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Retour vers le futur: Pages Web côté serveur avec Kotlin (Pt. 1)

Retour vers le futur: Pages Web côté serveur avec Kotlin (Pt. 1)

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Dans cette série, nous allons apprendre à créer des pages web côté serveur avec Kotlin. Vous découvrirez comment créer des applications web modernes et performantes. Prêt à voyager dans le futur ? Allons-y !

Le développement Web a subi de nombreux changements depuis que l’Internet est devenu populaire dans les années 1990 :

L’architecture du développement web a connu une variété de changements depuis que l’internet est devenu populaire dans les années 1990 :

Tout d’abord, il y a eu les pages HTML les plus basiques, complètement statiques, sans aucune dynamique. Plus tard, des technologies telles que l’interface commune de passerelle (Common Gateway Interface) ont permis de générer le code HTML d’une page de manière programmatique. Puis sont arrivés des moteurs de modèles tels que JavaServer Pages (maintenant Jakarta Server Pages), ASP.NET et Thymeleaf, qui ont permis aux développeurs de travailler avec des fichiers de modèles principalement « ressemblant à HTML » avec du code de programmation intermélangé.

Ensuite, des frameworks de « script côté client » basés sur Javascript tels qu’Angular, React et Vue sont apparus, ce qui a transformé le développement web en deux disciplines distinctes : le développement « backend » qui contenait le code traditionnel du serveur web et de la logique métier, ainsi que le développement « front-end » (en utilisant les frameworks ci-dessus) qui se concentrait sur la visualisation d’un site web et recevait des données du backend.

Cependant, cela ne signifie pas que les tendances de développement ne progressent que dans une seule direction et jamais en arrière. Par exemple, les bases de données NoSQL telles que MongoDB ont rapidement gagné en popularité en grande partie en raison de leur capacité à contenir des données non structurées par rapport aux bases de données SQL traditionnelles telles que PostgreSQL et MySQL, mais ces dernières ont également évolué et peuvent maintenant contenir des données non structurées via les types de données JSONB et JSON, respectivement. De même, de nouveaux frameworks Javascript tels que Next.js commencent à offrir des options pour le rendu côté serveur en plus de leurs capacités de rendu côté client traditionnelles. De nouveau, les moteurs de modèles côté serveur comme Thymeleaf ont également continué à évoluer, Thymeleaf lançant une nouvelle version du framework le mois dernier.

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Créer une base solide : Implémenter CRUD avec APIs et Bases de Données

Créer une base solide : Implémenter CRUD avec APIs et Bases de Données

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Créer une base solide pour votre application est essentiel. Apprenez comment implémenter CRUD avec APIs et Bases de Données pour une infrastructure robuste.

## Qu’est-ce que CRUD?

Dans le développement web, la capacité de créer, lire, mettre à jour et supprimer des données d’une base de données est essentielle. C’est là que les opérations CRUD entrent en jeu. En mettant en œuvre ces opérations avec des API et des bases de données, les développeurs web peuvent construire des applications puissantes et évolutives qui peuvent prendre en charge une large gamme d’utilisations. Dans cet article, nous examinerons en profondeur comment mettre en œuvre des opérations CRUD avec des API et des bases de données, en fournissant des exemples et des meilleures pratiques tout au long du chemin.

Dans le développement web, la capacité de créer, lire, mettre à jour et supprimer des données d’une base de données est essentielle. C’est là que les opérations CRUD entrent en jeu. En implémentant ces opérations avec des API et des bases de données, les développeurs web peuvent construire des applications puissantes et évolutives qui peuvent gérer une large gamme d’utilisations. Dans cet article, nous examinerons en profondeur comment implémenter des opérations CRUD avec des API et des bases de données, en fournissant des exemples et des meilleures pratiques tout au long du chemin.

Qu’est-ce que CRUD?

CRUD est un acronyme qui signifie Créer, Lire, Mettre à jour et Supprimer. Ces quatre opérations sont les fonctions de base qui peuvent être effectuées sur n’importe quel magasin de données persistant, tel qu’une base de données. Dans le développement web, les opérations CRUD sont utilisées pour manipuler les données dans une base de données, généralement via une API (Interface de programmation d’application).

Comment implémenter CRUD avec des API et des bases de données

Lorsque vous implémentez des opérations CRUD avec des API et des bases de données, vous devez d’abord comprendre comment les API et les bases de données fonctionnent ensemble. Les API sont des interfaces qui permettent aux applications de communiquer avec une base de données. Les API fournissent un moyen pour les applications d’accéder aux données stockées dans la base de données et de les manipuler. Les API peuvent également être utilisées pour envoyer des requêtes à la base de données et obtenir des réponses.

Les bases de données sont le stockage persistant des données. Les bases de données sont généralement organisées sous forme de tables, chacune contenant des enregistrements spécifiques. Les bases de données peuvent être utilisées pour stocker tout type de données, telles que des informations sur les utilisateurs, les produits ou les commandes. Les bases de données peuvent également être utilisées pour stocker des informations sur les utilisateurs, telles que leurs noms, adresses et informations de connexion.

Une fois que vous comprenez comment fonctionnent les API et les bases de données, vous pouvez commencer à implémenter des opérations CRUD avec elles. La première étape consiste à créer une API qui peut interagir avec la base de données. Vous pouvez ensuite créer des méthodes pour effectuer chaque opération CRUD sur la base de données. Par exemple, vous pouvez créer une méthode pour créer un enregistrement dans la base de données, une méthode pour lire un enregistrement, une méthode pour mettre à jour un enregistrement et une méthode pour supprimer un enregistrement. Vous pouvez également créer des méthodes pour effectuer d’autres opérations sur la base de données, telles que la recherche ou le tri des enregistrements.

Une fois que vous avez créé votre API et vos méthodes CRUD, vous pouvez intégrer votre API à votre application web ou mobile. Vous pou

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et ExplicationÉcrire un Interpréteur: Implémentation et Explication

et ExplicationÉcrire un Interpréteur: Implémentation et Explication

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Écrire un interpréteur est un processus complexe qui nécessite une bonne compréhension des principes de programmation. Dans cet article, nous allons examiner l’implémentation et l’explication de l’interpréteur.

Partie 1 peut être trouvée ici.

Lexer

Le Lexer sert d’élément le plus basique. Sa fonction principale consiste à itérer à travers les caractères présents dans le code source. Il peut combiner certains caractères pour créer un seul jeton et générer ensuite un objet jeton avec son type associé. Cet objet est ensuite ajouté à la liste résultante.

H2 : Lexer

The Lexer is responsible for recognizing the language’s syntax and semantics. It is also responsible for recognizing the language’s keywords, identifiers, and constants.

Part 2

L’analyseur lexical est l’élément le plus fondamental. Sa fonction principale consiste à parcourir les caractères présents dans le code source. Il peut combiner certains caractères pour créer un seul jeton et générer ensuite un objet jeton avec son type associé. Cet objet est ensuite ajouté à la liste résultante.

L’analyseur lexical est responsable de la reconnaissance de la syntaxe et de la sémantique du langage. Il est également responsable de la reconnaissance des mots clés, des identifiants et des constantes du langage.

Part 3

L’architecture du compilateur est composée de plusieurs étapes. La première étape est l’analyse lexicale. Cette étape consiste à analyser le code source et à le décomposer en jetons. Ces jetons sont ensuite analysés par l’analyseur syntaxique, qui vérifie la validité des jetons et construit une structure arborescente appelée arbre syntaxique abstrait (AST). L’AST est ensuite utilisé par l’analyseur sémantique pour vérifier la validité des instructions et pour générer du code intermédiaire ou du code machine. Enfin, le code intermédiaire ou le code machine est converti en code exécutable par le générateur de code.

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Guide détaillé avec exemples de code pour l'entraînement personnalisé de grands modèles linguistiques

Guide détaillé avec exemples de code pour l’entraînement personnalisé de grands modèles linguistiques

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Vous souhaitez entraîner des modèles linguistiques complexes ? Ce guide vous fournira des exemples de code et des instructions détaillées pour vous aider à atteindre vos objectifs.

H2: Dans les dernières années, les grands modèles linguistiques (LLMs) tels que GPT-4 ont suscité un grand intérêt en raison de leurs incroyables capacités en compréhension et en génération du langage naturel. Cependant, pour adapter un LLM à des tâches ou des domaines spécifiques, une formation personnalisée est nécessaire. Cet article propose un guide détaillé et étape par étape sur la formation personnalisée des LLMs, accompagné d’exemples et d’extraits de code. Prérequis

• A GPU-enabled machine with at least 8GB of RAM

• An understanding of basic ML concepts

• Familiarity with Python and TensorFlow

• Access to a large dataset

Ces dernières années, les grands modèles linguistiques (LLMs) tels que GPT-4 ont suscité un intérêt considérable en raison de leurs incroyables capacités en compréhension et en génération du langage naturel. Cependant, pour adapter un LLM à des tâches ou des domaines spécifiques, une formation personnalisée est nécessaire. Cet article propose un guide détaillé étape par étape sur la formation personnalisée des LLMs, accompagné d’exemples et d’extraits de code.

