Zoho CRM is the most widespread alternative to Salesforce in the SME market. In terms of function it covers 80% of it, and in terms of price it's at 20-30%.
01. Main Modules
Lead, Contact, Account, Deal (opportunity), Activity, Report, Workflow. A conceptual model parallel to Salesforce.
02. Blueprint: Process Automation
A visual process designer. Automatic rules on transitions between opportunity stages. Business processes without writing code.
03. Zia: The AI Engine
Zoho's AI, Zia, provides lead scoring, sales forecasting and anomaly detection. Similar to Einstein.
04. Salesforce vs Zoho
A short comparison:
- Function: Salesforce 100%, Zoho 80%
- Price: Salesforce is 4-5x more expensive
- Ecosystem: Salesforce is much broader
- Learning: Zoho is easier
- Enterprise scale: Salesforce is stronger
05. Decision Criterion
SME and mid-market: Zoho is often the right choice. 500+ users, complex enterprise processes: Salesforce.