Really Simple Systems Review

Really Simple Systems (RSS) is an award winning, easy-to-use, cloud-based CRM with an integrated support system and marketing system. Having more than 17,000 users from over 11,000 businesses, it’s one of the world’s largest CRM vendors. Their client base has some big names including The Red Cross, Royal Academy of Arts and the British Museum.

Designed for small and mid-sized businesses operating B2B, its customers range from single user start-ups to 200 user systems, including the Red Cross, the Royal Academy of Arts, the British Museum and NHS. Impressively, this simple systems stacks up well in terms of functionality and is comparable in terms of functionality with the high-end CRM’s like SalesfForce, Zoho, Insightly, Sugar CRM etc.

In 2020, Really Simple Systems launched a new version of its integrated marketing module. The new Simple Marketing tool is incredibly easy to use and features a Campaign Wizard that whisks you through the process of creating an email, adding a mailing list, scheduling and sending.

Really Simple Systems’ founder and CEO, John Paterson, commented: “Historically most businesses used one CRM system for their sales teams and another for sending marketing emails. This leads to integration issues and the inability for the sales team to see their prospects’ individual reactions to marketing emails. We’ve developed our new Simple Marketing tool to be intuitive, easy-to-use and fully integrated with the sales CRM, but with all the features you’d expect from a stand-alone system. Reaching the point of launching this new software is a big milestone for the company.”

In addition, RSS is compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has introduced new functionality to their CRM to help its customers comply. If you are using the integrated marketing module you can capture marketing consent from your contacts either through a web form or an email link that records the who, what, where and when of the consent. Then when mailing contacts, you can cross-refer the consent data so that only those who have specifically consented to receive information are mailed.

All customer data is stored in the EC.

• Customer data is only accessed by their personnel when requested by the customer, and then only from within the EU, in the UK and in Hungary, where their support team is based. They have strict policies in place for how staff access customer data, enforced by contracts of employment. RSS have amended their Data Breach Policy in accordance with the provisions of GDPR.

New Updates

Really Simple Systems Launches CRM One-to-One Review Service

Really Simple Systems is pleased to announce the launch of a new one-to-one CRM Review Service, providing customers with the opportunity to discuss their specific needs with a technical expert in a bookable, screen-sharing session. This new service will help customers get the most from their CRM.

The new CRM success service provides customers with the opportunity to discuss their specific needs with a technical expert, for both onboarding and ongoing requirements.

This popular CRM software vendor is offering new and existing customers a more personalized service that will help them maximize the benefits of the software and get their system set-up and running faster.

For new customers, the bookable screen-sharing sessions will identify their business requirements and help them set up the features they will need as they progress. Existingcustomers will be offered an annual CRM review to discuss their changing needs and support their business growth.

John Paterson, founder and CEO at Really Simple Systems, commented: “Despite the simplicity of our CRM and extensive support resources, research has identified a need for further customer assistance on our product and service. Customers told us what they most valued was the chance to talk through their requirements with a technical expert, allowing them to either implement the CRM very quickly or update their specification. We’re delighted that we have been able to adapt quickly to
this need and extend our customer support service.”

The new customer success one-to-one service will be rolled out from October 2021, with the current customer base invited to review their CRM software requirements in priority order.

Integrate Your CRM With Office 365 – Launched September 2021

If you use Microsoft business applications, you’ll be pleased to learn Really Simple Systems have launched a new native integration with Microsoft 365 (known previously as Office 365) to help manage your organisation.

This new integration means you can seamlessly connect your Microsoft 365 (MS 365) account with your Really Simple Systems CRM, giving you the ability to add and edit contacts, manage tasks and sales opportunities, and so preserve a complete record of your interactions.

Their founder and CEO, John Paterson, commented: “The Really Simple Systems CRM integration with Microsoft 365 is our latest move to support small and mid-sized businesses, providing a streamlined user experience that supports growth and relationship management. We know from feedback this is a popular development for our customers, helping them move to a full cloud working environment.”

This Microsoft 365 integration compliments our existing email integration, MailSync™, and Single Sign-On integration through Microsoft Azure.

Find out more …

Pricing. There are four price package options available:

Free CRM

Just like Bitrix24, Zoho etc., Really Simple Systems offers a free CRM which allows up to 2 users and 100 company records. It offers all the features to manage customers, prospects and sales. There’s no time limit on how long you can use the CRM so you can continue using it forever!

Starter Plan

The Starter plan is aimed at business start-up and provides everything you need to get your organization moving in the right direction. The upper limit on the number of company accounts has been increased to 1,000, and there is now no upper limit to the number of users. The price includes the two-way email synchronisation feature, 1 GB document storage, custom settings, reports and API integration.

Professional Plan

The Professional plan includes all the same features as the Starter plan but with an increased limit on the number of company records at 5,000 and 5GB of document storage. It also includes Quotations and the User Permission Levels feature which allows managers to control access levels across their team.

Enterprise Plan

The Enterprise plan is a full suite sales, service & support, and marketing CRM that is user-friendly and fast to implement. Easy to use for everyday users, and yet has advanced reporting and control for managers. With the Enterprise plan there is no upper limit on company records or users. It costs $46 per user per month for the sales CRM and the optional marketing tool, or service & support tool, can be added free of charge with 5 or more users.

