Puntos a favor
They do not nickle-and-dime you to death! One price includes everything. Their tiers are about number of users rather than adding/subtracting features. A more sensible model than some of the others.
I like how detail views are available from most places -- call logs, projects, tasks, and notes can be associated with a contact or company or opportunity.
The integration with email is excellent, right down to making it easy to connect your email boxes. One challenge I had that Apptivo solved for me was how to keep emails related to a particular project or opportunity all together in one place. Apptivo does a good job of this by assigning codes (or project numbers), and allowing you to select whether or not the email you are writing is related.
If you are writing emails using some other application (your desktop client or cloud-based app), you can use the same code in the subject line and Apptivo will pull that email into the app, and associate it with the relevant modules (project, client, case, etc.)
Puntos en contra
Apptivo is reliable, doesn't seem to ever lose information, etc. but it is often as slow as molasses in an ice storm. Waiting is a no-no; constant waiting is a annoyance that has made me close the app more than once and come back another time.
Apptivo communicates improvements and changes on a regular basis, however, it takes Apptivo a long, loooooong time to integrate changes that have been requested by clients, and improvements overall.
The incremental changes they report on are good but they are really things that should have been implemented 4-5 years ago. An example of this is Stripe (payment gateway) integration. I requested it over and over about 3 years ago but it was just implemented last year.
They could do better with customization (esp. dashboards), reporting, data import, data export and speed.
Low scores on API/integrations -- they have an API but not many other services have developed integrations for it. Neither have they developed many integrations (except for Google products). Even their WordPress module is outdated, clunky. Also, connection to phone services (to take better advantage of the ability to log calls).
The interface still has areas that are clunky and unattractive (although, in defense of Apptivo, I must say the interface has improved in aesthetics, colors and icons in the 4 years I've been using it).
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about the problems you faced and we are looking into that now. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
So, I have been test driving CRM's for the last 2 years.
I have scanned and reviewed about 100 of the CRM's out there, and during the selection process only a few stood up to my requirements, being:
-A solid sales pipeline (From lead to opportunity to sales to after-sales)
-A great contact management system
-The possibility to generate quotes that can be converted to work orders, to invoices etc
-An integrated templated Project management system with pre-set task generation
-Email (gmail) integration
-Google apps for business integration
-The possibility to add more functionality in the form of integrated apps when the need arises.
At the end, and when all the nitty-gritty was tested, only 3 applications remained who were comparable, qua price and functionality.
But where Apptivo stands out with head and shoulders above nearly ALL the CRM's I tested, is the quality and the availability of their support!
As far as I know, ONLY Apptivo, has a free 24/7/365 online support chat from within the CRM, and I consider this as a huge plus point.
I run a small B2B business supplying promotional products mostly in Southern Africa but rapidly growing and expanding our market.
We are currently with six people, but I am confident that at our current growth rate, we will pass the 10 employee mark by the end of 2015.
I have a deep passion for what I do and when it comes to the integration of a tool that in time becomes a keystone in my business, I need suppliers that share my passion.
And this is exactly what the people of Apptivo do: Tested and proven, even today on a Sunday afternoon.
Keep up the good work guys, I hope we will go a long way together!
Edwin Spiessens
Corp. Gifts and Gadgets cc
South Africa
www.gifts-n-gadgets.co.za
Feel free to drop me any question at any time if you think I can help you by selecting a CRM: [email protected]
Puntos a favor
-A solid sales pipeline (From lead to opportunity to sales to after-sales)
-A great contact management system
-The possibility to generate quotes that can be converted to work orders, to invoices etc
-An integrated templated Project management system with pre-set task generation
-Email (gmail) integration
-Google apps for business integration
-The possibility to add more functionality in the form of integrated apps when the need arises.
As far as I know, ONLY Apptivo, has a free 24/7/365 online support chat from within the CRM, and I consider this as a huge plus point.
Puntos en contra
If I have to say anything then it will be that the look of the user interface is a bit dull, but i will take this a hundred times to bells and whistles, and a quarter of the functionality and support!
Being able to see any project at any given status at any time.
Puntos a favor
Being able to put numerous fields to retain all project information in several different formats. Ease of reporting by exporting data to excel and going from there. You only have to use what you need. Disabling certain apps prevents you and users with too much information. Great selection of apps to customize for each business. Really enjoy the product!
