#MadeinIndia Cloud telephony and IVRS

The market has been abuzz lately with cloud-based applications and let us admit it, there is more to come.The industry is adopting Cloud based solutions like never before and start-ups are cashing on this technology.One such cloud based technology which is fast gaining its hold in the Indian market is Cloud Telephony or IVR solutions. Now you can conveniently do away with those PBX, IVR, wires and other hassles associated with the traditional on-premise telephony applications. Cloud Telephony can conveniently be used to manage incoming calls, and as virtual receptionist.
cloud telephony ivrs madeinindia
We have done a thorough research to find out the best players in Cloud Telephony in India and here is the list in alphabetical order for you:

Big V’s YOCC
Big V is a Cloud Telephony Company based in India that offers ‘Simpler Affordable Telephony Solutions’ to small and mid-sized businesses. YOCC offers the business houses their Own Call Centre empowering them to base their entire communication system on an automated, single number.

CallHippo

CallHippo implements cloud computing into the world of telephony. Our platform allows deployment of a flexible telephony network, wherever an internet connection is available. We aim to replace the desk phones with soft phones, eliminating the complexity of setting up a phone system.

CallNet
The software requires no setup cost or hardware cost. It offers various products like Smart Receptionist, Smart Call Center, Smart Toll free, Click to call, and Smart fax.

CloudAgent
CloudAgent offers simple Open API for CTI, CDR and Dialer and you can integrate the software with your business systems for an end-to-end customized and optimized process performance. An added benefit offered by CloudAgent is Off-the-shelf integration with various CRM, Helpdesk, and Analytics products.

DialStreet
DialStreet is also a popular choice with a number of features like IVR Studio to record or upload your IVR recordings, integrated analytics, live view to see who exactly is calling you and who is talking to them from your end, large selection of numbers to choose from, API Integration, call recording, forwarding, conferencing and voice mail.

Exotel
Exotel offers  modern Cloud Telephony solution with top features like IVR, Call Recording, Reporting, SMS and many more. It also provides a suite of tools to manage all your sales, marketing and customer care channels, from dashboard with price starting from just INR 1750/month.

IVRGuru
The software offers virtual phone number, B2B lead generation, employee management system, customer lead management and verification, lead grading and lead distribution, interactive voice response and CRM/ERP solutions.

Knowlarity
Funded by Sequoia Capital and Mayfield, the company has its presence in 65 countries. Knowlarity has its headquarters in Singapore and in India, it has offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore. Its flagship products, SuperReceptionist and SmartIVR, can process over a million calls an hour.

LeadNxt
One of the leading cloud telephony company of India, LeadNxt offerscentralized, open- ended &cost-efficientcommunication system through cloud based telephony applications – IVR, Custom Flow Calls, Call Recording, Call Tracking, Voice Mail and more.  It offers varying pricing structure with its silver, gold, diamond and platinum rate cards.

Mcube
MCube is a cloud based integrated communication platform that delivers an array of powerful automated call management applications such as Business Helpline, Virtual PBX, Call Tracking and telephony integrated marketing automation tools such as Lead Management and Support Management.

My operator
One of the top Call management system by VoiceTree Technologies Pvt Ltd provides IVR on cloud telephony, EPABX on Cloud& Toll free number for business with pricing starting from just 3000 per month.

NTS
Headquartered in Udaipur, Rajasthan, with presence in New Delhi and Guwahati, Niche Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd offers telecom consultancy services to both Public and Private sector organizations in India. The company specializes in providing Computer Telephone Integration (CTI), IVR Systems, Voice Portals, Hosted IVR Solutions, building dynamic database-driven custom Web sites, Web-Voice applications, E-Commerce and business Web site solutions.

OzonetelKooKoo
Kookoo helps you to build business communication infrastructure using web languages. With an option to pay as per use, Kookoo’s monthly rental varies from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2500. The software allows you to build telecom applications, IVRs, office PBX and outbound campaigns.

SparkTG
Founded in the year 2002, Spark Technology Group Inc provides excellent hosted IVR and integration services. Key services offered are development of custom advanced inbound/outbound IVR, contact center solutions, natural language understanding, content management systems, data transformation, and legacy system integration.

Ziffy
Ziffy offers a starter plan at a monthly rental of Rs. 699 with a call rate of Rs 1.4 and a professional plan at a monthly rental of Rs. 2000 and call rate of 99 paise per minute. The software offers various features like automated welcome message, IVR, virtual number, toll free number, two way sms, call recording and forwarding and many more.

The article has been created with the help of Cloud Telephony and Virtual IVR Analysts at SoftwareSuggest.  The list is not comprehensive and you can mention as comments the software missed by us.

