Best Small Business CRM Software Solutions for MS Outlook
(If you like, skip the bumpf and scroll down to Outlook CRM products below)
As a small business, if you are already using MS Outlook in your office, it makes every sense to consider CRM and Contact Management
solutions that are MS Outlook based. By that they work, or are embedded, within MS Outlook.
MS Outlook does a good job of managing ones email, but has a relatively weak underlying database engine, and Outlook certainly cannot perform all the tasks required of a CRM solution. That's the space the following MS Outlook CRM applications are designed to fill.
These embedded small business CRM software applications add value to Outlook in many ways. The primary benefits you can look forward to are:
Enhanced sales, service and marketing functionality to MS Outlook.
Improved email functionality.
You can share your Outlook AddressBook/s across the network.
You can share your Outlook AddressBook/s without needing MS Exchange Server.
Shared Outlook tasks
Shared Microsoft Outlook calendars
Improved record features and management.
No integration and synchronization with another CRM system.
Industrial strength database for better performance.
Much easier approval and adoption than other CRM systems.
Considerable cost savings with product, training and service.
Having an MS Outlook CRM solution also means no synchronization process required, no external database hassles, and no problems when you work offline. Every contact you make, every activity you perform, every task you assign is automatically available in Outlook. This is because Outlook CRM applications work fully within Outlook, storing your customer information in the Outlook Contact, Task, Appointment and Journal entries you use every day.
The advantages of Outlook based CRM software are numerous.
You stay in the same application all day. No toggling backwards and forwards means a more pleasurable and productive user experience. Bottom line - your investment is paying its way, not gathering dust on the shelf.
You get going quicker with much less training. Being extensions of Outlook, you are immediately familiar with the interface that you already know. This equates to considerable savings, as the hidden costs associated with training and support are minimized.
You can capture customer e-mails with a single click and with this capability you and your sales professionals can associate correspondence to the appropriate contact, account or opportunity for sales activity tracking.
You have negligible installation costs - just download and go.
What's important about this new breed of CRM products is that they have been developed from the ground up for Microsoft Outlook, predominantly on Microsoft's new .NET platform, which enables the product to be more email and internet centric.
Many CRM products pre-date the internet, and even the advent of email, so it stands to reason that these products aren't always geared to take full advantage of the new electronic medium of communication with clients, staff, everyone. The newer products also benefit from vastly improved development platforms now available to software developers.
They also haven't started to get afflicted by the notoriously contagious 'bloatware' malaise that often affects ageing software - adding features for the sake of it. Instead of rather trimming off unwanted features, speeding up performance and getting rid of bugs, some CRM products are more like mutton dressed as lamb - full of superfluous features the developers have decided you need.
CRM that rely on MS Exchange Server to provide network functionality have, for the most part, been excluded here. MS Exchange is a rather expensive, support-intensive beast and is overkill for most small businesses. Most software recommended here works with MS Exchange Server as well, though.
Looking at the problems some Contact Managers and CRM systems experience integrating to MS Outlook, it appears Outlook has a preference for products that are 'embedded' inside it, as opposed to 'integrated' to it. Virtually all CRM products ideally need to 'talk' to Outlook though, unless they are targeting Mac's, or a market on another planet.
The best Outlook CRM solutions for you to consider are:
MX-Contact. This suite of CRM solutions caters for most requirements, but comes into its own in bigger multi-user, more complex sales environments. Very scalable Outlook CRM solution. The Single User version is very reasonably priced from approx $100 per user upwards.
Prophet CRM. Highlyrecommended. Great, easy-to-use, Award-winning Outlook embedded CRM solution that happily runs on a peer-to-peer network without the need for MS Exchange Server. Prophet is excellent value for money, and ideal for the small business with a sales process that needs management, although it is quite scalable for bigger concerns, too. Costs approx. $150 per user. Their newly released Prophet version 4.0 is a winner! Previous versions: Prophet v3.0 incorporates important new features. Read our previous review: Prophet 2004 CRM overview .
Public ShareFolder. If you want to simply share your Outlook AddressBook/database/calendar across your network, without the expense ofMS Exchange Server, this is the tool for you. This Award winning Microsoft Outlook addon is inexpensive and proven, and boasts an impressive client base. Costs approx. $70 per user.
OpusFlowCRM.Recommended. OpusFlow specialises in Microsoft Outlook & Exchange Server AddOn's. Their award-winning products have been around for years and are well established and stable. They offer various CRM Outlook solutions so have a look to see what suits your requirements. They also offer CRM for Handhelds solution what is worth looking at. OpusFlow is now compatable with Microsoft Vista.
BizAutomation CRM. BizAutomation is a web based CRM for users of Outlook, MS Exchange, and QuickBooks and includes Sales Force Automation, Service / Support, & Marketing / Campaign Management. It uses Outlook Web Access (OWA) or regular Outlook for its user interface. Not an embedded Outlook CRM solution, however. Costs $299 per user for 'local' installation, or $29 per user per month.
Microsoft Business Contact Manager. (MS BCM) Business Contact Manager with Outlook 2003 is a single-user, (multi-user version now available) desktop business contact management program, and rather expensive at the price. MS Business Contact Manager is included in MS Office Small Business Edition 2003 and MS Office Professional Edition 2003. Strictly speaking MS BCM should not be in this category, as it isn't (rather ironically) really an embedded Outlook CRM product. This Forum answers all your MS Outlook and MS BCM questions. Microsoft would, no doubt, prefer you upgrade to Microsoft CRM, BCM's big brother, which requires MS Exchange Server and a bank account as deep as Exchange is complex. MS CRM has evolved as a CRM solution from its rather humble beginnings.
Please give us feedback on your experiences, good or bad, with any CRM products or companies listed here. Additional MS Outlook resources can be found at Slipstick.
