Fabulous Friday Web Freebie: Time to Note CRM

In my continuing search for the "perfect" customer relationship management (CRM) software tool, I recently discovered the Time to Note web tool via the new Google Apps Marketplace site. I've been test driving it over the last couple of weeks and am impressed with what I see so far. It's a lightweight, easy-to-use option for small businesses and project teams. The basic version is free, which will take you up to 250 contacts. 

Time to Note is a sleek, elegant tool, with a clean interface and minimum of clutter on the dashboard. Your main view contains links to the Dashboard, Contacts, Tasks and Projects - with a running To Do list off to the side. 

You can add contacts one at a time, or import them via a CSV file. Contacts can be exported, or happily enough...synchronized with Gmail/Google contacts. Once in the system, you can add notes, to do's or project tasks to a contact. 

The Task feature allows you to create simple tasks, which I find most useful if I'm waiting for something in relationship to a Contact - like waiting for a return call or email. There's no ability to create nested, or subtasks, at this point, nor can you reorder them...a frustration. 

The Projects tab holds your project's contacts, notes and to do's, and is collaborative as well. You can invite different people to different projects, and you can all keep up to date on the next steps for a project. As a collaborative platform, it compares well with products like Basecamp, although it offers less features. 

You can add files to Contacts and Notes, which is handy, and there is a new Dropbox feature for attaching emails to either Contacts or Projects.

The customer support is currently excellent. The site's creator, Lucien Baciu, uses a Google group to log questions and comments. He is very timely with his responses, usually within an hour or so. As the site grows that could become an issue, but for now it's easy to get questions answered. 

There's another Fabulous Friday Web Freebie for you ~

Comments always welcome....

Comments

[Robertstanke]

So this is only available if you use a paid Google Apps for business account, right?

[Jane Neumiller-Bustad]

Hi Bob -

No, it was simply listed in on the Marketplace Apps page. I know they have paid enterprise tools/sites/partners available, but also free ones as well.

I went to TTN's web site and signed up from there. Up to 250 users, the site is free. His paid plan is $20 a month, which is higher some some competitors, but he doesn't have tiered pricing.

Hope that helps ~

Jane