Followup CRM vs. WORKetc

One of the best things about FollowUp Power is that we can mark things for follow-up several months down the line, which we frequently have a need for since many of our clients are seasonal. For example, we'll get started working with them while they're here in Florida for the winter, then they'll head back north in the spring and not want to hear from us again until they return in the fall. With FollowUp Power, we can then mark them for follow up in the future rather than to have to somehow remember to contact them in the future.

Incentivized

If you are looking for a way to organize customer data and projects across regions, then WORK[etc] will get the job done. For our company, the country is divided into 3 regions and each region has a team of workers in charge of providing ongoing support services to that region. WORK[etc] has organized our company exponentially and given us a solid database to pull from to ensure we're meeting contractual requirements, providing timely deliverables and staying ahead of the game. Because I only work in a service industry, I don't know if WORK[etc] would be appropriate for product based companies, However, if you were offering anything [product or service] that required online support, the system will function well.

Incentivized

• We love the dashboard feature. This is where we spend the majority of our time. The dashboard helps us avoid missing bid dates and deadlines.
• The system is very intuitive and a new user will be up to speed within one hour after they start using the system. There is only one place to enter all data. This allows for ease of use and minimizes data entry mistakes.
• Every task is date stamped to insure proper work flow and holds the team accountable to each other.

• Connecting all the different methods of communicating with our clients into one place is the best part of the application to us. The Google Apps integration lets us update all of our WORK[etc] details directly from our email page which saves a huge amount of time. It lets us move back and forth freely between WORK[etc] tools and our Google Apps email, documents, calendar, etc. with ease.
• Breaking work according to what we are doing helps us group and ungroup things as needed. Since we do tech support and so much more having the ability to connect projects, support cases, to dos, documents, discussions, and more all together makes it easy to work with the relationships of all the different activity.
• We have found the discussion tool to be vital to moving things through quickly. There are many discussions that are just FYI while others really need a decision or answer form the team members. Discussions allows us to quickly note the people we need to answer us and what is there as an FYI. It keeps all that history so our decision process become documented easily and not lost in email chains.

• It really needs to have the capability of listing numerous phone #s with a note beside each one ("his cell#", "her work#", "do not call before 9a.m.", etc.).
• It really needs to have the capability of listing numerous e-mail addresses ("hers", "his", "her email address at work", etc.).
• It would be nice to have a separate general information box where we could put comments in that would show every time we bring up the account (such as "her nickname is Bobbi", "their dogs name is Fido, "their son is currently stationed in France", "husband is going through chemotherapy", etc.), which would help us to remember personal details that are important to our clients.

Incentivized

• The one key issue that it doesn't solve is resource utilisation. You are able to add the number of hours that each "to do" will take but you can't allocate that to an employee and then aggregate all that up to show how much capacity you are using or have left.
• One if its great benefits is its flexibility but that is also a drawback because there are multiple ways to do the same thing. This means that to ensure consistency across all employees having your own business procedures on how to use WORKetc is vital.
• Some of the financial processes don't fully reflect UK practice currently. For instance it doesn't deal with VAT on expenditure well. However we have been assured that this is being resolved.

We, as a company, have put a lot of time and energy into building the system to where it is for us today. With its constant improvements and our continually learning and developing, I couldn't imagine moving away from WORKetc to try a different system out. This really does give us everything that we've wanted/needed in a system without having to utilize 2-3 different products. The part that makes this so unique compared to other systems that we've used in the past is the fact that it has a project management piece built in, and that in itself is a huge driving point in why we will continue to use this.

My staff hates it, our clients require transparency and you manual have to enter notes, billing is horrific, as it does not subtotal by type - so as a T&M shop there is no way to easily see how much was spent to each matter or service type.

It never let me down. The support team never let me down.

Incentivized

WORKetc compares well in regards to speed and reliability to other cloud-based products we use such as Google for Work. Compared to our old in-house based CRM, it is a superstar; faster, more reliable and easily run on a variety of browsers and smart phones. The program loads fast as do data screens for contacts, projects, invoices and more

WORKetc offers maybe the best support in the business. Product documentation and training resources are outstanding. Support tickets or inquiries are answered quickly. If you do need to address an issue in person, it is easy to schedule a 15 or 30 minute live call with their fantastic support staff who are fast, friendly and skilled

They know their stuff. They listen to your use cases. They get back to you.

Incentivized

The implementation of the system was fairly easy. Because of our previous experience with a similar system, we were ready and working on the product as soon as we announced the switch. The system also allowed us to simplify our processes by integrating timesheets and project management directly into our CMS.

My company had already implemented FollowUp Power CRM for Construction before I arrived. I have used other CRM programs in the past, and FollowUp Power is much more user friendly, and I have already seen a direct increase in my lead to customer conversion ratio as well as increased sales

We needed a CRM that would work with US. We found WORK [etc] was exactly what we needed. being able to customize the CRM around our company and further change as we go has been the best thing about it. We haven't been locked into how it is set up and can change it very quickly.

Everything is related. You can scale up your team rapidly.

Incentivized

• I have seen a lot better tracking on my jobs when it comes to scheduling and staying on top of my jobs.
• The dashboard is part of my daily routine it tells me exactly what I need to follow up on weather it is calling the customer or checking on the customer.
• Payments or what the current status of the job is.

Incentivized

• Setting up project templates is time-consuming - if you want to do it right. Nevertheless, it is well worth it! Routine complex projects that used to require at least six people and at least as many "silos of information" are now done with two or three people, and - at most - 2 or 3 silos of information. And that's only because I haven't fully integrated the program with our Accounting programs (and there is an API for Quickbooks). I'd say the initial investment of perhaps 80 hours on my part was saved five or ten times over during our first six months, with better accuracy, accountability, and documentation. Since then, the ROI is at least 20 or 30 times annually of my time...the one thing I can't buy more of.

Incentivized