Puntos en contra
Invoicing is very basic. Not able to use it if you bill hourly. Not enough 1:1 support for highly complex project system setups. Need more reps to have access to custom care. Had pitfalls in reporting, but were addressed fairly quickly, but set us back as a company. Needing to double check items saved in the project you just updated, some data doesn't get saved on the first try. Not being made aware of when enhancements are made and what new features now exist. Reporting on specific users projects - needs ability to set priority is assigned roles and see those rankings constantly.
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about the problems you faced and we are looking into that now. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
All-in-one business software, good support and value for the money.
Puntos a favor
An extremely broad range of applications. Apptivo beats most competitors in this respect; it really is an 'all-in-one' ERP in fact - not just a CRM. At the same time Apptivo is excellent value for the money. The 'in-app' live chat support is especially helpful, as you can deal with issues as they occur. The pricing is per user, broadening the base of potential organizations who will find Apptivo appealing from the outset, and scaling as the organization grows larger.
Puntos en contra
Being a 'jack of all trades', Apptivo cannot be expected to excel in every area. Some features - such as the two Wordpress plugins - seem neglected and are seldom updated or promoted. Given the popularity of WP it seems to be a missed opportunity to expand into the help desk market. Another example would be the customer portal, it seems a bit awkward. The customer must sign-up through Xinnect and then Apptivo as well to access their portal, even though Apptivo might not be relevant to them. It is also difficult to control exactly what clients will see, and they are shown a lot of irrelevant fields, even though there is a rudimentary role assignment mechanism. Combining this with cases (tickets) and answers (knowledge-base) should in theory provide an alternative to a help desk, but it is a long way round.
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about the problems you faced and we are looking into that now. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
Our business started Apptivo when we were quite small, and there were several issues with the program when we first began using them. The support at Apptivo is awesome, every time that we have a difficulty using any of the programs feature, they have gotten back to us within hours or sometimes days. The recent issue with using their Ledger App took a bit longer to resolve but we enthusiastically appreciate their dedication to resolving the issues, and how thoroughly they did resolve it.
The features we use most often include: Emailing Invoices and Estimates, keeping track of our Finances with their Ledger App, and keeping track of correspondence with Clients. There are some many other features to the program including tracking Inventory, tracking Accounts with Suppliers, and creating Projects with clients/collaborations with other professionals just to name a few.
I will continue to use and support the Apptivo program. They continue to grow and offer more features, clearer and efficient options for tracking the growth of our business as it continues to grow!
Puntos a favor
Easy to use features - Sending out invoices - Receiving payments and notifications - Receving Emails and Client feedback - Tracking client info - Reviewing, Updating, and tracking Inventory and Accounts Payables. There are many other features but these we use in general.
Puntos en contra
Some errors with Invoices through paypal that require the client to input the info more than once, especially when there is Updates to the program. This has happened on some occasions, but is no longer an issue that we experience.
Puntos a favor
The CRM functionality is intuitive to use. Not much setup is needed but still a lot of customization is possible. It can easily grow with the company and is accessible from anywhere. As a cloud based service you do not need to care about hardware, accessibility etc. Remarkable: There is an exceptionally responsive customer support. Overall very recommended for flexible startup companies.
Puntos en contra
While the CRM functionality is quite good the rest of the apps (like order management, invoicing, inventory etc.) are a bit limited in possibilities and use. As long as one is dealing within a single country this should be fine. As an international business with export to many countries there will be many compromises or workarounds. Especially regarding interaction with the customers (quotes, invoices etc.) the customization possibilities are very limited. From time to time new releases or features are deployed that can change appearance and functionality to the better or worse. While the response time of the customer support is better than anything else I have ever seen, the help with more sophisticated questions is often limited and needs long explanations. Fixing of bugs can take very long. Overall the software feels a bit slow.
Puntos a favor
I can adapt it to my needs.
I feel that when I make a suggestion for improvement it will genuinely be listened to.
Puntos en contra
There are a lot of bugs - this is why I have marked the overall quality down. We are always creating something and then it crashes, or it wont save and we have to start again. Or emails never arrive which causes big problems. Whenever there are updates, something unintentional seems to get affected. Perhaps more testing before going live. It feels a bit unprofessional sometimes.
We can't test our own changes, so when I am updating things and people are using it, it can be disruptive. I really need to make changes and test before going live.
The support is not always perfect. Some times its great, but sometimes I am not understood. The right intentions are always there though.
Hi Mike,
The only way to achieve this would be to have another account that you can use as a test account. It wont have all your production data, but you can certainly use that to test out config changes.
For enterprise accounts (larger than 250 users) we do provide multiple dedicated environments as its pretty normal to have dev, QA and production accounts in that setting.
