Managing duplicate records is one of the hardest things to accomplish when using CRM software. Just trying to determine what is a duplicate is hard enough and when you find a duplicate somehow you have to decide which fields need to be merged from the duplicate records.
In ZOHO the process is almost automatic. I have spent so much time on this issue with other CRM systems in the past that when I saw how ZOHO handled it I shed a little tear of joy.
Check it out. Go to any kind of record, Lead, Account, Contact, Vendor, whatever that you think is a dupe and click the Find and Merge Duplicate button.
You will go to a UI that allows you to narrow your dupe search. In this case I am using the email address and last name. I came up with 6 matches and four of them have the same email address.
I can merge three at a time so I check them and press the View Duplicates button. This is where the magic happens. I can choose which record is the master record and if the fields within each record are different I can choose which field will get merged. It works perfect. This is a huge feature that solves a huge problem and is so easy to use any temp admin staff person can do with minimal training. Not the case with any other CRM system I have used.
From a software development standpoint this is a deep and complex problem to solve. The fact that Zoho CRM does it so well is a solid indication of the thought and planning that has gone into the product.
More information on the ZOHO Find and Merge process can be found here.
Adam Stone is a Zoho CRM customer and CEO/Founder of D-Tools Software.
I agree with Flug by saying it has to be careful. I think this issued solution works well.
I agree with Flug by saying it has to be careful. I think this issued solution works well.
Awesome idea, but I'd always be very careful to let such important things run automatically.
Awesome idea, but I'd always be very careful to let such important things run automatically.
Thanks for your interest in Zoho CRM. As of now, finding the duplicates when
creating the records is not there. In future, we will be providing the same.But during the import, you will be having the options to skip, overwrite and clone
the duplicate records.If i am not clear anywhere, kindly get back at support at zohocrm dot com.Thanks & Regards,
Ponnusamy
(Zoho CRM Team)
Thanks for your interest in Zoho CRM. As of now, finding the duplicates when
creating the records is not there. In future, we will be providing the same.But during the import, you will be having the options to skip, overwrite and clone
the duplicate records.If i am not clear anywhere, kindly get back at support at zohocrm dot com.Thanks & Regards,
Ponnusamy
(Zoho CRM Team)
Dont allow dups in the first place - either by a user or import.
Dont allow dups in the first place - either by a user or import.