Editorial Note: Insightful Accountant's editorial focus for March is Customer Management, which means we'll examine Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) apps that work with QuickBooks Desktop, QBO or both. Murph has chosen myriad apps based on his own ProAdvisor Client experiences, and some from what you wanted to learn more about within our recent reader survey.
In some cases, these CRMs may make use of, or require, a third-party connector/integrator app. Such connector app(s) may or may not be listed in one of the Intuit QuickBooks App Centers. All such requirements will be noted in our CRM product reviews.
Zoho CRM streamlines team collaboration—it’s just that simple. Everyone can share information, ask questions, respond, track leads, answer queries from potential customers and engage across every possible channel.
Zoho makes it easy to track customer interaction, whether that is via telephone, live chat, email, social media or even snail mail. You will never lose track of your customer communications with Zoho because it will send you real-time notifications whenever a customer interacts with your business by any channel.
With Zoho’s automated workflows, you can automate every aspect of your business to cut out time-intensive, repetitive tasks. For example, you will streamline lead nurturing so that you and your team can make the most of every incoming prospect.
In addition, workflow automation lets you trigger instant actions to stay on top of essential activities like reminders and follow-up.
And Zoho offers “conversational AI for smarter selling.” You can instantly find any information you need within your CRM with the help of Zia—your AI-powered sales assistant. Zia will give you advanced lead and deal predictions to help you identify prospects that are likely to convert to closed deals.
In addition, Zia will remind you of essential tasks, alert you to critical timelines and follow-up activities and suggest the best times to contact your leads based on successful interaction history.
Integration is a must with any CRM, which is why Zoho meets those needs by providing access to all your calendars. Connect with Google, Outlook, Office 365, Apple Calendar and, of course, Zoho Calendar (as well as others).
But calendar integration isn’t the only tool you need, and that’s why Zoho CRM also integrates with G-Suite and Office 365 so you can experience the best of your favorite productivity tools without having to shuffle between applications.
Yes, Zoho CRM offers a mobile app that lets you stay on top of your business communications so you can remain connected to your clients and colleagues wherever you are going. Download it from the Apple App Store or get it on Google Play for Android. The app is your dashboard on the move, your eye into sales activities, the connector to your clients and your personal voice-based AI-assistant.
Now for the bad news: While Zoho CRM has created an extension to integrate with QuickBooks Online, which will directly install QuickBooks to your Zoho CRM account, that is about all it does. It takes more than the typical time to configure your import and export of data between the two applications. (An example of the configuration options required for set-up is shown below.)
You can find more information about this integration at the Zoho partner (Zsetup) website.
In addition, Workato, a developer of QBO integrations, has developed a connector (shown below) to work with Zoho CRM and QBO. The Workato connector is listed in the Intuit QuickBooks App Store here.
If Zoho sounds like the CRM for you, be sure to check out its website, since you will not find it listed in the Intuit QBO App Center. It presently only integrates via third-party connector apps.
Acknowledgments and Disclosures
Zoho CRM — Graphics and content used within this feature were derived or adapted by the author in part from Zoho CRM source materials, including the Zoho CRM website. Zoho CRM and Zoho, as used herein, are registered trade-names of Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Zoho Corporation, headquartered in Chennai, India.
Adapted source materials related to products published within this feature by Insightful Accountant are for educational and product promotional purposes only.
As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Any other trade names used herein refer to products which may be registered or trademarked, or otherwise held by, their respective owners. They are referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. None of the vendors within this article have paid Insightful Accountant or the author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article, nor inclusion of this product within the related series, does not represent any endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.