Zoho CRM Reviews

I am a consultant and Zoho CRM developer who implements Zoho CRM for clients. I have worked extensively on Zoho CRM where I set up modules and gather requirements from clients. I customize fields and modules as needed, and I create workflows, validation rules, client scripts, and perform many other tasks on Zoho CRM.

I have integrated Zoho CRM with Xero for a client who was using Xero for accounting and Zoho CRM for follow-ups and client relationship management. The client wanted Zoho CRM integrated with Xero so that after an invoice is created, it automatically goes to Xero where the client handles other financial activities.

I use Zoho One platform to demonstrate to clients what we will accomplish.

Zoho CRM fields provide us with validations. For example, if we use email fields, only email addresses can be entered. If I fill an email field with a demo email or something that is not an authentic email, it will give a small alert in the corner indicating that this email is not authenticated by Zoho. Zoho CRM provides approximately 75 fields that I can remember, and in each module, we can add fields according to our requirements. The layout can be customized using the Zoho Wizard and also by using a widget. We can also apply client scripts on the layout to perform many actions in real time.

The AI-powered assistant Zia in Zoho CRM provides very helpful assistance. By using Zia, we can directly get data without applying any extra effort, and it also helps us to get solutions. If I have to do some task and I am not sure how to do it, I can simply go to Zia and write our requirement or ask how to accomplish a specific task, and it will provide us with a solution.

We can automate tasks in Zoho CRM, including automating email and task creation as well as follow-ups. This gives the best impression to the business that a user is not directly performing the action. If we have to add a follow-up, we can set up a follow-up that can automatically go out. We can apply follow-up automations by using workflows and schedulers.

While applying some integrations or automations, if we need to take an action between two modules' fields, we have to write SOQL, and it can miss the data. I had a scenario where I had to use two fields from two different modules, and based on that condition, we had to send a follow-up to our team member to complete the task. We could not find any direct integration, direct SOQL query, or direct workflow that could do that work. However, I think the wizard is performing better now for such tasks.

I had a two-part scenario where I had to get data from two modules or two fields in Zoho CRM and send a follow-up to our team member based on that data. We were unable to find any direct integration for this. Another issue is that a Zoho CRM function can run for only three minutes. After three minutes, the function will fail, and we have to rerun the function.

I have faced a downsite of Zoho one or two times, but it was resolved within five minutes.

I have connected with the technical support of Zoho CRM many times. I can say that support provides a very good solution many times. However, sometimes support is unable to provide solutions, and for very basic things, they are initially unable to help. When I ask them to consult their seniors, they eventually provide the solution. They initially denied having a solution for certain tasks, but when I mentioned that we have accomplished this in other accounts, they provided the solution.

For the initial setup, I get the requirements and first set up modules including Lead, Contact, Account, and Deal. I apply workflows, follow-ups, and emails. I set up Zoho CRM in two stages. In the first stage, I set up Deal, Lead, Contact, and Account, along with follow-ups and workflows for these modules. In the second stage, I set up Account, Sales Order, Invoice, and other related modules.

Zoho CRM is a scalable product that provides data integration, data integrity, automations, and reliable working time. I have found it better than Zoho Books, with which I have also worked. With Zoho Books, an update or a workflow run with field updates after a workflow run takes up to two minutes, but in Zoho CRM it will update in a few seconds.

It is a very reliable and stable platform. I have worked with Zoho CRM for 1.5 years and have not found any issues regarding security or other concerns from any of my clients.

Zoho CRM is very affordable compared to other CRMs. While there may be one or two CRMs that are cheaper than Zoho CRM, they do not provide that level of facilities. I would rate this product a 7 out of 10.

I describe the usual use cases for Zoho CRM that I mostly work with as related to sales flow. Most of my clients are involved in that; the lead system allows leads to flow into our system, which are then converted to contacts, accounts, and have deals with organizations. There are tasks against them, which include different automations, calls, and meetings you have with them. Additionally, another flow involves running more campaigns to close more deals and bring in more leads using campaigns, forms, and different kinds of ads that you integrate with Zoho CRM.

One specific project of mine was related to a mortgage system that integrated with a third-party loan management system application. The data flowed in from their third party to our CRM, so the sales and accounting teams used Zoho. The contacts acted as different kinds of persons; I stored referrals, customers, and clients at organization levels in the contacts. That was an example of a lot of custom things I worked on.

