More Zoho Apps. Where’s the integration with Zoho Creator?

Today I saw the annoucement of Zoho Invoice , which prompted me to write this post.  As an owner of a small business, I am seriously considering Zoho as the productivity platform for my team. In my opinion, all of the Zoho apps are well designed, but before I start spending the time required to migrate my invoicing from Quickbooks Online, my contacts from Outlook, my Online Meetings from Gotomeeting, my conversations from Skype etc., I want to make sure I gain something from this effort.

Here’s what it would take for me to take the plunge.

1. Integrated data management. I need to be able to add  information once and use it in different contexts. Let’s take Contacts. Ideally, I would create a form in Zoho Creator (or copy an existing template) and that form would then be my template for adding Contacts for Customer Management (Zoho CRM), Invoicing (Zoho Invoice), Human Resources (Zoho People), etc.  In other words, I know what contact data is relevant to me and my team and I don’t have time to customize Contact forms in four different applications.
2. Document automation capabilities. I need a good way of packaging the data I have to share those with whom I interact.  Let’s take Service Agreements. Again, I would like to manage my data with Zoho Creator and have the ability to generate renewals as .pdf documents. Ideally, I would use Zoho Writer to create the document template, and assuming it had a (Mail) Merge feature, I could  generate these agreements automatically .
3. Data visualization tools.  I need an easy way to view my information as a calendar, a map, a timeline or a list, regardless, of its nature (sales, human resources, time management, etc.). Currently, I see that the Zoho apps mentioned above all have their own calendars, reports and graphs. Again, by having the data stored in Zoho Creator and tools for displaying the data, this too could be achieved.

I’m not talking about  Grand Unification Theory here. I am stressing the importance of having a unified repository of information that can be reused in different contexts and for multiple purposes and leveraging Zoho Creator as this repository seems to make sense.

Better Customer Retention with Zoho Creator and LetterMeLater

Jon Udell recently  wrote an interesting blog “Where can I subscribe to a running-shoe-replacement service ? “ which as I see it amounts to a simple way of fostering Customer Retention.

This is a business opportunity. If you’re a runner, spending $100 every six (or even three) months is infinitely preferable to injury. You’d think that shoe sellers would make it easy to do that, but they don’t. I’d happily authorize regular replacements, but nobody’s ever offered me that option.

His idea is applicable not only to athletic shoes, but to many other products and/or services that you just don’t keep track of and would gladly address when your provider sent you a friendly reminder. I can think of most of the house work I don’t do myself like termite treatment, gutter cleaning or air conditioning maintenance.

Jon writes again in Missing the cluetrain emphasizing the technology shortcomings of small businesses, so we decided to develop a solution to his problem (which I’ve captured with the cool online comic Pixton tool here) with Zoho Creator and LetterMeLater. 

If you want to try it, here’s the link:  Running Shoe Reminder . Be sure to sign up in LetterMeLater. This app will use the email you have associated with your Zoho Id to my gmail account to relay the message to LetterMeLater, which then forwards the message:

to the email you’ve specified in the form. It is currently set up to notify you 1 minute after you’ve entered the data, but surely you can envision this working at different intervals.

 This is the type of application we want to showcase in the Zoho Creator Depot.

Groundbreaking for the Zoho Creator Depot

With this, my first post,  I want to invite our readers to comment and vote on an idea we’ve been kicking around here - that of starting the  Zoho Creator Depot (ZCD).   As we currently envision it, ZCD would be a good destination if you’ve made up your mind about Zoho Creator as your platform of choice to deploy an application and you’re searching for tools, materials and advise or development help .

The ZCD would include:

• A gallery of production-quality ZC components and applications.

• Documented Case Studies and Success Stories.

• A list of ZC developers  and consultants, with their credentials and areas of expertise.

• A knowledge base of different topics that apply to ZC.

• Frameworks for developing or deploying mash-ups with Zoho Creator

• A simple way to purchase previously developed components, applications or development services.

As a client of ZCD services,  you could  resell the application or component and recover part of your original investment. If you sell it multiple times  you could conceivably make some money too. And if you’re a developer,  ZCD would be a way to connect with your potential clients.

I’m just borrowing ideas from brick-and-mortar places I find useful, like Home Depot, the Weaver Street Market and Play it Again Sports. If there is enough intest in this we’ll go ahead and build some ZC forms, get a Zoho Wiki started and see where this takes us.

Welcoming Gabriel

Those of you who visit this site directly might notice a new face in the sidebar. Although we have Lockworld to thank for some great posts about ZC and we were hoping to see more, Doug recently let it be known he was having difficulty finding time to post. Hence we invited a new face to LoZC and the face accepted — please welcome Gabriel Coch!

I’ll let Gabriel introduce himself through his own introductory post but I will point out that he’s one of those rare folk who combine technical acumen, business savvy, and a genuine desire to help people not only improve their daily lives through technology but also safeguard their communities.

In addition, Gabriel and I have been exploring over email and a couple phone conversations how we (we meaning us and YOU) can take ZC’s potential as a commercial business platform to “the next level”…though what that next level looks like is frankly unknown at this point. Part of Gabriel’s motivation for joining us, if I can presume to speak for him for just a moment, is to further this idea by harnessing a real ZC community.

I’m excited and hope you are too!