Prérequis

Avant de plonger, assurez-vous d’avoir :

• Une machine dotée d’une carte graphique et d’au moins 8 Go de RAM

• Une compréhension des concepts de base d’apprentissage machine

• De la familiarité avec Python et TensorFlow

• Un accès à une grande base de données

Mise en œuvre

Une fois les prérequis remplis, vous êtes prêt à commencer à former votre modèle. La première étape consiste à préparer votre base de données. Vous devrez peut-être nettoyer et normaliser vos données avant de les charger dans votre modèle. Une fois que vos données sont prêtes, vous pouvez les charger dans votre modèle. Vous pouvez le faire en utilisant TensorFlow ou un autre framework de deep learning. Une fois que vos données sont chargées, vous pouvez commencer à entraîner votre modèle. Vous pouvez le faire en utilisant des algorithmes d’apprentissage supervisé ou non supervisé. Lorsque vous entraînez votre modèle, vous devrez définir des paramètres tels que le nombre d’itérations, le taux d’apprentissage et le nombre de couches cachées. Vous devrez également définir des métriques pour mesurer la performance de votre modèle.

Une fois que votre modèle est entraîné, vous pouvez le tester sur des données réelles pour voir comment il se comporte. Vous pouvez également effectuer une validation croisée pour vérifier si votre modèle est capable de généraliser ses résultats sur des données différentes. Une fois que vous êtes satisfait des performances de votre modèle, vous pouvez le déployer pour l’utiliser dans un environnement réel. Vous pouvez le déployer sur un serveur ou un cloud public tel que Google Cloud Platform ou Amazon Web Services. Une fois déployé, votre modèle sera prêt à être utilisé par les utilisateurs finaux.

Enfin, vous devrez peut-être maintenir et mettre à jour votre modèle au fil du temps. Vous devrez peut-être ajouter de nouvelles données à votre base de données ou ajuster les paramètres de votre modèle pour améliorer ses performances. Vous devrez également surveiller les performances de votre modèle pour vous assurer qu’il fonctionne correctement et qu’il ne se dégrade pas avec le temps. Enfin, vous devrez peut-être effectuer une analyse des performances pour comprendre comment votre modèle est utilisé et pourquoi il fonctionne bien ou mal.

En résumé, la

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4 meilleurs frameworks dApp pour les développeurs Ethereum débutants

4 meilleurs frameworks dApp pour les développeurs Ethereum débutants

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Les développeurs Ethereum débutants peuvent facilement créer des applications décentralisées grâce aux 4 meilleurs frameworks d’app: Truffle, Embark, Dapp et Dapple.

## Qu’est-ce qu’une dApp ?

L’Ethereum a connu une croissance fulgurante ces dernières années. Selon YCharts, la blockchain programmable compte désormais environ 220 millions d’adresses uniques. Liée à l’augmentation des utilisateurs est une explosion du nombre de dApps. Des entreprises et des startups du monde entier, de la finance, des ventes, des RH, de la comptabilité, de la chaîne d’approvisionnement et de la fabrication, utilisent des dApps pour rationaliser les processus et intégrer de nouveaux clients. Plusieurs cadres existent qui simplifient le processus de développement de dApp pour les développeurs Web2 qui souhaitent participer à Web3. Ce post examine quatre des plus populaires. Mais tout d’abord, qu’est-ce qu’une dApp?

Qu’est-ce qu’une dApp?

Une dApp, ou application décentralisée, est un logiciel sans serveur qui s’exécute sur un réseau décentralisé et utilise une blockchain programmable pour la sécurité, la transparence et l’immuabilité. Une dApp combine des contrats intelligents avec une interface utilisateur frontale (HTML5, React, Angular). Les dApps peuvent être utilisées dans une variété d’industries et de services, des médias sociaux à la gestion de la chaîne d’approvisionnement, au suivi des paiements, à la résolution des plaintes et à toutes sortes de services comptables et financiers (décentralisés).

Les frameworks pour le développement de dApps sont essentiels pour permettre aux développeurs Web2 de participer à Web3. Les frameworks fournissent une architecture commune pour le développement et le déploiement de dApps. Ils fournissent également des outils et des bibliothèques qui facilitent le processus de développement et permettent aux développeurs Web2 de se familiariser avec les technologies Web3. Quatre des frameworks les plus populaires sont Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, EOS et Corda. Chacun offre des caractéristiques uniques qui répondent aux besoins des développeurs Web2.

Les frameworks pour le développement de dApps sont essentiels pour permettre aux développeurs Web2 de participer à Web3. Ethereum est le framework le plus populaire et le plus mature pour le développement de dApps. Il offre une architecture modulaire qui permet aux développeurs de créer des applications complexes avec des contrats intelligents. Ethereum fournit également une variété d’outils et de bibliothèques qui facilitent le processus de développement et permettent aux développeurs Web2 de se familiariser avec les technologies Web3. Hyperledger Fabric est un autre framework populaire pour le développement de dApps. Il offre une architecture modulaire qui permet aux développeurs de créer des applications complexes avec des contrats intelligents. Hyperledger Fabric fournit également une variété d’outils et de bibliothèques qui facilitent le processus de développement et permettent aux développeurs Web2 de se familiariser avec les technologies Web3. EOS est un autre framework populaire pour le développement de dApps. Il offre une architecture modulaire qui permet aux développeurs de créer des applications complexes avec des contrats intelligents. EOS fournit également une variété d’outils et de bibliothèques qui facilitent le processus de développement et permettent aux développeurs Web2 de se familiariser avec les technologies Web3. Enfin, Corda est un framework populaire pour le développement de dApps. Il offre une architecture modulaire qui permet aux développeurs de créer des applications complexes

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Créer des microservices Micronaut avec MicrostarterCLI

Créer des microservices Micronaut avec MicrostarterCLI

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Créer des microservices Micronaut avec MicrostarterCLI est une excellente façon de développer des applications modernes et robustes. Essayez-le dès aujourd’hui!

MicrostarterCLI : Outil de développement rapide

Premier Paragraphe

En tant qu’informaticien enthousiaste, je suis ravi de vous présenter MicrostarterCLI, un outil de développement rapide qui permet aux développeurs de générer des codes, des configurations ou des modèles standard réutilisables dont ils ont besoin dans leur application. Dans un article précédent, j’ai décrit un exemple de base pour créer des points de terminaison REST et GraphQL dans une application Micronaut. Cet article démontre un exemple de démarrage d’une application de microservices Micronaut à l’aide de MicrostarterCLI. L’architecture de l’application est la suivante:

Deuxième Paragraphe

Le processus de test commence par la génération des fichiers nécessaires à l’application à l’aide de MicrostarterCLI. Une fois ces fichiers générés, le processus de test peut commencer. La première étape consiste à tester le code généré pour s’assurer qu’il fonctionne correctement et qu’il est conforme aux spécifications. La deuxième étape consiste à tester les API REST et GraphQL générées par MicrostarterCLI. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons un outil appelé Postman. Postman est un outil très utile pour tester les API REST et GraphQL. Il permet de tester rapidement et facilement les API et de vérifier si elles fonctionnent correctement.

Troisième Paragraphe

Une fois le test des API terminé, nous pouvons passer à la dernière étape du processus de test, à savoir le test des performances. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons un outil appelé JMeter. JMeter est un outil très puissant qui permet de tester les performances d’une application en simulant des charges réelles. Il permet également d’analyser les performances de l’application et de repérer les problèmes potentiels. Une fois le test des performances terminé, nous pouvons être sûrs que notre application est prête à être déployée en production.

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10 Questions You Must Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Agency

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Finding a good web design agency is challenging, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. With so many options, it’s challenging to determine which best meets your needs.

The obvious place to start looking for a web design agency is by asking friends, family, and colleagues for personal recommendations, but bear in mind that they may not be qualified to judge your options objectively, and you’ll need to carry out due diligence on any web design agency recommended to you.

The process of researching and evaluating different design agencies can be time-consuming and complex. To make it easier, you must start with a clear understanding of your goals and expectations.

Begin by making a long list of web design agencies and freelance designers that might fit the bill. Then whittle it down to a shortlist by discounting anyone whose portfolio you don’t like — while design is about more than just subjective opinions, it’s also vital that you end up with a website you like and are proud to show off as part of your brand identity.

Now you have your shortlist, there are several key questions to pose to each potential candidate to ensure that they are the right fit for you. Here are the ten questions you should be asking to put you on track to finding your perfect website design partnership.