The features or capabilities of Zoho CRM that I have found the most valuable and useful so far include its API documentation, which is really good, vast, and better than any other application. The widget API documentation is also really good, as well as the client script API documentation. Additionally, I would say blueprints in Zoho CRM are really good compared to other applications. These big functionalities give Zoho CRM an edge, and even basic functionalities that exist in other applications are a lot better in Zoho CRM.

I think Zoho CRM's automation capabilities are really good and better than almost any other application. These automation capabilities have been useful specifically within sales and marketing tasks because I do a lot of things such as sending emails using workflows and text messages using workflows. I can trigger campaigns, schedule calls, and tasks using workflows. I can create tasks against a user and schedule meetings, so most of the tasks happen using automations such as workflows.

I think areas of Zoho CRM that need to be improved or enhanced include the permission structure, which can be easy to set up custom permissions within Zoho Creator using different filters and running scripts at runtime, but those events and triggers are not available in Zoho CRM. As a result, applying custom permission structures for all modules such as leads, contacts, accounts, and deals can get quite difficult. Doing it in Zoho Creator is a lot easier compared to this.

I feel that Zoho CRM's AI-powered assistant, Zia, is not that good right now. If they provide an API documentation for it and allow me to give custom prompts within the API to get responses back, it will be really good. However, currently, Zia can mainly be used as a knowledge base, but it doesn't perform well in that capacity and lags in many areas.

I have been working with Zoho CRM for approximately four years.

I would rate the stability and reliability of Zoho CRM as a nine out of ten.

The level of stability and reliability in Zoho CRM is crucial for me because sometimes bugs appear unexpectedly, disrupting the business flow. If everything is working perfectly and suddenly there are bugs for one or two hours, it can significantly impact working hours. I need to go back and check everything, but I'm glad there are logs and timelines for tracking and associating missed events.

I would rate the scalability level of Zoho CRM as a nine out of ten. There are not many improvements needed at the moment, but they are adding more features to it. The existing system is functioning correctly, so I would say there aren't significant improvements necessary.

I do not often communicate with the technical support of Zoho CRM.

Negative

I did not use a different solution for the same use cases before Zoho CRM; I started from Zoho CRM. When I began development, I transitioned from custom solutions to Zoho CRM.

My experience with the initial setup of Zoho CRM involves having all the data in place and all the modules already set up. I typically want to add extra fields and set up all the conversion systems while understanding the business flow of my client. If a custom module is needed, I create it and integrate it into the whole flow process. Most of the time, it involves just the four basic modules related to the sales flow, along with some blueprints, workflow automation, cadences, and widgets for better UI. This is easier than Zoho Creator, where I need to create everything from scratch, but I can still do a lot of customizations too.

Potential challenges other users might encounter with the initial setup and deployment of Zoho CRM include focusing on the permission structure. Users often want a single permission structure to reflect in every module, but they must set it up separately for each module. Custom criteria for restricting access can become complicated, requiring complex methods to apply what should be a simple permission structure.

I have seen a return on investment with Zoho CRM specifically from the sales flow. Using Zoho CRM, my clients close more leads and deals with the campaigns and user investments in leads, so I would say the sales flow is probably the most significant return my clients can get.

Regarding third-party integrations with Zoho CRM, most of the integrations require scripting in Deluge, which is pretty good and simple. I can use functions for that, and if that's not possible, I can always call the Catalyst function directly from Zoho CRM too. It's really good.

I assess the analytics and reporting features in Zoho CRM as pretty basic. For reporting, I always prefer using Zoho Analytics rather than the basic reporting capabilities in Zoho CRM. The analytics and reporting within Zoho CRM are enough for my needs.

I am aware of the pricing and licensing of Zoho CRM and remember that Zoho CRM is priced separately, but I recommend going with Zoho One. However, I think their maximum level subscription is around forty dollars, which is really high because I can get Zoho One for around forty dollars, and that includes most of Zoho's applications. It is more beneficial to buy a bundle rather than separate services.

