Twelve/Three - Blog by Cameron

What is the Best Telephony System?

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:55:27 -0400

Choosing the right telephony system isn’t just about making and receiving calls. It’s about connecting every interaction to your CRM to improve productivity and customer engagement. That’s where RingCentral stands out.

RingCentral is a leading cloud-based telephony system designed to unify phone calls, SMS, video meetings, and team messaging, all while integrating seamlessly with CRM platforms like Zoho CRM.

RingCentral is a cloud-based UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) platform that replaces traditional phone systems with internet-powered calling (VoIP). Because so, it scales easily as your business grows and supports remote workers without the need for additional equipment. In addition, RingCentral allows you to:

Dial and receive calls from desktop, mobile, or desk phones
Send and receive SMS and MMS messages
Host video meetings
Generate voicemail-to-email transcriptions
Record calls (with consent)
Set up advanced call routing and IVR menus

As a certified RingCentral partner, Twelve/Three LLC works directly with businesses to evaluate their communication related needs and configure the telephony system accordingly. From phone number provisioning and call flow design to CRM pop-ups, activity logging, and user training, our team can handle the technical side of things so RingCentral can help improve your sales productivity and efficiency. If you have questions about features, licensing, implementation, or migration from an existing phone system provider, we can guide you through each step and ensure your RingCentral deployment is structured for long-term success.

How is Zoho One Better than Odoo for Small Businesses?

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:49:25 -0400

Choosing the right business software suite is one of the most important decisions a company makes. Both Zoho One and Odoo are popular platforms that aim to replace groups of separately paid app subscriptions, with comprehensive "all-in-one" systems. However, they each take very different approaches, and for many companies, particularly small to mid-sized businesses, Zoho One often delivers greater value, integration, and ease of use.

Zoho One is designed and marketed as a "one-stop shop" operating system for business. A single Zoho One subscription includes 45+ integrated applications for sales, marketing, finance, HR, collaboration, support, website development and much more. With Zoho One, businesses no longer need a long list of separate programs or additional program subscriptions. Zoho One facilitates all standard business operations, while allowing for customization to facilitate complex ones.

Odoo, on the other hand, is a modular ERP platform where businesses can choose individual modules (for CRM, accounting, inventory, etc.) and assemble a solution or bundle of apps to fit their needs. In-app-purchases are required for more advanced operations, features or integrations.

Unified Platform vs Modular ERP

One of Zoho One’s strongest advantages is its unified, cloud-native environment. All apps are designed to work together "out of the box", with shared data and seamless workflows across functions. This means sales actions can trigger support workflows, HR can sync with finance, and analytics can pull data across all departments (just to list some out of countless examples).

Odoo’s modular system gives flexibility, but it requires more setup, ongoing customization and maintenance. Each module is powerful, yet integrating them often involves technical expertise or third-party custom development, requiring more time and investment than integrating between Zoho apps.

Ease of Implementation & Use

Because Zoho One’s apps are built, supported, and maintained by a single organization, businesses often experience faster implementation and adoption with lower learning curves. A typical company can begin using tools such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Mail, Zoho Books, etc. within days.

Odoo’s open-source nature and modular approach can give tremendous flexibility, but the trade-off is thatimplementation and internal training can take serious time, especially without experienced developers.

Total Cost

Zoho One is priced as a bundled suite. One subscription covers a huge range of apps and business functions, reducing the need to purchase or renew multiple standalone applications. This can make budgeting simpler and more predictable, while reducing overhead costs.

With Odoo, what you see isn't what you get like it is with Zoho One. Businesses frequently need to invest in the enterprise edition or make in-app-purchases for credits in order to "unlock" certain functions or capabilities. This is how Odoo is able to offer their most basic package at such a low cost. Regular in-app-purchases can significantly drive up the total cost over time.

For most businesses, especially those without an internal IT department, having a broad and seamlessly integrated suite like Zoho One delivers a lot more value than Odoo. Zoho's approach to integration, combined with an expansive set of applications in one subscription, means businesses can streamline operations without overcomplication. This gives Zoho One a major edge on not only Odoo but all of its competitors.

What is the Best Customizable CRM Platform?

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 13:45:25 -0400

Zoho CRM sets itself apart from the competition by being one of the most highly customizable CRM platforms on the market. Whether a small business, new venture, or large enterprise, Zoho CRM has the capability to adapt to precise workflows. Modules, fields, layouts, workflow automations, and dashboards can all be custom-tailored to fit your needs. Zoho CRM also integrates seamlessly with not only other Zoho apps, but hundreds of third-party apps via its marketplace and API connections. All of this makes it very easy to manage lead generation, sales, marketing, customer retention, and more.