#MadeinIndia Software for Billing and invoicing

Billing and invoicing software probably are the most used software in the world. And India has some very efficient software product that are being used all over the world. Here is a list of 15 #MadeinIndia Software for billing and invoicing . (In alphabetical order)

#madeinindia-billing-invoicing-software

AccountingGuru – A Web based billing, inventory and accounting software

AccountingGuru has a primary focus on the Indian market. It has almost all the features one will look for in a web based accounting software. The software starts from Rs 1800 per year and goes up to Rs 5000 per year for standard editions.

Busy – An Installation based accounting software with ease of usability and focusing on Indian Business

Busy is a complete accounting and inventory management software. It has a clean design and can be operated with basic training which makes it increasingly popular. The software has a basic package price of Rs 6500 which allows smooth invoicing and billing.

Crave – An Installation based software made for Indian Business

The basic pricing for Crave India starts from Rs 2500 and goes up to Rs 10000. The full version of the software offers a complete Accounting Software.

Hyper Drive– An Installation and Web based POS Software focusing on Indian Business

Hyper drive is a complete ‘Point of sales’ software which can take care of invoicing, accounting & Point of sale functionality. The software has a clean interface, allows cloud based synchronization and boasts of deep analytics.

Invoicera – A Web based software made by a Delhi based company for the International Market

The basic version of Invoicera is priced at $20 per month and goes up to $100 per month. The software boasts of Recurring billing, Timesheets and API access.

JusBill – A web based invoicing software for Indian market

Besides the invoicing functionality, JusBill also allows its users to fill e-returns on the click of a button. JustBill can be used free for up to 50 customers and the most popular plan costs Rs 999 per month.

Marg Billing– An Installation based software made for the Indian Market

Marg is a complete retailing software and one of the most popular one in the country. The company has more than 300 distributors and partners spread across the country to support its users. The pricing starts at Rs 10000.

OnlineBiller – An Installation & Web based billing software for Indian market

Though the name says OnlineBiller, it has both online and offline billing and invoicing software. The online version of the software is completely free and the offline version can cost from Rs 3000 to Rs 10000. The software has multi-user support, multi language support and in-depth reporting.

Profitbooks– A Web based complete accounting software for the Indian Market

Though Profitbooks is a complete accounting software, it can very well be used for billing and invoicing as well. The pro version is available at Rs 10000 per year (Less than Rs 1000 per month).

ReachAccountant– A Web based accounting software for Indian Business

Reachaccountant is an end to end web based accounting software which can fit in manufacturing, retailing or distribution business. The basic version of the software can full fill the billing and invoicing needs.

Saral Billing– An Installation based software made for Indian Business

Starting from Rs 6000 this software can be used for retailing and wholesale but doesn’t fit for manufacturing companies.

Shimbi MyBilling– A Web based software made by Pune based company for international market

One can use Shambi free for up to 5 customers and for pro version with unlimited customers one has to pay up to $15. The software allows estimate creation and claims design superiority.

Tally– An Installation based software and the most popular software in India

Though Tally is popular for its accounting feature, it is also used for billing and invoicing. The software is priced around Rs 18000 and offers around 40% discount if you are a Chartered Accountant.

ZipBooks – A Web based software for small businesses

ZipBooks is by an Ahmedabad based company named Accusol. The software is a new entry to the indian market and is designed specifically for Small Indian Business.

Zoho Invoice– A Web based software made by Indian company but focuses on the International Market

Zoho boasts of a clean interface and integration with its CRM and other Zoho products. The starter version is free up to 5 customers and goes to $30 per month (Rs 1800) for the top most version.

The article has been created with the help billing and invoicing Software Analysts at SoftwareSuggest.  The list is not comprehensive and you can mention as comments the software missed by us.

Cloud Based #MadeInIndia Accounting Software

Cloud based Accounting Software are becoming increasingly popular for small and medium business. There is no hassle of installing it, the data is safer on the cloud and the costs works out to be much less for the multi user version. India, has managed to produce quite a few efficient cloud accounting software. Here is the list of #MadeInIndia cloud accounting software. (In no particular order) 

Reach Accountant: Reach business automation software was instituted with a vision to empower proud owners of innumerable business establishments in SMB’s and MSMEs sector in India.  It has established itself as an effective tool to the Business owner in driving Business Growth, by offering absolute control, ease of functioning and remote accessibility of Business with no limitation on number of users leveraging the cloud technology.

Reach  software in a quick time since its inception a year back  has established itself as  reliable and  bespoke solution provider to service business, sales & service business, Point of sales, assembly manufacturers, trading & distribution business, and retail business. Reach software offers modules spread over accounting, inventory, purchase management, CRM, POS billing, Invoicing, e mail management and so on so forth. It is enriched with unique features like auto sync of bank transaction, Mobile App and e-tailing add-ons/ project management plug ins, establishes it as a one of the top software in the online software space. State of the art features backed by futuristic technology and competitive pricing makes the offering from Reach Accountant a truly “Value For Money” proposition.