1. What types of website design services do you offer?

The first thing to realize is that there are many different kinds of websites, and as such, there are also many different kinds of website design services.

The types of website design services offered by web design agencies range from basic site creation to complex ecommerce solutions.

Basic web design services usually include developing and implementing a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress, Joomla, or Craft. Agencies may also provide more advanced services such as custom website design, SEO optimization, and web hosting.

Different agencies and freelancers specialize in various types of sites, so you must compare their solutions with your requirements.

2. Do you have any case studies of past projects I can review?

Experience matters when choosing a web design agency. Ask potential candidates about the years they have been in business and the types of projects they’ve worked on. New doesn’t necessarily mean low quality — plenty of great agencies are founded by experienced designers whose portfolios are owned by their previous employers.

However, it is easier to ensure a web design agency is a good fit for your project if you can review case studies of previous jobs. Case studies will provide valuable insights into their approach and techniques and how successful their clients have been.

3. Where are you based?

When it comes to web design agencies, there are pros and cons to hiring a local or remote team. On the one hand, working with a local agency can provide many advantages, such as in-person interaction and access to their resources. On the other hand, working with a remote team may offer greater flexibility, cost savings, and access to a global talent pool.

It’s essential to ask about an agency’s location to understand their services’ advantages and disadvantages.

Effective team communication is essential for any project, so you should check the working hours of any agency you select — you don’t want to wait overnight for answers to urgent queries.

4. Do you specialize in any particular industries or platforms?

Web design agencies may specialize in various industries and platforms, depending on the specific needs of their clients. For example, some might specialize in ecommerce solutions such as Shopify or WooCommerce, while others might focus on frameworks such as Vue or React.

Additionally, web design agencies may specialize in creating custom websites for specific industries, such as healthcare or finance.

Suppose you can locate a web design agency with previous experience developing websites for clients similar to you. In that case, they will be better placed to anticipate challenges specific to your project.

5. What is your process for designing websites?

Before hiring a web design agency, it’s essential to understand their approach to website design. For example, some agencies may take a more traditional “design and build” approach where they create the entire site from start to finish, while others may prefer to work with an existing template and make customizations.

Some design agencies use a traditional waterfall approach, while others adopt an agile methodology. Waterfall is a sequential process in which each step happens in isolation, whereas agile is an interactive approach with frequent testing and feedback.

Knowing how an agency prefers to work will help you establish realistic expectations about how they will integrate into your company culture.

5. Do you offer any additional services, such as SEO or hosting?

Website design agencies may offer a range of additional services, depending on the needs of their clients. Beyond website design and development, many agencies also provide SEO (search engine optimization) and web hosting services.

All reputable web design agencies will ensure that your website meets the minimum standard for technical SEO. But some agencies will also adapt your content to incorporate keywords and phrases related to your industry to help you increase website traffic once the site is launched.

When it comes to web hosting, your web design agency will help you choose the best type of hosting for your needs, but some agencies also provide hosting and will set up and manage a server for you.

6. How will the project be managed, and what is your timeline for completion?

When it comes to website design projects, timeline management is critical to ensure that your new website is delivered on time and within budget. Managing a website project requires careful planning and execution to keep everything on track.

You should also ask how the project will be managed throughout its lifecycle so that you can schedule your in-house timetables.

7. What type of maintenance can I expect after launching the website?

Launching your new website begins a long-term relationship with your web design agency. It’s essential to ask about their post-launch support process to ensure you have all the help and guidance you need. The agency should be able to provide comprehensive maintenance services such as bug fixing, content updates, and security checks.

Additionally, you should understand the process for making changes and requests after the website launch. Find out how quickly they can respond to your inquiries and the cost of any needed updates. This will help you plan your budget accordingly and avoid any unexpected fees.

9. How much will the project cost?

Speaking of costs, it’s vitally important to establish ballpark figures before you shortlist an agency. Like any industry, there is a wide range of different price points, dependent not just on the project but the marketability of the web design agency.

Make sure you ask for a comprehensive quote that outlines all the costs involved. Ask for a payment schedule so you know how much you’re expected to pay upfront. Check on any additional fees, such as maintenance or hosting.

Never adjust your project to secure a web design agency outside your budget. If you can’t afford a particular provider, strike them off your shortlist and move on to the next candidate.

10. What do you need from me?

As a client, there are several steps you need to take to ensure that your website design project runs smoothly. You will need to supply a detailed brief if nothing else.

You should be prepared to schedule regular feedback sessions so your agency can stay on track. You’ll probably need to supply brand materials such as logos, style guides, and any text, images, and videos you want to be included. The agency may want you to sign a contract, agree on a payment schedule, and pay an initial deposit.

Conclusion

Hiring a web design agency is challenging, especially if you don’t have the technical knowledge to assess an agency’s past work objectively.

By asking the questions above, you’ll get a solid sense of what the company is like to work for, how well they fit your corporate culture, and whether their proposed solution is within your budget.

The more questions you ask, the better informed you’ll be, and the more likely your website design project will succeed. Good luck!

 

Featured image via Pexels.

Source

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21 Best CRM Software

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The best CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software solutions help sales teams streamline critical processes to improve productivity, track customer interactions and gain actionable insights to deliver a personalized experience to sell smarter, shorten the sales cycle and drive better retention rates.

This article reviews the 21 best CRM software to help you streamline your searches. We’ll cover the key features, user experience, pricing plans, strengths, and weaknesses. So, let’s get to it.

1. Salesforce Sales Cloud CRM

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a cloud-based customer relationship management solution that supports large sales teams and every customer touchpoint.

Over 150,000 companies, including world-leading brands like IBM, NBCUniversal, and Sonos, use the CRM system to streamline workflow automation. 

Key Features

Project Management — The software natively integrates with Slack, allowing you to seamlessly manage your Salesforce tasks in one central location and collaborate remotely with colleagues, customers, and partners in real-time. 

Sales Forecasting — Salesforce can estimate your future sales revenue using your current and historical pipeline data. Again, integrating with apps like revVana helps you gain better revenue insights.

Flexible and Scalable — This CRM software helps small businesses and enterprises meet their growing needs without sacrificing performance. Salesforce CRM is entirely cloud-based, supports over 8,700 integrations, and has an open API, making it highly extensible.

User Experience

Setting up an account only takes three steps.

The dashboard is clean and straightforward, making it easy to use. You can click the modules on the navigation menu to use its features. Additionally, the CRM software displays information in graphs, pie charts, and tables in an easy-to-understand way.

Salesforce Sales Cloud has a robust knowledge base to hit the ground running immediately.

Pricing

Salesforce offers four subscription plans, billed annually:

  • Essential $25 per user per month
  • Professional $75 per user per month
  • Enterprise $150 per user per month
  • Unlimited $300 per user per month

Strengths

  • It’s fully cloud-based (you don’t need to install anything)
  • 30-day free trial
  • Customer relations management automation
  • Supports over 8,000 integrations and apps
  • Multilingual and multi-currency support
  • Open API
  • Leads management and business intelligence tools
  • Round-the-clock support
  • Multiple appointment scheduling
  • Mass emailing capability

Weaknesses

  • It doesn’t support live chat
  • Not suitable for on-premise deployment

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is one of our top options for the best CRM software today. The cloud-based solution helps marketers set up their pipelines, track progress in real-time and automate routine tasks. Over 100,000 companies in 179 countries use the software.

Key Features

Real-Time Alerts — Pipedrive has a built-in reminder that keeps you posted on all your sales activities so you don’t miss a follow-up.

Reporting — The CRM provides detailed reports on pipeline performance. With this insight, you can measure your progress against your business goals.

Revenue Forecasting — The software can forecast your sales volume and revenue using your pipeline data. It automatically updates the estimate when a lead’s status changes.

Leads Capture — Pipedrive has a customizable web form that helps you capture leads for your pipeline. Also, you can segment the leads for personalized communications.

User Experience

Pipedrive is user-friendly. New users will be able to get the hang of it quickly. Also, the CRM software has a robust help center to help users set up and customize their accounts.

It features a visual pipeline that lets you see your sales strategies and process and update a lead status by dragging and dropping it. Additionally, it presents reports in easy-to-understand ways.

The software offers live chat and round-the-clock email support for quick resolutions. 

Pricing

Pipedrive offers four plans, billed monthly and annually.

  • Essential $11.90 per user per month
  • Advanced $24.90 per user per month
  • Professional $49.90 per user per month
  • Enterprise $74.90 per user per month

Strengths

  • Faster deal closing
  • Omnichannel lead generation
  • Efficient customer relationship management
  • Free trial (no credit card required)
  • Goal setup and tracking
  • Sales forecast
  • Over 350 integrations
  • 14-days free trial
  • API support
  • Real-time support

Weaknesses

  • No free plan
  • The dashboard could feel overwhelming

3. Oracle Netsuite CRM

Oracle NetSuite Customer Relationship Management software promises to deliver the real-time data you need to manage interactions with potential customers, existing customers, and suppliers, deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive sales.