We are constantly working to improve the quality, while keeping the pace on new features. I totally understand when some of these new releases cause disruption to existing processes, but we are working to make these changes as seamless as possible.
Thank you for your feedback though. We'll continue to refine our execution.
Puntos a favor
It helps to manage customer relationship, campaigns, billing, and invoices. This is helpful to manage payment and tax department very smoothly which is important for any business. It further helps to organize the calendar for all business activities and keep a record of all the important contact details. Document management is another key feature. All the important documents related to the business can be kept safely in a virtual location. It caters to widespread businesses like the travel industry, retail, and wholesale industry etc.. All important activities of a business can be interlinked with the help of this application. We can enhance our productivity with this effective management application.
Puntos en contra
When we started, our time zones were just IST and when employees from another part of the world started to sign up to the CRM, we faced a lot of problems to set autoresponders at the correct time. The time and date format don't change according to the location.
Overall, I love the product now that I have learned to use it. I just wish that it were more user friendly in the beginning and that the customer service were more helpful when I want to learn something new. I have been hindered in learning how to use other apps within Apptivo because I don't want to go through the hassle of dealing with customer support.
Puntos a favor
Apptivo provides an excellent CRM for us to schedule emails and send a personalized email to several people at the same time. We schedule meeting reminder emails and workshop reminder emails all through Apptivo.
Puntos en contra
Customer support is lacking and the software is not very intuitive. It seems as though customer support is outsourced and that the CSR's don't know the product very well. Apptivo does not have a lot of instructional videos on Youtube and their written support is hard to locate.
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about your issue with our user friendliness and customer support, we are working towards improving it. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
It has great time-saving features but has been "glitchy" after having worked successfully in the past.
Puntos a favor
Comprehensive tool that allows us to create templates for just about everything we need from weekly updates, quarterly & annual invoicing, guest followup and reminders. Also, let's us automate generation of invoices. Great to have a history of current & past members & guests.
Puntos en contra
Seemed to work find for the first few years but in the last 1-2 years there have been anomalies in invoicing: past due amounts were incorrect and have had to reach out to customer support several ties on this... We are not paying for the service (so I guess we don't have the right to complain) but it has been an issue to trouble-shooting the problems. Customer support has been responsive but resolution of the issues has sometimes been slower than I'd like. I've had to create work-arounds to resolve some of the issues.
Hi Susan,
We've improved the technology quite a bit and have also added a lot of new features. Some training may help to get used to getting your work done in the current version as it stands.
We have not discontinued any working features unless we are able to provide a much better flow and it was impossible to keep both the old and new features to coexist.
Certainly feel free to reach out to us to schedule additional training.
Quick setup, compartmentalized functionality so we can add features as we go along, and of course the ability to track our contacts, customers, and sales. This makes it not just a CRM system, but also an invoice and accounting system and reporting tool. At its price point, its features and full support, it is hard to beat.
Puntos a favor
The heuristics of the interface provides the user with an natural environment to learn and work within. It's configurability is superb and it's modular functionality provides the right amount of compartmentalization that allows the user to focus on just the features the need. This enhances navigation and the user's learning curve. On top of all this, Apptivo provides top notch support, even through the trial phases of their product. Their support representatives are online 24/7, and in one instance, Mani provided me an upgrade and customization for my particular application. With such competent and helpful free product support, I have total confidence in our companies ability to roll out a great implementation of CRM. All of the features we desire are available on a mobile platform, so we really couldn't ask for much more.
Puntos en contra
A few minor quibbles, none functionally inhibiting. In creating views the product automatically alphabetized them and I would have preferred to display them in a custom order. Between Apps, which are really views, their is not a 2-way synchronization of fields, only a one-way push is offered. The product keeps a history of all changes, so we have yet to notice weeknesses in how user accounts are handled.
Functionality and accurate data collection that was flexible to meet my needs! Hands down the best solution on the market for the price point!
Puntos a favor
Ease of USE and layout modifications! The layout is so easy and adaptable to collect the information simply from other users. Databases are only as good as the information you put into them. Apptivo makes it so SIMPLE getting the info in and thus making it powerful!
Puntos en contra
Very few, because it is cloud-based they are constantly adding customization features and options and sometimes the functional icons show up in the Customization Settings of the Administrator and there is no documentation for the new functionality as of yet. I would much rather have this problem than them not update the customization functionality though. This database is unbelievably scalable and constantly improving!
