What CRM & Project Management Software Programs Are Telecom Agents & IT Consultants Using Successfully?

By Dan Baldwin
TA Executive Director
951-251-5155 email

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get all my customer projects organized in an adult way -- meaning, no more managing projects with spreadsheets -- I'm going to find a project management solution that integrates with my CRM (customer relationship management) solution -- which means I actually have to get a real CRM outside my Gmail and Google Calendar application.

Now I know I'm not still the only telecom agent or channel sales partner still using Outlook or Gmail and a bunch of Excel spreadsheets to manage their entire business. Over the past year I've asked dozens of peers what they're doing with CRM and/or some other SaaS (software as a service) to manage their business.

Many, like me, have tried SalesForce, SugarCRM, FreeCRM or one of

many other cloud solutions only to never switch totally over for one reason or another.  It seems for agents and partners like me that do not really need to share their sales project chores with others, it was easier to keep using their existing email program and speadsheets to manage their customers than to switch to one of these other "team CRM programs".

 

TA is Switching (I Think) to Solve360 - Please Follow & Comment

As my own telecom and marketing consulting business gets larger, and I migrate away from transactional agent business, I'm finding that my need for a software program that can manage a larger telecom consulting project with several dozen steps and activities that need to be coordinated with other people can no longer be put off. I can either pay what it takes to migrate or ultimately loose customers.

Over the past week I almost tried ActiveInboxHQ, Worketc, BaseCamp & HighRise, ZOHO Project & CRM. I did not move forward though because none could meet my number one requirement to work within (or perfectly migrate over) my five years of Gmail messages and my Gmail address book.

That was until I stumbled across a blog post that referred me to Solve360. After reviewing this solution, and reading dozens of Internet comments about Sove360, I convinced myself that no other solution would meet my needs as perfectly but I might need to migrate my Gmail to a full Google Apps version and I really wanted an outside consultant to look at my business and then do the migration for me.

The Solve360 site referred me to two of their consulting partners, VM Associates and InterLockit, and their "PathFinder" service where for a very reasonable amount of money, either partner will do a two-hour custom consultation with my team to let me "know before I go" just how succesful the project will be -- and how much it will cost.

So we're going to pay our PathFinder fees in hoping that an expert will indeed help us find the right Gmail to CRM & Project Management path.  We'll be sure and keep you updated about the pain and/or pleasure involved in the migration.

 

Outreach Customizes Salesforce.com for Agents and Partners

In related news, my old friends Pete Keane and Joel Allinson at Outreach Technology have advised me that they have invested over a year in "super customizing" Salesforce.com to perfectly serve any telecom agent or channel sales partner needing to integrate their email, CRM, circuit inventory and lead partner commissions.

I was a bit skeptical at first as I've given up on Salesforce.com trials myself in the past thinking that Salesforce.com is just too much for the average agent (even though I have spoken to many agents -- smarter than me obviously -- that use and love Salesforce.)

Also, a pretty big and successful agent I know has recently advised me that he is just about to complete a major migration of all of his system's to Outreach's customized Salesforce solution. Coming from this guy, that's a big deal because he's migrating away from another inventory management system that was "built for agents" -- pretty high praise for Outreach's solution.

In any event, I'll be keeping track of Pete Keane's solution. He's a pretty big thinker and as a master agent himself he certainly knows what agents need. I'll let you know what we learn.

 

What CRM / Project Management SaaS Experiences Can You Share?

I know other brick and mortar telecom agents, IT VARs, channel partners and equipment resellers use the likes of TigerPaw, ConnectWise, Kaseya, Autotask, ZenDesk and others for the ability to invoice for truck rolls, bill for materials and have an online help-desk portal.  

What's working for your IT & telecom consulting business? Please share your comment below. 

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2/19/12 UPDATE

After a great deal of discussion with both VM Associates and InterLockit we decided to move forward with a small Sove360 trial using VM Associates. Nothing against the other guys, both seemed like they could do the job just fine.

Before moving forward with the trail though I did spend a day taking a close look at Viwo Inc., a Google Apps consulting firm in our own Southern California back yard and the shared contacts Google App they recommended, Universal Contact Manager ("UCM") by ForeySoft out of Germany.  I actually really liked the UCM module and may look at it more still.

Comments

[Dan Baldwin]

Gary, Thanks for your feedback. Once I finish our migration and have a bit more experience I'll likely write a white paper on the choice of CRM solutions for agents and invite agents and partners contribute their experiences.

Dan Baldwin
Dan@telecomAssociation.com

[A Facebook User]

Good Article Dan! We have outgrown two CRM/Quote Management/Agent Portal tools & are currently researching our next upgrade.
I'd be happy to share our journey with TA and would also like to collaborate with others who find this article relevant to their 2012 plans.

Gary Woods
http://www.linkedin.com/in/garywoodsjr
www.clearconsulting.biz
gary@clearconsulting.biz