An ecosystem of software development is emerging around Google’s office applications announced last week.
Today, private Seattle company, Etelos, unveiled a “customer relations management” (CRM) tool that can be used on Google’s homepage along with Google’s other applications.
It is just one more step toward making Google’s suite of software more compelling for small businesses, as an alternative to the expensive Microsoft Office.
There are already lots of features you can use on Google’s homepage, such as calendar, weather and news. However Etelos is offering a full-fledged CRM tool, which lets business owners and sales agents manage their relations with their customers — including reminders to stay in touch, ways to manage tasks and share schedules (see screenshot below).
While Google’s $50-a-year suite offers email storage, word processing, spreadsheets and calendar, it did not have a CRM product.
Etelos’ product is in (beta) testing, and is invitation-only for now. Accounts can be requested at www.crmforgoogle.com. Once out of testing, Etelos CRMforGoogle will offer a basic free edition, but also monthly paid subscription versions which will allow further customization, choice of hosting and integration with other software, the company said.
6 Comments
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David Scott Lewis said:
Sounds like a winner — and a much better way to take advantage of a Google Personalized homepage.
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Gloria White said:
Well, MSFT never really was a serious CRM player. The question is, why would someone dump salesforce.com over something that is available from google home page?
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Chris Zaharias said:
I wonder what this page looks like when you do a search? Seems to me the whole idea gets shot to hell once you actually start using it.
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David said:
Someone at Etelos needs to work on their marketing/copy. The statement:
“Take notes on clients, send massages on demand, track phone calls and purchase history…”
on this page http://www.crmforgoogle.com/article.espx?show=12285
Reveals either a serious red-flag to the IRS come tax season or sloppy writing.
Nice idea though.
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Robert Merlo said:
My company is using ZOHO Office Suite and I can tell you from experience that their CRM package is excellent. I would highly recommend it. We actually use Google’s suite of software in concert with ZOHO and it has been extremely successful.
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Joel said:
One thing people might not notice about Etelos’s product is it’s very easy to develop in, there’s a big market for customization
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9:13 am
Etelos reboots business, wants to move your apps to the cloud » VentureBeat said:
[...] Etelos’ offerings included a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that you could use on your Google homepage, as well as a marketplace to sell your apps, which included the ability to give your web apps [...]