Reach was also awarded the “Best Internet Retailer of the Year-2013”  by ET Now. Reach accountant enjoys strong assistance from Sequoia Capital – a renowned global venture capital firm, being the key investor to the company.

ProfitBooks: ProfitBooks is an online accounting software designed specially designed for Indian businesses. The software has a simple interface, which can be operated by business owners. ProfitBook helps Business owners to stay on top of sales, expenses and banking transactions. Entrepreneurs can focus on profitability, can easily find out high value customers, top selling products and other meaningful data. It works perfect on smartphones and tablets too. With its simplicity and affordable pricing, ProfitBooks aims to put top end technology in the hands of Indian SMEs.

Cloud-based-accounting-software-softwaresuggest

Zoho Books: Though Zoho Books is a product made in India, the company focuses on the international markets. They have one of the most popular offering in the world market because of their low price as compared to their competitors. Zoho has a flat pricing of $24 per month for unlimited invoicing, unlimited users. The software can also be integrated with Online Payment gateway which works out which works out to be a boon for small and medium enterprise selling online. It is one of the few software to provide a powerful API to connect it with other software you many want to use.

ZipBooks:  ZipBooks one of the latest entrants to cloud based accounting software list. It is an Ahmedabad based company named Accusol Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The company has priced at Rs 4999 for a year. The software focus on Accounting, Inventory, Sales and Purchase management. The product will soon have efficient CRM features, to keep up with the growing trend of automated marketing.

AccountingGuruAccountingGuru.net is an inventory, invoicing & accounting software.  It provides a simple single login mechanism to create and access multiple companies.  It allows you to invite your staff and accounting professionals with exhaustive user permissions.  Accounting professionals can login with one login id and will be able to manage and serve multiple companies easily. AccountingGuru.net excels in Branch/inventory/sales invoice management.

AccountingGuru is by Veersoft Solutions which is based out of Bangalore. The basic version of this software is priced as low as Rs 2400 per year. Its users find customization of printable invoices formats as one of its best features.  There is a separate print designer module.  The companies can brand the invoice with their own colors and themes with a little help from a website designer.

If these accounting software don’t meet your requirements, you can talk to our software analyst at SoftwareSuggest.com for suggestion on software that can fit your requirements.

SaaS Based CRM & Lead Management Software from India

Main reason behind choosing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) & lead management software is to cut down the sales time and add to the quality of client service. With a well equipped CRM & lead management system, customer relations would improve and the process of customer tracking is going to get efficient. Due to this, one would notice that the number of delays would be less and sales visibility would improve manifold. With all the sectors in India such as health care, financial, retail and pharmaceutical considering CRM and lead management systems, it gets imperative to know about the various available options.