I mainly focus only on Zoho products within my career, but when there are integrations or queries regarding something outside of Zoho, I can handle that as well. If asked for an integration that fits into Google or Microsoft, I can do that, but my primary focus remains on Zoho. Zoho products are deployed on the cloud in my organization.

At the moment, I stand more as an end user with Zoho CRM. In terms of partnership, we were trying to do a lot, but we didn't get the clients to move on. For now, it's just the end user.

The best features of Zoho CRM are what I appreciate about this solution, and it makes me choose it.

Zoho CRM's automation capabilities have helped to streamline my organization's sales and marketing tasks.

The benefit of Zoho CRM is reflected in terms of time saving, resource saving, and funds saving, as customer engagement is exceptional with the solution.

It has impacted my organization positively as multi-channel support in Zoho CRM is important for customer communication.

It does require some technical background before starting to do anything with Zoho CRM.

Integration with social media could be improved in Zoho CRM, as this is an important feature.

I have been using Zoho CRM in my organization for approximately two to three years, perhaps more.

Stability with Zoho CRM is good so far.

The scalability of Zoho CRM is fine, it allows expansion of the number of users, and it depends on the plan you're on. We were on the enterprise plan the last time they upgraded, and there's an ultimate plan now, but that's quite expensive as.

The support from Zoho CRM was excellent. While we were trying to customize most of our templates to our use, we got very good help from the support team and their response was very prompt.

I would rate the technical support of Zoho CRM as 8 out of 10.

Positive

We moved from using SharePoint, which had minimal costs since we already had the license. The time it took to get everything sorted and obtain good analytics was considerable. Once we switched to Zoho CRM, it significantly reduced the manual labor around getting daily reports and analysis comparisons. In terms of time, we achieved a 50-60% return on investment, which is excellent.

Our use case was simplified because we had many people who already used it. Affordability relates more to ease of use, so time isn't wasted trying to figure new things out. The training path is important because beyond the license cost, there's the cost of time to train people and quickly implement the solution. When considering all factors, it met our needs because we got it working within a week. Other solutions might have taken one to two months, plus a longer training path for people to learn usage. On that front, it was significantly affordable for us when considering all factors. However, the initial one-time pricing might not be considered affordable.

Significantly positive, which is why we continue using Zoho CRM.

In terms of my experience with the price and licensing cost, as with setup cost for Zoho CRM, it might not be quite affordable because there are cheaper solutions available. Clients want everything for free as much as possible. In terms of pricing, there are a few competitors that are less expensive.

I have integrated third-party applications with Zoho CRM, and it integrates with other tools.

I work with Zoho CRM's AI-powered assistant on an occasional basis.

Analytics and reporting features in Zoho CRM are crucial for understanding sales patterns and customer behavior.

The benefit of Zoho CRM is reflected in terms of time-saving, resource saving, and funds saving, as customer engagement is excellent.

I rate this solution 7 out of 10.

We are using Zoho CRM for boosting our business and creating a system flow. It is very useful using Zoho CRM, and I want to explain the pros and cons of Zoho CRM and its abilities.

Zoho Zia has helped our lead conversion process by serving as a private AI of Zoho CRM that assists in boosting lead conversation by analyzing customer data, predicting outcomes, and automating workflow follow-ups. Regarding how Zia helps with lead conversion, there's lead scoring and conversion predictions, sentiment analysis, and workflow suggestions. For lead scoring, Zia analyzes past lead conversation patterns and assigns scores to new leads, and high score leads get prioritized for faster follow-up.

In terms of conversation predictions, Zia predicts the probability of lead conversion based on demographics and engagements, helping the sales team focus on the most promising leads. Another point is sentiment analysis, where Zia scans customer emails, chats, and notes to detect tones such as positive, negative, or neutral, guiding us on how to approach the leads better. For workflow suggestions, it recommends automated workflows such as sending emails and assigning tasks to agents, improving our engagements. Additionally, the conversational AI feature through Zia chatbot can interact with leads via website chat or capture details and push them into Zoho CRM automatically.