They have been a dependable partner for over two years now. Never had any downtime and it works as advertised.
Puntos a favor
The support is great. I can get to an active chat and they answer my questions instantly. The feature set covers most of what I need and the pricing is great. A great value when you compare it to Salesforce.
Puntos en contra
The features are not as extent as Salesforce but you can't beat the pricing for a small business.
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
Puntos a favor
I like the fantastic support, customizable forms, and employment management. These features are really well put together. On the topic of customizable forms I'll just add that you can create a form that is as extensive (or simplistic) as you need. The search function for forms is fantastically easy and advanced search gives you the option to search for any data in any specific form you have which is really really good.
Puntos en contra
There are a couple changes needed for me to rate this 10 out of 10. I love this software, but until the following issues are fixed, we will continue to have a few frustrations with using it:
-You should be able to sort every column A-Z (or by date oldest to youngest) and vice-versa not just "Standard attributes."
-Again around filtering, if you create an input box for a date, not using the 1 standard attribute "Date Completed" Lets give the example of using a new field you create called "Sales Presentation Date". You can't sort the data by a range of dates. You can only do this for the 1 standard attribute field "Date Completed". We have several date fields that we NEED to be able to filter the range with (e.g. to find out how many sales visits a salesman has been on during a specific month), but we cannot do this because we cannot sort or filter by date range.
-Lastly the inability to PRINT directly from Apptivo is just frustrating. You have to export it to Excel (which should be a separate button and not part of a drop down menu) and then print.
Apptivo helps to keep my partner and I organized. We particularly use the email and notes function. We are a builder, so everything is organized around projects. The scheduling program is terrible, by the way.
Puntos a favor
The concept of the software is great... it is very integrated and it seems like the owners are always trying to improve the program.
Puntos en contra
The problems are the number of glitches experienced; the difficulty in getting issues resolved; the fact that the program can be very slow to respond. Right now, for instance, when I click on an email sometimes it opens up and sometimes it doesn't. Not sure what is causing this, but it is extremely frustrating and inefficient. I tend to do things in Google. I am seriously considering abandoning Apptivo.
Great product. Some of the must have features for our business are still a work in progress, but once they are available - I'd jump on this product. Things we need are pretty minor, but hope they get the attention it needs:
- Need timesheets to require a customer input. Currently timesheets can be created without a customer and that creates problems, since approved timesheets cannot be edited or deleted.
- Need to be able to enter timesheet involving multiple customers/projects in the same period. Currently, users have to enter multiple timesheets for the same period if they worked on different customers
- Our timesheet periods are set to weekly, and our week begins on a Monday. But it doesn't force the users to have a Mon-Sun period. They are able to submit time that begins in the middle of the week (Thu-Wed).
- Once the above timesheet changes are implemented, would also like to see a user being limited to one timesheet per period. Don't want duplicate timesheets unnecessarily, specially since they cannot be deleted once approved
- For a service oriented business, we need to be able to track an employee's time such that it gives us cost, as well as earnings, so profitability (and payroll calculations) become easier.
- When each employee signs up, they have to go add each app that they have been given access to. This adds a lot of training and onboarding overhead to us. We'd like to be able to add apps to employees' accounts at an admin level, so they just have to log in and start using the apps
- Similar to the last point above, we would also like to be able to control the look/feel of each of our employees' accounts. We've setup the color schemes to match the company brandings, but they don't reflect in our employees' logins.
Other than these missing features, it's a great product! The customer support is exceptional. I've never seen such a dedicated support staff who is available to answer questions and help you get started so quickly.
Puntos a favor
The Support staff were helpful and available. It was easy to use and the features were nice options.
Puntos en contra
You had to add the same information each time you added an app, this made it time consuming. Such as Templates for Email, I had to add it to the Email section, the Customer Section and then again to the Contacts section. It would have been nice to have a Universal Email template area so I could input them Once and choose throughout. Also, some functions for the Funnel system and Search engine wouldn't be Universal enough, so I had copies of people in each section so I could do a search or Report in 2 different areas for One customer just to get the complete information I needed. Search, and Reports should have the same options regardless of where the Customer is a Lead or transferred into a Buyer. This was annoying.
This software is key to organizing and maintaining addresses!
Puntos a favor
Apptivo is a program that our ministry uses to keep our subscriber addresses organized and updated. We have several people on our team going in to make changes on a consistent basis, and this program helps track who has changed what and when. Also, we have multiple lists with thousands of addresses, and it can handle the large volume.