  1. CRMNEXT: CRMNEXT is a responsive software designed to satisfy numerous goals like enhancing customer contentment and loyalty, affording your sales, management, marketing and service providing teams with thorough easily accessible information, manage, track and focus performance indicators like profitability, customer share, market-share, revenues and cross-market reports. This software is used in finance, banking, insurance, mutual fund, telecom, pharma, retail and multimedia sectors.
  2. Dquip: This lead management software would be of great help in lead acquisition, routing, prospecting and closure. The features that make it a wonderful pick are ability to add leads online, lead delegation, lead tracking, reminders via SMS and email and detailed reporting. Dquip lead management software consists of cloud as well as clients online servers.
  3. ImpelCRM: This software not only covers lead management but goes beyond touch marketing too. This is a Cloud + Mobile CRM that promise to help in many areas such as lead generation, order processing, collections, inventory management, and customer support. Striking features of this software include field reporting, e-coupon management, inventory management, email integration and advanced reporting. This is available in both mobile and web versions.
  4. Kreato CRM– Kreato CRM is a comprehensive cloud software solution that manages multiple aspects like managing numerous leads and inquiries, marketing campaigns like SMS and Emails, SFA(Sales Force Automation) – account conversion, generating analytical reports, arranging, planning and tracking customer support tasks and communicating with customers via inbound and outbound calls. The other notable features are business apps and integration apps.
  5. Lead Prime: This simple to configure and highly integrated software comes in a ready to use mode. It is going to make it possible to track down the leads, would provide timely alerts and help bring improvement in the lead conversion ratio.  Some interesting features that set it apart from others are, ease of use, fully automated processing, customizable, and easy to integrate. Lead Prime is available in both web and mobile versions.
  6. Leadsquared: This comprehensive lead management software would help one in areas such as lead acquisition, verification, routing and sales closure. Some of the features that add to the worth of this software are website visit tracking, lead scoring, email tracking, activity history, advanced search, dynamic and static lists, reminders, task updates, and social profile support. Available via SAAS model, this software surely promises to bring in efficacy in the order tracking and routing processes.
  7. Sales babu– Sales babu is integrated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software that is hosted on cloud. Being on cloud offers the advantage that it can be operated from anywhere in the world. The data can be accessed, stored and analyzed irrespective of your location. The perks of using this software is that you can monitor the employee’s sales leads, check whether they are achieving the targets and likewise analyze and predict sales, implementation of strategies and carry out the successive planning. You can also sort qualifying leads, acquire a large amount of customer related information, collect the inquiries and manage various contact details of customers.
  8. SalesWah – Saleswah is specially designed for small and medium scale businesses and comes at affordable rates. The main highlights of this software are that it is user-friendly, innate app that has excellent functionality. Striking features of Saleswah include: easily operable by all and doesn’t need technical help, digs into customer interaction history and tells you where to focus, lets you customize your logo, email, time an currency settings and integrates data across Google apps and Microsoft Outlook.
  9. Winds CRM – Cloud based Winds CRM is mainly designed to grow organizations and is useful to both the sales and management teams. It performs a plethora of activities like managing multiple solutions like lead, clients, contacts, tsk management, team organization and product analysis, information and reporting. In the sales department it performs these functions: it helps tract leads that are created, qualified and promoted via numerous pipelines, sales staff can enter relevant information, update and track relevant opportunities thus making the entire process transparent, generating invoices against sales order and automation of the invoice generation proposal within seconds. In the marketing sector, Winds CRM is used for search based marketing for cross selling among customers and manage and orchestrate different campaigns to increase the output efficiency.
  10. Zoho CRM– A complete eagle-eye view about your entire sales cycle is provided by Zoho CRM. The key areas in which it makes your managing simpler is by automating the data so that you can lay emphases on selling, tracks your sales activity by displaying the sales cycle thereby helping you align your goals and strategies and it is mobile responsive. Add-ons include: connecting with your customers from within your CRM account, synchronizing your CRM account with other applications to increase the scalability of your business solution and you can integrate Gmail with CRM.

Any of these CRM and lead management systems can be considered after evaluating order processing, customer relation and order tracking needs. Depending on the business process, any of these variants can be put to work.

For any more queries or confusion about the SAAS based software, feel free to contact us.

 

7 #SaaS Based Software for Managing Apartment & Housing Societies

The urban population is increasing by many folds every decade. Higher standards of living, greater exposure, fatter salary packages and attractive lifestyle is making youth migrate from villages to cities. In metro cities the ration of population to the land available can never be balanced. Leave aside sprawling mansions, in metro’s even owning a small flat is grim and a luxury that not all can afford. However, with the space crisis increasing by leaps and bounds, more and more sky scrapers and high rise buildings are coming up to accommodate the ever increasing population. In every housing society, there are volunteers who manage various sections like accounting, expense payment, calculating interest, etc. However, with the daily travel pangs and work pressure, it becomes increasingly tedious to manage the above said functions. This is where we come to your rescue with a list of seven SAAS (Software-as-a-service)  based apartment management and housing society softwares to make your life easier.

ApnaComplex

ApnaComplex, a SAAS software us built by Hyderabad based Gokul Singh. This ERP software is targeted for gated communities and housing societies.

This software manages four aspects:

  1. Accounting – It has two flavors, one for layman user and the other for auditors and accountants. The data can be entered by any person who knows basic computing and the back-end converts it into double entry accounting.
  2. Expense and income management – A record of all the members who have paid dues, not paid and how much money they owe all these details are stored in the software.
  3. Communication – Any changes in the current management system are sent to the members immediately by Email and SMS.
  4. Billing – This software performs three major tasks book-keeping, balance sheets and income-expense statement.

ApnaComplex offers the following striking features:

  1. All complex data of the residential society can be managed from one place
  2. Make all operations transparent and therefore prevent arguments among owners and residents
  3. All process are managed professionally by software and no dependence on any person
  4. Reduces the overall personal efforts

Many residential complexes have embraced ApnaComplex which comes at nominal monthly rates. It is advantageous for tenants, owners and the complex management team.

CommonFloor

CommonFloor App was built with an intention to bring all residents of a society together with the help of technology. The best highlight of this SAAS software is that you can be solely in charge of all the accounting and financing part and the entire system is transparent. Volunteers who take up housing responsibilities are very busy and CommonFloor is built keeping this in mind.