The analytics and reporting features in Zoho CRM helped me understand sales patterns and customer behavior through standard reports that include pre-built reports for leads, deals, sales activities, and campaigns. We can customize reports as well, creating reports based on any module fields, and we can integrate with Zoho Analytics for direct capture of reports from our modules. We can merge leads reports to contact reports using SQL, allowing for effective sales funnel tracking to identify drop-offs and optimize conversation strategies. Auto-generated reports are also available for daily scheduling, ensuring that admin receives daily basis reports through automation. With advanced BI features such as drag-and-drop dashboards and predictive analysis using pivot tables, we can create insightful dashboards while pulling CRM and external data from sources such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads for unified analytics.

The automation capabilities in Zoho CRM have helped streamline our organization's sales and marketing tasks by handling repetitive tasks such as sending follow-up emails, assigning leads, and updating fields. For example, if a lead score is greater than 80, it automatically assigns that record to the senior sales representative. There are also blueprint options to define the step-by-step sales process, ensuring every sales representative follows the same process. Automation includes assignment rules, lead scoring, priority load options, sales signals, macros, and territory management, which automatically routes leads based on geography, revenue, and industries. Additionally, deal stage automations trigger actions when a deal moves stages, such as sending a contract when it moves to negotiation. For marketing, there are tools for email campaign automation, behavior-based triggers, campaign to lead sync, and social media automations.

The overall benefits I have seen from using Zoho CRM include centralized customer data, where all customer interactions are visible in one place, providing a 360-degree view. Improved lead conversations through AI-powered scoring and automation helps us focus on the right leads, with end-to-end sales automation managing tasks from lead capture to deal closure, thereby saving time on repetitive tasks. This leads to better marketing ROI, as we can track campaigns, ad spend, and lead sources, connecting marketing efforts to revenue. Enhanced collaboration through shared notes, tasks, and role-based access enables teamwork within our internal users and sales teams, contributing to customer satisfaction. Moreover, Zoho CRM is scalable and customizable, adapting to startups, SMBs, and enterprises with its flexible modules and fields. Lastly, it is cost-efficient compared to Salesforce and HubSpot while including a wide range of features.

Zoho CRM has been stable and reliable, having been in the market for 20 years and used by over 25,000 businesses worldwide. Zoho CRM guarantees 99% uptime, with downtime incidents being very rare.

The platform's global data centers across regions such as the US, EU, and India ensure data security and privacy through ISO certification and strong role-based security, which is essential for handling sensitive customer data. It is also GDPR compliant, and scalability supports small businesses to enterprises without major performance drops, which is confirmed by positive user trust from Gartner and G2 reports.

Before Zoho CRM, I did not use any other applications, but I became aware of applications such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshworks, and ZenDesk after using Zoho CRM.

I participated in the initial setup and deployment of Zoho CRM, building many applications from scratch.

Before choosing Zoho CRM in particular, I evaluated other options based on client requirements. If the client's requirements involve managing large datasets, I would go directly to Salesforce due to its capability to store and structure big data, but it tends to be more expensive. For large companies or government contracts, I suggest Salesforce, while for small to medium industries where cost is a significant factor, I recommend Zoho CRM for boosting sales and improving customer relationships.

My integration with third-party applications and Zoho CRM impacted our operational efficiency positively by using REST API for integrations that offer a unified custom view. The main impacts are in sales and marketing, enhancing faster lead capturing, smarter sales engagement, and telephony and WhatsApp integrations for calls. This saves sales representatives time in managing and tracking conversations and allows for personalized marketing, such as sending case studies automatically if a deal is in the proposal stage. This integration ensures data accuracy and provides better analytics and ROI tracking on personalized marketing. Additionally, it supports scalability for business growth, allowing CRM to adapt without breaking processes.

I would explain one of the projects based on a real estate business that wanted to engage with their customers and collaborate with us by choosing Zoho CRM. I suggested creating a workflow cycle for capturing leads and engaging with them, converting leads to contacts, and managing that correspondence, which includes capturing leads from various channels such as digital marketing and websites. I used lead scoring to prioritize leads, giving high-quality leads to the sales team for follow-up. These leads then get converted into contacts as they express interest in our real estate offerings, leading to deals managed through distinct stages, allowing us to effectively track revenue and KPI for internal engagement.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Zoho CRM a 7.

I have five plus years of experience with Zoho CRM solutions. I also have experience with HubSpot and GoHighLevel. There are more than 50 applications in the Zoho suite, and I have experience with each application. I have implemented two-way syncs, written custom scripts, and created automation flows for sales and business processes.

