Zoho has launched a service that centralizes contacts for customers, helps them share them across different groups and manage related tasks. As part of the effort to reach small business owners, the CRM company and business services provider is also letting customers set their own price after a 30-day free trial.
The service is designed for the small businesses that find a CRM systems overwhelming but still need a system to share business contacts, said Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegesna in an email interview. Most of them end up sharing contacts through spreadsheets. ContactManager is basically aimed to bridge this CRM-Spreadsheet gap where business users can use the app to share contacts with colleagues.
Vegesna compared the new service to the company’s contacts app for managing personal contacts that comes with Zoho Mail. Zoho ContactManager is the equivalent for small businesses. As the requirements grow and for mid and large-size businesses, customers can move up to Zoho CRM.
The service is pre-integrated with multiple data sources like CrunchBase and Facebook. It is also integrated with Google Apps and is available through Google Apps Marketplace. It has mobile support, including apps like Card Scanner and ContactManager.
And then there is the pricing. Zoho lets the user choose what they want to pay. That’s a pretty good deal for a small business owner or any company looking for a way to better collaborate on leads. Or is it? The sophistication of mobile CRM services, task management offerings and contact management services allows small business owners options that go beyond what a commodity priced service will offer.
But then again there is the full gamut of what Zoho provides as part of its network of 30 apps. The question, then, is less about price and more about the quality and the product’s fit with the customer.