CRM opinions needed please

Yahoo Archive
1
This sounds familiar.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of David Gartner
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 12:05 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Oh, how I remember way back to Jan 02 after purchasing in Oct 01. Two
fresh Dell servers with nothing on them, sans Clientele, Vantage 5.1 and
the OS. The three weeks of visits configuring COM calls between servers,
only to find that some of the syncing was one way. And finding out that
we were the maybe only the second or third customer (depends on when the
sales agreement was signed) who had purchased this "integrated system".

Waxing on... the bliss of knowing 5.2 had an integrated CRM and its
disappointment; Looking forward to the "6.1 CRM" release and its lack
of
improvement; and hoping v8 would finally be an answer, the trend
continues.

To some of the individual Epicor employees I have worked with, thank you
for efforts.

David Gartner


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Paul Whittle
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:19 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...

We are using a heavily customised version of Clientele (V7.3.6) in a
standalone mode very successfully. Whether it will ever integrate with
Vantage (which was both the intent and the promise when we bought both
packages in 2000), remains to be seen! It certainly goes way beyond
what the CRM module of 6.1 Vantage can do.


Best Regards,


Paul Whittle
Business Process Manager
Jiskoot Ltd
Goods Station Road ,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DJ, UK

Tel (Direct) +44 (0)1892 779975
SwitchBoard +44 (0)1892 518000
Fax +44 (0)1892 518100

_______________________________





Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
2
Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the CRM
module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could
please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at
this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
3
Rick,



I guess it depends on what you want to accomplish. You do get the
ability to log calls and perform BASIC CRM functions. Reports are
nonexistent; you will need to write almost everything you need. There
are not many trigger or follow-up functions, I guess unless you build
BAM alerts. If you are using it to track NEW opportunities and not
manage day to day relationships within Vantage I would opt for a more
robust separate product. I tried to get feed back before we bought it
and nobody had much to say. If I had to do over we would have passed and
looked for other alternatives. I had hoped V8 would look to integrate a
more complete offering rather than try to incorporate the Epicor home
grown app.



Just my 2cents.



Keith





________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Rick Gors
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:05 AM
To: Vantage eGroup (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...



Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the
CRM
module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could
please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at
this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links




SPONSORED LINKS

Manufacturing software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Manufacturing+software&w1=Manufactu
ring+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+softw
are&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Database
+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=OG5F3819UOUOg63i0bu6kA>

Membership database software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Membership+database+software&w1=Man
ufacturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage
+software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Da
tabase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=N5BGdur84p-jyuOomcQdbQ>

Database mortgage software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+mortgage+software&w1=Manuf
acturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+s
oftware&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Data
base+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=8rvcSQnCqJhTCZu-0Si39A>

Pda database software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Pda+database+software&w1=Manufactur
ing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+softwa
re&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Database+
marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=u3KQrTRPAQfsWIT39aHDkg>

Database management software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+management+software&w1=Man
ufacturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage
+software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Da
tabase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=R3CF3ODPY4gwjDZjykQYvw>

Database marketing software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+marketing+software&w1=Manu
facturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+
software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Dat
abase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=lmBkRUiBtvHI1u5dkymDcw>



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________________________________



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
CRM in vantage 6.1 is quite simply equal to putting cash in a basket and
setting it on fire.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Rick Gors
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:05 AM
To: Vantage eGroup (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the
CRM module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you
could please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed
to develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at
this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
5
Rick wrote:
> My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the CRM
> module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could
> please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
> develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

I can only speak to V8 (806F to be exact). Vantage/CRM is certainly in its
infancy. I would not get it without the Help Desk module, and frankly, CRM
should include the Help Desk module since incident reporting is very basic to
relationship management. OTOH, CRM includes workflow (tasks, task sets, etc.)
and they should be part of the standard package. But I digress...

As Keith noted, you can track calls. What doesn't not get tracked very well is
email. Yes, you can right-mouse click on a contact's email address and a
little email client pops up where you can enter a subject line and some text
and send a message. And yes, this note will be saved in the call log. However,
you CANNOT attach a document to the e-mail. So if you want to send a quote,
technical specification, brochure, etc., you'll have to use your regular email
client like Thunderbird, Outlook, or GroupWise. If you want to capture inbound
messages, you'll have to manually create a call log entry and copy and paste
the information from your email client. If the contact sent you an attachment,
there is no place to store it in the call log. You could attach it to the
customer or contact but it won't be with the email from where it came.