Over 32,000 customers use Oracle NetSuite products.

Key Features

Sales Force Automation — NetSuite CRM SFA unifies your sales processes and provides unprecedented insights into every aspect of your customer relationship to supercharge your sales performance.

Marketing Workflow — You can create and launch targeted marketing campaigns to grow your leads pool. Also, the CRM lets you segment your leads to deliver a personalized experience, shortening the sales cycle.

Customer Service Management — NetSuite automates customer service management, allowing users to focus on other pressing day-to-day activities. For example, it can review the status of submitted tickets and reply with follow-up communications.

Partnership Relationship Management — NetSuite CRM is not just a customer relationship management software. Instead, the platform is a complete business management tool that helps you manage relationships with partners, share real-time information, and maintain control over partner-focused sales processes.

User Experience

This CRM could be more beginner-friendly if not for its many features and advanced functionalities. However, the software offers a search feature to help users find things faster. Another user experience challenge is Netsuite’s time-demanding customization.

Plus, some users have reported crashes and downtime.

Besides these challenges, NetSuite has an excellent user interface that makes it exciting. Also, it offers live chat support, helpful resources, and a comprehensive knowledge base.

Pricing 

NetSuite charges an annual license fee but doesn’t provide any pricing plans. You must contact their customer support to learn about the deployment needs of their CRM systems.

Strengths

  • A centralized data source that gives users unprecedented visibility into their sales process
  • Salesforce, marketing, and customer service automation
  • Partner relationship management
  • Advanced reporting and analytics
  • Great user interface
  • Sales forecasting
  • Mobile 

Weaknesses

  • No monthly subscription plans
  • Not-too-great user experience
  • Expensive compared to other CRM solutions

4. Zoho CRM  

Over 250,000 businesses worldwide use Zoho CRM software solutions. It helps management, marketing, support, and sales teams address their customer relationship management and omnichannel engagement needs.

The platform empowers users to deliver personalized experiences and drive sales through multiple channels.

Key Features

Sales Force Automation — You can create workflows to reduce manual data entry, eliminate redundancies and automate repetitive sales, marketing, and customer service functions. 

Journey Orchestration — Zoho CRM lets users create personalized customer journeys and track each prospect’s path to identify delays or loopholes and optimize the sales process.

Omnichannel — With the Zoho CRM software, you can engage and track customer interactions across multiple channels, including email, social media, phone, and the self-service channel. 

Sales Enablement — Zoho CRM enables frictionless sales processes. You can generate quotes, invoices, and orders within the CRM software. Also, it lets you set up partner portals to grow your business and manage relationships with stakeholders.

User Experience

The Zoho CRM dashboard is clean, straightforward, and user-friendly. So, you can use all of its features as a first-time CRM user.

For example, the software lays the module tabs above the fold at the top bar, making them easily accessible. The reports are also less overwhelming as you can drill into the report you want to see, one at a time.

Zoho CRM offers webinars, tutorials, free eBooks, and documentation for easy setup and customization. No live chat support.

Pricing

Zoho CRM offers four subscription plans billed monthly and annually:

  • Standard $18 per user per month
  • Professional $30 per user per month
  • Enterprise $45 per user per month
  • Ultimate $55 per user per month

Strengths

  • Mobile
  • Marketing and sales automation
  • Advanced template and layout customization
  • Insightful reporting and analytics
  • Team collaboration
  • Support customer self-service portal
  • Predictive sales and intelligence
  • Voice assistant
  • Multilingual and multi-currency support
  • App marketplace with several third-party developers
  • REST API support
  • Activity reminders and sticky notes
  • 15-days free trial

Weaknesses

  • No live chat support
  • Limited native marketing automation (needs extensions)

5. HubSpot CRM 

HubSpot CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management solution for salespeople, marketers, customer service agents, operations managers, and business owners. Top global brands like Atlassian, Doordash, and Wistia use the HubSpot CRM software.

Key Features

Multiple Hub — HubSpot CRM offers five hubs—marketing, sales, customer service, CMS, and Operations—that lets you pay for your needs. In addition, you can integrate up to five hubs into a single CRM to streamline your business processes. 

Email Marketing — The software has a built-in email marketing capability for targeted campaigns to your audience. In addition, you can create customized emails with the intuitive drag-and-drop editor.

Lead Generation — With the built-in lead-capturing forms, ad management tools, and landing pages, you can generate leads online, feed them directly into the CRM and convert them to customers.

Customer Support Portal — You’ll get a customer support portal to manage customer services and support requests, minimizing the burden on your customer service team. With the portal, you can also set up your knowledge base.

SEO Advisor — The SEO Advisor provides actionable SEO tips which can help you rank essential keywords on Google search results. It comes in handy when creating blog posts or developing landing or website pages.

User Experience

You can set up HubSpot CRM quickly and get it running immediately.

The CRM is easy to use and has an excellent user interface. You can customize your dashboard to quickly view your sales pipeline all in one place to enhance your user experience. Also, HubSpot presents its reports in an easy-to-understand way.

It also integrates seamlessly with other tools. In addition, HubSpot offers onboarding services and multiple support channels—phone, email, live chat, and online community.

Pricing

HubSpot offers a free version but with limited access to its tools. You can extend its functionality based on your needs by subscribing to a plan in the appropriate hub.

Marketing Hub

  • Starter $45 per month
  • Professional $800 per month
  • Enterprise $3,600 per month

Sales Hub

  • Starter $45 per month
  • Professional $450 per month
  • Enterprise $1,200 per month

Customer Service Hub

  • Starter $45 per month
  • Professional $450 per month
  • Enterprise $1,200 per month

CMS Hub

  • Starter $23 per month
  • Professional $360 per month
  • Enterprise $1,200 per month

Operations Hub

  • Starter $45 per month
  • Professional $720 per month
  • Enterprise $32,000 per month

Strengths

  • Powerful collaborative tool, Integrating marketing, sales, customer service, CMS, and operations in a single CRM solution.
  • A free version
  • User-friendly and intuitive
  • Large CRM database
  • Sales and marketing workflow
  • Insightful reporting and analytics
  • Lead management 
  • Seamless third-party integration
  • Social posting from the CRM
  • Meeting scheduling
  • Mobile app

Weaknesses

  • Limited features that could push to acquire other HubSpot licenses
  • HubSpot licenses are on the high side.

6. Freshworks

Freshsales is a sales CRM software that promises to help you gain a 360-degree view of your customers, deliver personalized engagement, shorten the sales cycle and accelerate revenue with context-driven sales. Brands like Klarna, Blue Nile, and PharmEasy use the CRM system.

Key Features

Lead Generation and Scoring — Freshwok offers CRM tools to help you run personalized campaigns and generate leads from your website visitors. You can also score the leads based on their engagement level.

Deal Management — Freshworks provides a birds-eye view of the deals in your pipeline, making it easy to prioritize and work on them immediately. You can also collaborate with multiple salespersons on the same deal., 

Workflow Automation —The software’s built-in workflow automation lets users automate repetitive tasks to save and boost the sales force’s productivity. You can quickly create automation with the pre-set templates.

AI-Powered Insights —Freshworks’ algorithm, Freddy AI, does the heavy lifting so that you can focus on only deals that convert. Additionally, it delivers AI-powered insights that help you drive faster deal closure. 

Omnichannel — The software enables users to reach customers on their preferred channel without exiting the CRM software. For instance, you can connect with your contacts via email, phone, live chat, WhatsApp, SMS, and Zoom.

User Experience

You can set up an account in three simple steps and connect your email account to the CRM software.

The dashboard is clean and less overwhelming. As a result, you are likely to crack the software at first use without facing many challenges. Also, you can import your sales data and start using the CRM tools immediately without starting from scratch.

You can use the FAQ, help center, or live chat for quick resolutions when you run into issues.

Pricing

Freshworks offers the best free CRM software with basic features—ideal for beginner users. In addition, you can subscribe to a paid plan to access more tools.

  • Growth $15 per user per month
  • Pro $39 per user per month
  • Enterprise $69 per user per month

Strengths

  • Email marketing within the CRM software
  • AI-powered deal insights
  • Built-in lead generation capability
  • Seamless sales process automation
  • Multilingual and multi-currency support
  • Territory management
  • Omnichannel customer engagement
  • Over 30 reports
  • A free plan
  • Mobile app
  • 21 days free trial of the highest tier plan
  • Provides a 360-degree view of the business
  • AI-based leads scoring
  • Pipeline visualization

Weaknesses

  • Hard-to-reach support
  • Limited third-party integrations

7. Monday

Monday CRM software is one of the best CRM software in the industry. Over 125,000 businesses use it to generate leads from multiple sources, qualify them in a central location, and track and manage all aspects of the sales cycle, from pre-sales to post-sales, all in one place.