Additionally, I have experience integrating Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel with Zoho CRM, as banking apps, accounting apps, QuickBooks, Shopify, and WordPress.

The most valuable aspect of CRMs, including Zoho CRM, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics, is automation capabilities. Without requiring a large team or manual intervention, the system can execute entire business flows in seconds through proper configuration and automation setup.

Zoho CRM offers different applications to handle various situations and use cases. For lead monitoring and tracking, the CRM creates a database that allows direct import and export, with automated workflows based on specific criteria. The system can automatically generate and send contracts through Zoho Sign for electronic signatures, followed by automated onboarding emails or brochure distribution.

Zoho Flow is particularly interesting as it enables integration with numerous third-party applications. It provides multiple triggers for banking apps, Outlook, Gmail, and various other third-party applications that need to be integrated with Zoho CRM.

While working with Zoho CRM for more than five years, I have noticed they are improving the visuals and interface of the platform but not enhancing the functionalities. When writing code that exceeds 500 or 700 lines, if you forget to save it and haven't run it once, the entire function can be lost. The platform does not save code versions similar to GitHub, where you can compare new versions with previous ones.

Additionally, while AI is an emerging technology being adopted by many platforms, Zoho CRM has not introduced any AI features into their platform. This is an area where Zoho CRM should improve to enhance their market presence.

The interface of Zoho CRM is very user-friendly and easy to understand. After conducting training sessions with clients, the feedback has been consistently positive regarding ease of use. For instance, a 50-year-old client from Nokia, who previously used Salesforce CRM, commented on how easily accessible the features are without constantly searching through settings. Zoho CRM is rapidly improving its market presence and client impressions.

The system is reliable as most clients are satisfied with handling their data and descriptions within the applications. Client satisfaction indicates the system's stability.

Zoho CRM demonstrates good scalability. The system is easy to understand, implement coding, and conduct training.

The technical support is generally good, though sometimes they are not immediately available. There are multiple blogs and articles available online for self-help. The support team can be very straightforward, though response times can vary. They sometimes expect immediate responses despite taking time to reply themselves. Based on experience, the technical support rates at 8 out of 10.

I am currently working with the latest version of Zoho CRM. The interface varies depending on the user's subscription level, whether it is enterprise, Zoho One, or premium subscription.

I participate in both sandbox and development phases of Zoho CRM implementations. The initial setup complexity depends on requirement gathering. With proper documentation, the implementation is straightforward. However, if every single element requires client confirmation before implementation, it can become more complex for developers.

Zoho CRM's AI-powered assistant Zia functions as a chatbot that helps create custom module settings. It can automatically generate custom fields by using the module name and provides helpful recommendations.

For multi-channel support, Zoho CRM uses SalesIQ, which integrates social accounts and campaigns from platforms such as Meta, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. When leads come through social accounts, they are replicated in SalesIQ and converted into CRM leads through workflows and automation.

The pricing of Zoho CRM is competitive and beneficial for both customers and users.

Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

My main use case for Zoho CRM is to maintain our prospects database, track our email interactions, and manage our entire sales operations.

A quick specific example of how I use Zoho CRM in my daily work is that we qualified a few accounts, got opportunity meetings with them, and it helped us by creating pipelines, managing pipelines, and timely follow-ups to get conversions.

I would like to add that we are bringing data all together at one place. We have been using emails and campaigns with multiple email providers, logging all those in multiple profiles at one place to access the entire data and get more visibility.

The best features Zoho CRM offers are the dashboards, which I really like as a leader.

What I find most useful about the dashboards is that both the visualization and customization give a clear picture.

Zoho CRM has positively impacted my organization so far because my team has adapted to it. Initially, while migrating from Salesforce, it was a bit challenging, but now everything is working well.

I think Zoho CRM can be improved because everything is good, but the UI can be improved. That is the main area where improvements are needed.

I have been using Zoho CRM for the last three months.

Zoho CRM is stable in my experience.

Zoho CRM's scalability is definitely evolving. I have seen how Zoho CRM was a few years back and how it has evolved since then.

The customer support for Zoho CRM is good compared to my previous CRM, which was considerably better, I would say.

I previously used Salesforce.