If you want to capture inbound calls/emails, there is no easy way to capture
marketing campaign information. You have to either enter an opportunity (CRM)
or incident (Help Desk). Not all calls lead to opportunities and it's good to
know if people are calling/emailing for the wrong reasons too.

There are certainly easier products to use: SalesForce.com, Act, Goldmine,
SugarCRM, etc. If your salespeople are used to those tools, the Vantage CRM
will seem like a giant step backward for them - at least that's what we heard
loudly from our sales people. OTOH, you'll never get better integration with
the financial (AR) and manufacturing (open orders/RMA) information with those
other products.

We recently had a meeting with our sales reps and some people at corporate and
they suggest passing your wishes/concerns through the sales team and the
support system to demonstrate the demand for the features that would make CRM
or any other module more helpful to you.

Mark W.
6
Not so! At least with the burning cash you could roast a couple of
marshmallows which would, presumably, leave a good taste in your mouth.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...

CRM in vantage 6.1 is quite simply equal to putting cash in a basket and
setting it on fire.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Rick Gors
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:05 AM
To: Vantage eGroup (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the CRM
module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could
please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at
this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links










Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
7
We are using a heavily customised version of Clientele (V7.3.6) in a
standalone mode very successfully. Whether it will ever integrate with
Vantage (which was both the intent and the promise when we bought both
packages in 2000), remains to be seen! It certainly goes way beyond
what the CRM module of 6.1 Vantage can do.







Best Regards,



Paul Whittle

Business Process Manager

Jiskoot Ltd

Goods Station Road ,

Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DJ, UK



Tel (Direct) +44 (0)1892 779975

SwitchBoard +44 (0)1892 518000

Fax +44 (0)1892 518100

________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Michael Barry
Sent: 11 May 2006 02:21
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...



Not so! At least with the burning cash you could roast a couple of
marshmallows which would, presumably, leave a good taste in your mouth.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...

CRM in vantage 6.1 is quite simply equal to putting cash in a basket and
setting it on fire.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of
Rick Gors
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:05 AM
To: Vantage eGroup (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the
CRM
module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could
please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at
this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links










Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links











Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/>
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links




SPONSORED LINKS

Manufacturing software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Manufacturing+software&w1=Manufactu
ring+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+softw
are&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Database
+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=OG5F3819UOUOg63i0bu6kA>

Membership database software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Membership+database+software&w1=Man
ufacturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage
+software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Da
tabase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=N5BGdur84p-jyuOomcQdbQ>

Database mortgage software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+mortgage+software&w1=Manuf
acturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+s
oftware&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Data
base+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=8rvcSQnCqJhTCZu-0Si39A>

Pda database software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Pda+database+software&w1=Manufactur
ing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+softwa
re&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Database+
marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=u3KQrTRPAQfsWIT39aHDkg>

Database management software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+management+software&w1=Man
ufacturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage
+software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Da
tabase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=R3CF3ODPY4gwjDZjykQYvw>

Database marketing software
<http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Database+marketing+software&w1=Manu
facturing+software&w2=Membership+database+software&w3=Database+mortgage+
software&w4=Pda+database+software&w5=Database+management+software&w6=Dat
abase+marketing+software&c=6&s=188&.sig=lmBkRUiBtvHI1u5dkymDcw>



________________________________

YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS



* Visit your group "vantage
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage> " on the web.

* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
vantage-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:vantage-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>

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Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .



________________________________



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8
Ok, you got me :) I'll bring the hot dogs!

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Barry
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 9:21 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Not so! At least with the burning cash you could roast a couple of marshmallows which would, presumably, leave a good taste in your mouth.

-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Frank Zeigafuse
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:24 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...

CRM in vantage 6.1 is quite simply equal to putting cash in a basket and setting it on fire.

Innovative Office Products, Inc.
Frank Zeigafuse
General Manager
610-559-6369
fzeigafuse@...


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rick Gors
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:05 AM
To: Vantage eGroup (E-mail)
Subject: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...


Folks:

My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use the CRM module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you could please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated, as we are very frustrated at this point, considering the sizable investment we've made.

Thank you.

