Priacta

Sometimes the typical time and task software just doesn’t cut it. In the business world, large and small businesses alike use a breed of software called CRM (Customer Relationship Management), which makes it easier to reach out to your customers and manage sales. Not surprisingly, this involves tasks, appointments and the like.

There is a massive pool of CRM software to choose from. Some are well worth the time and money, but many do not even support GTD or TRO. When your main workflow is sales, this is a big deal. Since CRM is huge need for many of our customers, we started searching.

I was recently introduced to one product, Oprius, which supports Total, Relaxed Organization and GTD quite well. An online solution, Oprius gives you access wherever you have Internet. However, Oprius is a single-user CRM system with no current plans for group support. If you’re a small business with no need to coordinate sales efforts, this great tool may be what you’re looking for, but if you have multiple sales reps with a common client pool, you’ll unfortunately have to look elsewhere.

First Glance

Oprius boasts both powerful features and well-known clientèle. At only $15 a month, they seem like a good choice. Their website is well designed and easy to navigate. They also offer extensive support options including a number of video tutorials and User Guides for using Oprius.

Oprius offers Contacts, Email, scheduling for both Appointments and Phone Calls, and a Task List. They do not offer a memo or notes option. For me, this is a plus. A note is really nothing more than an unprocessed task and a new collecting point. I personally never use Memos or Notes, so not having to look a an unused feature is a bonus.

User Interface

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The opening view for your Oprius account is a screen showing your upcoming appointments, phone calls, tasks, and emails in your inbox. A button is available in each section allowing you to create a new instance of any type of item.

The layout is clean and extremely easy to use. Everything is relatively self-explanatory, but for anyone confused, a large button at the top of the screen invites you to watch an introductory video.

Clear, easy-to-see buttons line the top of the screen for easy navigation between item types.

One thing I don’t like, however, is the lack of a quick entry bar. In order to create a new task, you have to press a button every time. Plus, probably the biggest drawback for Oprius is its inability to apply the same action to multiple tasks at the same time. I can’t mark multiple tasks as complete or as High priority as a group. I have to individually edit each one. This would be a nice enhancement.

General Features (Time and Tasks)

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Oprius lacks some basic task management features like project hierarchies and multiple dates. However, it does support appointments and adds some very useful, advanced features to compensate.

For example, with Oprius you can automate your processes for following up with potential customers. Think of this as automatic next steps in your projects. If a visitor visits your site and signs up for a newsletter, Oprius can actually create a new contact and task for you to call that person or email them. You can automatically send emails, send emails to specific lists of contacts and view the past history of your contacts.

CRM Features

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Because Oprius is a different kind of application, it needs an additional look from the CRM perspective: How well does Oprius work as a CRM solution?

Oprius is definitely one of the most frugal CRM solutions available. Many CRM programs cost many hundreds of dollars per year per user! (That’s a far cry from the Oprius’ $15 per month.)

Does Oprius compromise CRM functionality for cost? No. Oprius is actually feature-rich. For example, you can set up “plans” that take effect with contacts in a given category. For example, if you had a group called “Potential Redistributors” you could set up a plan that would automatically send out emails to describe new features in your products and then remind you in a new task that you need to call that person. This kind of drip-marketing automation is very powerful, saving you TONS of time in your sales follow-up process.

You can also tell Oprius to send out scheduled newsletters or announcements to anyone in your groups as well as scheduled auto-responder messages. Double opt-in emails are supported for CAN-SPAM compliance.

Another huge feature is the ability to create HTML that will automatically add people to groups in your account. You might have a button on your website that says: “Affiliates click here!”. When someone clicks on it, you might have them added to a list of contacts that you need to call and talk to. Again, a big time saver.

Dollar-for-dollar, it’s hard to imagine a better CRM choice than Oprius. If you don’t need group collaboration features, it deserves careful consideration.

Compatibility and Accessibility

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Because Oprius is browser-based, it can be accessed from almost any platform. Unfortunately, it also means you can only access it if you have an internet connection. No Internet, No Oprius, No Tasks, No Control. Google Gears support (offline access) is NOT available, either.

Oprius allows you to import Contacts from other locations but unfortunately ONLY allows this for contacts. There’s no way to import Tasks, Calendar events, or email. This could be an issue if you are switching systems.

GTD and TRO Compliance

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Right out of the box, Oprius supports both TRO and GTD. No additional tweaking is needed, but actually using it for TRO/GTD is a little involved.

Categories are a bit strange and not very easy to add. Oprius comes with a set of static categories but you can add new categories under the guise of “Quick Groups.” To do this, Click the wrench in the upper right hand corner to access “Preferences.” Switch to the “Groups” tab and click the button labeled “Add New Group.”

Priorities in Oprius were a bit of a surprise. There are six different priorities in Oprius. (None, low, low-medium, medium, medium-high and high). For TRO compliance, use priorities as your soft date. Use “None” for your Someday/Maybe tasks. Use Low for items that you want to do sometime this month. Low-medium items are great for items you might like to do sometime in the next week. Medium priority should be used for items that MUST be done in the next month. Medium-high can be used for items that MUST be done in the next week, and High should be used for items that you are going to do today. You get the idea….

Overall

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Oprius has some very powerful features. It rocks as as a CRM tool for automatically reaching out to your potential clients, which can save you a LOT of time in the long run.

Oprius supports both GTD and TRO rather nicely and conveniently. However, for the typical person just trying to get his or her life organized, it’s not a good fit. Use something specifically for time and task management. But if you do a fair amount of sales work and need to organize your life, you definitely need to check Oprius out. As a tool for small business owners it can be invaluable.