What Makes Cloud Skills Different?
Cloud Skills, a CRM consultancy with 31 years of experience, has evolved with the industry and undergone significant transformations. Initially, we worked with early Contact Managers and later Sales Force Automation. However, we grew dissatisfied with traditional on-premises software, which required constant updates and patches. We sought a true cloud-based CRM alternative to Salesforce that would offer better value, lower subscription costs, and eliminate the need for frequent software revisions. Our search led us to Zoho CRM, which we discovered through our quest for a suitable app for our new mobile devices. We were impressed by Zoho’s innovative and reliable iPad & iPhone apps, which got our attention with their clean, modern design and stability. In 2011, we became Zoho Partners and pioneers, and we’ve never looked back. We believe in Zoho’s forward-thinking approach, commitment to security and privacy, and dedication to remaining a privately-owned company that prioritizes its employees, customers, and customers’ needs over the fickle nature and whims of publicly-traded competitors.
As a sole practitioner and business professional with extensive experience at IBM and HP, I provide a highly personalized consulting experience to a select group of clients. Here’s what sets my services apart:
- Direct Access: Work with me directly on your terms, without dealing with gatekeepers, project managers, architects, or client managers.
- Expert Advice: Benefit from my extensive experience with hundreds of successful Zoho implementations.
- Flexible Pricing: Enjoy flexible, retainer-based pricing that never expires. Unused balances are always refundable.
I aim to make our collaboration easy and mutually beneficial. Whether you’re:
- Considering Zoho for your business,
- In the midst of a Zoho implementation and finding it daunting, or
- In need of an ongoing Zoho remote administrator,
Let’s discuss your needs and how I can help.
We don’t believe in trying to do everything at once or rushing the project. Exploring your new Zoho One with 40+ apps may remind you of entering a candy store, but we encourage you to resist that urge to spin up every app at once. We’ll set rational and achievable expectations and work to meet and exceed them. You’ll likely want to start with Zoho CRM.
After all, it is usually the centerpiece of your initiative.
Our Three Phase Approach
Transaction Phase
In this first phase, you’re moving from your existing application or process to Zoho CRM. We’re setting up your Zoho Account & Apps, converting your data, and teaching your team how to do what they’ve been doing, only now in Zoho. The users are acclimating, improvements in efficiency and effectivity are modest, but disruptions to existing processes are minimal. We’re integrating your email, responding to your users’ questions, helping with administrative tasks, and guiding you through the change. We’re often asked how long does it take for a new-to-Zoho user to become proficient, and we always say that it can take six months for the average user to become comfortable in a new CRM.
Transition Phase
In this middle phase, users are now comfortable and confident in the new environment, and we’re improving your processes—recreating and automating your weekly reports, introducing Workflows and Automation to handle repetitive tasks, rolling out additional Zoho Apps, like the Finance Suite, and Campaigns for your email marketing efforts. Increases in efficiency and effectiveness are evident, users are spending more time selling, managing and closing more deals. Processes are being formalized, from customer support to project management, to mobil usage.
Transformation Phase
This may be the final phase, but it’s also the phase that never ends – it’s a continuous improvement cycle, where you discover ever more business uses and processes that could be automated, and where major gains are realized through implementing advanced Workflow, Blueprinting, and Automation, resulting in measurable increases in sales revenue, reductions in turnaround time for many tasks, increases in customer satisfaction, and vastly improved internal and external communications among all stakeholders. Leads are being converted, customers are becoming advocates, turnover is reduced, while continuity is increased, and your outreach is paying off. One client reported that their move to the Zoho suite was a noted factor in maintaining their ISO certification!I am the principal consultant at Cloud Skills, and I perform just about all client-facing work myself. You don’t get handed off to project managers, or developers, or junior consultants, nor do I subcontract work unless you and I agree.
As President Truman famously said, “The buck stops here.” The only exception is complex integration projects, where we may be integrating with Shopify or WooCommerce, or with large ERPs like Oracle, or payment gateways. In these situations, I’ll recommend several integration specialists, and I’ll either manage them directly, or have them deal directly with you, at your option. I do all of my own development, in Zoho’s Deluge, JavaScript, HTML5, & CSS.
And since I work exclusively with the Zoho suite of apps, I am able to focus on becoming ever more skilled at staying abreast of their development, which are continually evolving and improving.
Q: Why pay admittedly higher rates for an onshore consultancy when there’s a pool of low-priced talent available offshore?
A: Because the lower priced do exactly what you tell them to do and nothing more, and aren’t you here because I know the business challenges that you face and know the questions to ask?