This software satisfies three goals:

  1. Brings the residents close in this age of technology where people are always on the go – Discussion forums to ensure that all residents are satisfied or have any issues with the management, notices that would land in your inbox every time a change is made, events and meet ups and directories to remain connected to fellow residents.
  2. Transparent accounting – Payment gateways, expense vs income tracker, seamless account management and audit ready account reports.
  3. Save time by great efficient management – Vendor management, complaints and issue management, SMS and Email broadcast and management of verification of new members.

India’s first real estate portal has more than 10 lakh residents using this software. Moreover, apart from the monthly or yearly payments, they do not charge any extra bucks as transaction fees.

ApartmentAdda

A great software can be available to the public at very reasonable cost of a few hundred rupees. ApartmentAdda has proved this statement right and is also able to generate profits. This online housing society accounting and management software has 1.8 lakh active users. The Target audience for this app are Co-operative Housing Societies, Resident Welfare associations and Apartment Owners Association. Its main aim is to boost communications among residents, facility management and accounting personals.

Why people find this app very user-friendly?

  1. They offer complete end-to-end accounting solutions and have a vigorous online ERP system for handling residential complexes.
  2. Important details like dues and actionable buttons are displayed at the top part of the page.
  3. News feed layout – Visit the news feed page and you’ll come to know about the latest developments in your society. All members can contribute and a like button is added so that you can shower him/her with your likes.
  4. Conversations section – Community conversations can be carried out in this section. Subgroups where you can have conversations with neighbors and share photos is a noteworthy widget.

ApartmentAdda offers the following advantages:

  1. Automatic maintenance billing
  2. User gets due reminder SMS’s
  3. In case of any problems you can always contact the Helpline
  4. It is possible to view and publish various reports

Go ahead and try ApartmentAdda, its cheap and has surplus advantages which would make your housing management easier. This Single Page Responsive UI is very simple to use, extremely user-centric and offered at the most reasonable rates.

SocietyRun

A one-stop destination for managing financial and accounting matters for housing societies, resident associations and gated communities. SocietyRun is a hassle-free and easy software for management and accounting of housing societies and apartments. This software facilitates enhanced communication between the members, sharing of pictures and documents, raising their voice on various issues, keeping a record of bills, dues and payment, decreasing paperwork and having transparency in all transactions.

Services offered by SocietyRun include:

  1. The society members can share their opinions, pictures and thoughts by polls.
  2. It allows members to buy and sell things.
  3. Check for dealers and service providers.
  4. Enhanced communication – Online communication via emails and offline by SMS and the sharing of announcements, documents and photographs is possible.
  5. There is a special activity point section wherein the members can recommend fellow members for their accomplishments.

The perks of using SoceityRun are:

  1. Social networking tools are available
  2. There is a special notice board where admin, committee member or office bearer can add notices
  3. All relevant information about members like their address, emergency contact, blood group and parking information are stored in the database
  4. Affordable
  5. Needs no external hardware or software

Apartment Sathi

Apartment Sathi is a multitasking software. Advancement of technology has given rise to software’s that perform a wide range of tasks for which previously manpower was needed. It is a SAAS catering to the overall needs of housing societies. This software manages the accounting and auditing essentials of landlords, industrial estates, builders and developers. It works on computers and mobile phones with an internet connection. Customers can opt for any package from Basic Product, Premium Product and Gold Type Product.

Advantages of using this software:

  1. Communication application: In order to boost communication between community members, there are activities like forums, residents address book, noticeboards, events calendar, website for your apartment, instant polls, vendor information, admin support and document storage.
  2. Management applications: Apartment Sathi makes managing your society easy as the software manages key tasks like admin users, creating a landing page for your apartment’s website, managing users, storing maintenance contracts, notices, staff records and admin files, event manager and issues, assets and complaint tracker.
  3. Accounting applications: In order to give you peace of mind, Apartment Sathi takes care of financial matters like payment gateway, income and expense tracker and managing cash flow.

A plethora of services offered by the SAAS Apartment Sathi makes it one of the most widely used in apartment management and housing society software.

Societyhive

This is the age of speed where everyone is always on-the-go. People living in flats do not even know who their neighbors are. Societyhive was built with the aim of bringing people closer and bridging communication gaps between them.

Societyhive makes a difference to your community by:

  1. Service providers: The main advantage of connected societies is that the local service providers know that all the members are connected and well informed. In case of any fraud, their reputation will go down and they would be kicked out of the society. So service providers offer their best services at the most reasonable prices.
  2. Always stay in touch with your roots: By bridging the gap between people, you can always increase communication, sit and solve problems and help the fellow members.
  3. Collaborate and celebrate: Societyhive draws your attention to the children of lesser God and gives you an opportunity to help them. It’s said, the best use of wealth is when it is used to help the needy ones.

