There is no better time to do business than today. With the availability of cloud applications, businesses can now enhance their productivity while cutting IT-related costs significantly – transforming them to be lean and competitive businesses. One of the most common business functions businesses bring to the cloud is CRM (customer relationship management.)
There are plenty of options when considering cloud-based CRM software. The most popular one would be SalesForce.com. However, there are also many other powerful CRM software you should consider. One of them is Workbooks.
What is Workbooks?
Workbooks, UK-based providers of Web-Based CRM and business apps founded in 2007, is subscription-based CRM software that focuses on business automation.
Of course, no software installation needed to run Workbooks – it’s CRM software running in the cloud. All you need to do is register and start using Workbooks right away.
Business automation
Not only CRM, you can actually run your whole business with Workbooks – and automate your business operations from a single dashboard. So yes, you can send quotation, take inquiries, handle leads, deliver products, manage accounting, etc. from inside your Workbooks account.
Workbooks can help you automate your sales force – your sales people, sales leads, products, etc. Not only that, you can also automate marketing activities, handle customer support, and generate/view reports.
For Workbooks Business, you can have all the CRM edition’s functionalities, plus the ability to manage your order fulfillment, invoicing and accounting.
As an example of business automation, here’s an example for you: You can easily integrate your Workbook with your business website, getting leads from the site and have them sent straight to your Workbooks account automatically.
To learn which plans is suitable for you, as well as to get an overview on the features offered, please go to Workbooks features and pricing.
Workbooks vs. Salesforce.com
Workbooks is a great alternative to Salesforce.com for one simple reason: Workbooks is more cost-effective than Salesforce.com.
To compare, Workbooks offer free plan for up to 2 users. With the free plan, you can access almost all the functionality of the CRM and Business editions. Salesforce.com also allows free plans, but with limited functionalities.
Moreover, for the same full-access to CRM, Workbooks only charges GBP 19/user/month (approx. USD 32/user/month) vs. Salesforce.com’s USD 65/user/month – both requiring annual contract.)
How to use Workbooks: An overview
The learning curve to use Workbooks is not steep – however, you do need to spend some time to master all the functions, but the forum, online documentation and customer support can get you started fast.
You can visit Workbooks training videos section from which you can learn how to use Workbooks right away.
To give you an idea or two regarding how Workbooks works, here is a getting started guide to Workbooks:
I have signed up with Workbooks, and all I can say that the signup process only takes me 5 minutes. All you need to do is to fill in some details, confirm your registration, enter your password, and log into your account.
If it’s your first time in using Workbooks, you will see a quick start guide that will guide you in setting up your company with basic information, such as confirming your organization’s name and address, choosing tax country and currency, entering your sales tax number and company registration numbers, and setting up your accounting periods.
You can now start using Workbooks! Inside, you can set everything, such as adding new users, group users based on business departments, setting up database to store captured data, accessing contract, invoice, order and quotation templates, and many more.
For an overview on how to implement Workbooks CRM software, go to this Workbooks’ Web Based CRM Software Implementation guide
Verdicts
Workbooks is a fast-lading, powerful web-based CRM Software that can give you everything you need to run not only your business CRM but also your entire business in the cloud.
The interface is well-designed (especially if you compare Workbooks user interface to Google Apps’) and it’s as good looking as Office 365.
If there’s one minor issue I need answer to is whether Workbooks can accommodate business branding by adding, for example, logo or any corporate identity into the Workbook dashboard. Nevertheless, Workbooks is a strong alternative to other online CRM software, such as Salesforce.com.
I recommend you to try Workbooks web-based CRM software; it’s free to use (the basic plan is completely free, or 30-day free trial for the CRM and Business editions) – so no risk on your side.