Zoho CRM is a powerful tool that empowers businesses with the ability to perform custom automations and gather intelligent insights. From capturing leads and setting up lead assignment rules, to setting up workflows that trigger automated actions (such as emails, tasks, record updates, etc.), Zoho's proficiency helps reduce the need for manual work. Such custom automations not only save time, but can vastly improve several different business operations' efficiency. Zoho CRM also features built-in analytics that provide data in real-time for custom reporting and creating custom dashboards (e.g. sales performance, customer activity, etc.). Should you need more advanced custom reporting, Zoho Analytics is an app designed solely for data analytics and business intelligence, which integrates seamlessly with Zoho CRM.

At Twelve / Three LLC, our team of Zoho experts has several years of experience and knowledge to help your business maximize the benefits of Zoho CRM. Whether you are just getting started, or looking for advanced customizations or integrations, we're happy to guide you through each step of the way. Contact us today to harness the full potential of your Zoho CRM!

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Store RingCentral Calls & Recordings for Longer with Zoho Creator

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:27:00 -0400

Using Zoho Creator, we developed an app that can export call logs and recordings from RingCentral, and upload the recordings to Zoho Workdrive or any other cloud storage platform (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.). The app may be integrated with Zoho CRM so call data can be logged on the relative lead or contact record, while recordings can be uploaded as attachments. This enables businesses to store their call history regardless of RingCentral's storage capacity or age of the calls. This is crucial since most RingCentral accounts delete logged calls after 12 months, some accounts after 9 months. This makes it extremely difficult on businesses that need to retain their call history for longer.

Furthermore, RingCentral keeps voicemails on their server for only 90 days before they are deleted. To add more salt to the wound, its provided storage allows for a maximum of just 200 voicemail recordings per user. A few more reasons why we developed our own solution. With Zoho Creator, we're able to automatically pull call logs, call recordings, and voicemails from RingCentral on a nightly basis. So, by morning, your cloud storage will be up to date and you won't have to worry about losing any important call data or recordings. Click on the button below or email us at support@twelvethree.com to get started with your Zoho Creator solution for RingCentral.

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7 Reasons to Migrate from Act! to Zoho CRM

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 11:22:58 -0400

Migrating from Act! to Zoho CRM can offer substantial benefits to just about any business. While the CRM migration process may be intricate and demanding, the advantages of transitioning to Zoho CRM largely outweighs any potential challenges. Here are 7 points to back this up:

1. Modern User Interface and Enhanced Usability

Zoho CRM boasts an intuitive user interface that provides ease of navigation and operation.This modern design enhances user experience, leading to increased adoption rates among employees. In contrast, Act! has been noted for an outdated and cumbersome interface, which can pose usability challenges. Furthermore, Zoho CRM offers a feature call Zoho Canvas which enables you to build a fully customizable layout in a drag-and-drop builder.

2. Advanced Integration Capabilities

One of Zoho CRM's standout features is its extensive integration capabilities. It seamlessly connects with a wide array of third-party applications to streamline workflows and synchronize multiple business processes. Act! on the other hand comes with limited integration capabilities, creating the need for additional tools and resources.

3. Robust Automation and AI Features

Zoho CRM offers advanced automation tools and artificial intelligence (AI) functionalities. These features empower businesses to automate routine tasks, gain insightful data analyses, and make informed decisions. Act! offers basic automation features which lack the depth and sophistication of Zoho CRM.

4. Scalability and Customization

As businesses evolve, as should their CRM system. Zoho CRM is highly scalable and fully customizable, allowing organizations to custom-tailor the system to meet their specific needs as they grow. This flexibility ensures that the CRM can align with business objectives over time. While Zoho can accommodate businesses of all sizes, Act! is generally more suited for smaller businesses. With this comes limitations when implementing extensive customization in Act!.

5. Cost-Effectiveness

Zoho CRM provides a range of pricing plans, including a free version for small businesses and competitively priced tiers for larger organizations. This makes it very affordable regardless of budget. Act! costs more for what you're getting, especially when factoring in additional costs for integrations and advanced features (that come included with Zoho CRM).

6. Cloud-Based

Being a cloud-based solution, Zoho CRM offers the advantage of remote accessibility, while lessening the need for local data storage. Users can access the system from anywhere with internet connection, facilitating remote work and updates on-the-go. Act! offers both desktop and cloud versions, but its cloud functionalities do not even come close to those of Zoho CRM.

