Ethycom

Enquiries Without a System

• Customer calls to different branches were not captured centrally as leads.
• No clear owner for each enquiry and no record of follow-ups.
• No way to see how many leads each branch or sales executive was handling.

Manual Quotations and Uncontrolled Discounts

• Quotes were prepared by hand, with product, salesperson and lead source entered again each time.
• No fixed discount limit or approval step.
• Converting a quote into an invoice meant re-entering the same data in accounts.

Limited Sales Visibility

• Pipeline value, conversion rates and product performance were hard to compile.
• Branch-wise and handler-wise results needed manual consolidation.
• Call activity and follow-up discipline could not be measured.

Accounting and Compliance Effort

• GST, sales and purchase records needed to be consistent between branches.
• Receivables, payables and bank activity had to be tracked in one place.

Workforce Administration at Scale

• 60 employees working from five locations, with different designations, shifts and leave rules.
• Attendance and leave needed to follow each location's and role's rules.
• Joining, onboarding and employee records were not held in one system.

A Connected Zoho Platform

• Zoho CRM: Lead capture from calls, assignment, follow-ups, deals, discount approval and reporting
• Zoho Books: Quotes, invoices, GST, sales, purchases, inventory, banking and financial reports
• Zoho People: Employee records, shifts, leave, attendance, biometric integration and onboarding

Sales Automation in Zoho CRM

• Voxbay integration creates a lead automatically for every new call.
• Each lead is assigned to a user through the Handled By field.
• Quotes are generated automatically in Zoho Books at the Proposal / Price Quote stage.
• Discounts above 15% require manager approval.
• Custom reports and a management dashboard give branch and consolidated views.

Accounting and Compliance in Zoho Books

• GST configuration with tax-compliant invoices and returns data.
• Sales, purchase, inventory and banking modules working in one organisation.
• Quotes and invoices received from CRM with product, sales executive and lead source.

Workforce Management in Zoho People

• 60 employee profiles at five locations, with designations and departments.
• Biometric attendance integration, three shifts and a configured leave policy.
• Onboarding workflows for new joiners.

Zoho CRM: From Call to Closed Deal

• 1. Call to lead. Voxbay is connected to Zoho CRM, so every new call creates a lead automatically.
• 2. Assignment. Each call is assigned to a user, recorded in the Handled By field.
• 3. Follow-up. Initial phone call and follow-up tasks are tracked until the lead is qualified.
• 4. Deal. After several follow-ups, the lead is converted into a deal and moved through the pipeline.
• 5. Quote. At the Proposal / Price Quote stage, a quote is generated automatically in Zoho Books with the product, sales executive and lead source carried over from CRM.
• 6. Discount approval. A discount above 15% needs manager approval. A discount of 15% or less goes through without approval.
• 7. Invoice. Convert to Invoice creates the invoice in Zoho Books, and the user's work shows as closed in CRM.

The CRM mobile view was also customised so branch staff can log and follow up leads from their phones.

Zoho CRM: Custom Reports and Access

Ethycom has five CRM users: one Super Admin at Head Office and one user per branch. Reports filter by date range, branch and handled-by user. Branch users see only their own branch, while the Super Admin sees every branch and a consolidated view.

• Daily report: Leads, calls and follow-ups for the day
• Lead summary: Leads by branch, month and source; new versus carry-forward leads
• Lead status: New, contacted, follow-up pending, converted and lost; ageing and conversion rate per branch
• Lead ownership: Leads per handler; handled versus unattended
• Lead value: Pipeline value by branch, handler and overall
• Call activity: Calls, connected and missed calls, talk time and follow-up frequency per user
• Target and achievement: Staff and branch targets against actuals, tracked monthly
• Follow-up and tasks: Completed, pending and overdue tasks; time to first call
• Product performance: Sales by product
• Management dashboard: Branch-by-branch comparison of leads, pipeline, conversion and pending follow-ups

Zoho Books: Accounting, Tax, Sales and Purchases

• Taxes: GST configured for Kerala operations, with tax-compliant invoices and GST reports.
• Sales: customers, items with pricing, quotes, invoices, payments received and credit notes. Quotes and invoices created from CRM carry the product, sales executive and lead source.
• Purchases: vendors, purchase orders, bills, payments made and expense recording.
• Inventory: item catalogue and stock tracking for furniture and appliance lines.
• Banking: bank accounts connected for transaction tracking and reconciliation.
• Reports: receivables, payables, sales, purchase, GST, profit and loss and balance sheet.

Zoho People: Workforce Management

• Employee information management: Establishing a centralised system for employee records.
• Leave administration: Configuring leave management to support the organisation's HR policies.
• Attendance tracking: Setting up attendance management for the workforce.
• Shift management: Configuring shift-related processes to support operational workforce requirements.
• Employee onboarding: Establishing a structured process for managing new employee onboarding.
• Multi-location administration: Supporting consistent HR processes at all five locations.

Implementation Approach

• 1. Discovery. Process mapping with sales, accounts and HR.
• 2. Configuration. Setup of all three applications, custom fields, rules and reports.
• 3. Integration. Voxbay to CRM, and CRM to Books.
• 4. Data migration. Employee, customer, item and opening-balance data cleaned, imported and validated.
• 5. Training. Role-based sessions for branch users, accounts and HR.
• 6. Go-live and support. Hands-on support during stabilisation.

No Missed Enquiries

• Every call creates a lead with an owner.
• Follow-ups are tracked as tasks, so nothing depends on memory or a notebook.

Faster Quoting and Invoicing

• Quotes appear in Zoho Books without re-entry, with product, salesperson and lead source filled in.
• Convert to Invoice removes duplicate data entry between sales and accounts.

Controlled Discounts

• The 15% approval rule gives managers oversight where margin is at risk.
• Routine deals at or below 15% are not slowed down.

Management Visibility

• Branch-wise and handler-wise leads, call activity, pipeline value and targets are available in CRM reports.
• Branch users see their own data, and the Super Admin sees the consolidated view.

Organised Workforce Records

• 60 employees, five locations, three shifts and biometric attendance sit in a single system.
• Leave and attendance follow each role's rules.

Feature Enhancements Based on Usage

• Refinement of CRM reports and dashboards as branch teams adopt them.
• Further automation of the lead, quote and invoice stage.
• Use of additional Zoho Books features as the team grows into them.

Planned Rollout of Additional Zoho Applications

• Evaluation of Zoho Payroll to extend the Zoho People setup to salary processing.
• Exploration of further automation tools to speed up processes in every department.