Services offered by Societyhive:

  1. A private website is provided where information about all members is stored. In this way, no person with a fake profile can enter your society.
  2. Manage your society by making it safer, happier and a fun place to live. Accounting and billing information is stored here. You can meet like-minded people and raise support for social causes.
  3. There is an advice section where you can ask fellow members for advice regarding all issues. Looking up for recommended service providers was never so easy.
  4. Societyhive provides multilingual support.

Society123

It is a SAAS catering the financial needs of housing societies. This software manages the accounting and auditing essentials of landlords, industrial estates, builders and developers. It works on computers and mobile phones with an internet connection.

Advantages of using Society123:

  1. Simple operation: Log on into your account, assign the tasks to the software and it’ll do everything.
  2. Different user accounts like Administrators, Managing committee and Vendor staff can be created that allow them to access the accounts at different levels. By this method, no unaccounted person can log on and make changes.
  3. Completely accurate information is made available at all times to the members.
  4. The entire process is automated, hence there is reduced administrative work.

Society123 performs the following tasks:

  1. Bill generation
  2. Automatic bill delivery via e-mails
  3. Bank reconciliation
  4. Alerting the recipients of pending bills by SMS
  5. Calculating accurate interest rates as per the society norms
  6. R&D section
  7. Parking allotments
  8. Managing tasks, meetings, registers, tasks, complaints, compliances, circulars and events

Society123 aims to reduce your tensions and make sure that you never miss any payments.

The main aim of all these software’s is to bring in a transparent management and account handling system that is solely handled by technology and all users can have access to all system related information.

Does your housing society have a SAAS apartment management software? If the answer is negative, we advise you to check the following seven SAAS software’s and buy and install one today itself. You can also talk to our Software Analyst to find which software fits your requirement best .

8 Reasons to switch to a Document Management System

Document management was essentially born out of the need to manage ever growing amounts of information being created within organizations and enterprises. As the business grows, it becomes increasingly complicated to gain access to accurate and relevant information from the bundles and stocks of paper documents and files and as a result precious paid working hours of the management is wasted. 

Research says that an employee spends nearly 40% of their time looking for information locked in e-mails, documents and filing cabinets. Managers spend an average of 4 weeks a year searching for or waiting on documents that have been misfiled, mislabeled or just plain lost. The average cost of handling one document over its life cycle is between Rs. 200-500, and upto Rs. 2000 if it’s misplaced and Rs. 5000 if it gets lost! No enterprise would want to incur such a loss on a single document. Additionally, it costs money & time to file, print, store, handle the documents.

The answer to all these issues is a Document management system (DMS). A DMS can saves time, money and space without affecting your business. As DMS is trendy, it gives a tech-savvy touch to the enterprise.

How will it help your enterprise?

1.     Make better utilization of money spent on office rental

Paper based documents storage competes with employees for floor space within an enterprise.

DMS reduces the amount of prime storage space required for files. Having real estate prices touching the skies, an enterprise would not want to waste spend space for paper documents and files. It should rather with the help of DMS, use that space for employees who will add to the productivity of the enterprise.

2.     Easy retrieval

For most enterprises, tracking down files is a hassle. It all adds up to about 2 hours/year for each corporate client and about 15 minutes/ year for personal clients. By going paperless with DMS, enterprise can track down files within seconds, not minutes and hours. 

Compared to the traditional file storage methods, DMS users can access information from the in less time. They don’t spent time locating the documents and can retrieve them without leaving the desk.

3.     Easy document distribution

Sharing documents electronically with colleagues and clients over a network or by e-mail becomes easy. On the other hand paper documents would need photo copied to be shared.

Everyone owns a smartphone these days, so sharing documents within or outside the enterprise, while traveling or sitting in any corner of the world is possible with just a click. With DMS, your smartphone will become smarter.

4.     Security

DMS will protect your documents and folders from being accessed by intruders. A DMS also removes the possibility of having confidential material or trade secrets lying around unattended in an office.

5.     Disaster recovery

DMS provides an easy way to back-up documents, working in conjunction with your other backup systems to safeguard your work. From natural to man-made disasters there is no way that paper documents can be saved. A DMS allows the back-up of documents in form of data at multiple location and hence is the only convenient solution to secure critical documents.

6.     Improved cash flows

The most important documents of any enterprise are its invoices, bills, debt collection, etc. With proper records of all documents related to finance of the enterprise, it ensures that the flow of cash can be controlled centrally and all documentation required making cash flow decisions can be accessed immediately. With this there will be no loop holes in the accounts and more transparency in the enterprise. 

7.     Improved customer service and satisfaction

With DMS, the enterprise will waste no time on finding files. It will lead to quick reaction times, a more expert reaction; a more faultless reaction to the problem and quarries of the clients and customer. By this the employees will be able to concentrate more on the core activities of the business, thus leading to more customer satisfaction.

