Meet
Kris Allen
Pride Road’s Zoho and CRM Guru
Kris Allen is Pride Road’s Zoho and CRM guru. He owns and runs source code software that helps Pride Road with the CRM integration- it helps our computer systems to communicate with each other.
A CRM system is a database that stores clients and their information. It lets you send documents to different people, and it helps us to know where everyone is and to manage our entire business process.
Why does Pride Road need someone like Kris to manage the systems?
Lisa realised that she has spent an awful lot of time and headspace thinking about the business’ key systems- the task is much bigger than she ever thought it would be. Kris notes that having an overarching view of the systems is vital for a business that runs itself, especially if you are running a franchise model, as you are selling the system to your franchisees. Having a robust system that caters to different situations is crucial for any business to be scalable. At Pride Road, the systems are necessary for dealing with the volume of clients, as it means you don’t have to keep all the client information in your head.
What improvements to the system has Kris made?
Kris has been working with us for a couple of years using Zoho as our main CRM, but we have been developing extensions to improve the system. Off the shelf systems like Zoho have similar limitations but working with Kris has allowed us to extend the system to include additional features to make our
lives easier.
For example, we are currently integrating the booking system into Zoho; this puts anyone who books an appointment into the right place, sends of automated emails with the necessary attachments, which are generated automatically from the information the client enters.
They have also been working on a system that knows who is involved in each stage of the process, so you can send emails to everyone involved without having to remember who is involved, or type the same email address repeatedly.
If someone were setting up a business from scratch, what advice would Kris give them for setting up IT systems?
Kris would encourage them to research what systems are out there and focus on finding one that works for their industry, especially if they are considering franchising. It’s worth seeing how well the different systems can communicate with each other, as automatic communication will save you a lot
of hard work; even if an admin task will only take you a few minutes, you may be doing it many times a day, so automating the process will save you a lot of time.
The great thing about the franchise is that we have Kris on board for whenever we need him; if we have an issue, he is there at the end of the phone as the systems do break quite regularly, so it’s great to have him to sort it out. It’s also great having Kris to make improvements, as each improvement consistently saves time across the board.