The main reason I switched from Salesforce to Zoho CRM was due to cost considerations and our utilization needs. With the pricing structure, we have very limited users, and we compared these two tools and decided to switch to Zoho CRM for that reason. At the same price point, we have multiple users who can access the same CRM.

I have seen a return on investment so far because it is definitely time-saving, and our efficiency improved by utilizing this tool. However, I do not have any numbers or ROI metrics available at this time.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that those details were taken care of by our operations team, and I am not sure about the specifics.

Before choosing Zoho CRM, I evaluated other options including HubSpot and a few open-source CRMs such as SugarCRM.

My advice for others looking into using Zoho CRM is that it is definitely a pocket-friendly tool for startups, beginners, and mid-level users who can use Zoho CRM without hesitation. However, for fully established companies and entrepreneurs, it might have some limitations, and they might have in-house capabilities that could make it less useful for their needs. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

Most use cases usually center around customer management. From industry to industry, it is mostly focused on customer management.

The most valuable feature I have found in Zoho CRM is custom functions. You can achieve anything with it. From integrations with other applications, it is instant. I love it for that. Custom functions also help us automate some tasks that you might find Zoho CRM has some limitations with its inbuilt features. So, functions have come in handy for me personally, a lot.

Automation capabilities in Zoho CRM have helped me streamline sales and marketing tasks for my customers. We internally do not use the Zoho-to-Zoho integration. The in-marketplace integrations, such as with Zoho Books and Zoho Project, usually have limitations in terms of syncing data. We usually use functions to push data and it is instant. When the sales team has completed the nurturing of leads, converting them to contacts and making a sale, we usually push the sale and customer to Zoho Books for finance to manage their statements, invoicing, and sales orders.

Another instance of automation using custom functions is the automatic filling in of fields. We have the feature for lookup fields, but lookup fields will not really help when it comes to conditions. You want to fill this field if certain conditions have been met. Sometimes you might find you are dealing with up to 10 fields. It is usually easier just to write a custom function that will fill the field based on certain conditions that you put.

One area of Zoho CRM that could be improved would be email support. I mentioned this during the Zoho Creator review, and I think it applies to Zoho CRM as well. The email support is really slow, but the in-app support is superb. If we could get responses faster, it would be really good.

I have been working with Zoho CRM for over three years now.

My usual experience with the initial setup and deployment of Zoho CRM is that it is usually straightforward. On deployment, there is this feature, the CRM Sandbox, which is a marvel to work with. We have clients who are already using the system, so you cannot start developing on a live system. The Sandbox usually comes in handy. You make all the changes and tweaks in the Sandbox, you can present it to the client. If they are okay with it, deploying from the Sandbox to the live environment is usually very easy.

In terms of stability and reliability of Zoho CRM, it is performing well. I think it is satisfactory with no complaints. It is usually compliant with data regulation laws and is HIPAA compliant. Personally, I think it is a stable and reliable system.

Zoho CRM has been scalable without challenges for me. I have no challenges with its scalability. We have a client who has 100 users, and at no point have they reported lags that are because of the system. Most of the lags that occur are usually due to network issues from the local network provider. Other than that, if you have a stable internet connection, there are usually no delays or lags because of adding more users to it. It is also easy to add users - just buy a license, assign them a role and a profile, and they are good to go.

My experience with the technical support specifically for Zoho CRM is that in-app support is superb. I love it. If they can improve on email support, it will be much better. For in-app support, I can give them a 10 out of 10. For email support, if they increase their reply or response speed, they can get to a 10, but for now I give them a 7 out of 10.

Positive

The AI-powered assistant, Zia, has helped the lead conversion process. In terms of lead scoring, Zia comes in handy to help score leads based on various factors and determine the probability of closing certain deals, allowing better resource allocation on those leads and focus on converting them.

The impact of third-party integrations on operational efficiency for customers is significant. The point of automation is to make the customer not feel automation being done. Some clients already have systems they are using internally, so when they introduce Zoho CRM, it usually disrupts their flow of work. We ensure that the data flows smoothly, the application is easy to use, and data is well-synced.

The analytics and reporting features in Zoho CRM are effective for understanding sales patterns and customer behavior. We have out-of-the-box reports that come with the system, which help a great deal. For in-depth reporting, Zoho CRM gives you the capability to create your own reports. You can also schedule these reports to be sent out to managers at certain intervals.

