Capsule CRM Review

Customer relationship management, or CRM software, gained a great boost from the medium of cloud computing, and there are many services on offer, of varying capabilities and complexities. All aiming to help businesses –especially small- and medium-sized outfits– facilitate smoother operations and keep better track of their customers relations, CRMs should be chosen with care to ensure that the right provider is being used, and the most fitting results are being achieved. Capsule CRM is a major contender for attention within the SaaS CRM market, and has a few fresh ideas for companies interested in maximizing profits, improving efficiencies, and getting a firmer grip over their customer base.

Check out Capsule CRM free and paid editions for yourself

Capsule’s Core

Unlike some SaaS packages that are targeted on highly-specialized functions, Capsule CRM focuses on customer relationship management as a whole, and in so doing also incorporates many features and tools useful for sales, progress-tracking, communication, and other vital aspects of everyday business operation. The core feature of contact organization and data management is done reasonably well with Capsule CRM, as a basic layout and easy-to-find features allow for simple and quick views of important data on demand. A given customer can have their contact details, purchase and support histories, and billing data entered for easy reference, and comments can also be added to keep entire teams up-to-date or to serve as reminders. The quick-view focus on client accounts is sure to be a pleasure for those used to searching through multiple documents or files for various pieces of information; the harmony of data achieved by Capsule CRM is a worthy hallmark. Once a sizable base of contacts has been created, Capsule CRM’s useful organization tools via customizable tags means that sorting and categorizing customers can be accomplished in a few minutes, even for CRM novices.
There are several add-on options for this basic organizational function, including the ability to import contacts from a variety of mail clients, and to synchronize e-mails themselves as well as other items with client accounts. Users new to CRM systems may feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of options related to client organization at first, but the learning process is fairly fast and smooth, and a decent online knowledge base backed by standard tech support can help clear up any basic confusion. With so many different preferences for data gathering, display, and modification, organizing accounts gives developers plenty of room to make big mistakes, but Capsule CRM seems to have avoided any obvious issues with its core functionality.

Bring on the Extras

Capsule CRM might have been a useful tool solely for its organization and display tools, but there are other functions that make the system worthy of a spin for small businesses. Finding effective ways of tracking sales and driving critical decisions is always a concern for competitive organizations, and Capsule has some interesting avenues for getting these tasks done. The system zeroes in on what it calls “opportunities” –situations in which a given customer may contract work from the company. Users can share these opportunities with others, and can create a number of individual tools for optimizing the chance of winning a contract. For instance, a customer might first be flagged as a lead; a plan can then be created for following through, either by importing a previously-established checklist or by creating a customized agenda. It’s easy to keep an eye on the progress of a given sales process with this system, and while setting it up may take a bit of time, the initial investment may be worth it for users who have a lot of steps –or a lot of clients– to remember.
Reporting is another potentially useful feature. Compiling special reports related to any number of parameters set by the user, Capsule can make it easier to create presentations and get a clearer view of the health of a certain campaign. Setting filters for reporting isn’t rocket science, but may nevertheless present a challenge for new users because of the sheer amount of options involved. In fact, throughout many of its features, Capsule delivers a generous amount of configuration options and special preferences. The system’s skin can even be altered with new colors and logos for a more fitting look and feel. These options make Capsule ideal for users who like to get their software as customized as possible, though users who like to keep things simple may find that it’s easy to get a little lost in the possibilities.

Considering Security

Data surrounding customer accounts is likely to be especially sensitive, and most companies are at least somewhat concerned about the integrity of their information when working in the cloud. Capsule uses Amazon servers for its data storage, and uses standard encryption methods to keep prying eyes away from stored materials. The service seems to have a decent privacy policy as well, and an hourly backup policy means it’s highly unlikely that any data will be lost. Advanced security experts may have a question or two to ask Capsule’s dev team to get a more technical and straightforward look at the security measures involved, but for the majority of users, keeping data safe with Capsule shouldn’t require many second thoughts.

Wrapping up the Capsule

Some might say it’s an impossible task to create a customer relationship management system capable of meeting the precise needs of any individual organization. With the many options for customization surrounding Capsule’s basic organizational functionality, however, it’s reasonable to expect great performance with a number of different business models and methodologies. Some users may be off-put by the service’s price; while a free account type is offered, most businesses will want to switch to the professional edition to extend size limits and take advantage of integration capabilities with other SaaS providers and plug-ins. At around $13 per month per user, Capsule may indeed be too expensive for some businesses. For those in need of a serious answer to customer relations management, however, the system offers a reasonably competent solution with the potential to deliver an admirable ROI.

Check out Capsule CRM free and paid editions for yourself

Tags: cloud, collaboration, crm, customer, management, review

Category: Collaboration, CRM, Initial Reviews