Quick Facts

• Tree Trial: Yes (for 15 days on the Professional Plan with Simple Marketing enabled)
• Ideal for: Small and medium businesses
• Training required: No – it’s really easy to use and there’s lots of useful resources available to help you get started
• User Limit: No
• Mass import/export: Yes
• Email marketing campaigns: Yes
• Lead Capturing: Yes
• Customer Support: Free (telephone, email, online chat)
• Awards: Software satisfaction award (multiple times), Winner of the Cloud Excellence Awards 2019, European IT & Software Excellence Award Finalists

Brief company background

Established in 2004, RSS launched their free CRM in 2010 which quickly surged the number of users. The company has offices in UK, Hungary and Australia. Staff comprises 16 fulltime employees with no hierarchies. John Paterson, the CEO & founder, has lifelong experience overseeing different CRM’s as a salesperson, sales manager, sales director, COO and CEO. He has run several well-known companies including Systems Union Group, Oxygen Solutions and Zeus Technology.

Set up & getting started (5/5)

Really Simple Systems lives up to its name when it comes signing up. All you need to get started is to key in your email address, they’ll mail you your credentials… and that’s it! It’s a web-based cloud application, and you can access it through any web browser. No setup, no credit card, and no hassle.

Workspace (19/20)

The workspace is an amalgam of simplicity, aestheticism and cutting-edge features. To keep the work area neat and tidy, the three major modules: sales, marketing and service & support are on separate pages but can be accessed quickly via the accordion menu. There are customizable dashboards for each module where you can add/remove widgets to highlight what’s important to your business.

You’ll also find links to video tutorials and live webinars to help you get started. Each page of the CRM has a “pull-out” Help Drawer which tips and advice on using that particular page and there are links through to the relevant page of the RSS Customer Support Hub for further details.

A new workflow automation tool is due to be released in early 2021.

There is only one menu bar that has all the main menus – it not only keeps the work area uncluttered but also increases accessibility. Each and every single piece of info regarding an Account/Contact is on the same page and in a perfect logical order. In short, we totally loved the well thought-out workspace.

User interface (9/10)

If we were reviewing RSS 10 years ago, we would have easily labelled it the most user-friendly interface while comparing it with complex systems like SAP, Siebel etc. But today, most people would compare any application with Facebook and Twitter. Of course, a functionality-rich CRM like RSS can’t be as simple as Facebook, yet it has an amazingly user-friendly interface. Everything is pretty much where you would expect it to be.

During 2020 Really Simple Systems has delivered an on-going series of updates to its UI and features, such as custom dashboard widgets and account geolocations. We understand that further new features will be added in 2021, including an integrated calendar.

Price (10/10)

Considering the free CRM, and three pricing options start $14 per user per month, Really Simple System is one of the most affordable CRM’s available and also offers annual payment plans which, effectively, gives you one month free per year.

Integration with 3rd party apps (6/10)

RSS allows integration with KashFlow, Sage One, and Xero, three of the most popular accounting packages for small businesses. It also integrates with Outlook Calendar, the free web based diary that can be easily shared among your colleagues, co-workers and subcontractors. The system includes native integrations with Microsoft Azure and OneLogin for Single Sign-on and Multi-Factor Authentication features. Importantly RSS has an integration with the third-party integration platform, Zapier, enabling the CRM to be linked up to thousands of other cloud apps. Again, social media integration is missing which can be important for some businesses.

Personalization & Customization (6/10)

Customization is available with all price plans. With the data tables that feature throughout the CRM you can edit the columns that are displayed and you can easily personalize them by dragging and dropping the columns. You can add custom fields to all the major forms including Account, Contact, Activity, Task and Opportunity. For data entry, a field can be either entered into a simple text or numeric box or selected from a dropdown list.

Mobile support (5/5)

To use the mobile version of RSS, just log on using your mobile device’s browser and the system adjusts automatically – no need to download or install any additional software.

Scalability (9/10)

Really Simple Systems CRM is designed for teams having 5 to 10 members, however, you can add unlimited users in all plans except the Free plan. Some big organizations with more than 300 users are successfully managing their business using RSS.

Customer support (10/10)

Our experience with their customer support was simply impeccable. You can get in touch with the support  personnel via email (recommended), live chat, phone or even request a call back, and rest assured that you’ll get a quick and comprehensive response.

Backup and security (10/10)

Following are the security measures taken by RSS:

• Data is available for download at any time which you can keep as a backup
• RSS is registered under the Data Protection Act, and complies with EC Data Directives
• RSS uses Google Cloud‘s data storage service for its production CRM systems, providing infinite scalability, fast performance and high data security. The data center is based in Belgium so is fully GDPR compliant. Your data is backed up every night, and stored offsite in a fireproof safe. As an additional precaution the company also runs real-time failover servers in a second data centre hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Your data is backed up every night, and stored offsite in a fireproof safe
• No customer can access another customers’ data, and role-based access gives the management total control to decide who can access what

Features

Home

It’s the main dashboard that gives a quick overview of pending tasks, sales funnel, and opportunity and forecast summary. It also features the Help Drawers and links to the comprehensive Customer Support Hub.

Contact Management (Accounts and Contacts)