Global SaaS company Zoho has added new features, including an industry-first mobile pipeline view, to its pipeline-centric customer relationship management (CRM) solution, Bigin.
New customization features, public APIs, new integrations, and enhanced capabilities on mobile devices are among the newly launched Bigin features, Zoho pointed out during the announcement on June 2.
Small and medium businesses are increasingly looking to deploy new or modernize customer-facing solutions to improve the customer experience while recovering from the effects of COVID-19. According to a recent SMB Group study on how technology will be shifting after the pandemic, 42 per cent of small businesses state that keeping up with customer demands is a top driver to invest in a new digital solution.
Bigin’s major updates include improved usability through a customizable pipeline view that allows customers to rearrange their pipeline stages and rename default modules based on their unique needs. The updates also include enhanced mobility through mobile pipeline view, making it easy for small businesses to sell right from their smartphone or an exclusive app on macOS.
“Mobility is a crucial aspect which is often an afterthought for most SaaS vendors,” said Mani Vembu, chief operating officer of Zoho in a recent news release, adding “thousands” of customers are using Bigin.
Launched in May 2020, Bigin now has a customer base of over 7,500 customers. Since its launch one year ago at the beginning of the pandemic, the product has reported a 40 per cent average increase in total revenue every quarter and an average of 32 per cent increase in monthly new customer acquisitions. Zoho says it will be bringing new enhancements to Bigin later this year including advanced workflow automation, support for multiple global currencies, and simple process automation tailored for small businesses.
Billed at $7 per user per month annually, Bigin now offers faster, actionable search capabilities that enable customers to preview search results instantly and take quick actions such as field updates, sending an email, and adding a new note without visiting the records individually.
In addition, the newly launched capabilities in Bigin will let small businesses connect with any third-party app of their choice, and plays well with new native integrations with Mailchimp, Zoho Books, and Zoho Invoice, the company noted.
“As a consultant, I don’t have a high sales volume that requires a full CRM…but I do need to track deals as the sales cycles are long and complicated. Bigin offers an affordable and full-featured platform that integrates wonderfully with my Zoho environment. I also have confidence that when I do graduate to the full Zoho CRM, the transition will be seamless. The call integration features are a great plus…I am excited to keep using this service as it evolves,” said Steve Perpich, owner consultant at Toronto-based technology consulting company Ordered House.
Zoho has also introduced contact centre features such as call recording, call transfer, and automatically queueing incoming calls in waiting. This feature also allows more than 85 third-party telephony providers to integrate with the CRM.