Key Features

Email Tracking — With Monday, you can centralize your email communications and track essential email metrics to learn when to reach out, saving you time on cold leads. It also lets you create personalized emails with built-in templates.

Sales Process Automation — You don’t have to waste time on repetitive sales processes. It’s one of the best CRM software for automating your workflows, enabling you to focus on essential things. For instance, it can assign leads to sales reps, notifies you when a prospect opens an email, and more.

Leads Capturing — You can feed your sales pipeline with steady streams of qualified leads collected from multiple sources, qualify them on the CRM, and automatically score them based on pre-set criteria.

Post-Sales Management — Monday’s post-sales management capability lets you continuously manage customer relationships and drive after-sales customer satisfaction to boost customer retention.

User Experience

You can quickly sign up with Gmail and set up your account in a few more steps.

You can sell your sales pipeline and customer journey at a glance. Also, the user interface is excellent, and the software presents information in ways anyone can quickly grasp. In addition, it has a desktop notification feature that keeps you updated on your sales activities in real-time.

Users can customize their dashboards to see only the things they like. Unfortunately, the support doesn’t provide live chat support; however, it tries to compensate for this with a robust help center and round-the-clock email support.

Pricing

Monday offers a free plan for its CRM software and four premium subscription plans.

  • Basic $10 per month
  • Standard $14 per month
  • Pro $24 per month
  • Enterprise (custom package)

Strengths

  • Free and custom plans
  • Workflow automation
  • Email tracking and centralized communication
  • Pipeline visualization
  • Customizable reporting dashboard
  • Built-in lead management (capturing and auto-scoring)
  • Post-sales customer relationship management
  • Third-party integrations
  • Mobile app
  • Online community and robust help center

Weaknesses

  • Limited native marketing automation
  • No live chat support

8. Keap

Keap is one of the leading sales CRM solutions that cater to small businesses. The software promises to help them grow their leads, improve revenue and drive customer retention through enhanced customer relationship management and marketing workflows.

Key Features

Email and Text Marketing — It’s the right CRM software for small businesses seeking to bring email and SMS marketing into their marketing mix and manage them in one place. They can quickly create email and SMS campaigns with built-in templates and send them to their segmented lists.

Sales and Marketing Automation — With Keap, small business sales teams can automate critical sales and marketing processes to deliver a personalized experience to customers and drive targeted business growth while saving valuable time and human resources. 

Lead Capturing — You can acquire and track leads at every touchpoint. This CRM software comes with CRM tools for capturing leads like landing pages, dedicated sales funnels, forms, and appointment schedulers, which you leverage to generate consistent leads. 

eCommerce — Keap supports payment processors like Stripe, PayPal, and Wepay, allowing you to send and receive payments within your CRM software. The platform has facilitated over $2.6 billion in online sales since its launch.

User Experience

Keap promises a 14-day free trial. But I need help accessing the feature after signing up; the offer is only available to randomly selected businesses.

If the software can deliver on its promises, it will be great for the user experience. 

Pricing

Keap offers three subscription plans, billed monthly and yearly.

  • Pro $129 per month
  • Max $199 per month
  • Max Classic (custom plan)

Strengths

  • A referral program that pays up to 30% commission
  • A high-reaching user community
  • Knowledge base and help center
  • Native payment platform
  • Built-in email and SMS marketing
  • Advanced automation
  • Expert assistance

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • Limited subscription plan
  • Expensive annual packages
  • The free trial is often unavailable
  • unreliable

9. Sage

Sage integrates sales, marketing, and service modules to deliver world-class customer relationship management software.

It’s one of the best CRM software in the market. With this solution, you can gain valuable insights into where your business stands to make better business decisions.

Key Features

Service Module — This module brings customer service management functionality within the CRM, enabling you to deliver an exceptional experience to prospects and customers, nurture them into long-term relationships and generate repeat businesses.

Sales Modules — With this module, you can automate your sales processes to accelerate sales performance and boost productivity. The company’s customer data shows that sales reps using this feature improved productivity by up to 40%.

Marketing Module — You can plan and run omnichannel, targeted marketing campaigns within the CRM and optimize campaigns to deliver more results with the built-in insightful reports.

User Experience

Sage doesn’t offer its pricing plans upfront. Also, you can’t sign up online. Instead, you’ll need to leave your business information online and wait for their support team to call, which might take time to come.

The user interface is excellent, but the CRM software integrates with only limited applications. In addition, real-time case resolution still needs to be improved. However, the software offers a community forum.

Pricing

Sage doesn’t have public pricing information. 

However, the software license could cost approximately $600 annually for each user. In addition, one-time initial implementation and related services could take the total cost to about $8,000. 

Strengths

  • Single modules to fully Integrated solution
  • Powerful real-time insights 
  • Team collaboration
  • Sales and marketing automation
  • Customer service management

Weaknesses

  • No straightforward signup
  • No subscription plan
  • Limited integration

10. Insightly CRM

Insightly is a popular CRM tool developed to help businesses streamline their processes, collaborate across teams, and integrate all the applications they need to drive sustainable growth.

Over 25,000 companies, including Bloomberg, Bosch, and Sanofi, use the platform, making it one of the best CRM software platforms today.

Key Features

Relationship Mapping — You can link your customer data to existing contacts to map and understand how your customers relate. This feature helps you get a high-definition picture of your customers.

Marketing  — Insightly’s unified marketing platform enables marketing teams to build sales pipelines, attract and engage ideal customers with intelligent and segmented campaigns and automate marketing processes to grow the business faster.

Sales  — You can centralize your customer data in one place, managing leads and spotting and prioritizing those most likely to convert. You can also create and send emails within Insightly and automate your workflows.

Service  — Insightly empowers customer service teams to solve customer challenges more effortlessly. You can receive customer support tickets in one place, quickly share information across the organization and receive actionable insights to improve customer experience.

Integrations  — You can connect all the tools you need to grow your business and manage them under one app. Also, Insightly’s AppConnect supports this CRM’s users in building custom integrations and workflows.

User Experience

Insightly has a clean design with a user-friendly interface. 

Some users complained that it could be challenging to grasp all its possibilities fully. However, it features a knowledge base, videos, and tutorials that could bring you up to speed as quickly as possible. The platform also offers live chat support.

The filters and bulk email could be better.

Pricing

Insightly’s CRM systems come in three plans, billed annually:

  • Plus, $29 per month
  • Professional $49 per month
  • Enterprise $99 per month

Strengths

  • Custom integration and workflow builder
  • Project management and team collaboration
  • Sales and marketing automation
  • Module for customer service teams
  • Scalable CRM
  • Live chat support
  • Free trial
  • Low-entry cost
  • Mobile app
  • Customer relationship mapping

Weaknesses

  • Annual billing
  • Learning curve

11. SugarCRM

SugarCRM is one of the best CRM platforms in the market. It delivers CRM solutions that help companies gain a comprehensive high-definition view of their customers in the past, present, and future to enable predictability, boost situational awareness and reach new levels of business performance. 

Key Features

Predictive Forecasting — SugarCRM leverages historical and real-time data from multiple points to identify issues, root causes, and opportunities and deliver actionable sales insights. In addition, it offers automatic alerts for fast response.

Sales and Marketing Automation — You can automate anything with SugarCRM, from data collection, leads routing, and quote approval to leads scoring and marketing to deliver meaningful buying experiences, shorten the sales cycle, and drive revenue.

Customer Service Management —SugarCRM native customer service management support enables you to deliver a personalized, positive experience to customers at every touchpoint. In addition, the software automates critical processes to reduce the burden on your customer support team. 

User Experience

SugarCRM has a solid user interface.

However, you must pay for at least three users before you sign up for any plan, making the software expensive. Also, the CRM software offers a more complex signup process. You’ll need to fill out an online form to contact support.

SugarCRM has a user community and resource center that can help you quickly set up your account and learn how to make the most of the CRM software. Also, phone support is available in four languages.

Pricing

SugarCRM has four monthly plans, billed annually and requiring a minimum of three users.

  • Market $1000 per month/user
  • Sell $45 per month/user
  • Serve $80 per month/user
  • Enterprise $85 per month/user

Strengths

  • AI-Powered prediction
  • Full situational awareness
  • Sentiment assessment
  • Powerful automation and workflow
  • The built-in customer service solution
  • On-premises deployment
  • Omnichannel customer engagement

Weaknesses

  • No complimentary or trial plan
  • Lacks a mobile app
  • Expensive plan

12. NetHunt

NetHunt is one of the best CRM platforms built for Gmail and Google Workspace users, designed to help them manage leads, nurture prospects, and stay on top of their sales performances. The solution also plays well with LinkedIn and eight other tools.

