Mind Your Business On a Mac: CRM Continued

Welcome back to MYBOAM, where I cover business on a Mac. We're going to continue outlining some CRM options for your business on a Mac. If you missed the first post, check it out, but be sure to stop back to get the continuation.

Zoho CRM

What I like: For companies of 3 users or less this solution is complete FREE. That’s right kids, Zoho CRM is completely free for up to 3 users. This solution is also web based so you can access your Zoho CRM from any computer connected to the web. Zoho is fully featured from contact and lead management to email marketing campaigns, you can do it all with Zoho CRM. Zoho also provides reporting to help you gauge how your business is performing.

What could be better: Free doesn’t mean unlimited. Zoho caps your free usage at 100MB of data. I’m unsure how far 100MB of database get you, but should you need more Zoho is happy to oblige for a $5/month fee. Internet dependancy makes getting to your database difficult if your internet goes down.

Price: FREE for up to 3 users, $12/month for unlimited users.

Salesforce.com

What I like: Another web based solution only requiring an internet connection. What’s even better is that Salesforce.com offers a offline version of your database should your internet connection go down. Salesforce.com also offers a 30 day free trial to see what you’re getting. Salesforce.com fully integrates with Google Apps to power your email and collaborate on documents and is fully customizable for your business. I also like the built in analytics to gauge how you’re doing. Reporting is also fully customizable.

What could be better: Pricing. The smallest package is for 5 users and is fairly costly (See below).

Price: Group edition $1200/yr for 5 users.

The bottom line on CRM: There are many different options with varying integration with your current apps and your current budget. You should think about scalability when selecting your CRM software so think about where you'll be in 5 years as the cost of switching might be steep. I like Zoho for it's robustness and pricing.