7. Excellent Customer Support

Zoho CRM provides excellent customer support, with timely responses and professional conduct. Their support team consists of Zoho CRM experts, providing an extremely comprehensive knowledge base. Zoho CRM's support team ensures that any issues encountered during or after migration can be promptly addressed. To add to that, Zoho has a very family-oriented company culture, eager to help one another. Act!'s customer support on the other hand, is not so friendly or reliable.

While migrating from Act! to Zoho CRM may require meticulous planning and execution, it can yield significant results for businesses aiming to improve lead generation, sales processes, customer relationship management, and more. If you'd like to get started with your Act! to Zoho CRM migration, click the button below. Or if you have any questions, feel free to reach us at support@twelvethree.com or 716-837-5727.

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RingCentral Zoho CRM Integration

Mon, 19 May 2025 15:26:00 -0400

There is a new way to more effectively and efficiently manage communication with your clients and leads through Zoho CRM and RingCentral’s integration. You can now dial, log, and even record calls right within Zoho CRM! This will help enhance the productivity of you and your business/team members and enrich customer interactions.

Increase opportunity for customer interactions
Improve communication efficiency
Automatically record RingCentral call logs in Zoho CRM
Easy to get started!

Zoho CRM also has a SMS text message feature for RingCentral that allows you to send SMS/MMS messages to contacts directly from your CRM. Sent and received messages or media will be stored under the corresponding lead or contact record. Scroll below to view a glimpse of what an ongoing call would look like in Zoho CRM.

As a premier RingCentral partner, and advanced Zoho partner, let Twelve/Three Marketing Inc. help you maximize your conversion rate with Zoho CRM and RingCentral integration. Please fill out the form on this page for someone to contact you to get started. We look forward to helping your business!

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E-Commerce with Zoho Commerce

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:26:00 -0400

If you’re an internet-savvy person, chances are you’ve heard of e-commerce. For the uninitiated, e-commerce is the selling of goods online, shipping your orders out to customers. While major players like Amazon and Alibaba continue to rule, there are still niches left to explore that offer a lot of potential.

When you sell something unique and of value to your customers, people will start resonating with you as you grow. With that, here’s how to go about e-commerce and what you’ll get out of it:

Reach More Customers

Maybe you’re already a store owner or maybe you’re just starting out. When you have an online presence, you naturally reach more customers than you would with just a physical store. As you engage more with your audience, you build trust and brand awareness. And your website is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

Get Started with Online Marketing

When you want to promote your business online, an e-commerce website provides you with links to your products, which form the starting point of your social media marketing. And when you find yourself with happy customers, you know that your links will be shared—creating great publicity for your brand.

Be Customer-centric

If you’re already a familiar name in your neighborhood, customers will feel even more reassured when they see you online, and it’ll save them the trouble of having to go to your physical store every time they want to buy something. You can even offer incentives to customers who become regular online shoppers.

Connect with Your Audience

When you get SEO right, you’ll reach people who might not have heard of you before. And if your website is designed well, you’ll get more paying customers. Your website is an extension of your brand story and your values, so people connect more with your brand when your website inspires confidence.

All that said, expect e-commerce to have a few pitfalls. Do critical market research before you spend major resources on your online store. You might want to start with a pop-up store and build from there.

Get Started with Zoho Commerce

Migrating Your “Old” CRM to Zoho CRM

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 15:27:00 -0500

Abstract: This article outlines the steps and considerations you should undergo to successfully move your current CRM data into Zoho CRM. We’re writing this article because we get asked this question often!

The migration process has two major steps. Each step has a few minor steps. An outline might look like:

1. Extract your data from current CRM system.

Could be one or many sources (Act!, Salesforce, Outlook, Excel, etc.)
Delete old, incomplete, unwanted records.
Translation – Standardize values, i,e, “Lawyer”, “Attorney”, “Counsel”, etc.
Determine what modules you want to migrate.
Consider not moving every field.
De-duplicate the source data.

2. Import the data into Zoho.

Create any custom modules & fields first.
Verify within 30 days. Zoho has a very nice undo feature where an import can be reversed when mistakes are encountered. You cannot undo imports that are more than 30 days old.

Zoho CRM has a very robust data migration tool that makes it fairly easy to bring in a set of text files (*.csv, *.txt, etc.) and populate multiple modules at the same time, with all modules properly linked.

