Itact » 2015 » March

30 Mar 2015

Google

google, office 365

Placing your bets on Enterprise Software

Office 365 vs Google Apps

The first thing any new company has to do is setup their domain, and choose their email provider. No one wants to build their own mail server infrastructure anymore, it simply doesn’t make sense.

Our decision had nothing to do with cost because the fact is both work out to about the same price at the end of the day. The decision all boiled down to one thing: Gmail.

Gmail is the Gateway Drug for Google Apps and Google knows this

Office 365 mail is not the same as Outlook.com for some reason. Gmail is the only cross platform cloud email that allows for instant search, massive archives, ease of use, etc. You don’t need to download an email client to use it … and there’s better than instant cloud search vs local search for any email ever in a large archives. There are also many third party cloud plugins that just work with Gmail. Gmail is universally the same across all devices, and thus it is the gateway drug to Google Apps.

Once you start working with the productivity tools you realize that calendaring on Outlook is much better than Google Apps. Excel, PowerPoint, and Word all beat Sheets, Slides, and Docs hands down. Things like font management, financial modelling, and effective presentations are all Office 365 all day long.

Real time collaboration on Google is better, you can tell it was built from the cloud up. Google Drive is much easier to administer than OneDrive. Google makes it very easy to share, search, and access documents from virtually any device, anywhere. Drive has quickly become the core of everything we do in our business. SharePoint almost felt like a bolt-on to Office 365, and trying to rationalize the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive just felt weird for the people on our team. Both companies continue to improve their products which is always nice to see.

Microsoft Office 365 could gain significant ground with new company by doing one thing

We may not be “enterprise class” companies, but today’s new companies are indeed tomorrow’s large companies. Microsoft needs to get more people at every accelerator and co-working space using Office 365 without even thinking about it. They need to make it easy and automated so the growth happens organically rather than through sales motions, pr, or blog posts. People just have to want to use it “just because”.

So how does Microsoft drive immediate usage and significant new company interest to Office 365 Apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel? They need to make it fully compatible with Google Apps. They should create a third party app for Google Apps, fully compatible with Drive, Gmail, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. If Microsoft can introduce better calendaring for Gmail, with integrated Skype and/or Hangouts support, that would be a huge bonus.

When to use Zoho, a customizable CRM

29 Mar 2015

insightly, zoho

Zoho requires set up and training to use, but you get features you won’t find in Nimble or Insightly, like email marketing, custom reporting, customer service case management, invoicing and more.

Zoho is a customizable CRM that offers many of the same capabilities as Salesforce but for a fraction of the price ($20 per user per month vs. $125 for salesforce). What this means is you can adjust the layout, change data fields and even add or remove features to your liking. You can build entirely custom pages from the admin panel, or integrate other Zoho apps with a single click to get tools like project management, accounting, website visitor tracking and more.

Comparing to other similar CRM software like insightly:
Insightly doesn’t offer the same level of reporting capabilities as a product like Zoho. Insightly don’t allow you to customize the layout, data entry or workflow rules as well as you can with Zoho or Salesforce. Also There’s no marketing automation tools.

How to remove a Google account from “Choose an account” page list

26 Mar 2015

Here’s a quick tip on something very simple that I could not figure out for the longest time. One of those bugs that was somehow thought to be a feature at some point in the development process over at Google. Too busy not doing evil, I guess…

The graphic above is very straightforward and familiar to anyone who uses more than one Google account. Easy to add or remove accounts, right? The tricky part is that if you are logged into any of these accounts then you will not see the “remove” button. Instead, it will look like this (with just “add an account”):

add account – no remove

Add and Login to Remove?
In other words, to remove an account you have to log out of a different account but it doesn’t tell you which account you are logged into. And to find this page in the first place you have to “Add account” from the top right menu – so you have to add an account and then log out of an account in order to remove an account.

There are many ways to end up on this page I suspect – jumping between Google services such as Adwords or Google Analytics, for example. These are some of the URLs that will bring up the “Choose an account” list:

https://accounts.google.com/AddSession
https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin
https://accounts.google.com/AccountChooser

If you have never seen this interface it might be helpful at this point to know that once you can see the “remove” button then it’s very simple: click the “remove” button and ‘x’ any accounts that you want to remove from the list. This will not delete accounts of course, just remove them from the saved list. See the “Choose an account” picture at top

Why ecommerce?

