see there are a few that rate well!

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eftpos

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#1731085 6-Mar-2017 16:21

Dynamic:

I was going to suggest having a look at the couple of top-rated ones here https://www.xero.com/nz/marketplace/app-function/s/crm/ but I see there are a few that rate well!

The one that grabbed me from the Xero list was Insightly and I've been playing around with the Trial version.

Didnt want to limit myself too much to the "Xero" integration.

freitasm

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#1731140 6-Mar-2017 19:10

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will have this (except the "homegrown") but including options for techies (Field Service module)

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backwards

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#1731143 6-Mar-2017 19:17

We've used Microsoft Office Dynamics but moved away last year. We've been using Accelo with great success (https://www.accelo.com/) for around a year now.

This integrates with our Office 365 email to track only those configured as clients, Xero for our invoicing, support for projects and ticketing but the best thing we loved as the service contracts. Works a charm for keeping a track of term payments with our clients paying for a managed service or telecommunications.

freitasm

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#1731148 6-Mar-2017 19:34

Microsoft Dynamics 365 was launched late last year and subscriptions are paid by seat and modules can be added per seat as well.

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#1732171 6-Mar-2017 22:15

It would probably be a bit underpowered for the OP, but I really like the look of Outlook Customer Manager as part of the Office 365 small business package. Looks like a really solid basic system that is yet another string to O365's bow.

@freitasm - Mauricio, any idea when it might launch in NZ?

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#1732175 6-Mar-2017 22:22

No but @regs probably does...

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jnimmo

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#1732235 7-Mar-2017 08:36

Dynamics is excellent, but then I haven't used many others (since ACT!)

eftpos

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#1732257 7-Mar-2017 09:10

Will take a look at some of those options.

I guess the biggest thing is finding a solution that's easy to configure and setup. For us its less about the "sales" aspect of a CRM but more of linking companies and people to hardware deployed in the field, the associated contract and then using it to report on compliance requirements. We completed the latest Paymark upgrade late last year but it took a lot longer to correlate information across multiple sources (which didn't always match) to get it done ahead of anyone else and well in advance of the sunset date.

Ive spoken with a few people where we've broken it down to a mixture of a Sales, Service Tech, Financial and Customer Services and I'm not sure if I have found something that takes care of all of that in a single solution. If I broke them down to their single requirements there's perfect software for each, but I want to be able to merge as much into one solution as possible.

I'm keen to do as much of the "build" on my own and then enlist a professional to come through; check it, clean it, optimise it and add anything I wasn't able to do on my own. So my homegrown perspective is really about having a company or consultant in NZ that I can engage with as it comes together.

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#1732264 7-Mar-2017 09:25

Would you be better to look at a workflow solution like WorkFlowMax?

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chevrolux

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#1732266 7-Mar-2017 09:27

I'm probably not going to be very helpful but will just share what we did...

So pretty much exact same requirements as you, we do phone system leases, broadband and SIP trunking. So we need to allocate equipment to customers, manage service jobs and manage the broadband/SIP provisioning.

After looking around for ages we found it was either DIY or just spend a butt load on a super flash system. We ended up going with vTiger running on our own server. Out of the box it did all the equipment allocation, quotes, sales/purchase orders. Then to add to that there is a service contracts module too so you can allocate how much time a client gets for support. That then links directly with the ticketing system which we have modified to make a sort of service/support module so we book service jobs using a ticket, that gets assigned to a tech, tech signs off and inputs hours. Then the the service contract module updates.

The thing I liked best about vTiger is their workflows module. Takes care of a hell of alot of the automation that would normally have to be coded i the backend.

They do have a hosted version available. Honestly though we don't really have an issue running it internally (or at least on AWS). Just runs on a Debian 8 server, I do updates and things on it and it rsyncs important files back to a physical server in our office.

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#1732292 7-Mar-2017 09:43

eftpos:

*****************************************

Preferably a SaaS based CRM - Yes

Ability to have a "service" module addon (for Techs) - Yes

Integration to Xero would be nice but not a requirement - Yes

Highly customisable but not so much that it requires 3rd party to constantly update and maintain - Unknown

Easy to setup and import existing data (still to be cleaned) - Unknown

Local and homegrown; however if international then something that has local guru's who can be called on for support services etc - Not homegrown

******************************************

With 3 out of 6 requirements met, you might want to look at https://www.accelo.com/

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eftpos

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#1732355 7-Mar-2017 10:37

freitasm:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will have this (except the "homegrown") but including options for techies (Field Service module)

Would you be able to recommend any "Partner" who could assist in setup etc.?

eftpos

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#1732356 7-Mar-2017 10:39

IcI:

eftpos:

*****************************************

Preferably a SaaS based CRM - Yes

Ability to have a "service" module addon (for Techs) - Yes

Integration to Xero would be nice but not a requirement - Yes

Highly customisable but not so much that it requires 3rd party to constantly update and maintain - Unknown

Easy to setup and import existing data (still to be cleaned) - Unknown

Local and homegrown; however if international then something that has local guru's who can be called on for support services etc - Not homegrown

******************************************

With 3 out of 6 requirements met, you might want to look at https://www.accelo.com/

Playing with the Accelo Demo at the moment. Do you know anyone locally who has experience in setting it up and customising it?

freitasm

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#1732366 7-Mar-2017 11:08

eftpos:

freitasm:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 will have this (except the "homegrown") but including options for techies (Field Service module)

Would you be able to recommend any "Partner" who could assist in setup etc.?

It depends on size - SMB and large could be service by Intergen.

Disclosure: I work for Intergen.

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