From how many employees does it pay off?
The calculation is not about employees, but about subscriptions. Add up what you currently pay per month for standalone software: CRM, email, project tool, document storage, invoicing, forms, newsletter tool, planning tool.
If you end up with more than five subscriptions, it is worth doing the math. If you are at two or three, then probably not.
In organizations with around ten employees, I see that it usually works out, sometimes more favorably than expected, because people forget how many small subscriptions have been added.
Which apps do you use first?
Start with three, no more.
CRM, because that is where your customer relationship lies and because it is the core to which the rest is attached.
Mail, because that integration with CRM yields immediate results: correspondence is automatically assigned to the correct customer.
WorkDrive, because searching for documents in a shared folder or in someone's mailbox is the most wasted time in a small business.
Three apps, a login, a customer view. That is already more coherence than most small businesses have.
| Ask | Short answer | Floor |
|---|---|---|
| From how many employees does it pay off? | The calculation is not about employees, but about subscriptions. | Read more |
| Which apps do you use first? | Start with three, no more. | Read more |
| What can you turn on later? | The order that works well in practice, after those first three: Invoicing via Books, as soon as you want to link quotes and invoices to the same customer records. | Read more |
| What are the pitfalls of a small team? | Turn everything on at the same time. | Read more |
| What are the benefits of a small team? | The profit rarely lies in time savings per action. | Read more |
What can you turn on later?
The order that works well in practice, after those first three:
Invoicing via Books, as soon as you want to link quotes and invoices to the same customer records. Projects, as soon as you perform work that spans several weeks. Desk, as soon as customer inquiries no longer fit in an inbox. Analytics, as soon as you have questions that you cannot answer in an app.
Don't turn anything on just because it is included. Turn something on because it solves a problem.
What are the pitfalls of a small team?
Turn everything on at the same time. Your team receives twelve new applications and ends up using two, one of which is incorrect. Phased implementation takes longer and causes stagnation.
No owner. In a small company, no one is responsible for the setup, so it is done alongside other work. Appoint someone, even if it is for a few hours a month.
Carry over old data. The temptation to migrate everything is great. A cleaned-up set of your active customers is worth more than a complete import with ten years of data contamination.
Too much customization too early. Zoho can customize a lot. Only do that after you have worked with the default configuration for three months and know what is really causing problems.
What are the benefits of a small team?
The profit rarely lies in time savings per action. It lies in no longer losing things: a quote that no one follows up on, a customer inquiry that gets stuck in an inbox, an appointment that is not in the file.
In a small company, such a missed succession immediately costs revenue, because there is no one else to pick it up.
Where do you start?
Count your current subscriptions and choose the three apps above. That is enough to see within a month if it works.
Sources and product information
- Zoho One, overview, official product information
- Zoho One, applications, official product information