8.     Competitive edge

The same data that was a while ago put away as paper can now be dispersed to clients and target people electronically.  With growing competition, the fight for survival in the market has become very tough. DMS adds a competitive edge as it improves the working of the enterprise by reducing time wasted on less important work and focusing on the core business activities.

Looking at these benefits of the Document Management System, it can be surely be said that DMS is the need of the hour which has to be adapted by enterprises for their smooth working. This will result in reduced costs of the enterprise and increased productivity and profitability.

If you decide to start looking for a DMS, following are few selection tips I could tell from my experience. 

How to make the right choice while looking for DMS?

  • Look for companies that have some years of business under their belt and that they are in a proper track with a growth plan. It shouldn’t be a case where they close up a year after you purchased.
  • Always look for those DMS which offer 24 – hours support and have troubleshooting resources available online.
  • Price shouldn’t be a major concern for you. You should rather focus on whether the software you are purchasing meets your document storage needs or not.  On the other hand, if the software adapts to structural changes of your company, you should go for it, no matter what it costs. The initial investment will pay off exponentially in the long run.

With inputs from Sarthak Malani, SoftwareSuggest

7 Must-Have Features of the right Point of Sale (POS) software for your Retail business

Point of Sale software is being used in millions of retail and hospitality businesses who have thousands of different POS software to choose from. A right POS software will give the business a new level of control over operations; increasing efficiency, boosting profits, and will help it fine-tune its business model. The wrong system, however, can be a waste of money, time and a source of frustration.

The mistake retailers often make is to buy software that is not intended for their industry and this confusion mainly arises from the wide range of features available in thousands of software in the market. For example, a gift shop has much different needs than a car dealer and a liquor store doesn’t need the same software as a clothing store. So the same POS software will not be compatible to all of them. The differences in features and intended uses of a POS can have a huge impact on your business.

Organisations need to narrow their search to the specific industry and it will be well on its way to money well spent and a POS software system that makes your life easier and business more profitable.

Here are 7 common features to look into while buying a POS for any Small, Medium or Large Retail Business:

Features

  • Fast checkout: A retail POS software should be able to simplify the checkout process. This means that it should not take the sales team’s much manual effort to complete a transaction. If there is still a manual process that the team has to go through, then the POS software needs a replacement.
  • Inventory tracking: A  POS should make the inventory management process effortless. One should be able to monitor all the critical information about the store from individual transactions to purchases. This will make the ordering from vendors easy & the inventory manager would not waste time calculating the re-order level.
  • Customer Data: A good POS can help convert the data on customer’s profile into information. As a use case, it will let the purchase team know what products the customers buy more frequently and thus the team can place orders accordingly. The data can also help the customer relation team build an effective loyalty program, which can increase sales in the long term.
  • Automated Purchasing Program: A good POS allows the business to have a streamlined process of connecting with suppliers. For example, if the retail outlet is running low on a critical product, with the help an Automated Purchasing Program, the POS can easily get connected with the suppliers in no time and place the order for the required quantity required quantity
  • Capabilities for multiple location / Mobility: A good POS should also offer online access which helps you stay connected with the business from anywhere remotely.  It is a convenient feature for franchises and business having more than one location.
  • Payment Card Industry (PCI) Agreement: It is one of the most important features which can help the business build trust with its customers as it will protects customers’ credit card details. An organization may face legal issues if the POS does not have this feature.
  • Reporting tools: Every Retail POS should have a reporting feature which is user friendly. It should store information such as product styles or models, weekly sales, monthly sales, annual sales and hourly transactions.

These 7 features are essential for any POS software and ensuring the above feature will increase effectiveness and efficiency of any Retail or Super-Market.

Here are some softwares that you find useful:

 

To find POS with these features you can visit our the Point of Sale page on SotfwareSuggest.com

With Inputs from Sarthak Malani, at SoftwareSuggest.com 

Benefits of CRM Software – A 360° Evaluation

Do you own a business and face the problem of customer communication? Are you unaware of your customers’ needs? Are your customer’s unhappy with your services? Are you unable to analyze the progress of your business? Then, to all such problems there is one and only one solution – the CRM Software.

In any business two things are very critical: customers and employees. The growth of any business depends majorly on the relationship between the customers and the vendors. When both are satisfied then we have a “win-win” situation as happier customers are more loyal and spend often. To achieve this goal the business should meet its customers’ expectations and deliver them the best services in every odd. Hence, to address the problems of dealing with customers in day-to-day basis the concept of CRM was introduced which is gaining popularity from past few years.

Customer Relationship Management abbreviated as CRM is not just a software or an application of technology rather it’s a unique approach to deeply know the customers’ needs and nature in order to effectively and efficiently develop  a stronger relationship with them.