23 Mar 2015

ecommerce

ecommerce, online shopping, shoping cart

From small businesses to that consummate eCommerce giant Amazon, many companies can benefit from having their own eCommerce site. As well as selling a physical product, eCommerce can be used to sell digital products, consultations or appointments, or intangibles, making it a flexible solution for all kinds of businesses.

So how can eCommerce boost your business? Read on for five ways it can do so, and to see how other businesses have had success with eCommerce.

eCommerce Influences Purchase Decisions

When customers are deciding on a purchase, they start by looking online.

Your website is your showroom, where customers can research your product and see all the reasons it is right for them.

Now imagine that same product was just a couple of clicks away from being theirs. A well-designed eCommerce site can influence purchase decisions by showcasing your product at its best, and making it as easy as pie to take action and make a purchase.

Staples’ customer-friendly online shop has been such a success that they have scaled back their bricks and mortar stores in favor of it. Their secret?

A searchable and convenient catalog that makes purchasing easy, with plenty of product reviews to encourage that sale.

eCommerce Taps into Social Media

It’s a social world out there, with customers turning to social media such as Facebook and Twitter to research potential purchases.

For a smart business, an engaging social media presence can raise their company profile and encourage traffic and sales. A well thought out social media strategy marries well with a good eCommerce site, forging connections with buyers. Offers, competitions and other shareable content can be used to grab attention and encourage visits to your eCommerce store.

Walmart takes its social media presence seriously, with a YouTube channel filled with useful videos, and a Facebook page that’s regularly updated with shareable feel-good pictures of their food.

It’s a seemingly simple strategy but it connects emotionally, garnering them a lot of likes – and custom.

eCommerce Is Convenient

Whether they’re just getting through the door after a 10-hour work day, or getting the shopping done at the crack of dawn before the kids get up, customers appreciate the convenience of online shopping.

People’s lives are hectic; getting to a bricks and mortar store means taking a sizeable chunk out of their day for a detour. eCommerce means you can fit into your customer’s busy lives, offering the products they want, when they want them.

Amazon is a prime example of the convenience of online shopping, with a vast online store of products available anytime, day or night. This convenience combined with a quick checkout process, order tracking and quick shipping is a winning combination.

eCommerce Can Broaden Your Brand

eCommerce can be used in ways a traditional bricks and mortar store couldn’t, whether that is by offering intangible products, providing some kind of web search, or giving customers the ability to order a product to their exact specifications.

eCommerce can be used to broaden your range of products for sale, bringing you more custom and diversifying your sales.

When Apple first started ITunes, it was viewed as an IPod marketing tactic rather than a serious online store.

With billions of sales, ITunes is now a vital part of the global Apple brand, demonstrating how eCommerce can be used to broaden what a brand offers, diversifying and increasing sales.

eCommerce Offers a Personalized Experience

There are many ways in which eCommerce can be used to forge a more personal connection with customers.

For example, an eCommerce site could include personal recommendations, order tracking, quick customer service, or personalized rewards, allowing your business to offer the same kind of personal service online that you would offer face to face.

Shopittome has built an entire business, and reputation, around offering shoppers a personalized experience. Busy browsers can enter their brand preferences and size, and receive regular personalized newsletters full of bargains to suit them.

eCommerce offers businesses a vital opportunity to offer their customers round-the-clock convenience.

A good eCommerce strategy that adds excellent customer service and a dynamic social media presence into the mix can spell higher traffic and better sales for your business.

Zoho for Marketing Team

20 Mar 2015

campaign, crm, email, marketing, zoho

You get extensive functionality of Marketing Automation when leveraging ZOHO CRM – the top CRM solution for small and midsize companies, for your business. Weoffer solutions and services that help clients implement Marketing Automation solutions.