Multi-channel support in Zoho CRM is important for customers' communication strategy. We mostly use emails and social media, which are easier to work with. WhatsApp has some limitations from Meta's side, making it hard to work with Zoho CRM, although it is a requirement many clients ask for.

Regarding pricing and licensing of Zoho CRM, it is reasonable. I would usually advise a client to go with Zoho One as it is cheaper in Kenya. With the Zoho One option, you get more applications and premium features of Zoho CRM standalone application.

I would rate Zoho CRM 9 out of 10 because you can achieve anything within it. You can achieve finance, analytics, and literally build a Zoho Books account within Zoho CRM. In my case, it is the best Zoho application available.

My current users use Zoho CRM to manage customer relationship management. They upload leads, customers, and contact details. After that, they make calls, meetings, site surveys, and appointments. Then, they create quotations, transfer these quotations into workflow processes, and finally, create invoices to manage collections.

For CRM, I train myself to use Odoo and Zoho CRM, but in my current job, I supervise my developers' team and make customization for CRM to serve my company. The ERP I use is an application called Dolibarr, which is totally free and has 87 modules and is open source, and I use it for all my needs in my company.

I run Zoho CRM applications because I work as IT director and IT consultant for some companies, some of which are running in Dubai and use Zoho CRM for finance and operation departments. I travel to Dubai many times to make installation, implementation, and train the team on how to use Zoho CRM. Before that, I study myself and make big points to train the staff on how to use this application.

What I appreciate about Zoho CRM is the customization. You can customize everything—what you sell, be it products, services, or projects. You can customize every step in your business.

Zoho CRM has many valuable automation features such as auto-reply, auto-mail, and reminders for customers about last offers and upcoming processes. While I have not extensively worked with automation, I have seen invoices automatically direct emails to customers.

For improving Zoho CRM, I think some organizations may prefer not to have their data on the internet since Zoho CRM runs as a cloud service. Banks and confidential organizations may need an on-premise solution. I don't know if Zoho CRM has a product that runs offline, but Odoo does, and it can run the system on your servers.

I have been working with Zoho CRM for approximately 2 years, and it does not have big issues or troubles, but it is very stable, especially when running small modules like finance to generate invoices and transactions and workflow. All these steps do not have daily issues; it's so easy to use.

I provide support for Zoho CRM, and even if I have any big issue, I contact CRM support to ask about the problem and get feedback for my users.

I would rate technical support from Zoho CRM as a seven. Sometimes, they don't understand what my actual needs are.

Positive

Amazon has AWS, and through AWS, I have a solution for Remote Desktop, but I think it's more expensive, especially in Egypt.

I prefer Zoho CRM because it offers more options for customization compared to Odoo, which makes Zoho CRM more friendly and comfortable for me.

Currently, I am still working with Azure and I use the Azure products for my current work. I use Azure Active Directory.

I don't use products like App Service from Azure or Azure Logic Apps, Front Door, but I think it's very straightforward. Once I take the first step to use Azure, I can track myself to use another application, program, or module in Azure.

I use Office 365 because we actually have Exchange mail server 2019 on premises. In the last few months, I upgraded from Exchange on premise to use Office 365, which is faster, easier to troubleshoot, and more secure.

I use Remote Desktop Services (RDS) as the best solution because I make a private server in my data center room. I have many users that need to access the internet, so I don't join the server to my domain because if I have any malware or other attacks, I can resolve it easily without any damage to my internal network.

Microsoft RDS is more user-friendly and easier to use compared to RDS from Azure Microsoft or another provider. I purchase Microsoft Remote Desktop Services directly from Microsoft. I have had an MCSE and Microsoft account for 15 years.

I work with SharePoint and Exchange, which are famous applications through Microsoft and Office 365. For daily tasks, I use Microsoft tools and Linux tools because I have applications like CRM, ERP, and HRM running over CentOS, an operating system by Linux.

Regarding CentOS, in Egypt, we have issues paying for things from the internet, especially due to the large margin between US dollars and Egyptian pounds. CentOS is totally free from the internet, so I create ISO and install it on the server to use all features, policies, and security modules. Currently, I use 3CX as voice solutions, and Asterisk is the Linux platform I use, along with firewalls by Linux called pfSense. All data centers in my company have products between Microsoft and Linux systems.