Key Features

Data Organization  — With NetHunt, you can organize your business data effectively and productively. Also, the solution organizes your deals and sales pipelines in an easy-to-understand manner, providing insights into what works and doesn’t.

Sales Force Automation  — Using this sales CRM means your sales team won’t have to waste time on repetitive tasks. Instead, the solution automates key sales processes like leads capturing and nurturing, contact updates, and others so they can focus on other things.

Centralized Communication  — You can centralize your business communications, regardless of your customer’s preferred channel, whether social media, email, telephone, messenger, or live chat, and manage everything on the go under one app roof.  

User Experience

You can create an account in three clicks. The interface is clean and user-friendly. You can quickly update your deals by dragging and dropping them and visualize your pipeline to see your entire sales process and performance at a glance.

Also, you can set up workflows and integrations in a few minutes. Both processes are intuitive and might not require any learning curve. In addition, NetHunt has a help center and offers live chat support.

Pricing

NetHunt is available via four subscription plans, billed monthly and annually.

  • Basic $24 per month
  • Business $48 per month
  • Advanced $96 per month
  • Custom plan

Strengths

  • Zapier integration
  • Advanced data organization and visualization
  • Workflow automation
  • Omnichannel communication
  • Mobile apple
  • Live chat and phone support
  • Code-free web form for leads capture
  • Low-entry fee
  • Free trial and custom plan
  • Chrome browser extension
  • Open API
  • Cancel anytime

Weaknesses

  • Available only to Gmail and Google Workplace users
  • Limited integration options
  • Limited marketing automation 

13. FreeAgent

FreeAgent CRM helps teams collaborate more effectively to get things done. The software promises to help users track their progress in real-time and gain actionable insights to optimize their performance. Over 1,000 businesses worldwide use the platform.

Key Features

All-In-One Solution — With FreeAgent CRM, you won’t need to open multiple browser tabs to get your job done. Instead, you get everything done in one place. You can also automate repetitive tasks to get more done in less time. 

Workflow Optimization — You can streamline business processes to complete more work efficiently. The CRM tool can help you organize and prioritize deals so you can focus on those most likely to move the needles for your business.

Code-Free Customization — FreeAgent code-free customization enables you to set your account to meet your business’s unique needs. The software also integrates with other apps, making it highly extensible.

User Experience

FreeAgent CRM is easy to use and has a visually appealing user interface. The software enables complete funnel visualization and presents reports in ways anyone can understand.

You can quickly connect with the company’s in-house CRM experts to set up and customize your account to explore its full possibilities. The solution also offers live chat and helpful resources.

Pricing

FreeAgent offers “Unlimited Users” and “Per User” pricing packages with different plans, billed monthly and annually. The Per User package has three plans.

  • Starter $45 per month
  • Professional $90 per month
  • Enterprise $120 per month

Strengths

  • Highly extensible
  • All-in-one solution
  • Fully cloud-based
  • Code-free customization
  • Workflow automation
  • Full funnel visualization
  • Customer service management
  • Third-party integrations
  • Live chat support
  • Custom app
  • ISO 27001 compliant

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • Poor search and filter

14. Creatio CRM

Creatio CRM is one of the best CRM software used by small and medium-sized businesses in over 100 countries to automate end-to-end customer journeys with no code. You can purchase separate modules or deploy the software as a unified CRM tool. 

Key Features

Marketing Creatio — With this module, you can automate your marketing campaigns, lead management, and deliver personalized omnichannel communication to boost business revenue and drive customer retention.

Sales Creatio — Creatio supports sales teams to collaborate across boards and automate mission-critical sales processes to get more things done. The software also provides a 360-degree view of customer journeys to personalize their experience.

Service Creatio — You can automate and manage customer service workflows on Creatio to save the support team valuable time and deliver an enhanced, personalized experience to customers. The software uses AI to streamline the handling of service cases.

Studio Creatio — Creatio’s no-code UI builder helps non-technical users build business applications and processes with maximum freedom using easy-to-use drag-and-drop visual design tools.

User Experience

The analytics and reporting are insightful, and you can quickly visualize the data in a few clicks.

The software’s no-code capability means you can complete projects that usually take months or even days. In addition, support is multilingual, so you’ll always get assistance whenever the need arises in your preferred language. 

Also, the platform has helpful resources for quick self-help.

Pricing

Creatio has different subscription packages for each module (Creatio). 

The monthly sales and service modules subscriptions range between $25 and $60, while Marketing Creatio goes for a $1,000 to $100,000 yearly fee. You’ll need to contact support to understand the cost of deploying its unified CRM solutions.

Strengths

  • Cost Calculator
  • Cloud and on-site deployment
  • 360-degree customer view
  • Unlimited no-code customization
  • End-to-end workflow automation
  • Real-time analytics
  • Trial plan
  • Custom plan

Weaknesses

  • Expensive plan
  • No mobile app

15. Close

Close is a cloud CRM solution for remote salespeople. As one of the best CRM software in the industry, it makes team onboarding a breeze, automates and analyzes workflows, and helps you grow revenue quickly. It also integrates well with some of your tools, bringing your software stack to one place.

Key Features

Calling — Close has built-in call software to help you reach more people effortlessly and double your call volume and velocity. With the predictive dialer, you can call multiple numbers at once, and the software automatically routes answered calls to available reps.

Video — Close natively support Zoom, enabling remote selling with videos. The software can connect your Zoom account and sync your previous recordings with the CRM software. It also alerts you five minutes before every meeting, and you can add notes during the meeting for context.

Call Coaching — With Close, you can train your sales team, no matter where they are, all within the CRM without needing to invest in expensive online training tools.

Workflow Automation — The CRM solution offers in-app email and calls automation that can simplify your workflow and help you get more work done. Also, you can save and share winning templates with team members to boost the reach rate and close deals faster.

User Experience

Close is an easy-to-use CRM software for busy salespeople with no learning curve. 

You can quickly create an account, set up your workflow sequences, and immediately put the CRM to work. The software also has dynamic smart views that let you prioritize your leads and quickly find what you need.

Close offers free migration and support, so you can get assistance whenever needed. However, it might not be real-time since the software doesn’t offer live chat.

Pricing

Close offers four subscription plans billed monthly and annually.

  • Starter $25 per month
  • Basic $59 per month
  • Professional $89 per month
  • Business $129

Strengths

  • Remote selling
  • Power and predictive dialer
  • Built-in email and SMS marketing
  • Powerful reporting insights
  • Free trial, migration, and support
  • Sales force automation
  • Phone and email support
  • Pipeline visualization

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • No live chat support

16. Nutshell

Nutshell is an all-in-one B2B CRM software designed to help teams manage contacts and leads, sell smarter and gain valuable insights to track performance and optimize the sales process. Over 30,000 sales and marketing professionals use the software to streamline their workflow.

Key Features

Pipeline Management — Like most CRM, you can visualize your customer’s journey at a glance. With this feature, you can view, manage and prioritize leads for a faster closing.

Sales Automation — From lead assignments to scoring, task reminders, and more, Nutshell automates these tasks at the snap of a finger, allowing your team to focus on actual closing. 

Email Marketing Campaigns— Nutshell helps you send targeted, beautifully designed marketing emails. You can save time with the built-in template and see who engages with the email in real time. 

Leads Capturing  — The CRM has a native web form to capture leads and feed them directly to your pipeline. In addition, you can embed the form on your website to generate leads from web visitors.

User Experience

Nutshell reporting is top-notch, with an excellent interface. 

However, some users complained the email builder is subpar and could need improvement. Also, it offers limited customization.

Besides these, the software is excellent for quickly connecting all your software tools and accessing them in one place. The company doesn’t charge for customer support, and they can help you migrate your data to hit the ground running immediately.

The CRM offers several helpful resources to help you resolve issues and put the software to full use. 

Pricing

Nutshell offers two plans, billed monthly and annually. Here’s the cost per user per month:

  • Nutshell $19
  • Nutshell PRO $49
  • Nutshell Marketing (custom plan)

Strengths

  • Open API
  • Mobile apps
  • Free Migration
  • Sales force  automation
  • Leads generation
  • Pipeline visualization
  • Email marketing campaigns
  • Sales forecasting
  • Dependable support 
  • Custom marketing plan

Weaknesses

  • No live chat

17. Nimble

Nimble is one of the best CRM software for small and midsize businesses, used by over 140,000 professionals. Also, world-leading brands like UpWork, GoDaddy, and Flexjobs use the platform. 

Key Features

Nimble Prospector — With Nimble, you can efficiently prospect leads on any social site, website, or cloud application and connect with them in less time. The prospector is available as a browser extension, making it readily available.