CRM: Business Point Of View

Benefits of CRM Software

  1. Right Selection

The CRM application is a supreme tool that helps to easily manage the business of any type – big or small, anywhere- home or office ,anytime- day or night and hence, it boosts the customer services. The increase in the sales efficiency can be seen after implementing the right CRM. Even, a CRM can enhance the productivity by 30%, if used correctly.  The selection of a right CRM for your business matters a lot to manage your business. Now-a-days, there are lots of CRM options available in the market.

Thus, as a businessman your first step is to figure out which option will help you build a strong relationship base with your customers and gain you profit.

Points to consider when evaluating a CRM are:
– Ease of implementation
– What features are available out of the box
– What level of customization is required to meet my business requirements
– Cost Professional Services
– Ease of integrating with other back office systems
– what level of integration is available “out of the box” to my telephony system.

  1. Your Progress

The report system empowers you to analyze the progress of your business as well as your team.

  1. Know your Financial Status

Certain CRM packages, offer its users to track their cost of sales and other operating costs to calculate the net profit. Such feature is implemented via finance software in the systems and plays a vital role in tracking the development of small business.

CRM: Sales Agent Point Of View

Advantages of CRM Software

There are many ways in which CRM helps you to nurture the customer relationships with the sales agents and some of them are discussed below:

  1. Organize your Business on tips

It is said that to achieve success easily you should have required resources. The same thing applies in the case of business too. The sale teams of any business – big or small can manage easily their business if they have the right tools to do the job.

The services offered by the CRM makes the task simple and effortless for the salesman or its team to efficiently organize their job of managing multiple clients or meeting big quotas.

Even you can track your own contacts, deals and leads using this technology and can share the info with your team members that helps to manage the customer’ needs even if their contact is not available on regular basis.

  1. Alert System

This functionality of a CRM software follow-up the salesperson with the data set for alert and helps you to do various important tasks on time like to timely meet the milestones, trigger a new activity, prepare presentations, go through a communication with a customer and many more.

Setting alerts makes you attentive, proactive and impresses your multiple customers with your punctual working style.

  1. Track the Important

CRM is a centralized system which helps you to manage your customer relationships by securely accessing as well as sharing your important information, correspondence, conversations, billing info or documents anywhere, anytime through your CRM based cloud benefits.

You can even have a look over the historical records of the customers which help you to deal with any specific customer more professionally.

  1. Get Social

Most enterprise CRM systems help the agents to be in touch with their customers via social media. Moreover, with CRM, agents can work together through chat or video conferences. CRM software offer agents a space to create and store templates for call scripts that have restricted accessibility to other employees.

Even, the service agents can go live with their customers through their website and mobile apps.

  1. Check where you stand

The reports attached with your CRM tool helps you to continuously measure your customer service performance as well as the customer activities so that you can easily figure out the needs of your clients and act accordingly to fulfill them.

CRM: Enhances Customer Services

Importance of CRM Software

After knowing deeply the benefits of CRM for different sectors let’s have a look on the ways in which CRM can help in improving Customer services.

  1. Social media

Generally, social media is used to mainly watch the activities of the customers which help to better learn about the customer choice. Encouraging the clients to link their lead generation and social media enables the clients conveniently log-in. For example, instead of submitting their name, phone, email address, etc. on a form on your web site, let the users just sign in with LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook and others.

  1. Automated Customer Service

On adding a new customer to the CRM, automatically registering them in a Support System, sending them a “welcome to support” Email (with instructions on how to use it), adding them to the e-news mailing list, and notifying customer services to contact them after a specified period to see how they are getting on improves the customer services to a greater extent.

  1. Easy Adoption to system

To make the customers efficiently use the CRM system new gamification processes can be included in a customized CRM.

  1. Customer engagement

Customers always have a tendency to compare what they are getting is best or not it could be in terms of Price, Quality, Service and even the way there are being treated . So any function or process which can envisage the customers that they are getting the best deal or treatment from the market at optimal or lowest cost, and then nurturing that same relationship for highest profit or yield for as long as possible would make a difference to any Business.

  1. Customer Self-Service Approach

Usually, CRM systems offer portals that manage knowledge for the customer self-service. These portals allow the customers to access FAQ or troubleshooting articles without assistance of any agent.

On the other hand, some CRM solutions also offer a company to establish their own online communities for their customers which is an easy way to reach for queries and feedback.

Thus, Customer Relationship Management is an efficient way to get a clearer picture of your current business and helps you to plan your future strategies to satisfy your customers.

So, what are you waiting for? Start expanding your business today with the suitable CRM technology and share your experiences with us via comments.

Browse a list of CRM Software at SoftwareSuggest.com