For DNS, I use deDNS to make remote access or subdomains from deDNS organization. Sometimes, I pay for a main domain from HostGator and re-route the domain to my data centers.

Based on other competitors, I would rate Zoho CRM's price as a five, as it has a middle-range price compared to others. Overall, I rate Zoho CRM a seven out of ten.

My usual use cases for Zoho CRM involve implementation, mostly customizing and creating automations, and writing Deluge script for automations.

I've integrated third-party applications with Zoho CRM using webhooks and Deluge to create automation, which is quite useful in certain use cases.

Regarding the automation, Zoho CRM is quite flexible, allowing us to use workflows and custom functions for various automations.

The most valuable features of Zoho CRM so far include Deluge script, which are custom functions, workflows which are mostly used while creating flows, and custom layouts which are used when adding extra fields or validations.

I can create most of the basic reports in Zoho CRM, such as conversion reports, but there are limitations in Zoho CRM's built-in capabilities for analytics and reporting.

The main improvement needed for Zoho CRM is introducing SQL code for reports, similar to what's in Zoho Analytics.

Zoho CRM's support can improve significantly, although it's designed to require minimal support for everyday activities.

I have been working with Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator for three years.

I find Zoho CRM to be 100% stable and reliable as far as I know.

It's quite important for my customers to have Zoho CRM as stable as it is now because many of their processes depend on it.

Zoho CRM is quite scalable; I have worked with clients who started with ten companies and have scaled up to managing 500 employees effectively within Zoho CRM.

Zoho CRM's support can improve significantly, although it's designed to require minimal support for everyday activities.

I would rate the support from Zoho CRM a six.

Neutral

The initial setup of Zoho CRM is quite easy; unless you encounter a specific complex process, it can be done without a developer.

Zoho CRM and all of Zoho's software are quite affordable because they are specifically designed for small and medium businesses.

I am available for another Zoho review.

I have worked with both Zoho CRM and Zoho CRM Plus.

I am also a consultant and partner of Zoho for all the products that I work with.

I am currently working with the latest version of Zoho CRM.

I don't have any experience with Zoho CRM's AI-powered assistant Zia.

I have been using Zoho CRM for around three years for my customers, and it has quite robust multi-channel support for customer communication.

Overall, I would rate Zoho CRM a nine out of ten; the main issues are with support and reporting features, which is why it loses a point.

I primarily use Zoho CRM to track the sales funnel, allowing me to monitor the progress of leads and opportunities. 

Over the past three years, I've used Zoho in various capacities, especially for setting up a basic team to start tracking leads and opportunities.

Zoho CRM is flexible due to its integrations, like with Zoho Campaign, helping integrate marketing efforts with CRM processes. It offers a no-cost entry with the ability for three users to use it at no charge, which is beneficial for startups to explore the platform without financial strain. This enables me to start using the platform, handle opportunities, and get a feel before committing financially.

Zoho CRM could benefit from predictive analysis based on historical trends to forecast future performance over the next two to three years, particularly from a sales pipeline perspective. This feature could enhance its usefulness by predicting future opportunities based on past data.

I have been using Zoho CRM moderately over the past three years.

Zoho CRM is stable, and I have not experienced any issues with it. I would rate its stability at nine out of ten.

Zoho CRM seems to scale well for startups and small businesses, accommodating the growth of operations effectively.

I used Oracle Sales Cloud and Salesforce CRM previously. In my prior role at IBM, we used Salesforce, and at Oracle, we used Oracle Sales Cloud. These experiences have given me exposure to multiple CRM platforms.

We are currently using Apollo and HubSpot.

The initial setup of Zoho CRM is straightforward and user-friendly. I did not encounter any difficulties during this process.

Currently, I am using Zoho CRM at no charge, sticking with the free tier. I have not had to pay for licenses or setup costs.

I evaluated Zoho CRM against other CRM solutions because my new IT setup is evaluating platforms to establish a sales framework. 

Zoho CRM is straightforward and easy to use, which helps you get up and running without any significant hurdles. 

I would rate it overall at eight out of ten.