The trick is to create these text files in a Zoho friendly format. Resolutions to some common pitfalls are:

Contact names should be split into First Name & Last Name
Any field in Zoho defined as required must be populated in your import file. A common example is email address. If you define email as required then any incoming records with a missing email will not import.
Similarly, if you define a field as unique, then there can only be one record with that value. Additional records with the same value will not import.
Make sure your pick list (drop-down) fields have the same values as your incoming data. An example is a Deal with a stage of “Sold” but the Zoho pick says “Closed – Won”.
User mapping – your old CRM system may have records or activities entered by ex-employees who will not be users of the old system. You can import the old user names into Zoho as inactive users or you can map all old users to a current user account. The choice depends mostly on the amount of “old” user data you are importing.
Dates need to be in a Zoho friendly format. Zoho can handle almost any format but it helps greatly if all of your date fields are in a similar format, i.e. “10/15/2019”.

An example – Migrating from Act! to Zoho CRM

We’ll choose Act! as your source data for exemplary purposes. Most CRM systems have similar module structures but each is a little different.

This tables lists the most commonly used Act! Modules, with some special considerations about importing these modules into Zoho.

Module

Comments

Contacts

Migrate to Zoho Contacts module. Zoho also has a Leads module which Act! does not have. You may want to separate your Act! Contacts into Contact and Leads.

Contact Notes

Will migrate to Contact Notes in Zoho. Act! stores these notes as rtf (Rich Text Format). These notes should be converted to plain text before import.

History

Zoho has an Activities modules and there are three kinds of Activities in Zoho; Calls, Events and Tasks. We usually map Act! call to Zoho Calls, Act! Meetings to Events and Tasks to Tasks. We generally ignore Act! history types of “Access Changed”, “Field Changed”, etc.

Opportunities

Migrate to Zoho (Deals, Potentials, Opportunities – this module can have many names). It is important to use the same Opportunity Stages in both systems. We often only import Open Opportunities, not Closed ones.

Companies

Act! instituted a Companies module about 12 years ago and not all customers use it. Zoho’s equivalent is the Accounts module. It is a good idea to create an Accounts import, either from the Act! Companies module or by extracting Company information from the Act! Contact records.

Groups

The Groups feature in Act! is unique to Act! and there is no direct equivalent in Zoho. We approximate the feature in Zoho with the use of pick lists or Zoho’s Tag feature. There are limits; 500 drop downs or 50 Tags. If you have thousands of Act! groups, we’ll need to devise a custom solution.

Pending Activities

Act! has a calendar where scheduled activities are kept. When the user completes an activity, the record moves from pending to the history file. We often find that this file is full of old calls and meetings that were never completed. Depending on need, we often do not import this data.

Emails

Act! has a feature where an email from Outlook or Google could be copied into Act!. Zoho does not do this. Zoho has a peculiar system where it goes to your mail server and displays any contact related emails.

So there is no email table in Zoho for us to import old emails into. If absolutely necessary, we’ll create a custom table and import them there. This table is static and future emails will not be copied into Zoho. They are displayed in their own section.

We show clients how emails automatically displayed and most are happy with that. If those real old emails are necessary, we can import them.

Attached Documents and Files

This is a lot of work but often necessary. Every module in Act! can have files associated with it, contracts, quotes, images, videos, etc. Zoho allows you to attach files to their records and Zoho has generous storage limits.

The problem with these files is that they often no longer exist. Act! may have a record saying there is a file on the K: drive, but that is the old location or the file no longer exists or the system doesn’t have sufficient rights to that drive.

Zoho file import requires you to zip all of the documents into a single file. The zip file cannot exceed 4 GB. Anything more than that must be done in batches. You then need to create a text file that links the file name to the Zoho record.

Custom Modules

For most of Act!’s history, custom modules were not support. There are some third party add-ons that would allow Act! to create a custom module. Examples are Cars (year, make, model, warranty, history) or Houses (# Bedrooms, Baths, Year Built) or Legal Cases (Court, Plaintiff, Defense, Docket, history) or Financial Accounts (Owner, Account number, shares, cost basis, date).

Zoho allows you to have 50 or more custom fields. Because Act! did not support this feature natively, many Act! users created dozens of fields in the Contact Records (Account1, Account2, Account3…).

This “flat file” data should be imported into a custom module in Zoho.

Summary: Don’t view data migration as a chore. It is an opportunity to architect a better CRM system. This is your chance to clean your data, make it more searchable and improve reporting capabilities.

This example highlights that there is a lot to consider when migrating data. Zoho support and some other companies may offer a low cost service where all of your data, fields, and pick lists are simply duplicated.

Act! is a SQL based database. We have written a full library of SQL queries that extracts Act!’s data in Zoho friendly format. Every migration comes with a lot of questions.

We modify our standard queries to select only the fields you want, translate unwanted values, etc.

Zoho’s import wizard allows us to undo an import if it is not correct. We recommend a trial import. Often a client will realize that some additional data is needed or can be omitted.

