Comments on: Ready-Fire: Review of Plan Plus Online

By: CRM Review – PlanPlus CRM

CRM Review – PlanPlus CRM — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:23:58 +0000

[...] http://rickcolosimo.com/2009/03/ready-fire-review-of-plan-plus-online/ [...]

By: rickcolosimo

rickcolosimo — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:18:20 +0000

Teresa,

Thanks for your comment.

I agree that transitions can be harder than necessary, with too many vendors supporting “one-way” import without export and seemingly ignoring large swaths of the market. I think that your impression of the last online system matched mine — it seemed like something that was built to mimic the paper or standalone versions and somehow seemed a little off, “like wearing someone else’s sweater.” I hope you find a solution that works for you. With so many web apps and point solutions, I’m hopeful that we’re going to end up in a world where it’s more common for each of us to use a mixture of tools that suit our unique needs, personalities, style, and systems but where each of those tools knows how to work with others. In other words, all email clients should be more readily partnered with all sorts of calendar tools which should be more readily integrated with all levels of task planning and to-do list management. I can go on with that workflow modeling idea, but that’s probably a topic for another post.

Thanks for reading!

Rick Colosimo

By: Teresa Nevels

Teresa Nevels — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:33:20 +0000

I have been a long time user of the Franklin Covey system and was very excited at the thought of having something online. All the bells and whistles are not very user friendly. I have switched to the basic version since I didn’t end of using all the functions and now I can’t even send email. So have to get that fixed, probably will have to upgrade to the middle version.

The online support is not very knowledgeable. I’m pretty disappointed, but I have all my contact information in there and do not have time to go through another transition.

Hope this helps.
Teresa

By: admin

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:53:31 +0000

Tom, as I said, I think this system will work quite well in your scenario — small group of people, not necessarily a lot of data or tasks to migrate, and the ability to put everyone on the system together.

The problem with small company CRM is that the most affordable alternatives such as open source software, are incredibly cumbersome for non-tech users to configure without additional consulting support. High-quality packages are often too powerful and have the same problem (Salesforce.com). The middle-strength solutions vary widely, so if the Franklin Covey system works for you, then this might very be the tool you’re looking for.

Please let me know how it turns out.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:25:48 +0000

Hmmmm….I like many have been in many FC seminars….I am a home builder and the need for a good CRM program is a constant search….one that allows me to oversee my sales staff of one and myself, with easy to follow system in place….I currently have the desk top version of Plan Plus…and like many of the features (like automatically forwarding task) that were always a pain on paper…I am going to try the onliune version and get my construciton coordinator and my sales person to use it also…hope to report good news…nice to read about others who are light years ahead from where I am…something to look forward to…wish me luck! Feel free to send any advice…Thanks!

Tom@avalon-home.com

By: When don’t you need an app?

When don’t you need an app? — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:50:59 +0000

[...] At ThoughtStorm [http://thoughtstorm.com/], we were fans of Groove (it still lives on my several machines, in fact) because of the online/offline capability. Until a client accepts my excuse of “I couldn’t work on it because I couldn’t get a connection in the subway or on the plane,” people like me will always have a need to maintain local/offline access to our materials, even if they are backed up to, or even exist primarily, in the cloud. (See more on this concern in my review of PlanPlus Online. [...]

By: Lots of posts coming up

Lots of posts coming up — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:29:00 +0000

[...] got productivity software reviews, posts about behavioral analysis, and comments on corporate governance. And even a few social media [...]

By: admin

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:13:10 +0000

Bud, thanks for your comment. I agree that the online version just doesn’t compare, IF you’ve used the outlook/standalone versions. But I do think that someone starting a small business that wants to implement the Covey-derived methods could benefit from the built-in tools, vs. using something like basecamp (will add affiliate link later) that isn’t, and can’t be, modified to use the Covey tweaks.

By: Bud Thomas

Bud Thomas — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:30:23 +0000

I’ve been using planplus software for about 4 years now and can tell you that I greatly appreciate the integration with outlook. Outlook is fine, but would be better if had the A1-C3 task option, which I’m bit on.

I’ve tried the online crm at least 5 times over the past couple years, hoping for positive and worthwhile change. However, I keep cancelling (usually within 15 minutes).

Google will probably own the market with this in the next couple years, since their platform is getting robust (and simple to use) and syncs seemlessly with the G1 cell.

Overall ratings:
PlanPlus Outlook: 7 (needs to workout bugs) – lost a lot of info in past and still hangs with me.

PlanPlusXP: 8 great and easy program, but can only sync to pda, great drag/drop capabilities. Simple.

PlanPlusOnline: 5. They still have a long way to go. If they don’t make things happen NOW and continue slowly advancing their product, they have NO chance to stave off Googles 4 course meal, which begins with a huge helping of PPO.

Bud

By: admin

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:20:19 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts, Mike. There’s always a gap between long-term exposure and use and the visceral first impression. I’m glad to hear it works for you, which is always the most important thing.

One question: did you start with PlanPlus Online, or did you transition from another system?

Rick