Relationship Management — The software helps users manage customer contact details, automate key business processes, enable social listening and gain valuable business intelligence to deliver superior customer experience.

Email Marketing — The built-in email campaign management functionality means you won’t need to switch tabs or need third-party services to engage customers via personalized emails and track your progress.

Smarter Actions — Nimble provides actionable business and customer intelligence to take more intelligent actions to gain complete control of your sales process. For example, you can visualize your sales funnel, gain social insights to prepare for meetings, and discover engagement opportunities.

User Experience

You’ll likely start your Nimble experience by importing a CSV file of your existing contact database; thankfully, the software makes this process very straightforward. Also, the CRM makes importing and syncing data with other apps seamless.

Additionally, Nimble’s “Today Page” feature provides an overview of all your upcoming activities, deals, and engagement opportunities from social mentions and essential contacts to reach out to, making prioritizing more effortless.

The software has a support center and a live chat for quick assistance.

Pricing

Nimble offers only one subscription plan—Nimble Business, available for $25 monthly for a user. However, you’ll pay only $19 if you opt for the annual plan.

Strengths

  • App Marketplace
  • Native leads prospector
  • Browser extension
  • Activity tracking and team tasks management
  • Built-in calendar
  • Pipeline management
  • 360-degree view of customers and leads
  • Marketing automation
  • Contact management
  • Live chat
  • Business and customer intelligence
  • Office 365 and Google Workspace integration
  • Low entry fee
  • Social listening and mentions

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • Limited subscription plan

18. MailChimp

Mailchimp is not just an email service provider. It’s also one of the best CRM software for small businesses. With this solution, you can build better customer relationships and sell to them more creatively. In addition, the CRM is scalable and can support your business growth and needs.

Key Features

Contact Management — Whether importing an existing contact database or building from scratch, MailChimp helps you manage them all from one location. Also, you can create or use the built-in segments to organize your contacts.

Email Marketing — Email marketing and campaign management are probably MailChimp’s best selling point and are natively supported in the CRM, meaning you can run effective email campaigns. Also, it comes with pre-built email templates, and you can run A/B tests in-app.

Behavioral Targeting and Personalization — MailChimp can predict customers buying behaviors, enabling you to segment your contact effortlessly to launch campaigns that feel like a one-on-one conversation at the right time or deliver personalized product recommendations. 

User Experience

You’ll only need to fill out three fields to sign up. However, it would have been better if users could create accounts automatically with their Gmail. It’ll save you the stress of logging into your email to activate the MailChimp account.

Mailchimp’s user interface is excellent, with many white spaces, but I don’t find the yellow background and black font colors easy on the eyes while signing up. Also, the software can integrate neatly with other tools, so you can easily manage your stack in one place.

MailChimp support is excellent, and case resolution is always fast.

Pricing

MailChimp CRM offers free, and three paid plans.

  • Premium $350 per month
  • Standard $20 per month
  • Essentials $13 per month

Strengths

  • Highly scalable
  • Mobile app
  • Predictive segmentation and behavioral targeting
  • Holistic audience view
  • Live chat support
  • Seamless contact management
  • Actionable customer insight
  • Free plan
  • Low-priced starting plan
  • Extensive third-party integrations

Weaknesses

  • Limited native Salesforce automation

19. Apptivo

Apptivo is a CRM software used by over 200,000 businesses, including Sephora, UNAIDS, Exult, and Los Angeles Times. The solution simplifies customer relationship management so sales and marketing teams can be more efficient and close deals effortlessly.

Key Features

Win and Loss Analysis — You can track the sales opportunities your sales team prospected and analyze the employees that contributed to winning the opportunity. Additionally, the app can help you analyze lost opportunities and the reasons behind them.

Territory management — You can quickly delineate and manage your sales territories to boost team collaboration, improve sales efficiency, and maximize territorial benefits. With the built-in assignment rules, you can automatically segment leads based on territories.  

Sales Planning — With Apptivo, you’re sure you won’t be tracking your sales targets with spreadsheets. Instead, the software comes with a sales planning app to measure your team members’ KPIs and implement scalable sales processes to facilitate faster deal closing.

User Experience

Apptivo has an excellent user interface.

But new users might need help navigating the software. Also, the customization and app integrations are not a walk in the park. 

However, the CRM system offers an extensive knowledge base for self-help. 

Pricing

Apptivo offers three subscription plans.

  • Lite $10 per month
  • Premium $15 per month
  • Ultimate $25 per month

Strengths

  • Project management
  • Integrated CRM software
  • Activity tracking
  • Performance analysis
  • Pipeline visualization
  • Contact Marketing
  • Email campaigns
  • Leads management
  • Salesforce automation
  • Sales planning
  • Territory management
  • 30-day free trial
  • Mobile apps

Weaknesses

  • Hard customization
  • No real-human live chat

20. Act! CRM

Act! is a cloud-based CRM software designed for small and midsize businesses to manage customer relationships and sell better seamlessly. The CRM system has been in play for over 35 years, powering over 800,000 users worldwide.

Key Features

Marketing Automation — Using Act! means you won’t need to spend much hiring and maintaining an in-house marketing team. Instead, this CRM software can handle most of your crucial marketing processes effectively.

Sales Pipeline Management — With Act! built-in sales pipeline management, you can automate your sales tasks and maintain a 360-degree view of your customers and their journey to close deals faster.

Activity Management — Act! helps you stay on top of all the happenings around you, including critical projects, enabling you to prioritize and stay more productive.

User Experience

Act! offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive customization. 

However, some users complained that each new update tends to drag the software backward. Additionally, you might need help setting up custom reports and dashboards. 

Also, I can’t vouch for their support. You might struggle to reach them whenever the need arises. However, there is an extensive resource you can always fall back on for self-help.

Pricing

Act! offers two plans billed annually.

  • Act! Premium Desktop $37.50 per user per month
  • Act! Premium Cloud $40 per user per month

Users opting for the Premium Cloud plan pay an additional $10 monthly for desktop sync.

Strengths

  • Sales and marketing automation
  • Customer management
  • Sales pipeline visualization
  • Activity tracking
  • Advanced reporting capabilities
  • 14-day free trial
  • Live chat support
  • Flexibility and Extensibility
  • Cloud and on-premises deployment

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • Limited pricing plans
  • Annual billing

21. Agile CRM

Agile CRM is one of the best CRM services in the market. It promises to help you sell and market like Fortune 500 companies. In addition, the software packs several core CRM features like sales enablement, marketing automation, and customer service.

Key Features

Sales — The CRM system can help your sales teams manage their contacts in one place, track deals to keep the sales process on track, and automate sales calls. The CRM system also lets you manage appointments and gamify sales.

Marketing — Agile CRM has an intuitive drag-and-drop builder to set up a marketing workflow and build landing pages in minutes. It also extends its CRM capabilities with social media, email, and SMS features for multichannel marketing campaigns. 

Service — The software streamlines your customer service management so that your support can focus on only tasks that matter. It also allows you to provide pre-formatted replies for faster and more consistent responses.

User Experience

Agile CRM has a clean and intuitive dashboard. Using the features doesn’t require any learning curve. Also, the CRM software displays information in an easy-to-understand way.

The customer relationship management software has a robust knowledge base. Also, you can schedule a chat with any of their specialists within a few minutes.

Pricing

AgileCRM has free CRM software alongside three premium packages, billed monthly, yearly, and bi-annually. If you go for the bi-annual plans, you’ll pay the following:

  • Starter $8.99 per user per month
  • Regular $29.99 per user per month
  • Enterprise $47.99 per user per month

Strengths

  • Free plans with ten users
  • Yearly and bi-annual subscription plans
  • Lead management
  • Appointment scheduling
  • Two-way telephony
  • Contact management
  • Email and SMS marketing
  • Marketing automation with exit intent.
  • Social monitoring
  • Project management
  • Landing page builders
  • Chrome extension
  • Post-call automation
  • Push notification

Weaknesses

  • No mobile app
  • No live chat support

Choosing the Best CRM Software

The right CRM software providers for your business would offer you the best customer relationship management and engagement solutions. So, consider only CRM software vendors that offer you business solutions to meet your specific needs within your budget and integrate seamlessly with all your business tools.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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10 Key Principles of User-Centered Design

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Many firms’ design and development decisions are increasingly oriented toward human-centered innovation. Instead of rushing goods to market, these firms are using a user-centered design approach.

Design and development teams build high-performing digital products or websites that uniquely meet customers’ demands by concentrating on the user experience. After all, a good web design is helpful in boosting the business reputation or user experience.

This post will define user-centered design, discuss its fundamental principles, and describe the user-centered design process.

What Is User-Centered Design?

To create an enjoyable solution to a problem, user-centered design is a collection of iterative design processes concentrating on the user’s needs at each step. In UCD, the expectations, objectives, and preferences of the user significantly impact design decisions.

