Insightly

Comments: I like this program. I really do. I mean, that to-do list is so handy not only in theory but also in practice. The features make the program so easy to use and the fact that there is support on hand to explain any issues that the training videos did not cover is such a big bonus. We’ve had times during training where we were unsure of the functions, but one quick call to support cleared everything up. We feel like pros! However, the cost almost negates the good features. We are a small business and it’s difficult to justify the cost when there are so many cheaper or free CRMs available. Maybe they’ll come out with a small business version that isn’t quite as expensive but has the features you need to run your day-to-day tasks.

Pros: I absolutely love the to-do list. It makes it so much easier to assign tasks to my employees. I always prefer to have tasks written down to verbal tasks, so this program helps so much in that aspect. I also really like the clean, efficient look to this program. It makes it very easy to use and is not as cluttered as other similar programs. I loved the training videos that helped my employees learn the ins and outs of the program. The fact that there is tech support readily available is also a plus. I hate having only email or only phone support available, but Insightly has both!

Cons: It’s rather pricey. The free version does not provide all of the features that make this product worthwhile over the competitors’. To get all of the features, you have to pay more, which makes sense, just not for small business owners. The fact that a higher plan is required to forward emails is a big minus. It’s something that almost all businesses need but paying the amount for the professional version is not necessarily a cost that can be justified. I believe that if this program were a little bit less expensive it would be more useful for small and new businesses.

Comments: Ease of Marketing and Sales process. Total contact management software that include picture of person. What a plus. Great training videos to guide all level of users. Wonderful opportunity to scale the software as the company grows from startup to height unknown. Pricing is fair and Insightly is not living on past accomplishments it is improving product continuously.

Pros: They offer a free version to evaluate. Since it is without a time limit I used it and gradually became totally dependent on it. During a planning meeting with staff it was determined we could increase our efficiency by adding the professional version that includes email marketing tools and an easy interface with MailChimp. Now they have my paid business. It is with confidence that I agree to pay them for a monthly service that will be used by all members of my company. The program can accommodate the growth curve in a company such as mine. We started out simply needing contact management software. Later as our sales and marketing needs became more our focus adding these features was an easy decision. There are many videos to quickly bring a new user up to speed. The experienced user can use the videos to explore the many functions that may yet be used by a company as needs and goals change. The reporting function has recently become important as we need to know the results of our marketing and sales efforts. The tool is there and ready for us to implement. I think the more our company commits to using Insightly the more our communication between owners and employees improves. We openly share information on Insightly and our feedback has been positive. In the past before Insightly, communication was dispersed informally and sometimes led to bad feelings due to the inefficiency of word of mouth. Insightly is constantly making changes and updates to its software.

Cons: Its not visually pretty. I know that is silly but staff has to look at it all day and they like pretty.
When a new user/employee first looks at program they make the mistake of thinking it is an old program. While I am able to bring them along and show them it isn't true, their first impression is a temporary detriment to their learning curve and acceptance of the program. In order for Insightly to be the awesome tool it is, requires employee and leader acceptance. Everyone on the team has input and others depend on that input to do their job. Sloppy work seems to come from lack of acceptance. Part of this is my responsibility as a leader to insist everyone use the tools as intended but again, if the program had a new interface and pretty colors it might make a difference. Personally I always choose function first and then presentation but input from staff is a factor I have to consider. One other area I would mention is the difference between leads and contacts. They are not intuitive to some people and I think a better explanation and reinforcement in training videos would make it easier for the new user. This confusion has lead to some mistakes by my users that require a bit of corrective action by more experienced users. There is very little for me to find wrong with Insightly that isn't based on personal style and preferences.

Pros: Having worked with clients using a variety of CRM’s we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I often times refer to insightly as the sports car of CRM’s because it allows companies to manage sales, contacts, projects, opportunities and client fulfillment in a very clean, efficient and user-friendly way. Some of the features I love best are their pipelines and activity sets. For companies that are managing lots of clients at different stages of fulfillment, Insightly’s pipeline feature helps all the players involved know exactly what they need to do and when. The client profile makes it easy for me to link contacts to organizations or note other important relationships. The ability to save my email communication and related tasks to a contact has become an essential part of how we use Insightly and it’s intuitive ability to save any attached files I send is another feature I love. Other favorite features are their mass emailing tool within the CRM. I can send a personalized email to a group of clients without having to write individual emails. A task management feature that allows me to see on one screen what I’m working on for each of my clients and in all areas of my business. With one click I can see what each of my employees is working on, what’s been done. You can create custom tagging systems to easily sort and find clients in your database. In one place see all of the projects you’re currently working on and where they are in the process of completion. Insightly’s Gmail gadget makes it easy to assign tasks, create projects, save emails, add or update contact email easily from within your email. No more switching back and forth from program to program. Insightly University provides a good training source for new users in addition to their highly responsive customer service team. I also have to mention all the strategic partnerships that makes using Insightly with other programs really seamless. For example, Mailchimp, evernote, DropBox and Google Apps for Business to name a few. Sure, there are lots bigger more robust CRM’s out there, but I don’t want to drive a Mack truck every day. I like my sports car. :)

Cons: Insightly's calendar doesn't work for me, but I use google calendar and haven't missed it. I wish you could customize what you want to see on the home page. Right now it's just a running list of the activity on your accounts, but not super helpful in my opinion. Right now you have to manually advance pipelines. It would be nice to set them to advance to the next stage once all the activity sets are complete.

Pros: Insightly is a very powerful toolkit, and incorporates both CRM and project management into the same application.  This makes it easier to keep track of status, and gives a single list of tasks which can show everything that needs to happen organized by person or by project. Insightly has more powerful sales pipeline management, strong task management, and integrates CRM and projects.   I use Google Apps for Business. Insightly has a direct integration with Google Apps.  This makes user management simple, and allows me some "extras" because their tool works nicely with Gmail.

Cons: On the negative side, the permissions are more "liberal" than some competitors making it harder to block people from access to project information. You need to have a user account for every person working on each project, which may mean you have to buy a larger number of users than are in your organization.

Comments: This is a product I wanted to like so much. We have been using Insightly for many years. We were attracted to it because it combined CRM and Project Management. Over the years they have improved the CRM aspect, but have left PM virtually untouched. Their support is haphazard and they often introduce new *features* which cause problems - like the day Google Contact Sync stopped working, or the day Google Contact Sync started duplicating contacts in Google etc. Because we signed up so long ago, we have an excellent pricing model. If we were paying more I would be really dissatisfied. Oh and they are just appalling at sharing their product roadmap. It's like driving a manual shift car as the mechanic is fitting new gears as you speed up.

Pros: Great CRM and Pipeline Management out the box!
Contact Syncing for Google is great - despite minor issues.
Good simple project lists.
Links nicely to Mailchimp and Xero.

Cons: Very very poor project management. You will need to use other packages for almost anything. No resource management. No Gantt charts. No visibility. Email integration is rudimentary. Task integration is non-existent. No Office 365 contact synchronisation.