Final Data Conversion – Once the import is approved. We plan a final migration. We make a final copy of the source data. Anything added to the old CRM system after that point will miss the move. Since we have all of the queries unique to your system pre-written, the process is fairly fast and already proven. User training should commence immediately.

Zoho One is Essential for Small Businesses

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:27:00 -0500

Abstract – On July 24, 2017, Zoho announced a new product called Zoho One. This document explains the strategy behind Zoho One and how it can benefit small to medium sized businesses (SMBs).

The concept of cloud computing has been proven successful for Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs). The main benefits of cloud computing:

It reduces or eliminates the IT function at your business. You don’t need to buy servers, or upgrade servers. You don’t need to perform routine upgrades of software. You don’t concern yourself with backups or viruses. Most importantly, you don’t need to hire staff to perform these functions. Focus on what you do.
Quite often, data security is enhanced. Zoho’s data centers are manned 24 hours a day with biometric access to the equipment rooms. Video cameras everywhere. Bullet-proof structures. SOC2 compliance. In North America, Zoho runs two data centers and they are mirror images of each other with three separate power feeds each. If one data center goes down, the other can jump in. Most companies cannot match this level of redundancy and security.
Accounting – Computer hardware and Software were once part of your Capital Expenditures. Software upgrades had to planned and budgeted. Cloud computing moves software into the monthly expense category. Usually, you can quickly adjust user counts in a few seconds.

Current State of the Cloud

In our opinion, cloud software is largely inhabited by single-app companies. Think of the largest or the smallest – Salesforce, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Quickbooks, Slack, etc. Most of these companies occupy a single space in the cloud. Not all are profitable. This causes problems for SMBs:

Selecting an app from 50 or more similar apps.
Integrating that particular app with your other cloud apps. This may require consultants and custom code.
Each app can evolve on its own and may not continue to work with your other apps. Or the app you selected is now out of business.
Training users of each of these apps. Many of them use different terms for similar objects. A business may be called an “Account” in your CRM system but a “Customer” in your accounting software and a “Site” or “Location” in your mapping software. In essence, each app has its own way of doing things and these will vary. This will increase training time.

Zoho One is a suite of 40+ separate apps, all designed to work together.

There is really nothing like it in the cloud today. We do expect to see some of the large single-app companies aggregate in an effort to survive. But currently, you cannot get such a complete suite of the 40 most popular cloud applications.

The price is $37/user/month = $444.00 annually
These apps run on a common platform.
The apps have a similar look & feel. Training time is minimized.
The same programming/scripting language is used to customize every app in the suite.
There is a common admin panel where you can quickly add a new employee and set them up on their respective apps. When you run multiple disparate apps, you’ll have to set up or remove a user at each app’s admin panel.

Zoho does have a policy that you must buy a subscription of Zoho One for every person in the company. There is no clear definition of a user. For example – Contractors are users but not employees. Some employees may not even use computers (warehouse, production line, truck drivers, etc.) If you have a large business and you are unsure of what you user count is, call us or call Zoho. If you’re a small business, get one user license for every employee.

Zoho has a highly evolved sense of what software should be.

It should be a utility, like electricity. Use it when you need it.
Software should not be rationed. If sales people want to view (never edit!) accounting data, then give them access. It will cost you nothing.
The more that software is available to all users in the business, the better.
Zoho will keep adding apps to the Zoho One suite.

GoldMine to Salesforce Migration

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 15:25:44 -0500

Migrating your CRM data from GoldMine to Salesforce can be a long, complex process. It is extremely important to make sure you are migrating to the right version of Salesforce that can accommodate your CRM needs. We will be more than happy to help you with this! If you need help getting started, looking for some guidance and/or have any questions, feel free to email us at support@twelvethree.com or click on the button below to fill out our contact form.

Important Things to Know Before Migrating Your CRM Data from GoldMine to Salesforce:

Matching GoldMine data fields with Salesfoce data fields is another crucial aspect so your data looks consistent between the two CRM’s.
There might be some customizations needed in Salesfoce in order to accommodate data migrating from GoldMine.
It is very important to backup your data in case anything unexpected happens during the migration procedure.
Make sure there aren’t any files in your CRM that you won’t be needing to transfer. This can save time as the more data files you wish to migrate, the longer the process will take. Plus, although Salesforce uses cloud-based storage, why waste storage on data you won’t need?

* We will consult with you on how you utilize your CRM system to determine if there are any specific customizations that will be needed for the data conversion. We will also be glad to address any concerns that you may have regarding the data transfer between CRM’s. Please fill out the form on this page if you are looking for any sort of help regarding your GoldMine to Salesforce CRM migration.

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