Makes my 1-man marketing department feel like 3

Pros

1 year after purchase: This has easily been one of the wisest investments our firm has made. The ability to track customer information (CRM), their experience, past performance data, and leads/opportunities all from one simple application and dashboard makes my 1-man marketing team feel like 3. The capability to routinely pull data from our accounting software reduces duplication in both content and time. I no longer spend hours "looking for *stuff*" (put politely) during proposal preparation due to the full featured project and ‘knowledge’ database paired up with the advanced reporting functionality. I still have only scrapped the tip of the metaphorical iceberg of features that are included with the package including the ability to automatically survey clients, a built in email marketing tool, card scanner, countless plug-ins, a customizable RESTful API, Outlook and Exchange server plugins, and soon a full blown Zapier integration. Additionally, the support both during install and throughout my journey have been absolutely wonderful. They have made the ins and outs of using the software a simple, and surprisingly enjoyable, experience!

Cons

There are some issues with the knowledge base section that I would improve on. I have a lot of issues it the mobile application on my Android device.

Great CRM for a Specialty Subcontractor

Pros

Easy and intuitive user interface. Excellent reporting modules. The ability to quote to multiple General Contractors for one project (Sub Opportunities)

Cons

Over the past year, there has been a higher than expected issues with their hosted solutions. Servers not performing and performance issues on multiple occassions.

Cosential Three Years In

Customer service and support have been challenging. We've been told that improvements were going to happen that just never went anywhere. The "improvements" that have been implemented for us turned out to be less useful than the previous state of the system. And I've had account reps just not return my calls or respond to my emails regarding issues we've had between what was promised and described during the sales pitch and how a particular module actually functions (most notably photo management).

Pros

Cosential is a detailed and robust database and CRM system. The information organization is well-thought out and the information relationships function reasonably well. Integrations with other firm systems are generally useful. The application is also a good value for our size firm.

Cons

Photo management is just about useless--keyword search should be reductive, not expanding, and should really be a simple case of AND vs OR Boolean search. Customized fields aren't reflected in reports at all, which limits their usefulness in data analysis. Some data areas are designed more for construction firms than architecture firms, and the dissonance in data capture has required some workarounds and means we can't actually search on that data. Several areas are a little too narrowly focused--there are more sustainability measures than just LEED--and require more workarounds to capture the kind of data we're tracking on our projects. There's a certain level of flexibility promoted and the reality is a superficial flexibility.

Adding a CRM to our firm has helped us keep track of prospect projects as well as client information

Pros

We now have one central data depository for all of our offices contacts, project info, personnel, resumes etc. The ability to create custom reports, update project data and track prospects across many users has improved our communication and reporting tremendously. The ability to update personnel, project, contact information in one spot and have it populate throughout any report or resume is a big plus. The Widgets are great for a graphical representation to management that accurately represents current pursuits, hit rates, wins by market, etc. The ability to turn on and off modules for user groups is huge! It keeps people from being overwhelmed when they first start to use the CRM, especially if they never have used one in the past or are skeptical. Integrations with other programs continue to be developed and improved by Cosential - this is a huge plus! Business Development/Marketing people are mobile - the iPad is a tool, just like a laptop. Being able to enter client info in Cosential and add it to an individuals Outlook contacts with just a few clicks makes it easy to have centralized client data. We will be implementing an integrations with Vista later this year. I am excited for the potential that will bring live project and personnel data to our CRM!

Cons

It's still a little 'techy' and driven by IT/Developers from the end-user perspective. But it's getting better every month we use it! When a bug is identified, or an issue occurs, for the most part Cosential Support is responsive. Sometimes, however it seems like it takes months to fix an issue. This is especially frustrating when a function (say a mailing list) was working correctly and then stops working. Because Cosential manages literally mountains of company, contact, personnel and project data, it can feel overwhelming to new users. Customizing the training and 'easing new users into' the program based on their needs is the only way to get good buy-in from apprehensive or skeptical users. The mobile app has it's limitations on the iPad and as all of our Business Developers use iPads, they would like to see the app developed further. Right now, it's better than nothing when they are on the road!

Best CRM for the AEC Industry

Pros

Cosential was created and designed by people from our industry, so they understand what information is important to us. The system is easy to navigate and provides more components than other platforms we have used in this arena, such as document automation, surveys, a knowledge library, email marketing and superior search functions. Cosential invests in product development and rolls out new features, functions and improvements on a regular basis.

Cons

The user interface needs a refresh. We have been hearing about interface updates since we started using the product, but progress on that initiative has been slow. The report module is challenging for the average user due to the large quantity of fields and inconsistent field naming. However, I appreciate that we do not need to write a query or depend on code to develop a report, unlike other platforms we use.