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The Low Down on VOIP and CRM?
DGoodin
subscriber Posts: 6
Durning the process of starting my business, I`ve researched a lot of things that I`ll need, or think I`ll need.
My two biggest concerns at the moment are VOIP and contact management/quotation software.
A lot of what I`ve read here at SUN concerning VOIP is good information. However, after doing some research on Packet 8 and less extensively Vonage, I haven`t really seen a majority of reviews that are positive. Is VOIP that unrelaibale? Is customer service and head games by these companies that terrible? I understand the bandwidth issue, and feel that I have a good enough up/down load speeds to use the product. I also understand the reliability issues with power outages, and can live with the limitations that outages can cause. I have a cell phone that calls can be forwarded to. I guess I want the same thing any business owner wants... what they pay for. The need of a fax line with VOIP is paramount to my survival. Is there a good solution out there for VOIP? Vonage looks like a good deal as I`m a one person operation, but the lawsuit makes me wary.
The search continues for CRM software that isn`t hosted. I want to be able to buy the product and install it physically myself. I would like to have something that works well with Outlook, and is a suite of programs that are aimed at sales productivity. I talked with one vendor today, and they have a great product, but the price left me slack-jawed. I need the abilty to track customer contacts, history for them, be able to send email and create email campaigns, dial the phone from the software, produce quotes and be able to email or fax them from the program, and have some sort of catalog or inventory list as well.
Am I shooting for the moon, or just not digging deep enough? All these thing to implement, and only so many hours in a day...DGoodin2007-7-26 16:42:2
My two biggest concerns at the moment are VOIP and contact management/quotation software.
A lot of what I`ve read here at SUN concerning VOIP is good information. However, after doing some research on Packet 8 and less extensively Vonage, I haven`t really seen a majority of reviews that are positive. Is VOIP that unrelaibale? Is customer service and head games by these companies that terrible? I understand the bandwidth issue, and feel that I have a good enough up/down load speeds to use the product. I also understand the reliability issues with power outages, and can live with the limitations that outages can cause. I have a cell phone that calls can be forwarded to. I guess I want the same thing any business owner wants... what they pay for. The need of a fax line with VOIP is paramount to my survival. Is there a good solution out there for VOIP? Vonage looks like a good deal as I`m a one person operation, but the lawsuit makes me wary.
The search continues for CRM software that isn`t hosted. I want to be able to buy the product and install it physically myself. I would like to have something that works well with Outlook, and is a suite of programs that are aimed at sales productivity. I talked with one vendor today, and they have a great product, but the price left me slack-jawed. I need the abilty to track customer contacts, history for them, be able to send email and create email campaigns, dial the phone from the software, produce quotes and be able to email or fax them from the program, and have some sort of catalog or inventory list as well.
Am I shooting for the moon, or just not digging deep enough? All these thing to implement, and only so many hours in a day...DGoodin2007-7-26 16:42:2
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Somebody say yes, it is so.
Jill
Jill will...Concierge Service LLC