Avidian Prophet CRM Review

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Avidian Prophet CRM Review

by R. Sanders
(St. Louis, MO)

Avidian Prophet CRM has dual personalities. From the user perspective it is easy to use and Avidian provides excellent support.

From a technical perspective Prophet CRM is clumsy and generally not ready for client server environments. In a ten user install 50% of the client installs failed. Failed Prophet client installs can require many hours and sometimes days to resolve.

Avidian recommends separate hardware for the Prophet Server software, but do not clarify this point. Perhaps because the Prophet Server application hogs the hardware and would require multiple shut downs of a production server in order to install.

If you backup servers to tape, and put the Prophet Server on separate hardware you will also need another backup solution for the new hardware.

In order to install the client, you must remove domain policies and grant the user administrative privileges.

It is not as tightly integrated with Outlook/Exchange as one would think. An Outlook profile can follow a user to a different machine, but not so with Prophet. For example, the license only applies to one specific user plus the machine. A valid user cannot use Prophet on a different machine even when the Prophet client is installed on the second machine.

Prophet CRM would work OK in a small peer-peer network, but it is just not suitable for larger client/server domains.

Add or read comments about the Avidian Prophet CRM Review below.

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Comments for
Avidian Prophet CRM Review

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Nov 15, 2011

Don't bother with this
by: Steve

Imagine making a executive decision which is designed to improve your process and make you more efficient; but does the exact opposite.

Imagine talking to a bunch of employees resisting change, explaining the benefits of moving to a move advanced software; only to look like an idiot infront of them.

Imaginge what it is like for a company to make you a promise of great technical support and customer service and not deliver in any way.

This has been my experience with Avidian Prophet and am in the process of damage control.

First of all, it is too complicated to setup and use. Outlook has to be set up in a certain way otherwise it wont work. Once it is working, it slows down your whole system.

I am running a dual XEON, SAS Drives with 10gig ram (Windows 7 with Office 2010) and simple tasks such as sending or replying to an e-mail have a lag. The software does not integrate with outlook, rather then create a HTML window in outlook that connect to the server.

I moved over from SalesForce because it was cheaper and liked the idea of Outlook Integration; however it was not foolproof.

The technical support is ok, they never solved my problem but they are friendly and willing to help. I end up fixing the issues and end up teaching them a few things about their software.

There is no customer service. They ignore your e-mails, do not return your calls - ever. I sent the customer service department an account enquiry. I have sent it 4 times over the last 30 days and still waiting for a reply. I can not comment on their phone support since I live in a different time zone and am unable to use this service.

They do not offer you a free trial. You have to pay upfront and if you are not happy, they promise you a full refund within 60 days. This was the only company who charged you up front. Others take no payment or take a credit card number and advise they will start charging at the end of the trial. With Avidian, you will not get a refund.

This software should be available as free open source and not a commercial package.

Apr 22, 2011

Avidian Prophet CRM Works for me
by: Barry

I am a single user of Prophet Premium CRM for over 2 years and the products has worked well. It's easy to learn and setup customization is fast and simple. Keeping track of opportunties and todo's is its really strong points. The auto email system works great, most of my prospect are on auto pilot marketing and it delivers leads on a regular basis. The ROI for Prophet was less than a month.

I found that compared to hosted solutions and other standalone solutions, there is a lot less maintenance to do with Prophet.

The quoting tool has a great product database that has categories, something you can't find in a lot solutions, and it fast and easy to set up and maintain.

I really like staying in one program for emails, todo's, etc., it just saves a lot of time.

My only complaint is that that haven't added a single new features in the two years that I have been a user. I was promised a easy to use letter and label tools that I have never seen. It would also be nice to have some icons in the data base to quickly ID some clients status.

All in all I have found Prophet to be a great CRM system for a single user who doesn't want to be a programmer be a user.

Barry

Jun 28, 2010

Buyer Beware
by: CMaxwell

I listened from afar at my last company as several people from our staff attempted to initially install and use Prophet. After numerous failed attempts, our company finally moved on to something easier to use. I always attributed that experience to user issues on our side.

I can now report that I no longer share that view. I've been in a new role at my current company for six months now. I inherited Prophet on Day 1 and was told we've struggled to get it set up accurately. I will readily admit I'm no software/hardware genius but I'm also no slouch. So, I jumped in with both feet and tried to get it working for our sales team. After months of frustration (for both me and our IT people) we finally pulled the plug and are now happily using (edited out).com.

I suspect Prophet may have some upside, but you really really really need to pay close attention when setting it up initially or you will encounter a tremendous mess. We spent several thousand dollars and even paid over $3000 for an on-site training session (prior to my arrival so I don't know what all was covered). In the end, we've paid significant money and never been able to use the software. To date, we've received a refund for my license but it is a fraction of what we've paid overall. Be very careful if you're considering Prophet as your solution. Especially if you are a small business owner where budgets are often tighter.

Mar 11, 2010

Not a CRM VAR
by: R. Sanders

We are users. When searching for business applications it is difficult to find honest and reliable reviews. My review of Prophet CRM is an attempt to do just that.

Exposing deficiencies in an application, hopefully provides the maker with the impetus for improvement.

A good review, in my opinion, should also be a fair review. Sincerely presenting the good, the bad, and the ugly is important.

Mar 05, 2010

Re Avidian Prophet CRM Review
by: Perry

Hi R Sanders,

We duly brought your Prophet CRM Review posting to the attention of James Wong, Avidian CEO, who replied, saying "Perry, thanks for bringing this to our attention. You can be assured we're on this".

So we look forward to their response.

Best,
Perry

Feb 24, 2010

Re Avidian Prophet CRM Review
by: Perry

Hi R Sanders,

Thanks for your input regarding Prophet CRM. You certainly seem to have had some experience with the product. Are you a CRM VAR?

While we have not received any complaints or negative feedback from Avidian's customers to date, we know no product is perfect. Your comments about its performance, or lack thereof in a client/server environment are interesting. I stand to correction, but would imagine many of their clients, being small businesses, would have peer-to-peer installations.

Their newer Hosted/ web based CRM would obviate these issues, if they exist of course, but then not everybody is after an online CRM solution.

We will bring your post to the attention of the Avidian CEO, James Wong, and wait for his response.

Thanks again for your input.

Perry
SmallBizCRM

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