Item: Zoho Creator
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Zoho Creator Platform

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Zoho Creator is a wonderful app and a program we use to manage data heavy components of our business. Creator is a great complement to Zoho CRM, where we manage most of our customers. The ability for Zoho Creator to talk to or syn with the Zoho CRM is what makes this tool so valuable. Part of our business includes entering and storing a lot of data. Once entered we use this data to generate intuitive reports and dashboards to give us insights in to this part of our business.

Pros and Cons

Pros

The ease of creating data collecting forms. Anything from creating a form to import all your old excel documents to creating a mobile on-site application where you can input data directly into the app. For a company like us this can help to eliminate the pen and paper approach to recording data.
Reporting features are excellent. Slicing and dicing the data from your forms to create any report is possible. Think of it has filters on steroids. The ability to combine data from different forms is a huge plus.
Dashboards! Zoho Creator has so much depth to it that it's easy for one to get lost if they are not as familiar with Creator, for example an exuctive or decision making manager. This is where dashboards come in. Admins can build intuitive and smart dashboards that combine all the relevant KPI's that a manager needs to see.

Cons

Zoho Creator has their own scripting language, Deluge, which is the powerful engine behind what makes Zoho Creator so great. Problem is if you have no coding background it can be a bit difficult to learn, and use to it's full potential.
The new UI is awesome, except for parts of the homepage. I wish there was a bit more room for custimization and organization of all your stored apps.
The ability to create documents or what they once called record summaries from your stored data. This is our most requested feature for them to add, is an integration with a word processor such as Zoho Writer and the ability to create mail merge like documents within the app.

Return on Investment

With using Zoho Creator we are able to build apps that we may otherwise pay a pretty penny for. We may risk some features we could get from a 3rd party app but the fact that the data we do collect can easily syn with our CRM and Accounting systems makes up for this.
Negatively speaking, it takes time to fine tune and really craft your application. I am not a coder, nor do I have a coding background, so patience is key as you design and build out your application.

Usability

We've been using Creator for many years. I've come to realize that I know what Creator can do, and accept that since I am not a developer I may have to settle for using Creator in a "simpler" way. With that said, I can build, design, and deploy applications myself. I also understand the Zoho team , the Zoho community, and Zoho Partners are available to assist me in taking our application from it's "simpler" form to a more complex full fledged application.

Alternatives Considered

TrackVia

I've looked into this app but never really considered using it. Zoho Creator has met and exceeded all our expectations as a database management app there's been no need to stack it up against others.

Key Insights

Do you think Zoho Creator delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zoho Creator's feature set?

Yes

Did Zoho Creator live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zoho Creator go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zoho Creator again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, Stripe

Likelihood to Recommend

If you wish to initiate workflows while using online data application, you will love Zoho Creator. This is where we see the biggest efficiency gain in regards to operations. What use to take multiple steps we can now setup as workflow with (mostly) other Zoho apps so that once something is entered once the data gets moved to other apps where actions are taken. It's awesome. As far as less suited, I would say if you are looking to design feature rich and intuitive dashboards, you could be left wanting more. The dashboards work great for us. The data is really what's important, so I can design a dashboard to present the data we need to see and filter it anyway we want. Considering I am not a developer or expert deluge/html pro, creating custom pages or dashboards to really spice it up is not for me.

Zoho Creator Feature Ratings

Using Zoho Creator Platform

Users and Roles

5 - Sales, Finance, Operations

Support Headcount Required

1 - Just a self taught Zoho enthusiast who enjoys the operational efficiencies that the Zoho platform provides.

Business Processes Supported

Data repository
Workflow/Integration with Zoho Books
Process orders and again integrate with Zoho Finance

Innovative Uses

For IT device management
To create automated alerts when monthly customer data is off by +-10% of expected value
To run March Madness Poll each year

Future Planned Uses

Integrate with 3rd party APIs
Create/integrate customer portals
Continue to enhance the apps we already use with Zoho feature releases

Likelihood to Renew

This app really fits our needs and reduces manual processes by integrating with other Zoho apps, mainly Zoho Finance. The support team is awesome and the platform continues to push the boundaries of what's possible with a low-code/no-code solution.

Evaluating Zoho Creator Platform and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Product Usability

We needed an application we had full control over, was easy to use, and kept all the data we needed organized and accessible for our team. This was easily possible with Zoho Creator.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Wouldn't change a thing. Maybe I would've dug deeper into some of the Zoho Creator competitors to see what was possible with those apps, but since we have always been a Zoho CRM customer the built-in integration made Zoho Creator the easy choice.

Zoho Creator Platform Implementation

Implementation Rating

We started slow so I feel like we didn't miss much. This allowed more time for me to learn more about Creator and all it's features, and implement them into our apps as necessary.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Yes - Only because we have used Creator for awhile and as our business grows and becomes smarter our apps need to also adapt to reflect our current business workflow.

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled - Not much to say about this. Our apps have evolved with our growth, but our original needs have not changed much.

Implementation Issues

Lack of deluge knowledge
User permissions

Zoho Creator Platform Support

Support Rating

Zoho Creator support has been amazing. Our tickets are answered in a timely manner by friendly support staff. We've never had an issue go unanswered. I applaud the Zoho Support staff!

Zoho Creator Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

No, I can't say I even knew this was an option?

Exceptional Examples of Zoho Creator Support

Many times. They've assisted me with deluge functions on a couple occasions where I was able to immediately release new features of our internal apps to our team, all thanks to Zoho support staff!