Additionally, users are actively involved in the entire process from start to finish. User-centered design principles encourage designers to create products with users rather than just for them. This strategy typically includes user research, interviews, usability testing, and a massive amount of feedback gathering.

UCD Requires Four Fundamental Components:

  • Visibility: Can people see what your website is about and how to utilize it the moment they land on your page?
  • Availability: Is your website user-friendly? Can they swiftly locate information? They should be able to find call-to-action buttons, menus, filters, and search choices with ease.
  • Legibility: Is the text simple to read for users?
  • Language: Is the language simple to grasp for users? Do you avoid using industry jargon in your UX authoring, which might lead to confusion and hesitation?

What Is The Significance Of UCD?

User experience is important in product design, especially in digital products such as app design, web and interface design, and marketing. Customers want their lives to be simplified. A website, app, or product exists to fulfill a consumer. Hence its success is determined by their interaction with it.

The following are some of the advantages of a user-centered design strategy for a business:

  • Customers keep coming back for more
  • There would be an increase in sales
  • Creating polished, efficient, and widely available goods
  • Understanding challenges thoroughly to provide suitable solutions
  • Customers and teams working together
  • Avoiding typical blunders
  • Enhancing Competitiveness
  • Assisting them in comprehending their market

It offers consumers the following advantages:

  • Making their life easier
  • Fulfilling their desires
  • Companies making them feel heard and understood
  • Making them feel important in the creation of things they use
  • Providing answers to challenges they were unaware they had or could not imagine solutions to

Let’s dig in to learn more about the advantages of UCD.

Businesses can benefit from using the user-centered design approach in various ways. As you incorporate this into your web development, you can enjoy the following four main advantages.

1. Prevent Project Failure

Your company might find it simpler to incorporate improvements and ensure your product is in line with actual user needs if you have a continuous feedback process assessing how customers react to your product, like a website.

Customers feel like their needs are better represented in the finished product, which can increase engagement and strengthen the bond with the company.

2. Improve ROI

This method produces products that more accurately reflect user expectations. The procedure also lessens mistakes made by website users, for instance. When combined, these factors motivate users to convert from leads to paying clients, boosting return on investment.

3. Increase Development Efficiency

In user-centered design, the objectives of the various team members are aligned. This can help clarify the best course of action for all parties involved. A more targeted, goal-oriented development process may be encouraged by the regular evaluation process.

Additionally, businesses can engage stakeholders and explain how their efforts and methodologies will improve customer interactions by using an iterative life cycle during product development.

4. Up The Level Of Competition

Customers will more fully appreciate what you offer, improve their engagement with your product or website, and be more likely to purchase from you if your product is created with their needs and expectations in mind.

As a result, this may increase your ability to compete in your sector.

5. KPIs Are Included

Given your user needs and business objectives, how do you move from the first to the second? You can measure key performance indicators with this in mind once you know what user needs are essential for the overall goals.

For instance, productivity may be the focus of office software, shopper activity may be the focus of sales tools, and retention rates may be the focus of other apps. All of these are necessary steps toward achieving business values like profit and revenue.

Human-Centered Design Versus User-Centered Design

There is a significant difference between humans and users. Simply put, all users are humans; however, not all humans will use your product. Therefore, you must thoroughly understand your target market to produce a successful user-centered design.

Detailed research should be done on the problems and goals of your users. Then, talk to them and give them several chances to offer feedback. By doing this, you’ll create a user persona that is complete and that you can use to determine the priorities for your design.

It’s critical to understand that different user groups may have additional requirements, levels of technical expertise, and expectations for using products like the one you’ve made.

What crucial guidelines or principles should designers consider when adopting a user-centric design?

The Process Of User-Centered Design

Certain fundamental principles underpin user-centered design. While the development process is always iterative, no explicit methods for implementation are specified. The approach can be implemented in either a waterfall or an agile environment.

1. Contextualization

The first step is to analyze the environment in which users will use the product. What are the intended applications of the product for future users? Teams working on projects can get answers by watching and talking to potential users.

2. Outlining The Prerequisites

Specifying the requirements for the new product is the second step. In this step, user requirements are described while considering corporate needs.

3. Design

Once the requirements are established, the actual design process can begin. Designers typically start by producing a straightforward prototype, like one made of paper, then move on to digital wireframes and a finished prototype.

4. Analysis

The project team solicits feedback from potential users after creating a prototype. This is typically done for digital applications through in-depth user testing and qualitative research.

Do surveys and tests evaluate user satisfaction, effectiveness, and efficiency? With the new information, the project team goes back to step 2 or step 3 of the design process to improve the product. Once the user feedback is satisfied, these iterations continue while taking into account corporate frameworks (time and costs).

Top 10 User-Centered Design Principles

Principles of user-centered design attempt to guarantee that usability is the primary priority throughout the development process. These principles, if successfully followed, will ensure that user experience is fulfilled not just during the initial introduction of a product but also during its use.

Furthermore, each of the following principles may be tailored to match the specific requirements and interaction demands of any product.

1. Use Simple Language

Professional Web Designer strives to provide the most readable discourse for the user while creating a product. This involves clarifying vocabulary, eliminating jargon, and simply providing information pertinent to the work.

Presenting users with irrelevant information throughout their use of the product taints its usefulness. Furthermore, basic language helps the user finish the work without being overwhelmed or confused.

2. Feedback

Users expect a reaction to all of their actions. This might involve modifying the look of the screen after completing an activity. If the job is finished after some time, it should display a loading page to notify the user that the task is in process.

Keeping the user informed throughout the process reassures them and keeps them on track with their job.

3. Maintaining Consistency

Keeping the product consistent is essential in ensuring an ideal user experience. Consistency affects how customers approach a product, and the time it takes to learn how to use it.

From the start of the project until its completion, the consistent philosophy underpinning the UCD process should be maintained. If the interface design needs to be updated, it is critical to maintaining consistency across new features to stay beneficial to the user.

4. Give The Complete User Control

Consumers are already aware of their requirements. They should be able to use a product with minimal effort and depend on the product’s help to accomplish the rest.

By removing the effort from the job, the user can do it quickly while keeping control of their activities.

5. Describe The Situation

Before developing a product, the designer must first investigate the ideal user and their wants. The designers can gain a comprehensive sense of some of the issues these people experience by studying their lifestyles.

Many of these observations are conducted through interviews. These interviews provide the designer with information on the exact goals that users want to attain and how they want to achieve them.

6. Examine the Design

Designers undertake usability testing with actual users of their product at this stage in the UCD process. This stage provides designers with insight into how consumers will interact with the product and how to modify it to suit them better.

It is advised that this stage be completed as quickly as feasible. The sooner customers provide input, the faster designers can comprehend their product from the user’s perspective.

7. Create Designs That Are Specific To The Needs Of The User

The design team must examine the distinctive features of their intended demographic as well as frequent real-world activities while beginning the design process. Furthermore, the product should be appropriate for the environment in which it will be utilized the most.

Making a product that needs a lot of work from the user reduces its usability and usefulness, ultimately defeating the objective of UCD.

8. The Design Process Is Iterative

Because user-centered design is based on putting the user first, the product team should constantly be working to improve the user experience. By introducing changes gradually, you will gain a better understanding of your target audience.

9. Adequate Navigational Tools

An essential component of the user experience is the capability to navigate between pages of your website and return to the previous one. Make sure users know where they are on your website and how to leave any pages they don’t want to see.

Customers can better understand how to navigate your page by giving them features like a navigation map, for instance. Make it simple for customers to change their order without leaving the current page if they buy clothing and discover they need a different size once they reach the checkout page.

10. Unflawed System

Customers should find it easy to navigate between your website’s pages and accomplish their goals. If they make a mistake, be there to help them fix it so they can achieve their goal.

The form may ask for specific, essential fields, such as the square footage, and may also include a gentle reminder or an alert that appears if the user accidentally leaves a required field blank.

Customers may feel more comfortable responding to your prompts and participating in a conversation if you ask questions one at a time and offer automated responses for each response.

Wrapping Up

User-centered design is more than just making a good product. It goes further than that. You demonstrate your motivations and intentions by putting your users in the spotlight. You’re demonstrating that it’s not all about meeting deadlines or turning a profit. Instead, you’re telling your users that you understand what they want and prioritize their needs.

It should come as no surprise that the most effective teams are user-centric. Knowing your customer is essential for success in any industry, including design. Create products that put the user first, and you will create products that people will love.

You can build a more robust, user-friendly website that is better equipped to respond to user needs and expectations by incorporating the User Centered Design process into your product design. However, it’s crucial to collaborate with a specialist who can apply these techniques and produce the result you’ve envisioned.

 

Featured image by pch.vector on Freepik

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