ZOHO CRM offers useful marketing tools like Campaign management, Email marketing, and Web Forms (to generate leads, contacts, and cases) integrated with your website. It provides robust CRM integration between sales and marketing activities. It increases the volume and improves the quality of lead generation, thus providing better return on your marketing expenditure. Its reports and analysis dashboards provide intuitive insights for measuring the performance and effectiveness of the campaigns

Features of Zoho Marketing

Campaigns Campaigns refer to the marketing process which is planned, executed, distributed and analyzed. Clients can Create Campaigns and Add Campaigns to Leads/Contacts.

Web Forms Web forms will help you to capture leads contacts and cases online. In Zoho you can Set up multiple Web Forms, Can Insert Captcha and create Auto Response Rules to the forms.

Email Marketing You can Use emails to reach numerous customers by sending mass emails and use autoresponders to follow up with the customers. Zoho helps you with Sending Mass Emails, Schedule Mass Emails, and also Setup Autoresponders.

Zoho CRM for Sales Team

20 Mar 2015

crm, leads, sales, zoho

Zoho CRM for Sales Team is an ideal solution for lead generation, qualification, opportunity and pipeline management. Zoho CRM provides complete sales force automation solutions for your sales team. We offer solutions and consulting services to implement Zoho for –

Lead generation & qualification
Sales pipeline analysis
Sales stage & probability analysis
Competitor analysis
Real-time sales forecasting
Automated assignment based on rules and workflow

These functions enable you to track complete customer life-cycle (lead generation – acquisition – conversion – retention – loyalty), thus increasing sales revenue.

The cloud based CRM solution from ZOHO enables you to accurately track all business opportunities and close more deals in less time, thus reducing your sales cycle .It enables the sales team and management to collate data , analyze thereby effectively utilize existing customer data for future cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. It helps identify problem areas in your sales cycle and take effective action. It helps in management review through intuitive dashboards and reporting

Assignment rules and workflows automate the sales cycle, reducing the paperwork of your sales team.

Features of Zoho CRM

Leads Leads are raw details about individuals or representatives of organizations collected from trade shows, seminars, advertisements and other marketing campaigns. Zoho offers functionality to Create Leads, Associate Leads, Convert Leads, Approve Leads and assign leads using Lead Assignment Rules.

Accounts Accounts are companies or departments with which you plan or have business dealings. In Zoho you can Create Accounts and Associate Accounts.

Contacts Contacts are people in an organization with whom you communicate in pursuit of a business opportunity. Zoho enables you to Create Contacts, Associate Contacts, Approve Contacts and assign contacts using Contact Assignment Rules.

Potentials Potentials are business deals with companies or people that generate real revenue for your organization. You can create Potentials, Associate Potentials, Manage Stages, and set Big Deal Alerts.

Forecasting Forecasts are factual insight for fine-tuning the sales process in your organization. End users can Create Forecasts, Set Fiscal Years in Zoho.

Pulse Follow the records that are most important to you and keep track of the activities associated to them. In Pulse you can Set Field Configuration, Follow or Unfollow Records and View History of Updates.

Gmail

20 Mar 2015

Gmail

Get custom email (@yourcompany.com) and more
30GB of inbox storage
Compatible with Microsoft Outlook and other email clients
Ad-free, 24/7 support and more

Business email for your domain

Build customer trust with professional email addresses. Create as many group mailing lists as your company needs, like sales@yourcompany.com.

Email on mobile devices, even without a connection

Get powerful iOS and Android apps. Across mobile and desktop, you can read and draft messages when you don’t have Internet, and they’ll be sent when you’re back online.

Conversations that go beyond email with chat and video

Chat with a colleague, dial a customer’s phone number and host or join a video meeting straight from your inbox with Hangouts.

Compatible with your existing interface

Gmail works great with desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird. Outlook users can sync emails, events and contacts to and from Google Apps.

Easy migration from Outlook and legacy services

Migrate your email from Outlook, Exchange or Lotus easily with custom tools that help preserve your important messages.

99.9% guaranteed uptime, 0% planned downtime

Count on Google’s ultra-reliable servers to keep your lights on 24/7/365. Automatic backups, spam protection and industry-leading security measures help protect your business data.

Zoho CRM

19 Mar 2015