Puntos en contra
The only con I would state is that we use abbreviated states in order to send mail cass certified. Apptivo uses the full name of states, so we have to use formulas when we export to Excel in order to print labels correctly. It can be a hassle.
Puntos a favor
on stop shop ERP for all your business needs, tech support are good and fast responding.
it even let you build your own module
Puntos en contra
site slow on most platforms, invoicing missing few functions, like reactivating stopped recurring invoices.
Hi Sam,
We have been investing on performance while introducing new features during our regular releases. Performance is pretty good most of the time. Sometimes the nodes you are connected to may have some lags due to load and latency. But most of the time we're alerted to such issues and get them addressed as soon as we can.
We'll certainly look into the features requests regarding recurring invoices and keep you informed.
Puntos a favor
Love how they have the follow up option, I depend on this on when to follow up with my customers
It is easy to use and get data about the type of clients we have
Puntos en contra
I wish it was easier to link so we could have sales, manually updating that is a pain, also wish that it had more options on types of customers we can put them under
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about your experience with the manual updating and we are looking into that. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
Puntos a favor
Concept of having all parts of the system connect is nice, but unfortunately it creates more headaches than it's worth.
Puntos en contra
It's super glitchy. There are more bugs in this system than I ever seen. I also don't think the engineers who built this have ever worked with an actual business. There were simple things that would never fly in a serious business. For example, the reports it generates are discounted by a factor of probability of closing a sale, and cannot be adjusted. So reports don't reflect actual values of the sales pipeline. Over 1 year, I spent way too much time reporting issues hat were often met with "thank you for your recommendation, we will submit a request to engineering for this improvement". Super frustrating. In other cases, there were apps that were not even accessible to my employees, for reasons that couldn't be explained to me. 4 months later, they still can't access.
CRM System is very useful to Support a systematice sales process.
Puntos a favor
Possibility to tailor it to a specific Business, the functionality, Ease to Use, Layout, various search functions, etc.
Puntos en contra
- Opportunities section could be enhanced by beding able to create reports for a specific product. for example:
-Performance Report, Pipeline by Stage, Sales Funnel, 12 months Pipeline etc. not only for "All opportunies, but also for specified and pre-defined products
Sorry about our delayed response, but thank you very much for your kind words! We are working tirelessly to create the best experience for our users, and it's great to see that reflected in your review. I am sorry to hear about the problems you faced and we are looking into that now. We exist because of great customers like yourself! Please feel free to reach out to us ([email protected]) with any thoughts/criticisms/feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Team Apptivo
An affordable CRM program that integrates with invoices, and paymentss. Great customer support.
Puntos a favor
integration between CRM and invoicing and emailing is great! I am able to send out invoices and get paid through PayPal and my system is updated.
Puntos en contra
The software can be slow. Sometimes I will input information and the program does not respont. They offer a Ledger to input expenses but it is very difficult to use, takes such a long time to update. Overall some areas are great but the program lags, takes a very long time to upload info.
Integration, control over my process, paper reduction, information available always, on the go, basic reporting, personalization and company branding, professional presentation of my company, cost control,
Puntos a favor
Simple
It is growing in terms of features
It allows managing a complete end-to-end company
Invoicing App is very simple and powerful.
Mobile app works fine
Puntos en contra
Sometimes it is slow
Some Apps are very basic
Documentation is very simple, basically the screenshots
Personalization could be complex
Puntos a favor
All the features come at a specific fixed price. This application can be especially favorable to startups. Contact information, emails etc are arranged in a very neat order and can be easily used without any trouble. The support team at Apptivo is very helpful. They try to solve every issue put forward as quickly as possible. The application also shows efficiency in tracking clients and also deals with payments effectively. Since it is cloud-based, it can be accessed from anywhere.
Puntos en contra
The customization options are minimal. Also, there is trouble caused by bugs, due to which the software slows down in the long run. Many times, there is a need to add information on the existing data more than once, as it failed to get saved initially.
I was using Teamwork (formerly Teamwork PM) for project management, a local install of vTiger CRM for contacts and opportunity management, and myriad other cloud-based apps to pull together administrative activities.
I wanted an all-inclusive software with strong project management features that also allowed me to handle detailed invoicing and allowed customers to click a link to pay. Lastly, the CRM component had to be at least as good as vTiger (or Zoho CRM which I'd also given a trial run).
Apptivo satisfied these needs. Pleased with the CRM, opportunity management, project management, field service management, and billing apps (especially since they've added Stripe as a payment gateway).