RG

Vantage version 5.2



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links










Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links












Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
Yahoo! Groups Links
9
Mark,



I agree 100%, you have made the same criticisms I would have made if I
took my assessment a bit further. The more CRM becomes a main stay in
business practices/processes the more I am amazed that Epicor would hang
its hat on this paltry excuse for CRM. I suspect market pressure will
correct this as new customers coming in will have been exposed to real
CRM products and balk at shelling out money for the Vantage offering. I
have reviewed a few of the other mid-tier mixed mode products out in the
market and several have much better CRM offerings. We long time users
have adopted it because it was our only choice for integration. I hope
with V8 and .net we may be able to have our choice of integrating best
of breed options with Vantage rather than live with marketing driven
tombstones that are ineffective. I recall the Clientele promise as well,
don't hold your breath we are not.



Keith



________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Mark Wonsil
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:44 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...



Rick wrote:
> My boss asked me to "poll" the group to see if those of you who use
the CRM
> module have had any significant successes or lack thereof that you
could
> please comment on. Topics might include: Amount of energy needed to
> develop/maintain, Usefulness, Speediness, Reports, Etc.

I can only speak to V8 (806F to be exact). Vantage/CRM is certainly in
its
infancy. I would not get it without the Help Desk module, and frankly,
CRM
should include the Help Desk module since incident reporting is very
basic to
relationship management. OTOH, CRM includes workflow (tasks, task sets,
etc.)
and they should be part of the standard package. But I digress...

As Keith noted, you can track calls. What doesn't not get tracked very
well is
email. Yes, you can right-mouse click on a contact's email address and a
little email client pops up where you can enter a subject line and some
text
and send a message. And yes, this note will be saved in the call log.
However,
you CANNOT attach a document to the e-mail. So if you want to send a
quote,
technical specification, brochure, etc., you'll have to use your regular
email
client like Thunderbird, Outlook, or GroupWise. If you want to capture
inbound
messages, you'll have to manually create a call log entry and copy and
paste
the information from your email client. If the contact sent you an
attachment,
there is no place to store it in the call log. You could attach it to
the
customer or contact but it won't be with the email from where it came.

If you want to capture inbound calls/emails, there is no easy way to
capture
marketing campaign information. You have to either enter an opportunity
(CRM)
or incident (Help Desk). Not all calls lead to opportunities and it's
good to
know if people are calling/emailing for the wrong reasons too.

There are certainly easier products to use: SalesForce.com, Act,
Goldmine,
SugarCRM, etc. If your salespeople are used to those tools, the Vantage
CRM
will seem like a giant step backward for them - at least that's what we
heard
loudly from our sales people. OTOH, you'll never get better integration
with
the financial (AR) and manufacturing (open orders/RMA) information with
those
other products.

We recently had a meeting with our sales reps and some people at
corporate and
they suggest passing your wishes/concerns through the sales team and the
support system to demonstrate the demand for the features that would
make CRM
or any other module more helpful to you.

Mark W.



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
10
Oh, how I remember way back to Jan 02 after purchasing in Oct 01. Two fresh
Dell servers with nothing on them, sans Clientele, Vantage 5.1 and the OS.
The three weeks of visits configuring COM calls between servers, only to
find that some of the syncing was one way. And finding out that we were the
maybe only the second or third customer (depends on when the sales agreement
was signed) who had purchased this "integrated system".

Waxing on... the bliss of knowing 5.2 had an integrated CRM and its
disappointment; Looking forward to the "6.1 CRM" release and its lack of
improvement; and hoping v8 would finally be an answer, the trend continues.

To some of the individual Epicor employees I have worked with, thank you for
efforts.

David Gartner


-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Paul Whittle
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:19 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] CRM opinions needed please...

We are using a heavily customised version of Clientele (V7.3.6) in a
standalone mode very successfully. Whether it will ever integrate with
Vantage (which was both the intent and the promise when we bought both
packages in 2000), remains to be seen! It certainly goes way beyond what
the CRM module of 6.1 Vantage can do.


Best Regards,


Paul Whittle
Business Process Manager
Jiskoot Ltd
Goods Station Road ,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DJ, UK

Tel (Direct) +44 (0)1892 779975
SwitchBoard +44 (0)1892 518000
Fax +44 (0)1892 518100

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